Global financial service provider JPMorgan has identified a new use of blockchain technology in trading and lending, reports Bloomberg.
JPMorgan is experimenting with blockchain for collateral settlements, the latest Wall Street test of the technology in traditional financial asset trade.
According to JPMorgan, in New York, the initiative will allow investors to pledge a broader range of assets as collateral and utilize them outside of market hours.
The bank’s first such transaction took place on May 20, when two of its businesses used its private blockchain to transfer the token representation of BlackRock money market fund shares as security.
Ben Challice, JPMorgan’s global head of trading service, said, “What we’ve achieved is the friction-less transfer of collateral assets on an instantaneous basis.”
He further added that despite the fact that BlackRock was not a counterparty, they have been substantially involved since the beginning and are looking at using this technology.
Since late 2020, JPMorgan has utilized blockchain to perform intraday repurchase, or repo, transactions, which are a sort of fixed-income short-term borrowing. The network, which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BNP Paribas SA as partners, has handled more than $300 billion in repo transactions.
The bank wants to extend tokenized collaterals to cover stocks, fixed income, and other asset categories in the coming months, according to the statement.
Global eCommerce giant Amazon Style announces the launch of its first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered physical retail store in Los Angeles, United States.
The store will sell men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories in sizes XS-XXL. In addition to Whole Foods and its cashier-free Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery shops, Amazon now operates three physical locations.
Amazon Style will feature Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Champion, and other labels, and while it will not have Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, it will have actual workers on hand to assist you from beginning to end.
“We’re bringing more looks and less clutter to in-store shopping. Our advanced machine learning algorithms continually refine to find looks just for you based on your preferences,” mentioned Amazon.
The company’s highly capable machine learning algorithm analyzes the preferences of customers to recommend the best suitable item for them, and according to Amazon, it also continuously refines itself to deliver better results.
Talking about the design, the fitting rooms at Amazon Style are private locations where customers may browse an almost unlimited array of outfits without having to leave.
Customers just scan QR codes on each article of clothing in the store to build a list of goods they’d want to try on in a fitting room or pick up in the store. Therefore, the store effectively eliminates the need to carry bulky items around, providing an enhanced shopping experience to walk-in customers.
Moreover, customers can order garments on Amazon.com, have them delivered to the store, try them on, and return them there if they really do not like them.
Be it any sort of business, small or big, it requires advertising and marketing in today’s world. Including videos in your marketing strategy makes a smart choice as videos are a must-have to capitalise on your brand, generate more leads, and engage people for a longer span. However, the thought of a tight budget for small businesses often holds people back from investing in video advertisements. But, little they may know, with the advent of technology and increase in digitalization, video ads and marketing for any business have become pretty easy.
Videos are the most popular content online, which empowers your brand visibility. Many brands are already involved in video advertising strategy, while others are keenly looking forward to implementing it to get expected returns and other associated benefits. Nevertheless, many businesses, especially small businesses, are still far away from using this practice.
Through this post, we will let you know the best video advertising tips for small businesses that will help expand your business and stay ahead of competitors in the market.
Making effective videos for small businesses
The whole idea behind making videos is to reach out to maximum people. Videos are considered to drive wide internet traffic. Small businesses looking to venture into video advertisements need proper resources, time, investment, and commitment to get the desired results. By following the below-given tips, you can create effective advertisement videos for small businesses.
Using a good editing tool
To create the videos rightly and perfectly, you need to invest in a good video editing tool. These video tools transform your videos into attractive pieces, which people would like to see. A good video editor is defined as the one that lets you do editing by adding different audio and visual effects to your content. Using a video editor, you can make any kind of video, such as a promo, explainer, how-to, unboxing, and so on. A video editor also comes with a video cutter or trimmer to help you remove unwanted parts from your video. Interestingly, many video editing tools provide an option of pre-made templates, making the editing job easy by giving you designs to make some attractive video pieces.
Keeping in mind the platform for publishing your video
After you have done the needed editing and trimmed important pieces of your video using a video cutter, it’s time to work on the adjustments needed in your video as per the platform you will post it on. Since not all video platforms are the same, you need to tailor the length and style of your video content as per the social media.
