Category Archives: Technology

Do you find it difficult to keep your hands and eyes off of your electronic devices? Google launched a set of digital wellbeing experiments designed to assist Android users when it comes to their use of electronic devices.

The three new experiments, Screen Stopwatch, Activity Bubbles, and Envelope, help users better understand their phone usage, the time they spend on their phone, and help transform the phone into a simpler device that has limited uses.

The first two applications can be installed on Android devices. Screen Stopwatch is a basic counter that counts the seconds, minutes, and hours that the phone has been in use. To hammer the fact home, it displays the count directly on the device so that it cannot be missed.

Activity Bubbles follows a similar path but displays usage in a different way. Instead of displaying usage time, it displays bubbles. One bubble for every unlock to be precise. The active bubble gets bigger the longer the phone is used without it being locked.

Envelope, finally, may sound like an early April 1st joke. The application, available only for Google Pixel 3a devices currently, provides print templates to create phone envelopes. The phone is placed inside and functionality is limited significantly because of that. Different envelopes are available, e.g. one for calling and checking the time, another for recording video or taking photos.

Nothing is preventing the owner of the device from opening the envelope and getting the phone out; a solution with a timed lock would probably better in this case but way more expensive.

Google has published a video that demonstrate the functionality.

The Digital Wellbeing Experiments website lists other experiments that Android users can subscribe to.There is Paper Phone, which creates a paper version of a phone to carry around, or Desert Island which limits use to a certain number of essential applications.

The use of electronic devices is on the rise and it is clear that it impacts the quality of life for some. Whether these applications may be helpful remains to be seen as they require that users show initiative and install these applications on their devices to get started.

Now You: What is your take on Google's initiative?

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Google wants its users to find a better balance with technology

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Do you find it difficult to keep your hands and eyes off of your electronic devices? Google launched a set of digital wellbeing experiments designed to assist Android users when it comes to their use of electronic devices.

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Martin Brinkmann

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Ghacks Technology News

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Google wants its users to find a better balance with technology - Ghacks Technology News

We live in an age of digital disruption. Not only is technology rapidly changing, the way businesses operate and interact with customers is also changing. But many companies are not prepared to deal with these changes. And without a digital transformation strategy and a strong foundational technology in place to support it, their odds of survival are low.

Given historical data and this rapid pace of change, its entirely possible that 72 per cent of existing public US corporations could fail within the next five years.

This raises all kinds of questions: What would be the impact upon stock markets? What would be the impact on our kids careers? And, where did this supposition come from in the first place?

Alan Murray, Fortunes president and CEO said in the late 1950s-early 1960s, a public companys average life span was 55 years. A few years ago, this number dropped to 20 years. And this past year, it dropped to just 12 years.

The driver for this change is what Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler call Future Shock and what Geoffrey Moore calls waves of digital disruption. Disruptive innovations, according to Moore, are incompatible with current practices and require new infrastructure and a new ecosystem to deliver their value.

While you dont have to be the disruptor, you do need to make sure you keep up with the changes to survive but thats easier said than done.

So, what holds back organisations from making the necessary transformation to have a continual right to win?

For some, it will be a Kodak Moment. Kodak didnt survive the digital revolution in the photography world, because it failed to keep up with the times. To stay competitive, innovation would be required a lesson the once great company, along with many others, learned too late.

Organisations may fail to thrive (or survive) because change requires different business capabilities than those they have in place. But Kodaks largest competitor proves that doesnt have to be the case: Fuji now makes the displays used by the iPad.

CIOs often suggest that people and process are the two biggest obstacles to transformation. They say that technology, while a big issue, is not what stops most organisations from transforming.

Stephanie Woerner, a research scientist at MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR), suggested during a recent #CIOChatLive that there is messiness to paths of transformation. Organisations need to choose when to leave their previous approaches behind.

Woerner, in company with many CIOs, stresses that at its core, digital transformation is business transformation.

Moore suggests that legacy businesses do not lose because they lack an understanding of the changes taking place in their markets rather, they put too many initiatives into the incubator. And at the critical moment, they do not select one to run through what he calls the Transformation Zone.

To succeed, the entire business including the CEO needs to fully back the planned transformation, or risk losing business. For example, IBM had built prototype personal computers years before the market took off, but did not have a manufacturable model ready. The company had to go to Sanmina-SCI Corporation to design and then build its first PC, then scramble to recoup.

As the speed of business has steadily increased, this type of strategy becomes only more untenable, resulting first in revenue loss and ultimately in death.

