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  Social medias still continue to capture an enormous amount of our attention, take off all our free time and even reduce our social skills in the real life. However, sometimes they can be super useful, especially if you are a well-known person or the representative of a precise brand. Everything you need to be acquainted with ( and have deep knowledge about how to use ) is social media monitoring. You may be surprised to find out, but that is one of the most important issues, concerning the increasing of your reputation or your  brand’s popularity.

  According to some sources, social media monitoring is «more than just watching out for mentions, tags, comments, or shares—it’s listening to discussions about your product, your brand, and reading the pulse of your industry.» It means, that you should not only check hashtags and keywords on Instagram or Facebook, but be aware of every discussion, that is carrying out about your brand. 

  There are a lot of tools, which can help you in monitoring. Some of them can be even free, so you do not have to spend your fortune to gain some precious information. The most popular and effective ones are Google Alerts, HootSuite, TweetDeck, Seesmic and others. Their using is extremely easy — just enter in the tool’s database some keywords (for example name of your or competitor’s brand, location, industry buzzwords). Later on, you will receive all the required information.

  So, why is monitoring that important? 

  1.The main point is that, as a representative of a certain organisation you must always keep contact with your customers. You should not only make conclusions from the feedback they give you on your official websites or in reality, but to be aware of the comments they share on their blogs, discussions they have with other people, videos they post on Youtube or other portals. Everybody knows, that  nowadays bloggers have a huge impact on other people’s opinion. Sometimes, these bloggers can have strong relations with your company (no matter in a negative or positive way). That is why you must always check what, when and in which way they told/wrote something, regarding you, and, preferably, respond to it. People like being treated as well, so they will appreciate that fact, that you are trying to make your best to make them feel more comfortable while using your services. In most cases, they will mark it as a good experience.

  2.Furthermore, you are going to notice all the new trends and leads in your industry and take advantage of it. It is very important to come out on top faster than your competitors in order to sit above the salt at the market. You may learn on your opponent’s failures, get inspired and create new content for your social medias. Sometimes it’s much easier than we think.

  3.Monitoring is an awesome way to find out some influencers, who are acknowledged in the sphere, your business concentrated on. By contacting with them, you can easily gain larger audience. If the blogger (or star) recognise your product ( service) as a good one, it is expected, that they will tell about you in their blog. 

  4. The last, but not the least is that by monitoring you can get feedback. It helps you to improve your work, determine your drawbacks and build a strong, self-reliant, benevolent brand.

 To sum up, try to monitor social medias every single day. Allocate at least a few minutes per day to get some information. Monitoring is a huge part of running the business, because you can’t improve and develop, having no idea what is happening around. «It is the difference between walking around in the dark and having an illuminated path that allows you to have an understanding … of how your business is doing..»

 

References:

https://www.lianatech.com/blog/6-reasons-why-media-monitoring-is-important-for-your-business.html

https://www.zoho.com/social/journal/the-importance-of-social-media-monitoring.html

https://www.compukol.com/the-importance-of-social-media-monitoring/

https://www.business.com/articles/people-are-talking-are-you-listening-the-importance-of-social-media-monitoring/

 

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Nowadays, there are lots of startups and just single entrepreneurs trying to improve society by injecting AI systems in different spheres of our life. We are already getting AI based cars, loudspeakers, mixers, etc. But, can you imagine that one day you will come home and «Alexa» will start speaking with your mother’s voice, pitch and manner of speaking? Sounds quite creepy and unusual. Someone will even say that this invention is completely useless and only has disadvantages. Actually, I wouldn’t even argue, because everything in our world has its bad sides and good sides. In the next few paragraphs I will try to introduce both of them.

Firstly, let’s start with owners of this unusual project and its principle of working. Actually, not so long time ago, a company called «Baidu» and considered to be the Chinese Google, posted full documentation of their new AI-based tool called Deep Voice that is able to simulate a usual human voice by listening to a short fragment of their speech. As written in official Baidu’s documents, this tool was made by using a neural network that analyzes a spectrogram with human voice and then generates a similar audio. Also, with the help of this network, AI learned by itself how to pronounce some difficult words and names.

Advantages

When I was looking for some sources of information connected with this topic, I was thinking that this invention is strange, useless and wouldn’t find its place between other huge technology projects, but then I saw some examples of using Deep Voice and was really impressed, because it can be used in many spheres of our life. So, first and the main mission of this tool is to substitute a usual human voice. For example, person, that can’t speak for some reason, can buy such kind of technology and «regain speech» by using someone else’s natural voice, not the «Google Man». Also it can be used in various technology spheres as a voice of AI-based gadgets. Smart homes, smart cars and other AI-based inventions will be able to speak with natural voice, not specific robot sounds that often make us feel uncomfortable. Actually, you can even have some fun using Deep Voice, because this tool provides a possibility to listen to your own speech with different accents and communication manners.