Apart from this, you must also know on which social media platform you have more followers, and then optimise your videos accordingly for that platform.
Don’t waste time and get to the point
Did you know that viewers tend to watch only interesting videos and skip those that are lengthy and pointless? Therefore, you must keep your videos short and crisp while ensuring to create a hook in the starting. To grab the attention of the viewers, consider adding relevant points in your video from the beginning itself, i.e., within the first few seconds so that people continue to watch it. You can use a good video cutter to delete unwanted parts from your video ads to make them look worthy.
Show your specialty
Being humble with your videos won’t do any justice. Your videos must reveal a strong message while concentrating on attractive audio and visual effects to make an impression on those who are watching. So, add a storyline and showcase interesting aspects related to your business to keep viewers engaged.
Don’t miss out on CTA
Creating a storyline and keeping the audience engaged is one thing. But, you also need to add a CTA to your view for people to take the next step. Therefore, add a CTA at the end of your video content to keep people engaged further with your brand and encourage conversions.
Some additional tips for your small business video advertising strategy
Give an edge to your small business by making short and interesting video ads for social media sites. Below are some more tips for leveraging your video advertising strategy.
Ensure testing
A/B testing is crucial for the success of the video ad. You can use different methodologies to track your video success. If you can find the correct combination, you can get the expected ROI.
Stick to one CTA
End your video with one CTA while ensuring that it is relevant to your video content and appropriate for the viewers.
KPIs
Setting KPI is a great idea. When you know what you are expecting from your ad campaign, you can easily draw the ways to accomplish your goals while knowing whether your marketing strategy is working well or not.
Mobile view optimization
The majority of the people prefer watching videos on their mobiles. Therefore, using a mobile editing tool to adjust video dimensions for a mobile-friendly view is essential. So, invest in a decent video maker tool to showcase a professionally created video ad.
Keep things entertaining
Your videos should be compelling and to the point while delivering an accurate message. Most people miss out on keeping the fun and entertainment in video ads alive to achieve this. So, if you want to convert your leads to customers, make sure to add that touch of fun.
Take help from the team
It’s true that video making can sometimes go out of budget and burn a hole in your pocket. But, you can always keep your budget within limits by encouraging your teammates or employees to act in video ads instead of opting for professionals. Such videos with real players are not just cost-effective but also keep the true essence alive.
Conclusion
Video advertising is the secret to success for any business, and who said it cannot be done for small businesses. Video advertising, when done rightly, can leverage any business while bringing the desired benefits. We hope with this post, you shall be able to take your business ahead and become a key player in the market!
A new program of the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) and tech startup Intuition Robotics aims to provide a companion robot named ElliQ to several isolated seniors.
According to officials, the robot can send medication reminders, wellness suggestions, and friendly conversations from a “proactive and empathetic” in-home artificial intelligence.
Researchers have connected social isolation to a 50 percent higher chance of dementia, a 32 percent higher risk of stroke, and a 29 percent higher risk of heart disease. Therefore, the new initiative might drastically help in reducing these numbers by providing a companion robot to isolated seniors in the region.
Moreover, the robot also comes with a screen that can display pictures, weather-related information, and also handle video calls, making it a highly capable robot.
“Despite misconceptions and generalizations, older adults embrace new technology, especially when they see it is designed by older adults to meet their needs,” said Greg Olsen, Director of NYSOFA.
He further added that ElliQ is an excellent addition to traditional kinds of social engagement and help from professional or family members for persons who experience some sort of loneliness and desire to age in place.
ElliQ focuses on what matters most to people, such as memories, life validation, connections with friends and family, and general health and well-being. According to an Intuition Robotics official, the initiative will begin with an informative webinar for the state’s case managers on May 31, following which they can begin nominating seniors who they feel would benefit the most from having ElliQ in their homes.
CEO and Co-founder of Intuition Robotics, Dor Skuler, said, “Many seniors live on a fixed income, so having state or federal programs to help alleviate loneliness is crucial in order to get ElliQ into the hands of seniors who can benefit from the technology.”
Global technology giant IBM announces the launch of its new Elastic storage system 3500, which is specifically built to handle high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) and modern data analytics workloads.
