Monthly Archives: January 2021

Artificial intelligence and art

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Digital technologies have already begun to play a very important role in creative activities such as music, movie and so on. Neither modern cinema nor music can be imagined without the use of digital processing and computer effects. Computer today has become the canvas for the artists.

But what about artificial intelligence? It already solves many commercial, governmental and finacial problems today. But the impact of technology is not limited to this. Experts often speculate about what professions AI will replace. Mostly it is about phisical work. But technology has also encroached on creativity and art.

For several years, some artists and IT-specialists have been using artificial intelligence in their work. The system works as follows. A large amount of examples of works are loaded into the system. For example, portraits of different people from different artists. It can be several thousand of illustrations. Based on this information, the AI learns and creates a new work at the end. Other artists use only their own works. But in general, the principle is the same. That is, the person sets the algorithm and the technology already creates the art object itself. We can already find exhibitions where arts of artificial intelligence are presented, in many large cities around the world.

In 2018, an official auction took place for the first time. There “Portrait of Edmond Bellamy” created by artificial intelligence was sold. The painting was created by GAN. As a result, it was sold for $ 432 thousand. To create this picture, 15,000 portraits from the 14th-20th centuries were uploaded to the system.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2018_NYR_16388_0363_000(edmond_de_belamy_from_la_famille_de_belamy065925).jpg

Experts around the world are arguring whether an art object created by a machine can be considered as an art. And what should be the copyright for it. Firstly, there have already been recorded cases when artists sued the creators of such paintings, since their works were too similar to one of the original sources. The second question is who is really the author of the work. AI or the person who created the algorithm for its creation? These questions still remain without unanimous answers.

Art critics tend to believe that an art object created by artificial intelligence cannot be considered as an art. Experiments in this field more likely belong to the field of performance.

The most important aspects for an artist’s work are the cultural and historical context, as well as the context of the life and inner world of the author himself. Both are not present in objects created by AI.

At the same time, we can see that technology is already influencing not only the art market, but also the vision and development of the artist’s skills. After all, the value of art is in creating something new and unique.
New ideas are the main driving force in the development of art. And the generation of these ideas is the main function that artificial intelligence cannot (or cannot yet) to do instead of the human.

Therefore, we can confidently say that artificial intelligence will make its mark in the development of modern painting as, for example, photography once changed it.

Sources:

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/ai-is-blurring-the-definition-of-artist

https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaboration-between-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx

Is this the future of TV?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

MicroLED is an evolving technology for flat-panel displays. MicroLED displays consist of microscopic LED arrays forming the individual elements of the pixels. MicroLED displays provide improved contrast, reaction times, and energy efficiency compared to generalized LCD technology.

An amazing 110-inch MicroLED 4K TV was recently announced by Samsung. The 2021 edition come in a fixed size which are 110, 99 and 88 inches that costs a little less, but are still quite pricey. 

It has a size-to-body ratio of 99.99 percent (ultra-thin), 4K resolution, a large colour range, a powerful new Micro AI Processor, and a lifetime of around 100,000 hours (4,000 days which is equivalent to 11 years). The launch and pre-sale of the revolutionary 110″ Samsung MicroLED began in Korea last month. It will be launched internationally by the end of 2021, and it is estimated to cost about 590,000 PLN.

Samsung MicroLED offers astounding colour vibrancy and brightness with self-emissive LED display technology, unlike any other displays currently available on the market. It is equipped with a 5.1-speaker device with a feature called Object Tracking Sound Pro feature. This can track objects moving on the screen and project the sound to follow the action, the sound is built in.

MicroLED is the next-generation TV platform we’re looking forward to. But is it actually worth it paying such money when nowadays everything can be accessed on your PC and smartphone?

That being said, Samsung’s Micro LED shows amazing potential on the basis of what we’ve seen so far, and the technology might very well end up being the future of TV. It isn’t flawless, but the overall quality of the image is absolutely breathtaking.

Sources:

https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-microled-opens-a-new-era-of-breathtaking-picture-quality-and-design

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1608110700

https://www.techspot.com/news/87917-samsung-reveals-110-inch-microled-4k-television.html

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/samsung-tv-exec-on-110-inch-microleds-large-screen-is-what-they-want

https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/9/22166062/samsung-110-inch-microled-4k-tv-announced-features

Tutors or a developing trend in high-quality education

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Firstly, who are tutors? Tutor is a hybrid profession combined from psychologist and classical teacher. Tutors support students to develop their abilities and master their skills, to find out personal interests and evaluate strong sides. Based on personal information, tutors create a detailed educational plan of studies and personal development for each of their students and control them through the whole educational process. Technology works like that: experienced and prominent professors teach their numerous students through the internet while in the regional classes tutors control, support students with practical tasks, and motivate them.

