Category Archives: Technology

Although most of us probably cannot run out and buy the new 2017 E-Class Mercedes-Benz (suggested retail price: $52,150 and up), theres some interesting new technology in it that you may want to know about. According to IEEE Spectrum, when this Mercedes detects the car is about to crash, it deploys a burst of pink noise causing an inner-ear muscle called the stapedius to contract and brace the eardrum for the earsplitting noise of the crash itself.

Precrash safety features in cars are not new (IEEE Spectrum cites seat belts that instantly tighten or sunroofs that instantly close when a crash is predicted), but the notion of pink noise as a means of protecting hearing is novel. Mercedes describes this feature as Pre-Safe Sound (you can hear it yourself in Mercedes video).

IEEE Spectrum reports that the pinknoise being used is approximately80 decibels about equalto that of a dishwasher and completely safe. Car crashes, IEEE explains, are potentially deafening and usually register around 145 decibels. Worse still and this part is not emphasized by Mercedes-Benz or any other car maker is the noise created by the near-instantaneous deployment of the air bag: around 165 dB, writes Philip E. Ross.Its estimated that17 % of the people who are exposed to air bag deployment suffer some degree of permanent hearing loss.

Most of ushave heard of white noise; white noise machines and apps flood rooms with something that sounds like old-fashioned broken TV static. The machines are often used as sleep aids and to mask tinnitus. Technically speaking, white noise is really a combination of all of the different frequencies of sound.

Pink noise refers to a broad spectrum of frequencies in which the power is inversely proportional to the frequency. If you skipped college physics and listened to a lot of records instead, you might better understand pink noise as using different octaves of the same tone in which each of the octaves has the same frequency power as the other. Because of this, a lot of people hear pink noise as being even or flat, but the difference between white and pink noise is difficult for most people to detect. Mercedes describes it in its marketing materials as a bit like diffuse traffic noise, the breaking of waves or a waterfall.

(Just think about how you might panic upon hearing ocean waves during a car crash if you werent aware of this feature, though.)

Mercedes use of pink noise raises the question ofwhether the same techniquemight be used to trigger muscles in the ear to brace the inner ear from other loud noises and prevent hearing loss. The threshold to trigger the stapedius reflex is around 100 decibels, which is quite loud. Pink noise, however, allows that noise to be spread across the spectrum and doesnt feel as jarring to our ears. However, it only triggers a quick muscle reflex lasting just about a second.

In other words, loud bursts of pink noise probably could not prevent hearing loss over time or in many other cases. In fact, it could be detrimental to hearing if used loudly over time. However, some hearing aids use pink noise (as well as white noise, high-tone noise and other noise) to help people who suffer from tinnitus to reduce or diffuse the ringing in their ears.

New pre-safety measures like the pink noise deployment in the Mercedes E-Class could usher in a new level of hearing protection safety in automobiles. And perhaps other uses of the technology can be developed and used beyond just high-end vehicle safety (for example, maybeworkplaces prone to loud bursts of sound might investigate other uses of bursts of pink noise or the military could use the technology where loud explosives and guns are used).

Considering the connection between hearing loss and dementia, as well as the social isolation experienced by many who have lost their hearing, any additional measures that protect hearing seem worthy of research and investment.

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How pink noise technology can be used to protect hearing - MarketWatch

Car shopping isn't just about kicking the tires anymore. It's also about testing the technology.

The rapidly evolving in-car infotainment and navigation systems can be bewildering for all but the most tech-savvy car buyers. The average vehicle on U.S. roads is 11 years old; that means many people last went car shopping before iPhones were invented.

Car buyers should make sure they can pair their phone with a car, play music from their phone, make a hands-free call and use the navigation system before they leave the dealer lot, experts say. They should make sure volume knobs, climate controls and other technology is intuitive and displayed the way they like. Some drivers want volume controls on the steering wheel, for example, while others prefer a knob on the dashboard.

Safety technology is also changing rapidly, and buyers should familiarize themselves with what the car can and can't do. Some vehicles will brake automatically to avoid a collision, while others flash a warning and help the driver pump the brakes but won't bring the car to a full stop.

"Spend some time in the parking lot sitting in the car and just messing with it," says Ron Montoya, senior consumer advice editor for the car shopping site Edmunds.com.

