5G the key to speed, connectivity, and capacity

In order to evolve and succeed in the mobile-centric future, companies will require revolutionary increases in the speed, capacity and connectivity of mobile devices – and they’re looking to 5G networks to provide it.

That is according to a new report from Forbes Insights, in association with Huawei, “The Mobile Industrial Revolution: Anticipating the Impact and Opportunities of 5G Networks on Business”. Global business leaders say that mobile and wireless are critical to the way they do business, but they worry that their needs are outpacing existing access networks.

The introduction of 5G networks in the next five to 10 years is expected to create huge opportunities to build enterprise value in a range of industries, profoundly affecting business operations, profit and loss economics, asset valuations and revenue models.

The global survey of more than 1000 executives found a capability gap:

  • more than one-third of all executives say that their current systems already can’t support the evolving needs of their business, including 55% of executives at organisations with revenues more than $10 billion;
  • 38% of executives in the Asia/Pacific region agree they’ve outgrown their mobile network; and
  • 36% in Europe and 34% in North America see the need for much more capacity.

Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer at Forbes Media said, “Organisations with an eye on the future are already anticipating the impact of 5G technology. They are working on long-term plans to innovate and realise value from this.”

Qiu Heng, president of wireless networkmMarketing operation of Huawei said, 5G will help to realise a completely new world for consumers, for vertical industries, and operators. This will be a fully connected world converging the physical world and the cyberworld, and this world will provide infinite new business opportunities for vertical industries and operators.”

Other key findings include:

  • 67% say they need mobile networks that provide ultra-high throughput.
  • 64% say they require massive numbers of connections
  • 59% require ultra-low latency (59%) – anticipated to be provided by 5G networks.
    • Education is key 36% said they know “very little” or “nothing” about the technologies and issues around 5G wireless;
    • 38% say they “understand the fundamentals”;
    • 27% say they are “very familiar”; and
    • Executives based in Europe tend to be far better informed than their colleagues, with only 24% saying they know little or nothing, compared with 42% in Asia/Pacific and 40% in North America. Unsurprisingly, leaders in the technology industry are much better informed than their colleagues in other verticals
  • 26% say they are “extensively” exploring or planning how they might use 5G.
  • 15% say they are not planning at all. The companies sitting on the sidelines tend to be smaller and earn less revenue: 28% of executives at companies with revenues below $500 million say they aren’t making plans – five times as many as the 3% of executives who aren’t planning for 5G at $10 billion-plus organisations.
  • 80% believe that 5G technologies will have positive effects on multiple areas of their business. The areas where they’re most bullish about the benefits of 5G: customer experience, service/ product quality and worker productivity.

Comment

There is no doubt that in Australia the pent-up demand for 4G has nearly outstripped the technical capacity to deliver. Things like 4GX, VoLTE, Cat 6 to 11 or band aggregation are just band-aids. The world is going mobile, and Australia is an early adopter.

5G is not just a faster 4G – it is a complete rethink designed to keep up with the explosion of connections. It theoretically can provide stable 10Gbps data rates in perfect conditions or extremely high rates — “tens of megabits per second for tens of thousands of simultaneous users” — no more “Melbourne White Night” or footy data blackouts. It supports beacons, sensors, IoT devices and segregates them (kind of a Quality of Service issue) from voice and data and should achieve less than 1ms latency. It will make it possible to download 4K and VR content – in seconds to minutes, to send large medical files and X-rays, etc. It will be backwards compatible with existing 4G networks.

You can read more (not too technical) about 5G at GSMA Intelligence.

We will begin to see 5G devices and networks in commercial operation by 2020 – perhaps later in Australia. In the interim, the quest for standards goes on, and Huawei is a major player in this area.

By Ray Shaw
Posted on: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/73343-5g-the-key-to-speed,-connectivity,-and-capacity.html

 

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Bluetooth 5 launched 16 June: doubled range, quadrupled speed

No more is there a “v” or dot point, the latest Bluetooth is simply Bluetooth 5, and it will help with beacons, IoT, location, speed, range and more.

