IT daily news: tháng 9 2016

Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 9, 2016

Here's how connected cars will create and share real-time driving data

Mapping company Here will use sensor data from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles to show road conditions and accidents -- and to help you park.

Some of the car sensors that will contribute data to the new services.
Image: Here

Mapping company Here wants to combine the data from sensors in Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz cars to generate real-time information on road conditions and accidents.

The company intends to use the data generated by the onboard sensors in connected vehicles to create a live view of road conditions, which can then be used by other drivers to find out about traffic and potential hazards (including accidents and extreme weather events), or to help them find a parking space.

Here said the services will be available to customers in and outside the automotive industry from the first half of 2017.

Traffic information services available to drivers largely rely on GPS probe data -- regular location information reported from a connected device.

But instead of using data from smartphones (which is how services like Waze generate data), Here effectively wants to crowdsource services from the much richer data generated by sensors embedded in cars.

The company will start by using the data from cars made by its backers, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, but plans to expand to include data from other brands in due course.

Here will use sensor data related to the speed, direction, and location of a vehicle, and hard braking. It will record data on roadworks, lane closures, and accidents as detected by the vehicle's forward-facing camera. It will record hazard light usage, plus weather and road conditions -- as determined, for example, by rain sensors, heavy use of windshield wipers, loss of tyre traction or fog light usage. It will also gather traffic sign information, including permanent and temporary speed limits.

Here processes data from each vehicle, combines this with information from other devices, vehicles, and infrastructure, and then distributes this to vehicles using its services.

Four services are planned: a real-time traffic service; a hazard warning service with information on accidents and extreme weather events; a road signs system with data on permanent and temporary speed limits; as well as an on-street parking service that will give time-to-park estimates for each street.

Once the services are switched on there's no involvement from the driver. And while handing over data on location, speed and other travel details may worry some drivers, Here said that the data it plans to use from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles will be "anonymized with no personal identifiers" so as to ensure privacy for drivers.

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CNET: One map to rule them all, it's Here

Samsung, SoftBank bosses discuss IoT, AI: Report

The leaders of Samsung Electronics and SoftBank met in Seoul late Thursday to discuss cooperation in future technologies, according to reports.

Leaders of South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Japan's SoftBank met in Seoul late Thursday to reportedly discuss cooperation in future technologies.

Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, also known by JY Lee, met with SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son at the Korean tech giant's office in Seoul, and discussed cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and the Internet of Things, according to local media.

Samsung confirmed the meeting but declined to comment on what they discussed.

Son also met South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday, who asked Samsung's chairman to invest in the countries, especially in areas such as new energy and AI.

Heir-apparent Lee has been the de facto chairman of Samsung since his father Lee Kun-hee's hospitalization following a heart attack. Earlier this month, he was nominated to the board, amid the company's global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 following battery explosions.

SoftBank recently acquired UK chip firm ARM, which licenses its core architecture for processors used by Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung, for $32 billion. It is likely that more processors for new Internet of Things devices will use the design.

Processors and high-memory capacity are all a must for the realization of more Internet of Things tech.

Samsung, in turn, is the world's largest memory chip maker.

Moto Z Force Droid Edition review: Shatterproof display, battery to last, and functional modular design

Moto G4 Play review: The best $150 you can spend on a modern Android smartphone

Apple inks partnership with Deloitte to push iOS devices in the enterprise

As part of the deal, Deloitte will open up a new in-house advisory business comprised of 5,000 "iOS specialists".

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen.

Apple has a new alliance with consulting giant Deloitte that could push more iPhones and iPads into the workplace.

As part of the deal, Deloitte will open up a new in-house business unit comprised of 5,000 "iOS specialists" who will advise clients on how to adopt iPhones and iPads across their business. The unit will have teams in APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.

Deloitte and Apple will also work together on a new service called EnterpriseNext. In a nutshell, the service will try to help companies build a mobile strategy around iOS devices as well as create custom-built iOS apps.

"As the leader in digital transformation strategy, Deloitte is an ideal partner that brings a team of Apple-dedicated strategic advisors to help clients truly revolutionize how they work using iOS, iPhone and iPad," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "iPhone and iPad are transforming how people everywhere get work done. And through this partnership, we're able to help even more businesses tap into the incredible capabilities that only the Apple ecosystem can deliver."

