Jason Rose Senior Vice President of Marketing Gigya

Many companies dont think of identity management as a staple component of their marketing technology stack. But as more channels and touchpoints become part of the customer journey, brands have to start thinking strategically about matching customers identities across devices and engagements. Jason Rose, senior vice president of marketing at identity management vendor Gigya, spoke with eMarketers Maria Minsker about the importance of understanding customer identities.

eMarketer: Can you explain identity management? Why should it be a part of a brands marketing technology stack?

Jason Rose: Brands have websites, newsletters, mobile apps, loyalty programs and other touchpoints, but customer identities arent always synced up across these properties. Identity management should be part of the marketing technology stack because without it, when a customer signs up for an email newsletter and sets preferences there, another channellike the companys appwill have no notion of those preferences, so content wont be personalized.

This is where customer identity comes into play. A customer identity management system would become the central hub for understanding who a customer is and what their preferences are. It would help brands serve better personalized experiences across different properties.

A customer identity management system would become the central hub for understanding who a customer is and what their preferences are.

eMarketer: How do companies tackle the identity problem if they dont have a management tool in place?

Rose: Most often, we run into do-it-yourself solutions. The concept of creating an online account with a brand through a registration and login screen has been around forever. Often companies have built these themselves, and they likely built them before mobile existedor back when it was a smaller portion of the experience.

The omnichannel digital experience didnt exist, privacy concerns werent as high and there werent as many regulations. Things are different now, and if brands think they can handle it themselves, theyve got another thing coming.

eMarketer: When you say identity management, can the technology actually pinpoint a specific customer, or is their identity matched across different channels while still remaining anonymous?

Rose: Our whole reason for existing is to help brands make anonymous customers known. For example, Turner [Broadcasting System] is one of our big customers. When someone goes to CNN.com and signs up for a news alert, that person identifies themselves and opts in. If that customer wants to go beyond the alert and actually set up a CNN.com account, Gigyas [registration-as-a-service (RaaS) tool] supports that process and ties those two things together. That way, all the information provided ends up associated with the account.

Our whole reason for existing is to help brands make anonymous customers known.

eMarketer: How does an identity management tool integrate with other tools in the marketing technology stack?

Rose: By leveraging a single sign-in, were able to do a number of things. For example, we can share preference data with a content management system [CMS], or connect to a [customer relationship management] CRM and email marketing system. We can also integrate with a solution like AdRoll for ad servicing, and relay customer preferences to make sure theyre getting the types of ads they want to see.

eMarketer: What advice do you have for companies shopping around for an identity management tool? What should they look for?

Rose: As you look for an identity management tool, think about how you are using each interaction with the customer to build the relationship. Earlier I gave the example of signing up for alerts, and eventually creating a full accountwe call that progressive identity-building. Companies need to think about how each step can be woven into the customer journey, and then look at vendors that can support each of those steps.

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Making the Case for Identity Management Technology - eMarketer

Today, IBM and Salesforce announced they will connect their artificial intelligence platforms to help companies target and serve customers.

IBMs natural-language AI program Watson which conquered the television quiz show Jeopardy will be integrated with Salesforces Einstein, the AI that helps mine its hugely popular customer relationship management software, to provide customer purchasing habits and shopping data for businesses that run Salesforce.

That means that an insurance company that uses Salesforce, for example, can also use Watsons weather data to target customers before a snowstorm to help reduce potential damages. By combining Watsons data on local retail trends with specific customer data from Salesforce, companies will be able to send highly targeted campaigns to shoppers, according to the companies.

Salesforce customers will be able to start using Watsons smarts to refine their customer targeting starting in the second half of this year. Pricing for use of the new joint AI products was not disclosed.

As part of the agreement, IBM will start to use Salesforces cloud services to help organize its own customer support needs.

Other companies, like Facebook and Twitter, would probably love to provide that level of personalized engagement for businesses that target customers on their platforms, but this new partnership between Salesforce and IBM may prove hard to top.

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IBM and Salesforce will start sharing their AI technology - Recode

Forbes

What Is Digital Twin Technology - And Why Is It So Important? Forbes While the concept of a digital twin has been around since 2002, it's only thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) that it has become cost-effective to implement. And, it is so imperative to business today, it was named one of Gartner's Top 10 Strategic ...

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What Is Digital Twin Technology - And Why Is It So Important? - Forbes

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Three VCs on What's Next in Technology Wall Street Journal (subscription) What is the next wave of emerging technologies going to look like? The ones that chief information officers should be paying attention to? The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler spoke with Steve Herrod, managing director of General Catalyst, Peter ...

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Three VCs on What's Next in Technology - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

We live in a day when the gospel has been restored in its fullness. As Aaronic priesthood bearers it is our responsibility to prepare and spread this message of joy to the people of the earth.

