IoT devices are fast becoming an everyday part of our lives. Whether it be in the role they play in manufacturing and industry or powering the appliances in our own homes, it’s clear that IoT devices provide new and efficient ways of working and living. From wearables to smart cities, there’s no shortage of the capabilities that IoT devices have when collecting data from their environment and the internet, but with this advance in technology comes new risks to data, networks, and IT infrastructures.
Despite their prevalence in our lives, the security risks that are inherent to these data sharing devices are failing to be tackled head on. All this can disrupt everything from our power and security within our homes as well as impacting the critical infrastructure sector.
With the growing risk of cyberattacks which look to exploit the security vulnerabilities of IoT devices, it’s now more important than ever to have a strong understanding and security strategy in place to avoid and mitigate these risks.
Continue reading: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/23/protecting-iot-dns/

London, UK:  Altitude Angel, the world’s most trusted UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology provider, and Oxfordshire County Council have today announced they are to collaborate on a unique project which will provide local authorities with a blue-print for each to realize and enable its local drone economy.
With the backing of The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and under the moniker AirTek, the partnership will establish a framework to understand the requirements councils need to have in place to progress UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) services and trials.  In doing so, it will reduce discretion and monitoring costs, which are often barriers to opening new services and operations. Oxfordshire County Council iHub team will make use of their extensive knowledge on developing the requirements for CAV trials and services for local authorities to the UAV environment.
There are established business cases for using UAVs as freight carriers, including medical samples, alleviating pressure on ground transportation and AirTek will enable and accelerate this technology’s economic and environmental benefits.
Continue reading: https://www.suasnews.com/2021/09/uk-business-minister-backs-altitude-angel-to-keep-the-uk-at-the-cutting-edge-of-innovation/

The alarming increase in the occurrence of wildfires isn't going away. In fact, fire frequencies are projected to increase by approximately 27% globally by 2050. Areas such as North America, Northern Eurasia, and Australia are deemed to be most susceptible to wildfires, making finding effective methods to respond to them increasingly more important.
Increasingly, fire departments across the globe have started to deploy first responder drones to ensure firefighter safety as well as enhance operational effectiveness when tackling a wide range of emergency sites including oil wells, high rises, and wildfires.
In response to a recent forest fire that broke out in Athens, Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said that the armed forces would strengthen their capabilities in fire prevention, deploying drones over other vulnerable sites across the country to obtain accurate data. Drone deployment in a fire emergency ensures the protection of personnel, gathers situational awareness speedily and accurately, and provides a cost-effective helicopter replacement and enables fast mapping for incident response and recovery.
Continue reading: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-a-drone-in-a-box-can-stop-wildfires/

Last year, Commercial UAV News spoke with Mainblades about looking into making a presentable use case for outdoor applications. A lot has happened since then, and the company has now performed the first European fully automated outdoor airport drone inspection of a commercial aircraft at an active airfield in Woensdrecht, Netherlands.
To validate the increasing interest for outdoor airport drone inspections, Mainblades, in cooperation with Fokker Techniek, Truenoord, and the Dutch Drone Centre / Aviolanda, used its M300 drone solution to inspect an Airbus A330. Typically, aircraft inspections require inspectors on-site to check that all the damages and repairs of the aircraft are correctly recorded in the damaged and repair mapping report. This becomes problematic with bigger aircraft as it can be hard to take a good look on top of it, including the wings or the tail. With a drone, this process becomes much easier since a drone can fly around the aircraft to find damages and take pictures that show more than can be seen with the naked eye. 
Currently, Mainblades is still primarily performing indoor drone inspections, but this is the first step toward developing and modernizing aircraft maintenance services. Outdoor inspections allow the reservation of hangar space for heavy-duty maintenance and scheduled inspections, while light inspections can be done in front of the hangar, on parking spots, or at the gate in the future, massively reducing the time spent for unscheduled maintenance. This holds great potential for shorter turnaround times and fewer overall aircraft movements (towings) at the airport.
Continue reading: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/infrastructure/mainblades-conducts-first-european-outdoor-airplane-drone-inspection

