Software for drones is rapidly evolving to include the use artificial intelligence (AI), autonomy and cybersecurity to help realize potential future applications.

One of the first and most prevalent uses for drones is inspection. According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global drone inspection and monitoring market generated US$6.44 billion in 2020, and is anticipated to reach US$35.11 billion by 2030, an annual growth rate of 16% from 2021 to 2030.
However, manual camera drones remain hard to fly, easy to crash and unusable in environments with high GPS or compass interference. They also require highly skilled, trained pilots and operators to carry out inspection tasks.
Adam Bry, CEO and cofounder of USA-based drone maker Skydio says, “Technology limitations and the need for a professional pilot ultimately prevent wide scale deployment across numerous use cases that are critical to operations.
“We are building autonomous drones like the Skydio 2+ and Skydio X2 that use artificial intelligence to navigate using computer vision. With these systems, instead of being specialized technology, drones become just another inspection tool — as common, as safe and as easy to use as any other.”
Continue reading: https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/features/why-testing-embedded-systems-is-crucial-to-the-future-usefulness-of-drones.html

onsumer price increases are hitting near-record, 40-year highs. A labor shortage is escalating. State pay transparency laws are making it easier to learn what jobs are paid. And a reawakened labor movement is forcing employers to be more responsive to workers’ demands.
If ever there was a good time to ask for a raise, it’s almost certainly now.
“People don’t perceive themselves as having as much leverage and power right now as they do,” says Ben Cook, the CEO of Riva, a salary negotiation startup founded with Harvard Business School experts. “Right now is a phenomenal time to go and ask for a raise.”
Yet despite this unprecedented wave of favorable conditions, you might still find it hard to ask your boss for more salary. For many, touting your own accomplishments—not to mention having a frank talk about money—feels awkward. If you’re a woman, you know you have to navigate tricky gender norms about how assertive people expect you to be.
And even as more workers talk openly about pay, negotiations tend to be information asymmetry at its worst, with managers typically having more data about what jobs are paid than you.
Still, there are ways to go into the conversation with confidence—and come out of it with a raise–or at least something else desirable you want. Below, find key steps to remember when you negotiate salary, and what to do if the response is no.
WAIT FOR A WIN
Timing is everything, especially when asking for a raise. Don’t plan it for when your boss is at her busiest or after a slip-up. And pick a time that immediately follows a win you can claim or a big sale you just clinched. “The timing of the ask makes a huge difference,” says Kathleen Downs, a senior recruiting manager for Robert Half.
You also don’t want to go in too late, after payroll budgets have already been set and promotions have already been decided. The discussion will more likely be a process that takes time. “A raise conversation is not one day, one half hour of time,” says Katie Donovan, a pay equity and salary negotiation consultant based in Boston. “It needs to be planned out usually for next fiscal year. Start it six months ahead. … it’s going to take a while.”
PERFORM YOUR OWN JOB SEARCH
To get started, play the role of job seeker, looking for what not only your company, but others like it, are paying for new hires in similar roles. A small but growing number of localities, like Colorado and, by the start of next year, New York City and Washington state, now require employers to disclose pay ranges for new jobs.
Experts say that’s starting to have an impact on salary information in job ads, with employers publishing ranges elsewhere, too. “Do a theoretical job search—look to see what salaries in those places are offering,” says Linda Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of books on negotiation and women’s careers. “That can help you calibrate your request.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/article/how-to-ask-for-a-raise-amid-soaring-inflation/?sh=6e53c7d27760

Flexibility might be at the top of an employee's list of reasons to stay in a company amid a pandemic – but a new research has shown that another factor could be key to retaining staff.
A study from workplace analytics provider Humanyze revealed that employees are also influenced by collaboration in the workplace.
According to the survey, employees are also considering access to their direct manager (27.9%), team or department colleagues (24.6%), and company leaders or mentorship (23%) as important factors in staying at a job.
The behavioural analysis of the report revealed two primary collaboration styles, namely "open door" and "closed door."
"Open-door" teams frequently communicate with colleagues of any hierarchy within the organisation. They are also more likely to stay than "closed-door" teams, which are siloed, interact mostly with the same groups, are disconnected from the broader company culture.
"Of course, salary and flexibility will remain important to workers, but our analysis shows why employee interactions must be a top priority for leaders," said Taemie Kim, Humanyze's co-founder and chief scientist, in a statement.
"There's a clear connection between retention and a company or team's collaboration culture. This is much harder to manage without physical proximity, so hybrid/remote organisations must be even more intentional about encouraging these connections.
Continue reading: https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/employment-law/collaboration-is-key-to-employee-retention-heres-how-to-harness-it/403636

