Generative AI has become a buzzword in the business community, resulting in 65 percent of executives in a recent KPMG survey saying they believe the technology will have a high or extremely high impact on their organization in the next three to five years. Yet most say they are unprepared for immediate adoption, with 60 percent estimating they are 12 to 24 months from implementing their first generative AI solution. Fewer than half of respondents say they have the right technology, talent, and governance in place to successfully implement generative AI. Continue reading Enterprise Anticipates AI Impact but Few Execs Are Prepared

The U.S. “must reinvent the machinery of government itself, just as much as any piece of transportation equipment,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Thursday in his CES speech on the Future of Transportation. “Innovation isn’t about the technologies themselves, but how we deliver transportation resources cost-effectively and quickly,” Buttigieg said, sharing his vision for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure, “ARPA-I, modeled after DARPA” (the Defense Department ARPA that invented the Internet) as required in an era in which mobile connectivity and transportation are becoming inextricably intertwined. Continue reading CES: Buttigieg Says Tech Calls for New Government Thinking

CTA’s Tyler Suiters spoke with Phil Klein and Mark Mueller-Eberstein about their book, “The Trust Technology: How Blockchain Is Changing Your World.” “[Blockchain] has rapidly evolved,” said Klein. “The question is when it goes from bleeding edge to leading edge. I think we’re very close to that point. We’ve already crested past the hype cycle.” Mueller-Eberstein noted that blockchain and bitcoin first emerged as something transformational about four or five years ago. The academic research comes mainly from China. Continue reading CES Panel: How Blockchain, a Trust Technology, Is Evolving

A number of top technology executives representing the Internet Association submitted a letter this week to leaders of the House of Representatives calling for quick passage of the Innovation Act of 2015. CEOs of Etsy, Gilt, Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Rackspace, TripAdvisor, Twitter, Yahoo and Yelp are among those urging politicians to pass the patent-reform bill this summer. The letter explains that these execs have “direct experience of the negative consequences of the patent troll business model on our economy.” Continue reading Tech Industry Presses Government to Address Patent Reform

Sony launched First Flight, a crowdfunding platform/online store for its employees’ projects seeking outside funding. In the company’s Creative Lounge, employees and outsiders can develop pitches and construct prototype products. Some of these nascent projects have been presented to senior Sony executives, and Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai has given the Seed Acceleration Project (SAP) a relatively large amount of autonomy. Among the more developed products is the HUIS programmable universal remote. Continue reading Sony Launches Crowdfunding Platform for Employee Projects

As part of the growing backlash to Facebook’s Internet.org project, 65 advocacy organizations from 31 countries released a letter of protest this week to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook has partnered with wireless carriers and other organizations on the initiative that hopes to bring free Internet service to the developing world. However, the letter argues that the project “violates the principles of net neutrality, threatening freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, security, privacy, and innovation.” Continue reading Letter Released in Protest of Facebook’s Free Internet Project

Nasdaq OMX, which owns the NASDAQ stock market, is trying to bolster its tech offerings by nurturing startups through its new Entrepreneurial Center. This 13,000-square-foot space in San Francisco is designed to help young companies grow and find a community. In the future, Nasdaq may be able to profit from some of these startups when they go public. Currently, Nasdaq faces stiff competition from the New York Stock Exchange in attracting tech companies to the stock market. Continue reading Nasdaq Launches an Entrepreneurial Center to Foster Startups

Beau Cronin, co-founder of Prior Knowledge and current senior manager of predictive products at Salesforce, recognizes that VR is in the process of transforming from a specialty technology where innovation is driven by small groups of experts, to a general-purpose technology that will tap into a huge, broader market of users and hackers. In a recent article, he postulates that VR today is where the Internet was in 1993, just before Netscape. At that time there was a re-evaluation of all the rules, often done by outsiders. Continue reading Virtual Reality Poised to ‘Cross the Chasm’ to the Wider World

A group of Sony engineers have launched a platform called MESH (Make, Experience and Share) that allows people to create “smart projects” with the simplicity of a tablet and small wireless tags. The MESH group presented its DIY kit at CES this week alongside other startups in Eureka Park. The platform uses four Bluetooth-enabled devices that can be programmed using a simple drag-and-drop system on a tablet to remotely water plants, activate lights and sound, and handle a variety of creative applications. Continue reading CES: Sony Tablet Platform MESH to Simplify Smart Projects

Starting in July of next year, all smartphones sold in California must have a “kill switch,” a software feature that allows smartphone owners to disable a phone after it has been stolen. The “kill switch” will make it more difficult for thieves to resell stolen phones because the phone can only be reactivated with the owner’s correct password. Smartphone manufacturers will be required to ship these phones with the anti-theft technology activated as part of the default settings. Continue reading New California Law to Require ‘Kill Switch’ on Smartphones

Each month, almost 100 million people use song-recognition app Shazam. Many shows and ads integrate Shazam to supply special offers or exclusive content. The app now plans to launch Resonate, a sales platform to help television networks monetize the viewers that use second screens while watching television. The platform aims to help network partners exert more control over the messages and content users receive when using Shazam while watching TV.  Continue reading Second Screen: Shazam Unveils Sales Platform for TV Networks

Tech companies of all sizes are urging the Federal Communications Commission to enforce net neutrality by reclassifying the Internet as Title II. This reclassification would mean that Internet providers would have to abide by the same laws as public utilities and there would be no Internet “fast lanes.” Representatives from Kickstarter, Spotify, Vimeo and others met with the FCC to discuss the issue last week. Netflix also submitted a filing to the FCC about the proposed net neutrality laws. Continue reading Tech Companies Argue the Internet Should Be a Public Utility

USA Today has launched a program called Social Media Tuesdays, in which staff members are expected to act as if social media is the only means of receiving articles. The idea behind the development is to get the employees to think as their readers think. USA Today has increased monthly mobile readership 48 percent since last year, to 25.5 million. Newspapers are hoping online and mobile offerings will make up for the decrease in traditional print readership.  Continue reading USA Today Takes Steps to Boost Mobile and Online Readership

Tom Wheeler met this week with Andy Berke, mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to discuss the power of networks in driving economic growth. In an FCC Blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Competitive Community Broadband,” Wheeler writes about Chattanooga’s history and Berke’s recognition that tomorrow’s economic growth will be reliant upon effective high-speed networks, which is why the city “invested in building out one of the nation’s most robust community broadband networks.” Continue reading FCC Chair Tom Wheeler on the Power of Community Broadband

The Los Angeles tech scene — from Santa Monica to Irvine to West Adams — has been booming in recent years. According to open source map Represent.LA, there are now 889 startups in the region. Many LA tech entrepreneurs got started with cheap mobile apps that quickly became profitable. They focus on creativity and aesthetics, tap celebrities when needed, and remain open to products designed just for fun. And the sunny LA weather and cheaper rent attracts talent from around the world. Continue reading The Los Angeles Tech Scene is Making a New Name for Itself