For Apple, the partnership is in line with its previous deals with IBM, Cisco, and SAP -- all of which are centered around making Apple devices more appealing for the enterprise via custom cloud apps. The effort is all the more pressing as Apple and other device makers face shrinking consumer demand for smartphones and tablets.

iPhone 7 Plus review: With bigger battery and more RAM, it's a 6s Plus perfected for the enterprise

ASUS ZenBook UX330UA review: Excellent value for money in a familiar design

Polar M600 review: The best sports focused Android Wear smartwatch available

Google delays Android Wear 2.0 release to early 2017

In addition to revealing a release timeline, Google pushed independent Google Play apps to the developer preview of Android Wear 2.0.

Google announced on Thursday that Android Wear 2.0 has been delayed to early 2017, and in the mean time, it will push a new developer preview that adds Google Play to the platform.

In a blog post, Google said it has gotten "great" feedback from the developer community on Android Wear 2.0, and that it "decided to continue the preview program into early 2017, at which point the first watches will receive Android Wear 2.0".

Google said developers can now build and publish watch-only apps for users to discover on Google Play. Users can update or uninstall apps in the "My apps" view on their watch.

Android Wear 2.0, announced at Google I/O 2016 in May, is a significant update for the wearable software. It introduces a new user interface, widgets called "complications" for watch faces, a new keyboard for messaging, and enhancements to Google Fit.

The addition of apps on Android Wear will make Android smartwatches more independent of smartphones. In the past, Android Wear apps were bundled with smartphone apps.

GPS on the Apple Watch: Runners, cyclists can leave the phone behind

Prior to the release of the new Apple Watch Series 2, I was worried that adding GPS would detract from the real focus of the best smartwatch. I was wrong.

The first generation Apple Watch was my favorite Apple device ever. The Apple Watch Series 2, check out Jason Cipriani's full review, adds GPS, enhanced water resistance, a brighter display, a faster processor, and more, which should make it even better than the first model.

Data shows that the primary uses for the Apple Watch are reading the time, tracking activity, managing notifications, and interacting via Siri. So while apps and other advanced functions are often advertised, people seem to be using the Apple Watch primarily for notifications and fitness.

The addition of GPS was a natural fit given the heavy use for fitness tracking, but with a one day battery life I was worried that the battery impact of GPS would make the new Apple Watch a frustrating experience. I just purchased my new Apple Watch a couple of days ago so only have limited testing, but the folks at Runner's World took it out and tested it against my favorite (and expensive) GPS sport watch, the Garmin Fenix 3 HR, and came to the conclusion that it is a solid option for the typical runner and cyclist.

CNET's Apple Watch Series 2 review: This time, a better smartwatch

GPS enhances the Apple Watch experience and is providing fairly accurate data, enough for most casual runners and cyclists. You can connect Bluetooth heart rate straps if you are not satisfied with the wrist-based monitor on the Apple Watch, but I don't train to specific heart rate zones and just use that information on a historical basis after my workout to track trends and better understand my health.

Currently, GPS data is only available while using the Apple Workout app. Fitness app developers are working on updates that will also be able to access and use the GPS radio and I can't wait to try these. The Apple Workout app is fine and works well, but I prefer to have my run data captured and stored with RunKeeper and Strava where I can upload data collected from other devices, such as bike computers.

It just so happens that Apple Health is a fairly open system with the ability to sync data in and out of Health with a vast number of services. GPS data sync is currently not supported, but that may be due to apps not yet having that capability enabled. Stay tuned to further updates from Apple and third party developers as this may make the Apple Watch a universal fitness device.

Apple will be launching the Nike+ version of the Apple Watch in October, but you can download and install the Nike+ Run Club app now for current Apple Watches. Like the other fitness apps, GPS data is not yet collected by the NRC app.

Bike speed and cadence sensors are currently not supported by the Apple Workout app. Since the Apple Watch has Bluetooth, I am hoping that Strava's app will support these sensors, but if not one can always mount and use an iPhone to capture this information.

A few months ago when I purchased the Garmin Fenix 3 HR, I had grand plans that I would do more than run, bike, and hike so I needed all of that power in one of the world's best GPS sports watches. It turns out I use the Fenix 3 HR for basic GPS run tracking, rarely switching between different views of my data while running. I also use it to track my speed and cadence when I bike, but there are other options to capture this as I mentioned earlier.

The Garmin Fenix 3 HR is an incredible device for the multi-sport athlete who wants to train for races, improve performance, and track all the fine details of workouts, but I may be perfectly satisfied with the GPS performance of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch also serves as a fantastic smartwatch while the Garmin Fenix 3 HR provides just basic notifications.

