Daily Archives: May 11, 2021

The three-arrow Matter logo shown on this smart lightbulb signifies smart-home tech that will work well with other devices.

An industry alliance sponsored by Apple, Google, Amazon and other tech companies will begin certifying smart home devices later this year, a potentially important step toward making the technology easier to develop and use and therefore more widely accepted.

Matter, the name of the alliance, will let smart devices, such as lightbulbs you turn on with Amazon Alexa or a video doorbell you monitor with Google Home, use its logo on their packaging. The logo looks like a trio of round-tipped arrows pointing toward a common center.

Tobin Richardson, chief executive of theConnectivity Standards Alliancethat's behind Matter, said in an interview he expects the logo to become as "ubiquitous" as the Wi-Fi logo currently is.

"As these different devices become more complex networks, it's all the more important that they're all talking the same language," Richardson said. "That mark will be a helping hand to make sure that you can add whatever lightbulbs, whatever door locks, whatever you want to add." Richardson made the comment in an interview ahead of a Matter press event on Tuesday.

The alliance's certification process is more evidence of the rapid pace of change in the smart home, part of the internet of things movement to digitize everything. Like smartphones, the smart home could quickly become central to your daily life.

Matter is a new name for a smart-home alliancepreviously called CHIP, short for Connected Home over Internet Protocol. Unveiled in 2019, it employs the internet's core technology to smooth over the complexities of connecting smart-home devices. The technology allows users to control lighting, heating, home theaters, video doorbells, door locks and alarms through smart speakers.

Getting all of these devices to get along -- especially with Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Assistant competing to be your preferred interface -- can be difficult. Matter is designed to unify the network domain, ensuring devices will work with any of those three main voice control systems. It should work even if you use more than one control system.

Expect Matter to arrive in lightbulbs, thermostats, door locks, garage doors, alarms, window shades and TVs.

"Matter can be used to bridge together the many different systems people have in their homes today," said Chris DeCenzo, a smart home engineering leader at Amazon, during the press event.

Developers should be pleased with Matter, said Kevin Ho, Google Nest senior product manager. "The smart home can't grow if each device maker has to develop products that work for each ecosystem protocol," he said, adding that Google will detail Matter developments at its Google I/O conference that starts May 18.

Matter allies developed their technology within the Zigbee Alliance, a group founded to work on the low-speed but energy-efficient Zigbee network technology that's used in some smart-home devices such as smart lightbulbs and alarm sensors. That group renamed itself the Connectivity Standards Alliance on Tuesday to reflect its mission beyond Zigbee.

The event drew appearances from smart speaker leaders Amazon and Google, internet service provider Comcast, Samsung's smart home SmartThings group, and Signify, which markets the Philips Hue lighting technology.

The allies have been developing Matter technology as a royalty free, open-source project on GitHub. In the last two weeks, they ratified the specification, a key step in letting device makers get to work on certification and making Matter support easier for developers.

The Matter logo signifies smart-home devices that are certified to get along well with each other and with the Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Assistant voice control systems.

Matter should make setups more streamlined, said Michelle Mindala-Freeman, who runs marketing for the alliance. Setup codes should let you link up your devices without having to download apps or link to cloud services.

Matter also should lower barriers between different smart-home ecosystems so you don't have to worry whether a new product will work within your smart home setup. It "breaks down the walls of the walled garden," Mindala-Freeman said.

To succeed, the Matter allies also will have to convince us the technology is trustworthy, not just simple. Privacy is top of mind with iPhones now cracking down on app tracking.

"We still have a long road ahead in terms of building the trust," Richardson said. "You have to earn it."

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Amazon, Google, Apple back alliance to certify smart home devices that work together - CNET

Integration allows omnichannel retailers to automate ads and real-time inventory levels directly from the Lightspeed platform

MONTREAL, May 11, 2021 /CNW/ -Lightspeed (NYSE: LSPD) (TSX: LSPD), a leading provider of cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platforms, announced today it will integrate Google tools directly into its platform, to help independent businesses globally as they safely re-open and expand their in-store capacity. As consumer preference towards shopping locally increases, the direct integration between Lightspeed and Google will allow independent retailers to manage a number of Google tools directly in their Lightspeed commerce platform at no additional cost.