Disadvantages

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, everything has its own disadvantages and Deep Voice is not an exception. Nowadays, hacking is becoming more frequent and a tool able to copy everyone’s voice without any difficulties can be used by cybercriminals. Actually, if they properly learn how to use this invention, they will be able to perform various hacking processes easily. For example, hackers will easily capture databases or systems that are protected by voice security or fool people by using the voice of their relatives, friends, etc. Also, other individuals may try to record some bad things with voices of famous actors, singers and upload it in the internet just for fun and laugh, but no one will even think about the fact that it can seriously damage the celebrity’s reputation or even ruin it. So, in my opinion, this program must have some restrictions or other things, that won’t allow to criminals or cybercriminals use it in a bad way.

In the end, I would like to say, that AI voice copying tool is a really interesting and potentially useful invention, but it shouldn’t be launched yet because it needs some serious improvements in the field of security.

Examples of using Deep Voice: https://audiodemos.github.io/

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/05/06/artificial-intelligence-can-now-copy-your-voice-what-does-that-mean-for-humans/#d2bd3ac72a2a

https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/baidu-using-machine-learning-for-voice-cloning-to-get-closer-to-consumers-all-in-just-3-7-seconds/

https://medium.com/syncedreview/baidu-ai-can-clone-your-voice-in-seconds-93558a7b984f

 

 

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Ever wanted to go to tourist destinations like Disney world or a cruise but now even better that you can go to space! The first commercial space hotel will open by Gateway Foundation which is designed as the world’s first space hotel called Von Braun Space Station, expected to open in 2025 [2]. The best part is that this will not be available only for the super-rich but the company, The Gateway Foundation aims to make it accessible to everyone [1].

The cruise hotel will also have features like gravity, full working kitchens, bars, restaurants and interiors made with natural materials and colors. It will also have musical concerts, movie screening, and educational seminars and sports activities such as low-gravity basketball, low-gravity trampolining, and rock climbing. Tim Alatorre who is the senior design architect told Dezeen in an interview that the hotel will look like Stanley Kubrick’s Space Station 5 in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey which is a sterile, white, museum-like hotel. [1]

The Space station will be build based on the technology used at the current International Space Station (ISS). The design is based on the concepts developed in the 1950s by Wernher von Braun. The space station will have 190 m diameter, having the shape of the wheel that will rotate to create a gravitational force that is similar to that which is felt on the moon and will permanently orbit the earth. The wheel will have 24 individual modules for accommodation each having 500 meters of floor area. The total population expected is 400 people approximately in the station including 100 tourists per week [1]. Some of the modules will be sold to the government which will be used for research and other rented for scientific purposes [3].

Similar to this is SpaceX Starship, a project by Elon Musk who aims to launch it no earlier than 2021.[4]

References

1. Ravenscroft, T. (2019, August 29). Dezeen. Space Hotel architect Von Braun Space Station. Retrieved on 2019, November 28, from https://www.dezeen.com/2019/08/29/space-hotel-architect-von-braun-space-station/
2. Palfrey, J. (2019, September 9). Lonelyplanet. Check out the plants for the first commercial space hotel. Retrieved on 2019, November 28, from https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/first-commercial-space-hotel
3. Jacobo, J. (2019, September 15). Abc news. First commercial space hotel to have low-gravity basketball, rock climbing: Reports. Retrieved on 2019, November 28, from https://abcnews.go.com/Business/commercial-space-hotel-low-gravity-basketball-rock-climbing/story?id=65622817
4. Henry, C. (2019, June 28). Space news. SpaceX targets 2021 commercial Starship launch. Retrieved on 2019, November 28, from https://spacenews.com/spacex-targets-2021-commercial-starship-launch/
5. © Gateway Foundation 2019. Retrieved on 2019, November 28, from https://gatewayspaceport.com/

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Reference article: https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/25/uber-has-again-been-denied-licence-renewal-in-london-over-safety-risks/

Uber, the revolutionary technology company that widely popularized the concept of sharing economy, has once again been denied its license in London. According to Telegraph, a reputable news source, London is one of the group’s ‘fab five’ cities that account for around a quarter of global revenues. This indeed takes a huge toll on Uber, particularly when it is rumored that they are intending to go public.