As it is known, tutoring itself is a quiet ancient profession. According to Wikipedia, it was originated in ancient Greece. So, why it became a rapidly developing trend in modern society?

Firstly, dual-teaching system or two teacher model in other words (which represents tutoring) can help community to overcome the distance gap. Experienced teachers and lecturers usually live in huge or middle-sized cities, which makes competition between students unfair as the quality of studies in small cities or villages is poorer. With the help of dual-teaching system, all students have access to the high-quality information.

Secondly, this method of studying can support society in terms of coronavirus. There is no need to gather 1000 students in one class with the help of co-teaching model: it might be dangerous for them as well as for professor as he or she is more likely to be in the most vulnerable, high age group. When it comes to the quality of such lectures, it will not fall dramatically because huge audience will be divided into smaller groups supervised and supported by tutors.

Thirdly, it will create ability to learn from the best in their fields cheaper. The knowledge and time of the most prominent people in the sphere cannot be cheap. As well as a person do not need to be a genius to explain students that 2+2=4. Two teacher model creates a unique possibility when tutors can answer simple questions or help students to solve simple tasks. When tutor is not able to answer the question or question is tricky, he will deliver it to the professor. As the output, the number of questions that professor should answer will decrease and he or she will be able to answer more interesting questions at the same time period.

As it is presented, co-teaching system is a nice technology which destroys distance gab, saves money of students and their parents, and makes our world safer place at the same time.

Sources:

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D1%8E%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80

http://trends.rbc.ru/trends/education/5ffdb80e9a794781aflad8d0

NOT SO AMAZING AMAZON

Reading Time: 5 minutes

My two prior entries detailed the issues of privacy and were primarily focused on a one key actor – Facebook. That is why I decided to disprove the common view of another “marvelous” tech giant – Amazon. 

While the ongoing pandemic is a true hit for many businesses many of large, multinational companies are actually only getting bigger. One of them is Amazon. Its sales in the last quarter rose as much as 51% in comparison to the previous year. Also, it has surpassed Walmart as the biggest retailer by market capitalization in the United States. While other businesses are closing Amazon is only increasing its power and commercial reach. Do not get me wrong, there is nothing bad in “bigness” and with developing. The argument that Amazon creates terrific opportunities both in terms of creating the jobs and facilitating people setting up their own business is also perfectly logical and rational. However, too often have we fallen for the alleged benefits and too little have we considered the risks that stem from company’s enormous market power. 

Opinion | Is Amazon Bad for America? - The New York Times

While in Poland Amazon services do not yet have a strong market presence, in the United States and the UK it is a go-to service when it comes to essentially buying anything. You want to buy diapers? You order them on Amazon. You need a new dog toy? You go to Amazon. You are out of cheese? You only need to log in to Amazon Fresh and it can be delivered to you at once. However, with all those possibilities and freedom of choice for customers there has to be a catch. We rarely realize that the ones paying the price for Amazon’s incredible efficiency and speedy deliveries are its employees. Probably many of you are now thinking that it is their job and there is nothing they can complain about. They can always quit or file a complaint, right? Believe me, they do that. In November, when the holiday season started, as much as 600 of them signed and delivered a petition to improve their working conditions. It was only in one warehouse in New York and there are many more. 

Nevertheless, let me show you how working for Amazon looks like. If you worked as a sorter you would have to scan 1800 Amazon packages in an hour. It is 30 packages per minute. Also, you would get 15-minute breaks. However, you would need that 15 minutes to walk to and from the room where you can spend your break. Did I mention that you can get fired every time you miss your hourly rate? 