This announcement comes as new data from Google suggests consumers are interested in shopping local, but many are starting their journey online. Searches for "local" + "business(es)" have grown by more than 80% year over year, including searches like "local businesses near me" and "support local businesses." Searches for "who has" + "in stock" have grown by more than 8,000% year over year, including searches like "who has gym equipment in stock."

The global collaboration between Lightspeed and Google integrates three crucial tools directly into the Lightspeed platform: Google Local Inventory Ads, Google Smart Shopping Campaigns, and Google My Business. This complete integration is vital for omnichannel retailers, who use a multichannel approach to provide a seamless customer experience online or in a physical store. The new Google integration includes:

Enabling access to these digital tools directly within the Lightspeed platform is strategically aligned with Lightspeed's mission to simplify entrepreneurship and level the playing field for independent merchants. The integration, when combined with the Lightspeed Supplier Network, creates a seamless path for local retailers to scale their omnichannel businesses.

"We know that so much of business today starts with a Google search," said Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva, "By combining forces, Lightspeed and Google are eliminating the pain points that prevent SMBs from effectively promoting their products online to the communities who prefer to shop local, providing them a springboard to simplify and scale their businesses as they prepare for the welcomed return of in-store shopping."

"Small and medium sized businesses have been hit the hardest during the pandemic, but globally we've seen a rallying cry to support them," says Sabrina Geremia, VP & Country Director, Google Canada. "Customers are shopping both online and in-store and expect a seamless shopping experience between both. As we look towards recovery, this integration with Lightspeed will provide a scalable solution for Lightspeed merchants of all sizes looking to reach customers in this new omnichannel reality"

This new offering from Lightspeed and Google will give retailers increased opportunity to meet consumer needs in 2021, which have fundamentally pivoted to prioritizing shopping local. Google My Business and Local Inventory Ad integrations are currently available to all Lightspeed retail customers. Lightspeed's Smart Shopping Campaign capability will become available in the coming months.

About LightspeedLightspeed (NYSE andTSX: LSPD) powers complex small and medium-sized businesses with its cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platforms in over 100 countries. With smart, scalable and dependable point of sale systems, Lightspeed provides all-in-one solutions that drive innovation and digital transformation within the retail, hospitality, and golf industries. Its product suite enables SMBs to sell across channels, manage operations, engage with consumers, accept payments, and ultimately grow their business.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Lightspeed is trusted by favorite local businesses worldwide, where communities go to shop and dine. Lightspeed has staff located in Canada, USA, Europe, and Australia.

For more information, seewww.lightspeedhq.com

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Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may include forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions and are identified by words such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates" or similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Such statements are based on current expectations of Lightspeed's management and inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including economic factors. A number of risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, including, among other factors, those risk factors identified in our most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Information Form, and in our other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available under our profiles on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at http://www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully when making decisions with respect to Lightspeed's subordinate voting shares and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and, while forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that Lightspeed considers reasonable, actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by Lightspeed. Except as may be expressly required by applicable law, Lightspeed does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Media Contact:[emailprotected]

Victoria BakerNKPR[emailprotected]

Cydoney CurranNKPR[emailprotected]

SOURCE Lightspeed POS Inc.

https://www.lightspeedhq.com

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Lightspeed teams up with Google to help retailers increase local shopping revenue - Canada NewsWire

If Louisiana Creole as a language is endangered, then Google may have a lifeline to toss its way.

Google revealed last week that it is introducing a progressive web app, Woolaro, through its Google Arts & Culture team, that uses machine learning to provide words for 10 at-risk languages from around the world.

They are Yugambeh, an aboriginal language from Australia; Yiddish, a High German derived language of the Ashkenazi Jews; Tamazight, spoken in North Africa and the Sahara region; Rapa Nui, spoken on Easter Island; Nawat, an Uto-Aztecan language from southwestern El Salvador; Maori, spoken in New Zealand; Calabrian Greek, used by ethnic Griko people in southern Italy; Sicilian, from the Italian island; Louisiana Creole, French-based and mostly spoken in Louisiana; and Yang Zhuang, a Tai language spoken in southwestern China.

