YoB"I$ufLS@MD]I#sP|"? i;]LjHe9qFIMH`;jkFQ=ga;-Y? $*t3&ca.(w61Ku}>[+Z~=:YqciP=_Z3n*V3"Zp.j*}f!0L :z)_"Q0*v }L[F*Vv/_/v P-_vA`KiT;:5k(U/;,D6R]9Qh$hVU/mf hgZpJ\/~r.ln-B!`Kp (E]P0g=-Nt[Ct H%|^]vcH`.:?>%D!F/M{jh aM0 P]@_^5t!+FPl"'- 1N-udxKS?4}[l ]7&8yBph=asqCqB}>_{;?<7>JYW*jn4/eJGNP+w%3T;G/C(PQ*VUrGSnh+Zhcw@X)n\Cez8:f/Ls4n 3{<. 1.k; Zp^;uU|p|n[[[,eJr$)4N8;Jef=7k8~Uu-pMn><[%]FK 8tSO$FhuO! Buafa 3;H>13$b qF+-%9u;JBrB2cIX2sg"At_a]0ig tC"yY'I,+q"Re%E") Hb^X4TT "e I:CFp03C81"SHeV9e(b)#4+$,r8eYU"Mx.s$FY(K(O1 F .% B$cJ9 4$*1AcF>^0IbN&1,}0w:nG9"Cj9!}9">s>*j[@LmvLN-#l;lR [|x^g/hi'@j{a A?#i>}:!x P2k{ a{F?O't&+Io&E.b5pr?ox"F@}"H"^z=laTeI (jlzJZ wzJg>8a9}WPb)tb{{?H>ojp#:;A"CC]Ma_+]_sNtGdm^o6KmY<>~~B's m5p5ZlpFO9foT<1=.cwGD>.N6MjfpBwO3o@*obyX_@GzrwDAc;nHWDr[d~GD0>Xv'mZfKno'`z_-n,A`Zf_LW g=.=7 _9Oy(*RsT]v*T#1F* yCi+>uV&@n${N(Vdc7My{<^s rmP'IJYwQ{i1wQr8]+vIxCj$v^`5 Av3}_.tkKb?D hIcOSl,b2HcD(OaU%s* QrMP5&HqnmmFo|H"PG*e=[2D]j28TcEg2z=+YYs]`L&gYR#7pHK2.XS(Joy^ cZZ7H&uUvt>xd8U5A03cg8GXo76E;"XF-8}poYz'rBOi& Pn-9U~-=qPjA ++NrCyP/B,lc,-UIP #w.bJyjM 1Gf8-4lFtjTZg A#s;$#>|qt"5s8[dsEcv1EfcZ cDxbe1r,[eYS|ONAt/H[$`BIz0FXoV|a+b!?Jh'n_x3qnPoJ@$[CHE&JE.g-b|E+-3s>LDar^ sT-P[/0vTS&_E'C54jxGY`BBy+l#clra ]Vgf8$314 o'1Q6W Gsy=^>dqL-xJjrI IY09pS7OGRJ9in3$R!QO*={4o@-ZzKv%]n0RM8^n@ !R}gl4D){lfgg<:D>_~SNmM'{C~SRncq#z[w>>O ?k9-'omAF,$]uH ny; /8{(zaef(*+tVqAa Xd`LyohB\#uT!dRsHs^J^X1U^{rcV&%*c@LFS'%rwF wUwl7>66^_etmiYq$aq0nH8zV28 EO&.@P"n9M@fngqo|M(BlFI7dSK-QAKDNkGlAyp9mG&ecLLyh8dIem+mW8o|4YhB(=Ue"5GfK.2S&XsJgk3]j0/,Y^s/nRv-AKZYfM#:W,F_x%/NfHkq< ?S GD)WBoB^SE wpv eJ#x>sGg8$`LmI4",Nd`8I8gq:i'z1l5 m dd{Pi'AIP`S_5As V]$i -B`I,Q+L$-z lr:$.|LLI#lJ@wAFf&zAkBrtn4j05yG_YcuM'm(c6Ll7RsYnw?|pAu/~/o7Ko@ ;2Dito$1PLZ|G0gB8b2m5FW,oBu6W',R}5FLch|YMn8u~G~?M`yCT[n8uR95R{Q`*DU G4) T)U)Uhp@qk6Lz _MU+5bdBKiB :!dp J8Y%,RB|mS^~JNh69UqOOF_ETtW[s(q"b$kp a8@;_jRG{_#0`lwc:[fCx vu>x= NEAhAxO&0@V= [[aPffK}5yC3w[>4s /0sK,21*L+V|&y1w>}&1X/b=2#}#E0%SgC,mi}l{3>i%y}tyRzi,,n1nI

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Are technology firms madly overvalued? - The Economist

Enlarge / Frank Abagnale, as played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, once pretended to be a doctor. Now he's teaching the health industry about the threat of identity theft.