Once the will to change exists, the issue narrows to whether a business has the digital capabilities to respond in time to strategy change. Research has found that only 28 per cent of legacy businesses have succeeded at digitisation.

Of the remaining organisations, 51 per cent have siloed business processes and data across their internal organisations. This makes it impossible to cross-sell and upsell. More importantly, it prevents organisations from improving customer experience. Instead, their valuable data is locked away in siloed systems instead of being used to drive new business models or sources of revenue.

The remaining companies may have duct-taped integrations and/or data quality issues that actually harm attempts to improve customer experience, building digital business services, and business innovation. Without change, legacy businesses are in trouble. The clock is ticking and the time for business leaders and IT leadership to fix this is now.

It is time for new ways of building the digital foundation (what MIT CISRs Jeanne Ross calls a digital backbone). It is time to blow up legacy tech debt. However, spending years building a new foundation will not work. Using on-premise software to integrate your business or its data is a waste of time. It will just take too long. Survival requires new approaches that accelerate business outcomes.

One retail leader recently said the following to Dell Boomi: We are hearing from the market and our internal leaders that we have to become faster. We may do a good job of delivering, but can we figure out how to do it in half the time? Velocity is the word we use around here. This is the key focus for us as we think about new tools. How will they help us build velocity? How do you think about it differently than before? If something takes two years, how do you make it two months? Its a new frontier. And a lot of stress.

Business leaders understand in their gut that they need to move faster. CEOs at legacy organisations state that as much as 50 per cent of their business could be challenged by digital disruptors in the next few years.

Continuing to build layer upon layer of interconnectivity and APIs will slow and ultimately crush the organisation. Business leaders need new, faster ways to create connected business processes and harvest data.

Deploy a cloud-native architecture that can run anywhere at run time, but changes the build and deployment process of connecting applications, data and processes.

Create an architecture that simplifies how organisations connect to their businesses. Enable organisations to participate in a community that shares how integrations of systems and data occur when there is no longer a need to maintain what you have built across software releases.

Changing these two things, and the processes that go along with them paves the way for innovation. It also accelerates your ability to become a connected business, setting you up to win at digital transformation.

Digital disruption is now continuous. The next wave of change is already on its way, and if history holds true, many famous brands will not survive. Think about it: The companies delivering on-premise software have all been public for at least 20 years. With a current average life span of only 12 years, how much longer can on-premise software last?

Surviving and thriving in this age of constant disruption requires business will. But it also requires the right digital technology foundation.

The time is right for a unified platform that delivers application and data integration, data enrichment and data governance, API design and management, application development and workflow automation, and B2B management all designed to work together seamlessly. The time is right for Boomi.

Myles Suer is the enterprise marketing manager at Boomi, a Dell Technologies business. Boomi is a corporate member of the Which-50 Digital Intelligence Unit. Members provide their insights and expertise for the benefit of the Which-50 community. Membership fees apply.

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To Survive Disruption, Build a Digital Technology Foundation - Which-50

The magical and muggle worlds of Harry Potterarefamously divided. The Statute of Secrecy prevents wizards from disclosing the existence of the wizarding world, on a public level, to muggle society. The effects of such a statute are felt across the wizarding world too, as witches and wizards are centuries behind muggle in terms of technology.And it almost seemsthat witches and wizards are technophobes, with the greatest example of this being the fact that most technology does not work on the grounds of Hogwarts.

RELATED:Harry Potter: 10 Times Harry Was Surprisingly Selfish

But, if the world of Harry Potter regularly used muggle technology, how would the series have been different? These are10 modern pieces of technology that would have affected the Harry Potter story if it were set today.

Throughout theDeathly Hallowsbooks and movies, Harry Potter and the gang are on the run from the Dark Lord Voldemort. The group successfully evades the dark wizard and his Death Eaters for a surprisingly long time before they are captured by a group of snatchers.

However, would this story play out the same way in the modern-day? Modern surveillance is on a whole different level to what it was in the 1990s, meaning that Voldemort could use this muggle technology to track Harry, Ron, and Hermione pretty easily.

The main form of communication between witches and wizards in the world of Harry Potter is via owl. The nocturnal bird carries all communications and mailbetween wizards. However, while it is undoubtedly cool to send your letters and parcels via owl, it is also inefficient.

Aside from parcel delivery, which will undoubtedly be quicker than any muggle mail service, sending letters to your friends is so slow. If Harry, Ron, and Hermione had some access to an instant messaging service, they would be able to communicate far more efficiently during the summer months away from Hogwarts.

