Mediaboss Marketing

As time goes on, the value of efficiency and convenience becomes more and more important. Weve seen this in many examples from talk-to-text, to ordering food directly to your door without ever even speaking to another human.

Now coming into the convenience game is a keyboard that allows you to scan instead of type. Anyline is the new keyboard that instantly collects data with the snap of a camera.

Scan ID information, serial numbers, vouchers, IBANs, and barcodes in an instant with your smartphone, as it is compatible with Android and iOS. The app also allows you to scan things such as gift card barcodes, phone numbers you see on street advertisements, and more so, in a sense, it brings CTRL + C to real life.

With your smartphone, you can instantly collect data with the scan function on your keyboard. The platform is compatible with messenger, email, and browser apps. You scan the data and instantly paste it where you want it, saving the time of manual data entry.

This would be useful for scanning things to your notes section that you may refer to often, like your health insurance ID number, your WiFi router information, credit card info and what not.With anything else like this, the concern of privacy is always there so make sure youre doing what you can to protect your information (using a passcode and/or Face ID, not using shared/public networks, etc.) While you should know it by heart, I would recommend not ever scanning your social security number.

However, something like this does save a lot of time as it doesnt involve mistyping it picks up a barcode accurately. Also, you wont need someone reading something back to you so you can accurately type it down into your phone.

This could be a simple way to save time and become a more efficient person in general, and it makes it easier to share information with others. This is also super helpful for people who have trouble reading the teeny tiny type that barcodes are often displayed in.

Comment your thoughts below, and share any tips you use to help further your efficiency!

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The future of quantum computing is Azure bright and you can try it - The American Genius

When we hear about smart cities and innovation, the sad truth is that this concept may be overpromising and underdelivering. What we hear about are the exceptions and the success stories. But you could argue that not enough cities are taking advantage of the plethora of valuable and transformative new ideas and products out there.

In short, there is an gap between the aspirations of cities and the true capabilities of smart city innovation. Understanding the source of this gap is key for more cities to be able to start harnessing the value of smart city technology.

The promise of smart cities lies in technological innovations. But to leverage this potential, cities need to adopt them. While some cities like London, Singapore and New York are aggressively pursuing this agenda, others are less keen. In order to understand why, let us consider the diffusion of innovation research. The sociologist Everett M. Rogers demonstrated more than half a century ago that technological innovations pass through different stages of adoption in a population. Some people are eager to try out anything just because it is new while others would rather roll over and die rather than pick up any new technology.

Before an innovation has permeated the entire population, it has to be adopted by all these different people. Rogers distinguished five different groups of adopters with very distinctive behaviour and characteristics.

Innovators have an almost obsessive interest in new ideas and are willing to take risks. They are willing to accept a high degree of uncertainty and that an innovation might fail.

Early adopters are the opinion leaders and are well respected. Others look to them for validation of an innovation. They are typically focused on gaining an edge through innovation and are financially more successful than their peers.

Early majority want to have firm confirmation that an innovation is efficient before adopting.

Late majority adopt an innovation as a result of peer pressure and approached with scepticism and caution. They typically have relatively scarce resources, which means that most of the uncertainty about an innovation must be removed.

Laggards tend to resist innovations outright. They are typically the most constrained on resources and have to be absolutely certain that an innovation does not fail before adopting

While Rogers focus was on individuals, organisations exhibit the same characteristics: some will adopt any new innovation like blockchain or quantum computing, while others feel safer holding on to their mainframes and fax machines for as long as possible.

The problem is that most cities fit the description of the last two categories. They are constantly pressed for resources and have no appetite for potential failure. They have to make sure that an innovation succeeds. The products they choose to adopt are already tried and tested in the market.

However, most smart city technologies are at the early stage of the adoption journey. They are being deployed by innovators and early adopters responsible for smart city policies. At present there are very few smart city solutions that have journeyed along the curve to achieve widespread deployment.

Deploying technology at an early stage also requires specific values and skills. Making something completely new work in an organisation is very different from managing existing infrastructure. A United Nations study into the motivation of public sector employees has found that civil servants are typically motivated more by helping for the common good rather than making cutting edge technology work.

Additionally, cities usually have a salary range that is low compared to what private companies can offer. The group of potential employees that are specialists in applying technological innovations are highly priced in the market. This means that cities often find it hard to compete for this talent.

Deploying technology at an early stage also requires specific values and skills.

This does not, however, mean that it is impossible for cities to overcome the innovation gap, it just means that it does not come naturally.

One further problem is that of citizens. Cities have residents that depend on how well these solutions function. There is increased scrutiny because they are spending taxpayer money. Cities are not a hot startup with an autocratic CEO that can just kill a product and move on if it doesnt work. The demands and expectations of citizens go some way to explain why cities have natural and well-founded reservations about innovations.

However, innovation is not the only thing that matters; the maturity of the solution is also important. When a city needs to source and implement a new solution, it can do so using a variety of different models:

In house developed by city employees. This usually has a low innovation potential because city employees are not typically recruited or rewarded for doing cutting edge work, but it will typically lead to more mature solutions.