This brings a huge concern over Uber. Is it a truly a technology company, or is it a taxi company?  In my previous post, we explored WeWork’s claim on being a technological company, even though they’re obviously a real estate company. In this case, Uber claims itself as a technology company, whereby they do not adhere by the regulations of most transport authority worldwide. For example, in Singapore, taxi drivers are required to obtain a provisional license, which includes a test, before one can be issued a taxi license. When Uber and Grab (which bought out Uber in 2018) came into Singapore, this regulation was bypassed, effectively allowing anyone, so as long they have a car, to provide taxi service via the Uber app. To counter this, Singapore’s Transport Authority took a preemptive approach and implemented a law early this year that requires all Uber and Grab drivers to possess a provisional license in order to be legally allowed on the street. Uber escaped this slaughterhouse as it was bought out by Grab.

Bringing parallel to this case, we see a roughly different situation. Unlike Singapore, London’s transport authority and Uber has failed to come to an agreement. Instead of adopting a collaborative approach, Uber went in hard-headed, opposing the transport authority and insist to weaver their way through legal means. This was the second time that Uber’s license has been revoked. In mid-2018, the company’s license was regranted, and the authority was closely monitoring its situation. However, it was observed that Uber has once again failed to comply with the authority’s guideline.

Personally, I believe that Uber should be treated as the same level of a Taxi company. Essentially, they are providing the same service, with a different pricing system. Uber’s entry into the market has effectively degraded the culture of black cab in London, which is also known as the icon of London. This also creates an unrestricted competition pool where there is a mismatch of supply and demand. One of the transport authority’s main responsibility is to ensure a fair match of supply demand, which will then create a favorable price for the customer, as well as maintaining a reasonable income for the drivers. With such entry, it clearly disrupt the industry as a whole, and the need for regulation is essential.

But what do you think?

• Is Uber a taxi company, or a technology company? Considering they are branching out to other wings (e.g. 2020’s UberAIR which will provide short flights using VTOL aircraft, Uber Works which matches Temporary workers with potential jobs and employers), there are many arguments that can easily state the opposite too!
• Or do you think there are any other business opportunities Uber can tap on to better ground themselves as a technology company?
• What do you think about Uber?

References:

WeWork: From IPO to Bankruptcy

London Icons: The Black Cab

https://thenextweb.com/asia/2018/03/26/ubers-southeast-asia-operations-acquired-by-grab/

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lta-proposes-licensing-ride-hailing-firms-grab-and-gojek

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Can You imagine cities without a constant buzz of traffic? Streets without the sound of combustion engines? Having a walk through a city centre would be as pleasant as strolling in a park or a forest. It may be possible by switching to electric cars. A lot of car manufacturers are improving their electric and hybrid models. Also, we can see more and more of them on the streets (the environment enjoys that fact). Nevertheless, there is one significant issue connected to reducing the sound of traffic – safety. According to the research of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of USA, hybrid engine cars were 37% more likely than those with combustion engines to involve in a pedestrian accident. Also, they caused 57% more accidents involving bicycles. Governments of many countries decided that the safety of pedestrians is more important than silence. Think of the blind, such people perceive surrounding mainly by hearing as well as people walking in the streets with eyes in their smartphones.

In July 2018 European Union introduced a new law, which forces car manufacturers to attach Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to their electric models. Automobiles, which are reversing or travelling with a speed lower than 30 km/h, have to emit sound. Yeah, governments around the world introduced such a rule, but they had no idea what kind of sound should it be. They rely on manufacturers invention. Of course, there are some restrictions, it cannot imitate the noise of the wind, water and animals. It is not the first time when people have to invent some artificial sound because of the development of technology. For example, locking smartphone and finalising the transaction with a financial app. Sound of silent engines is a more complex problem. In such a case engineers have to take to an account both user experience and safety.

For car manufacturers, it is a difficult case. For instance, Jaguar tried to implement a sound of the UFO, but the results weren’t promising. Tesla introduced a sound of farting (hehe). Other engineers take to a consideration a variety of factors, such as culture or drivers attitude. Nissan hired world-famous composers to create the perfect noise of a silent engine. The team was working on this project for almost half a year trying to develop sound which would be alerting, natural and not interrupting.