The internet has truly revolutionized modern society. It has introduced new industries to the world, brought people on distant continents closer together, and allowed for a fantastic new way of consuming media such as movies and TV. It's clear from the Harry Potter series that the wizarding world does adopt some muggle technology, so what would happen if a wizarding internet was developed?

A wizarding internet would help put an end to the mountains of parchments used in wizarding administration and study, and it would allow new forms of wizarding entertainment to develop (wizarding YouTube anyone?). Perhaps the biggest influence on the story of a wizard internet would be on the Daily Prophet's apparent monopoly over wizarding news. An internet with different news sources could allow people to accept Voldemort's return far quicker than in the original story.

The Statute of Secrecy is one of the most important elements of the Harry Potter andFantastic Beasts story. It is the reason why the wizarding world is separated from the muggle world and drives the plot of theFantastic Beastsmovie forward. However, would this Statute of Secrecy still work well today?

RELATED:10 Best Harry Potter References In Pop Culture

It is very hard to cover-up events in modern society due to the intervention of the internet and the availability of smartphones. The widespread use of the internet today would allow mugglesto share their own theories about witches and wizards and attach images and so on as proof, allowing for conspiracy theories to take hold.

One of the more interesting examples of muggle technology that witches and wizards have adopted is the radio. Harry and the gang listen to the radio while they're on the run from Voldemort and, more importantly for this entry, the Order of the Phoenix uses radios to communicate with each other.

While it wouldn't necessarily make the Order more successful in their fight against the Death Eaters, switching radios for smartphones would certainly make the group more efficient (if they don't get distracted by wizard Facebook of course).

Diagon Alley is one of the most beautiful areas in the wizarding world. The Diagon Alley scene inSorcerer'sStoneis truly a magical picture that has transitioned into iconic status. However, the existence of a wizard internet could also lead to a magical version of Amazon.

The existence of online shopping also has had devastating impacts on high street shopping in the muggle world. Consequently, Diagon Alley may lose several customers as students opt to buytheir goods elsewhere.

The quill is a central part of life in Hogwarts. While the quill itself isn't necessarily magical, it certainly helps to build the wizarding world into something loveably eccentric.

RELATED:Harry Potter: 5 Times Albus Dumbledore Was A Hero (& 5 He Was A Villain)

However, while the quill is positively charming it could also be irritating to use on a frequent basis, particularly for muggle-borns or half-blood students who are aware that ballpoint pens exist. A ballpoint pen is far easier to use than a quill and would also allow students to save money as they wouldn't have to spend so much money on ink wells.

The Hogwarts library seems to an amazing place. Not only does it possess a wealth of knowledge from centuries worth of books, but it also has a deeply intriguing restricted section.

One of the main drawbacks to the Hogwarts library, however, is their lack of a search system. In modern universities and schools, there is a system you can use to check the library for what books they currently possess, where the book is, and even order the book so you don't have to search for it yourself. If Hogwarts had this, it could have made Harry and the gang's life so much easier.

While the Triwizard Tournament was undoubtedly a spectacle, not many in the crowd could actually get a good look at what was going on. In the first task, Harry was chased around Hogwarts by a Hungarian Horntail Dragon; in the second task, all four competitors spent their time underwater; and in the final task, all four competitors were in a dark, foggy maze.

This means that the crowd didn't actually see much of the action during the Triwizard Tournament. However, if there was some kind of camera system, the crowd could have seen all the action on a big screen.

This one should go without saying. In the modern world, we would struggle to survive without the help of Google. The search engine allows us to find answers to some of the most complex questions that come to our mind.

Within the context of the wizarding world, or Harry Potter's story more specifically, it would be incredibly useful. A wizarding search engine would allow Harry and the gang to find out answers to mysteries such as the Slytherin's monster extremely quickly. In addition, a wizarding search engine could also help muggle-born students learn about the wizarding world before they visit Hogwarts for the first time.

NEXT:10 Times Harry Potter Should Have Used Muggle Technology (And Didn't)

NextGame of Thrones: 10 Hilarious Cersei Lannister Memes That Will Have You Cry-Laughing

Writer living in Adelaide, Australia. Long-suffering post-graduate student and lover of pop culture from Game of Thrones to DC.

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Harry Potter: 10 Ways Technology Would Change The Series If I Was Set Today - Screen Rant

ISROs NavIC (an acronym for NAVigation with Indian Constellation) is coming soon to millions of Android phones in India.