As inflation and cost-of-living expenses continue to soar across the United States, workers are stepping up and asking for pay raises to offset costs. Exactly how much of a salary increase should an employee ask for and how can they prepare to make this ask in a way that advocates their worth? And, if you ask for a pay raise but do not receive it, are there any alternative financial options available to employees? Keep reading to find out the answers to all your questions.
How Much Should You Ask For?
Jay Zigmont, Ph.D., CFP and founder of Live, Learn, Plan, said inflation itself is not a reason for a raise. An employer will try to pay market rates. Essentially, a market rate is the median base salary employers pay to employees who work in specific types of occupations in certain areas or cities. 
“If your job, in your area, is within the market rate, it is going to be rare for an employer to pay more,” Zigmont said.
The good news is that employees may leverage data to their advantage. Zigmont said if employees have data that says they are paid below the market rate it may be persuasive to employers. 
Joe Mullings, career expert and CEO of The Mullings Group, said asking for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) has not been a standard workplace behavior among those in the professional ranks. However, this standard has gone out the door since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While most demographics may ask for a pay increase, those hit hardest by COLA changes are new graduates and entrants into the job market. These individuals have less in savings and are paying an outsized percentage of their salaries for rent, resulting in an environment where new hires are under considerable personal financial strain. In turn, this may impact their work performance or force them to look for a higher-paying job.
Continue reading: https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/jobs/how-high-pay-raise-you-need-to-fight-inflation-how-to-ask-for-it/

With companies finding it harder to attract new hires, many employers are agreeing to pay astronomical salaries for hard-to-fill positions.
“Many company-recruiting efforts are resulting in massive wage gaps,” says Adriana Herrera, founder and CEO, PayDestiny, a software company that helps companies share salary ranges with employees. For instance, she says, it’s not uncommon for a new hire’s compensation to exceed the salary of their boss, who has been working for the company for several years, especially if the new hire is taking a position that has been difficult to fill.
“The combination of a tight labor market, raising minimum wages, employees seeking to reset their careers post-COVID, and high wage inflation are all forcing employers to make higher offers to bring in external talent,” says Ruth Thomas, a pay equity strategist at Payscale. “This is creating pay compression and is a threat to pay equity internally.”
For smaller businesses and high-growth startups especially, the lack of standardized compensation formulas upend the salary structure, Herrera says. Without a formula that calculates a salary based on years of experience, skills, and level of education, the employer and employee are negotiating based on the candidate’s perceived value, which can be skewed in a tight job market, she says.
Companies that are using large wage increases to lure job candidates may discover huge pay gaps in their salaries at the end of this year, Herrera says.
In addition, employers who are inflating wages for hard-to-fill positions, potentially may have to limit pay raises for existing employees, says Andrea Derler, principal of research and customer value at people analytics company Visier. “If you’re an employee within an organization and you see people coming in with higher wages or you suspect it, it will not sit well with you,” adds Thomas.
Most employees already suspect they aren’t paid a fair salary. Only 37% of employees believe they’re paid fairly by their employer and nearly half believe they could make more money right now simply by switching jobs, according to a new survey by Employ’s 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90745326/how-the-battle-for-talent-is-widening-the-pay-gap

• The participation rate of women in the sector was at 28 percent in the third quarter of last year
• The ministry said there was a 112 percent increase in commercial registrations issued for women