Although the drone economy is new, it’s growing and promises to revolutionize package delivery, aerial imaging and a host of other applications in everyday life and business. “Across a broad array of sectors, many organizations are seeing the value drones can add, be that inspecting infrastructure, surveying agricultural land or aiding first responders,” says Jim Barksdale, president of Barksdale Investment & Research in Atlanta. As the industry progresses, and especially regulations begin to allow drones to fly out of sight of their operators, drones will have a much bigger impact on the economy, says Miriam McNabb, editor-in-chief of Dronelife and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace. She points to “major retailers like Walmart and logistics players like UPS (increasing) their investments in the drone industry.” Here are seven drone stocks to watch today with an eye for growth.
When AgEagle was founded in 2010, its focus was on fixed-wing drones, data and analytics for the agriculture industry. Since then, it has been a story in diversification. “They’ve really moved out of a single-industry focus,” McNabb says. While the company offers two proprietary fixed-wing drones, it has expanded into contract manufacturing that also includes multirotor and hybrid fuselages for energy, construction and government, in addition to agriculture. It’s also involved in the manufacturing and assembly of drones for delivery operations. “Increasing demand for faster delivery in the transport and logistics industry is fueling capital investments in drone delivery initiatives across several sectors, including delivery of consumer packages, food, healthcare supplies and heavy cargo,” the company says.
Continue reading: https://www.bollyinside.com/news/as-technology-increases-here-are-7-drone-actions-to-watch

Expect to see drones buzzing above you within the next few years in Corpus Christi.
The City Council on Tuesday approved a $4 million, five-year business incentive agreement between the Corpus Christi B Corporation and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. It intends to expand and support the modernization and infrastructural needs to the campus' Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft System Center.
LSUASC is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration drone test sites in the United States, and the only one in Texas. The test site was established in 2013 as a research center at TAMUCC with support from the Corpus Christi Business and Job Development Corporation.
The center is a global partner for research, development, testing and evaluation of drone technologies across educational, public and commercial agency interests. It supports the aeronautical research needs of research institutions, private-sector service providers, nonprofit corporations and local, state and federal agencies.
Continue reading: https://www.caller.com/story/news/education/2021/09/22/tamucc-expand-business-corpus-christi-drone-technology/5803023001/

Police responsible for safety at a Guns N’ Roses concert that drew 14,000 fans used Elistair Orion 2 tethered drones for security – here’s why customers including the French defense agency and CNN Air are using tethered drones to secure large events.
On the evening of August 13, 2021, an Elistair Orion 2 unmanned aerial vehicle was utilized to monitor a Guns N’ Roses concert held at the University of Montana. The drone flew over the venue continuously for six hours in order to guarantee the safety of the 14,000 attendees.
Police at the University of Montana’s Washington Grizzly Stadium were given access to a consistent aerial view of the stadium and surrounding area, streamed directly from the Orion’s electro optic and infrared sensors. The Orion’s dual sensor payload in conjunction with its 24 hour flight endurance enabled the system to carry out an uninterrupted, day into night mission, eliminating the need to land.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2021/09/22/tethered-drones-for-security-elistair-orion-2-flies-over-guns-n-roses-concert/

The Korean delegation at the recent Commercial UAV Expo show in Las Vegas was among the largest international groups on the floor, featuring not only a large and varied range of Korean drones, but representation from the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation – a body actively supporting the growing drone industry in Korea.   Korea’s decision to support innovation and the drone ecosystem at a top-down, national level is helping small- and medium-sized drone businesses make their mark on the global drone market.
Korean technology is known around the world, with large companies like Hyundai, Samsung, LG, and Kia among the top automotive and tech providers around the globe.  Korean drones are entering the global market quickly, supported by generous grants to support innovation, regulatory flexibility, and government-funded testing facilities.  As the U.S. government turns away from China-made tech, the Korean industry is ready to take advantage of the opportunity that a growing market provides.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2021/09/22/korean-drones-at-commuav-expo-why-koreas-drone-industry-is-racing-ahead/

Do you have some anxiety about Artificial Intelligence (AI) bias or related issues? You’re not alone. Nearly all business leaders surveyed for Deloitte’s third State of AI in the Enterprise report expressed concerns around the ethical risks of their AI initiatives.
There is certainly some cause for uneasiness. Nine out of ten respondents to a late 2020 Capgemini Research Institute survey were aware of at least one instance where an AI system had resulted in ethical issues for their businesses. Nearly two-thirds have experienced the issue of discriminatory bias with AI systems, six out of ten indicated their organizations had attracted legal scrutiny as a result of AI applications, and 22 percent have said they suffered customer backlash because of these decisions reached by AI systems.
As Capgemini leaders pointed out in their recent blog post: “Enterprises exploring the potential of AI need to ensure they apply AI the right way and for the right purposes. They need to master Ethical AI.”
Continue reading: https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2021/9/what-is-ethical-artificial-intelligence-ai-7-questions-answered