Touted as the alternative to GPS (Global Positioning System), the NavIC satellite technology is designed to deliver accurate position information service to Indian users and even in neighboring countries. The technology is now set for a commercial application in future Android smartphones including mid-range and budget phones as the chipset giant Qualcomm has announced new processors with the ISRO technology.

Qualcomm on Tuesday launched Snapdragon 720G, Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 processors that will power future mid-range and budget smartphones.

The chipset company said it has for the first time introduced supports up to seven satellite constellations concurrently, including the use of all of NavICs operating satellites, in its Qualcomm Location suite. The integration will help deliver more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix (TTFF) position acquisition, and improved robustness of location-based services, it added.

ISRO is satisfied with the efforts of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. towards incorporating NavIC and we urge OEMs to leverage it for future handset launches in India, ISRO chairman Dr. K Sivan.

Qualcomm embraces ISROs NavIC(Qualcomm)

The availability of NavIC across multiple mobile platforms will help enhance the geolocation capabilities of smartphones in the region and bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to Indian consumers for their day-to-day use, he added.

Another big push to ISROs GPS technology is coming from companies such as Xiaomi and Realme which dominate the sub Rs 20,000 smartphone segment in India. Both companies have confirmed the Snapdragon 720G processor for their future phones.

ISROs NavIC adoption will help reduce dependence on American GPS technology for navigation and other relevant usage. You can expect apps such as Uber and Google Maps to leverage the technology to deliver more accurate location information service.

The indigenous location service is also believed to be more efficient than GPS and other competing location services. The technology can also be used for disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, precise timing, terrestrial navigation assistant to hikers and travelers, visual and voice navigation for drivers, aerial and marine navigation, and more.

Earlier, ISRO said Qualcomm had successfully developed and tested processors that support its NavIC system. The space agency had also confirmed Xiaomi was going to be one of the early adopters of the technology. Qualcomm has announced that its chip is going to have NaVIC and they are releasing it. Now almost Xiaomi is in agreement to have it. Xiaomi may launch its mobile phones with NavIC chipsets, an ISRO official had said.

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Millions of Android phones in India to get this ISRO technology - Hindustan Times

The world of insurance is changing as new ways of doing business are making their mark on the industry. One only has to look at Lloyds of Londons dramatic overhaul plan the goal of which is to become the most advanced marketplace in the world with the help of tech-enabled initiatives such as an electronic risk exchange to recognise the shifts that are currently taking place.

Accordingly, investment in the insurance technology space is continuing to grow, hovering at US$140 million in 2011 and by 2018, skyrocketing to US$4.9 billion. The Impact InsurTechreport from QBE North America and Village Capital pinpointed three themes dominating insurtech right now: insurance for all, society shaping insurance, and micro-transformations influencing macro risks. The report also noted that innovations like process automation, AI, and blockchain are making insurance processes more efficient, increasing both the affordability and accessibility of insurance.

Read more: QBE releases report on growing insurtech space

While theres a lot of solutions to unpack in this growing field, some experts see certain technologies rising to the top.

There are probably two big buckets where we see pretty universal application across insurance value chains. I think one is around analytics, AI, and machine learning, and where and how those apply in the value chain, said Jim Bramblet, Accentures insurance practice lead in North America.

Matt Lehman, Accentures North America P&C lead, added that a lot of insurance companies have expanded their datasets to include social media and satellite imagery data, whereas just a couple of years ago, most companies relied on comparatively limited data sources.

Now, theyve opened that up to five, 10, 15, 20 different data sources that theyre putting into the product, he said.

The second bucket of useful innovation that Bramblet mentioned is the potential of distributed ledger technology, which he sees gaining steam across the industry.

That technology and that platform is going to provide an opportunity for a lot more transparency around risk through all parts of the P&C sector, so personal lines, vehicles and homes, but also supply chains, goods in transit, and fundamental risks that become more transparent, he said. A lot of that can be pushed onto the platform, and insurance companies can subscribe to and do a lot more with that data than they have in the past. Now, its still very nascent, but certainly something were paying close attention to.

Notable advancements on the blockchain front in recent years include Marsh rolling out a proof of insurance blockchain program to commercial clients, London-based bank Standard Chartered and insurer American International Group (AIG) completing a blockchain pilot that aimed to simplify complicated insurance policies, and the adoption of Insurwave, a blockchain platform to support marine hull insurance, by the marine industry.

Nonetheless, there have been roadblocks in the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in insurance.