The organisers behind the Bluetooth SIG scooped themselves by announcing in advance that the successor to the Bluetooth v4.x version would arrive on 16 June as Bluetooth 5.

It’s been a long time since Bluetooth ticked over a full version number, with Bluetooth v4.0 launched in 2011, the same year as the iPhone 4S, which also came with Bluetooth v4.0 support. That, of course, leads to speculation that this year’s iPhone 7 will support Bluetooth 5.

So, let’s get back to Bluetooth 5. The executive director of the Bluetooth SIG is Mark Powell, who explained that the “new naming approach is focused on simplifying our marketing, communicating user benefits more effectively and making it easier to signal significant technology updates to the market”.

What does Bluetooth 5 have to offer on the technical side?

As noted in the headline, and as the Bluetooth SIG had already previously announced, it will “double the range and quadruple the speed of low energy Bluetooth transmissions”.

But of course, there’s more.

Powell states that “Bluetooth 5 will also provide significant new functionality for connectionless services like location-relevant information and navigation.

“By adding significantly more capacity to advertising transmissions, Bluetooth 5 will further propel the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services to users around the world.”

The Bluetooth SIG group is also hosting Bluetooth World in London on 16 June, which is where Bluetooth 5 will be unveiled unto the world.

We are told that “if you want to see the future of the Internet of Things (IoT), you should attend Bluetooth World”.

Naturally, the world will get all the details and more on 16 June, and we’ll present it all to you when the information launches!

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Posted on: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/73324-bluetooth-5-launching-on-16-june-2016-doubled-range,-quadrupled-speed.html

 

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Samsung Pay now live in Australia

Samsung’s mobile payment solution, Samsung Pay, has launched in Australia with American Express and Citibank.

If you’re a Amex or Citibank customer, or want to become one, you can now use those institutions’ cards with compatible Samsung smartphones and its new mobile payments system.

That system is called Samsung Pay, and is clearly being billed as offering Australia consumers and businesses “a secure, fast, and simple way to pay” – while sounding very similar to the name a different fruit-flavoured phone company has called its payments system.

Samsung Pay works “almost anywhere” using a participating credit or debit card from the aforementioned institutions and presumably all the banks and organisations that follow, including for loyalty cards.

The “almost anywhere” claim has the caveat that “availability almost anywhere is based on compatibility of Samsung Pay on MST and/or NFC payment terminals, with some supported for use only after software upgrades”.

Samsung also advises that “Samsung Pay will be available soon for Galaxy S6 and S6 edge on the Telstra network”, with the service “exclusive to selected Samsung Galaxy smartphones only, and available across all participating payment networks, banks, and merchants”.

Those standard caveats aside, “Samsung Pay will be available starting today on compatible Samsung smartphones including the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, with specific availability varying by local operator”.’

Prasad Gokhale, vice-president, mobile division, Samsung Australia, said: “Today’s launch of Samsung Pay offers more than a secure and convenient way for Samsung smartphone owners to pay. It’s the next development for Australians who use their smartphone as the central device to live, organise and enjoy their lives.

“Australia is a market of early technology adopters and by providing a platform open to all partners, ranging from government to financial institutions and retailers, while upholding the highest standards of security and data privacy, Samsung is fuelling the transition to a truly digital wallet,” continued Gokhale.

Samsung proudly boasts that the arrival of Samsung Pay in Australia “follows successful launches in South Korea, the United States, China and Spain”.

Elle Kim, global vice-president, Samsung Pay, Mobile Communications Business, said: “In the first six months of launching in (South) Korea and the US, Samsung Pay has surpassed more than five million registered users and today has processed more than US$1billion of transactions in South Korea alone.

“This success indicates a tremendous opportunity in Australia, a market where contactless payments are already in strong demand.”

‘Strong partnerships’ to benefit consumers and businesses

At the launch, Samsung Pay partners in Australia will be American Express and Citibank.