Battery life on the Garmin Fenix 3 HR is fantastic, easily getting me through a typical week with a couple runs and bike rides. The new Apple Watch Series 2 can track your GPS activity for up to five hours and in smartwatch mode will go a couple of days. Since I don't get much value out of sleep tracking, charging up a device in the evening is not that burdensome. It is made even easier when you use a bedside Apple Watch and iPhone charging solution like the Belkin Charge Dock.

How can I find an Apple Watch right now?

By the way, I did not preorder an Apple Watch and understand that many who did are still waiting for their orders to ship. If you have an Apple Store near you, I highly recommend that you visit the iStocknow website that is frequently updated with the latest stock of both iPhones and the new Apple Watch Series 2.

Since I'm traveling all next week, I wanted an Apple Watch this week so I refreshed iStocknow until I saw a 42mm model available. It turns out it was the 42mm stainless steel with link band model, priced at $1,199, but I really wanted one so headed to the Bellevue Apple Store to pick it up. While there I asked the Apple Store employee if they had any other 42mm watches in stock. Turns out they had the 42mm stainless steel black one with black sport band, priced at $599. That was exactly what I was looking for so I made that purchase.

My advice is to check iStocknow first and then go online to the Apple Store and confirm availability. You may also want to visit your local Apple Store as new Apple Watch stock changes daily and you may just get lucky. I still have a Nike+ one on pre-order, but given that it is aluminum and the only real difference is Nike+ complications I won't have access to I am likely to cancel that order and stick with this black stainless steel model.

Qualcomm in talks to acquire NXP Semiconductors: Report

The alleged deal could close in the next two to three months for more than $30 billion.

Qualcomm is in talks to buy NXP Semiconductors, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a deal that could be valued at over $30 billion.

The deal is expected to close in the next two to three months, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Like with all deal talks, Qualcomm or NXP could pull out at any point.

The semi-conductor industry has seen an influx in mergers and acquisitions, including Avago Technologies' $37 billion purchase of Broadcom, Intel's $17 billion acquisition of Altera, and Western Digital's $16 billion acquisition of SanDisk.

Qualcomm could be looking to continue the consolidation, though the semi-conductor giant is said to be exploring other options as well.

Shares of NXP Semiconductors halted following the report after moving higher. Shares of Qualcomm climbed roughly 17 percent.

We have reached out to Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors for more.

Spotify in 'advanced' talks to acquire SoundCloud: Report

Boasting more than 40 million subscribers, Spotify is said to make a play on one of its rivals.

Spotify is in advanced talks to acquire rival SoundCloud, according to The Financial Times, as Spotify looks to continue its lead in online music streaming.

Purposed terms of the deal weren't shared, and it's not known why Spotify wants to buy SoundCloud.

Perhaps Spotify is interested in adding SoundCloud's social features to its already robust streaming service or wants access SoundCloud's wide array of indie and independent music.

A Spotify representative declined to comment on the report.

Spotify boasts 40 million paying subscribers, giving it a lead over Apple Music's 17 million users. The Berlin-based company has raised $1.5 billion in funding, which includes a $1 billion debt deal earlier this year. Rumors have pointed to Spotify eyeing a public offering in the future.

If a deal were to go through, it's not clear how Twitter, which bought a $70 million stake in SoundCloud earlier this year, would factor in the equation.

Brazil tablet sales drop 32 percent in Q2

Market concentration and phablet popularity prompted the decline, says IDC.

The Brazilian tablet market has hit a new low in the second quarter of 2016, according to analyst firm IDC.

Some 860,000 such devices were sold during Q2, 32 percent less than the same period in 2015. But the number of units sold was 3 percent higher than the first three months of the year.

The average ticket has also gone up: in the second quarter of last year, tablets would cost about R$428 ($132) while devices cost an average of R$443 ($136) in the same period in 2016. According to IDC the tablet price increase for the year in Brazil is estimated to reach 17 percent.

The analyst firm adds that the decrease in sales is partly due to the rise in phablet sales and also to the fact that many smaller manufacturers gave up on the Brazilian market as the local economic conditions worsened with dollar exchange rates in relation to the Brazilian real becoming too unstable.

According to IDC, the expectation is that sales will see a further uplift in the third and fourth quarters due to Children's Day and Christmas - the analyst points out that the focus of tablet manufacturers will be younger users who do not own mobile phones yet.

But overall, the trend is that the market will continue to decline. IDC predicts that some 4 million tablets will be sold in Brazil during 2016, so a 30 percent drop in relation to 2015.

Google beats back Oracle again in Java Android case

Oracle loses in court once again in its latest attempt to obtain Java copyright damages from Google.