The issue is a serious one for the auto industry. Consumers' complaints about phone connectivity, navigation and infotainment systems have lowered vehicle dependability scores in annual rankings from J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. Poor showings in such rankings can put a dent in sales. Car shopping site Autotrader.com has found that as many as one-third of buyers will choose a different brand if they think a vehicle's tech features are too hard to use.

To combat that, some brands are setting up technology help desks at dealerships and boosting employee training. In 2013, General Motors Co. formed a staff of 50 tech specialists to help deal with an increase in questions from customers about new technology. Those specialists train U.S. dealers to pair customers' phones, set up in-car Wi-Fi and set preferences like radio stations.

When he takes customers for test drives, Paul Makowski pairs his own phone with the car and has customers make a call, stream music and do other tasks. He uses his own phone so customers don't worry that their data will be shared with the dealership.

"Some people fear the technology and decline it all, but we still go over it. They don't leave here not knowing what their car has to offer," says Makowski, the sales manager for Ed Rinke Chevrolet Buick GMC in Center Line, Michigan.

Here are some tips for taking a tech test drive:

TAKE YOUR TIME: Test driving the technology should take at least 45 minutes, says Brian Moody, the executive editor at AutoTrader.com. Find out whether your phone is compatible with the car and learn how to pair it. Call a friend and ask if the sound is clear. Make sure the car understands your voice commands. Enter an address into the navigation system or, if the car has the capability, download an address to the car from your phone. Moody says it's better to learn all these tasks at the dealership than on the road.

UPDATE YOUR PHONE: Make sure your phone has the latest operating system when you go shopping. New cars will be most compatible with updated phones.

DECIDE WHAT YOU LIKE: Six percent of new cars sold last year had Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which display many of your phone's apps on the touchscreen. That's expected to rise to 50 percent by 2020, according to IHS Markit. The familiar interface of those systems can make it easier to transition to in-car technology. But Montoya says there are some shortcomings. Apple CarPlay doesn't support the Waze traffic app or Google maps, for example, and if you want to change a radio station, you have to scroll out of Apple CarPlay and back to your car's radio. You should decide what system is best for you.

SHOP AROUND: Even if you've settled on a vehicle, it never hurts to test drive something else. You may find, for example, that you prefer climate controls on a touchscreen instead of on dashboard knobs, or that one vehicle has easier-to-use buttons on the steering wheel for making calls or adjusting volume. "It might expose you to something better," Montoya says.

DON'T FORGET SAFETY: Lane departure warning systems, backup cameras and blind-spot detection systems work differently depending on the car. Some lane departure systems buzz the seat if you drift out of your lane, for example, while others beep loudly. That's something you might hear or feel a lot, so choose the technology you prefer.

BUY WHAT YOU NEED: Not everyone wants to stream Spotify and chat with Siri while they're driving. If you're in that category, choose a stripped-down model so you're not paying for features you don't need, Montoya says. For example, a Toyota Camry starts at $23,050, but the EnTune infotainment package, which includes hands-free calling and other features, costs $775 extra.

Excerpt from:

When test-driving a new car, take the technology for a spin - ABC News

The incoming head of Maines trade group for credit unions said his top priority is to use advanced technology and data to save consumers money and help them make better financial decisions.

The Maine Credit Union League and its for-profit data processing affiliate Synergent have chosen Todd Mason to replace outgoing President and CEO John Murphy, who plans to retire this summer. Mason is a credit union industry veteran from Michigan with executive experience in that states credit union trade organization.

Masons current job is chief strategy officer for RouteOne, an indirect automotive lending technology company based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Before that, he worked for the Michigan Credit Union League and Affiliates for 19 years, serving in a variety of roles including vice president of technology, education and marketing, and chief operating officer of the leagues CU Solutions Group. He also helped launch a cooperative venture called League InfoSight, where he served as its chief operating officer.

Mason said he plans to arrive in Maine in late April. It will be his first time living in the state. He said the Maine league and Synergent have an outstanding national reputation, particularly in the area of technology, which drew him to the job.

There are some really interesting things going on around technology in the financial world, Mason said. Synergent is really at the core of that.

Synergent is a for-profit subsidiary of the Maine league that provides data-processing services to credit unions. It also offers back-end services such as shared branching, statement processing, ATM, debit card, check processing and support services, along with data mining for marketing purposes.

Mason said the Maine league and Synergent seemed like a good fit because they share his desire to push credit union technology further without compromising the industrys emphasis on personal interaction. He said an example of technology he would like to see implemented is the use of artificial intelligence to better connect credit union members with services they may need.