Our clients all compete, and we see this with distributed ledger technology we start to talk about the fact that the only way that works is if its a team sport and I think any one carrier trying to blaze that trail by themselves is going to have a little bit of challenge, said Bramblet. Their competitors will say, Well, whats the ulterior motive here? Why would I subscribe to your platform? Hows that being monetised? And all the concerns about data and risk come into play, so I think thats where well see consortia play a much larger role and were starting to see that emerge at scale.

Another issue in navigating the insurtech landscape more broadly is that the sheer volume of companies, their capabilities, as well as the unique value-adds that theyre toting can be overwhelming. That brings up problems for speed of adoption for traditional insurers.

How do you really understand the problems that youre trying to solve and how do you line up different sets of solutions to solve those problems without getting a bunch of complexity? Lehman outlined. There are pluses and minuses to it, but you could have a scenario where maybe today its a single technology or a platform that solves a problem, but in tomorrows world, it might be a couple, so how do you put that to use in an efficient and effective way?

Yet, the most common question that insurance clients have for the Accenture insurance team is how to understand the solutions that insurtech companies are bringing to the forefront and know how to differentiate between Company A versus Company B versus Company C to determine which one they want to make a major bet on, explained Lehman.

But part of it is just getting started, he said. Youre going to learn a lot more by experience than you are through analysis.

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Which technology brings the most value to the insurance supply chain? - Insurance Business Australia

India will no longer be behind the technology curve following the timely launch of fifth-generation or 5G networks, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Ram Sewak Sharma said on Tuesday.

Now, we have come to a stage where technology develops in India first. With 5G, we will no longer remain behind the technology curve, Sharma said at the Telecom Summit 2020 organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA).

But he pointed to challenges like funds scarcity and low fibre backhaul for the deployment of the next gen technology in India.

There are less than a third of mobile towers connected to fibre backhaul when compared to China that has more than 80% connected, Sharma said.

He added that the telecom sector should be treated as strategic to serve citizens and that issues such as the Right-of-Way (RoW) should be set right.

"Telecom sector should not be considered as a money-making machine for local bodies," Sharma said.

He said some of the key features of next generation technology include low-latency communications, huge throughput and massive machine-to-machine communication.

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5G: India will no longer be behind technology curve, says Trai Chief - Economic Times

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Over the years since its creation in 2007, Glassdoor, the site that allows employees of companies in the United States to anonymously provide information about their companies, even what they are paid, has become a reference source of unquestionable value, consulted by many candidates when considering job offers. The place a company occupies on Glassdoors annual ranking is very important to them when it comes to attracting or retaining talent.

Glassdoors 2020 league table reflects a trend that, regardless of criticism of its methodology, clearly shows the declining appeal of most of the large technology companies. With the exception of Microsoft, alone in improving its position, Apple dropped 13 spots, Google is out of the Top 10, Facebook has fallen 16 places, while Amazon is not even in the first 100.

In short, Glassdoor this year seems to confirm what the media has been saying: Google is no longer that mythical company where everyone wanted to work, as it steadily normalizes to become simply another company, investigated by the labor authorities to ensure that it respects its employees right to freedom of expression, and doesnt sack them for arbitrary reasons or block unionization. Morale at Facebook keeps falling, while customer trust is at such a low ebb that the company now provides employees with a chatbot so that they can answer difficult questions about its activities.

Whats going on with the tech sector? Veteran business school teachers like myself still remember when our students overwhelmingly wanted to work at the same consultancies or financial companies that are now replacing them with algorithms. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the 2008 economic crisis, everybody wanted to work for the technology companies: I remember all too well the interest my students showed when I invited a senior figure from one of them to a class. Now, my students are often highly critical of the tech companies. Interestingly, its the younger students who are most concerned.

There is now a growing debate about how to regulate the power of Big Tech: Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic presidential candidate who has made reining in this companies a campaign pledge, is now backed by Silicon Valley.

Glassdoors new ranking doesnt offer many clues as to what kind of companies might emerge to replace technology companies in our esteem. This years is a confusing jumble of companies of all kinds, from software players like HubSpot, which has banished the previous number one, Zoom, from the list, to consultancies, airlines or hamburger chains, with no clear pattern.

We find ourselves amid transition that still offers very few clues about what is to come. But the fall of Big (and not-so-big) Tech is worrying, as companies once associated with unconventional and inviting working conditions morph into just another place to earn a crust.

When working at Google or Facebook no longer makes you the envy of your friends, when even the founders are abandoning the ship and your own company has to try to help you defend it from hostile accusations, then something has changed. Something has clearly gone wrong.