LONDON: Saudi Arabia has a higher percentage of women working in the technology startup sector than in Europe, according to new research findings.
The recently published Endeavor Insight report also revealed that Saudi Arabia’s startup rates for women in tech were higher than those for men.
The participation rate of women in the sector was at 28 percent in the third quarter of last year, more than 10 percent above the European average rate, which sat at 17.5 percent in the same period.
Saudi Arabia issued 139,754 new commercial licenses to women in 2021, according to the Kingdom’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, a figure that marked one of the largest growth rates globally.
The ministry said the number represented a 112 percent increase in commercial registrations issued for women entrepreneurs compared to 2015, when 65,912 were granted to female-owned businesses.
The Saudi Vision 2030 framework, with its focus on private-sector investment and talent attraction and retention, had fueled the rise, the report said.
Continue reading: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2071151/business-economy

The promise of Web3 — a vision of the internet built on blockchain-based, decentralized systems — has reinvigorated an entirely new generation of investors. According to a 2021 study by the personal loan company Stilt, 94% of people who own crypto are millennials or Gen Z.
And while the numbers show a growing interest amongst young investors, a stark disparity exists amongst male and female Web3 investors.
According to a recent report from cryptocurrency marketplace Gemini, women make up just 26% of Web3 investors. Additionally, as evidenced by ownership of bitcoin (BTC-USD), the premiere digital currency, women make up less than 15% of bitcoin investors.
The emergence of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, has created opportunities to grow the Web3 community in both size and diversity. NFTs surpassed $22 billion in the global market last year, according to data from DappRadar, a firm that tracks sales, easily eclipsing the $100 million market in 2020.
Continue reading: https://money.yahoo.com/crypto-women-web3-investing-131037478.html

Digital banking startup Cogni is joining the ranks of companies hopping on the crypto bandwagon. The mobile-based platform, founded in 2018 out of Barclays’ accelerator program (which is operated by Techstars), launched with the intent to offer personalized banking products suited to the lifestyles of those in the 18-to-35 crowd, CEO and founder Archie Ravishankar told TechCrunch.
Now, Cogni has raised a $23 million funding round led by Hanwha Asset Management and CaplinFO with a new mandate — bringing web2 and web3 services together on one platform, Ravishankar said. Solana Ventures, FTX Ventures, Ship Capital, Thirty Five Ventures, ROK Capital, Bluewatch Ventures and Alsara Investment Group also participated in the fundraise.
The company last raised a $1.7 million seed round in November 2018 before it officially launched, and subsequently raised a $5 million seed extension round last year, according to Ravishankar.
“When we first started, crypto was not part of our agenda, because we really wanted to build a financial platform that suited people’s lifestyles. When crypto and blockchain became people’s lifestyle in 2021, that’s when we decided that it’s a lot more attractive to build on web3 than web2,” Ravishankar said.
Continue reading: https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/26/lifestyle-consumer-neobank-cogni-pivots-crypto-web3/

If you’re not familiar with blockchain technology, it can be challenging to understand what COTI is and does. This guide will break down the basics of blockchain technology and explain how COTI uses it to create a better payment system. We’ll also discuss some of the benefits that COTI offers over traditional payment methods.
Cryptocurrencies are one of the most popular investments and trading vehicles of the 21st century. Whether you’re just getting started with cryptocurrencies or already trading in them, you’ve probably heard of Bitcoin (BTC), the first and most well-known cryptocurrency. But there are thousands of different cryptocurrencies available today, each with its features and purpose. So, what is the COTI blockchain?
COTI stands for “currency of the Internet.” It’s a decentralized network that allows instant peer-to-peer transactions with no middleman or third-party involvement. COTI uses a unique consensus algorithm called TrustchainTM designed to be scalable, secure, and efficient.
So far, COTI has been very successful. It has a growing community of users and developers, and its platform is being used by some of the world’s largest companies. If you’re interested in learning more about COTI or investing in it, do your research and consult with a financial advisor.
Understanding COTI
COTI is a blockchain-based protocol that enables the creation of digital currencies with a wide range of features and benefits. The COTI network uses a unique consensus algorithm designed to be highly scalable and secure. It also offers a number of other innovative features, such as instant transactions, low fees, and support for multiple languages.
The COTI team has developed various applications and services that make it easy for businesses and individuals to use the COTI network. These include a digital wallet, exchange, and payments platform. The team is also developing additional applications to enable users to create their digital currencies, as well as a number of other innovative features.
COTI aims to provide businesses and individuals with a simple and efficient way for businesses and individuals to create their digital currencies. The team is committed to providing a high level of security and scalability.
Continue reading: https://www.coinspeaker.com/guides/what-is-coti-blockchain/