Citibank credit card cardholders as well as American Express Issued Card Members will be able to use Samsung Pay, with a compatible Samsung smartphone, at participating retailers.

Vice-president payment consulting group, American Express JAPA, Nick Alexander, said: “Samsung Pay provides our American Express Issued Card Members another way to pay using the latest in smartphone payment technology, and speeds up the payment process for merchants.

“American Express is not only striving to be where our customers are, but also looking for more ways to integrate rewards and loyalty into the payment experience, so that when our customers use their phones to pay, they are earning rewards as well.”

Amex advises that “the addition of Samsung Pay to the American Express digital payment portfolio means that about 90% of its card members who already use their smartphones with us can now make mobile payments”.

Amex also has an “exclusive launch offer”, which is that “American Express card members who use Samsung Pay three times on any purchase over $5 will receive a one-off $15 statement credit, available until 14 September”.

In addition, Amex states “card members are not the only beneficiaries, with thousands of store-based merchants Australia-wide adding Samsung Pay to their variety of payment options for customers.”

Citi Global Consumer Bank, Australia, managing director of cards and consumer lending, Alan Machet said: “The strong partnership between Citibank and Samsung Pay will see both parties collaborate to bring services to our globally-minded customers.

“Citi credit card customers can now simply and securely use Samsung mobile phones to tap and pay for purchases in Australia and overseas.”

Samsung’s Elle Kim added that: “Samsung Pay is strategically expanding its partnership ecosystem to provide greater flexibility, access and choice for our customers.

“Samsung Pay adopts an open engagement model, designed to support payment and non-payment cards from multiple providers. By doing this, Samsung can operate seamlessly with a wide range of partners, systems and payment channels,” Kim added.

More than money

Outside payments, Samsung says its pay service “has the potential to be integrated with an array of partners, ranging from major retailers to government departments and ticketing companies”.

Partner integration is even simpler with Samsung Pay because the technology utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) and Samsung’s proprietary technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), making it the only payment solution with wider acceptance – which means it works with older payment terminals, which are common in countries like the US where wireless NFC tap-and-go systems are still only slowly being rolled out.

Kim added: “The MST technology enables Samsung Pay to support partners that use a traditional magnetic stripe, commonly found on loyalty cards, gift cards and transit cards, both in Australia and across the globe.

“It’s our goal to one day replace wallets, by making every card accessible on Samsung smartphones. In countries like Australia, where customers are already using their smartphones to make payments, our customers will certainly value the benefits of having all their cards in one place and Samsung Pay will provide that convenience to them,” Kim concluded.

Safe and secure

Samsung Pay includes three levels of security to help enable secure payments – fingerprint authentication, tokenisation and Samsung KNOX.

Each transaction uses an encrypted digital token to replace a user’s personal payment information and payments can only be authorised with an approved fingerprint or PIN. Samsung’s industry-leading KNOX security platform also monitors malicious software and activities on a user’s device for added security and protection.

Easy-to-use application

To make a payment on Samsung Pay, simply swipe up, choose the desired payment card, authenticate the transaction with the fingerprint sensor and tap the device on the point of sale terminal.

Samsung Pay can be used in an offline mode, should customers be located in areas without Internet connectivity.

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Posted on: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/73338-full-launch-video-samsung-pay-now-live-in-australia.html

 

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How to do password security better than Mark Zuckerberg

Even Mark Zuckerberg has a crap password. What hope have we mere mortals?

Chances are, you’re using the same password for multiple online accounts — or maybe recycling two or three that are easy to remember. You’re only human, and even superhumans are known to commit grave password crimes.

This week Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was caught out not only using a very weak password for social media logins, but using it across multiple accounts (though not Facebook).

His password — don’t laugh, it’s “dadada” — is believed to be among millions that were leaked by hackers online following a massive breach of LinkedIn.

Zuckerberg should have known better. And no doubt he did.

