As the week draws to an end, we at Indianweb2 give you a quick recap of the top 10 happenings of the tech world this week.
1) Reliance Launches IoT Platform To Connect Any Device Over Any Network
The Internet of Things (IoT) business unit of India’s Reliance Group, Unlimit, and global IoT software provider, Cumulocity have come together and joined hands to launch a suite of new products and services on a new platform called ‘Enablement’.
According to a statement released by the two parties on the new development, ‘Enablement’ will enable businesses to connect any device over any network, and then manage and store asset data, simply by controlling them in real-time by monitoring device availability and administering and rectifying any device faults that might occur.
2) This AI Backed by Elon Musk Has Evolved Itself Instead of Machine Learning
While a majority of the artificial intelligence (AI) systems present in the market today are dependent on machine learning algorithms that are capable of predicting specific results by drawing on some pre-established values. But, researchers from OpenAI recently discovered that a machine learning system that they had created to predict the next character in the text of reviews from Amazon had mysteriously evolved into an unsupervised learning system that could effectively learn how to read sentiment. And that too by itself. For the uninitiated, it’s kind of a huge discovery, something that even the OpenAI researchers are finding hard to explain right now.
In a blogpost on the surprising discovery, the company states that its neural network somehow trained itself and started analysing sentiment accurately by classifying the reviews on popular ecommerce site Amazon as either positive or negative. Not only this, it also generates follow on text that go in sync with the sentiment of the review.
3) IoT’s Market Projected to Grow From $16B (2016) to $195 Billion (2023)
Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay. According to recent statistics made available by analysts at ReportsnReports, from a market of $16 billion in 2016, IoT-driven devices are expected to reach a market cap exceeding $195 billion in 2023. This exponential growth is courtesy the ubiquitous manufacturing of smarter mobile, in-home, and transportation devices and the increased interest in capturing that data and enhance communication infrastructure. The aforementioned statistics are testimonial of the fact that not only is IoT the present, but it will surely also be a significant part of our future.
4) This Nifty Software Lets You Design and Test Your Own Drone
If you’re one of those common man who was always fascinated with the idea of drones and maybe even aspired to build one for yourself someday, voila, you’re dream has finally come true. Don’t fret, you do not need to be adept in robotics, aeronautics, computer science, control systems and fabrication etc. While the knowledge of all these aforementioned subjects were required in the earlier days to make a drone, now all you need to know is how to work a screwdriver and you’re set. Yes, we’re serious. If you know which end of a screwdriver to hold, you can now design your very own drone. This has all been made possible courtesy a software developed by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. One can even virtually test their drone and work out all the kinks.
5) Indian Engineers Develop Automated System To Help Drivers Avoid Colliding with Animals on Roads
Two Indian researchers, Sachin Sharma and Dharmesh Shah, from the Department of Electronics and Communication, at Gujarat Technological University, in Ahmedabad have successfully incorporated the future with the present by incorporating some of the safety features of driverless cars into present day conventional vehicles. Writing in the International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, the two researchers have described a real-time automatic obstacle detection and alert system for driver assistance.
The obstacle detection and alert system conceived by Sharma and Shah makes use of a dashboard camera and an algorithm that can help the system determine whether an object near the vehicle is an on-road cattle and whether its movements represents a danger to the vehicle. If it is of any potential risk, the system even comes with an audio and visual indicator that gets triggered and forces the driver to apply the brakes whether or not they have seen the animal.
6) BrickerBot- A New Mirai-Like Malware Targeting Insecure Internet of Things (IoT) Devices
If you’re an IoT device owner, our advice to you would be to get the security of all your internet-connected devices in line as soon as possible. The urgent warning is being issued because a new threat called ‘BrickerBot’ has recently been discovered that is allegedly targeting insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
What is interesting about BrickerBot malware is the fact that instead of harnessing the IoT devices to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) network, it only threatens to permanently brick them instead. This is the reason that IoT experts are still contemplating if the malware is malicious in intent, or it has just been created to take down known vulnerable devices off the internet so that they don’t pose any threat in the future. The authors of BrickerBot are currently unknown.
7) Meet Cobots- The Collaborative Robots
Cobots is basically a short form for collaborative robots, who have been conceived and designed to work alongside mankind in various fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics etc. They’re predominantly employed for repetitive tasks wherein intelligent support systems, using cobots, assist the factory workers. Though available since a long time, the technology is expected to skyrocket at an exponential rate in the coming few years.
