Today’s Woman in Tech: Natasha Lauer, Head of Marketing at Soda
Natasha is Head of Marketing at Soda. She studied Law with French at Oxford Brookes University and has 16 years of experience working in the data industry. Prior to Soda, Natasha was at Collibra for 3 years and was responsible for marketing across the EMEA region and global programs, including founding the Chief Data Officer Summer School. Prior to Collibra, she held a variety of marketing leadership roles at Qlik in EMEA and the global alliances and channel team. Since 2007, Natasha has called the Netherlands home where she lives with her family.
When did you become interested in technology?
I was relatively young. My dad is a computer consultant specializing in information systems; he opened my eyes to working with computers and impressed the importance of logical thinking and problem solving when using them. At school, I took an above-average interest in Computer Science from the age of 10, carried it through to my A levels, and have been hooked ever since!
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-lauer-175148.html

When Xiaomi arrived in India, we knew it as a smartphone company but then we realized it was much more than that. It’s an Internet company with smartphones and smart hardware connected by an Internet of Things (IoT) platform at its core. As much as its phones, the company’s IoT products are everywhere — air purifiers to floor vacuum mop, fitness bands to security cameras. On August 26, the company is hosting Smarter Living 2022 where new IoT products of the company will be showcased. And here’s what Raghu Reddy, chief business officer of Mi India, told us before the big event.
In 2014, one of the pillars of Xiaomi was laid out by the founder of the company (Lei Jun)…. that we don’t want to be just selling smartphones but also be a world-leading IoT platform. And as part of the vision, he said we would invest in around 100 companies over the next five years to make different products that can work with Xiaomi smartphones. This brings us to what constitutes an IoT platform — consumer electronic products that can connect with the smartphone and make your life easier. We had to identify the core primary endpoint devices which happen to be our phones. And the company decided that all endpoint devices and the core technologies will connect to the IoT platform and will be driven by Xiaomi. Phones, laptops, TVs, routers, smart speakers… they are all designed and manufactured in-house. These 100-odd companies specialize in different segments but they follow our IoT protocol, so they work well with all Xiaomi products.
Second, how to ensure all these products feel like they are from the same company. So Xiaomi has laid out the design aesthetics of a lot of these other products. If you see any of the IoT products — be it security cameras or smart speaker — there is a Xiaomi feel to it. These are the two important pillars for our IoT vision. If you look at business figures till the end of 2020-21, we had 351 million connected devices to the Xiaomi IoT platform, making us the world’s leading IoT platform.
Continue reading: https://www.telegraphindia.com/science-tech/all-about-mis-internet-of-things-platform/cid/1828006

The most common misconception about the "Internet of Things" is the acronym itself.
IoT stands for "Internet of Things"

• It's not "Internet of One thing" - the only thing connected
• nor "Internet of a Dozen" or "Internet of a Hundred" things

Why is this so important?
Let's look at how the Internet of Things compares to the automobile business.
Both Car and IoT assets act independently by themselves. However, both require large-scale infrastructure for management and maintenance.
For example, changing the tires of a car (Summer-Tire, vs. Winter-Tire) would look similar to the following procedure:

1. Prepare the "new" set of tires
2. Go to the car and decide what tire to start with
3. Determine the nut (screw) size and use a correct wrench to loosen the nuts
4. Use a car jack to lift the car
5. Replace the "old" tire with the "new" one
6. Remove the car jack and make sure that all nuts are tight
7. Repeat the steps for the other three tires
8. Be happy that everything went well
   [/LIST=1]
   Yes, there is some labor required, but it should take no more than 2-3 hours to complete, and much less if you are an expert.
   Continue reading: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/biggest-misconception-iot-world-luke-marcyniuk/?trk=articles_directory

Alphabet Inc.’s Wing subsidiary is about to reach a milestone in the fledgling drone-delivery business: Any day now it will deliver its 100,000th package to a customer.
At its busiest delivery hub, in Logan City, Australia, the company earlier this month set a new internal record of 4,500 deliveries in one week. The system will one day be a far more efficient mode of transporting goods to people’s homes than what exists today, according to a top executive. 
“We’re extremely bullish on our ability to offer this service at a lower cost than ground delivery very profitably over time,” Jonathan Bass, Wing LLC’s head of marketing and communications told Bloomberg News. “You can begin to look at this and extrapolate to what drone delivery will look like in urban and suburban environments around the world.”
Even as government regulators in the U.S. and elsewhere hash out technical requirements for this new class of flying machines, Wing is expanding rapidly. In addition to existing test sites in Australia, Virginia and Helsinki, it has plans for deliveries at an undisclosed new location in the U.S., according to an emailed statement.
Continue reading: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-25/alphabet-s-wing-touts-milestone-in-its-growing-drone-deliveries