This time, Festival Acadiens et Creoles is going with Plan A.

UNESCOs Atlas of the Worlds Languages says Louisiana Creole, with 7,000 to 9,000 speakers in Louisiana, California, Illinois and Texas, is one of those imperiled languages. It originated in colonial Louisiana before 1803 and was used by some enslaved and free people of color and whites, according to scholars.

But some Louisiana Creole enthusiasts believe the Google app will help spread knowledge about the language and help those who are interested in learning it. Jessica Ryan, representing Google, said Oliver Mayeux, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge who has studied the language, put together a team to create the Woolaroo app, which was revealed last Thursday.

Mayeux, whose father is from Louisiana, has retained scholarly interest in the language since he was a teenager.

The app is described as an open-source photo-translation platform powered by machine learning and image recognition. The user can provide an image to the app, which will recognize what is shown in the image and provide relevant words in the selected endangered language.

For example, the app recognized a photo of a tree and provided the word narb to describe it in Louisiana Creole.

In Louisiana, Google partnered with a team behind "Ti Liv Kreyol," which it described as the first book for learning Louisiana Creole. The group included Herbert J. Wiltz of Lafayette, a former Lafayette Parish teacher who compiled lesson plans for teaching the language and who continues to organize efforts to teach Louisiana Creole, a language he learned from his grandmother.

Iberia Parish has returned to at least some live tourism events with great success this spring, with plans for a more complete live schedule i

Growing up, my parents didnt teach it, he said. But my grandmother never shooed me away.

It was by listening to her and those with whom she conversed that he learned the language, which he said has stayed with him. I wanted to do something with it, he said.

What hes done since has included study, travel and teaching. He said hes been involved with Creole Inc., which includes people in St. Martinville and other nearby communities who have tried to revitalize the language through efforts such as Louisiana Creole tables, meetings over coffee where people can converse in the language. He said he was planning a meeting for such a table Saturday via Zoom.

People still speak Louisiana Creole, he said, but its the elderly, not the young, and that has to change to keep the language going.

We are not doing enough to generate interest, he said.

In south Louisiana, he said, Creole ancestors have moved away to Houston and California, and people there continue to speak it. But many of them are elderly.

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Wiltz said some people mistakenly believe that zydeco musicians are singing Louisiana Creole, but he said thats rarely the case nowadays. Clifton Chenier tried to incorporate Louisiana Creole in his music and Wiltz said Zydeco Joe, born in Carencro, was nimble in his use of Louisiana Creole.

Herman Fusilier, who hosts the Zydeco Stomp on KRVS public radio from noon-3 p.m. Saturdays, said some musicians have gone out of the way to incorporate Louisiana Creole in their music. They include Corey Ledet, who has been working on the language with Wiltz, and Sean Ardoin of Lake Charles, whose family is steeped in the Creole traditions.

Ardoins family, Fusilier said, go back to the roots of zydeco and have created Creole songs. He said that can create a fine line for musicians to walk singing in a language they understand but that their audience might not recognize.

Despite a year of disaster and pandemic in Acadiana, the fourth annual SOLA Giving Day toppled all previous records for donations by generatin

Young people didnt grow up speaking Creole, Fusilier said. Some may know a few words but might rather hear something they understand.

Young people like Jonathan Mayers, an artist from Baton Rouge, did not understand Kouri-Vini, a native language of Louisiana during Louisianas colonial period, from which Louisiana Creole evolved. But he embraced it because it was spoken by ancestors.

Mayers had pursued studies in Cajun French prior to turning to attention to the language his ancestors spoke in places such as Pointe Coupee Parish. Some 10 years ago, he learned about his fathers familiarity with Louisiana Creole at least with the cadence and the nuance of the language and he made it a point to learn more.

He said he provided some voice for some of the vocabulary on the app as well as for some phrases.

Adrien Guillory-Chatman, born in Lafayette but raised in Chicago, also worked on the app. She said her family spoke Louisiana Creole but she only learned a few words or phrases while growing up. Learning the language was not encouraged, she said, although the elders spoke it.