The recent evolutions regarding both the technologies and the market have been actively contributing towards its escalating demand. Case in point, DHL recently announced a partnership with Locus Robotics, which is not just limited till the factory or the warehouse. In fact, IoT and cobots have a crucial role to play in the digital transformation of healthcare. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), there would be a 50 per cent increase in robot usage in hospitals for delivery purposes by the year 2019. The numbers are expected to be even higher in the consumer space.
According to tech experts, cobots are expected to play a crucial role in the development of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0.
8) Amazon Launching Digital Wallet in India
Amazon, the world’s biggest e-commerce firm has just secured a license to launch a digital wallet in India. The move by Amazon will finally level the playing field with two of its regional e-commerce competitors, Flipkart and Paytm, both of whom already boost of digital wallets of their own.
Amazon’s soon-to-be-released digital wallet has secured a license at a time when there is regulatory uncertainty around wallets in India as the Reserve Bank of India has a consultation which appears to be enforcing fairly stringent norms on the operations of wallets. One of a requirement worth noting is that a wallet company need to submit a list of all its merchant partners to the escrow bank.
9) AI Picks Up Racial And Gender Biases When Learning From What Humans Write
According to researchers, Artificial intelligence picks up racial and gender biases when it is learning language from text. The researchers found out that without any supervision, a machine learning algorithm learns to associate female names more with family words than career words, and black names as being more unpleasant than white names.
For a study published in Science, researchers tested the bias of a common AI model. They then matched the results they got against a popular psychological test that measures bias in humans. The team of researchers made sure that they replicated all the psychological biases in the algorithm. Machine learning algorithms have now become so common, influencing everything from translation to scanning names on resumes, the research showed that the biases are pervasive, too.
10) Google Image Search Will Now Give You Style Tips
Over the past few years, Search giant Google has been working on building out its search results so as to offer more organic and varied tips than just a list of websites matching a user's search terms. Its latest addition is an effort in this very direction. Now, image searches for fashion products will offer new “style ideas” in the Google Android app and on mobile browsers. Along with the fashion tips, the image search will also offer some similar items for the user to buy.
1) Reliance Launches IoT Platform To Connect Any Device Over Any Network
The Internet of Things (IoT) business unit of India’s Reliance Group, Unlimit, and global IoT software provider, Cumulocity have come together and joined hands to launch a suite of new products and services on a new platform called ‘Enablement’.
According to a statement released by the two parties on the new development, ‘Enablement’ will enable businesses to connect any device over any network, and then manage and store asset data, simply by controlling them in real-time by monitoring device availability and administering and rectifying any device faults that might occur.
2) This AI Backed by Elon Musk Has Evolved Itself Instead of Machine Learning
While a majority of the artificial intelligence (AI) systems present in the market today are dependent on machine learning algorithms that are capable of predicting specific results by drawing on some pre-established values. But, researchers from OpenAI recently discovered that a machine learning system that they had created to predict the next character in the text of reviews from Amazon had mysteriously evolved into an unsupervised learning system that could effectively learn how to read sentiment. And that too by itself. For the uninitiated, it’s kind of a huge discovery, something that even the OpenAI researchers are finding hard to explain right now.
In a blogpost on the surprising discovery, the company states that its neural network somehow trained itself and started analysing sentiment accurately by classifying the reviews on popular ecommerce site Amazon as either positive or negative. Not only this, it also generates follow on text that go in sync with the sentiment of the review.
3) IoT’s Market Projected to Grow From $16B (2016) to $195 Billion (2023)
Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay. According to recent statistics made available by analysts at ReportsnReports, from a market of $16 billion in 2016, IoT-driven devices are expected to reach a market cap exceeding $195 billion in 2023. This exponential growth is courtesy the ubiquitous manufacturing of smarter mobile, in-home, and transportation devices and the increased interest in capturing that data and enhance communication infrastructure. The aforementioned statistics are testimonial of the fact that not only is IoT the present, but it will surely also be a significant part of our future.