There is no doubt that working for Amazon, in pretty much any non-senior capacity, is no dream job. Since Amazon is a marketplace, beyond the employees – there are also millions of sellers who use the platforms and as such, drive Amazon’s operations. From this, things can get ugly as well. I will present it in a form of a screenshot from the Amazon forum:  

https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/forums/t/amazon-blocked-my-listing-and-now-selling-my-stock/248383

That is not a joke. They did that and that poor seller was not the only one. What is more, there are many other factors which can restrain sellers from making profits or for that matter, selling their products altogether. First of all, one can get banned unexpectedly and usually, there is no appeal mechanisms where we could oppose the decision. One of the banning reasons may be that a product that was sent was damaged or did not match its description. However, it is a classic example of a situation where Amazon (inherent in its policy) have always favored buyers, who tend to abuse it. The thing is if someone wants to return a product and does not want to pay for return shipping, he can always mark a product as damaged. There is nothing as a penalty for buyers and sellers are to ones who have everything to lose: 

“One time, a buyer purchased a bunch of our napkins, used them for a party and soiled them, and then returned them for a full refund stating that the item was not as expected. We had to eat the cost.” – a seller[1]

Other negative aspects are that Amazon can force you to sell your products at a certain price. Also, it can force you to sell items on vendor central. It means that you must sell your products at a wholesale price to Amazon directly. The result is you have no control over them and little profit, which can destroy your product sales and listings. Amazon can squeeze all small businesses and they can do nothing about it. 

The third aspect that I would like to stress is obviously data collection and privacy. Amazon’s incredibly rapid growth is a fact. However, increased risks are associated with that expansion. Corruption and potential data leaks are one of them. A company of such size and power should be held accountable and directly responsible for such situations. The problem with Amazon was workers who inappropriately accessed internet data and misused it. They were selling confidential information about sellers on Amazon. Later, that data allowed other sellers to gain advantages on the website. Also, employees of Amazon were selling Amazon Vendor Central Accounts which allowed buyers to enter other sellers’ listings and illegally change them. 

However, misused data collection does not concern the black market only. The company itself has recently been accused by FTC of breaching US federal antitrust rules. Among other things, it allegedly used internal data about its sellers to compete with them. The gathered data allowed Amazon to detect best-selling products and adjust their own products following those criteria. As a result, Amazon basically avoids any risks of fair competition. While the investigation is still ongoing and the case is pending, serious accusations have already been made and charges are still yet to be presented. 

Undeniably Amazon is a huge platform which is only expanding day by day. To be clear, I am not denying that Amazon is a great platform. In many respects, it really is. However, the company should remember that with great power comes great responsibility and that because of its size and influence, it will be expected to constantly improve. Maybe if such improvement was in place, Mr. Bezos would still be the World’s richest person. 


Sources:

[1] Chou S, “The Dangers Of Selling On Amazon And Horror Stories From Real Amazon Sellers” (MyWifeQuitHerJob.com)

2. “Amazon: It All Ads Up” (Subscribe to read | Financial TimesOctober 30, 2020)

3. Emont J, McMillan R and Stevens L, “Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak” (The Wall Street JournalDecember 10, 2018)

4. Risicaris G, “Forums” (Amazon2006)

5. Weise K, “Prime Power: How Amazon Squeezes the Businesses Behind Its Store” (The New York TimesDecember 19, 2019)

6. Wisniewska A and Bradshaw T, “How 2020 Changed the Way We Use Technology” (Financial TimesJanuary 2, 2021)

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TalentX Entertainment

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Everyone loves Tik Tok.Someone likes to spend time watching videos and someone to shoot them for fun.However,TikTok is a new generation of talent that will shape culture more than people think.

For that reason,in 2019 in Los Angeles, a leading social media monetization and talent development company was launched.Every creator of the digital space can join this company – from TikTokers and YouTubers to Twitch streamers and others, where they can work to create relationships and strategies that serve the interests of each of their clients.They have the motto “Creator first”

The company was founded by : Tal Fishman who has nearly 15M YouTube subscribers on his Reaction Time channel, and Jason Wilhelm, who built his own successful YouTube presence. One of their first projects was the creation of the Sway LA home, which featured many creator leaders on TikTok: Josh Richards, Griffin Johnson and so on.I think that the main reason for the success is the executive team of creators together with the leaders.

The main goal is to create a huge range of opportunities for its members.Such as touring,merchendising and sponsorships. Nowadays there are 8 income segments.The company announced a partnership with cybersport to create TalentX Gaming, which is tailor-made for athletes and streamers in gaming and esports.TalentX is constantly adapting to the ever-changing social media industry.

Makro got supersmart and superfast

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Everyone has been at least once standing in a never-ending que in supermarket, waiting to pay for stuff in your basket. In the last few years, we see a trend that many people are using self-service cash registers or scan and go systems, if they are available.