The U.K. government has announced a national AI strategy — its first dedicated package aimed at boosting the country’s capabilities in and around machine learning technologies over the longer term.
It says it hopes the strategy will lead to an increase in the number and types of AIs being developed and commercialized in the U.K. over the next 10 years.
The plan to prioritize and “level up” development and applications of artificial intelligence follows earlier industrial and digital strategies — which talked up the promise of AI. But Boris Johnson’s government is now inching onward, announcing a 10-year plan to invest in making Britain “a global AI superpower”, as the government’s PR puts it — by targeting support at areas like upskilling and reskilling in the hopes of reaping AI-driven economic rewards down the line.
Whether there’s much of policy substance here, as yet, looks debatable.
Continue reading: https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/22/uk-announces-a-national-strategy-to-level-up-ai/

The exponential growth of data has fed artificial intelligence’s voracious appetite and led to its transformation from niche to omnipresent.  An equally important aspect of this AI growth equation is the ever-expanding demands it places on computer system requirements to deliver higher AI performance. This has not only led to AI acceleration being incorporated into common chip architectures such as CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs but also mushroomed a class of dedicated hardware AI accelerators specifically designed to accelerate artificial neural networks and machine learning applications. While these hardware accelerators can deliver impressive AI performance improvements, software AI accelerators are required to deliver even higher orders of magnitude AI performance gains across deep learning, classical machine learning, and graph analytics, for the same hardware set-up. What’s more is that this AI performance boost driven by software optimizations is free, requiring almost no code changes or developer time and no additional hardware costs.
Let us try to visualize the scope of the cost savings that can be realized through the 10-100X performance gains that can be realized through software AI acceleration. For example, many of the leading streaming media services have tens of thousands of hours of available content. They might want to use image classification and object detection algorithms for content moderation, text identification, and celebrity recognition. The classification criteria might also be different by country based on local customs and government regulations and the process might need to be repeated for ~10% of the content every month, based on new programs and rule changes. Using the list prices of running these AI algorithms on the leading cloud service providers, even a 10X gain in performance through software AI accelerators can lead to approximate cost savings of millions of dollars a month**.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/22/software-ai-accelerators-ai-performance-boost-for-free/

“Alexa, buy a stock that has the best chance of going up between 1% and 3% today.” Could the complexity of financial research ever become this simple? The answer is yes. New developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are disrupting the underwriting process, portfolio composition, robo-advising, research and virtually every corner of fintech.
Someday, you’ll have reliable AI that can analyze your specific investing style, alert you as to where opportunities lay hidden and offer you hard-hitting analyses to stay informed. This is vital because sound financial systems underpin economic growth and development, and they’re the engine behind the civilized world in advancing shared prosperity and reducing class inequality.
And making investing accessible is critical. Class division is more severely disproportionate in the ownership of financial assets than in the distribution of income. The top 1% of wealthy Americans control about 38% of the stock market, and the top 10% have 84% of all of Wall Street portfolios’ value, according to the results of the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/09/22/how-ai-will-democratize-access-to-investing/?sh=37f61b0f2a1b

Amid the most significant leadership changes in company history, Amazon Web Services has made a series of organizational changes to prioritize new areas of the business, according an internal memo viewed by Insider and sources with direct knowledge of the changes.
Amazon is creating a new organization called EC2 Edge, according to an internal memo Elastic Compute Cloud boss Dave Brown sent last week, combining hybrid cloud and edge computing products Outposts, AWS Local Zones, Wavelength, and Telco. To run the new org as a VP, Amazon hired Jan Hofmeyr from Comcast, where he was the chief network officer and one of the architects behind the company's X1 video and entertainment platform. 
In the cloud industry, "edge" refers to the concept of keeping more computing power close to the final user — considered the edge of the network. Some in the industry believe that edge computing could be the next great frontier for the cloud market, powering more intelligent devices like self-driving cars or industrial robotics, where decisions can be made faster and on-the-fly without the need to communicate with platforms like AWS itself. 
Indeed, one AWS insider said that dedicating a new VP to a business indicates that it's something Amazon sees as a potential billion-dollar business, or otherwise represents a significant strategic area for the company. Amazon declined to comment for this story.
The new organization will be "focused on providing EC2 Compute and Networking outside of our current regional footprint," Brown wrote in the email last week. "We're making strong progress in this area with the products that we have and I'm confident that the alignment here will allow us to move even faster. While it is still early days, I'm confident that EC2 Edge will be a very meaningful business for AWS in the coming years."
The unit also includes products like Outposts, which represent Amazon's first-ever product designed for the traditional data center, helping customers connect their legacy IT architecture up to the AWS cloud. Hybrid cloud is seen as tying in closely to the concept of edge computing, bringing more of the power of the cloud to the servers that customers already use.
Outposts General Manager Joshua Burgin, Local Zones boss Nathan Helmick, and Telco Director Kiran Edara, and EC2 senior principal software engineer Diwakar Gupta will now report to Hofmeyr. George Elissaios will also report to Hofmeyr and run a new consolidated product management organization for EC2 Edge products, including Outposts. 
Continue reading: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-web-services-internal-memo-edge-computing-2021-9

Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a webinar on artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace.  Commissioner Keith Sonderling explained that the EEOC is monitoring employers’ use of such technology in the workplace to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws. The agency recognizes the potential for AI to mitigate unlawful human bias, but is wary of rapid, undisciplined implementation that may perpetuate or accelerate such bias.  Sonderling remarked that the EEOC may use Commissioner charges—agency-initiated investigations unconnected to an employee’s charge of discrimination—to ensure employers’ are not using AI in an unlawful manner, particularly under the rubric of disparate impact claims.
The EEOC’s interest in this topic is not new.  The agency previously held a public meeting in October 2016 discussing the use of big data in the workplace and the implications for employment law practitioners.  But the most recent webinar likely reflects the EEOC’s response to a November 2020 letter, authored by ten U.S. Senators, asking the agency to focus on employers’ use of artificial intelligence, machine-learning, and other hiring technologies that may result in discrimination.  We previously blogged about this letter here.
Many attorneys and AI commentators agree that AI, such as automated candidate sourcing, resume screening, or video interview analysis, is not a panacea for employment discrimination.  The technology, if not carefully implemented and monitored, can introduce and even exacerbate unlawful bias.  This is because algorithms generally rely on a set of human inputs, such as resumes of high-performing existing employees, to guide their analysis of candidates.  If those inputs lack diversity, the algorithm may reinforce existing institutional bias at breakneck speed.  This can lead to claims of disparate impact discrimination.  The EEOC would most assuredly take a heightened interest in any such claims.
Although the EEOC has flagged these issues, it has not yet issued written guidance on the use of AI in employment decisions.  In his remarks, Sonderling confirmed that the most relevant guidance document is over 40 years old.  He was referring to the EEOC’s 1978 Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures.  That guidance, written in the wake of the 1960s civil rights movement, outlines different ways employers can show that employment tests and other selection criteria are job-related and consistent with business necessity.  Although dated, the same principles that justified the validity of selection procedures in the 1970s can guide employers using AI today.  One such method, called the 80% rule, explains that a selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group which is less than eighty percent (80%) of the selection rate for the group with the highest selection rate constitutes a “substantially different rate of selection,” indicating possible disparate impact.  According to the Uniform Guidelines, this rule of thumb may be used by employers to test AI tools prior to implementation and to regularly audit such tools after implementation.
Continue reading: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/employers-beware-eeoc-monitoring-use-artificial-intelligence

When logistics service providers were first charged with delivering the new Covid-19 vaccines in late 2020, they may have wished for a magic wand to solve the extraordinary challenges their mission would present. While some already had specialized pharmaceutical divisions and cold chain warehouses to serve the typical trade in medicines and biological products, those networks were designed for a lighter flow of goods to predetermined destinations like hospitals, not an all-out blitz to reach every corner of the globe as quickly as possible.
The vials of the precious vaccine had to be moved in huge quantities, kept at ultra-low temperatures, and shipped and delivered at top speed … all at a time when commercial aircraft—whose belly space has long been the main means of expedited international cargo transport—were largely grounded due to pandemic-related restrictions on passenger travel. At the same time, the logistics companies’ employees had to work in conditions where they faced exposure to the very virus they were fighting. To cap it off, they were under colossal pressure to distribute the vaccines before the deadly disease could spread among vulnerable populations.
Citing severe capacity constraints in the aircargo market, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) dubbed the effort “the mission of the century” for the sector.
Yet despite those and other challenges, logistics service companies—and parcel carriers, in particular—have been successful in their efforts to swiftly distribute Covid-19 vaccines. One of the key tools players have brought to bear is the internet of things (IoT), a vast network of connected sensors that allowed shippers and carriers to monitor and track this critical cargo as it passed through multiple hands, transportation modes, and countries.
MOVE IT QUICKLY, KEEP IT COLD
To help them track shipments and manage the complexities of time-sensitive vaccine distribution, the major parcel carriers—DHL, FedEx Corp., and UPS Inc.—all turned to variations of IoT technology. 
For DHL, IoT tools were critical for monitoring cargo that had to be maintained at subzero temperatures (-70 degrees Fahrenheit for the Pfizer vaccine and -20 degrees for the Moderna version) and for reassuring trading partners who were pushing for urgent delivery. Those partners stretched across the globe: Through May of 2021, the company had transported more than 200 million doses of the various Covid-19 vaccines on about 9,000 flights to more than 120 countries.
Continue reading: https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/52284-eye-in-the-sky-iot-powers-vaccine-delivery-blitz