She said she started studying the language about seven years ago. An educator and a lifelong learner, she said people she knew at the local Catholic church spoke it and she wanted to speak it as well.

NEW IBERIA Former Gov. Kathleen Blancos political reputation has been in a state of recovery, and impetus for the turnaround seems to be co

She said she started her study with a six-week course and continued to pursue greater mastery of the language. She joined a practice group on Facebook and pursued language exercises and conversation over social media.

She said there are Creole tables in Chicago. They were halted by the pandemic but revived through Zoom. She and others continue the Zoom meetings, she said, in hopes that as soon as things open up again, we can get together and form a community of speakers.

She rates herself as an intermediate learner of Louisiana Creole. But shes determined. Working on the app, she said, encouraged her to keep working on her language skills. She said the app has already encouraged her to add on to the available language and refine it.

She said her Guillory family is from St. Landry Parish, and she counts Louisiana Creole speakers among them.

She said when she first started reclaiming la creole, she would walk her dogs and look at things around her and name them in Creole. That became a daily routine. Now, the answers to what's around her on her walks are as close as the app.

Most Rev. Douglas Deshotel, bishop of Lafayette, has set June 6 as the Sunday for the 300,000 Catholics in his Acadiana diocese to return to t

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Google app aims to give new life to Louisiana Creole, other languages at risk of disappearing - The Advocate

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Half Measure

Almost a full year after Apple dropped its AppTrackingTransparency bombshell on the mobile developer world, Google is following suit well, sort of. On Thursday, Google said that, starting next year, apps on Google Play will have to display details about what data they collect, including information related to their privacy and security practices. The info will appear in a new, so-called safety section as part of an apps listing in Googles app store, The Verge reports. The move is reminiscent of Apples privacy nutrition labels, which are now required of developers in the App Store to inform users about their apps privacy practices. Unlike Apple, though, Google isnt saying anything about what might happen or not with its mobile ad ID. Apple, of course, made its proprietary IDFA permissioned-based starting with iOS 14. Theres been mad speculation about whether Google might do something similar with GAIN, but as with almost everything else these days, the future on that front remains uncertain.

Stream Dreams

ViacomCBS beat Wall Streets expectations with a gangbusters first quarter thanks in large part to streaming, Deadline reports. Streaming revenue grew by 65% to $816 million led by the ViacomCBS SVOD service, Paramount Plus. Key subscription drivers for the quarter included the Super Bowl in February, the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament the following month and Oprah Winfreys explosive interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Although most of the 36 million global streaming subscribers ViacomCBS had as of the end of the quarter were signed up to Paramount Plus, Showtimes OTT service and BET+ also contributed. ViacomCBS is now more than halfway toward the companys stated goal of attracting between 65 million and 75 million subscribers by 2024. But what of AVOD? Pluto TV, the free, ad-supported streaming service that Viacom acquired in 2019 before its re-merger with CBS, clocked in at nearly 50 million monthly active users by the end of Q1, a gain of 6 million across domestic and international. [Related in AdExchanger: ViacomCBS Setting Itself Apart With Paramount Plus And Pluto TV]

TikTok Vs. TV

Heres an eye-popping stat from the TikTok NewFronts presentation on Thursday: TikTok users spend more than a movie-length amount of time on the platform every day. And I dont see that stopping at all when people are outside, said Sandie Hawkins, TikToks GM of North America and head of global business solutions. Engagement on TikTok spiked during the pandemic, particularly in the US as work and school largely transitioned into the home. TikTok recently hit a milestone of more than 100 million US monthly active users. But is that growth trajectory really going to continue as life begins to normalize (and, by extension, is it a place where brands should put their money)? Unsurprisingly, TikToks answer is, hells yeah. According to research TikTok conducted with Kantar, 88% of users in the US say they intend to spend the same amount of time or more on TiKTok during the next six months. And that engagement might actually come at the expense of everyones darling: streaming. Kantar also recently found that 30% of US TikTokers claim to watch less TV, streaming or other video content after they join the platform. [In other TikTok news: TechCrunch reports on TikTok's new developer tools, which include a Login with TikTok feature.]