Let’s look how this scan and go works. You walk in a shop, grab a stroller together with a small scanner and you are ready to shop. Some stores also offer a mobile app which you can use instead of the scanner. Before placing any item into your basket, you easily scan it. When you are ready to leave the shop, you simply go to self-service registers which will read your scanner, pay your purchase and you can leave without waiting in line. That sound very efficient, however in reality you must often wait anyway to be randomly checked if your bill has everything that you have in your bag. From very quick and easy shopping to very inefficient waste of time.

In majority of supermarkets Makro in Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and Israel offer the same scan and go, but with new supersmart innovation. Company Bizerba together with Israeli start-up Supersmart developed a system, that fastens and automatize whole shopping experience.

So, from now on, when using scan and go in Makro, you just place your stroller into special gate, which will check your scanned shopping list, check the weight of your stroller, compare individual purchased items with all similar transactions in real time and, if necessary, it can work with the purchase history of a specific customer. The last factor in the automatic visual inspection of the contents of the purchase. All this in less than 60 seconds.

And if the Supersmart gate finds out some problems, it notifies the customer and automatically recommends relevant products, which the customer may have forgotten to scan. If there will be any problem with the transaction, the service can be called, but other than that – whole shopping experience could be contactless.

This innovation is very helpful not just because it is very time efficient, but it also saves our nerves as well as our backs. No more loading, unloading, loading back and unloading to car and than again unloading to your fridge.

Sources:

https://www.czechcrunch.cz/2020/12/bez-pokladny-i-namatkove-kontroly-v-makru-nakup-pri-platbe-primo-v-kosiku-bleskove-zkontroluje-specialni-brana/

https://www.idnes.cz/ekonomika/test-a-spotrebitel/supersmart-nakupy-budoucnosti-bizerba-makro.A201202_144011_test_fih

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This is a new level.Think back to how you felt when you first saw the iPhone. Apple electric car.

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About the Titan project, within the framework of which Apple plans to develop and release an “apple” electric car on the road, it became known back in 2014.  Then, for the first time, information appeared that the company began to design its own car.  It is also known that Apple will focus on developing a new battery that could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries for electric cars and increase the battery life of the car.

 Apple plans to use a unique “mono-cell” design that expands the volume of individual battery cells and frees up space.  This means that more active material can be packed inside the battery, allowing the vehicle to run longer on a single charge.  First of all, the company may face problems in the supply chain.  It is still unclear who will assemble the electric car, but sources expect the company to target those manufacturers with whom it already has partnerships.  In addition, there is a possibility that Apple will have to produce too many electric cars.  To make a profit, car manufacturers often request large quantities, which can be a problem even for Cupertinians.

 “To have a viable assembly plant, you need to build 100,000 vehicles from there every year,” a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.  In addition, given the pandemic, the launch of the assembly could be pushed back to 2025 or later, two Reuters sources said.

What do you think about when a non-car company produces its own car while releasing other devices not related to cars? Will this not hurt the company’s rating, its reputation?

RAZER CONCEPT MASK

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Razer is known as the world-leading company specializing in the production of hardware, electronics and lifestyle accessories for the gamers. Although recently they have shown that they can react to the changing circumstances and know how to take advantage of the current pandemic situation. In their apparel section, as soon as the COVID-19 became a problem on a global scale, masks of different styles have occurred. Customers are able to choose between typical surgical, single-use ones, but can also get something fancier, with Razer logo, specific for the company design and of course reusability possibility. 

But now, while the pandemic seems to last longer than we have expected, why do not create some item that will be strictly designed in order to give the user best possible quality of protection against the virus. And that’s how the Project Hazel came into being. As Razer states, this is a prototype of the smartest face mask that was ever created. The product will be fully made of scratch-resistant and waterproof plastic, which additionally will be recycled. The second most visible element of the mask, just after the main shell, are two circular zones equipped with removable filters on both sides.

When it comes to the safety aspect, every mask will be equipped with N95 surgical respirator, which is certified as the one filtrating 95% of particles that want to cross it like bacteria, pathogens and of course COVID-19 virus. Moreover, both breathed in and exhaled air will be purified due to the active ventilation system. User will be able to easily change the filters of ventilators which are capable of all-day usage because of efficient battery. So, as we can notice, maintaining hygiene won’t be a problem here.

Razer also found out how to boost the comfort of social contacts with other people while wearing their mask. It is equipped with low-light mode, so when the sensor determines that it is already dark enough, the smile of speaking person will be lighted up. In connection with the transparent material showing the mouth, it is a combo that will add simple naturalness of the conducting conversation. To enhance it even more, built-in microphones and amplifier of the sound will take care of proper loudness of the speech. Producent also ensures that despite all these technological features mask will be comfortable to carry on the face.