Mason said he also was impressed with the Maine leagues success at promoting credit unions in the state. His job will include leading the marketing, education and lobbying efforts for the industry.

Maine is a very well-respected organization in the credit union system, he said. In Maine, we have some of the highest member penetration in the U.S., with over 50 percent of state residents belonging to a credit union.

In September, Murphy announced plans to retire in June after 25 years as head of the Maine Credit Union League and Synergent. He has held numerous positions during his 44-year career with the organizations and participated in the development of many products, services and programs for credit unions. Together, the league and Synergent employ 163 people.

To me, its a very bittersweet position to be in, Murphy said. Im very appreciative of the opportunities that Ive had through my own career.

The process of choosing Murphys replacement involved an extensive, six-month national search conducted by ORourke & Associates that first led to the selection of five finalists by a six-member search committee. Ultimately, the leagues board of directors chose Mason.

We just felt that he was a good overall fit, Murphy said.

Board Chairman and Connected CU CEO Rick Lachance said the board found Murphy to be the most aligned with the leagues values, culture and shared vision for its member organizations. His background in technology also was considered a major asset, Lachance said.

His extensive leadership experience, with both a technology organization and working with innovative credit union trade association services, allows Todd to bring unique skills to our organizations, he said. Our board looks forward to the innovation and service commitment that he will bring to the credit unions we serve.

Formed in 1938, the Maine Credit Union Leagues membership comprises all 58 credit unions in Maine.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

[emailprotected]

Twitter: @jcraiganderson

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Maine Credit Union League's incoming top exec promises technology boost - Press Herald

Fox 59

After Delphi murders, teens urged to be safe with technology Fox 59 INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The best leads authorities have come from Liberty German's cell phone: a suspect's picture and an audio clip. Wednesday morning, authorities called her a hero for having the presence of mind to record what was happening in her ... and more »

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After Delphi murders, teens urged to be safe with technology - Fox 59

New York Times

Send Us Your Questions About Mobile Technology New York Times I'm Mark, the European technology correspondent for The New York Times. I'm tasked with keeping tabs on all things tech across the Continent and, sometimes, beyond. I'm in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, a weeklong powwow of company bigwigs, ... and more »

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Send Us Your Questions About Mobile Technology - New York Times

More than two-thirds of the earths surface is covered with water, but most of it is useless for healthy human hydration. Excluding seawater, glaciers and polar ice caps, less than 1 percent of the planets life-sustaining water isin lakes, rivers, streams and underground aquifers. Much of that readily available drinking water requires treatment to eradicate harmful microbes and toxins.

As a result, access to clean drinking water is limited and precarious for many of the worlds people. Water scarcity profoundly affects 1 out of 9people, according to the Water Project, and most illnesses in underdeveloped countries are linked to poor water and sanitary conditions. Natural disasters like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami can lead to emergency situations that affect millions of people who lose access to potable water.

The sheer number of impoverished peoplewho are teetering on the edge of access to clean drinking water prompted a team of researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalos school of engineering and applied sciences to figure out a way to improve solar distillation, a long-established, cost-effectiveyet problematic process of extracting clean drinking water from contaminated sources using simple materials and sunlight.

We have a lot of need for this technology and we hope we can collaborate with people, organizations and agencies to develop this, said Qiaoqiang Gan, associate professor of electrical engineering at the university and a co-author of arecent studydescribing a new method to improve the efficiency of using sunlight to distill clean drinking water.

The idea of using the suns heat to vaporize and recondense water has been known since at least the 4th century B.C. when the Greek philosopher Aristotle first described that salt could be removed from seawater using the suns heat to create water vapor. Suchsolar stills have been used since the industrial revolution, but one major drawback to the technology has beenthe output. Evaporation and condensation arenot fast processes, and most solar stills, especially simple, low-cost ones, are unable to produce enough water to sustain one person in survivalist mode.

But rising awareness of water scarcity issues has led researchers like Gan and his team in Buffalo to apply new techniques to make solar distillation more efficient. Their solar vapor generator and condenser uses porous paper covered with carbon black, a materialthat has a near-zero reflectivity and therefore absorbs a higher amount of solar heat. The carbon-covered paper is then placed over floating white polystyrene foam and a thermal insulator that helps concentrate the solar heat onto the carbon layer. The device is thenplaced on the surface of a dirty water source while the paper acts as a sponge and the carbon as an evaporator. The vapor then condenses on the angled wall of the vaporizer, seeping into a culvert that collects the potable water.