Real-time market data provider Pyth Network is going live on one of the fastest growing crypto blockchains, which will allow developers to integrate its feeds across decentralized finance platforms and applications.
Pyth will run on the so-called mainnet of Solana, a proof-of-stake network that’s billed as being capable of matching the transaction speeds of the Nasdaq exchange, according to a statement Wednesday. Pyth publishes at sub-second intervals and provides coverage of high-fidelity streaming data from cryptocurrency, U.S. equities, foreign exchange and commodities markets. It’s composed of both primary and derived data from trading firms and exchanges, which allows it to cover a large share of global market activity with minimal dependency on any single data source -- cutting the likelihood of one or more data providers attacking or manipulating the aggregate price.
“It’s an equalizer of access,” said Kanav Kariya, director of strategic initiatives at Jump Trading, one of the trading firms involved in Pyth, in a video interview. “Blockchain-based applications are getting this application as fast as the fastest traders, and when you’re building applications on-chain, that speed is very important.”
Continue reading: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-25/crypto-market-data-network-pyth-going-live-on-solana-blockchain

With continued dialogue between the blockchain industry and the U.S. Congress, there is still hope that regulatory legislation will arrive at a mutually beneficial resolution.
In recent weeks, the blockchain industry made headlines as it engaged in intense discussions with lawmakers after a $28 billion crypto tax reporting proposal unexpectedly became part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (BID). Ultimately, the BID language was unchanged, leaving uncertainty for the companies that build on blockchain, especially those dedicated to its value beyond cryptocurrency trading. Though unsuccessful in their bid to amend the language, many are claiming victory over the industry finding its voice in the negotiations. Now, it needs to use that voice to refocus the conversation on what really matters — the fact that blockchain technology is infrastructure, not just a revenue source to fund it.
Infrastructure in the form of roads, railways, broadband and the energy grid is about building foundations and connectivity for American businesses to grow and prosper. Look no further than businesses that fuel e-commerce and deliver goods to the doorsteps of Americans in every corner of the country. Their success is dependent on our infrastructure, from electricity and the internet to airports and highways. Their profits are taxed and used, at least in part, to support that underlying infrastructure.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/let-s-be-clear-blockchain-technology-is-infrastructure

Meet Taktile, a new startup that is working on a machine learning platform for financial services companies. This isn’t the first company that wants to leverage machine learning for financial products. But Taktile wants to differentiate itself from competitors by making it way easier to get started and switch to AI-powered models.
A few years ago, when you could read ‘machine learning’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ in every single pitch deck, some startups chose to focus on the financial industry in particular. It makes sense as banks and insurance companies gather a ton of data and know a lot of information about their customers. They could use that data to train new models and roll out machine learning applications.
New fintech companies put together their own in-house data science team and started working on machine learning for their own products. Companies like Younited Credit and October use predictive risk tools to make better lending decisions. They have developed their own models and they can see that their models work well when they run them on past data.
Continue reading: https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/25/taktile-makes-it-easier-to-leverage-machine-learning-in-the-financial-industry/

AI governance, or the process of defining policies to guide AI development, is a fast-growing market opportunity. A report from StrategyR highlights this, predicting that AI governance software and services could be worth $402 million by 2026, up from $49.3 million in 2020.
“Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for AI governance [has grown significantly],” StrategyR wrote in a press release. “The report presents fresh perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a significantly transformed post-COVID-19 marketplace.”
AI governance adoption
The pandemic forced companies to rethink models used to manage AI risk, but many face continued challenges. According to a Deloitte analysis, as of March, 38% of organizations either lacked or had an insufficient governance structure for handling data and AI models. And a survey by Pegasystems predicts that if the current trend holds, a lack of accountability within the private sector will lead to governments taking over responsibility for AI regulation over the next five years.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/25/how-new-regulation-is-driving-the-ai-governance-market/