Oracle doesn't know when to quit. After Google beat Oracle yet again this past May, Oracle, of course, appealed. And, of course, they lost again.

Android and Chrome OS — Oracle tried, and failed, to get a new Java copyright trial on the grounds that Google was adding Android functionality to Chrome OS.

To recap, Oracle claimed the 37 Java application programming interface (API) packages Google used to develop Android are covered by copyright. Of course, that's not really the issue. True, the the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals foolishly ruled that APIs could be copyrighted. But the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in May 2016 that Google's use of the Java APIs were not subject to copyright licensing fees. Instead, Android's use of the APIs was covered by "fair use."

In this latest go-around, Oracle argued it should get a new trial because Google concealed its plans to integrate Android apps with desktops and laptops using Chrome OS. Oracle claimed Google had "stonewalled and had completely concealed the ARC++ project."

ARC++, Android Runtime for Chrome (ARC), is Google's software for running Android applications on Chrome OS. This is a precursor to Andromeda, Google's hybrid Android/Chrome OS. Google has been working on the marriage of its Linux operating systems for over a year. In June 2016, Google made it possible to run Android apps on a handful of Chromebooks.

District Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California didn't buy Oracle's claim. Alsup, a programmer in his own right, denied Oracle's request for a new trial.

Alsup wrote that Google had produced at least nine documents discussing the goals and technical details of ARC++ in 2015, at least five months before trial. He added that "Oracle's failure to review the ARC++ documents is its own fault."

In any case, Alsup added, ARC++ evidence would have been irrelevant for the May trial since any evidence about Android on devices other than smartphones and tablets fell outside the case's scope.

Alsup wrote, "It may well be true that the use of the copyrighted APIs in ARC++ (or any other later use) will not qualify as a fair use, but that will not and does not mean that Google's argument on transformative use as to the original uses on trial (smartphones and tablets) was improper."

This isn't the end of course. Like I said, Oracle doesn't know the meaning of the word quit.

Oracle maintains that "Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market," according to Oracle general counsel Dorian Daley. "Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google's illegal behavior. We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal and we plan to bring this case back to the Federal Circuit on appeal."

Related Stories:

Google's victory over Oracle: A win for developers
Oracle, Google give closing arguments in Java API copyright case
Google to Oracle: Your $9.3 billion Android Java damages claim is mad

Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 9, 2016

Medical Channel immediately profitable after AU$25m raise and acquisition of rival firm

Australian point of care digital media company Medical Channel has announced it has raised AU$25 million and acquired rival digital signage company Community Network.

Medical Channel, a point of care digital media company, announced on Tuesday that it has raised AU$25 million in an investment round led by Sandbar Investments and Wingate Group. The company has used the funds to acquire rival digital signage firm Community Network, following its acquisition of another rival firm Medical Media in February this year.

Founded by Garry Fahey in 2012, Medical Channel provides healthcare practices with digital screens with an integrated media engine, which displays highly-targeted advertisements as patients wait to see their general practitioner (GP).

The company's content, which is created in-house on behalf of advertisers, reaches an audience of 6.25 million viewers per month in more than 3,200 healthcare practices, with an average dwell time of 30 minutes.

The company has more than 7,000 engaged advertisers at the moment, including pharmaceutical companies, health boards, and health organisations. The Community Network acquisition allows the company to expand into local community advertising. This means businesses like cafes, restaurants, real estate agents, or accountants can market their services to locals waiting to see their GPs.

"We all know the doctors in our community. If you're an organisation that wants to reach a mass audience or a local business that wants to attract people sitting in the waiting room for at least half an hour, what better way to do so than to put an advert on our screens, especially if that advert is created for you by us?" said Nazar Musa, CEO of Medical Channel.

Medical Channel also offers screens solely for medical practitioners as new medicines cannot be advertised on publicly-facing screens, Musa pointed out.

Musa, who joined the company in January this year after serving as CEO of LivingSocial Asia, said the Community Network acquisition extends the company's reach to more than 50 percent of the addressable market in Australia.

Prior to the acquisition, Medical Channel had grown to its break-even point but the acquisition has made the combined business "immediately profitable", according to Musa.

He revealed that Medical Channel's average overhead cost per digital screen is around AU$3,000 every three years (as screens are replaced every three years). This covers the cost of the screen itself, the software behind it, installment and servicing, and ongoing 3G/4G data charges. Healthcare practices don't pay anything as revenue is generated solely from advertisers.

