Schneider Electric does IoT on Microsoft Azure

With Schneider Electric and its digital transformation, Microsoft is seeing tangible evidence that a focus on analytics, IoT, cloud and open source is paying off.

You may not know Schneider Electric, but if you're an Internet of Things (IoT) watcher, you should. Schneider, based in France, is a multinational industrial technology firm, providing services around energy and automation management.

The company is also undergoing a full-on digital transformation. And when an industrial company does that, with all of the heavy machine and sensor assets that it manages, you have to think IT.

Mr. Schneider goes to Washington
Schneider has been working closely with Microsoft and its Azure in this transformation effort. In fact, Schneider's work with Microsoft was featured prominently at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, held the week before last, in Toronto. Having done a small amount of work with Schneider myself before, I was aware of the companies prowess and wanted to understand better how the company was using Azure technologies.

As it happens, Schneider has an Executive VP who is specifically in charge of Digital Transformation and IoT. His name is Cyril Perducat and he spoke to me this week about how that transformation is fanning out, and the degree to which IoT is involved. I learned a lot.

One for all
Perducat told me Schneider has a huge portfolio of projects and that 100% of them are affected by the digital transformation effort. As just one example, Schneider has an solar energy offering called "EcoStruxure Solutions," that is global and is deployed in Nigeria, Japan and other countries around the globe. EcoStruxure involves remote monitoring, and analytics, which means it has "IoT" written all over it.

Although Schenider's businesses are varied -- organizationally, geographically and in terms of the work itself -- Schneider is working with a variety of partners to build a digital platform/IoT stack that can be used across the entire company. Furthermore, Microsoft is the biggest of those partners, Perducat says.

Stacking up
In terms of IoT, Perducat says there are no fewer than 50 projects using different variations of IoT technology. Some involve devices; others involve complete systems. The projects tie back into other systems, including CRM and customer service platforms. All of them use the same IoT foundation stack, and most are based on Azure IoT and Cortana Analytics.

Specific Azure components used include IoT Hub, Stream Analytics, HDInsight, and other components offered under the Cortana Analytics Suite, including Power BI. Perducat explained to me the amount of IoT and analytics infrastructure offered by Microsoft lets Schneider focus on the application level instead of the underlying plumbing. Such a platform play is, of course, classic Microsoft. All this provides tangible vindication that the Azure strategy is working, in a way that plays off Redmond's strengths and heritage.

Another thing that's classic Microsoft, though, is that its offerings tend to be delivered more as building blocks than "turnkey" solutions. I asked Perducat if that was a problem. His response was that Schneider prefers to stitch the components together into its defined architecture, and that if the Azure components were too integrated, it would be limiting.

Will the real IoT cloud please stand up?
Interestingly, a key offering of Schneider's is in the area of data center management. As such, not only is Microsoft a Schneider partner -- it's also a customer. So to, as it turns out, is Amazon Web Services. As a result, Schneider looked hard at both company's IoT services.

Perducat told me that Schneider feels Microsoft is well ahead of the competition, that its global presence of data centers is very important to Schneider and that Microsoft is very enterprise customer-friendly. Perducat added that Schneider also appreciates that Microsoft is more friendly to open source than it has been, historically. And that seems another nice vindication of Microsoft's more recent strategic direction.

How to get ahead in the higher-margin cloud
Perducat said that AWS is in catch-up mode (to Azure) with respect to IoT. He said Google and IBM are in catch-up mode as well, but they are even further behind than is AWS. So while the industry is likely used to hearing that Azure's catching up to AWS, here we have a very significant case where the reverse seems to be true.

In this instance, analytics is clearly driving adoption of the Azure cloud, and with services that go beyond commoditized, low-margin compute and storage. Of course, to beat AWS, that's exactly where Microsoft needs things to go. With a few more Schneiders for Microsoft, the cloud horse race could change significantly.

Cybersecurity startup PhishMe raises $42.5 million Series C

PhishMe aims to help companies thwart phishing attacks and other threats to business networks through consistent employee training.

Cybersecurity training provider PhishMe says it has raised $42.5 million in Series C funding led by Paladin Capital Group. Bessemer Venture Partners, a $4 billion venture capital firm, also participated.