There is no doubt that the history of blockchain and cryptocurrencies has been checkered, as major events, such as the 2013 shutdown of Silk Road, 2014’s Mt. Gox closure, the 2017 disappearance of Ruja Ignatova and the 2020 Telegram ICO fine and SEC settlement, have shown. The birth of the internet of value has not been without incident.
I’ve been a tech investor for more than 20 years, and I have a deep appreciation for how new technology develops. In recent years, I’ve been interested in Web3 and cybersecurity investment opportunities, and I hold bitcoin and ethereum. Over my career, I’ve observed that tearing up an established rulebook with new technology, such as blockchain, rarely happens without a lot of uncertainty. What have we learned so far? Many challenges are often conflated, so how can we distinguish these from each other?
To answer those questions, let’s look at the role of cybersecurity, scams, illegal activity and regulatory intervention.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity must be adapted for a blockchain based world. The famous Mt. Gox hack in Japan led to the shuttering of the exchange in 2014. At its peak, Mt. Gox handled 70% of all bitcoin transactions globally. That incident served as an early warning, but cyber threats remain a persistent threat, and in my view, none more so than ransomware attacks.
Continue reading: 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/04/27/tearing-up-the-rulebook-blockchain-and-crypto-adoption-risks/?sh=18398d2a5bcf

Crypto is dominated by men for the most part and women are still trying to make space for themselves by uniting and educating each other about how things work in the field. Though several powerful women are thriving in the crypto sector, they are still outnumbered by men which makes the valuable field of crypto undiversified. 
The characterization of crypto as men’s territory has kept many women from getting involved in trading and investing in crypto but women like Amy Matsushima are working constantly to make sure that women acquire the same stature as men in crypto by introducing them to crypto with the help of NFT avatars. 
Women Of Crypto: Mission And Goals 
Amy’s “Women Of Crypto” has just one mission and that is to increase women’s engagement in the crypto world so that the gender ratio in the field of crypto is stabilized. Amy recognizes the perks of crypto and how it can make significant changes in their lives financially. WOC NFTs are 3D avatars that women can use in the metaverse where they can join communities and garner business deals as well. Every NFT generated by WOC has unique features complimenting the individuality of every woman. 
Continue reading: https://www.americadailypost.com/ways-women-of-cryptos-initiative-is-helping-minimize-the-gender-gap-in-crypto/

AI models, called M2I, take two contributions: past directions of the vehicles, cyclists, and people on foot collaborating in a rush-hour gridlock.
Humans might be probably the greatest barricade keeping completely independent vehicles off city roads. One of the chances that a robot will explore a vehicle securely through midtown Boston is the robot would have the option to foresee what is close by drivers, cyclists, and walkers will do straightaway.
Conduct expectation is an extreme issue, and current artificial intelligence reasoning arrangements are either excessively short-sighted (they might accept people on foot generally stroll in an orderly fashion), excessively moderate (to stay away from walkers, the robot simply leaves the vehicle in the middle), or can gauge the following moves of one specialist (streets commonly convey numerous clients without a moment’s delay). MIT scientists have concocted a misleading basic answer for this confounded test. They break a multiagent conduct expectation issue into more modest pieces and tackle every one separately, so a PC can settle this perplexing assignment continuously.
Their conduct expectation structure first theories the connections between two street clients — using artificial intelligence in the industry which vehicle, cyclist, or walker has the option to proceed, and which specialist will yield — and involves those connections to foresee future directions for a considerable length of time.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/how-is-artificial-intelligence-anticipating-peoples-behaviour-on-road/