To make that possible God has given us powerful technologies and media, with which youth are well acquainted. Elder David A. Bednar invoked this blessing: "Come to understand more fully the spiritual significance and blessing of living in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that you may have eyes to see clearly both the possibilities and the pitfalls of the remarkable technologies that are available to us today, that you may increase in your capacity to use these inspired tools appropriately, and that you may receive inspiration and guidance about the role you should play in helping to sweep the earth as with a flood of truth and righteousness. As you press forward in this holy work, I promise you will be blessed in mortality in the individual, specific, and necessary ways that will prepare you for eternity.

Blessings and promises from an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ come to pass when we act on those promises. If our purpose is to become like our Heavenly Father why hold anything back from furthering His purposes.

Technology is hastening the work

What used to take sometimes weeks, days or hours can now be delivered in seconds, as a written phrase, voice message, picture, video or other media formats, in real or asynchronous time. Social media such as Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and many other popular social media channels can be used to share gospel messages. Messages can be downloaded into your smart phone or other mobile devices, which can be carried with you at all times for study and sharing. Technology is a tool that is hastening the work. It lets us touch hearts, lift spirits and share testimonies beyond our physical borders to any who wish to hear our message.

Messages of inspiration can be shared online with family and friends. You can fill out your profile on Mormon.org and explain why you are a Mormon. Family records can be gathered and shared instantly across the world. More and more youth are gathering family names for temple work. The Gospel Library provides electronic access to general conference, church magazines, lesson manuals, handbooks, scriptures, etc. You can highlight verses, add notes, organize your study journal online and fill it with priceless truths, which can be accessed by your cell phone, tablet or computer. Treasuring up the things in your study journal that the Spirit teaches helps you retain what you learn and will add to your spiritual preparedness and progression.

Some spiritual and technical principles for the effective and safe use of technology

It is difficult to name all the good things that can be done using technology, but here are some spiritual principles that will help you to effectively use technology.

1. Use technology to do things that would be pleasing to God. Everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God (Moroni 7:16). If Jesus had had such a tool how would He use it? Asking the question, What would Jesus do? invites revelation. Along with prayerful consideration, the answer to that question will give us ideas as to how we can use these technologies for study, service and building His kingdom. Asking that question also helps us to keep the covenants we make each week to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and always remember Him.

2. Be respectful with the use of your smart phone or tablet in church. If Jesus were in a sacrament meeting, priesthood meeting or Sunday school class, how would He use His smart phone? Would He be playing a video game or texting friends, or would He be reading scriptures and thoughts related to the lesson? Would He be respectful of the speaker or teacher and those around Him who are learning the truths of the gospel? We all know the answer to those questions.

3. Remember, with technology you can learn, but you must also act and share. The Savior taught if we live the gospel we will know it is true and comes from God (John 7:17). Alma taught the principle that God will give us more knowledge about Him as we live what we learn (Alma 12:9). Learn by reading the scriptures, listening to general conference, studying lesson manuals, keeping a study journal, then living what you learn and sharing your experiences with others. That is what the Savior did. We can do the same. The closer you align your actions with His purposes, the more you will experience His power in your life.

4. Finally, remember who you are, a beloved son of your loving Heavenly Father who wants to give to you all that He has, the gift of Eternal Life. Now is the time to choose the right, even online, to fulfill your divine destiny. This is no dress rehearsal. Now is the time to prepare to meet God and prepare for the coming of His Son. Taking the challenge of Elder Bednar to recognize who we are, the special time in which we live and effectively using technology to learn, act upon and share the gospel, we will be blessed in mortality in the individual, specific, and necessary ways that will prepare us for missions and eternity.

The Young Men general presidency invites you to consecrate and sanctify your electronic device as a source of light in your life. We invite you to take advantage of these tools to both prepare yourselves to learn gospel principles and also to share them.

The LDS Church News is an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The publication's content supports the doctrines, principles and practices of the Church.

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Technology hastening the Lord's work - Deseret News

March 6, 2017 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes a new satellite in orbit will enlighten our understanding of a flashy weather phenomenon and lead to better forecasts of severe storms.

NOAA released on Monday the first images captured by the GOES-16 satellite, snapped on Valentine's Day from 22,300 miles above Earth. The images and video show lightning flashes across the Western Hemisphere over the course of an hour.

The new instrument, one of several aboard the satellite, marks a leap forward in monitoring and understanding lightning storms. In its first week in orbit, the instrument the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, or GLM recorded more lightning data than all previous data captured about the weather event from space combined.

NOAA hopes that more data will lead to better storm predictions.

"As you can imagine, we are pretty excited here at NOAA Satellites," spokeswoman Connie Barclay told NPR in an email. "Lightning strikes the US on average of 25 million times each year, and kills on average 49 people in the US each year."