Procurement developed on contract by third party. This can be a good way to implement a novel solution but requires that the city has control and a clear idea of what it expects from the implementation partner.

Sponsored developed for free by third party. While attractive and possibly a good way to source innovative solutions, cities need to make sure that the sponsoring party has adequate understanding of the problem area.

Public private partnerships collaboration between the city and vendors. This is potentially a powerful combination as cities have the subject matter expertise and vendors bring the technical know-how. While this can be efficient, the likes of intellectual property rights to the finished solution and future pricing for licensing support and operation needs to be sorted out upfront. Cities also need to be transparent in their dealings to avoid accusations of corruption.

Hackathons developed by individuals for free. These can be good for generating new ideas and approaches, but not mature products

Civic groups developed by residents in a group. These focus on bottom up interest from citizens and therefore can be good at generating novel ideas that bring immediate value. However, they are difficult to manage and often are best to engage with through openness and dialogue.

University collaborations developed by students and faculty for free or paid. Major cities often have university systems that bring an exceptional know how and potential for new ideas. The flip side is that universities are motivated more by interesting ideas than by bringing mature solutions to market.

These different forms of engagement can all work to fill the innovation gap. Cities can use them selectively for different areas depending on the maturity needed. Chosen carefully they may provide a patchwork of opportunities that support the city in a valuable way.

For example, working on a solution to find out how to identify all people with disabilities who need help in an evacuation may not need a very mature solution, since it just needs to produce a list. In this case, a university partnership or hackathon may be sufficient.

However, revamping the citys system of evaluating the chances of reoffending is not a likely candidate where the Move fast and break things model, since it has enormous consequences for residents lives. If this solution does not work, it could negatively affect crime levels. This clearly requires a different level of maturity so procurement or a public private partnership is more suitable in this case.

Understanding and experimenting with different models of engagement may help cities to better take advantage of smart city innovations. However, it requires the will to go outside traditional business as usual thinking.

Read more from the original source:
Overcoming the innovation gap - SmartCitiesWorld

President Trump tweeted out a false claim this week that the elderly protester shoved by police in Buffalo, New York, was a member of the anti-fascist political movement antifa. He is not.

Last Sunday, the president once again said he would designate antifa as a terrorist organization. He made the same remarks last year after antifa followers rumbled with the far-right group, the Proud Boys.

Antifa has never been accused of killing anyone, unlike the white supremacist hate group Ku Klux Klan, which is not declared a terrorist organization.

Attorney General William Barr says antifa was responsible for the looting and violence that cities across the U.S. witnessed early on in protests against George Floyds murder and police brutality against Black Americans.

However, federal court records show out of the 51 people facing federal charges, no one is alleged to have ties to the antifa movement, according to an NPR review.

Over the years, activists on the left have debated whether to disavow antifas tactics.

Antifa, a loose organization of sorts, has its roots in Germany and the United Kingdom during the uprising fascist movements of the 1920s and 30s, NBC News investigative reporter Brandy Zadrozny says.

The modern movement came to the U.S. in the 70s and 80s, and they were known for fighting skinheads at punk rock concerts, she says.

Their ideology is based around a hate for fascism and a belief that people who are thought to be fascists are inherently violent, she says. Antifa believes violence is a useful tactic to combat violence from the alt-right.

The idea is that if more people had brawled in the streets with actual Nazis then Hitler and the Nazi party would have never risen to power, Zadrozny says. So antifa has popped up again now with the election of Donald Trump, the rise of the alt-right and the rise of far-right extremists and white nationalist groups that have sort of come up all at the same time.

Antifa has no leader and no clear organization. However, there are organized, localized groups who have followings on social media, such as the Rose City Antifa in Portland, Oregon.

Many became aware of antifa as a political movement in 2017 when they showed up at the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally that gathered Nazis and white supremacists. In the same year, they helped stop Milo Yiannopoulos, a far-right political commentator and Trump supporter, from speaking at the University of California, Berkeley by smashing windows and lighting fires on campus. Berkeley decided to cancel the event after the uproar.

Antifas goal is to deny fascists and far-right activist a platform, she says. Because of this, the right has long defined antifa as positioning themselves against free speech.

And it's not just violence in the streets, she says. It's also coordinated campaigns to shame out [and] harass those on the far right.

Theyve targeted far-right pundit Ann Coulter and conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, for example, and have doxxed people who are associated with alt-right groups. Theyve said their strategy is to dehood Klansmen, Zadrozny says.

Inciting street brawls, such as what Portland residents have experienced, is not part of their main activities, she says. However, thats how antifa has largely been positioned by their critics.

High-profile politicians have claimed that antifa is showing up in small towns and wreaking havoc during anti-racism demonstrations. Zadroznys reporting for NBC News has found those claims are part of a top-down disinformation campaign from the president and the president's allies down to local law enforcement and then through social media.

The result has been small groups of armed militias showing up to counterprotest Black Lives Matter demonstrations all over the country, she says, from Florida to Idaho and Oregon.

In Klamath Falls, Oregon, Zadrozny says hundreds of armed counterprotesters showed up ready to fight this invisible monster they heard about on social media. They believed antifa was coming to their town to murder people, murder white people and take their guns and destroy their town. Of course, antifa never came, she says.