The newly launched storage system outperforms the rest of the company’s software-defined portfolio thanks to a mix of new hardware and the IBM Spectrum Scale.
IBM Elastic Storage System (ESS) 3500 combines IBM Spectrum Scale for ESS with high-performance Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Generation 4 storage in a 2U form factor.
According to the company, its new solution improves the speed and availability of other workloads while also accelerating AI workloads and optimizing GPU compute settings.
“ESS 3500 is built on a flash-optimized design with an end-to-end strategy to bring extremely high throughput and low latency to AI, machine learning, deep learning, and multi-cloud environments. ESS 3500 is designed from the ground up with AI in mind, combining innovative, flexible, and powerful NVMe storage built with IBM Spectrum Scale to meet the challenges of keeping your GPU-rich compute servers fully utilized,” mentioned IBM.
Moreover, other workloads and computing environments benefit from the ESS 3500’s industry-leading performance and dependability. According to the company’s spec sheet, the flash storage uses PCIe Gen 4 SSDs with a throughput of up to 91 Gbps when combined with the CPU.
The array can expand from 46 TB to over 1 PB utilizing a 2.5 compression rate, and the sustained throughput can be raised to 1.8 TBps when scaling the ESS 3500 to a cluster of 20 units.
A new project named ‘Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering’ (iRASTE) has been launched in India to make roads safer by reducing the number of accidents.
#Artificial_Intelligence powered solutions may soon make roads in India a safer place to drive. A unique #AI approach, iRASTE, that uses its predictive power to identify risks on the road is being implemented in #Nagpur.
— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) May 25, 2022
Currently, the project is being rolled out in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Road accidents are one of the prime reasons for deaths in the country. Currently, India records 150,000 fatalities and over 300,000 physical severe injuries annually because of road accidents.
Therefore, developers took the aid of artificial intelligence to come up with a unique solution named iRASTE.
The one-of-a-kind project is being carried out by the I-Hub Foundation, IIIT Hyderabad, a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) in the technology vertical of Data Banks and Data Services, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and INAI under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) (Applied AI Research Institute).
As a step to prevent accidents, iRASTE will automatically push notifications to drivers regarding potential accidents using artificial intelligence. Talks are already underway with the Telangana government to implement the technology in a fleet of buses as well as in Goa and Gujarat.
Moreover, iRASTE will also discover “greyspots” through data and mobility analysis, along with continually monitoring dynamic dangers throughout the whole road network.
The project named ‘Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering’ (iRASTE) at Nagpur will identify potential accident-causing scenarios while driving a vehicle and alert drivers about the same with the help of the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS),” said the Indian Government.
Recently, Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India, Nitin Gadkari, said that the Government aims to reduce the total number of road accidents to half by the end of 2024, and this new development will help the Government achieve its goals.
Oxford High School has started testing a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technology for detecting guns on the school campus.
This development comes six months after a tragic incident in the school involving gun fires that caused the death of four and severely injured eight students within the school premises. The horrific incident elicited outrage and despair and called for action in the face of gun violence.
The newly announced technology will work as a preventive system to minimize the chances of the recurrence of such mishaps in the educational institution.
This initiative is part of a year-long free trial project with ZeroEyes, a digital security business that uses artificial intelligence technology to identify weapons shown on surveillance cameras and inform police and security personnel of potential threats.
ZeroEyes has also released a video describing the functioning of its new artificial intelligence-powered technology. “We have always paid great attention to safety. This isn’t a new thing since Nov. 30. We’re just looking at even more – even better – solutions,” said Jill Lemond, assistant superintendent of safety and operations for Oxford.
When the artificial intelligence software detects a gun, an alert is forwarded to a team of ZeroEyes employees. After the officials receive an alert, they then manually check whether the threat is real. Once confirmed, a text message is sent to the school’s security personnel and local police enforcement within three to five seconds.
Initially, the AI system will monitor over 100 cameras installed in Oxford High School and will later be used in other locations. However, the limitation of this technology is that it can currently only identify guns visible on the camera. Therefore many believe that the tech can not effectively prevent mishaps as, most of the time, gun bearers tend to hide the weapon inside bags.