Founded in 2011, PhishMe aims to help companies thwart phishing attacks and other threats to business networks through consistent employee training, including spear phishing tests and other phishing simulations.

The Virginia-based start-up plans to use the latest cash injection to expand its portfolio, fund research and development efforts, and expand into international markets across Europe and Asia. PhishMe previously raised $13 million in a Series B round of funding last year. PhishMe's original funding round raised $2.5 million.

Alex Ferrara, a partner at Bessemer Venture Capital. said PhishMe stands out among other security vendors because it tries to influence the human element in detecting phishing campaigns.

Humans tend to be the weak links in the security chain, often falling for phishing campaigns or unwittingly connecting malware-ridden personal devices to corporate networks. PhishMe's pitch is that businesses can mitigate these risks by better training its staff.

"The most damaging cyber-attacks almost always involve phishing or spear phishing attempts and that is why empowering the human element or employees to detect these phishing campaigns has become a top priority for modern enterprises," Ferrara said.

Overall, security start-ups have enjoyed unfettered access to venture funding, unlike many of their cloud and software vendor peers. Security firms are also hot targets for acquisition, with everyone from Cisco to IBM snapping up start-ups with a bent on cybersecurity. Cisco recently bought Massachusetts-based CloudLock for $293 million, while IBM acquired Resilient Systems in February to beef up its security operations.

​4.6m Australian jobs at risk at the hands of technology: StartupAUS

A report by StartupAUS believes startup and innovation hubs are the key to combating the 4.6 million jobs at risk of obsolescence in the digital era.

Australian startup advocacy group StartupAUS has recommended the country continue to invest in startup and "multi-layered" innovation hubs if it wants to sustainably attract and retain talent and combat the 4.6 million jobs that are expected to be displaced by technology.

StartupAUS' latest report [PDF], Economy in Transition - Startups, innovation and a workforce for the future suggests that fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, nurturing a workforce with a forward-looking skill set, and establishing the infrastructure to support innovation, Australia can be "well-positioned to ensure the future of work in Australia is a bright one".

Additionally, StartupAUS predicts the "solopreneur" -- a person working independently as a specialist in their particular field -- will also play an important part in combating the obsolescence of jobs.

While the report notes that Australia is expected to be slightly less affected by automation than the United States and below the OECD average due to having already transitioned from manufacturing to a largely service-based economy, StartupAUS believes that the total number of jobs at high risk is approximately 4.6 million, with a further 2.1 million at medium risk.

Alex McCauley, StartupAUS CEO, said Australia must be prepared to meet the inevitable challenges brought about by swift and sweeping technological advancement.

"The Australian workforce is not immune from the sweeping global changes brought on by both the internet and advances in technology elsewhere. Indeed, the effect of these changes on how we work, and in what roles, has increasingly become a matter of vital national economic importance," he said.

"Vast new opportunities have opened up in the digital era, and we must position ourselves to take full advantage of those opportunities."

Another necessity StartupAUS highlighted was preparing for the workforce of the future by educating the nation's youth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The report suggests that 16 of the 20 most currently in-demand skills in Australia are technology-related, and workers with a mix of entrepreneurial, STEM, creative, and social skills will be in increasingly high demand to support the core of Australia's required workforce.

Despite this need, StartupAUS said Australia has a profound talent shortage within the STEM field, suggesting combating the shortage by harnessing "specialised immigration", and noting that around 70 percent of Silicon Valley software developers are foreign-born.

"As our tech startup ecosystem develops, Australia must be open to importing talent from overseas, and at the same time accept that skilled Australians will move offshore. This is a natural part of the modern employment landscape for high-skill workers," McCauley said.

STEM has become a hot topic for the country's political and tech leaders, with Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-CEO and co-founder of Atlassian, saying previously that the biggest challenge the nation is facing is its lack of talent.

"We are 1 percent of the world's GDP today, which makes us 20th in the OECD in terms of size of economy; if we're not producing 1 percent of the world's technology in 10, 20, 30 years' time, there's no way we can maintain that position. That puts us in a bad spot," he said.