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Frank Abagnale is world-famous for pretending to be other people. The former teenage con man, whose exploits 50 years ago became a Leonardo DiCaprio film called Catch Me If You Can, has built a lifelong career as a security consultant and advisor to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. So it's perhaps ironic that four and a half years ago, his identity was stolenalong with those of 3.6 million other South Carolina taxpayers.

"When that occurred," Abagnale recounted to Ars, "I was at the FBI office in Phoenix. I got a call from [a reporter at] the local TV news station, who knew that my identity was stolen, and they wanted a comment. And I said, 'Before I make a comment, what did the State Tax Revenue Office say?' Well, they said they did nothing wrong. I said that would be absolutely literally impossible. All breaches happen because people make them happen, not because hackers do it. Every breach occurs because someone in that company did something they weren't supposed to do, or somebody in that company failed to do something they were supposed to do." As it turned out (as a Secret Service investigation determined), a government employee had taken home a laptop that shouldn't have left the office and connected itunprotectedto the Internet.

Government breaches of personal information have become all too common, as demonstrated by the impact of the hacking of the Office of Management and Budget's personnel records two years ago. But another sort of organization is now in the crosshairs of criminals seeking identity data to sell to fraudsters: doctors' offices. Abagnale was in Orlando this week to speak to health IT professionals at the 2017 HIMSS Conference about the rising threat of identity theft through hacking medical recordsa threat made possible largely because of the sometimes haphazard adoption of electronic medical records systems by health care providers.

Abagnale warned that the value of a medical record to identity thieves far surpasses that of just a name, date of birth, and social security number. That's because it provides an even bigger window into an individual's life. Abagnale saysthe responses of organizations (including the state government of South Carolina and the OPM) to theft of sensitive personal information is far from adequateand because there's no way to effectively change the data, it can be held for years by criminals and still be valuable.

Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina at the time of the breach, "ordered credit monitoring for every citizen in the state for free for one year," Abagnale said. "I wrote her a letter the next day that said one year of credit monitoring services was worthless, because people who steal mass data warehouse that data for sometimes three to five years. So they're not going to put it in the marketplace when you told them you're giving credit monitoring for one year." President Obama ordered free credit protection for those affected by the OPM breach for 10 yearsthough the original plan ran out in December, and it's on the shoulders of those whose information was exposed to re-up for the protection.

When credit card data is stolen, Abagnale explained, criminals "have to get rid of it right away"because credit cards can be replaced and fraud stopped quickly. "But if it is someone's name, Social Security Number, and date of birththey can't change [those things]. So the longer I keep the data, the more valuable it becomes when I go to sell it." Abagnale noted that some of the personal identity data stolen from the breach at TJ Maxx a decade ago is just starting to surface on the black market, for instance.

Abagnale said that there's been a surge in the past few years in medical identity theft. "It's as simple as, I'm in Orlando and I break my leg, I have no insurance, and I go to the hospital and say I'm you," he explained. "I give them your information, they treat me, they bill your insurance agency, and then your insurance company eventually notifies you because there was a deductible. And you say, 'wait a minute, I was never in Orlando, I never broke my leg.' But it's not that simpletrying to get that fixed, and trying to get it off your medical records, and then having collection agencies hounding you for that money is just unbelievable."

Such a scenario isjust the beginning of what's possible with the theft of medical data today. "Like every form of identity theft, if I can become you," said Abagnale, "what I can do as you is only limited by my imagination."

That's why Abagnale is particularly concerned about the security of smaller healthcare organizations, especially pediatricians' practices. "These days, we're very concerned about the theft of children'sidentities," he explained. "We see a huge uptick in people stealing the identities of children. The younger that child, the more valuable that identity isbecause if I can become that child, I can become that child for a long period of time before that child is going to begetting a credit report or applying for credit or a job. And a two-year-old's [stolen identity] is not going to look like a five-year-old a few years later, because someone can use that identity over and over."

The wave of ransomware attacks against hospitals last year served as a stark wake-up call to health providers that they had a security problem, according to Rod Piechowski, a senior director at HIMSS. "Ransomware got the most publicity," he said. "It put a sense of threats in people'sminds more than any conversation they'd had previously."

For many health organizations, those threats are well outside their wheelhouse. Healthcare organizations have faced a "real lift" in adopting electronic health systems over the past seven years, Piechowski explained, particularly for those that never had an information technology department before. It's "thousands of hospitals and hundreds of thousands of providers having to implement information technology," he says.