Gan and his teamhave claimed that their prototype produces as much as three times more potable water as comparable solar stills, or about 4.2 cups an hour under sunny conditions. The average healthy adult needs about eight cups of water aday. Crucially, this is all done using cheap materials that can be scaled, meaning arrays of floating stills could be tappedin emergency situations to provide a considerable amount of fresh drinking water to a disaster-struck community, especially in the sunnyparts ofAfrica, Asia and Latin America.

In November, the researchers registered a company called Sunny Clean Water and are hoping to have a production-ready version of their prototype by the end of the year.

Gan, 37, spoke to Salon about his teams work to improve the efficiency of a renewable-energy-using technology thats been around for a very long time.

What attracted you to this project?

Water stress is a global challenge, and its become more and more significant, including in the U.S. The water quality in the U.S. should be the highest in the world, but actually we still have a lot of accidents of contamination which jeopardizes our citizens health. Then there are those resource-limited countries and developing countries, like China and India. Everyone is interested in this issue. We feel that we can do this better.

What does this prototype do that makes it better than other methods of water purification?

Currently, the main technology for water purification is not solar energy based at all. They use reverse osmosis. This technology pushes saltwater or contaminated water through membranes so that clean water can go through. This is the mainstream technology.

But the main disadvantages are, first of all, you have to consume a lot of energy to push the water through these membranes, and secondly the amount of clean water produced is relatively small, leaving a significant amount of water left behind that has a higher concentration of contamination. This wastewater introduces more significant environmental issues. So these are the two major disadvantages.

What are the disadvantages of using solar energy to produce clean water?

A solar water still is a supplementary technology. We cannot compete with the high level of productivity of the mainstream technology [in terms of the output of clean water]. Developed areas of the world would still want to use the high-productivity technology.But our aim is to focus on areas where huge populations suffer from lack of access to clean water.

Think about, for example, Africa. Weve received responses from South African companies that are very interested in this technology. A lot of small areas, for example islands the people there cannot afford those energy-consuming, environmentally unfriendly high-productivity systems. Solar stills are a better option. They can provide the minimum required amount of clean water.

How much water can you theoretically produce with your solar still?

Currently our practical productivity is around 1kilogram per hour per square meter. That means if we have 1 square meter [of contaminated water], after one hour we can produce 1kilogram [or about 4.2 cups] of clean water under full sunlight.

Its totally dependent on solar energy, so if its cloudy or raining, you should not expect as much clean water. Tropical countries have a lot of solar energy therefore I dont think this is a big problem. Currently the practical rate of productivity is around 1kilogram, but the upper limit is about 1.4 to 1.5 kilograms [or 6.3 cups] per hour per square meter.

The basic need for an individual is about 2 kilograms of water [or 8.45 cups] per day under full sunlight. So if we had eight hours of full-sun illumination, then we would be able to generate 5to 8kilograms of water, which could meet survival needs for a small family. We want to improve this performance and have a lot of engineering things yet to do.

Your prototype is about the size of a small refrigerator. A larger solar still would presumably be able to produce more clean water.

Definitely. Weve set up a company to commercialize this technology and we plan to scale it up, much like a solar panel array with many, many solar panels in a given area. We can do a similar thing for solar water stills.

Could you use solar panels to make the solar stills more efficient by adding more heat to the evaporation process?

Its possible. And the water evaporation could also cool down the solar panels, which is good for their performance. If we can find some collaborator in the solar-panel industry, then we can combine the systems. This would be a very good system.

Read the original here:

University's solar-powered still improves ancient water cleaning technology - Salon

Top of the Order:

Here Comes the SunPower:With the way the weather has been around the region lately, and more rain coming down everywhere, the sun shining in the clear blue sky has been as rare as a day without the soul-crushing gridlock along our parking lot-like freeways.

But, all the clouds and the rain couldnt dampen the enthusiasm that greeted San Jose-based SunPower after thesolar-technology company signed a deal to provide solar-panel technology to the Cajon Valley Unified School District near San Diego. SunPower investors liked the thought of the company going back to school so much, so to speak, that they sent SunPower shares up 8.8 percent to close Tuesday at $8.58.