As I walked through Waikamoi Preserve, an 8,951-acre forest on the East Maui mountains, Kerri Fay, a science specialist and Maui program lead for The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii and Palmyra, passionately pointed out the splendor of its biodiversity. Native cyanea horrida hovered above the ground, while yellow-faced bees hummed in the distance. The boardwalk on which we traversed creaked as an iʻiwi bird sang its distinctive tune. We closed our eyes and listened carefully. It was bittersweet.
These protected grounds revealed healthy, functional layers of a native forest—fern ground cover, mosses, lichens, mid-layer shrubs, sub-canopy, and koa trees—that contribute to the overall synergy of the island’s ecosystems. But beyond the fences where meticulous protection isn’t enacted, those sounds, and those sights are slowly disappearing. The dichotomy of the two areas brought the purpose of conservation into clear view, that biodiversity simply must be safeguarded.
Hawaii is known, sadly, as "the endangered species capital of the world." Many things can easily harm the native ecosystems of islands in the middle of an ocean. And in Hawaii, there’s also human intervention and development, invasive ungulates (Axis deer, goats, and boar), and noxious weeds compromising flora and fauna. The term "invasive"—which is critical here—means a non-native species taking over or dominating an environment and landscape. If and when native habitats fall to invasive species, biodiversity dies off.
Continue reading: https://fortune.com/2022/04/26/tech-forward-everyday-ai-hawaii-biodiversity/

It was 25 years ago when IBM’s artificial intelligence system, Deep Blue, defeated Garry Kasparov in a six-game rematch of chess. But this competition did not reveal AI to be smarter than its human opponent, who was at the time the reigning world champion; Deep Blue’s success demonstrated that we, humans, could program AI to perform functions we cannot do quickly on our own—analyzing vast amounts of data and processing any number of natural languages, just to name a couple of functions.
Today, AI continues to attract more attention and interest than most other innovations, including when it comes to nonfungible tokens (NFTS). Cognitive computing helps with many work-related tasks and now has countless applications in science, commerce, health care, gaming and legal. In fact, AI has the potential to transform whole companies and industries in the same way that personal computers and the internet changed them previously.
Nevertheless, human intelligence is still far more creative and critical than the artificial variety. So, what do corporate leaders need to know about bringing the two together successfully? How can both employees and AI play a supportive role in enhancing and advancing human capabilities?
Continue reading: 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/04/26/combining-intelligence-how-people-and-ai-can-collaborate/?sh=5cb51715143d

Encouraging women in AI has never been more urgent. A study by the World Economic Forum noted a gender disparity of 78 per cent male versus 22 per cent female in AI and data science.
This disparity isn’t just a challenge within the workforce.
It reflects a highly nuanced issue that goes beyond any single workplace and if not addressed will have highly negative implications for society.
We have seen a lot of work to encourage girls and women to become interested in STEM and address gaps in digital skills at an earlier age than in the past.
Yet now, there appears to be less effort to support women as they transition from higher education into a sustainable career in tech.
This is a challenge for the industry.
But the real problem is that as AI becomes ubiquitous in daily life, without a technology workforce that accurately reflects the structure of society, AI-based decisions are constrained by the limited societal and cultural biases of their designers.
The impact of such homogeneity in AI decisions and bias has already been seen in examples such as the automation of credit card and mortgage applications, to resume screening and other areas.
The industry challenge is not due to a lack of skills.
Continue reading: https://psnews.com.au/2022/04/25/battle-ai-bias-more-women-in-tech/

Over the years multiple blockchain platforms have emerged, bolstered by the demand for and acceptance of the technology, breakthroughs in blockchain innovation, and favorable price action generated by successful blockchain projects like the Bitcoin and Ethereum platforms.
But what happens when critical data or digital assets must be moved from one blockchain environment to another? How might value from the Ethereum ecosystem, for example, be moved to the Cardano blockchain platform?
With each platform having its own set of unique features and benefits meant to benefit its ecosystem and intended use cases, such concerns provide a unique difficulty to solve at this level of the technology’s development.
It also implies that in terms of the overall operationalization of blockchain technology within a more digitized, data-driven global economy, the capacity of various blockchains to link with one another is becoming crucial. As a result, blockchain interoperability is very important and in this article we’ll be looking at the top 3 interoperability platforms for web3.
Continue reading: https://bitcoinist.com/3-leading-web3-interoperable-platforms-you-should-keep-an-eye-on/