Regulations like those under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have always placed privacy and security requirements on healthcare providers, but the Affordable Care Act's incentives were intended "to get people using and reporting that they were using these electronic systems," Piechowski explained. However, the focus wasn't on security practices. "So now all these companies find themselves in a situation where theyve become way more of a target. We're seeing an uptick in the intensity and aggression in targeting of healthcare specifically. There are attackers out there that are aware of the lack of real defense mechanisms in placeit's a new game."

Piechowski's description of what the healthcare industry now faces is similar to what many companies have been facing for much of the last decade"they're constantly seeing phishing attempts, constantly seeing malware," he said. And while there are technical means to screen against many of the more brute-force attacks, the value of data in hospitals has led to much more long-game attacks based on thorough reconnaissance and probing for weak points. "There's a longer road, where first they find out who you are, they learn more about you, and about the hierarchy of your organization," he told Ars. "We're seeing more sophisticated approaches to learning about your organization."

In other words, hospitals are ripe targets for social engineeringsomething Frank Abagnale remainsan expert in. "It's what I did 50 years ago as a teenager. I didn't have the access to computers, so I had to use the telephone. Social engineering is just as powerful today as it was 50 years ago when I used it." Abagnale believes that technology alone will never defeat a good social engineering game"the only answer is to absolutely educate your employees about how to protect themselves and how to protect their company."

To that end for the past eight years, Abagnalehas done "cyber awareness" training at major companies across the US to demonstrate just how vulnerable employees are to the most basic of social engineering tricks. "I don't park in the visitor parking lotI park in the employee parking lot, and then I remove from my pocket 25 or 30 memory sticks that say on them 'confidential' [and drop them in the parking lot]. Then at lunchtime, I'll open my laptop to see how many employees actually went to see what that memory stick had on it, and I can tell whether they put it in their computer and didn't open it or if they opened it. In the 7 or 8 years that I've been doing cyber awareness month, I've yet to be to a companyand they're all household nameswhere someone hasn't gone to see what the file on the stick says. And of course what it says is, 'this is a test and you've failed.'"

Abagnale's seminars hammer home the damage that employees can expose companies to by simply plugging in a USB drive they found in the parking lot. "I explain to them that I could have cost their company a billion dollars overnight. I could have destroyed the hundred-year-old brand of their company just by the act of their taking a look at that," he says. "That's the way you have to bring home that point, and you have to keep bringing it home. They will get it, but they need to understand how these things occur. You can't just say to them, 'Hey, people will hack in; you need to be careful.' You have to explain to them how they do it, why they do it, what they're trying to obtain. And once they understand it, they're smart enough to protect themselves from being a victim against that risk."

Abagnale and Piechowski believe the best defense against breaches is using this sort of reinforcement of the threat posed by not following policies and procedures. "What we're alluding to here," explained Piechowski, "is that it's not just technologythere's people involved, there's process involved, and if you don't have a process in place that people understand, then technology alone is not going to keep you safe." The only effective way to get people to understand and change to follow policies, he noted, is to spell out whats at risk.

"The culture of the organization will change in time once it recognizes the business threat," Piechowski said. "Because if the business isn't viable, that's their livelihood."

So the next time you're frustrated by the arcane processes of your health provider, rememberthey're in placefor everyone'sprotection.

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Frank Abagnale, world-famous con man, explains why technology won't stop breaches - Ars Technica

Fugitive Technology Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for Stock-Options Backdating Scandal Wall Street Journal (subscription) Jacob Kobi Alexander, a fugitive technology executive who fled to Africa for a decade rather than face criminal charges in a stock-options backdating scandal, was sentenced Thursday in Brooklyn federal court to 30 months in federal prison, the ... and more »

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Fugitive Technology Executive Sentenced to 30 Months for Stock-Options Backdating Scandal - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

February 23, 2017 8:06 PM

BOSTON (CBS) The highly-specialized technology that police used to create a profile of Vanessa Marcottes killer, could mean the difference between solving a crime and a cold case.

Marcotte was 27 when she was killed while jogging near her parents Princeton home on August 8, 2016.

The technology has the potential to show police the killers face and give them desperately needed clues.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said Thursday that the person of interest is described as a Hispanic or Latino man with an athletic build, light or medium skin, and shaved or very short hair.

Scientists at the Parabon NanoLab are able to predict what the suspect looks like by using a small amount of DNA taken from the crime scene.

Dr. Ellen McRae Greytak, the director of the Virginia lab, explained how the technology works.

Greytak said, We focus on things that dont change with the environment, so we do pigmentation which is eye, hair, and skin color, as well as freckling.

Police head into the woods on August 11 to search the area where Vanessa Marcotte was found dead. (WBZ-TV)

She says the lab also focuses on the face and persons ancestry.

When investigators run out of options, Greytak says they contact her lab, where a majority of these cases become cold cases.

And what we do is we tell them of those 400 people in the area, you can eliminate 90-95 percent because they dont match this profile, Greytak said. And now you can focus in a manageable number of people.