Why is it that we continue to ignore best practice in the face of rising hack attacks and online identity fraud?

‘Crazy’ number of logins

The answer is likely in the increasing number of online accounts we need just to go about our daily lives — from social media profiles to banking, email, subscription services, websites (many of which you’ll never visit again) and more.

“It’s completely going crazy … it’s gone mad,” says Asha Rao, associate professor of information security at RMIT.

“Almost every website you visit, if you want any kind of info, they ask you to sign up.”

Estimates of how many accounts the average person has vary; but what’s clear is the number is growing.

In 2007 Microsoft put the figure at 25, with people recycling the same six or so passwords across accounts.

Fast-forward nearly a decade, and Dashlane (which, yes, makes a password management app) reckons today we each have upwards of 100 accounts. Its data suggests the number of accounts we have doubles every five years. Yikes.

Convenience versus security

“From my experience, the sheer burden of remembering passwords and the frequency we need to input them drives simpler and weaker passwords,” says Linus Information Security Solutions’ Mike Thompson. He has more than 170 passwords himself.

In the face of such password fatigue, Thompson says, “each person is running their own personal risk model”.

Busier people – people like Zuckerberg – are likely to be worse at password protection as convenience takes preference.

The other major factor driving poor password protection is what Thompson calls “‘It hasn’t happened to me’ syndrome”.

“I have seen this [lax] behaviour with everything from health to insurance, alarm systems and more,” Thompson says.

“People simply don’t place importance on issues until it becomes real to them. Until their password is actually hacked, it will never be a priority.”

The risk equation

Hackers today have sophisticated software at their disposal to use in “brute force” attacks. A computer algorithm can throw billions of possible password combinations per second at a victim’s account. The shorter and simpler a password, the quicker it will be cracked.

We all know the rules by now: make your password long; use a combination of numbers, special characters and upper and lower case letters; use a different password for every account. Thompson recommends a minimum of 12 characters for a strong password.

While recycling passwords for multiple accounts makes it easier to remember them, the risk here is that if one account is compromised, the rest are too. That’s especially bad news if one of your accounts contains sensitive information.

Beyond the password

With even the most informed of us erring on the side of convenience, tech companies are looking at new ways to protect accounts.

Google will trial using a mix of biometric indicators (things like face and voice recognition) and other weaker credentials which together create strong authentication. Others are exploring the use of emoji.

Phil Vasic, Australia New Zealand country manager at security firm FireEye, says there are various market limitations – including increased costs – to widespread adoption of biometrics. There is also an inherent risk if someone gets their hands on your biometric data. Short of a hefty plastic surgery bill, unlike a password, you can’t change it.

Top password security tips

Vasic says there’s “no silver bullet” for good password security versus convenience, but we asked our experts for their best tips.

  • Rao writes down complex passwords on paper and keeps them in a locked draw in her desk. For sites she doesn’t visit very often, she’ll use a strong password and forget about it. If she needs to log in again she’ll request a password reset from the site.
  • Thompson uses a password manager, but recommends avoiding cloud-based systems. He acknowledges the risk that if the password manager is hacked, all connected accounts may be compromised.
  • Vasic stays abreast of any high-profile security breaches of sites he uses, changing his passwords straight away if affected. He refreshes his personal passwords on a 60 to 90 cycle just in case.
  • Wade Alcorn, managing director of security firm Alcorn Group, always uses two-factor authentication (when a site sends you a code when you log in), if it’s offered.

By Hannah Francis
Posted on: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/consumer-security/even-mark-zuckerberg-has-a-crap-password-what-hope-have-we-mere-mortals-20160608-gped2n.html

 

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Spam’s not just annoying, it can be dangerous: ESET

Although many would already be well aware that today’s spam can be far more dangerous that just a dodgy Viagra pill and could infect your computer, ESET has issued a new warning.