While Musa was unable to reveal the value of the acquisition, he said the AU$25 million investment round was conducted to cover the cost of both the acquisition and Medical Channel's growth over the next 12 months.

Musa added that the company plans to target the allied health market in the future, but remains focused on growing its network of GPs.

"There's work still to be done in the GP network. While we're a market leader in this space, our initial focus is to solidify that market leadership and continue growing in the GP environment in Australia. Expanding into allied health and other geographies could be next, but it's not our immediate focus," Musa told ZDNet.

Medical Channel also acqui-hired the Community Network team, including its call centre employees in the Gold Coast, which doubled the company's headcount from 40 to 80.

At the start of the year, the company had just eight staff, but recently moved into a new office in Sydney to accommodate its growing team.

Partnerships between startups and large companies key to 'smart disruption': Optus

An Optus report concludes that big established companies and startups should form mutually-beneficial relationships in order to thrive in the digital age.

Optus' latest report Smart Disruption: A Perspective on Innovation for Australian Organisations backs what many companies, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders have said before: that big established companies and startups should form synergistic, mutually-beneficial relationships in order to thrive in the digital age.

During the study, Optus interviewed 25 senior decision-makers in established companies, including CEOs, CIOs, CXOs, and CDOs, to identify trends, challenges, and ways to achieve "smart disruption", which Optus Business said was "disrupting your own business to better anticipate evolving customer needs".

The study found that startups and established companies want to learn from one another, but don't know how to go about it.

"[Startups and established organisations] need to embrace a new mindset of collaboration and partnerships, where learnings are freely shared," said John Paitaridis, Managing Director of Optus Business, in a statement.

"Established organisations have the systems, processes and scale that startups need as they grow; while the culture, agility and energy of startups is what established organisations are looking for to drive innovation."

The last three years have seen an increase in the number of partnerships between large companies -- the big four banks, telcos, postal services, law firms, and accounting firms -- and startups.

Large companies are typically more focused on meeting short-term growth targets and often struggle to maintain an ideas-driven culture and pursue innovative projects, the report claims. Early-stage startups, on the other hand, aren't bound by the same constraints and focus on the product and business model.

"Those Australian companies that do have a high-performing innovation culture are mostly startups or early stage companies. They have a strong focus on continually developing ideas, and there is an expectation from within that developing and questioning new ideas is part of an employee's day job," the report states.

"These companies have structured themselves to actually work on the business rather than in the business."

Rather than succumbing to disruption, large companies are realising they need to embrace it to stay relevant in an ever-evolving consumer landscape, and they are doing so by partnering with forward-thinking startups.

Startups, on the other hand, struggle with capital, developing systems and policy, access to markets, growth management, and effective leadership, according to the report, and this is where large companies can help.

"Currently in Australia, only one in 20 startups succeed. Startups need support from industry -- mentoring, advisory and access to markets -- and established organisations that provide this support will benefit from access to innovative methodologies, agile ways of working and exposure to a digital-first mindset," said Paitaridis.

Back in 2013, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) launched a startup of its own called MyWealth, after bringing on a Silicon Valley entrepreneur Lisa Frazier to head up internal innovation projects. Frazier, who served as chief innovation officer and chief digital officer at CBA before moving onto to her latest role as senior advisor at Citi Fintech, said the great thing about launching a startup within a large organisation is that you get to leverage the best of both worlds.

Chủ Nhật, 25 tháng 9, 2016

The downside to driverless cars: More time for email and conference calls

Companies are trying to answer the question: if you're not driving, what are you actually going to do?

Is your car about to become your office?
Image: Harman

As self-driving cars become a reality, the question is: what will you do on your travels if you're not busy driving?

In the US, the average vehicle occupant spends about an hour a day traveling -- time that could potentially be put to more productive use. According to one estimate, the advent of autonomous vehicles could result in productivity gains of up to $507bn annually in the US, if the 75 billion hours a year spent driving could be better employed.

Instead of staring at the road, "commuters are free to catch up on work, more sleep, the show they missed last night, or the latest deals online," Morgan Stanley envisaged last year.

Software companies are already looking at how to fill that newly-empty time with more useful activities. For example, Microsoft recently published a report entitled The Future of Automotive, which included a scenario of how a journey home from the office might look in future.

"Nancy walks out of her office on a conference call with a client and members of her team. As she approaches the vehicle, the doors unlock and the ignition switches on. As Nancy gets into the driver's seat, the conference call seamlessly switches from her phone to a hands-free option within the vehicle, allowing her to continue the conversation as she heads for home... Nancy asks Cortana to pull up her work email, which allows her to hear and respond to messages in her inbox."