"I think fundamentally it's about talent -- that's our biggest challenge in this country. Talent, training, and STEM education in high schools is critically important."

Earlier this year, the government begun the consultation process for the Entrepreneur Visa, releasing a discussion paper to tackle concerns including: Individual nomination procedure, third-party backing, length of stay, visa extension length, and whether the individual should be given permanent residency if their innovations prove to be a success.

"It is critical for Australia's prosperity and growth that we not only tap into the best entrepreneurial minds in Australia, but we also make it easier for talent from overseas to contribute to this country's innovative future," former Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne said at the time.

"We are also keen to retain those educated and talented people who have come to Australia and developed their knowledge base during their time in this country."

Announced as part of the federal government's AU$1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda, the Entrepreneur Visa would allow those from overseas to live and work amongst Australia's tech industry.

The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) published its major research report Australia's future workforce? last year, which, similarly to the StartupAUS report, called on Australians to ensure that the nation is technologically ready for the workforce of the future.

According to the think tank, more than 5 million jobs -- almost 40 percent of Australian jobs that exist today -- have a moderate to high likelihood of disappearing in the next 10 to 15 years, citing technological advancements as the reason.

In its report [PDF], CEDA said that while there will be new jobs and industries that emerge from the increasingly digital era, Australia will suffer if it doesn't plan for, and invest in, the right areas.

Soundlazer VR speaker surrounds you with a virtual cloud of sound

Imagine an office where everyone can listen to music or watch videos without disturbing others -- and without wearing headphones.

Most speakers are designed to throw sound as far and loud as possible. However, the Soundlazer VR speaker is designed to give you an immersive experience right at your desk.

The VR speaker is an evolution from Soundlazer's early parametric speaker, which uses ultrasonic carrier waves to transmit audio to listeners in a focused beam of sound. The new version uses planar wave technology to beam sound at the listener's ears.

Parametric speakers operate like laser beams. Sound is focused at high intensity into a relatively small area. Two people can be standing only a few feet apart from each other, and only one of them will hear the sound waves emanating from the parametric audio source.

Soundlazer VR uses planar wave technology to transmit audio to listeners. The beam of stereo sound from the flat panel array delivers a high-fidelity experience. Its frequency response is across the full range (150Hz to 20kHz).

This virtual sound is in a spherical area directly below the hanging Soundlazer VR, with audio that is over four times louder than everywhere else in the room.

Power is delivered via the steel hanging cables. No wires are visible, which gives workers a geeky way to listen to music at their desk without disturbing others in the room.

The first Soundlazer project was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2012, with a further successful round of funding for Soundlazer Snap in 2015. The Soundlazer VR has already smashed its Kickstarter targets.

Richard Haberkern, founder and inventor of Soundlazer, reckons you should think of the speaker as an organic, floating personal cloud of sound.

He says that when you sit under the device, sound appears to come from all around you.

With Soundlazer VR, you will be able to ignore your coworkers when they speak to you, with a very valid excuse.

Singtel and Ericsson implementing 450Mbps 4G indoor technology in 2017

Singtel and Ericsson have aggregated licensed and unlicensed spectrum to extend network coverage indoors to attain throughput speeds of up to 450Mbps.

Singaporean telecommunications carrier Singtel has announced completing a live trial of License Assisted Access (LAA) 4G across its network in partnership with Ericsson, saying the mobile technology will boost network capacity and speeds indoors and will be rolled out over the next two years, beginning in the first half of 2017.

The trial involved two weeks of testing across several RBS 6402 indoor small cells, Wi-Fi access points, prototype LAA devices, and Wi-Fi devices, using 20MHz of the 1800MHz licensed spectrum band aggregated with 20MHz of the 5GHz unlicensed spectrum band over a live network inside an office premises in Serangoon North.

"To provide our customers with a superior mobile experience when they are indoors, we are continuing to invest in new technologies that will increase indoor 4G speeds," said Tay Yeow Lian, managing director of Networks for Singtel's Consumer Singapore group.

"We are pleased to be the first in Singapore to showcase LAA technology live. This is an integral part of the LTE-Advanced evolution, and will bring us one step closer to our 5G goals."