What is more, every mask will come with a special case with a built-in wireless charger and UV light in order to kill all potentially dangerous to human health bacteria and simply sterilize the device after usage. Razer didn’t forget about beloved by the fans – Chroma lightning. This RGB will let the customer personalise the face mask by choosing one of the 16.8 million colours and accompanying it lightning effect.

The date of release and price are not known yet. For sure, such useful and safety guaranteeing during prevailing COVID-19 gadget will be pricy and only real tech lovers will be willing to buy it. However, let’s hope that Project Hazel will become reality because it would surely brighten up a bit this pandemic time with its RGB glare!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razer_Inc.

https://www.razer.com/gear-and-apparel

https://www.razer.com/concepts/razer-project-hazel

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/12/22221344/razer-project-hazel-n95-respirator-mask-coronavirus-chroma-rgb-concept

https://www.reviewgeek.com/67246/razers-project-hazel-face-mask-has-n95-filters-amplifier-and-of-course-rgb/

https://www.cnet.com/health/razer-smartens-the-n95-face-mask-at-ces-2021-with-project-hazel-concept/

ALGORITHMS TO DECIDE ON YOUR BUSINESS’S FUTURE

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Crowdfunding is a great way of raising capital by start-ups that happily choose such kind of financing rather than traditional methods like taking credit, applying for VC or going public. It gives a great opportunity for small businesses not only to collect money but also to receive priceless feedback from potential customers. Nevertheless, crowdfunding has many drawbacks, both for beneficiaries and investors. That’s way, a former VC consultant, Piotr Pisarz came up with an idea of revolutionizing the ways of financing promising businesses, in every stage of their activity.

According to the co-founder of Uncapped, the VC funds typically invest only in few start-ups a year that after a time-consuming process of screening and analysis are expected to succeed and finally become a unicorn. Meanwhile, many other, innovative and creative ideas are being rejected and lose an opportunity to work out their way to success. To help them, the revolutionized concept of funding has been created by Polish and British entrepreneurs.

However, Uncapped is not exactly a fund. They describe themselves more as creditors, who already experienced the rigour of bank and VC funding systems.

The entrepreneurs were able to create a revenue prediction system that allows to automatically make an offer in only 24 hours. The only actions that an applicant has to undertake are signing up on the fund website and connecting its sales & marketing accounts (with the usage of platforms like Stripe, Shopify and Facebook). All this takes approx. few minutes – there has never been an easier way to raise capital for company development before.

Since their evaluation system is based on a set of tailored algorithms, the only requirements the company has to meet are at least 6 months of trading, over 10£ monthly revenue and an online model such as e-commerce, SaaS or D2C.

Another advantage that Uncapped has over VC is the flexible repayment program, which makes the borrower repay a fixed percentage of daily sales until the total amount including definitive flat fee is recouped. There is no repayment date and in case the revenue drops, so do the repayments.

The custom algorithms made impossible come true. Uncapped can provide capital to hundreds of companies annually thanks to a well-established system of the automatic forecast of one’s revenue. Offered funding ranges from £10k – £2M, based on companies needs and repayment capabilities. That’s the first European revolutionary fund with great forecasts for further expansion.

Sources:

https://www.weareuncapped.com/

https://mycompanypolska.pl/artykul/uncapped-czyli-nieograniczony-rozwoj/3875

https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/02/uncapped/

How coronavirus affect social networks?

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Due to the pandemic, there has been a strong increase in social media consumption, so today there is a surge in user activity on every platform, from Instagram to TikTok.
In most countries, theaters, museums, cinemas were suspended, and thousands of concerts and events were canceled. The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed cultural life in society. 
Music performers and artists firstly began streaming live home performances via Instagram and YouTube.
And this is a big plus,because you do not need to buy a ticket in advance and you can listen for free
 Moreover, some stars practice ordering songs during the broadcast. The audience can request their favorite song online. In addition, bloggers  conduct video chats with their subscribers.Also for people who went to the gym, yoga teachers and trainers from all over the world actively use social networks: they conduct online trainings, conduct educational broadcasts and post motivating content.
The spread of information on social networks is very fast.For example, fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada rebuilt their production and began producing medical masks.
However, the biggest disadvantage is false information that leads to panic as mass purchase of toilet paper, food and medicine.
All in all, even during the pandemic you can do useful things and have a good time.