The lightning detector is in geostationary orbit itremains in the same location relative to the ground below it allowing it tocontinuously track lightning storms.

It works by looking for flashes anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, so forecasters know when a storm is forming, intensifying, and becoming more dangerous, explains NOAA.

Rapid increases of lightning are a signal that a storm is strengthening quickly and could produce severe weather, the agency said in a press release. "When combined with radar and other satellite data, GLM data may help forecasters anticipate severe weather and issue flood and flash flood warnings sooner."

In addition, the instrument will help identify lightning-sparked wildfires in dry areas like the American West, which should lead to faster response times from fire crews.

The first images from the GLM reveal lightning flashes from the Gulf of Mexico to the southern coast of South America. In the image, brighter colors indicate more lightning energy (or more kilowatt-hours of total optical emissions) recorded.

NOAA also released a video that showed images of lightning storms developing over southeast Texas, as NPRs Rebecca Hersher reported. Tornadoes from that storm system destroyed homes near Houston, wrote Ms. Hersher.

Unlike traditional time-lapse animations that appear jerky because the images are presented more quickly than they were gathered, this video is a slower version of what the satellite sees, brought down from the satellite's 500 frames per second to a more human 25 frames per second.

NOAA also expects the instrument to provide better forecasting of lightning storms over oceans, benefiting those traveling in the air or water, as well as better predictions of in-cloud lightning, a precursor to lightning strikes that make landfall.

The GOES-16 satellite was launched in November with the GLM aboard, to the excitement of the weather community.

"For weather forecasters, GOES-R will be similar to going from a black-and-white TV to super-high-definition TV," said Stephen Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA's Satellite and Information Services division, using another name for the satellite.

"For the American public, that will mean faster, more accurate weather forecasts and warnings," he said, as well as "more lives saved and better environmental intelligence for state and local officials and all decision makers."

In addition to the lightning monitor, the satellite is outfitted with five other imaging and data-collection instruments. A Harris Corp. onboard camera can photograph inside the eye of a hurricane, a new perspective that promises forecasters the ability to measure the intensity and timeline of storms, The Christian Science Monitor previously reported. Another instrument monitors solar flares and space weather and fluctuations in radiation levels they cause.

Its a big deal," Fred Johnson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Melbourne, Fla., told USA Today. "Its a big upgrade from what weve had in the past. This should save lives and property."

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New NOAA technology tracks lightning in real time from space - Christian Science Monitor

Space energy technology restored to make power stations more efficient Science Daily Satellite-powering technology that was abandoned decades ago has been reinvented to potentially work with traditional power stations to help them convert heat to electricity more efficiently, meaning we would need less fossil fuel to burn for power. A ... and more »

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Space energy technology restored to make power stations more efficient - Science Daily

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has just announced that it will be conducting a potentiallymore invasive physical pat-down procedure to customers who refuse to be scanned electronically.

On Monday, TSA says it decided to inform local police of the new pat-down in case a passenger calls to report abnormal federal frisking, Bloomberg reports, but the agencyhas declined to say exactly where-and how-employees will be touching air travelers.

Previously, if a flier was selected, one of five separate types of pat-downs were used but the new search procedure said is to replace all five of the other pat-downs.

According to the agencys website, TSA officers use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body.In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist.

Now, security screeners will use the front of their hands on passengers in a private screening area if one of the prior screening methods indicates the presence of explosives.TSA requires all pat-downs to be conducted an officer of the same sex.

Two million people are screened by TSA daily throughout airports nationwide.. The searches normally occur when an imaging scanner detects one or more unknown objects on a person or if a traveler declines to walk through the scanner and instead for the physical screening.Passengers who decline the screening technology are automatically subject to enhanced physical searches.

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The agency says the new screening procedure is not expected to increase overall airport security delays though TSA pre-check passengers may also receive an enhanced pat-down.

The change is partly due to the agencys study of a 2015 report criticizing different aspects of current agency screening procedures. That particular audit, conducted by the Department of Homeland Securitys Inspector General, reported that airport officers failed to detect handguns and other weapons.

Airline pilots, flight attendants and crew members are also subject to receiving the new pat-down but overall number of random searches for airline crews will remain at a very small percentage. Airport employees may also be subject to additional, random screenings.

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TSA announces pat-down policy for fliers who refuse new technology - Fox News

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MAYFIELD -- A former school in Lackawanna County is being turned into a technology center with the goal of bringing people, ideas, and jobs to our area.

Renovations at the former Lackawanna Business Center in Mayfield will cost up to $1.5 million.

Once finished, the building will help grow businesses focused on the environment and technology.

The building in Mayfield used to be home to a school called Saint Rose Academy. The school closed in 2010.

Now, the building is being turned into a place for young businesses to learn and grow.

"It's really an existing building that was underutilized and brought back to life, and any economic activity is good for all," said Karl Phifenberger.