LAA is a kind of LTE-U -- a mobile technology using unlicensed LTE spectrum to boost data speeds -- which comes with "listen-before-talk" functionality that ensures LAA coexists with other Wi-Fi devices across the same unlicensed spectrum, improving network capacity for multiple devices.

The first trial saw Singtel and Ericsson conduct a stationary live test at the office building that attained 275Mbps throughput -- the highest possible with the devices currently available -- across LTE LAA; the second test case demonstrated that LAA can coexist with regular Wi-Fi signals without interference and while maintaining a high throughput; and the third trial saw the two companies show that LAA has better link performance, medium access control, mobility management, coverage, higher throughput speeds, and handover between small cells than a standard Wi-Fi access point.

LAA-capable smartphones and devices should be available for consumers in early 2017, Singtel added, allowing for 450Mbps throughput speeds. The technology is a precursor for 5G implementation, both Singtel and Ericsson claimed.

"5G standards do not yet exist, but 5G is expected to be an evolution of today's LTE networks along with new radio technologies and use cases," Martin Wiktorin, country manager for Ericsson Singapore and Brunei, explained.

"Ericsson and Singtel are very focused on technologies like LAA, which will be key to operators as they evolve their LTE networks to support increasing mobile broadband demand from consumers, businesses, and the Internet of Things (IoT) towards 5G."

In February, Singtel and Ericsson had announced their collaboration on enabling Singtel's 4G network for the IoT, including a trial of narrowband IoT technology during the latter half of 2016.

Instead of using cellular networks for the IoT, narrowband low-power, long-range, wide-area networks that use available, unlicensed radio spectrum could allow for extended coverage and less complex devices with higher battery life, meaning more connected devices overall.

"IoT connectivity is an important part of Singapore's enterprises, and supports the Singapore government's Smart Nation initiative. We anticipate a growing demand to connect a multitude of sensors and devices in a cost-effective manner," Tay Soo Meng, group CTO at Singtel, said at the time.

"Focusing on power-saving capabilities in our networks enables energy-efficiency benefits for the IoT ecosystem; we expect at least 10 years' battery life. With the early introduction of low-powered IoT devices, this brings us a step closer to 5G goals, where new device and sensor technologies can leverage network connectivity to power a variety of use cases, such as lighting and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity."

Singtel's 4G network currently supports low-cost purpose-built Category 1 (Cat-1) IoT devices.

Ericsson and Singtel have been working on a "blueprint" for 5G deployment across Singapore since January last year, signing a memorandum of understanding to "study the future of 5G networks and its applications" for consumers and enterprises.

Ericsson is also working with Australia's incumbent telecommunications carrier Telstra on trialling Telstra's 5G network during the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast.

Under the partnership, Telstra's team of network engineers will be temporarily transferred to Ericsson's Sweden-based research lab for six months prior to this, in order to collaborate on collecting data and building the mathematical models of radio signals to be used for 5G radio spectrum.

The engineering teams will then use this data to develop radio models for the Australian network environment as part of the international 5G standardisation process.

Telstra last year attained 1Gbps 4G mobile speeds with Ericsson during live commercial 4G mobile trials by aggregating five spectrum bands.

Similarly, Ericsson last month demonstrated the capability of network slicing for 5G mobile communications infrastructure with SK Telecom in South Korea.

#CXOTALK General Electric and the industrial internet of big things

GE's Chief Marketing Officer, Linda Boff, explains how this iconic brand develops products for the Internet of Things at industrial scale. The are important lessons for every enterprise marketer and product designer.

General Electric and the industrial internet of big things

General Electric is one of the interesting brands in the world. Started in 1889 by Thomas Edison and employing over 300,000 people, GE is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its long history.

As a manufacturing organization, GE is rethinking its entire business through the lens of being a digital company. To General Electric, digital means building industrial equipment with sensors and analyzing vast amounts of time-series data to improve reliability and lower operating costs for customers. GE describes these connected machines as the "industrial internet of things."

As part of the CXOTALK series of conversations with innovators, I spoke with GE's Chief Marketing Officer, Linda Boff, to learn more. Linda explained the company's marketing strategy and its efforts to humanize the iconic GE brand. During our conversation, she explains how GE puts a human face on connected industrial equipment and services, making the brand accessible to ordinary consumers and business people. Linda presents a compelling vision of the connected future.