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The Rise And Fall Of The Technology Companies - Forbes

Emerging Intelligence columnist John Sumser is the principal analyst at HRExaminer. He researches the impact of data, analytics, AI and associated ethical issues on the workplace. John works with vendors and HR departments to identify problems, define solutions and clarify the narrative. He can be emailed at [emailprotected]

When I look at my news feed, I see a lot of charged words that beg for a click. Headlines that drive traffic seem more important than the actual content. Revenue comes from clicks, not from communication. Attention-grabbing is at the heart of online content.

Then there are the words and ideas that have the opposite effect. They drive people away as soon as they are uttered. They rarely pop into my daily data flow. Its as if there were a hidden part of language.

Ethics is one of those words. The term invariably brings to mind harshly communicated rules governing conduct. Ethics guides (or codes of conduct) usually contain sections about rule enforcement and disciplinary action. They describe the line that defines acceptable behavior. But I never see articles titled 10 Ethical Standards that Will Improve Integrity.

And I definitely never see 8 Ethical Issues with Using HR Technology and How to Talk About Them. But the use of intelligent tools opens a Pandoras box of questions, consequences and opportunities that are hard to see in advance. Employees are rightly concerned about potential job loss and new operating conditions, including fairness and privacy. Employers want to see the new technology expand productivity and reduce cost. Vendors want to cram their products with as much value as possible. Describing these issues as ethics problems tends to limit the conversation quickly.

See also: Does your AI need a background check and a reference?

The technology changes rapidly. Our ability to understand its consequences advances more slowly. Hard and fast rules are impossible to develop in the early days of anything. We all want to understand and do the right thing. We just need to call the learning process something other than ethics.

In the coming months and years, expect to see statements, manifestos, guidelines and audits intended to help you understand how this or that entity is approaching the use of intelligent tools.

Vendors will provide assurances of fitness for purpose, explainability, development processes, privacy and data integrity. Employers will deliver documents that describe how to interact with intelligent tools, what to do if the tools make mistakes, how to use the output of the tools and the organizations commitments to fairness and equity. Employees will organize behind strongly worded assertions of rights, privileges, the desire for intelligibility and the requirement for redress. We are already seeing some of that with employees protesting their employers contracts with projects or entities with which they take issue.

We will all be left wondering if any of it is useful and whether or where we have control. The sorts of underlying principles that matter (correcting mistakes, calibrating models, using probabilistic information and accounting for unintended consequences) are more organic than classic statements of ethics. Underneath all of the fuss, we will be learning 21st-century management techniques while we continue to run, work in or supply our organizations.

Along the way, we will continue to discover that our questions just get deeper. The very early days of intelligent tools featured outlandish claims about the ability of technology to eliminate bias. In hindsight, its clear that the vendors were talking about the earliest stages of sourcing (finding resumes), not the entire hiring process. It turns out that the bulk of hiring bias happens after the candidates have appeared in sourcing and screening.

See also: How to use machine learning to reduce recruiting bias

For example, there are many offerings that automate the interview-scheduling process. There are an awful lot of repeated processes in interview scheduling. The automated tools use machine learning to understand who the usual interviewers are for a given kind of job. They are really good at finding the right interviewers and scheduling them. They save money.

Thats where the trouble begins. Reducing hiring bias has to begin with the idea that the interview process is, at a minimum, suspect. Automating it just institutionalizes the existing organizational norms. Historical data always carry the overtones of historical biases.

Ive begun a project to categorize and document organizational approaches to solving the thorny questions hinted at here. Already, we have the alpha version of a scoring rubric for AI guidelines. We are well on the way to developing a framework.

The groundwork was laid in the 2020 Index of Intelligent Tools in HR Technology: The Birth of HR as a Systems Science, a topic Ill be talking about in my master class at Select HR Tech.

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Understanding the ethics behind use of HR technology - Human Resource Executive

Konka at CES 2020Konka's wide-ranging expertise and innovation will be on display at CES 2020 at the Konka Booth #10053(Front of Central Hall Near the 2 Doors), including an eye-catching showcase of the future of TV with its advanced Micro LED technology, which can already be found in new Konka commercial displays. The company will also demonstrate a wide variety of other cutting-edge technologies including Mini LED, OLED , 8K, Quantum Dot and 5G. Most importantly, Konka will debut a new line-up of 4K Ultra HD and Smart Products slated for availability in North America this Spring.