Phifenberger owns the building. He and his partners are converting the building into the Northeast Environmental and Technology Center or NEET.

The place will provide office and lab space for as many as 15 new businesses that focus on the environment and technology.

"The whole purpose is to attract offices here be an incubator, attract biosciences and other technology-related business," Phifenberger explained.

The 95,000-square-foot building includes classrooms, a shared cafeteria, and a presentation room.

"The capabilities with this building is there is a greenhouse that will support some agriculture programs, moving forward, wedding and events," Phifenberger added.

The Petal Pusher sits on the other side of Business Route 6. It's been around for more than 30 years.

Owner Gary Bruzuchalski has seen the building go through many changes.

"It used to be an environmental center years ago and it's very exciting for me to see new businesses in the area, new people in the area, traffic in the area, very exciting."

NEET is still accepting applications for businesses to work in the building.

Renovations are expected to wrap up in November.

41.538137 -75.536019

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Technology Center Coming to Mayfield - wnep.com

Technological Unemployment and the Paradox of Permanent Understaffing Inside Higher Ed (blog) The paradox is that at the same time we are worried that technology will create a world with too few jobs, we actually live in a world where there are too few jobs getting done. How we make sense of the reasons behind our understaffing epidemic depend, ...

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Technological Unemployment and the Paradox of Permanent Understaffing - Inside Higher Ed (blog)

Credit: Mrsk Line

IBM and Maersk will partner to use blockchain technology to conduct, manage and track transactions in the shipping supply chain.

The companies said they collaborated on creating blockchain tools for cross-border transactions among shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities.

According to Maersk and IBM, the blockchain effort, built on the Linux Foundation's open source Hyperledger platform, will aim to replace paper-heavy manual processes with blockchain to improve transparency and secure data sharing.

Related: IBM, Northern Trust partner on financial security blockchain tech | How to use blockchain to build a database solution | Disney, yes Disney, becomes blockchain's biggest proponent | How it works: Blockchain explained in 500 words | Stop overhyping blockchain

Maersk and IBM will work with the shipping supply chain to build a blockchain digital platform that will go into production later in 2017.

Blockchain has potential for supply chain applications because the private and secure transactions can digitize processes, cut fraud, bolster inventory management and save time and money.

Just improving visibility and workflow with trade documentation processing can save billions of dollars. Here's how the blockchain process will work in the context of shipping:

Maersk, which has a supply chain services unit, and IBM have run a few proof-of-concept pilot with Maersk Line container vessels, the Port of Rotterdam, Port of Newark and Customs Administration of the Netherlands. That pilot, conducted as part of a EU research project, also included U.S. agencies.

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IBM, Maersk aim to speed up shipping with blockchain technology - ZDNet

The fast pace of technology is bleeding into every aspect of contemporary life, including the artists trying to make sense of the surrounding world. The Verge visited The Armory Show and the NADA art fair during New York Art Week, where both established and emerging artists are experimenting with digital technology and its impact on the arts. We spoke with emerging artists about the way screens, science, and cyberpunk culture informs their work.

The fairs run through Sunday, and you can see a schedule here.

Technology, consumerism, and violence are the cornerstones of the work. I feel like Im facilitating the creation of the work. The scanner is recording the images and I think of my role as mediating all of those reactions, almost like Im collaborating with the machines. Theres this dystopian cyberpunk video game called Syndicate. Its like a single shooter game; its really violent, this fucked up dark future. I made a video of a work of mine, so its like a gif of my own paintings and theres imagery from the spinal reconstruction website looking at the spine and various shape and systematic text on top. I really think of these being screen-based paintings, so having a moving image alongside the painting made sense. They interact really well and work together. The underlying idea is how technology sees the world and how we see things and how the lens records the world we live in. What happens when you put a Cadillac ad in a front of a machine that doesn't care about the content? Its reading the information and recording it. I have an archive of images that goes back to the 50s. Post war until now is what Im interested in. Im into that compression of time.

Chris Dorland

All of my work starts out with me archiving thousands of my mothers drawings that she made in the 90s. I pick like 10 or 15 of the drawings trace them and Ill composite these worlds together using 3D animation. I work on graphite drawing, use a tablet to trace them and use 3d to build something that comes from an analogue process. The second phase is going around the country and filming portraits of people on the green screen. Basically I collect disparate archives and synthesize them together to make incongruent sources and to build a harmonious narrative, using what I have, fixed language, their bodies and their narratives, and my dance performance. Its like an interdisciplinary network coming together to form one harmonious sculptural 3d animated still image virtual reality experience. I want to do a 3d animated video where a safe space is being destroyed. Its a beginning of a series. Right now Im on chapter one. Its a destruction narrative. Its a hieroglyphic legend like what they do with the Hobbit or J.R.R. Tolkien, or like a punk fantasy. I flesh it out I as go. Its going to be like a VR album. I hate how crystallized it is sometimes. Its an epic meta narrative.