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) appoints veteran artificial intelligence expert Diane Staheli as its new Chief of Responsible AI division, reports Fedscoop.
Staheli will assist in the development and implementation of policies, methods, standards, and metrics for procuring and producing AI that is trustworthy and responsible inside the Department of Defense.
She took over about nine months after the Department of Defense’s first AI ethical head left the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC).
The Pentagon has been recently upgrading its technological capabilities, especially in the field of new-age technologies like AI, and this new addition will definitely help DoD achieve its goals.
“[Staheli] has significant experience in military-oriented research and development environments and is a contributing member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence AI Assurance working group,” Sarah Flaherty, CDAO’s public affairs officer.
Flaherty further added that Staheli joins the CDAO from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where she gained extensive experience in AI ethics and research, data analytics, and technology development.
In recent years, the Pentagon has embraced AI-based technology to facilitate activities ranging from the back office to the combat. Earlier this month, The US DoD selected object data infrastructure provider OStream’s Percept for Vision AI solution to secure ports across the country.
According to the Department of Defense, the solution will be used to address a variety of issues, including workflow issues and others. The DoD can link any camera to more than 300 artificial intelligence services using Percept’s AI Hub, resulting in real-time insights saved in a consolidated and private data lake.
Artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology company Clearview AI announces the launch of its new product called Clearview Consent, which is meant for commercial use.
The Clearview Consent is meant to execute various identity verification activities for commercial companies utilizing the firm’s superior FRT algorithm, according to the company.
Companies can employ Clearview AI’s highly accurate and bias-free face recognition technology (FRT) in consent-based company operations with the newly announced solution.
Recently the company was fined by the UK government over privacy issues related to the Clearview AI’s operations.
However, with the new consent-based approach, the company will be able to provide its services without breaching the privacy of individuals.
CEO and founder of Clearview AI, Hoan Ton-That, said, “The launch of Clearview Consent is a gamechanger – for companies and consumers alike – who value the integrity and security of their identity and assets. Facial recognition is not the wave of the future; it is our present reality. Today, FRT is used to unlock your phone, verify your identity, board an airplane, access a building, and even for payments.”
He further added that Clearview AI’s advanced, industry-leading FRT algorithm is now available to organizations that utilize facial recognition as part of a consent-based workflow, giving an improved degree of security and protection to the marketplace.
According to the company, the newly announced Clearview Consent will be sold independently to enterprises across the globe and will not be linked with Clearview AI’s existing database of over 20 billion images. Clearview Consent is intended for use in consent-based workflows and excludes the Clearview AI database, which is reserved for government use only.
“The launch of Clearview Consent helps further our mission to help combat crime and fraud. We are currently helping law enforcement agencies across the country to solve crimes after the fact, which harm many victims. Using facial recognition as a preventative measure means fewer crimes and fewer victims,” mentioned Ton-That.
Microsoft Dev Box is built on the Windows 365 Cloud PC service, allowing developers to access their Dev Boxes with a web browser. Microsoft Dev Box was introduced at the Microsoft Build event. Users can access their Dev Box on any device (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android), set up assigned team members, images, and begin coding their projects right away. With Microsoft Dev Box, developers can quickly access pre-configured cloud-powered workstations.
Dev Box empowers developers to concentrate only on the code they can write, making it easy to access the necessary resources and tools. Developers don’t have to worry about maintenance or workstation configuration. Dev teams can pre-configure Dev Boxes for specific projects and tasks. This helps them to get started with an environment ready to build and run their app.
Users can set conditional access controls and set requirements for the connecting device. They can also set up multifactor authentication for better safety. However, the costs for high-spec developer virtual machines can be high.
Microsoft Dev Box ensures security, unified management, and compliance by leveraging Windows 365 to integrate Dev Boxes with Endpoint Manager and Intune. Dev Box is based on Azure Virtual Desktop and is integrated with Windows 365/Cloud PC.
This helps IT admins manage Cloud PC desktops along with any preconfigured Dev Box workstations they’re running in their organizations. Dev Box is in private preview currently and will move to public preview in the following months. Interested users can sign up. However, Microsoft has not released any word on pricing or licensing.