Watch a brief clip below and also see the entire 45-minute episode.

Here is an edited transcript from segments of the conversation:

What does digital transformation mean for GE?

Today, we've got great machines that help power the world, help create renewable energy, which diagnose in hospitals. But, in the world we're imagining, those machines talk to each other.

Imagine a jet engine that can tweet, can tell you it's time to come off-engine, that it's time to be serviced. Imagine what we call a "digital twin." A digital twin is, very simply, you're running a wind turbine farm, and you literally have a digital imprint of that farm. Therefore, you know when the machines are the most productive; when the machines need service. Think about how much more productive you can be.

When we think about digital industrial, we think about the industrial internet. About a world that's more productive; that's more efficient. We think about fuel savings. GE operates in a world of scale, so if you save fuel for a big railroad, it's worth millions and millions of dollars.

As you can tell, we get giddy talking about what a connected ecosystem of machines looks like. We think the industrial internet will be bigger than the consumer internet, so that's a lot to get excited about. Some people call it Industry 4.0, the next big industrial revolution.

How do you humanize and simplify this message so ordinary people will understand it?

Brands need to figure out what they stand for. You have to figure out what your DNA is. If a bar of soap can figure out that they stand for real beauty, everybody can figure out what their DNA is. To me, that's always job one as a marketer; who are you.

Second is how do you want to talk about yourself. It became very clear that science, technology, engineering, and invention were topics that are important to us but also important to the world. We constantly look for this intersection of culture and science and innovation.

We look for moments in which we can have that conversation.

GE has been around for 124 years, and the challenge is, "How are you relevant every day, and how are you relevant to new audiences?" GE makes very big and very important technology and now technology that's being digitized. How do you make what we're doing [relevant] every day? How do you make it relatable? How do you make it tangible?

We try hard to find ways to talk about our technology, what we are doing regarding digital industrial, but frame it in a way that's inherently interesting and has an emotional arc to it.

The first example is something we did rather recently called Impossible Films. We took popular idioms: a snowball's chance in hell, catching lightning in a bottle, talking to a wall. Because we want to solve tough problems, we took those idioms as a challenge to show the world how we solve tough problems. When we think about storytelling, that's an example.

A second one, if you will let me brag a little bit, just won a big award at the Cannes Art Festival, so I am particularly proud of the team and the work they did there.

Back in the 50s, long before you and I were around there was something called GE Theatre that was hosted by Ronald Reagan; this was well before he became president and it was incredibly popular. We took a page out of GE Theatre but brought it all the way into the present. We recreated this idea of GE Theatre, but it was GE Podcast Theatre, and we worked with some talent and created an original podcast series called That Message. It got to number one on iTunes. It did really, really well and won this big award a week or so ago.

If you are a marketer, there are words thrown around like content marketing, branded content, sponsored content. To me, that can mean crummy content. Our standard is great content, not great branded content.

CXOTALK brings the world's most interesting innovators directly to you, without filters or interruption. See our list of upcoming episodes and read the entire transcript of this show.

GE Digital announces industrial developer toolkit, Predix Kits

GE Digital expects to have more than 20,000 developers building on the Predix industrial IoT platform by the end of the year.

GE Digital on Tuesday announced it will soon release Predix Developer Kits, the latest step designed to foster a developer community around Predix, its industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

The cloud-based software platform launched in 2015, and there are now nearly 12,000 developers building on it, according to GE. The company expects that number to grow to more than 20,000 by the end of the year.

The Predix Developer Kit should reduce the time it takes to on-ramp to the platform from hours to a matter of minutes. It comes configured with RasberryPi, Intel Edison, and GE Field Agent for industrial use cases. It's compatible with GE and non-GE assets and can utilize Predix Edge microservices. It also offers connectivity to Predix Time Series, Predix Asset, and UAA cloud microservices.