Konka A Global CE Powerhouse with Products That Fit Every MarketAs a vertically integrated prime manufacturer with over 5,000 TV patents, Konka sells products in over 100 countries worldwide, specifically tailoring its products for each market. Named one of the "Top 10 most valuable brands in China," Konka's extensive product range includes Television, Audio, Smart Home, Appliances and Mobile.

In North America, Konka will offer a variety of affordable high-performance, feature-rich products, all reflecting the company's mission to provide quality, leading-edge technologies and value. The immediate focus will be given to marketing Konka's compelling TV offerings. In addition, closely related Smart Home products will also be offered to create a broad-based Konka AI ecosystem.

As part of its overall growth plan, Konka has significantly increased investment in several key technology areas including AIoT (combining AI with Home Control), 5G and Semiconductor (including a new 8K SoC).

Experienced Executive Team for Konka's North American LaunchKonka is targeting strong growth and continued expansion in North America over the next three years. To achieve its goals the company has engaged three CE industry veterans to manage the brand in North America.

Scott Ramirez, Konka's new Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, holds overall responsibility for sales and marketing, including brand strategy, business planning, product planning, channel marketing and brand marketing. Scott was formerly a key executive at Toshiba, leading its consumer electronics division including TV.

"I am honored and excited to help launch the Konka brand in North America," said Ramirez. "Konka has amazing people, incredible products and extensive manufacturing power. We will offer consumers a wide range of unique products with an unsurpassed combination of quality, technology and high value. Plus, we have a clear long-term vision, and will create true business partnerships for mutual growth and success."

Bruce Fairchild has been named Konka's Vice President of Product Marketing and Sales Operations. Bruce holds several cross-functional responsibilities including channel marketing and all sales related operational functions.

In addition, CE industry Paul Norton is Konka's Vice President of Sales, with responsibility for all sales in the U.S. and Canada.

Together, this cohesive team will apply a market driven approach, strong business disciplines and their cumulative passion for the CE category to form long-term partnerships and generate growth.

About Konka Group Co., Ltd.Konka Group is a leading Chinese electronics manufacturer focused on creating high performance, high value digital home entertainment products. Key product categories include televisions, appliances, AIOT, mobile and wireless communications. Established in 1980, publicly traded Konka Group Co Ltd (Shenzhen Stock Exchange) is China's first Sino-foreign joint consumer electronics enterprise. For the past 35 years, Konka has engineered and manufactured quality products, and since 1999 has been ranked among China's top 100 best companies. With total assets of $9.3 billion, Konka has more than 50 subsidiaries, hundreds of sales offices and more than 3,000 service outlets in more than 100 countries and regions. The "KONKA" brand is now valued at more than $15.1 billion.

SOURCE Konka North America, LLC

http://www.Konka-USA.com

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Konka Group, A China TV Technology Powerhouse, Announces Brand Expansion Into The United States And Canada - PRNewswire

Shared mobility, advanced plastic recycling and protein production are also going to be key to future prosperity.

Renault's proposed robotised vehicle for shared urban mobility on show at the 100th Automobile ... [+] Barcelona trade fair in 2019. (Photo by Paco Freire/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

2020 is set to be the year of 5G, shared mobility and new ways of recycling plastic, says research group Lux, along with new battery technology and artificial meat also set to make a big impact.

The provider of tech-enabled research has produced its 20 for 20 list of the technologies and trends that will transform the way we live, work, and play over the next decade.

5G networks will lead the way thanks to their role as an enabling technology for so many other parts of the every-expanding digital landscape. From robotic surgery to self-driving cars, 5G will be critical to advances in the internet of things, Lux says. 5G has officially left the realm of research and entered reality, with more than 2,200 patents being filed this year.

Meanwhile, shared mobility services such as car-sharing companies, e-bikes and electric scooters has seen funding of more than $10 billion in each of the last three years and it is starting to reinvent urban transportation.

In the wake of the Blue Planet II documentary and the global furore about plastic pollution, particularly in the ocean, there has been a strong focus on ways to cut plastic waste, with advanced plastic recycling technologies such as pyrolysis and chemical recycling becoming an imperative for companies ranging from chemicals manufacturers to producers of consumer packaged goods. China, the worlds largest market, which has banned imports of plastic waste for recycling, is leading the way on the issue with 55% of all patents coming from that country.

As the electric vehicle revolution really starts to take effect in 2020, Li-ion batteries are starting to reach the limits of their chemistry, leading to a performance plateau in terms of reducing weight and cost while increasing range. The answer may lie in solid-state batteries. More than 500 patents were filed last year and the technology is set to move rapidly from the lab to the marketplace.