Edge computing is witnessing a significant interest with new use cases, especially after the introduction of 5G. The 2021 State of the Edge report by the Linux Foundation predicts that the global market capitalization of edge computing infrastructure would be worth more than $800 billion by 2028. At the same time, enterprises are also heavily investing in artificial intelligence (AI). McKinsey’s survey from last year shows that 50% of the respondents have implemented AI in at least one business function.
While most companies are making these tech investments as a part of their digital transformation journey, forward-looking organizations and cloud companies see new opportunities by fusing edge computing and AI, or Edge AI. Let’s take a closer look at the developments around Edge AI and the impact this technology is bringing on modern digital enterprises.
What is Edge AI?
AI relies heavily on data transmission and computation of complex machine learning algorithms. Edge computing sets up a new age computing paradigm that moves AI and machine learning to where the data generation and computation actually take place: the network’s edge. The amalgamation of both edge computing and AI gave birth to a new frontier: Edge AI.
Continue reading: https://www.itbusinessedge.com/data-center/developments-edge-ai/

Depending on whom you ask, artificial intelligence may someday rank with fire and the printing press as technology that shaped human history. The jobs AI does today—carrying out our spoken commands, curing disease, approving loans, recommending who gets a long prison sentence, and so on—are nothing compared to what it might do in the future.
But who is drawing the roadmap? Who's making sure AI technologies are used ethically and for the greater good? Big tech companies? Governments? Academic researchers? Young upstart developers? Governing AI has gotten more and more complicated, in part, because hidden in the AI revolution is a second one. It's the rise of open-source AI software—code that any computer programmer with fairly basic knowledge can freely access, use, share and change without restriction. With more programmers in the mix, the open-source revolution has sped AI development substantially. According to one study, in fact, 50 to 70 percent of academic papers on machine learning rely on open source.
And according to that study, from The Brookings Institution, policymakers have barely noticed.
"Open-source software quietly affects nearly every issue in AI policy, but it is largely absent from discussions around AI policy," writes Alex Engler, a fellow in governance studies at Brookings and the author of the report.
Continue reading: https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-source-ai

The World Economic Forum attributes the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to the growth and consolidation of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), the Internet of Things (IoT) and more. Even though we can confidently claim that artificial intelligence has impacted every facet of different industries, it would still be an understatement. 
The following is a demonstration of the far-reaching impact of artificial intelligence across different verticals and industries:
Healthcare
AI experienced a major boom in the healthcare sector since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it was not a result of overnight changes, as the industry was increasingly turning tech-focused in the days preceding it.
Artificial intelligence continues to find widespread application in telemedicine, ranging from preliminary diagnosis to formulating a treatment plan. AI platforms can utilize a range of technologies such as data mining, image processing and predictive modeling to discover the best route to a long and healthy life.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/08/25/the-ai-revolution-is-happening-now/?sh=5debef3228c8

MobiDev, a US-based software engineering company with development centers in Ukraine, has compiled customers’ requests and needs in the area of AI and came with the list of AI trends that matter for Business in 2021.
According to 2020’s McKinsey Global Survey on artificial intelligence (AI), in 2020 more than 50% of companies have adopted AI in at least one business unit or function, so we witness the emergence of new AI trends. Lockdowns resulted in a massive surge of online activity and an intensive AI adoption in business, education, administration, social interaction, etc.
1. AI for Security & Surveillance
AI techniques have already been applied to face recognition, voice identification, and video analysis. These techniques form the best combo for surveillance. So, in 2021, we can foresee the intensive exploitation of AI in video surveillance.
AI in video surveillance can detect suspicious activity by focusing on abnormal behavior patterns, not faces. Such AI-driven video solutions could be also useful for logistics, retail, and manufacturing. Another niche that provides promising perspectives for the AI application is voice recognition. Technologies related to voice recognition are able to determine the identity. By identity, we mean the age of a person, gender, and emotional state. One of the most crucial technologies for security is biometric face recognition.
Continue reading: https://www.iotforall.com/press-releases/artificial-intelligence-impacts-business-in-2021

In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw, now a law professor at UCLA and the Columbia School of Law, first proposed the concept of intersectionality. In an article published in the University of Chicago Legal Forum, she critiqued the inability of the law to protect working Black women against discrimination. She discussed three cases, including one against General Motors, in which the court rejected discrimination claims with the argument that anti-discrimination law only protected single-identity categories. Black women, the court said, could not be discriminated against based on the combination of identities, in this case race and gender.
Intersectionality, at its core, represents the interconnected nature of our identity. It describes how our race, gender, and disabilities can converge to create systemic structures of discrimination or disadvantage. Intersectionality helps highlight the fact that treating each unique attribute in isolation, such as gender or race, continues to disadvantage those who possess multiple attributes. As Crenshaw wrote, the “intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism.”
Continue reading: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/real-talk-intersectionality-and-ai/