From there, the investigators have more information to work with and become more hopeful of solving the case.

The technology is being used in a Springfield cold case, where investigators say it has helped invigorate interest.

It is not yet possible to predict height and weight using the technology.

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I-Team: Specialized Technology Could Help Solve Murder Of Vanessa Marcotte - CBS Local

Chieko Asakawa (Photo credit: IBM)

Cognitive technology and machine-learning capabilities are essential to help the disabled stand on their own, but further advancements are needed to help them beyond the basics.

The visually impaired now were able to perform more tasks than they did decades before the internet and mobile technology surfaced, said Chieko Asakawa, who was the first female Japanese to be named IBM Fellow back in 2009. She lost her sight at the age of 14 after an accident in a swimming pool damaged her optic nerve and had to abandon her dream of becoming an Olympic athletic.

Asakawa, who joined IBM as a researcher in 1985, currently works with the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, to identify ways accessibility technologies can help more people participate in society. Much of her work now centred on cognitive technology.

She explained that the visually impaired faced two primary difficulties in life-- accessibility to information and mobility, the first of which had changed dramatically over the past few decades.

Previously, without personal computers and the internet, she was unable to read newspapers, magazines, or books without help from someone else. While the emergence of audio and Braille books helped, copies were limited and she would have to wait, sometimes for months, before the Braille library was able to send a copy to her.

The most significant development came when Braille went digital and web accessibility became pervasive, she said. Asakawa's research had supported various initiatives in this field, which included developing a word processor to create Braille documents and building a digital library for Braille literature.

More notably, she helped build a browser plugin that converted text on webpages to speech, enabling visually-impaired users to navigate the web using a numeric keypad. Developed in 1997, the IBM Home Page Reader supported multiple languages including French, German, and Japanese and widely adopted across the globe.

There also had been some advancement in the area of mobility, thanks to technologies such as GPS and beacons as well as mobile devices with voice command capabilities. Progress, though, remained inadequate and more improvements would be needed to help the blind attain true independence.

Asakawa's research here looked at how GPS could be used to guide the visually impaired, but the technology's accuracy, especially indoors, still was not up to par. Its potential, though, was promising.

In fact, IBM and Carnegie Mellon University developed a mobile app, called NavCog, which operated as a voice navigation system using sensors, or beacons, as well as cognitive technology to identify the user's location and direction. It then would send voice commands via the smartphone to guide users towards their destination.

IBM Research this month kicked off a pilot, alongside Japanese civil engineering firm Shimizu and real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan, to assess the NavCog system across three Coredo Muromachi shopping mall buildings located in the downtown district of Nihonbashi-Muromachi.

Some 220 beacons were installed to cover an area spanning 21,000 square metres. This encompassed an underground pedestrian walkway, which connected the three buildings, as well as several shops and restaurants and a movie theatre. The beacons were installed on ceilings and in existing gaps, so no changes to infrastructures were required.

A probabilistic model was created using machine-learning algorithms, which linked radio wave signals with likely pedestrian locations to facilitate navigation. The system used various sensors in the smartphone, such as accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer, to improve navigation.

After a destination had been provided, the system would provide the shortest route while avoiding obstructions such as escalators and confusing turns. It would provide additional information to caution users about nearby obstacles or when they were about to reach a fork in the passageway.

During the pilot, data would be analysed for location accuracy, voice guidance timing, and ease-of-use.

According to Asakawa, the system currently had an accuracy rate of one to two metres. While this would need to be further improved, she underscored the importance of cognitive technology in enabling the blind to be mobile.

"We call this cognitive assistance, which means to supplement or augment abilities that others may be missing or abilities that are decreasing and weakening, such as those experienced by elderly people," she said.

She explained that IBM categorised cognitive technology into four key areas: localisation; computer vision or object recognition; data or knowledge; and interaction.

Pointing to the localisation component, she said the effectiveness of navigation systems could be significantly improved if the accuracy of the user's location could be narrowed down to an inch.

She added that object recognition also would need to be further developed and properly linked to the required data, such as a map or store details.

Until technology caught up, Asakawa's priorities remained primarily on addressing the mobility challenge, which continued to be the biggest hurdle for the visually impaired.

Asked what she would like technology to help her regain from her time as a sighted individual, she said it would be "nice to have" the ability to perceive colours again.

"I really enjoy visiting museums and looking at art and paintings, but those information has been lost," she said. "So perhaps we could find a way to describe artistic artefacts, colours, or sceneries and portraits through voice. Or we could tap some form of crowdsourcing, in which we ask people to describe and then share what they see."

This, she added, could open up opportunities for video analysis, among others, in the field of vision recognition. She also mooted the idea of a robotic guide dog, which would have vision recognition and machine-learning capabilities while requiring lower maintenance than an actual dog.

