Internet giants such as Google and Facebook rely on advertising revenue to finance their various endeavors. However, that business model is now being threatened by ad-blocking software. According to a report from PageFair and Priori Data, about 20 percent of smartphone users (nearly 420 million people worldwide) now block ads when browsing online via their mobile devices. The latest figures represent a 90 percent annual increase. While the use of ad-blocking software conserves data and loads websites faster, it “is costing the global advertising industry billions of dollars a year in lost revenue,” reports The New York Times. Continue reading Ad-Blocking Now Costing Advertisers Billions in Lost Revenue

During the Moogfest music and technology fest in North Carolina, Google Brain researcher Douglas Eck outlined a new artificial intelligence research project at Google called Magenta. The group, expected to publicly launch next month, plans to use the company’s machine learning engine TensorFlow to explore new ways that computers and AI systems could be trained to create original art and media such as music or video. The initiative should prove challenging; so far, the most advanced AI systems have struggled to replicate styles of existing artists. Continue reading Google to Explore Using AI Systems to Produce Art and Music

Researchers from the University of California at Irvine have found a new battery material that could possibly hold a charge for decades. While studying fragile nanowires, a PhD candidate on the research team decided on a whim “to switch the liquid electrolyte surrounding the nanowire assembly with a gel version,” reports Smithsonian. To the team’s surprise, the gel capacitor initially ran for 30,000 cycles and kept going for a month. Although still experimenting, the team believes the thick gel reduces the nanowire’s fragility, a solution that could prove revolutionary for commercial batteries. Continue reading Battery Material Could Hold Charge for Years, Even Decades

Korean grad students are developing an Environmental Modeling Scanner that takes an interesting approach to detailed scanning of complex and crowded environments. Their hardware/software capture volumetric architectural and décor details and, in post-processing, extract people and any other moving or unwanted elements from the model. The approach creates a model by scanning an environment, the result of which can be combined with other capture sessions. They are demonstrating their solution at the NAB Show’s VR Zone in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Continue reading Researchers Demo Environmental Modeling Scanner at NAB

Microsoft researchers from the U.K. created a holoportation system, which projects a live 3D hologram of a person into another room, anywhere in the world, where it can interact in real-time with whoever is present. The researchers, who focus on 3D sensors and machine learning, spent two-and-a-half years with the HoloLens team in Washington state to develop holoportation. The system requires a lot of horsepower and high-quality 3D capture cameras, as well as a HoloLens (or other VR/AR headset) on the receiving end. Continue reading Microsoft Demos Live 3D Holoportation System via HoloLens

In a major breakthrough, Nielsen has signed a multi-year deal with Dish Network to use data from its 14-million set-top boxes for ratings, in addition to its long-standing 40,000-household panel. The deal comes on the heels of comScore’s merger with Rentrak, which also measures set-top-box data, as that company attempts to challenge Nielsen’s dominance in TV audience measurement. The Dish deal, which is not exclusive, will let Nielsen improve ratings in local, smaller markets where panelists aren’t measured electronically. Continue reading Nielsen Breaks into Set-Top Box Data with Dish Network Deal

Sony announced the launch of its Future Lab Program, a new research and development initiative “that emphasizes an open creative environment and direct lines of communication with society, through which it aims to co-create new lifestyles and user value in the future.” Sony’s program will share prototypes with the user community during development and welcome feedback to help refine projects. The first project — a hands-free interface that offers a new way to experience audio — will be featured in Austin at the SXSW Interactive Festival. Continue reading Sony’s Future Lab R&D Program to Showcase Tech at SXSW

IPG Media Lab revealed the results of new research showing that that online ads that meet the Media Rating Council’s minimum threshold for viewability aren’t always effective. Although the MRC standards are a benchmark to determine when advertisers should have to pay for an ad, some agencies and marketers protest that the standards aren’t sufficient, an argument that seems borne out by the new IPG Media Lab study, which shows that, as an ad increases the metrics that define viewability, so does consumer recall. Continue reading IPG Media Lab Study Reveals Parameters for Ad Effectiveness

Football coaches are already using artificial intelligence to help them on the sidelines. Students at North Carolina State University built an AI that could predict whether an NFL team would pass or run the ball. The AI called the plays correctly 91.6 percent of the time during an NFL game. The technology may not yet be ready for a real-time game situation, but with more data and research into machine learning and game theory, AI could become a big league contender. Continue reading Data Analytics: AI Could Assist Coaches in Professional Sports

Market research firm Gartner is forecasting a decline for CE device spending in 2016. While end-user sales are expected to inch up less than 2 percent this year, overall spending on devices like PCs, tablets and mobile devices will decline, according to the researcher. This decrease, the first since Gartner started tracking the market in 2010, is largely due to the falling price of phones. In markets like China, consumers are opting for basic models of smartphones rather than upgrading to higher-end devices. Continue reading Gartner: Overall Spending on CE Devices Projected to Decline

The Apple Watch is leading the pack in smartwatch sales. Last year, it captured 52 percent of market share in the 8 months since its April debut. Android Wear, the smartwatch platform behind wearables from Huawei, Motorola, Fossil, Asus and Sony, followed with less than 10 percent of market share. Apple’s domination is making investors reluctant to believe that other companies like Fitbit can compete. While Juniper Research data places Apple on top, the market is still relatively new and a lot could change in the next couple of years. Continue reading Apple Claims Early Lead in the Emerging Smartwatch Market

Wearables have mostly been discussed in terms of the data they provide — be it steps walked, calories burned or blood pressure measured. Two examples showcased by The New York Times tech writer Eric Taub at CES do more than simply serve data to the user, differences that help to define this new category. One uses sensory information and a rhythmic feedback to change people’s level of happiness and energy; a second was developed by academics, medical centers and Apple to conduct a global medical study on heart health and exercise. Continue reading A Twist on Wearables: Two Examples that Use Data Differently

In a CTA Research Summit data-centric presentation at CES, the organization’s senior director of market research Steve Koenig summed up the recent trends in TV displays and predicted future directions. Although the TV display is besieged by competition from smartphones and tablets, interest in purchasing a TV is still strong. A recent CTA poll showed that, in the next 12 months, 33 percent plan to buy a smartphone and 29 percent want a TV, followed by smaller percentages for laptops, tablets and video game consoles. Continue reading CTA Research on Displays with Focus on OLED, 4K and HDR

Several Silicon Valley technologists and tech companies will invest at least $1 billion in OpenAI, a nonprofit research center in San Francisco with a long-term goal of creating open-source “artificial general intelligence,” a machine capable of performing any task that a human can. Among the investors are Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman. One chief focus of the group’s members is to ensure that the resultant technologies augment rather than replace humans, and are used for good. Continue reading Silicon Valley Titans Invest $1 Billion to Establish AI Non-Profit

Panasonic has renewed its efforts to develop 8K image sensors for video. The company had stopped R&D in this area in 2011, in response to financial considerations, but as its earnings increased, it revived its work in this sector, now pledging to invest $80.8 million (10 billion yen) into R&D. Production of the sensors is likely to be outsourced, and production models are expected on the market by 2018. The first targeted use for the 8K sensors will be consumer and broadcast cameras. Continue reading Panasonic Revives 8K Research, New Cameras Slated for 2018