 

 

Maybe the sound of electric cars should be completely personalised and dependant to car owners? Well, for some people the sound of the vehicle is a significant factor. Some of the engineers think that it should represent a driver’s current mood. In such a case, it would be easier to recognise if one can behave aggressively on a road.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that electric or hybrid cars should emit some sound to let others know that they are approaching. Right now it is needed, so there will be no silent city centres. Maybe in the future artificial intelligence will be able to predict every situation on a road, so the sound would not be required anymore. However, there is one more important thing regarding electric vehicles – ecology. What is the sense of driving such cars if in many countries (e.g. Poland) electric engines are powered by burning fossil fuels in energy plants?

references:

1.https://wyborcza.pl/Jutronauci/7,165057,25336904,ryk-silnika-ktorego-nie-slychac-jak-beda-brzmialy-samochody.html

2.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/business/electric-car-noises.html

3.https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49726841

4.https://mashable.com/article/tesla-fart-mode/?europe=true

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When we think about farms and big fields of plants, probably we imagine the countryside and enormous land. It’s a natural image of agriculture. We became sure about how growing plants look like and barely changed anything for hundreds of years. People only added new ways of taking care of plants but didn’t ever rethink the whole concept. However, it is possible that it will soon be history, due to completely new ways of farming.

Aerofarms is a completely modern approach to agriculture. It can change the way people develop and will be using space. No more big fields of plants, now we can grow them in buildings.

The main concept

How is it possible? Science and technology found a way to develop almost the same conditions as nature, but in an artificial way. Aerofarms are huge buildings with many levels. It’s like a big warehouse of IKEA, with many shelves, corridors and storage is from ground to the roof. It can be hard to imagine but there many layers of “ground” and special lamps that provide necessary conditions for plants. There is no soil and no natural sunlight, only substitutes. In this way, plants can be grown not only on one ground level but in many many more.
Furthermore, they can be stored inside buildings. However, it is not the best part. It is claimed that Aerofarms use 95% less water than classic field farms.

A mix of science and technology

This is all possible, because of the smart use of special led lamps and a new approach to the nutrition of plants. Scientists discovered new ways how to improve it and implemented it with technology. Also, special scientists monitor and collect data about all plants grown in Aerofarms to advance it even more. The special cloth used instead of soil is made of fully recycled materials. Lastly controlling every condition lead to almost none risk of any pests. In this way, we have an environmentally friendly and highly more efficient approach to farming.

 

Current situation

Now there are about four farms using this method. They are being controlled and tested. Many scientific surveys and tests are made in topics of health or taste of these plants. There are no negative sides of using this method of growing plants scientifically proved. If Aerofarms will replace classic way of farming we are going to have a big revolution. In a quick summary, it means less wasted water, more efficient agriculture, less usage of pesticides and much more land for nature not fields of plants.

References:

https://aerofarms.co

https://www.ft.com/content/cac48190-9d8a-11e9-9c06-a4640c9feebb

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The Nasdaq stock market is the largest stock exchange by volume. Because of this, it became a popular target for fraudsters. That is why Nasdaq needs to be incessantly monitored to prevent frauds, which can come in many different ways like:
churning – stockbrokers are buying or selling client’s investments more often than necessary, to make more money in commissions
spoofing – placing a big buy/sell order (without intending to execute it) in order to create an artificial high/low demand for a particular stock

Nasdaq recently announced that monitoring is now being done with help of artificial intelligence. The deep-learning system is currently cooperating with human analysts to keep track of more than 17,5 million transactions every day. That system is an addition to the previously used software surveillance system, whose main goal is to detect any signs of possible frauds by the usage of statistics and set of rules. It works like this:
-> system detects a sign of a possible abuse -> the alert is being sent to human analysts -> human analysts decide whether it is a fraud or not

The new system will be more accurate at detecting frauds according to Nasdaq, which will result in less unnecessary work for analysts. Moreover, they claim that it will be better at identifying more complicated patterns such as spoofing, which is likely to become more popular among fraudsters.

How does the system identify abuses? It bases on historical examples. The system analyzed frauds from the past thoroughly and whenever things typical for them occur, it will reach out to an analyst which specializes in a particular area. For example, when fraud is detected in an automotive stock, the alert will be sent to an analyst who is familiar with the automotive industry and its market. Afterward, the analyst enters the results into the system. Thanks to that the deep-learning system can develop and learn from this data.

On the other hand, this system will only be able to detect frauds from the past. That is why it makes it probable that some hackers will be able to get around it. According to that, Doug Hamilton (Nasdaq’s managing director of artificial intelligence) has decided that the new system will be working along with the old one rather than fully replacing it, for now. What system needs, is to adapt faster to new tactics of fraudsters as „the patterns and types of abuse that are happening are constantly evolving as well” ~ Tony Sio (Nasdaq’s head of marketplace regulatory technology).

 

Sources:

https://www.technologyreview.com

https://dictionary.cambridge.org