Jacolby Satterwhite

The Amsterdam-based artist duo Studio Drift used Microsoft HoloLens to create Concrete Storm, a mixed reality installation commissioned by Artsy Projects on view at the Armory Show. (Studio Drift will be doing a talk at 4 pm today (March 4th), which you can watch live.)

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

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Technology and art meet at New York Art Week - The Verge

Technology for the people, by the people.

No, its not a reworked line from Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address, but the theme of Accentures 2017 Technology Vision (Tech Vision) report, the companys annual prediction of technology trends that will shape the future of companies in the next three years.

In 2017, were seeing that technology is really being shaped by people, for people, says JP Palpallatoc, Accenture digital group lead of the Philippines delivery center.

Basically, the theme is a call to action for business and technology leaders to actively design and direct technology to augment and amplify human capabilities.

To help companies respond to this call, Tech Vision lists down five emerging technology trends that companies should take note of to succeed in todays digital economy:

AI (artificial intelligence) is the new UI (user interface);

ecosystems as macrocosms;

workforce marketplace

design for humans;

the uncharted.

AI is getting simpler, making the interaction with customers and employees more intuitive, Palpallatoc says of the first trend, citing the Amazon Alexa, the virtual assistant created by the company.

For companies, AI could become their spokesperson, says Palpallatoc, citing how chat bots have already started taking on this role when it comes to customer service.

As more people interact with AI, were going to see how they could eventually represent brands and be the digital spokesperson, he says.

The second trend, Palpallatoc continues, is all about companies building an ecosystem of partners that will allow them to diversify their operationslike how General Motors invested $500 million in ride-hailing startup Lyft Inc. with plans of creating a network self-driving cars.

When we surveyed executives, 75 percent said that their competitive advantage does not solely rely on their strengths, but on the strengths of their partners and their ecosystem, says Palpallatoc. They can even have multiple ecosystems, so they need to create a strategy to know which partners, which ecosystem they can work with.

The next Tech Vision trend, according to Palpallatoc, is something that is very relevant to the country: workforce marketplace. With the rise of on-demand labor platforms such as freelancer.com and raket.ph, companies are given the opportunity to have a healthy talent mix by tapping into these external sources, aside from their direct hires. A very good example of this would be Procter & Gamble, which is experimenting by mixing borrowed resources from external talent marketplaces with their own internal recruits, he says. And the results have been very positive: projects have been developed with higher quality and faster pace. So companies need to redesign their contracts with people, to provide jobs that will allow [employees] to pursue their passions.

Closely related to the first trend is the fourth, which is designing technology for humans.

This entails understanding human behavior, says Palpallatoc, with the help of data analytics, which could be gathered using AI.

Every application, customer interaction generates data, [which allows one] to see peoples preferences, wants, needs. These can be used to tailor technology according to ones behavior, he adds.

Lastly, Palpallatoc emphasizes that companies should also keep in mind the unchartedinventing new industries and new technology standards. Sixty-eight percent of the executives which we surveyed said regulations, especially in the area of technology, had not kept pace with the changes, he says. Here in the Philippines, the most relevant experience weve had was the entry of Uber and Grab. So were seeing that technology leaders have also become pioneers, redefining standards in different industries.

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'People-first' technology on the rise - Inquirer.net

Technology continues to develop at rapid pace, and law enforcement agencies across the country including the Amarillo Police Department are using these advancements to assist in catching criminals and tracking relevant data in their communities.

APD Chief Ed Drain recently teamed up with the Texas Department of Transportation, who will provide the department with more data on crash types, location, and cause. Analyzing that information from TxDOT assists in public safety, as APD is able to send more traffic patrol to certain areas in hopes of cutting down accidents and fatalities.

Early reports on the data indicate most accidents in the city occur along Amarillo Boulevard, and in the southwest part of the city along Soncy Road and Coulter and Bell streets.

We were retaining some of this data in our records, but our system does not have the ability to provide and compile it into the highly useful, comparative information the way TxDOTs does, APDs Sgt. Brent Barbee said. Being able to look at collision data allows us to develop and implement strategies to prevent the accidents, save lives and property.

The department is using similar data from crime-mapping software to help with criminal incidents, which is used internally and passed on to federal and state agencies. Data mined from the new mapping technology also includes details about the crimes such as type, time, date, motivation, offender and victim information, as well as property involved.

The new technology is a far cry from using pin maps, where an officer placed a pin on a physical map to locate where a crime had occurred.