Spam, says the Internet security firm, is “not simply emails, but messages received on instant messaging services, social networks and SMS”, and they “often flood people’s inboxes en masse with information they wouldn’t ordinarily wish to see”.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll clearly agree with ESET’s statement that spam is “considered by many as an inconvenience rather than anything serious, these annoying, unsolicited messages may harbour something far more damaging, like executable programs that allow your computer to be taken over – and Internet users may be inadvertently putting themselves at risk”.

Nick FitzGerald, senior research fellow at ESET Asia Pacific, said: “Once upon a time, most spam was easy to spot, largely because they offered recipients products and services they had no interest in obtaining.

“The level of sophistication today, however, has grown. Many messages appear legitimate, with authentic, relevant and interesting content, designed to bait clicks from the user.”

“The problem is,” says ESET, “when a user receives a spam message and follows a link — intentional or otherwise — spammers receive information that can make the user vulnerable to any number of dangers.”

We’re told that “this can range from receiving greater volumes of spam, being scammed by criminals who make money from the tiny proportion of users that actually respond, to being the unhappy recipient of any number of different types of malware, including ransomware”.

For many, this is only too well known, either from years of being cyber street smart, or from having been bitten by the dreaded ransomware bug.

FitzGerald added: “Cybercriminals have a lot to gain from these activities. It’s not just the objectives behind spamming that have evolved, but also their delivery methods. With the increasing adoption of connected devices in Asia-Pacific and the world — particularly in Singapore where smartphone penetration is the highest across the globe — we are seeing more spammers targeting social channels in addition to traditional spam emails.

“As we increasingly conduct our lives on-the-go, using multiple internet-enabled platforms at any one time, it also means spammers have all the more opportunities and avenues to send unwanted messages.”

Naturally, ESET points out that “defending yourself against security issues caused by spam does not have to be a difficult job. Proactive measures are vital in reducing exposure to such threats”.

ESET’s top tips on protecting yourself include:

  • Not publishing your email address on the Internet, if possible;
  • Only sharing your email address with trusted individuals;
  • Not replying to spam messages that have already made it to your inbox;
  • Being cautious when filing out Internet forms. Be especially wary of checkboxes that request opt-ins such as “Yes, I want to receive information about xx.”;
  • Be suspicious of links from people who don’t usually post links;
  • Not authorising anything on apps you’re not 100% sure about;
  • Keeping a clean machine. Update your computer or handheld device with the latest operating system, software, web browsers, and apps to provide the best defences against viruses, malware, and other online threats that may be caused by spam messages;
  • Being wary of the information given to apps (does an app that lets you edit photos really need to know every single thing about you?); and
  • Not forgetting the golden rule – if something looks too good to be true, it probably is!

Fitzgerald concluded: ”It’s important that we remain vigilant as consumers, and not forgo security for convenience. Apps, for example, often request permissions from us that we commonly authorise without much thought on the possible implications. Be wary of the information you receive and sign up to, and wherever possible, also give yourself added peace of mind and security with the appropriate anti-spam technology.”

Of course, ESET “legitimately spammed” the email inboxes of technology journalists to deliver its message and to secure a bit of free publicity, but I’m happy to acknowledge that’s precisely what ESET has done and to publish its message, which at least to me, is already very familiar.

Even so, one can never be warned enough about such matters – humans are the weakest link in the security chain, after all, and it only takes a moment of distraction to click on something that shouldn’t be clicked om, which could easily lead to ransomware and your computer effectively bricked!

So take heed of ESET’s advice, and be damned careful out there, for a mis-click could brick your PC and leave you with the short end of the stick – and nobody wants that!

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Posted on: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/home-it/73341-spam’s-not-just-annoying,-it-can-be-dangerous-eset.html

 

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Instagram is giving brands more insight with business profiles and tools

Social media platform Instagram has introduced further changes which strengthen its position as a marketing platform for businesses, by introducing business profiles, insights and promotion tools.