But Wait, Theres More!

The promise of owning content to deliver ads fueled by mobile subscriber data was a powerful lure driving Verizon to acquire two of the webs oldest and best-known media brands but Verizons self-imposed data privacy limits contributed to the demise of its media ambitions. [Digiday]

U.S. News & World Report has launched its own first-party data platform based on behavioral data drawn from its more than 450 million annual visitors. [release]

News that Facebook isn't lifting its suspension of former President Donald Trump's account isn't sitting well with some Republican lawmakers. [MediaPost]

GroupM-owned digital media business Xaxis is teaming up with advertising cloud company Cavai to create more personalized experiences for consumers using programmatic and without relying on third-party cookies. [Adweek]

IP audience targeting vendor Semcasting has partnered with Affinity Solutions, a global insights firm with access to brand insights and first-party data, including transactional information. [release]

Tencent is reportedly negotiating agreements with a US national security panel that would allow it to keep its ownership stakes in US video game developers Riot Games and Epic Games. [Reuters]

Civil rights nonprofit Rise and RUN AAPI have launched a pledge to denounce violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US. Uber, the NBA, Change.org, Pivotal Ventures and numerous others have already signed. [release]

Omnichannel digital marketing platform AcuityAds has announced a partnership with contextual intelligence provider GumGum. [Next TV]

Youre Hired!

Dynamic in-content ad platform Mirriad has appointed Miles Lewis as its CRO. [release]

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Google Play To Launch 'Safety Section;' ViacomCBS Beats The Street (Thank You, SVOD) - AdExchanger

In honor of World Password Day, Google will automatically enable two-factor authentication for all Google account holders who have proper recovery information on their accounts (email or phone). Thats fantastic news and a bold step for Google, and I hope Apple follows suit.

In May 2019, Google announced that there are some 1.5 billion users around the world, so this is no small feat. Its not known how many of them havent turned on 2FA, but my guess is a lot, so this change will likely affect hundreds of millions of users. Thus, Google is letting users opt-out if they dont want 2FA, which some will surely do. But many more will keep it on and gain an instant layer of protection for their personal info that they might not have added otherwise.

Google spelled out the benefits of its new 2FA policy in a statement to PCWorld:

The reality is passwords are no longer a sufficient form of authentication they are painful for people and easy for hackers to access. It used to be that multifactor authentication was considered tedious and challenging to set upthat is no longer the case. Many users are already positioned to use a second step of verification across their accounts this auto-enrollment process is a way for us to help get them there. Users can opt-out of this change and keep their account security settings the same.

Apple was one of the first companies to offer two-step and then two-factor authentication to secure their Apple ID accounts, which is your key to the Apple ecosystem. Its been a strong proponent of the protection layer, requiring it for several services, including the new AirTag tracker, and has mandated it for all accounts created since iOS13.4, iPadOS13.4, and macOS10.15.4. However, there are hundreds of millions of accounts created before March 2020 that arent protected by 2FA, and Apple should turn those on too.

Celebrate World Password Day by locking down your Apple device

Everything you need to know about 2FA

How to master iCloud Keychain on your Apple devices

Of course, there will be pushback, but once the din dies down, users would be better for it. The resistance to 2FAnamely the fear that youll be locked out of your accountwould be outweighed by the extra security people get. The bottom line is youre no more likely to get locked out of your account with 2FA on than without it, especially with Apples system, which uses trusted Apple devices first, and less-secure SMS only as a backup.

And while were at it, Apple should also offer an app similar to Google Authenticator that provides standards-based one-time-use codes for third-party services without needing to send text messages. This app could offer password management of your iCloud Keychain too, instead of making you dive into Settings to do so. An Apple Authenticator app would help make one-time-password use more common instead of the less secure SMS-based codes, and ensure there are as few holes as possible in your iPhones security.

But for now, Ill be happy with just turning on 2FA for the millions of users who havent yet turned it on. If Google can do it, Apple can too.

Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PCthe IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.

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Apple should follow Google's lead and force 2-factor authentication for all accounts - Macworld