The world of tech paces at a high speed, so let us catch you up with the top 10 things that happened in the tech world this week.
1) Now Blockchain Will Digitize The Shipping Industry As Well
IBM, the global technology and innovation company and Maersk, the global leader in container shipping and ports, have come together to launch a blockchain technology platform that will work towards digitising the shipping industry along with the documentation that goes with it.
The companies will put to use the currently in trend blockchain technology to conduct, track and manage transactions in the shipping supply chain. They will be creating blockchain tools for cross-border transactions among shippers, ocean carriers, ports, customs authorities and freight forwarders.
Built on Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger platform, IBM’s and Maersk’s blockchain platform is expected to go into production later this year.
2) IBM To Build The First Commercially Available Quantum Computer
IBM Q, which is an industry-first initiative by IBM to build commercially available universal quantum computers for business and science, will soon be offering the power of quantum computation via the IBM Cloud platform. The project can prove to be a major step for the future of the field.
IBM Q is the first time that a universal quantum computer is being made available to the public. It will come equipped with a number of innovative applications that would go way beyond than what is achievable with the present day technology.
3) Samsung Pay is Now Officially Available in India; Supports PayTM
The week finally saw South Korean tech giant Samsung launching its mobile payment service ‘Samsung Pay’ in India. Available to India’s Samsung device users, the service has been rolled out with support for banks — Axis, HDFC, ICICI, SBI, and Standard Chartered, and credit and debit cards from MasterCard and Visa.
Samsung Pay uses both NFC and MST (magnetic secure transmission) to make wireless payments. All one needs to do is tab the phone to the payment terminal, touch the fingerprint scanner for authentication, and you’re done. There is a support for NFC, but how many places in India will have support for NFC-based payment solutions.
4) Facebook Launches ‘Disputed’ Tag To Fight ‘Fake News’
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has finally launched the much-awaited ‘disputed’ tag to fight ‘fake news’ on its famous social networking site. Though currently only active in the United States, the initiative will see Facebook tagging stories that are deemed false by facts with a disputed tag. The stories reported fake by the Facebook users will be checked for factual accuracy by non-partisan third-party organisations like Politifact and Snopes.
5) Google And Levi’s Connected Smart Jacket Will Come Out This Fall And Costs Around $350
The connected denim smart jacket being made together by Levi’s and Google’s ATAP division will come out this fall and cost around $350. The jacket is the first commercial product that contains ATAP’s Project Jacquard technology, which makes use of conductive fabric to turn a standard article of clothing into a connected device of sorts that can send instructions to your smartphone, like skipping a song that’s playing in your music library by simply double tapping your wrist.
6) What Is Digital Twin Technology- And Why It Matters Most Now
A digital twin can be best described as a virtual model of a product, service or a process. This innovative paring of the physical and virtual worlds together opens doors for monitoring of systems and analysis of data that help in warding off glitches/problems even before they occur. This further results in preventing downtime, development of new opportunities and even plan for the future ahead by making use of simulations.
Today, machine intelligence and connectivity to the cloud presents mankind with an unprecedented potential for large-scale implementation of digital twin technology across a number of companies in a variety of industries.
The Digital twins are being helmed as a powerful masterminds that will drive innovation and performance in the world. According to IDC, by the year 2018, companies investing in the digital twin technology will witness almost 30 per cent improvement in cycle times of their critical processes.
7) Hexagon Is A Bike Camera That Turns Your Smartphone Into A Rearview Mirror
A startup called Smart Bike has come up with an intelligent solution to put rearview mirrors on a bike. It first product, a camera called Hexagon, connects to a smartphone app and functions as a live safety camera. While there are several other rear camera / taillight combos in the market, Hexagon is quite unique from them as it comes with some additional features like live stream rides and tracking fitness activity and distance traveled. It also tells if its user has been in an accident and automatically notifies their emergency contacts.
8) Google’s AI Subsidiary Turns To Blockchain Technology To Track UK Health Data
Google subsidiary DeepMind Health is focused towards assuring UK citizens that their medical records are in safe hands. Its latest plan is a public ledger that shows which bits of data it’s using; when; and for what purposes.
Its new initiative is called the “Verifiable Data Audit" would keep a publicly accessible record of every time DeepMind accesses hospital data, by making use of technology related to the blockchain.
Similar to blockchain technologies, this information will be write-only — it can’t be edited after the fact or deleted. It will also make use of cryptographic proofs that will allow experts to verify the integrity of the data.
9) Twitter Is Testing An Anti-harassment Feature That Flags Some Accounts As ‘Sensitive’
Twitter is reportedly planning to make its platform less hostile by introducing a “sensitive account” feature whereby some users’ Twitter profiles will be flagged as containing “potentially sensitive images or language.” The warning will take up the entire profile page of the user tagged as sensitive account and would require others to click or tap a prompt to agree to view the profile.
10) Razer’s zVault Is A Digital Wallet And Rewards Program For Gamers
The week saw Razer officially launching zVault, a new digital wallet system it has been testing since the start of the year. The service is designed to work both as a way to pay for digital goods like full-game purchases and downloadable content and as a rewards system to earn free Razer products. The main aim behind zVault is to encourage players to spend their money through its own service and those of the company’s partners, instead of buying direct from places like Steam. It will also help in driving more and more players to Razer hardware in the future.