All in all, signing up a school district near San Diego isnt that big of a deal. However, with the solar-panel market seen as being in a bit of a holding pattern for now, SunPowers new deal suggests the company is still able to sign contracts, and that there is growing confidence in its technology. The company is viewed as setting itself up for 2018, when the solar-panel industry is expected to turn around and grow, again.

So, in spite of all the rain right now, SunPower is finding a way to shine.

Middle Innings:

The Old Boss is Back, In a Way: Chances are that late last week, you focused your attention on what you were going to do during the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend. For me, it was spending the time up at Yosemite celebrating the latest anniversary of my 29th birthday with my family and some friends.

So, no one would blame you for missing that former Cypress Semiconductor Chief Executive T.J. Rodgers decided to sue the company he founded, and led for more than three decades.

Rodgers said he was suing Cypress in order to obtain books and records related to what he called irreconcilable conflicts of interest involving the semiconductor companys executive chairman, Ray Bingham. In a statement, Rodgers cited Binghams ties to Canyon Bridge Equity Partners a private equity firm Rodgers said is backed by the government of the Peoples Republic of China and which is attempting to buy chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor as evidence that Bingham may not be acting in Cypress best interests.

Canyon Bridges pending $1.3 billion acquisition of U.S. programmable logic maker Lattice Semiconductor, a company Cypress has attempted to acquire on two previous occasions, clearly demonstrates that Canyon Bridge competes directly with Cypress, Rodgers said in a statement. As Cypresss Executive Chairman, Ray Bingham has intimate knowledge of the Companys M&A (mergers and acquisition) strategy and Rodgers believes that Bingham can use that knowledge to benefit Canyon Bridge to the detriment of the Company and its stockholders.

Rodgers is more than just an angry ex-boss who is shaking his fist at the place where he used to work. When he retired as CEO last year, Rodgers had been the only chief executive Cypress ever had since Rodgers founded the company in 1982. And with more than 8.6 million shares of Cypress stock, Rodgers remains the companys single-largest individual shareholder, so his opinions are likely to have some impact with Cypress other stock owners.

Rodgers also said he was nominatingDaniel McCranie and Camillo Martino for Cypress board of directors. McCranie is chairman of On Semiconductor, while Martino is on the board of directors of MagnaChip Semiconductor. Rodgers said he would send out McCranies and Martinos names as part of a proxy statement to Cypress shareholders who will be able to vote for the nominees at Cypress next annual meeting.

Bottom of the Lineup:

Heres a look at how some leading Silicon Valley stocks did Tuesday.

Movin on Up:In addition to SunPower, gains came from Coupa Software, Advanced Micro Devices, Finisar and Extreme Networks.

In the Red:Decliners included Quotient Technology, Depomed, Pandora Media, TiVo and Shutterfly.

The tech-focusedNasdaq Composite Indexrose 0.5 percent to 5,865.95.

The blue chipDow Jones Industrial Averageadded 0.6 percent to end the day at 20,743.

And the broad-basedStandard & Poors 500 Indexalso rose 0.6 percent to finish at 2,365.38.

Quote of the Day:I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone. Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannapoulous, who resigned his editor position at Breitbart amid a controversy over comments he had made related to pedophilia.

Sign up for the 60-Second Business Break newsletter atwww.siliconvalley.com.

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Biz Break: SunPower shines with new solar panel technology deal - The Mercury News

Reducing incarceration with technology

Twenty new jurisdictions have joined the Safety and Justice Challenge, an initiative to reduce over-incarceration and address racial and ethnic local justice disparities through innovative criminal justice reforms.

A national $100 million initiative by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the challenge works to tackle such issues as gender-responsive risk and needs assessment, culture-based case management and recidivism reduction approaches, and enhanced services for people with mental illness involved with the justice system, the foundation said in its announcement of the new grant winners.

Many of the solutions involve using technology to drive down jail usage and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in local justice systems.

Durham County, N.C., is developing an automated notification system to prevent failure-to-appear warrants and arrests. People facing criminal court charges would receive text or phone notices regarding their scheduled court dates, in an effort to decrease the number of people who end up in jail because of missing a court date.

People forget things. Its only human, Durham County Clerk of Superior Court Archie L. Smith III said in a statement. Medical providers generate appointment reminder calls to insure that health needs are timely met. We will provide reminder calls such that legal obligations can be timely addressed.