The same driver that is leading to the surging growth in electric vehicles is also having a transformative effect on the food and agriculture sector. The production of animal feed and meat, particularly beef, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and there has been a big increase in the production of artificial protein lab-grown alternatives to meat and fish, as well as precision livestock farming and new fish feeds. Next-generation protein are needed to feed a population of almost 10 billion and received five times the investment of the previous year, landing at more than $200 million, Lux said.

Platform technologies impact is in what they enable they not only provide opportunities in themselves but also for other innovations to piggyback off them.

Luxs 20 for 2020 identifies and ranks 20 technologies that will reshape the world, based on innovation interest scores from the Lux Intelligence Engine, along with input from Luxs leading analysts. It is an attempt to answer the question What technologies will you be following this year that have the greatest potential to transform the world over the next decade?

Lux Research's 20 technologies for 2020

5G networks rose 12 places from last years ranking, while solid state batteries were seven places higher, indicating the way these technologies are steadily making their way onto the market. But 11 of the 20 technologies in the list, including artificial protein, advanced plastic recycling and shared mobility were new to the leaderboard, highlighting the way some technologies can make huge leaps forward within a few months.

Other technologies new to the list for 2020 include commercial vehicle automation; point of use sensing; energy trading platforms; hydrogen and fuel cells; quantum computing; Omics - biological sciences such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, or metabolomics, which aim to identify, characterize, and quantify all biological molecules involved in the structure, function, and dynamics of a cell, tissue, or organism; flow batteries; and vertical farming.

Innovations that were in last years list and have risen include natural language processing; materials informatics; last-mile delivery and blockchain. Areas falling in relative terms were 3D printing; battery fast-charging and 2D materials.

One of the most exciting trends this list highlights is how rapidly the tech innovation landscape is evolving, said Michael Holman, vice-president of research at Lux. The number of newcomers on the list, along with progress in returning technologies, shows how rapidly innovation is progressing, creating compelling new growth opportunities as well as disruptive threats to incumbents.

The 20 technologies we identified are all compelling individually, particularly for companies in industries that are closely aligned to developing and deploying them, or affected by their impact, he added. However, just as important can be the stories they tell as a group. In looking at the 20 for 20, we identified three key common themes among these innovation dynamos.

The innovations were split into three different types renaissance technologies, platform technologies and breakthrough technologies.

Renaissance technologies arent new , but they are newly relevant, Holman said. They have been around for a while in some form some have even gone for a ride or two on the hype cycle in the past; others have just been regarded as stodgy fields not really associated with cutting-edge innovation. But a combination of megatrends, market demand, and new innovations has thrust them into strategic prominence.

Artificial intelligence is an example of this it has been an aspiration of computer scientists, and preoccupation of sci-fi writers, for decades. In the past five years, new approaches like deep learning combined with the growth of data collection and compute power have made AI a business imperative, he adds.

Likewise, the new focus on protein production has come about in response to food security and climate impact concerns. This is benefiting companies such as Calysta, whose fermentation tech converts methane into single-cell protein feed. Avoiding the land, water, and resource demands of plant protein, it is scaling a viable alternative aquaculture feed.

Platform technologies impact is in what they enable they not only provide opportunities in themselves but also for other innovations to piggyback off them. Smartphones were the most important platform of the past decade-plus. Theyve been big business for manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, as well as driving growth for mobile network operators, Lux says. Their greatest impact, however, has been enabling an all-star list of growth companies, from Uber and Grab to Instagram and Tencent.

Breakthrough technologies are creations with unclear impact. It might not be entirely clear what all the applications will be, but the surge of innovation interest and the way they've captured the imaginations of entrepreneurs and visionaries around the world makes them impossible to ignore, Holman asserts. The risk is that they are just tech push without market pull, but when they can align to an unmet need or demand, the result is explosive.

Wearable electronics is an example of a breakthrough technology. It came onto the scene as a novelty, but now, valuable practical applications are being established for both consumers, such as providing critical health alerts, and industrial users, such as worker safety and productivity boosts.

Blockchain is another technology that jumped suddenly into peoples consciousness thanks to the rise of bitcoin, but now large companies and serious tech developers are exploring how the concept of a distributed ledger can enable legitimate new businesses. Its not certain yet which approaches and applications will work out, but some will likely go on to have great impact. For example, UK utility Centrica has created a local energy market (LEM) in Cornwall, allowing solar and other distributed asset owners to engage in peer-to-peer energy trading including power hedges on LO3 Energys blockchain platform.

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