For now, however, such ideas remained low on her priorities and would remain so until the visually impaired attained absolute independence in terms of mobility.

"Now I still have to depend on someone, for instance, to tell me where the front desk or the gate is. There are still so many issues to address to be truly mobile," said Asakawa, who today aspires to be able to travel and go for walks alone.

Reiterating the importance of achieving true independence, she noted: "We need to change the mindset that the impaired can't or don't need to shop, just as previously when people didn't think we needed to use the web."

The goal was to reduce the amount of effort needed for the disabled to go about their daily lives, she said, adding that cognitive technology and artificial intelligence played a key role in facilitating this change.

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Helping Asia's disabled move forward with cognitive technology - ZDNet

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --The best leads authorities have come from Liberty Germans cell phone: a suspects picture and an audio clip.

Wednesday morning, authorities called her a hero for having the presence of mind to record what was happening in her final moments. And while it may be disturbing, technology like that may be what leads to a break in the case.

Bottom line, experts say young people need to be aware of their surroundings and trust their guts. Again, police havent told us what exactly was happening when that picture and audio was recorded, but experts say its something all parents need to be aware of. And while disturbing, its a reminder for parents to speak with their kids about the importance and responsibility of using technology like a cell phone to stay safe.

Conversations should begin very, very early, said Sandy Runkle-Delorme, of Prevent Child Abuse Indiana. She says ideally as soon as a child begins using any kind technology.

If these conversations are being had right from the start, it just kind of transitions naturally and normally between the parent and the child, said Runkle-Delorme.

Its unknown if this picture was taken by Liberty on purpose, like if she somehow felt threatened by whoever this man is. Experts though say teens, or anyone, in a position where they feel unsafe, should get out of there immediately, even if they think a picture would help authorities.

Dont stick around long enough to take a picture, if you have that ahead of time great, said Officer Julie Quesenbery of the Columbus Police Department, if youre able to get that and you know for sure youre in a safe place, youre around other people and you feel completely safe, then if youre feel like thats something that would help police, do that.

Police also say parents need to make sure their kids and teens know to go with their guts.

Trust yourself to know that if someone gives you the creeps, theyre probably a creeper, said Quesenbery.

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After Delphi murders, teens urged to be safe with technology - Fox 59

DETROIT (AP) Technology glitches including Bluetooth phone pairing and misunderstood voice commands put a dent in car and truck reliability scores in a major survey of automobile owners.

Lexus and Porsche tied for the top spot, leading all brands for dependability in the survey released Wednesday by the consulting firm J.D. Power. But electronic problems caused trouble across the industry, pushing the average up to 156 problems per 100 vehicles. Thats four problems higher than last year and the highest number since J.D. Power changed scoring methods in 2015.

Toyota, Buick and Mercedes-Benz rounded out the top five most dependable brands, while Fiat, Jeep and Infiniti were the least reliable, according to the survey.

The J.D. Power study, now in its 28th year, questioned 35,186 owners of 2014 model-year vehicles about issues they have had in the last 12 months.

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In addition to technology trouble, complaints about battery failures jumped by 44 percent compared with last year. Batteries were the most frequently replaced part not related to normal wear, the study found.

Thats because people are buying vehicles with more electric features such as power seats and high-end audio systems, plus automakers are converting mechanical devices such as power steering to electric power, said Dave Sargent, J.D. Powers vice president for global automotive. Also, in an effort to save fuel by reducing drag on the engine, automakers arent fully charging batteries in some cases, Sargent said. It seems like that maybe isnt going as well as they would like, he said.

The study found that mainstream brands are catching up with luxury and niche brands with excellent reliability. Of the top-10 brands, five are considered mainstream. Besides Toyota and Buick, Hyundai (6th), Chevrolet (8th) and Honda (9th) made the top 10. Luxury brands BMW (7th) and Jaguar (10th) also were high in the rankings.

The scores are important, because buyers who are unhappy with their vehicles are less likely to buy a future vehicle from the same brand. We find buyers are increasingly avoiding models with poor reputations for dependability, so manufacturers cant afford to let quality slip, Sargent said.

Automakers have struggled for nearly a decade to perfect electronic systems that link phones and handle voice commands. J.D. Power said the audio-communication-entertainment-navigation category caused the most problems in the survey, accounting for 22 percent of complaints. Thats up from 20 percent last year.

The survey didnt include any vehicles with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which automakers have recently allowed into their in-dash systems. Both mimic the users phone on the car touch screen. Sargent said he expects them to cause more problems at first as drivers become confused about whether they are using the phone system or the cars electronics.

Lexus and Porsche tied as the top brands with 110 problems per 100 vehicles. Toyota moved up one position to third with 123 problems, followed by Buick at 126 and Mercedes-Benz at 131. Hyundai was the most improved brand, jumping from 19th to sixth place, reducing problems per 100 vehicles by 25 to 133.