Accelerated digitalization is a boon for the healthcare industry. With electronic healthcare records (EHRs), provider organizations can more easily manage population health and meet the needs of stakeholders. However, the increased use of electronic records also means that providers need to adjust their data management strategies to meet patient expectations and ensure integrity, interoperability, and security while complying with policies and regulations. To do that, they need to move away from data silos and leverage holistic care models and secure data.
Overcoming healthcare data challenges through connected enterprise data management
Disconnected healthcare data results in poor accessibility to records and translates into fragmented care delivery for patients. One must navigate from a primary care physician to a specialist, from labs to pharmacies, and from claims to payers—all across uncoordinated systems that often have little visibility into the conditions of the patients they’re treating. The result is hundreds—if not thousands—of disconnected systems across the industry. Bringing them all together, analyzing data records, and making sure these systems communicate with each other present major issues for today’s healthcare industry. 
The key challenges that healthcare enterprises face while implementing successful data management capabilities are captured in the four V’s of big data: 
– Volume: The amount of global healthcare data is huge, with numerous sources, patients, departments, and care settings. Projections indicate that there could be as much as 2,314 exabytes of new data generated in 2020.
Continue reading: https://hitconsultant.net/2021/09/21/moving-enterprise-data-management-to-health-cloud/#.YUtDZbhKg2w

Dive Brief:

• Less than one in five CIOs at Fortune 500 identify as female, according to a report from cloud talent firm Revolent. The company analyzed public data from sources such as LinkedIn profiles and company sites to produce the report.
• The gender gap at the highest levels of tech leadership has only marginally improved over the past three years. Representation among women CIOs is up just 2.8% since 2018.
• CIOs who identify as female also have shorter tenures than their male counterparts. On average, female CIOs hold onto their roles for three years and three months, compared to four years and nine months for male CIOs. 

Dive Insight:
The gender gap in tech is also persistent, and shows only minor improvement in senior roles despite nearly ubiquitous corporate diversity efforts. 
While women make up nearly half (47%) of the national workforce, they comprise less than one-third (28%) of tech leadership positions, according to BCG and Heidrick & Struggles. The barriers leading to the gender gap are also well documented, from sexual harassment and discrimination at industry events to lack of opportunities in professional development.
"We're not seeing enough women at C-level," said Nabila Salem, president of Revolent, in an email. "Not nearly enough."
Business interest in equality and parity for women in the workplace is declining, according to Salem. This may partly be happening due to the small increases in female tech employees, but the improvement "is really only at the most senior levels, which masks the issue rather than solving it."
Continue reading: https://www.ciodive.com/news/women-cio-fortune-500-revolent-/606942/

People ask me all the time if being a woman in tech is hard because we’re underrepresented in the field. I suppose you could think of it that way — but why would you want to focus exclusively on what it is difficult?
Where does support start? It starts with you.
One of the most important things you can do in your career as a woman in tech is to support yourself, support others and find people to support you. You truly have to believe — deep down — in yourself and that you can reach your goals. Then you need to believe in others and that they can accomplish their goals and it won’t negatively affect you. Finally, you need to find your own cheerleaders to encourage and believe in you.
How can you accomplish all of this? I’ll show you some tactical ways to support, be supported and find support.
Continue reading: https://builtin.com/women-tech/find-your-squad