Mani Thiru flew into Singapore a few months ago and was sent straight into the island city-state’s Covid-19 circuit breaker, where she isolated for the next month. 
She has taken on the role of Business Lead in the Aerospace & Satellite Solutions team at Amazon Web Services for that region — a position she is ‘really stoked’ about. “I’ve been wanting to look after a regional business for a while,” she tells me. “Space is science, technology, research, innovation, economics, and even politics. The more collaboration we have between countries with their different strengths and unique differentiators, the faster we will evolve in this sector to benefit of many.”
Earlier this year, Thiru took out the WALA Award for Emerging Leader in the Private Sector — where she flipped the lid in her acceptance speech. “When the judges had me on the panel I thought I stuffed it up,” she said. “I’m going to act like a man today and just wing it. They do it and it works. It’s about time we got some of that. They stand here and say, I deserve this. So, I deserve this.”
Continue reading: https://womensagenda.com.au/leadership/advice/always-seeking-always-finding-mani-thiru-on-how-to-succeed-in-the-tech-sector/

The progress made to improve equality in the workplace over the past decades has been encouraging. However, these six amazing women in tech are demanding more – especially when it comes to women in STEM.
And it all starts from the roots. Equal opportunities, apt resources and funding, and support for women in STEM will help breed the next future generation of inspirational women in tech.
As a young female leader in the workplace, I feel the keys to helping more women feel empowered is when it’s set as a standard from the top. 
When you employ leaders whose actions demonstrate good values, especially equality, empathy, integrity and wit, you’re setting a standard for those on their way up. 
It’s inspirational to see the progress of equality in the workplace, but I feel we need to move past this conversation and let our actions continue to demonstrate the change. 
Regardless of gender, when an organization has good role models and provides adequate resources or funding for education and pathways to support progression, especially in STEM, you’re helping set up future generations for success and creating a standard for what empowered leaders should be like.
Continue reading: https://womenlovetech.com/women-in-stem-2/

These in-demand employees are looking for purpose in their work and to work in places that are a hive of activity inspired by a kaleidoscope of different backgrounds and viewpoints.
We spoke to business leaders from Aggreko, Scottish Women in Tech and MBN Solutions about the key factors people within senior hiring positions should consider when driving forward a recruitment strategy focused around diversity and inclusion.
Joined by The Data Lab, these directors and executives came together for a recent panel to discuss diversity and inclusion in the Scottish workforce.
On the panel, Samantha Bedford, chair of Scotland Women in Technology and a transformation leader in tech and digital, said:
“I’m not convinced, for example, that people really get the benefits of diversity and inclusion. While it’s good they know it’s important, I think a number of businesses still see it as a box ticking exercise. It’s often passive in that the response is often things like ‘I need training’ but I would say ‘no, you need to go out and seek this’. There are a number of great consultants who can help.”
CEO of MBN Solutions, Michael Young, said: “Many things have changed in the world since 2020 and, for data and technology talent, these changes mean that their skills are in higher demand than ever and they have greater flexibility, opportunity and negotiating positions than they’ve seen before.
Continue reading: https://www.scotsman.com/business/ten-ways-companies-can-build-a-diverse-and-inclusive-workforce-3357422

Cypher is an organization that teaches children aged 5-14 to learn the critical skills of coding through applying creative themes both in-person and online. I recently met Elizabeth Tweedale, founder and CEO of Cypher to learn more on how she and her team are helping children build the ability to think creatively, communicate effectively and build the confidence needed to be successful in the future - something all business leaders can learn from! 
Without a doubt, it’s been a difficult year for everyone due to the impact of COVID, including parents who have had to juggle jobs and the additional challenge of homeschooling their children.
Tweedale: “As society has had to embrace remote working and the digitization required to make those changes, so have children. Not only has the pandemic given young children the chance to increase their abilities, skills and familiarity with tech, there has also been a significant change in mindset from parents towards education and tech - skills like navigating folder structures, diary management and typing that may have challenged children before have now become second nature.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/drgeraintevans/2021/08/24/cypher--what-inspiring-young-stem-students-can-teach-future-marketing-leaders/?sh=49294edc7e05