Office in the car
Microsoft is working with automotive manufacturers to make passengers more productive while being driven around: Office 365 in the car includes Microsoft Exchange support, which integrates work calendar, to-do list, and contacts with the vehicle's voice and navigation systems.

Earlier this month Daimler said it would be using this as the basis of the 'in-car office' in some of its Mercedes models from the middle of next year. The system will be able to dial you into conference calls, and use calendar data to auto-populate your car's navigation unit with driving directions for an upcoming meeting, and even set up Skype video chats in autonomous cars, when they arrive.

Also, in January Microsoft and Harman announced a connected car project to include Office 365 capabilities in its infotainment systems, allowing users to schedule meetings, hear and respond to emails, or automatically join conference calls without having to manually input the phone number and passcode. Drivers will also be able to hold Skype calls and conferences when parked, or on the road with autonomous vehicles.

Obstacles
There are a number of obstacles in the way of making everyone more productive on their commute. A recent study by the University of Michigan's Sustainable Worldwide Transportation group suggested that for nearly two-thirds of riders, self-driving vehicles are unlikely to result in an short-term improvement in productivity.

That's because 23 percent said they would not ride in such vehicles, and 36 percent would be so apprehensive in such vehicles that they would only watch the road. Another eight percent said they'd be too busy feeling sick to do any work. Other worries included what would happen to untethered objects being used for productivity, such as tablets or laptops, in the event of a crash.

The researchers, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle, said the hoped-for productivity gains in self-driving vehicles appear with increased occupant confidence in such vehicles, which would make passengers more comfortable performing productive tasks. The researchers also said that the "inherent motion-sickness problem" needs to be fixed, and that car-makers need to figure out how to protect passengers from "untethered objects becoming projectiles during crashes" or getting between the occupants and their airbags.

Many trips only average about 19 minutes, which the researchers note is "a rather short duration for sustained productive activity or invigorating sleep". But maybe that's time enough to send a few emails.

Cisco, Salesforce partner on Internet of Things, collaboration, contact center integration

The collaboration and integration between Salesforce and Cisco will be available in the second half of 2017.

Cisco and Salesforce are partnering to align collaboration, Internet of Things, and contact center technologies.

Specifically, the two companies will jointly develop and market products that combine Cisco's Spark and WebEx into Salesforce's Sales and Service Clouds. The integration will integrate chat, video, and voice features.

More importantly, Cisco's Jasper IoT platform will integrate with Salesforce's IoT cloud. The combination should give Salesforce's Einstein artificial intelligence platform more data and visibility. See: Salesforce's Einstein AI platform: What you need to know

The partnership with Salesforce complements Cisco's IoT and collaboration deals with IBM.

Salesforce's IoT Cloud tracks customer actions while Cisco's Jasper platform targets more back-end enterprise assets.

On the customer service front, Salesforce's Service Cloud will integrate with Cisco's Unified Contact Center Enterprise systems.

The collaboration integration between Salesforce and Cisco will be available in the second half of 2017. Customers will need licenses from both Salesforce and Cisco Spark or WebEx. IoT integrations will also be available in the second half of 2017 with contact center and service combinations ready now.

Thứ Bảy, 24 tháng 9, 2016

Salesforce Ventures-backed cloud startup Vlocity raises $50 million

Vlocity tailors its products to the industry-specific cloud, with a portfolio built entirely on the Salesforce Customer Success Platform.

Industry cloud startup Vlocity has raised $50 million in funding led by Salesforce Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.

San Francisco-based Vlocity tailors its products to the industry-specific cloud, with a portfolio built entirely on the Salesforce Customer Success Platform.

The company was founded in early 2014 by veterans of Veeva Systems, a cloud spinout of the Salesforce platform company Verticals On Demand. Veeva went public in 2013 with a valuation of about $5 billion. In some ways, Vlocity is an extension of Veeva's industry-specific approach but with a broader selection of verticals.

Vlocity now offers four industry applications on the Salesforce AppExchange focusing on communications, insurance, and public sector service management. The company's tight knit Salesforce relationship also has the two firms set up in co-resident headquarters.

"This latest investment further strengthens our unique strategic relationship with Salesforce and will help us accelerate the delivery of our industry cloud software by fueling the expansion of our service and support infrastructure for our customers around the world," said Vlocity CEO and founder David Schmaier.

As for Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of the CRM giant has previously backed the content marketing and engagement platform Livefyre, price-to-quote app maker SteelBrick, and predictive analytics player InsideSales.