Their presence did, however, intimidate a large group of diverse people who came together to peacefully protest police brutality in their small town, she says.

This doesnt mean that antifa hasnt shown up to protests against police brutality, she says. It would make sense they would be present because a large factor in antifa ideology is anti-racism, she explains.

There are concerns that at some point, some peaceful protesters might get accused of being antifa, like what happened to the elderly man in Buffalo. She says a vigilante mob mentality is taking over small towns.

For example, she says, a man armed with a chainsaw ran off protesters in McAllen, Texas. And in Forks, Washington, a multiracial family on a camping trip was harassed and trapped by locals who accused them of being with antifa.

It just seems like a powder keg, she says. And people that I've spoken to, activists from small towns to larger groups on Black Lives Matter side, they're very concerned for their safety.

Cassady Rosenblumproduced and edited this interview for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web.

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What Is Antifa? Separating Fact From Fiction | Here & Now - Here And Now

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Artificial Intelligence | The Seattle Times

There is lots of talk about Artificial Intellenege in IT industry. Needless to say, it is going to be a big advancement in the technology field.

As like every other growing technology, plenty of statements is going around about AI ethics.

Is it good or bad?

What are the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence?

There are lots of myths about artificial intelligence. Before getting into it, here is Artifical Intelligence, I can define it in a simple way

Artificial intelligence (AI) is described as the intelligence of machines. Its all about creating machines that have the ability to think like humans and as the technology is advancing with time, researchers and scientists are aiming to introduce an emotional characteristic as well into these machines.

With the growing technological advancements, it looks like artificial intelligence would definitely be the next big thing of this era.

Ever thought how would this affect human life?

Go through the following points to know what advantages and disadvantages artificial intelligence can bring with it.

AI comes with advantages and disadvantages. Lets look at them one-by-one.

Here are the advantages of using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Unlike humans, robots and machines do not have to get paid every month for the work they do.

Although machines are pretty much expensive to maintain, the maintenance cost is very small as compared to the expenses that an organization bears for its employees.

Hence, it helps to reduce and to control the cost by using artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence provides work efficiency.

Since manpower would be replaced by machines, work would be performed in a more efficient manner, depending on the type of intelligence.

If machines would be built without any flaw, no doubt they would be able to perform even the most complex tasks without any error.

One of the top benefits of using artificial intelligence in the workplace is that machines and robots can perform lengthy and important tasks in a more effective manner.

Even the machine doesnt need to take a break to accomplish a big task. Unlike humans, machines dont need to rest or take a break.

They dont need to eat or sleep like us and never fell ill or take leaves.

They only need to be recharged or refueled by an energy source to reach their full potential.

Ultimately, this enables the companies to boost their productivity by working 24 hours.

Artificial intelligence has many benefits to the human. By automating a simple task, we can save a lot of time.

Since machines dont have emotions, there are no chances of any emotional barriers getting in the way of the workplace.

This is a great advantage because having no emotions means that nothing is going to affect their performance.

However, this is completely different in the case of humans because we have emotions and many of us find it hard to work in a stressful environment.

These are all advantages of AI. It is not easy to see future programming prediction. So its time that will tell us more about it.

Now lets see what are the disadvantages of Artifical Intelligence.

Here are the disadvantages of Artifical Intelligence (AI).

There is no doubt that machines are much better when it comes to working efficiency but they cannot replace the human connection that makes the team. Machines cannot develop a bond with humans.

With more and more machines being designed, there will be an abrupt increase in unemployment and job security. Since machines are replacing human resources, the rate of people losing their jobs will increase.

Needless to say, humans will be no longer a priority for companies.

The only way to empower yourself in the IT industry is by improving your technical skills and by finding trends for future jobs requirement.

If you are aprogrammer, you should always keep analyzing the programming job requirement in the future.

Living in the 21st century, weve seen and even experienced it once or more than once in our lives that our important information gets missing due to technical issues such as machine damages or the software of our system getting corrupt.

We use computers, smartphones and other devices to store almost all our important documents, files, pictures, and videos. Once lost, it is not possible (or very difficult) to retrieve this information.

This can cause serious trouble for your businesses.

Misuse or exploitation of anything is bad.

In the case of artificial intelligence, its worse.

We often hear threats that the misuse of technology can bring the world to a destructive end. This stands true to a great extent as we have seen in animated movies and films.

If AI is given into wrong hands, high technology machines can definitely destroy society.

Wrapping Up My Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence Growth

Despite all the pros and cons Of Artificial Intelligence, Industries are adopting Artificial Intelligence to do the work more efficiently and with less cost. So as the way Big data is becoming a future trend, Artificial Intelligence is too.

We saw the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence. Today machines possess almost human-like abilities and artificial is a perfect example of this fact.

As per derived knowledge, the outcomes in artificial intelligence are getting better rapidly.

Therefore, it is best to accept the changes in the world we live and take benefit from all the amazing features that artificial intelligence has to offer to us.

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8 Pros And Cons Of Artificial Intelligence | You Must Be ...