Why is ‘Women in Technology' an important issue for you and your company? 
After spending more than 20 years in this industry, I have been part of many teams where I have been the only woman, and I want to work in an industry that is more representative of the world around me. The technology industry is exciting and engaging - it's where I feel at home, and other women should feel at home too. 
I also believe people are what help drive the success of a company. At N-able, we are at an exciting time in our journey because people throughout our company are recognizing and actively participating in continuing to make N-able a diverse and inclusive place to work. There is also evidence diverse companies see a positive impact on the bottom line, so this is important on all fronts - from both a people and business perspective. 
How do you think we can get more women into technology? 
Normalize the tech industry and encourage girls and young women to embark in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers. We should be breaking down barriers that have been created. We should encourage those who may be interested in these fields, and help girls and women see a scenario where they can pursue a STEM career.  
Continue reading: https://www.computing.co.uk/sponsored/4036156/industry-blog-women-tech-cara-barron-able

When Elon Musk decided he wanted to send the first rocket to Mars, he went rocket shopping. That’s when he found out the price of a rocket was astronomical, yet materials only accounted for 2-3% of the cost. So, he decided to build his own rocket and SpaceX was born. The end result is a company that will soon provide connectivity to every person on earth, something we wrote about in our piece on The Global Impact of Cheap Satellites and Launches.
Elon Musk employs what’s called “first principles thinking” which is not just a great phrase to use when someone asks you a question in a meeting and you’re hard up for a clever response. We can describe first principles by citing cryptic stuff Aristotle said, or we can sum it up simply in a single sentence as James Clear did – “the best solution is not where everyone is already looking.”
So, when a man who embodies first principles thinking decides to acquire what someone else thought up, you know it’s something special. Today, we’re going to take a look at a company called Swarm Technologies that was recently acquired by SpaceX.
Continue reading: https://www.nanalyze.com/2021/08/spacex-internet-of-things/

Researchers have developed a microprocessor built on high-performance plastic rather than silicon—and they say it could enable smarter food labels and supply chain management.
Christopher Intagliata: Microchips are everywhere: they’re in our computers and smartphones, of course, but also TVs, thermostats, fridges, washing machines, cars. That ever growing constellation of devices embedded with computer brains and Internet connectivity is known as the “Internet of Things.”
Lots of other stuff, though, like a carton of milk, doesn’t have a microchip or smart sensor—not to say that it couldn’t.
John Biggs: For example, imagine smart labels on food products that could alter their use-by date, depending on how they've been handled.
Intagliata: John Biggs is a distinguished engineer at the semiconductor company Arm. He and a team of researchers have now developed a proof-of-concept flexible chip that could be used for applications like outfitting a milk jug with computer smarts. And they say the chip is 12 times more complex than previous attempts. They describe it in a recent issue of the journal Nature. [John Biggs et al., A natively flexible 32-bit Arm microprocessor]
Continue reading: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/flexible-microprocessor-could-enable-an-internet-of-everything/

Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market In-depth Research Report 2021, Forecast to 2026 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market risk side analysis, highlighting opportunities and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. The report provides information on market trends and development, growth drivers, technologies, and the changing investment structure of the Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Infosys, Tibbo Systems, Gizmosupport, Software AG, IBM, Paragyte Technologies, Carriots, Suntec, Zerone Consulting, Cabot Technology, Vodafone, Allerin Technologies, Ranosys Technologies, SAP, Mindbowser, Concirrus, Ewave Mobile, Cisco, Mulesoft, Accenture, Hitachi Vantara, Oracle, Colan Infotech, Capgemini & Microsoft.
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market Overview:
The study provides comprehensive outlook vital to keep market knowledge up to date segmented by Cyber Security, Customer Relationship Management, Logistics, Product management and planning & Marketing, , Real-Time Streaming Analytics, Security, Data Management & Remote Monitoring and 18+ countries across the globe along with insights on emerging & major players. If you want to analyze different companies involved in the Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking industry according to your targeted objective or geography we offer customization according to requirements.
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking Market: Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2026
Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking research study defines market size of various segments & countries by historical years and forecast the values for next 6 years. The report is assembled to comprise qualitative and quantitative elements of Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking industry including: market share, market size (value and volume 2015-2020, and forecast to 2026) that admires each country concerned in the competitive marketplace. Further, the study also caters and provides in-depth statistics about the crucial elements of Worldwide Internet Of Things In Banking which includes drivers & restraining factors that helps estimate future growth outlook of the market.
Continue reading: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/270848662/internet-of-things-in-banking-market-next-big-thing--major-giants-sap-mindbowser-concirrus