The over 200,000 advertisers now on Instagram will have the new ability to generate:

Business profiles

Business profiles allow businesses to quickly signal to people on Instagram that it is a business, and enables customers to use a ‘contact’ button to connect with them on Instagram. Businesses will also have the power to choose how potential customers contact them after engaging with their ad content – call, text or email with a tap of the ‘contact button.’

Insight

This mobile tool will enable businesses to see if what they’re doing on Instagram is working. Insights packages actionable information about people connected with a business in a visual format.

Promote

Promote lets businesses drive objectives using creative that resonates with the Instagram community, promote well performing posts as ads to reach new customers using Facebook’s targeting and measurement.

This is the third major change undertaken by Instagram this year, after it changed from its popular chronological format in March, and introduced a new brand logo, in April.

 

The three key needs – profiles, insight and promote – were chosen as most important to businesses by Instagram after interviewing hundreds of businesses.

Australian, US and New Zealand businesses will be the first to have access to the tools, which will rollout to all global regions by the end of the year.

By Ben Ice
Posted on: https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/instagram-giving-brands-insights-business-profiles-tools/

 

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Six key points for marketers from Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends report

Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends presentation covers everything from growing online engagement in the developing world to data storage, electric cars, voice recognition and the re-imagining of human-computer interfaces. Here we cover some of the top trends in advertising and branding from the 2016 report.

Venture capitalist and former Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker delivered her annual internet and technology trend presentation, in partnership with consultancy KPCB.

At 213 slides long, ‘Internet Trends 2016? covers a broad range of topics predicted to shape the future, such as voice recognition, internet engagement trends, the developing world, privacy, the automotive industry, online retail, social media, variation in consumption trends of different generations and more. Here’s some highlights which apply to marketing, primarily centred around social media trends, online advertising, apps and mobile use, messaging and voice recognition.

1. Growing social media trends

Video consumption

One trend which exploded between 2014 and ‘15 was video viewing on social media, primarily on Facebook, with one average user-shared video view per day in Q3 2014, and eight in Q3 2015.

Snapchat’s daily video views also experienced rapid growth, with two per day in Q1, 2015, and 10 in Q1 this year.
Messaging

Between 2013 and 2015, all major messenger platforms experienced growth:
•WhatsApp grew fastest, from 400 million active monthly users (globally) in 2013, to 1 billion in 2015,
•Facebook Messenger grew from 200 million to 800 million, and
•WeChat from just under 400 million to just under 700 million

With the emergence of chat bots likely to draw more and more users to messaging apps, Meeker predicts they will increasingly become a second home screen, where consumers can engage with all their required brands and services via chat and inboxes, perhaps redefining or replacing the need for individual apps displayed on a home screen.1

2. App use

Average global app use per user:
•33 apps installed on device,
•12 apps used daily,
•80% of app usage time spent on three apps,
•four hours spent on phone per day, and
•most commonly used apps: Facebook, WhatsApp, Chrome.

“With the report pointing to 25% of consumer time being spend on mobile, it’s obvious this is no longer a medium that businesses can ignore. Having said that… businesses shouldn’t be jumping to create a mobile presence for the sake of being on mobile either,” says Logan Merrick, co-founder and director, Buzinga App Development.

3. Internet and smartphone usage growth beginning to plateau

meeker global internet users

Global growth in smartphone usage is beginning to slow, perhaps a sign of its near-universal adoption, with its largest market, Asia-Pacific, growing 23% from 2014-’15, compared to 35% from 2013-’14.

“We can no longer say that social and mobile are ‘taking off’ and therefore we all need to be on social and mobile – consumers want to be treated as individuals with individual needs that switch and shift throughout their day, career, and personal activities,” says Robin Marchant, global marketing director, Squiz.

“The digital revolution as a stand alone discipline is clearly behind us. The user experience of today and tomorrow demands and integrated, multidisciplinary approach. While some businesses are still struggling to align their marketing departments and break free of brand versus digital versus direct silos, those at the helm are truly embracing a customer centric paradigm,” says Irina Hayward, head of digital and CRM strategy, BMF.