Crime mapping is a major part of analysis in an effort to prevent crime, Barbee said. A long time before computers existed at police departments, pin maps showing locations of crimes were visible somewhere in every police department. Mapping is one tool to help make decisions about how to deploy officers or other resources including education in prevention measures. Modern mapping software allows law enforcement to view more than just locations of crimes over a short period of time, so it is considerably more effective than a pin map.

The new data also allows APD to be aware of changing trends in the city both in terms of what types of crimes happen most often, as well as where they happen in the city.

The data that we watch shows things like clusters of auto burglaries or home or business burglaries by area, Barbee said. We can watch it move or shift, often week to week, but can also see consistency in some things such as auto burglaries along I-40 or on I-27 near major intersections, for example. Mapping is not needed necessarily to see what is most common, but where and when it most common.

The trend of adding advanced technology is expected to continue for APD.

A new radio system will be in place in March 2018. The new radios which have been approved for APD, Amarillo Fire Department and other civil departments that need them will switch from analog signals to digital, eliminating dead spots in the city that could not be reached with current radios.

There is one major piece of technology APD covets but has yet to secure body cameras, which were recently added to the digital repertoire of the Potter and Randall county sheriffs offices.

The biggest obstacles keeping APD from getting the cameras are costs and technology limits, according to the City of Amarillos director of information technology, Rich Gagnon.

A measure on the November ballots would have given APD the money needed to update in-car computers through which body cameras would run, as well as the money to upgrade the citys data storage system, but the ballot failed to pass.

There is no set time frame for when APD may receive body cameras.

The primary technology interest we have right now body worn cameras, Barbee said. They provide valuable documentation of what an officer and others see and do, including the discovery of evidence. The cameras are an expense, but the most significant expense is the storage for the massive amount of video they will generate.

New law enforcement trend in Chicago

The Chicago Police Department has expanded a technology called ShotSpotter, which uses sensors placed in neighborhoods that can help police detect any time a gun is fired, according to Associated Press reports. The data from those sensors is then sent to smartphones officers carry, as well as their in-car laptops, so officers know within seconds when and where shots were fired from.

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New technology helping APD track, prevent crimes in the city - Amarillo.com

Technology is humanitys greatest feat, yet its greatest fear. Economic development in nations across the world is a product of technological innovation, or to use economist-speak, technological progress.

By the same token, technology gets a bad rap unfairly in many cases. Some say it reduces human roles due to productivity gains from automation. Take retail banks, for instance: many of the branches on the high street nowadays are filled with self-service counters, much like supermarkets.

The productivity puzzle, that efficiency has not increased as technology has gained in its sophistication, is indeed baffling and is a counter argument for more and more robots, but there are possible reasons for this, namely measurement error. Simply blaming tech is nota valid reason.

As mentioned above, tech gets a bad wrap. It was to blame for the flash crash in 1982, it was partially to blame for Long Term Capital Managements blow up from a Russian debt default, and it was to blame for the most recent derivative instruments that imploded the core of the financial system.

So given that, why is the adoption of tech a good idea?

For investment processes, rules based/systemic programs, or the scarier-sounding algorithm is enough to make the less statistically minded switch off, but even relatively simple strategies are better than one might think.

Investment strategists give views on whether they think the market is going up or down. Those with money give those with knowledge the money because they think something will happen, yet they would hesitantly give their savings to bet on an algorithm that would buy the S&P 500 futures market when it is above its 200-day moving average and sell it when it is below because surely that sounds too simple; or is it?

If the futures strategy were implemented along with the following: buy every single stock in the US, choose the top 500 by market capitalisation (and weight it by that market cap) and rebalance that position accordingly every quarter, what would be the result?

The answer would be an outperformance of the S&P 500 over the past five or so years, by a significant margin. Both strategies in some regard are investing in the market, except one is weighting and rebalancing the components, while the other is based on fundamental factors by a human.

The first rule, which is buying when the market goes above its 200-day moving average, is in many respects a momentum strategy. A fundamental strategy based on buying higher than the sector price-earnings (P/E) ratios is also a momentum strategy. The point here is that although both are looking for similar outcomes, someone choosing to invest would likely prefer the human P/E method to the 200-day computer strategy, but why is that?

If a plane was descending into an airport and the tannoy system explained that the air traffic controlling system was relying on technology and not a human, what would the reaction be? It is unlikely to be filled with a sense of insecurity, but that is irrational. Human error is far greater than technological error, yet people seem to think technological processes are bad and do not trust them.

From an investment perspective, fundamental analysis is the foundation for many investment houses, but the two methods are not mutually exclusive. Rules-based methods are very good as a complement because they remove the human element, bias. Those who are not in favour of rules-based methods would say: well, the market changes all the time, so one does not want to be stuck in a rigidsystem that does the same thing in all market conditions.