Qualcomm Technologies unveiled the world’s first AI- and 5G-enabled drone last week, the Qualcomm Flight RB5 5G Platform, whose far-reaching capabilities include transforming the way we view sports. Drones are permeating several areas of the industry, most notably in broadcasting but also with designs on aiding tactics, sanitation, security and maybe even officiating.
Qualcomm technology has powered NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars as well as the Drone Racing League’s first 5G drone, which operated on T-Mobile’s network and flew over Iowa cornfields in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s Field of Dreams game last week.
Qualcomm’s GM of autonomous robotics, drones and intelligent machines, Dev Singh, recently spoke with SportTechie about the current and future use cases of drones in sports.
“AI is everywhere now: Everybody talks about AI, and AI is touching everybody's life,” Singh says. “But we firmly believe that the combination of AI and 5G is the bigger value. This whole capability of making power-efficient AI on the device—rather than on the cloud—is very important.”
The real benefit is the distributed intelligence platform, he adds. “Now you have a very smart drone that has kickass AI on the drone itself, but then you have 5G connectivity to the cloud for real-time inferencing with low latency when it comes to making a decision right in the moment—to follow a person or a follow a car for a photography use case or other other coverage use case. The drone is able to make its own decision because it has local AI, but at the same time, it has this 5G connectivity to the cloud, which gives it real time, more compute capability or intelligence.”
Continue reading: https://www.sporttechie.com/qualcomms-5g-ai-drones-are-changing-how-we-view-sports

UPS has begun using Matternet drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to a hospital in North Carolina.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical center is believed to be the first in the country to receive COVID-19 vaccine deliveries by drone.
Reduce waste
This new initiative — operated by UPS and its subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward — expands Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s existing drone program, which was launched in July 2020. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50% of vaccines are wasted globally every year, largely due to temperature control failure, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in a statement.
When transporting the COVID-19 vaccines, the Matternet M2 drone is outfitted with a special cargo box that contains Cold Chain Technologies’ customized PCM Gel solution, a temperature-sensitive packaging mixture that maintains the COVID-19 vaccine at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/24/ups-uses-matternet-drones-to-deliver-covid-19-vaccines/

Starting around 2014, a steady flow of journalists and IT professionals were proclaiming that blockchain technology had officially come of age and would soon change the way we work and live. The revolution never happened, but these predictions didn’t stop, leaving some to wonder what blockchain was actually good for or if the whole thing had just been hype. Today, the average citizen still can’t define the term blockchain, let alone mention a blockchain-powered application besides Bitcoin, but things are starting to change.
The blockchain ecosystem seems to have reached critical mass and is poised to start affecting real people in the real world, just not in the way that many expected. We were promised mind-blowing consumer apps and other cool blockchain toys, but so far it’s just been about cryptocurrencies and the recent NFT craze. I believe there are two reasons for this: 1) Blockchain is surprisingly hard to explain to non-technical people, and 2) it’s a whole lot of work to build useful blockchain-enabled apps.
It’s rare that a technology is so hard to explain that it affects its adoption, but after 10 years of blockchain hype, the average non-technical CEO remains hard-pressed to explain what blockchain really is. Understanding blockchain means learning some new concepts around cryptography, algorithms and networking. Blockchains run on the server side, so there’s nothing to see, touch or share, meaning it has to be explained on the whiteboard. With blockchain being such a highly complex and abstract technology, it’s no surprise that non-technical business leaders are slow to jump on the bandwagon. Revolutionary as it may be, the CEO of a large corporation won’t invest in something they don’t understand — and neither will venture capitalists, small businesses or governments.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/08/24/blockchain-thrives-on-big-money-and-big-ideas/?sh=1c876cf27fa3

Will your employer pay you in their own crypto-assets one day? That's what has just happened to Lionel Messi. On 12 August, Paris Saint Germain announced that he will receive some of his salary in the cryptocurrency $PSG fan tokens.
This anecdote illustrates the exponential development of blockchain technology, on which cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets, such as tokens, are based. 
The current exploratory phase is crucial for the future of finance and its digitalization, as blockchain is one of the most promising options.
The time of the first steps of bitcoin, which is also based on this technology, seems light years away. Major financial players are now getting in on the act. In July, the European Central Bank announced the launch of a digital currency project based on blockchain, following closely on the heels of its Russian and Chinese counterparts. In spring, the European Investment Bank launched its first digital bond, worth EUR 100 million, again with the help of blockchain technology.
Continue reading: https://www.lombardodier.com/contents/corporate-news/in-the-news/2021/august/what-can-we-expect-from-blockcha.html