The toolkit will be made available to a select group of developers and partners in August and released to the broader developer community before the year is up. GE Digital also plans to eventually partner with other GE businesses and customers to build Industrial Kits for connecting various edge devices to the Predix platform. For instance, a Predix Safety Kit for the mining industry would allow companies to monitor oxygen levels and other variables in mines.

Last month, in another effort aimed at serving the Predix developer community, GE Digital opened the first of four "digital foundries".

The research firm Lux Research recently released a report concluding that Predix still has minimal market penetration but notable potential for growth. In its attempt to be a true software company, GE has recruited several major tech firms, including Huawei, Cisco, Intel, and Verizon, to support the Predix platform.

Wileyfox: The smartphone startup that wants to outfox the big players

Can Cyanogen OS-powered handsets and a lean business model help this British company make a mark on the smartphone market?

The UK doesn't have many smartphone companies: perhaps the best known is Vertu, which makes expensive handmade handsets for the super-rich.

In contrast, startup UK Wileyfox is targeting the opposite end of the market, aiming for the masses with low-cost handsets built in China. The company argues that its lean business model can help it compete with the industry's giants.

"What really brought it to life for me was at [the Mobile World Congress tradeshow] there was a manufacturer who launched a handset and the top variant of that handset was mooted as being €860. I was absolutely flabbergasted -- that's when I started to think everyone is paying far too much for this stuff," said Wileyfox CEO Nick Muir.

Wileyfox unveiled its first handsets last year and recently launched its third device, the Wileyfox Spark which retails at £89.99. More smartphones are in the pipeline, for launch later this year.

While a big company might be able to get components 10 percent cheaper than Wileyfox by buying in bulk, Muir maintains that his small company -- numbering just 27 people -- can still keep its costs low.

"Part of the surprise and delight of starting all of this was looking at the Chinese manufacturing ecosystem and suddenly understanding that we could take components -- first-class global quality components -- and buy them at such a rate and have them put together for us. That was quite a dramatic realization," said Muir, who argues that the reason many smartphone-makers are struggling is not the cost of components but the cost of their organizations.

"There are some big changes coming -- there are a number of tier-one manufacturers whose business model is not sustainable as it stands," said Muir.

"We really do make a healthy gross margin on every device, and the reason we do so is because we don't have glass offices, sporting contracts, or legacy pensions, or any of those things to worry about," he said.

Cyanogen OS: free from bloatware

One of the more unusual choices made by Wileyfox is to use Cyanogen OS as its operating system, which is built on top of Android.

"Handsets are full of bloatware, which nobody really enjoys as they slow everything down and use up memory. We hated the bloatware, all of us did, and we wanted an OS or addition to it that gave people more freedom," said Muir.

According to Muir, the company also chose Cyanogen because it thought it might find a large and readymade community of Cyanogen fans. "That turned out to be not quite the case, but nonetheless the user experience is pretty compelling," he said, adding that the company plans to stick with Cyanogen.

Wileyfox has said that it aims to ship its two-millionth handset in the next 12 months by releasing new handsets and selling in more countries. Don't expect to see a Wileyfox tablet anytime soon, though.

"At the moment I can't see a route to a tablet: the margins available on tablets are super-tight already, and I don't see how we could provide differentiation. That could change over time, but right now I don't see how we could effectively make something that had genuine value," said Muir.

Wileyfox also keeps costs low by cutting back on some of the bells-and-whistles you might find in more expensive handsets: "We've tried to make sure that everything you will use is present and everything you don't need isn't there -- that's the philosophy anyway," said Muir.

But while last year's Wileyfox Swift was lauded, so far reviews of the new Spark have been lukewarm: if this British startup really wants to outfox the big players, it will have to deliver on performance as well as price.

Moto G4 and G4 Plus review: Outstanding performer priced less than $300

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Daily phone, Note 7, Nintendo classic, and Pokemon Go (MobileTechRoundup show #376)

Samsung's getting ready to reveal the new Galaxy Note 7 while Matt prefers the S7 Edge as a daily driver and Kevin's S7 is starting to lag. These experiences and more are discussed in MoTR 376.

After a couple week summer hiatus, Kevin Tofel and I are back with MobileTechRoundup show #376. We didn't buy anything since the last show, but did talk about our various mobile experiences.