One could sort of agree, but the adage, this time is different, is clich because it simply is not true. Markets always overshoot, that is what markets do. People always get emotional and believe the hype, that is what people do. Having a system was and never is a bad thing. What is bad is not accompanying it with peoples views. Relying on a system alone has shown in most cases to create problems.

The human versus AI debate is not the right conversation to be having. The focus should be on including technology alongside human decision-making because AI does not have emotion, bias and external pressure to compete with peers. Those who include both in the process or at least do not look at technology as a potential disaster are those who will benefit.

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Taming Technology - The Market Mogul

President Trump has hired Michael Kratsios, former chief of staff at billionaire Peter Thiel's company, to work as deputy chief technology officer with the White House Office of Science or Technology, according to multiple reports.

Thiel offering his top aide to the White House comes after months of supporting Trump behind the scenes. The Paypal co-founder stumped for Trump during a speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, last summer.

Kratsios' predecessor, Alexander Macgillivray, came to the Obama administration from Twitter, while Trump's pick has a venture capital background. Kratsios previously worked as chief financial officer of another Thiel organization, Clarium Capital Management.

The White House has not filled the position for chief technology officer, though the last person in the deputy position outlined what needs to be done in the next administration.

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"All of it is stuff we're rushing to get done. Everything from cybersecurity to making sure we're tackling inequality, that we're working on some of the interesting long-term things, like artificial intelligence," Macgillivray told TechCrunch last September.

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Trump hires Peter Thiel's top aide for technology post - Washington Examiner

Forbes

In The Luxury Travel Segment, The Super Rich Are Leaving Technology In The Draw Forbes During the summer, Deauville in the north of France draws an eclectic mix of tourists. Americans and Canadians come to see the beaches of Normandy and the cemeteries of the World War II soldiers who fought to free Europe from the grip of the Nazis and ...

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In The Luxury Travel Segment, The Super Rich Are Leaving Technology In The Draw - Forbes

St. Al's neurosurgeons using new technology.

Morgan Boydston, KTVB 10:29 PM. MST March 03, 2017

SaintAlphonsusjust performed one of the first brain tumor surgeries in North America that features a new technology in the field. (Photo: Mary Kienzle/KTVB)

BOISE -- A breakthrough in modern medicine is under way at a Boise hospital.

SaintAlphonsus just performed one of the first brain tumor surgeries in North America that features a new technology in the field.

The treatment allows neurosurgeons to precisely find and remove more cancerous and diseased cells, with the ultimate goal of prolonging a patient's survival while creating a better quality of life for a patient whose cancer is incurable.

Intrinsic gliomas - or brain tumors - start within the brain itself, therefore in brain surgery, Dr. BruceAndersen says it's extremely difficult to draw the edge.

Surgeons can navigate the brain based on anatomy, experience and the appearance and abnormality of the tissue, but Andersen says "it's never really that perfect."

Now, a new technology aimed at making surgery more effective is being tested out in the United States.

"This highlights cancerous tissue that you normally can't see or detect any other way," Dr. Andersen said.

Because SaintAlphonsus performs so many cranial neurosurgeries, the hospital was chosen to carry out a clinical trial on 5-Aminolevulinic acid, or 5-ALA.

Dr. Andersen says patients drink about 1.5 ounces of that liquid amino acid four to five hours before surgery.

"... And what happens is it's absorbed by all the cells in your body, but when it's absorbed by tumor cells, and you shine a special kind of light on that tumor, it makes that tumor glow bright red."

So the tumor itself tells the surgeon where it is, helping doctors get a more precise resection of cancerous cells.

Andersen considers 5-ALA applications a breakthrough in the surgical treatment of brain tumors.

"If I can take out 99 percent of those then it makes the chances of radiation therapy and chemotherapysucceeding much much higher. And I think that's the benefit of this technique," Dr. Andersen added.

Andersen says this therapy would ultimately expand the time until tumor recurrence, and create a better quality of life for patients and their families.

"If you can double or triple it by doing something novel like this, I think that's [a] bonus," Andersen added.

Experts say its use is also helpful in biopsies of cancerous tissue - proving that 5-ALA is a versatile technique that surgeons at SaintAlphonsus will be using quite a bit throughout this clinical trial.

5-ALA treatment has been used in other parts of the globe for about five years. Here in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration must ensure that this treatment is safe and effective through clinical trial before making it a standard of treatment.

( 2017 KTVB)

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Saint Alphonsus neurosurgeons using revolutionary technology - KTVB.com

Stadium operators and sports teams have long considered themselves in competition with fans couches. High-definition TV broadcasts and massive screens give fans an opportunity to see games and other events in the comfort of their own homes without having to deal with issues they encounter at stadiums, such as high concessions prices or long lines at restrooms.

But Pete Giorgio, a principal with Deloitte Consulting, thinks the nature of this competition may be overstated. Studies show that fans want to have new and enjoyable experiences, and this trend is even more prominent among young fans, such as millennials. Venues that can deliver these experiences will win the war against the couch.