4. Online advertising

While the field is growing, online ads are proving ineffective in many ways – globally according to Unruly:
•81% of users mute video ads,
•62% put off or are annoyed with brands forcing pre-roll viewing, and
•93% consider using ad-blocking software.

5. Global dominance of Android

Android represented 81% of smartphone unit shipments in 2015, compared with iOS, which held 16% of that market.

Meeker estimates a further 7% growth year-on-year for Android and a drop of 11% for iOS.

This represents a huge jump for Android, which, as recently as 2009, only made up 4% of unit shipments, compared to iOS which made up for 14% at that time.

6. Voice recognition

As per Google, voice recognition has jumped since 2010, where it stood at 70% accuracy, to 90% accuracy in 2016. This equates to one million words recognised by machine in 2010 to between five and ten million today.

Voice interfaces, if implemented properly once technology catches up, offer a faster (humans can speak faster than they type), easier (hands free, instant) mode of computer engagement. For Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu it’s a lot closer than we might think.

“As speech recognition goes from, say 95% to 99%, all of us in the room will go from barely using it today, to using it all the time. Most people underestimate the difference between 95% and 99% accuracy – 99% is a game changer.

“No one wants to wait 10 seconds for a response. Accuracy, followed by latency, are the two key metrics for a production speech system,” says Ng.

In May 2016, one-in-five searches on mobile apps in USA are voice searches. Andrew Ng predicts at least 50% of all searches will be made through images or speech.

By Ben Ice
Published On: https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/six-key-points-marketers-mary-meekers-2016-internet-trends-report/

 

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Apple introduces new Watch OS, brings Siri to Mac and YouTube

It’s saying something that the most exciting announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote this year might well have been the news that Apple TV owners will soon be able to control YouTube with their voice, telling their TV to “Search YouTube for cute pug videos”.

It says two things: it says that voice control of YouTube on your TV is an addictive, bordering-on-life-changing feature, as Android TV owners already know; and it says that Apple’s annual software developer conference in San Francisco, once boiling over with major announcements, was set to a high simmer this year, with plenty of small announcements and few major ones.

The Apple Watch will be getting a new operating system that makes applications easier to launch, and makes them launch faster. iPhone owners will be able to wake their phones just by lifting them, the way Android users have been able to do for years, and they’ll get to see long-forgotten photos that their phone will automatically dredge up for them. Apple Macs will be getting a new operating system that incorporates the Siri personal assistant, so computer users will be able to talk to their desktop and notebook computers the way they talk to their phones.

Indeed, the relationship between iPhones and Macs will be drawing even closer than ever. Other new features in macOS (the operating system that powers Apple’s computers) include improvements in Continuity, the system that allows Apple devotees to commence a task on one Apple device and continue it on another. Now Apple users will have a “Universal Clipboard” across all their devices, so that something copied into to clipboard, say, of their iPad, will be available for pasting on their Mac. And not just text. Photos and videos can get transferred between devices using the Universal Clipboard, too.

Voice search on Apple TV devices (tiny set-top boxes which Apple sells for $269) won’t just be limited to cute pug videos on YouTube. Apple says it has now catalogued some 650,000 movies and TV shows, and Apple TV owners will be able to call up content with their voice by saying to their TV such things as  “Show movies about baseball” or “Find high school comedies from the ’80s”.

If none of that got Apple developers excited, the company did throw them a bone: major Apple apps such as Maps, Messages and Siri, have all been turned into platforms that third-party developers can accessing, allowing them to incorporate hitherto Apple-only features into their own apps. So the most exciting feature to come out of this year’s WWDC may not be cute pug videos after all, but may be some non-Apple app yet to come.

By John Davidson
Read more: http://www.afr.com/technology/apple-intros-new-watch-os-brings-siri-to-mac-and-youtube-20160613-gpicsd#ixzz4BVeZYPc3

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Here’s the dummies’ guide to the NBN

A FEW lucky Aussies already have National Broadband at their fingertips. The rest of us are waiting. Waiting for downloads, waiting to stream ABC iView, waiting for our Skype connections to stop being so jerky.