The study also ranks brands by market segment. Segment-level winners included the Camry for most dependable midsize car while Toyotas FJ Cruiser was the top Compact SUV. Fords F-150 was the most reliable pickup truck.

Toyota Motor Co. won 10 of 18 segment awards, the highest number ever received by a single corporation. Winners included the Lexus GS, ES and RX, and Toyotas Avalon, Camry, FJ Cruiser, Prius, Prius v, Sienna and Venza. General Motors Co. had four segment winners.

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Study: Technology trouble dents car and truck reliability - The Oakland Press

WASHINGTON Federal regulators saidWednesdaythat they will allowcertainnew wireless devices to use a portion ofunlicensed airwavesnow used largely for Wi-Fi,a move aimed at ending a long-running dispute betweenindustries.

The Federal Communications Commission said it would open up currently-unlicensed airwaves for use by new 4G LTE wireless devices known as LTE-U (for unlicensed). The move will allow wireless providers to deliver mobile broadband service while sharing the road with Wi-Fi, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

Pai added that industry testing demonstrated that both these [LTE-U] devices and Wi-Fi operations can co-existThis [announcement] heralds a technical breakthrough in the many shared uses of this spectrum.

LTE-U will provide customers with another option that offers the extra capacity of unlicensed spectrum, but also the added security and faster speeds of LTE, a wireless broadband technology. Both VerizonCommunications Inc. VZ, +0.49% and T-MobileUS Inc. TMUS, -0.19% ,saidon Wednesdaythat they would launch LTE-U network capabilities and devices in the spring.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

The BrainBot, a brain-scanning technology developed by tech startup PotBotics, enables physicians to pick a marijuana strain that is most suited for their patients' needs.

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Nascar, once a cultural icon, hits the skids.

A strategy for happy dual-career couples.

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FCC opens bandwidth to new LTE-U technology - MarketWatch

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Technology Hangups Drive Car-Durability Complaints Wall Street Journal (subscription) A growing number of car buyers say vehicles are getting too savvy for their own good, with concerns about technology dragging down the auto industry's durability scores for the second consecutive year in a study that shoppers often rely on when picking ... JD Power's last Vehicle Dependability Study points to increasing issues with in-car technologyNew York Daily News all 53 news articles »

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Technology Hangups Drive Car-Durability Complaints - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

National residential and commercial real estate services company LRES announced Wednesday that it promoted Paul Bush, a veteran software development manager, to the role of VP of Technology.

Bush brings 15-plus years experience to his new position, where he will steer the development of LRES proprietary technology while implementing and maintaining its current systems. As VP of Technology, Bush is also tasked with continuing the companys track record of more than 15 years of growth via secure applications and services as well as peak uptime and scalability in LRES networks, according to the company.

Bush has extensive experience in management, software development, IT, and .NET application development. Prior to serving as a software development manager at LRES, he worked for an online marketing platform. As Director of Engineering, he implemented continuous integration software development methodology and automated the build and deployment cycle using version-control APIs and other management tools.

We are confident Paul is the right fit for this role, as he brings with him a proven track record of implementing standardized processes and improving overall business functionality and success, said Clyde Prestowitz, CTO of LRES, which offers managed business processes for the origination and default markets. The company offers its clients valuations, REO asset management, HOA, and technology solutions.

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LRES Instates New VP of Technology - DSNews.com

The incoming head of Maines trade group for credit unions said his top priority is to use advanced technology and data to save consumers money and help them make better financial decisions.

The Maine Credit Union League and its for-profit data processing affiliate Synergent have chosen Todd Mason to replace outgoing President and CEO John Murphy, who plans to retire this summer. Mason is a credit union industry veteran from Michigan with executive experience in that states credit union trade organization.

Masons current job is chief strategy officer for RouteOne, an indirect automotive lending technology company based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Before that, he worked for the Michigan Credit Union League and Affiliates for 19 years, serving in a variety of roles including vice president of technology, education and marketing, and chief operating officer of the leagues CU Solutions Group. He also helped launch a cooperative venture called League InfoSight, where he served as its chief operating officer.

Mason said he plans to arrive in Maine in late April. It will be his first time living in the state. He said the Maine league and Synergent have an outstanding national reputation, particularly in the area of technology, which drew him to the job.

There are some really interesting things going on around technology in the financial world, Mason said. Synergent is really at the core of that.

Synergent is a for-profit subsidiary of the Maine league that provides data-processing services to credit unions. It also offers back-end services such as shared branching, statement processing, ATM, debit card, check processing and support services, along with data mining for marketing purposes.