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are fundamentally changing how customer experiences (CX) are built and delivered to customers, and Adobe is at the forefront of this trend. The company has long been a pioneer in delivering intelligent enhancements to its solutions. Its AI and ML technology, Adobe Sensei, has been integrated into various Adobe applications but can also be used independently to help brands succeed.
Currently, 80% of Adobe Experience Cloud customers are using its AI and ML capabilities, largely because of Adobe’s approach to delivering intelligence. Because Sensei-powered capabilities are built into Adobe enterprise applications, marketers and developers can use AI out of the box easily and seamlessly. In addition, intelligent capabilities that are built on the Adobe Experience Platform can be accessed as AI-as-a-Service. With a goal of making the power of AI and ML available to all, Adobe has made its Sensei-powered capabilities easily manageable to marketers, content strategists, business analysts, developers, and IT.
The key is to make the AI capabilities powerful but easy to use.
“The biggest challenges organizations face with AI are to identify the best use cases and then set up, implement, and manage the algorithms and data feeds appropriately,” says Gerry Murray, research director, marketing and sales technology, at IDC. “Adobe simplifies these challenges by embedding AI and ML capabilities via Adobe Sensei into Experience Cloud applications, enabling marketers and data scientists to quickly design and deliver compelling customer experiences that learn from and adapt to customer behavior over time.”
Brands that have tapped Adobe’s AI and ML capabilities have improved many aspects of their CX. Their personalization efforts are more individualized, and they can proactively manage the customer journey in real-time. In addition, Sensei-powered analytics improve decision making and give organizations far more insight than was possible just 12 months ago.
One of the newer uses of AI and ML technology is to make more intelligent choices about how to allocate marketing budgets. Budgets can be hit-or-miss guesswork when they are drawn up using legacy approaches driven by history and limited data. By leveraging Sensei, Adobe is introducing Marketing Mix Modeling capability that allows brands to forecast and optimize budgets for online and offline channels more effectively. And AI doesn’t just improve the regular budgeting process; it also focuses spend to meet specific business objectives. To deliver even more benefit, this solution can be combined with Adobe’s Attribution AI service, which allows marketers to quantify historical performance.
Continue reading: https://www.cio.com/article/3633936/leveraging-ai-to-optimize-customer-experience.html

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are some of the buzziest terms in tech and for a good reason. These innovations have the potential to tackle some of humanity's biggest obstacles across industries, from medicine to education and sustainability. One sector, in particular, is set to see massive advancement through these new technologies: assistive technology. 
Assistive technology is defined as any product that improves the lives of individuals who otherwise may not be able to complete tasks without specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs and dictation services. Globally, more than 1 billion people depend on assistive technology. When implemented effectively, assistive technology can improve accessibility and quality of life for all, regardless of ability. 
Here are three ways AI is currently improving assistive technology and its use-cases, which might give your company some new ideas for product innovation: 
Ensuring Education For All
Accessibility remains a challenging aspect of education. For children with learning disabilities or sensory impairments, dictation technology, more commonly known as speech-to-text or voice recognition, can help them to write and revise without pen or paper. In fact, 75 out of 149 participants with severe reading disabilities reported increased motivation in their schoolwork after a year of incorporating assistive technology.
This technology works best when powered by high-quality AI. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms have the capability to improve the accuracy of speech recognition and word predictability, which can minimize dictation errors while facilitating effective communication from student to teacher or among collaborating schoolmates. 
That said, according to a 2001 study, only 35% of elementary schools — arguably the most significant portion of education a child receives — provide any assistive technology. This statistic could change due to social impact of AI programs. These include Microsoft's AI for Accessibility initiative, which invests in innovations that support people with neuro-diversities and disabilities. Its projects include educational AI applications that provide students with visual impairments the text-to-speech, speech recognition and object recognition tools they need to succeed in the classroom.  
Better Outcomes For Medical Technology 
With a rapidly aging population estimated to top approximately 2 billion over the age of 60 by 2050, our plans to care for our loved ones could rely heavily on AI and ML in the future. Doctors and entrepreneurs are already paving the way; in the past decade alone, medical AI investments topped $8.5 billion in venture capital funding for the top 50 startups. 
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/09/21/three-ways-ai-is-improving-assistive-technology/?sh=db3d41c419d0

The next few Tuesdays, The Verge’s flagship podcast The Vergecast is showcasing a miniseries dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in industries that are often overlooked, hosted by Verge senior reporter Ashley Carman. This week, the series focuses on AI for the video world.
More specifically, we’re looking at how AI is being used as a tool to help people streamline the process of creating video content. Yes, this might mean software taking on a bigger role in the very human act of creativity, but what if instead of replacing us, machine learning tools could be used to assist our work?
That’s what Scott Prevost, VP of Adobe Sensei — Adobe’s machine learning platform — envisions for Adobe’s AI products. “Sensei was founded on this firm belief that we have that AI is going to democratize and amplify human creativity, but not replace it,” Prevost says. “Ultimately, enabling the creator to do things that maybe they couldn’t do before. But also to automate and speed up some of the mundane and repetitive tasks that are parts of creativity.”
Adobe has already built Sensei’s initiatives into its current products. Last fall, the company released a feature called Neural Filters for Photoshop, which can be used to remove artifacts from compressed images, change the lighting in a photo, or even alter a subject’s face, giving them a smile instead of a frown, for example, or adjusting their “facial age.” From the user’s perspective, all this is done by just moving a few sliders.
Continue reading: https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/21/22671542/vergecast-ai-series-video-production-adobe-flawless