Tech innovation across 2022 continues to revolve around Web3, the much-discussed evolution of the World Wide Web. 
Decentralization is how Web3 differs from previous Internet iterations and one of the key reasons this dynamic ecosystem continues to mature. 
In the Web 2.0 era, computers rely on HTTP stored in a fixed location to find information. With Web3, information can be stored in a variety of places, eliminating the need for massive centralized databases. As a result, Web3 applications run on trustless and permissioness decentralized peer-to-peer networks.
These unique aspects make Web3 the so-called Internet of the future and the focus of massive amounts of attention from World Wide Web users, developers, and those within the crypto and blockchain spaces. 
The Web3 Revolution Keeps Gaining Momentum 
An Electric Capital report revealed Web3 developer growth had reached an all-time high in 2021. More than 34,000 new developers contributed code to projects within the space. 
As of early February 2022, more than 18,000 monthly active developers were committing code to Web3 and open-source crypto projects, according to the report. 
Continue reading: https://cryptonews.com/news/why-interoperability-key-for-web3.htm

Despite years of development and increased security levels, the crypto industry is still being heavily impacted by hackers. In Q1 of 2022, online criminals managed to steal almost $1.3 billion, across 78 recorded incidents. In many cases, the problem did not lie with the protocols, but with the hackers’ ability to trick unsuspecting users. But, there were also numerous instances where flaws and exploits were the reason why hackers managed to get away with the money.
This is why we wanted to make a comparison of some of the biggest and most popular blockchain networks, and see which of them are the best, as well as the safest. 
What are blockchain networks?
A blockchain network is a technical infrastructure that provides smart contract and ledger services to applications. Essentially, they are blockchains that can be used as development platforms for creating a variety of blockchain products.
They came back when Ethereum first emerged and shifted the attention from cryptocurrency trading towards blockchain’s potential as it can be used to create virtually any type of app, protocol, or service that exists off-chain.
As a result, we now have countless Ethereum-like blockchains that all offer to serve as Ethereum alternatives. This leads to further diversification and decentralization of the DeFi sector, and it is ultimately a good thing from that point of view. 
But, with that said — it also leads to the question of which one is the best one?
Continue reading: https://cryptoslate.com/blockchain-networks-overview-what-makes-these-networks-the-best/

The concept of lending and borrowing is as old as time itself. Regarding finances, while some individuals have more than enough for themselves, others barely have enough to get by. As long as there is this imbalance in finance distribution, there will always be a need to borrow and a desire to lend.
Lending involves giving out a resource on credit with the condition of it being returned upon an agreed period of time. In this case, such resources would be money or any financial asset.
The lender could be an individual, a financial institution, a firm or even a country. Whichever the case may be, the lender, oftentimes, needs a sort of assurance that their resources would be returned to them upon the agreed time.
Certain criteria qualify a borrower to take a loan. Among these are the borrower’s debt-to-income (DTI) ratio which measures the amount of money from their income committed to handling monthly debt service, stable employment, the value of the collateral and actual income.
Credit rating plays a crucial role in lending
Generally, most financial institutions and firms rely more heavily on the credit score of the borrower than the aforementioned criteria.
Consequently, credit scores are by far the biggest factor in determining whether a loan should be granted to a borrower. In a world of financial imbalance where loans are quickly becoming necessary, particularly due to recent economic hardships, individuals, establishments and even governments are expected to keep their credit ratings as favorable as possible.
These ratings or scores can be assigned to individuals, firms or governments that wish to take a loan in the bid to settle a deficit. Defaulting in the payment of the loan at the agreed time generally has an adverse impact on the borrower’s credit rating, making it difficult for them to obtain another loan in the future.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/decentralized-credit-scores-how-can-blockchain-tech-change-ratings