Image: ZDNet

• Kevin's making Android apps! (Udacity nanodegree on Android Basics)
• So long Cyanogen?
• What's your daily phone? (Kevin's GS7 has gotten laggy, using the Moto X Pure now)
• Galaxy Note 7 launch on August 2
• Pokemon Go: Who's playing?
• Related: Nintendo classic console news (and Kevin installed an NES emulator on his phone)
• Huawei Honor 8 event in mid-August

Running time: 66 minutes

Listen here (MP3, 77MB)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

Google Maps Wi-Fi only, traffic delay alert rollout begins

The rollout appears staged with only some users able to access the new travel features.

Some Google Maps users are reporting the launch of new features which have made the app more current and valuable to Android smartphone owners.

As reported by Android Police, two features, in particular, have begun appearing on some Android smartphones and tablets.

The first new feature is the option to restrict data usage to Wi-Fi networks only. If you are a user included in the update, you will see a new "Wi-Fi only" option within the Settings menu.

Once enabled, this feature prevents the app from hogging your cellular data when active -- which can be very useful if you are on a limited data plan or need to conserve your bandwidth for other tasks. However, the app may still need a small amount of data to operate properly.

As noted by the publication, this new setting replaces the older "offline areas" option.

The second feature is reportedly notifications for mass transit and transport delays. The app now sometimes shows a welcome and configuration screen for transit and disruption alerts, with a toggle to turn this option on or off. However, the feature's toggle has not worked for users yet and the screen vanishes once the app is re-launched, which suggests this option is not quite ready to go live yet -- or Google is busy ironing out a few bugs.

It does appear that the rollouts are taking place over time and there is no word on how user groups are being picked. However, if you have the latest version of the app, it is worth keeping an eye on any changes.

Last week, Google announced the launch of extended features to add missing places and edit existing business or landmark information on the Google Maps app, as well as the introduction of a new way for users to approve edits submitted by other users.

A Google spokesperson tols ZDNet:

"We're always experimenting with new features in Google Maps that can help save people time when they're on the go. Based on user feedback, we'll determine if this feature will roll out more broadly."

Google Maps updated to highlight the action around you

Google updated Maps for the desktop, Android, and iOS today with visual improvements that should aid in your navigation this summer.

No matter what mobile operating system I am using, Google Maps is my default GPS navigation solution. Today Google released updates for desktop, Android, and iOS that are designed to improve the visual experience.

After updating Google Maps on the Huawei P9, I immediately saw the improvements with the orange shading of "areas of interest" throughout downtown Seattle. Google uses these new shaded areas to show users where there are a number of activities and events, perfect as visitors explore Seattle, and other areas around the world, this summer.

(Image: Google)

Google uses algorithms to determine these areas of interest so even in a busy city like New York the entire city isn't highlighted at once. Google's blog post states it is using a human touch to make sure it is showing the most active areas, which means there must be some actual Google employees verifying activities.

A color wheel was posted on the Google blog showing users maps features that are manmade, those with vegetation, those with water, and search results in red tints. Overall, I think Google Maps does look a bit cleaner with this update.

Nintendo bursts investor bubble: Pokémon Go is not a cash cow

Share prices plummeted as investors were told the app phenomenon's popularity does not mean big bucks.

Nintendo investors have wiped 17 percent off the company's share price following clarification from the gaming giant that the popular Pokémon Go app is not going to be a massive earner.

Pokémon Go, a mobile app which creates a virtual map based on users' surroundings and makes users explore their physical location to capture virtual monsters, took the world by surprise. The free app proved so popular on release that servers buckled under the strain, users in countries where the app had not yet rolled out circumvented release dates and downloaded it anyway, and the system has experienced outages and login problems with so many enjoying the game.

The app took Nintendo investors by surprise, too. The gaming giant's share prices rapidly rocketed to $193 per share, adding $7.5 billion to the company's worth by July 11 and roughly $17.6 billion in the following weeks as pokémadness went global.

However, some of these financial spikes have now come back down to earth after investors were warned that Pokémon Go is not necessarily going to herald a tsunami of cash into the company.