Vlocity's latest investment round also included participation from Accenture and New York Life, and from Kennet Partners, TDF Ventures, and Wildcat Venture Partners.

Singapore bank participates in OurCrowd's $72M Series C

United Overseas Bank (UOB) is one of several investors in the Israeli crowdfunding platform's US$72 million Series C funding, half of which will go towards global expansion and product development.

Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) is one of several investors that participated in OurCrowd's US$72 million Series C funding, which the Israeli crowdfunding platform says will facilitate its global expansion and support new investment.

The latest round also included financial institutions, family offices, and private investors from five continents, OurCrowd announced Thursday. Investors get equity stakes in the companies they support on the equity crowdfunding platform, which launched in 2013.

OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said: "One half of the round will be invested in the expansion of our seven global offices, and further developing our technology platform. The other half of the Series C funding will be used to make sure that each and every company that raises funding on our platform receives participating investment from the General Partner on the same terms as the crowd.

"This new capital will help us hit our goal of investing US$1 billion annually by 2020," Medved added.

To date, the company had invested in 100 portfolio companies and funds to the tune of more than US$300 million. Of these, there were nine exits, seven acquisitions, and two IPOs, including ReWalk's public listing and Crosswise's merger with Oracle.

The identities of the latest group of investors were not revealed, but UOB itself issued a statement confirming its participation in the Series C round. The bank in March said it invested US$10 million in OurCrowd, marking the platform's foray into Asia and the region's fintech industry.

Noting that the bank's latest funds injection underscored its support for startups and small businesses, UOB's head of group channels and digitisation, Janet Young, said: "We look forward to working closely with OurCrowd to further develop their platform to support the startup ecosystem both in Singapore and the broader Asian market."

OurCrowd's Asia managing director Denes Ban added that the latest investment indicated the significance of its traction into the region and partnerships in Singapore.

SoftBank leads Grab's $750m funding round

Grab has raised $750 million in equity financing in a funding round led by SoftBank, increasing its total capital position to over $1 billion.

Ride-booking platform Grab has raised $750 million in equity financing, with Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank leading the funding round that has increased the startup's total capital position to over $1 billion.

According to Grab, it is the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia with up to 1.5 million daily bookings across its private car, motorbike, taxi, and carpooling services.

SoftBank, a long-term strategic partner of Grab, led the oversubscribed funding round, which included participation from both new and existing investors.

Grab is planning on using the funds to grow its market presence in Indonesia, which it said is Southeast Asia's largest market with a population of 250 million.

Grab will also be further developing GrabPay in Southeast Asia, as well looking into enhancing driving efficiency through machine learning and data science capabilities.

"Our vision is to drive Southeast Asia transportation forward and transform the region's mobile internet ecosystem. This latest funding, the largest in the history of Southeast Asia consumer technology, strengthens our ability to pursue those long-term goals as we continue to build on our market leadership," said Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan.

"Grab has grown tremendously over the past year. This round of funding shows the confidence and optimism investors have in Grab's market leadership and long-term potential in Southeast Asia. We are blessed to have great partners like SoftBank, many of whom have unparalleled track records of investing in leading internet businesses in emerging markets, and seeing those companies through to become the core of internet ecosystems in each market."

In August last year, Grab raised $350 million in its Series E funding round from investors in China and the US, including US investment firm Coatue Management, China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, and rival Didi Kuaidi.

Since then, Grab, previously GrabTaxi, has nearly quadrupled its total number of drivers and active users, as well as rides volume. The company said its Grab app has been downloaded onto over 21 million mobile devices and users have access to over 400,000 drivers.

Chinese ride-booking company Didi Chuxing announced it was merging with Uber China last month under a $35 billion deal that will see the rivals -- worth $28 billion and $7 billion, respectively -- join forces.

While Uber declined to comment on the matter, Uber China investors will have a 20 percent stake in the new company, according to an unnamed source.

Under the deal, Didi will also invest $1 billion in Uber's global operations.

The merger follows the revelation in February this year that Uber was spending up to $1 billion each year in China to compete with its rivals there.

Thứ Ba, 20 tháng 9, 2016

Ransomware's next target: Your car and your home

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated how vulnerabilities in everyday connected devices can allow hackers to hold whole areas of your life to ransom.

Now it's not just your data that's at risk from ransomware.
Image: iStock

Ransomware is perhaps the biggest cybersecurity scourge of 2016, becoming increasingly problematic both for individuals and businesses of all sizes.