The future of the internet has been the subject of much speculation and debate in the past few years. From the rise of virtual worlds and immersive experiences to the explosive growth of social media, the internet has become a ubiquitous medium for communication and commerce. With the rise of blockchain, the internet is about to go through a major transformation.
This isn’t the first transformation of the internet. Since its public emergence nearly 30 years ago, the internet has gone through two major evolutions and is about to go through a third. These transformations not only have changed how we use the internet and what we use it for, but they have impacted the world at large, changing how we live and work and interact with others.
Web 1.0: The static internet
The first iteration of the public internet was the age of the website. Every company needed a website, and that website primarily contained static data and information that the owner of the website thought was important. The corporate website had information about the company—mostly marketing collateral. News and reference websites also had a stockpile of information. But all of these sites pushed information to the consumer—a one-way communications path. This was similar to how traditional media of the day (newspaper, magazines, radio, television) communicated information to the public.
Whether the company was an existing news agency such as NBC or CNN, or was a corporate brand such as McDonald’s, every company soon had a website that conveyed information to the public. Figure 1 illustrates this internet. A website was an entity that a company created and owned. It had mostly static data, and the data was controlled and managed by the company. The information flowed in one direction, outward to the users of the website.
Continue reading: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3657635/why-blockchain-is-the-future-of-the-internet.html

As layer 1 blockchains, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have always been plagued by the 'Blockchain Trilemma'. This means that, one of three features (scalability, decentralization & security) needs to be sacrificed for the blockchain to function efficiently.
For instance, on the Bitcoin and Ethereum Blockchains, scalability is traded for security and decentralization. So, while data is stored in a secured distributed ledger, these blockchains suffer in terms of transaction speeds, especially as the number of users on the network increases.
Bitcoin has a transaction per second (TPS) speed of 7, whereas Ethereum has a TPS of 15. These are extremely slow compared to other payment services like Visa, which has a TPS of 45,000. Developers have turned to layer 2 solutions to address this gulf in processing speeds.
layer 2 is a collective term used to describe blockchain scaling solutions. These solutions are built on top of the layer 1 blockchain and help improve the network's scalability and transaction processing speed. They are merely an extension of the base layer. They inherit the features of the layer 1 blockchain and build on them to improve the efficiency of the network.
Let's dive in deeper to understand the meaning of layer 2 solutions and how they work.
Continue reading: https://www.cnbctv18.com/cryptocurrency/what-is-a-layer-2-blockchain-13267932.htm

Artificial intelligence will only get more intelligent and constantly gain power over time.
For many of us, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has crept into our lives quietly and without much fanfare. It’s nearly everywhere right now, at work, at home, in our cars, on our phones and computers, in other words, in the things that have become indispensable in our lives. Furthermore, AI gadgets understand what kind of TV episodes and movies we enjoy, what kinds of music we enjoy, and what kinds of relationships we prefer. Apart from our personal life, AI is having an impact on a variety of corporate sectors such as automotive, e-commerce, healthcare, economy, and entertainment. Artificial intelligence will get more intelligent and powerful over time.
This post will pull back the veil on artificial intelligence and show you how it will transform the way we live and work, as well as what it has so far done for mankind.
AI’s Real-World Applications
Customer Service
Customers receive consistent, high-quality service because of artificial intelligence. According to AI Business, artificial intelligence can deliver more individualized support than a human. This is due to the fact that a customer’s information is already stored in the system. This data would include past inquiries as well as purchase patterns. Every time a consumer contacts the firm, AI will find out a bit more about them. The system can then use that information in future exchanges.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/how-ai-is-creating-a-new-world/

It is clear that artificial intelligence (AI) can play a critical role in deriving customer insights, improving the consumer experience, and gaining customer trust.
Artificial Intelligence is a boon for all types of businesses. More companies are becoming interested in learning about artificial intelligence’s underlying mechanics and how to apply the technology to improve consumer engagement and experience. Many big, as well as small organizations, use AI to enhance their customer experience. Have you ever wondered why businesses are rapidly adopting AI technologies?
Before proceeding further, let’s look at some of the AI trends and statistics: 

• In 2021, 76% of businesses planned to prioritize AI and machine learning in their IT budgets.
• According to 43% of enterprises, their AI and Machine Learning (ML) initiatives were the best decisions that they have ever made. While on the other hand, some people have said that AI and ML should have been their top priority.
• This year, 50% of businesses aim to spend more on AI and ML, with 20% indicating they will considerably increase their budgets.