This election the question to ask when you’re voting is this: Will we get “fibre” all the way to our home?

Fibre is optical fibre — a little strand of glass that shoots bursts of light. Experts believe it is the best because lots of data can go along it at the speed of light. You can’t get much faster than that.

The big question is where that fibre stops. Does it come all the way to your house, which means a lot of expensive installations? Or stop at a node in a green box on your street and then use copper cables for the last bit?

First, the bad news: It turns out whether Labor or Coalition win government this election most of us will never get fibre all the way to our home. Under both Labor and Coalition plans, most people will be stuck on fibre to the node, or satellite, or pay TV cables instead of fibre to the premises.

But some lucky people will get fibre. The big political difference here is Labor promising fibre to the premises for 39 per cent of Australian homes, nearly double the 20 per cent the Coalition is offering. It amounts to 2 million people.

Are you going to be in that 19 per cent extra? Are you in the lucky segment? We don’t know.

THE CHOSEN FEW

Labor is coy about who exactly will get the superior service. Logically though, it would be areas where rolling out fibre is cheap, that is, high density parts of Australia.

If you live on an acre block surrounded by forest, I wouldn’t hold your breath … unless of course you’re on the west coast of Tasmania. Labor has promised western Tasmania will get fibre to the premises. It is the location of the marginal seat of Braddon — held narrowly by the Liberals.

The rest of us are on a wait-and-see policy. Given the Labor NBN is not due to be fully rolled out until 2022, the exact location of the full 19 per cent could still be unknown at the 2019 election. And maybe the election after as well.

And of course, there’s an asterisk on the extra 19 per cent. Labor is promising it so long as the price doesn’t go over $57 billion.

(As an aside, when the NBN was first mentioned by Kevin Rudd, it had a $15 billion price tag. That went up to $43 billion, it’s now at $57 billion and if the price stops rising now I’d be flabbergasted. Labor loves to talk about the NBN as “Malcolm Turnbull’s Mess” and it’s true he stuffed around with the original plan. But many complex infrastructure projects have cost blowouts and it might have been their own mess if they hadn’t lost the last election.)

Not all the $57 billion cost goes to taxpayers. Public spending is capped at about $30 billion. So the taxpayer is not on the hook for the whole amount and the private sector will pay the rest.

WHO SAID YES TO THE NODE?

Labor’s plan is a bit pricier and a bit slower to roll out, but probably better for some people. The Liberal plan is a bit cheaper and a bit faster, but it relies more on fibre to the node, where the fast optical fibre goes to a green box on your street. Is that good?

Here’s a quote from the director of the NBN Co about fibre to the node (FTTN): “FTTN sucks … if I could wave a wand, it’s the bit I’d erase.”

But it’s too late for magic. Contracts for fibre to the node have been signed and both parties will actually deliver a lot of NBN that way.

Labor may not like fibre to the node but it will still honour the contracts. It says it will then plan to move people off fibre to the node and onto fibre to the premises, but that’s a very long way off. Both parties will also be using the old pay TV cables to bring some people NBN.

That is the approach a senior Labor figure once called “Operation Clusterf**k.” Will it be a clusterf**k? Most people are confident the old Telstra pay TV cables will be fine. But some pay TV cables are Optus, and they may not be. That was the topic of the leaks that led the NBN to raid houses in Melbourne a little while back.

It’s become very messy and very political. But the key point is that both parties are offering fibre to the premises to a minority of Australians and a mixed solution to the rest of us. In the short term, Labor is different for 19 per cent of people, who will get fibre to the premises instead of some other solution.

By Jason Murphy
Posted on: http://www.news.com.au/technology/heres-the-dummies-guide-to-the-nbn/news-story/f9ec050412b5d8f66762581

 

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