The concept is simple: the cybercriminal will trick a victim into opening a malicious file or a clicking on a link which causes their computer, tablet, or smartphone to be infected with malware that encrypts the data stored on the device. The cybercriminal then demands the victim pay a ransom -- often in Bitcoin -- in order to get their systems unlocked.

While the ransomware installs data-stealing malware on your system, getting infected with ransomware is more an annoyance more than anything. Yes, a business will lose money while its networks are locked down, but most cases it doesn't have any further 'real world' consequences, as the theft of personal data or banking information might.

However, with more and more connected objects joining the Internet of Things, there's the potential that cybercriminals could also seek to install ransomware on these additional devices, with consequences ranging from the annoying to the potentially dangerous.

Researchers at Intel Security recently discovered a vulnerability in the infotainment system of a connected car from one manufacturer, which could allow criminals to install malware on the vehicles' systems by putting it on an SD card and loading that into the infotainment system, said Raj Samani, CTO EMEA at Intel Security.

Researchers demonstrated that the device had been infected by having the sound system play a single song over and over. But what if instead of just being annoying, cybercriminals could go on to disable a vehicle with ransomware too?

It's possible, especially as vehicles' systems become more interconnected on the inside --something like a sound system vulnerability could be potentially be used to access other in-car systems if vehicle manufacturers don't take security seriously enough.

Unless there is clear separation between the engine control units and other systems, hackers could block out the entire car "so you're not even going to get out of your driveway unless you pay," says Samani. This could be a lucrative option for cybercriminals because, while people might be OK with losing some files if they don't pay the ransom, when it comes to a car, they're going to give in, he added.

"Quite frankly, if you're sitting in your driveway in 2021 in a self-driving car, if you have to pay two Bitcoins to get to work, what are you going to do? Are you going to pay? Of course you will. If you've got a $60,000 connected car to drive you work and you're being charged $200 to move? You'll pay," he says.

Ransomware in a connected car would render the vehicle useless until a ransom is a paid in this scenario mocked up by Intel.
Image: Intel Security

Researchers have also demonstrated how it can be relatively simple for malicious hackers to infect a home router with ransomware -- the one used during the research is available to buy from Amazon and over 100,000 have been sold.

The devices are shipped with some rather basic default login credentials, making it easy for cybercriminals to hack the system, simply by entering the default login and password. Anyone who wanted to try to infect this particular router could do so by searching for it on Shodan, the search engine for connected IoT devices.

"A search finds tens of thousands of home routers which basically have fundamental security issues," he said. If a hacker were able to exploit the flaw, the victim would need to pay the ransom in order to regain control of every internet-connected device in their home -- and it's likely they'd pay up in order to regain control of their systems from the hackers.

Security researchers managed to infect a router with ransomware.
Image: Intel Security

So how do organisations feel when outside researchers inform them that there are potentially huge holes in their devices that could be taken advantage of by criminals?

"We get a very mixed bag of responses from companies," says Samani. "In some cases they say 'great, let's fix it,' but in other cases we just get complete silence."

Given the sheer number of devices being connected to the internet, it's somewhat worrying to hear that there are device manufacturers out there who are taking a blasé attitude to cybersecurity of their products.

"The concept of today's ransomware is to lock your data to ransom. But what we're showing here is that the data is almost irrelevant -- it's the device we're locking up: connected medical devices, home routers, cars; it's the device," Samani says.

KT, Nokia demonstrate Internet of Small Things services

South Korean telco KT has demonstrated the Internet of Small Things using NB-IoT services on an LTE network using Nokia base stations and Intel's IoT modules.

KT, South Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, has with Nokia and Intel demonstrated Internet of Small Things services using NB-IoT technology on a commercialized LTE network.

The telco showed off its "IoT Safety Jacket," an outdoor sports wear made by local Kolon Sports with Intel's NB-IoT module.

The jacket was designed for hikers who become stranded and can't request for help. The sensor will read unusual movements of the wearer and send GPS and conditions to control rooms of authorities, KT said.

Signals are usually hampered in mountainous areas, but NB-IoT, or narrow band IoT, which uses 200kHz bands, allows for small data transmissions to overcome these issues, the telcos said.

KT also showed off "IoT Smart Tent" which uses an infrared sensor to read fires and humans.

The companies will continue to launch new services using the IoT network going forward, they said.

"The latest demonstrations with KT are important achievements in our partnership," said Andrew Cope, head of Korea, Nokia. "We will continue to work with various partners to prove that NB-IoT technology allows for new Internet of Small Things services and increases public safety."

Last month, KT and Nokia successfully tested NB-IoT tech on LTE networks.