Adams County, Colo., is developing a data linking system to better understand the correlation between mental health crises and crime. It will analyze how many critical incident response calls are related to mental health crises and divert people with mental illness from incarceration to treatment. The county will develop a dashboard and analytical tool to monitor progress onredirecting people with mental illness to treatment to reducethe unnecessary use of emergency services and the jail.

The intent of the system will be to share data between health providers in the jail and community to improve continuity of care, according to minutes from the Data Sharing Task Force Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. We know people stay in prison/jail longer and return more without continuity of care.

San Francisco is developing a web-based recidivism analysis dashboard, integrating data from multiple justice agencies to support the development of data-driven sentencing and supervision policies that will help the city assess its progress in reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system.

This dashboard will offer an interface that would allow key decision-makers to review information in real time and make decisions about resource allocation for supervision or programming, according to the San Francisco Sentencing Commission City and County of San Francisco. "It would also be a tool to inform the public about how we are collectively reaching our goal to reduce recidivism in the criminal justice system."

The 20 communities will receive short-term support of $50,000 each from the foundations Innovation Fund and expert technical assistance in designing and implementing local reforms. They are also eligible for future funding opportunities, and have access to the resources, peer learning opportunities and expertise of theSafety and Justice Challenge Network.

About the Author

Kathleen Hickey is a freelance writer for GCN.

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Reducing incarceration with technology - GCN.com

Technology is fundamentally altering the investment landscape, and it will continue to have a profound influence on the quality of service that individual investors receive. This change, coupled with a shift in consumer preferences from a younger generation, is crucial for evaluating the controversy currently surrounding the fiduciary rule.

In April 2016, the Department of Labor announced its final rule to amend the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The rule imposes a broader fiduciary standard on those providing retirement advice to individual retirement account (IRA) holders, and also clarifies and adds to existing standards for advisers to 401(k) and other retirement plans.

In short: Anyone who receives compensation for providing retirement advice must put their clients best interest first, as opposed to recommending products that are deemed to be broadly suitable but that compensate advisers more than competing low-fee investment funds.

While it might seem obvious that investors deserve advice that puts their interests first, the rule has engendered a storm of protest, from inception to more recent Trump administration threats to delay or scrap the implementation of the rule.

The guiding principle of the Labor Departments fiduciary rule is absolutely correct and long overdue. All too often investors in retirement plans pay higher fees than they should, and their accounts contain high-cost funds that reward the provider of advice rather than the client.

Critics of the rule argue the new fiduciary standard would force investors to move from commission-based accounts to costlier, fee-based advisory accounts. The result, they believe, is that investor choice and access to financial education regarding retirement accounts will be limited, and that small investors will be badly harmed.

Currently, a broker may recommend a high-expense mutual fund for a client investing in a 401(k) rollover or a new IRA. The broker is compensated by receiving a commission for selling the fundand is only required to ensure that the fund is a suitable investment.

Many fee-based advisers require minimum investments in the six figures, and they charge fees that would be prohibitively expensive for small and medium-size investors. Large brokerage and insurance firms argue that only a commission-based model can work for the average investor.

Missing in this controversy is that technology has already upended the current brokerage model and millennials, the largest generation in U.S. history, wont settle for anything less than a service that puts their interests ahead of company bottom lines.

Over the past few years, a number of digital investment advisers have been established, and they are growing rapidly. Firms such as Future Advisor, Betterment, Rebalance IRA and our own firm, Wealthfront, now provide low-cost, high-quality alternatives to antiquated investment models. Even large traditional incumbent firms, likeCharles Schwaband Fidelity, are investing heavily in technology to provide high-quality, fiduciary service to more investors.

These automated investment services are able to provide sophisticated portfolio management to small investors at incredibly low cost by leveraging the same type of technology that has helped companies likeFacebookandGooglescale to billions of users.

Some automated advisers will even manage accounts of less than $10,000 without charging any advisory fee. Accounts over $10,000 might pay a management fee of only 25 basis points (one quarter of 1 percent), a fraction of the typical 1 percent that traditional investment managers charge.

Investments are made in portfolios of low-cost, exchange-traded index funds tailored to the needs and risk tolerance of the client. No trading commissions are charged, and conflicts of interest are avoided. Rock-bottom fees are especially important if we are in an era of future low-gross investment returns, which many investment managers believe.