By Sergey Gorbunov, Co-founder and CEO of Axelar
With the evolution of blockchain technology, there are many lessons we can glean from how the first global communication networks evolved, particularly when it comes to connecting distinct systems and protocols. While the Internet enables users to seamlessly share and exchange information across geographic regions and timezones, it has failed to deliver many fundamental properties such as authentication, traceability, and inclusivity required to establish trust and secure information exchange between users. These are just some of the properties that Web 3.0 and blockchain technology aims to deliver. As we’re building these new decentralized networks, it’s crucial that we learn everything we can from the Internet’s evolution.
Although the term “blockchain” is now widely used across industries, the concept remains enigmatic to many. Simply put, a blockchain is a decentralized ledger of information that is stored and maintained across a distributed network of computers, rather than with one centralized authority. A key distinction compared to classical distributed protocols, is that the blockchain protocol remains secure even when some of the computers on the network act maliciously. The result – the records of information recorded on the blockchain are virtually tamperproof and hence anyone can verify information recorded in it. Though hard to believe, three decades ago the term “the Internet” stirred similar feelings of confusion among the general public – who had not yet realised the potential of the technology.
Today, most have gained a thorough appreciation of the Internet’s capabilities and we take this technology for granted. For many, the Internet is now as indispensable as electricity. However, the execution of the simplest tasks we perform on the Internet relies on multiple layers of infrastructure, protocols, and APIs that were built over decades.
Continue reading: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/lessons-learned%3A-the-internets-evolution-as-a-blueprint-for-blockchain-interoperability

Of the 40 percent of women graduates in STEM, a mere 14 percent actually end up pursuing a career in the field. Despite this statistic, India is writing for herself an extensive list of women who have made a notable impact on the industry and the economy. 
According to NASSCOM, the Indian workforce has seen a 10 percent rise in the number of women in technology over the last decade. Overall, women constitute around 35 percent of the workforce currently. One could say that women STEM professionals in the country are crossing the hurdles and are fighting the good fight. But the more important question is – what is causing a leaky funnel when it comes to women graduates choosing STEM careers. What are the major roadblocks? What steps do we need to take to make the funnel watertight? 
Two segments of women are seen to be facing drawbacks in pursuing their dreams. The first segment consists of those who get deprived of primary education which is well known, but quite surprisingly, the other segment consists of highly qualified women professionals.
Bringing about a mindset change
While a few women have broken stereotypes to emerge as impactful leaders, technology continues to be a male-dominated space. There are multiple factors that lead to the low conversion of women STEM graduates rising to senior leadership roles. 
Diversity, inclusion, and belonging at corporations are taking on a new meaning today. Companies across the globe are waking up to the significance of diversity in bringing better business results, as well as creating an inspiring workplace for more women to join STEM professions. Continuing with this approach, a mindset change is on the cards. First and foremost is educating hiring managers to conduct interviews using structured processes and tools to rule out bias. The same goes for identifying women with talent, encouraging them to take bigger positions and risks. Championing and rewarding those who champion the advancement of women is another strategy to boost gender diversity. Senior management has to become aggressive in personally championing diversity as a key business and cultural priority.
Being primary caregivers, women handle multiple obligations at home as well. This work-life integration requires a balance to curb women from dropping out. Offering policies beyond the de-reguier flexible working hours can prove crucial in retaining women technologists in mid-career and senior level positions. 
Tailored mentoring and counselling programs
Mentoring and counselling programs can go a long way in reversing the drain. Many women, though qualified for STEM careers, drop out owing to family duties and commitments. Interventions at critical junctures to encourage women to stay on- like post a marriage/ maternity break are crucial. This dilemma of having to ‘choose’ between two states of womanhood and professional, causes a confidence gap in women technologists, or at the least, slows them down. Women tend to become less confident than their male peers. This humility may lead them to take gaps in career or growth. This is where mentoring - and even sponsorship can come in. Women role models as mentors can also create the necessary bridge for many women technologists to embrace their potential. 
Women-led conferences, that are gaining popularity, serve as an avenue for aspiring female techies to learn from leaders in their fields of interest. 
Continue reading: http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/3-Steps-To-STEM-The-Gender-Gap-/22-09-2021-405537/