1) Now Blockchain Will Digitize The Shipping Industry As Well
IBM, the global technology and innovation company and Maersk, the global leader in container shipping and ports, have come together to launch a blockchain technology platform that will work towards digitising the shipping industry along with the documentation that goes with it.
The companies will put to use the currently in trend blockchain technology to conduct, track and manage transactions in the shipping supply chain. They will be creating blockchain tools for cross-border transactions among shippers, ocean carriers, ports, customs authorities and freight forwarders.
Built on Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger platform, IBM’s and Maersk’s blockchain platform is expected to go into production later this year.
2) IBM To Build The First Commercially Available Quantum Computer
IBM Q, which is an industry-first initiative by IBM to build commercially available universal quantum computers for business and science, will soon be offering the power of quantum computation via the IBM Cloud platform. The project can prove to be a major step for the future of the field.
IBM Q is the first time that a universal quantum computer is being made available to the public. It will come equipped with a number of innovative applications that would go way beyond than what is achievable with the present day technology.
3) Samsung Pay is Now Officially Available in India; Supports PayTM
The week finally saw South Korean tech giant Samsung launching its mobile payment service ‘Samsung Pay’ in India. Available to India’s Samsung device users, the service has been rolled out with support for banks — Axis, HDFC, ICICI, SBI, and Standard Chartered, and credit and debit cards from MasterCard and Visa.
Samsung Pay uses both NFC and MST (magnetic secure transmission) to make wireless payments. All one needs to do is tab the phone to the payment terminal, touch the fingerprint scanner for authentication, and you’re done. There is a support for NFC, but how many places in India will have support for NFC-based payment solutions.
4) Facebook Launches ‘Disputed’ Tag To Fight ‘Fake News’
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has finally launched the much-awaited ‘disputed’ tag to fight ‘fake news’ on its famous social networking site. Though currently only active in the United States, the initiative will see Facebook tagging stories that are deemed false by facts with a disputed tag. The stories reported fake by the Facebook users will be checked for factual accuracy by non-partisan third-party organisations like Politifact and Snopes.
5) Google And Levi’s Connected Smart Jacket Will Come Out This Fall And Costs Around $350
The connected denim smart jacket being made together by Levi’s and Google’s ATAP division will come out this fall and cost around $350. The jacket is the first commercial product that contains ATAP’s Project Jacquard technology, which makes use of conductive fabric to turn a standard article of clothing into a connected device of sorts that can send instructions to your smartphone, like skipping a song that’s playing in your music library by simply double tapping your wrist.
6) What Is Digital Twin Technology- And Why It Matters Most Now
A digital twin can be best described as a virtual model of a product, service or a process. This innovative paring of the physical and virtual worlds together opens doors for monitoring of systems and analysis of data that help in warding off glitches/problems even before they occur. This further results in preventing downtime, development of new opportunities and even plan for the future ahead by making use of simulations.
Today, machine intelligence and connectivity to the cloud presents mankind with an unprecedented potential for large-scale implementation of digital twin technology across a number of companies in a variety of industries.
The Digital twins are being helmed as a powerful masterminds that will drive innovation and performance in the world. According to IDC, by the year 2018, companies investing in the digital twin technology will witness almost 30 per cent improvement in cycle times of their critical processes.
7) Hexagon Is A Bike Camera That Turns Your Smartphone Into A Rearview Mirror
A startup called Smart Bike has come up with an intelligent solution to put rearview mirrors on a bike. It first product, a camera called Hexagon, connects to a smartphone app and functions as a live safety camera. While there are several other rear camera / taillight combos in the market, Hexagon is quite unique from them as it comes with some additional features like live stream rides and tracking fitness activity and distance traveled. It also tells if its user has been in an accident and automatically notifies their emergency contacts.
8) Google’s AI Subsidiary Turns To Blockchain Technology To Track UK Health Data
Google subsidiary DeepMind Health is focused towards assuring UK citizens that their medical records are in safe hands. Its latest plan is a public ledger that shows which bits of data it’s using; when; and for what purposes.
Its new initiative is called the “Verifiable Data Audit" would keep a publicly accessible record of every time DeepMind accesses hospital data, by making use of technology related to the blockchain.
Similar to blockchain technologies, this information will be write-only — it can’t be edited after the fact or deleted. It will also make use of cryptographic proofs that will allow experts to verify the integrity of the data.
9) Twitter Is Testing An Anti-harassment Feature That Flags Some Accounts As ‘Sensitive’
Twitter is reportedly planning to make its platform less hostile by introducing a “sensitive account” feature whereby some users’ Twitter profiles will be flagged as containing “potentially sensitive images or language.” The warning will take up the entire profile page of the user tagged as sensitive account and would require others to click or tap a prompt to agree to view the profile.
10) Razer’s zVault Is A Digital Wallet And Rewards Program For Gamers
The week saw Razer officially launching zVault, a new digital wallet system it has been testing since the start of the year. The service is designed to work both as a way to pay for digital goods like full-game purchases and downloadable content and as a rewards system to earn free Razer products. The main aim behind zVault is to encourage players to spend their money through its own service and those of the company’s partners, instead of buying direct from places like Steam. It will also help in driving more and more players to Razer hardware in the future.
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