The services offered by the new digital advisers are not second-rate. Clientsreceive daily monitoring and management rather than the quarterly or annual reviews provided by many traditional advisers. Accounts can be automatically rebalanced and moved to somewhat safer asset-class allocations as the investors financial situation evolves. Every trade is automatically vetted against the investment strategy promised to the client.

The securities industry is correct to worry that implementation of the fiduciary rule will result in massive changes to the traditional ways of doing business. Business models that depend on selling high-cost, low-value proprietary products to clients will be threatened, with the result that there may be fewer broker-dealers and investment advisers to choose from.

But the best firms will invest heavily in the technology to better address the change in consumer preferences. Investors will pay less, not more, for the services they receive, and what they get will be better, not worse. Capitalism has always involved a painful process of creative destruction. The financial services industry will be stronger and more effective because of innovation, and the fiduciary standard will accelerate the process of changing outmoded and ineffective financial business models.

Original post:

Policy rollbacks can't counteract technology advances in retirement investing - TechCrunch

If theres one word that can describe Viva Technology (or VivaTech for short), its that its a ginormous conference. While it was just the first edition last year, 45,000 people made their way to Paris to talk about all things tech. VivaTech is back again this year, June 15-17.

Last year, Mike and I didnt know what to expect. But I think its fair to say that it was a good conference. As Mike wrote last year, VivaTech is somewhat akin to a TechCrunch Disrupt, but with a broader mix of corporate and government involvement.

VivaTech is co-organized by the advertising company Publicis and major newspaper Les chos. Last year, 5,000 startups, 6,000 CEOs, 250 investors and 5,000 students were there at some point during the three days of the conference. There were a ton of startup booths, as well as eight stages.

And the team behind VivaTech plans to do just that once again. Everything will be refined, as the conference was organized quite quickly last year. So this time, they have more time to prepare and line up their speakers and startups.

Today at the lyse Palace, French president Franois Hollande, French digital minister Axelle Lemaire, Publicis, Les chos and a bunch of other people introduced the event. It was a big splashy event with around 200 people from the tech ecosystem.

The first time I heard about VivaTech, I thought oh no, not yet another big thing, Axelle Lemaire said. But she then said that France needed a major tech event to compete with other countries.

Today, VivaTech is clearly a success. Thats why they want to do it again, but this time, theyll pay attention to details to turn it into a community venture so that it can become a major innovation event in France and across the world, she said.

She then listed many of her initiatives as digital minister. Ive covered many of them on TechCrunch La French Tech, the French Tech Ticket, the French Tech Visa, the Digital Republic bill, the gender diversity initiative and more.

French president Franois Hollande spent most of his speech making jokes he only has a couple of months left as the French president after all. Maurice Lvy is good when it comes to communication, and I should have talked with him more often, he said.

France is the second European country for startup funding rounds, Hollande said. And weve been first for the number of transactions since January.

Five years ago, when I heard about [the CES conference] in Las Vegas, there were very few French startups. Today, were the second biggest country. And we hope that we can become the first one in a few years the president of the U.S. is helping us.

Its weird that French politicians have been fascinated with CES like its the ultimate tech event. There are many tech events out there, but somehow CES is the gold standard for ministers, political candidates and French presidents.

Hollande also listed all the reasons why France has become more favorable for startups. Arguably, it has never been easier to create a startup in France, and he hopes that the next French president is going to follow the same path.

Other speakers included VivaTechs co-directors Julie Ranty-Dchelette and Maxime Baffert. They announced the first partners of Viva Technology. Maurice Lvy announced some of the first speakers, such as Peter Fenton from Benchmark, Eric Schmidt from Alphabet, Daniel Zhang from Alibaba and Dan Schulman from PayPal.

In short, VivaTech 2017 is going to be like VivaTech 2016, but more polished. There will be fewer stages, so the content should be more focused. There will be big companies like AccorHotels, Air France KLM, Carrefour, LVMH, TF1 Group and more. And finally, there will be thousands of entrepreneurs.

Les chos CEO Francis Morel was also on stage to talk about the event. And LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault was also at the event. At first I didnt really understand what Arnault was doing there, but then I remembered that Arnault is the main investor in Les chos.

At least it was a good opportunity for a family photo with Lvy, Hollande and Arnault:

Continued here:

Viva Technology is coming back to Paris with its ginormous tech conference - TechCrunch