4) This Nifty Software Lets You Design and Test Your Own Drone
If you’re one of those common man who was always fascinated with the idea of drones and maybe even aspired to build one for yourself someday, voila, you’re dream has finally come true. Don’t fret, you do not need to be adept in robotics, aeronautics, computer science, control systems and fabrication etc. While the knowledge of all these aforementioned subjects were required in the earlier days to make a drone, now all you need to know is how to work a screwdriver and you’re set. Yes, we’re serious. If you know which end of a screwdriver to hold, you can now design your very own drone. This has all been made possible courtesy a software developed by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. One can even virtually test their drone and work out all the kinks.
5) Indian Engineers Develop Automated System To Help Drivers Avoid Colliding with Animals on Roads
Two Indian researchers, Sachin Sharma and Dharmesh Shah, from the Department of Electronics and Communication, at Gujarat Technological University, in Ahmedabad have successfully incorporated the future with the present by incorporating some of the safety features of driverless cars into present day conventional vehicles. Writing in the International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, the two researchers have described a real-time automatic obstacle detection and alert system for driver assistance.
The obstacle detection and alert system conceived by Sharma and Shah makes use of a dashboard camera and an algorithm that can help the system determine whether an object near the vehicle is an on-road cattle and whether its movements represents a danger to the vehicle. If it is of any potential risk, the system even comes with an audio and visual indicator that gets triggered and forces the driver to apply the brakes whether or not they have seen the animal.
6) BrickerBot- A New Mirai-Like Malware Targeting Insecure Internet of Things (IoT) Devices
If you’re an IoT device owner, our advice to you would be to get the security of all your internet-connected devices in line as soon as possible. The urgent warning is being issued because a new threat called ‘BrickerBot’ has recently been discovered that is allegedly targeting insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
What is interesting about BrickerBot malware is the fact that instead of harnessing the IoT devices to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) network, it only threatens to permanently brick them instead. This is the reason that IoT experts are still contemplating if the malware is malicious in intent, or it has just been created to take down known vulnerable devices off the internet so that they don’t pose any threat in the future. The authors of BrickerBot are currently unknown.
7) Meet Cobots- The Collaborative Robots
Cobots is basically a short form for collaborative robots, who have been conceived and designed to work alongside mankind in various fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics etc. They’re predominantly employed for repetitive tasks wherein intelligent support systems, using cobots, assist the factory workers. Though available since a long time, the technology is expected to skyrocket at an exponential rate in the coming few years.
The recent evolutions regarding both the technologies and the market have been actively contributing towards its escalating demand. Case in point, DHL recently announced a partnership with Locus Robotics, which is not just limited till the factory or the warehouse. In fact, IoT and cobots have a crucial role to play in the digital transformation of healthcare. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), there would be a 50 per cent increase in robot usage in hospitals for delivery purposes by the year 2019. The numbers are expected to be even higher in the consumer space.
According to tech experts, cobots are expected to play a crucial role in the development of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0.
8) Amazon Launching Digital Wallet in India
Amazon, the world’s biggest e-commerce firm has just secured a license to launch a digital wallet in India. The move by Amazon will finally level the playing field with two of its regional e-commerce competitors, Flipkart and Paytm, both of whom already boost of digital wallets of their own.
Amazon’s soon-to-be-released digital wallet has secured a license at a time when there is regulatory uncertainty around wallets in India as the Reserve Bank of India has a consultation which appears to be enforcing fairly stringent norms on the operations of wallets. One of a requirement worth noting is that a wallet company need to submit a list of all its merchant partners to the escrow bank.
9) AI Picks Up Racial And Gender Biases When Learning From What Humans Write
According to researchers, Artificial intelligence picks up racial and gender biases when it is learning language from text. The researchers found out that without any supervision, a machine learning algorithm learns to associate female names more with family words than career words, and black names as being more unpleasant than white names.
For a study published in Science, researchers tested the bias of a common AI model. They then matched the results they got against a popular psychological test that measures bias in humans. The team of researchers made sure that they replicated all the psychological biases in the algorithm. Machine learning algorithms have now become so common, influencing everything from translation to scanning names on resumes, the research showed that the biases are pervasive, too.
10) Google Image Search Will Now Give You Style Tips
Over the past few years, Search giant Google has been working on building out its search results so as to offer more organic and varied tips than just a list of websites matching a user's search terms. Its latest addition is an effort in this very direction. Now, image searches for fashion products will offer new “style ideas” in the Google Android app and on mobile browsers. Along with the fashion tips, the image search will also offer some similar items for the user to buy.
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