Mason said the Maine league and Synergent seemed like a good fit because they share his desire to push credit union technology further without compromising the industrys emphasis on personal interaction. He said an example of technology he would like to see implemented is the use of artificial intelligence to better connect credit union members with services they may need.

Mason said he also was impressed with the Maine leagues success at promoting credit unions in the state. His job will include leading the marketing, education and lobbying efforts for the industry.

Maine is a very well-respected organization in the credit union system, he said. In Maine, we have some of the highest member penetration in the U.S., with over 50 percent of state residents belonging to a credit union.

In September, Murphy announced plans to retire in June after 25 years as head of the Maine Credit Union League and Synergent. He has held numerous positions during his 44-year career with the organizations and participated in the development of many products, services and programs for credit unions. Together, the league and Synergent employ 163 people.

To me, its a very bittersweet position to be in, Murphy said. Im very appreciative of the opportunities that Ive had through my own career.

The process of choosing Murphys replacement involved an extensive, six-month national search conducted by ORourke & Associates that first led to the selection of five finalists by a six-member search committee. Ultimately, the leagues board of directors chose Mason.

We just felt that he was a good overall fit, Murphy said.

Board Chairman and Connected CU CEO Rick Lachance said the board found Murphy to be the most aligned with the leagues values, culture and shared vision for its member organizations. His background in technology also was considered a major asset, Lachance said.

His extensive leadership experience, with both a technology organization and working with innovative credit union trade association services, allows Todd to bring unique skills to our organizations, he said. Our board looks forward to the innovation and service commitment that he will bring to the credit unions we serve.

Formed in 1938, the Maine Credit Union Leagues membership comprises all 58 credit unions in Maine.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

[emailprotected]

Twitter: @jcraiganderson

Continue reading here:

Maine Credit Union League's incoming top exec promises technology boost - Press Herald

Forbes

The Fall Of Manufacturing And Rise Of Technology Makes Lifelong Education More Important Forbes President Trump has sounded a note that resonates with many Americans: good middle class jobs are disappearing. He's right. Adjusted for inflation, the incomes of the bottom 60% of the income distribution are not much higher today than they were 30 ...

Read this article:

The Fall Of Manufacturing And Rise Of Technology Makes Lifelong Education More Important - Forbes

New technologies are improving workers compensation programs in everything from communications and training to health care delivery and claims, according to experts.

Tom Ryan, market research leader for Marshs Workers Compensation Center of Excellence, speaking during a recent Marsh broadcast, identified several areas of workers compensation that can benefit from technology:

Wearable technology is also having an impact. Wearables can monitor employee movements and alert co-workers of danger, as well as monitor fatigue, body temperature and repetitive motion. The information can be used in training, fraud prevention and wellness programs, Ryan said.

Construction industry wearables include high tech vests and helmets that have lights or vibrate to alert employees of potentially dangerous changes in surroundings.

The use of telemedicine has resulted in higher network penetration, lower claims severity and lower claims costs at Bank of America.

Some firms are equipping forklifts to sound an alarm or flash lights to warn employees and the public. Many pieces of equipment require both hands to operate and can be fitted with vibrating sensors to alert the operators of changes in their surroundings.

Joseph Molloy, vice president of workforce safety at Northwell Health, offered a case example of improvements his firm realized after it created a centralized workforce safety department and revamped its employee injury reporting system.

Previously, injuries were reported to different parts of the company. He said employees were confused throughout the life of an injury on whom to report to and what to report. Completion of forms by employees was inconsistent, he said, and penmanship was an issue. For example, asking where an accident occurred resulted in answers that ranged from an address to a building floor to a hospital.

Molloy said Northwell used technology improve its incident reporting rate. The company added automated forms and connected employee data so that the forms could be partially pre-filled. It also added multiple ways to report an incident, including a mobile app and an 800-number. Completed employee reports of injury were then sent to the supervisor, safety officer, human resources, Broadspire (its third party claims administrator) and to its workforce safety department that triages cases to determine potential nurse case management opportunities.

According to Molloy, the new system has resulted in more employees being placed in transitional return to work assignments and a positive response from employees.

Molloy said the keys to success when implementing these types of changes include engaging senior leadership and sharing the missions method and rationale for the change.

Donna Sides, senior insurance manager and workers compensation supervisor with Bank of America, offered another case study showing how technology can improve workers compensation programs.

Bank of America implemented a telenursing program for insured employees. This included a dedicated 24/7 reporting line that allowed injured workers to speak to a registered nurse and directly report a claim.

The nurse assesses the medical history, injury, pain level, obtains an accident description and offers a first aid type of treatment recommendation. If additional treatment is warranted, the nurse will direct employees to an in-network provider where allowed and then schedule the appointment. Call notes are uploaded to the Bank of America claims system and are viewable by adjusters.

Sides said the use of telemedicine at Bank of America has resulted in higher network penetration, lower claims severity and lower claims costs.