The 148-page State of IoT report researched by IoT Analytics highlighted recent IoT-related news stories, 100 largest IoT-related funding rounds of the last nine months, major acquisitions, the company’s input on 36 current trends, and a view of the IoT vendor landscape.
IoT Analytics says the success of an entire technology business can depend on understanding which market segments remain attractive and which ones are limiting their budgets.
Markets can change radically in a matter of months, and technology vendors need to be aware of these changes and be ready to pivot, IoT Analytics says.
The IoT Analytics report also included its views of the growth prospects and general sentiment in 20 industry verticals, the four main global regions, and 10 elements of the IoT stack.
Here are the highlights:
Overall state of IoT: Clearly accelerating, hampered by the chip shortage
Digital technology markets in general have seen steady and pervasive momentum in 2021.
As Accenture CEO Julie Sweet puts it in her conference call last 24 June: “The dynamics in the market we are seeing are not only of recovery from the lower spending pattern at the onset of the pandemic but a more sustained growth in demand as companies race to modernize and accelerate their digital initiatives.”
Nordic Semiconductor CEO Svenn-Tore Larsen says that this digital acceleration has clearly reached IoT markets.
IoT Analytics CEO Knud Lasse Lueth agrees, but adds there are two main concerns: the shortage of IoT semiconductor chips and the ongoing regional impacts of COVID-19 in APAC, Latin America, and Africa.
Regional view: North America and Europe leading out of the pandemic
Tech budgets in 2021 and going into 2022 differ greatly by region. These budgets are still strongly correlated to regional COVID-19 impacts, with North America and Europe increasing IoT tech spending, while most places in APAC and the rest of the world are cautious when it comes to innovation and tech investments.
Overall business sentiment across all companies in North America has surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. In North America in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, business sentiment indexed at 107, compared to an index of 100 in Q2 2019. Europe is also strong at 104, according to the report.
Technology view: Opportunities across the entire stack
Addressing some of the current demand trends in the market will help them strengthen their solutions and win customers. Here are eight important technology topics that customers are increasingly willing to pay for (the State of IoT report covers many additional and more technology-specific trends):
Continue reading: https://itwire.com/internet-of-things/iot-analytics-state-of-iot-report-details-trends-and-overview-of-the-iot-vendor-landscape.html

Implementing a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) project can be overwhelming for any organization. Studies show that many IoT projects fail to go beyond the trial phase, while return on investment (ROI) also remains elusive for many. This is further complicated by the inherent problems in IoT, such as lack of a universal platform, lackluster security and interoperability issues between devices. We look at the key issues that typically hold back large-scale IoT implementations and how organizations can address them. 
Interest in IoT is at an all-time high. Most IT decision-makers want to incorporate IoT into their businesses operations to achieve greater efficiency, reduce costs, open new revenue streams, and improve customer experience. Gartner’s findings show that the number of IoT devices is doubling every five years. 
Microsoft’s IoT Signals report, published October 2020, also found that more than 91% of business heads had adopted IoT in 2020, while 83% of them had seen at least one project reach the “use” stage. Microsoft classifies IoT projects into four stages: learn, trial/PoC (proof of concept), purchase, and use. 
Though more businesses are getting on the IoT bandwagon, many struggle to take their projects beyond the trial phase. Microsoft’s report (mentioned earlier) shows that almost a third of the IoT projects fail at the PoC stage as scaling an IoT project presents a formidable challenge for any organization. These issues are also not confined to any one sector. For instance, a third of manufacturing companies are still working through the implementation of their current solution. Likewise, in healthcare, one in three IoT projects are still in the learning phase. 
“These scale issues are across the board in many different industries that are looking to improve performance through automation of any kind. Healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and sports are all affected by the increased knowledge of operations delivered through IoT applications,” notes Tom Ruth, Vice President, Americas at Quuppa, an IoT and RTLS company.
Velipekka Kuoppala, the co-founder & CBO of ConnectedYou, an IoT connectivity marketplace, points out that any company that needs cellular/SIM connectivity at a global scale regardless of the sector is facing the growth impact if the efficiency and data connectivity optimization/management is not well taken care of in the very beginning. “The real impact is measured in the complexity and efficient data connectivity orchestration itself,” he says.
Continue reading: https://www.toolbox.com/tech/iot/articles/what-is-ailing-iot-at-scale/