Artificial intelligence and its role in improving the customer experience
Customer experience, brand image, and retention can all be improved with artificial intelligence. While it isn’t a substitute for human interaction, it can assist enhance efficiency and removing low-hanging fruit from your customer support employees’ plates, such as addressing frequently requested inquiries. 
Using artificial intelligence, you can also break down communications barriers and automate customer interactions by using other technologies such as machine learning and deep learning.
Let’s Discuss How AI can help you to enhance your customer experience. 
Continue reading: https://www.rtinsights.com/how-artificial-intelligence-can-improve-customer-experience/

One of the most consequential challenges confronting corporate governance in the near term will be its ability to exercise informed oversight over the application of artificial intelligence (“AI”) within its organization. It will be a challenge that will arise regardless of the industry sector in which the company operates, and regardless of how it applies AI in that operation.
The essence of the challenge is the rapidly emerging conflict between the perceived societal and commercial benefits arising from AI implementation, and the perceived societal and institutional risks arising from its use. The need to address the challenge is urgent; the competing interests of benefit and risk are hurtling at each other at hypersonic speed.
While the challenge is certain to arise at some point at the government/regulatory level, it is likely to arise more immediately at the corporate, operational level. And the governing board, with its strategic and risk management portfolios, is the most appropriate platform from which companies may resolve the challenge for the benefit of all corporate constituencies.
Nowhere is this risk/benefit conflict better demonstrated than in the health care sector, which is widely acknowledged for leveraging research and innovation to achieve advances and efficiencies in patient care and treatment.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelperegrine/2022/04/26/the-looming-board-challenge-oversight-of-artificial-intelligence/?sh=386a824c287b

Robin Kim graduated from New York University in 2015 with a degree in economics. He borrowed more than $100,000 from the US government and quickly became locked in to high interest rates. He has been trying to pay off his student loans ever since.
Eventually, Kim refinanced through a private lender to lower the interest rate, but he wondered if there was another way out. “I was paying $1,500 a month, every month, to pay off this loan,” he says. “That amount could have been better spent elsewhere.” 
A former engineer at Coinbase and a cofounder of Gallery, an online platform people can use to curate and share their NFT collections, Kim had thought of selling cryptocurrency to pay off his loans. But if he did that, he’d have to pay taxes on any profit he made. 
Instead, Kim took out a loan through a lending platform called Aave, built on the Ethereum blockchain. He used that money to pay his debt and is now working on paying off the new loan.
How do DeFi loans work? 
Decentralized finance is a catch-all term for blockchain applications used to create complex financial products. Since DeFi loans aren’t tied to the traditional banking system, they sometimes have lower interest rates, do not affect the borrower’s credit score, and could in theory be held indefinitely. 
DeFi loans can be based on any digital currency. That includes stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to external sources like the US dollar. To take out a DeFi loan, borrowers must first deposit collateral in the form of crypto assets worth more than the amount they wish to borrow. How much more is based on a percentage set by the lender. It’s a bit like putting down $100 in one currency to borrow $75 in another. 
The borrower receives the loan in, for example, stablecoins, which can then be exchanged for US dollars. That money is used to pay off a debt, and then the borrower eventually pays off the DeFi loan to reclaim the collateral.  
With the benefits of DeFi, however, come risks. A borrower’s collateral can be liquidated if its value drops below the value of the loan. Bitcoin, despite having more market liquidity than any other cryptocurrency, is still highly volatile, fluctuating in value by an average of 3% per day. If prices dip too much, borrowers lose their collateral. (Though if the price of the collateral appreciates, that risk is lower.)
Continue reading: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/25/1049478/blockchain-decentralized-finance-defi-student-loan-debt/