The key to providing memorable, enjoyable fan experiences is to create a platform that enables fans to have a larger say in how they interact with teams, venues and other fans, said Giorgio, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston on Friday.

This technology platform consists of three layers, Giorgio said: infrastructure, services and experiences. At the base is infrastructure, which includes elements such as stadium wireless and wired networks, video displays, beacons and mobile devices.

This layer supports services such as application programming interfaces (APIs), identity management, data services, audio and video feeds, social channels and analytics.

From these services, venues are able to create fan experiences through measures such as team and stadium apps, mobile ticketing and fan loyalty programs.

Many teams and venues have already established these services, Giorgio said; the next step is to empower fans to create their own experiences. This could mean giving fans access to the APIs so they can create their own apps that improve their experience at an event. For example, one app might provide access to information about rest room lines or concession discounts, while another might create an augmented reality system that gives users real-time statistics as they watch a game.

If you create this platform, you never know whats going to get created in it, Giorgio said, likening the approach to the Apple App Store, which allowed developers to create new apps within an open ecosystem and took off in ways that few observers expected.

To create such a platform, Giorgio suggested that venue operators take advantage of moments when they can build from the ground up, such as during the construction of a new stadium or a technology refresh at an existing venue.

The next step is to figure out how to make money from this platform. This is another area where developers can get creative. Among the opportunities Giorgio identified were charging users for access to the platform (or its data) and selling data to third parties.

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Sloan 2017: How Technology Can Help Stadiums Win the War Against the Couch - BizTech Magazine

The referee Mike Dean tests goalline technology before a Premier League match. From next season there will also be video technology for game-changing incidents. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

The use of video technology for game-changing incidents will be trialled in English football next season, almost certainly including the FA Cup from the third round, it has been confirmed, while next weekends FA Cup quarter-finals could feature a fourth substitution if they go to extra time.

A raft of new exploratory measures, including sin-bins, removing automatic yellow cards for players who give away penalty kicks and even a change in the order of penalty-taking in shootouts wereannounced at the annual general meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab), the games law-making body.

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, was also present at Wembley and confirmed that he hopes video assistant referees (Vars) will also be in place at next years World Cup in Russia.

The meeting was chaired by the FA, whose chief executive, Martin Glenn, said of the possible fourth substitution in this seasons FA Cup: With the Cup now adopting a straight knockout format, the introduction of a fourth substitute in extra time will bring extra intrigue and interest. From a technical point of view it will be interesting to see how managers use the chance to make an additional substitution in such high-profile games and the impact it has on the final result.

Glenn added of the initiatives generally: We see this as a sea change in our approach to the laws of the game. We are moving from a position of conservatism, of being nervous about any change of a desire to keep simplicity, to saying that technology is changing at a pace and that there is a need for experimentation in the game. Var was a major move. From being nervous we are now saying were going to do it. Across the world we are doing real testing, getting referees to work with video screens, to real-life match testing in the MLS. Weve made terrific progress and the game will improve on back of it. Subject to our being fully prepared and ready you can expect to see Vars from the third round of the FA Cup in the coming season.

Details of the Var plans remain unclear, with Glenn confirming that trials are still experimenting with a variety of models, including video referees working in a remote match centre. But there was general confidence that the schemes are working, with time taken to make decisions consistently reducing. The Vars will adjudicate on four criteria adjudged to have game-changing influence: red cards, goals, penalty kicks and cases of mistaken identity.

While not eliminating errors altogether, Infantino said, Vars would prove a real aid to referees. Vars are positive because they will allow that the right decision is taken in a game-changing circumstance, he said. It prevents the referee from making a clear mistake in an occasion where he wouldnt have seen it. It happens. Its happened in the last 150 years. With the help of Var, such a decision can be corrected. But it will not look at every single decision.

Meanwhile players will no longer in any circumstances receive a yellow card if they give away a penalty while making a genuine attempt to play the ball. Electronic devices will also be allowed in technical areas, for use when reviewing an incident that may have caused a player serious injury. Furthermore there will be trials that look to change the order in which penalties are taken in a shootout, with the conventional Team A, Team B order ABAB being replaced by ABBA.

The FA also announced it is to launch a six-figure inquiry into the potential link between heading a football and dementia in professional footballers.

Other decisions which Ifab has authorised will largely be implemented at the discretion of national FAs and at the grassroots level of the game. In leagues outside national top flights (eg from the Championship down) it will be possible to modify the number of substitutes allowed per game. Rolling, or return substitutions, can also be trialled at youth, grassroots and disability levels. The same will apply to sin-bin measures, removing a player from the field for a period of time in the event of them receiving a yellow card.

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Video technology for game-changing incidents to be trialled in England - The Guardian