In a press release on Friday (.PDF), the Kyoto, Japan-based firm warned that despite the success of the game, Pokémon Go's financial impact will be "limited" and, to investor dismay, Nintendo's annual forecast is not expected to be revised to a higher value based on "current conditions."

See also: Catch 'em all for longer: Quick tips to reduce Pokémon Go battery drain

The financial impact of the free application -- which makes some profit through in-app purchases -- may not transform Nintendo's bank balance, but how about the awaited Pokémon Go Plus accessory? According to the firm, any profit made from wristwatch, which allows users to play without staying glued to their smartphone, has already been factored into financial forecasts.

As noted by Bloomberg, stocks sank 17 percent in Tokyo on Friday, wiping out $6.4 billion in market value. This may not be the end of the decline, however, as Tokyo Exchange rules stipulate that shares cannot fall more than 18 percent per day in trading.

The main problem which may have eluded investors who ploughed their funds into Nintendo in the Pokémon gold rush is that the gaming company only owns marginal stakes in The Pokémon Company and the app's developer Niantic, and so much of the profit will be diverted to other coffers.

Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson estimates that Nintendo's effective stake in the app may be as little as 13 percent.

Nintendo will report Q1 2016 earnings on Wednesday after market close.

​Digital X loses co-founder but gains 185 percent in total revenue for Q4

Zhenya Tsvetnenko may have announced his resignation at Digital X, however, the company's success is not slowing down with total revenue hitting above $16 million for the June quarter.

Digital X chairman and co-founder Zhenya Tsvetnenko has announced his resignation as part of a number of changes to the company's board of directors.

In a statement on Monday, the company said Tsvetnenko will "relinquish" his executive role to pursue "personal interests".

Tsvetnenko, along with two others, is currently being accused by prosecutors in the United States for scheming customers with unsolicited text messages, according to Reuters.

While one of the co-accused Fraser Thompson, an ex-executive at mobile aggregation company Mobile Messenger, has been arrested, Reuters reported Tsvetnenko has not been arrested.

Evelyn Duffy, a spokesperson on behalf of Tsvetnenko, has told ZDNet: "The matter is before the court, and Mr Zhenya Tsvetnenko will be defending all allegations against him".

Other board changes include non-executive director Brett Mitchell stepping down from the board, but remaining as a corporate advisor; and Leigh Travers joining the board as executive director.

Despite losing their co-founder, the company reported total revenue reached record levels over the quarter ending 30 June, 2016, hitting above $16 million, a 185 percent increase on the previous quarter. In June, alone, revenue reached $6.4 million, the fifth consecutive growth month for the firm.

Digital X has attributed the results to the strong interest in bitcoins, driven by global economic uncertainty, increased US investor base, and volatile global currencies due to central banks using so-called aggressive monetary policies.

At the same time, the Australian bitcoin company said its expansion in the global payments market with its blockchain-based Airpocket is gaining traction.

Last year, Digtal X raised AU$3.5 million to fund the development and rollout of AirPocket and after rebranding, Digital X announced its focus would be on the AirPocket platform, saying that the new name and direction represented a strategic change from a focus on bitcoin as a mechanism to store value to a focus on software development.

However, the company did not ditch the cryptocurrency altogether, announcing revenues for the month of April this year surpassed $4 million.

Digital X also reported total working capital including net receivables of $2 million at the end of the June quarter, saying it was due to the development of AirPocket and losses from its mining operations, which have now ceased.

Looking ahead, the company believes interest in bitcoin will continue over the medium term, and believe it will help drive further interest in blockchain.

The company added it plans to seek out more opportunities to form other strategic partnerships across US and Latin America for the Airpocket.

Digital X partnered with telco giant Telefonica to market Airpocket in Latin America via an SMS campaign in May.

The partnership built on an existing distribution and sales agreement the companies signed earlier this year, which gives customers in North America access to transfer funds directly into mobile phone accounts of Telefonica users in Argentina, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Uraguay.

"We are starting to make significant inroads into the payment and cash transfer space with Airpocket as the industry acknowledges the key benefits of our blockchain-based solution," Digital X CEO Alex Karis said.

"There isn't simply anything in the market that can match the security, cost, and universal acceptance of the blockchain."