According to David Lupinsky, vice president at CorVel Corp., telehealth was originally created to bring healthcare to rural areas. Now it brings healthcare to employees and allows employers the ability to create virtual clinics which, in turn, drives greater productivity. Telehealth also removes the need for a larger provider network, he said.

Lupinsky said telehealth is a viable option for employers of all sizes, meaning they no longer need to make a large investment in onsite clinics. While it is not for every case, telehealth can take care of 40 percent of claims, he said.

Johnson is editor of Wells Medias ClaimsJournal.com, where this article was originally published.

The rest is here:

How Technology Is Changing Workers' Compensation - Insurance Journal

Reducing incarceration with technology

Twenty new jurisdictions have joined the Safety and Justice Challenge, an initiative to reduce over-incarceration and address racial and ethnic local justice disparities through innovative criminal justice reforms.

A national $100 million initiative by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the challenge works to tackle such issues as gender-responsive risk and needs assessment, culture-based case management and recidivism reduction approaches, and enhanced services for people with mental illness involved with the justice system, the foundation said in its announcement of the new grant winners.

Many of the solutions involve using technology to drive down jail usage and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in local justice systems.

Durham County, N.C., is developing an automated notification system to prevent failure-to-appear warrants and arrests. People facing criminal court charges would receive text or phone notices regarding their scheduled court dates, in an effort to decrease the number of people who end up in jail because of missing a court date.

People forget things. Its only human, Durham County Clerk of Superior Court Archie L. Smith III said in a statement. Medical providers generate appointment reminder calls to insure that health needs are timely met. We will provide reminder calls such that legal obligations can be timely addressed.

Adams County, Colo., is developing a data linking system to better understand the correlation between mental health crises and crime. It will analyze how many critical incident response calls are related to mental health crises and divert people with mental illness from incarceration to treatment. The county will develop a dashboard and analytical tool to monitor progress onredirecting people with mental illness to treatment to reducethe unnecessary use of emergency services and the jail.

The intent of the system will be to share data between health providers in the jail and community to improve continuity of care, according to minutes from the Data Sharing Task Force Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. We know people stay in prison/jail longer and return more without continuity of care.

San Francisco is developing a web-based recidivism analysis dashboard, integrating data from multiple justice agencies to support the development of data-driven sentencing and supervision policies that will help the city assess its progress in reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system.

This dashboard will offer an interface that would allow key decision-makers to review information in real time and make decisions about resource allocation for supervision or programming, according to the San Francisco Sentencing Commission City and County of San Francisco. "It would also be a tool to inform the public about how we are collectively reaching our goal to reduce recidivism in the criminal justice system."

The 20 communities will receive short-term support of $50,000 each from the foundations Innovation Fund and expert technical assistance in designing and implementing local reforms. They are also eligible for future funding opportunities, and have access to the resources, peer learning opportunities and expertise of theSafety and Justice Challenge Network.

About the Author

Kathleen Hickey is a freelance writer for GCN.

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Reducing incarceration with technology - GCN.com

More than two-thirds of the earths surface is covered with water, but most of it is useless for healthy human hydration. Excluding seawater, glaciers and polar ice caps, less than 1 percent of the planets life-sustaining water isin lakes, rivers, streams and underground aquifers. Much of that readily available drinking water requires treatment to eradicate harmful microbes and toxins.

As a result, access to clean drinking water is limited and precarious for many of the worlds people. Water scarcity profoundly affects 1 out of 9people, according to the Water Project, and most illnesses in underdeveloped countries are linked to poor water and sanitary conditions. Natural disasters like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami can lead to emergency situations that affect millions of people who lose access to potable water.

The sheer number of impoverished peoplewho are teetering on the edge of access to clean drinking water prompted a team of researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalos school of engineering and applied sciences to figure out a way to improve solar distillation, a long-established, cost-effectiveyet problematic process of extracting clean drinking water from contaminated sources using simple materials and sunlight.

We have a lot of need for this technology and we hope we can collaborate with people, organizations and agencies to develop this, said Qiaoqiang Gan, associate professor of electrical engineering at the university and a co-author of arecent studydescribing a new method to improve the efficiency of using sunlight to distill clean drinking water.

The idea of using the suns heat to vaporize and recondense water has been known since at least the 4th century B.C. when the Greek philosopher Aristotle first described that salt could be removed from seawater using the suns heat to create water vapor. Suchsolar stills have been used since the industrial revolution, but one major drawback to the technology has beenthe output. Evaporation and condensation arenot fast processes, and most solar stills, especially simple, low-cost ones, are unable to produce enough water to sustain one person in survivalist mode.

But rising awareness of water scarcity issues has led researchers like Gan and his team in Buffalo to apply new techniques to make solar distillation more efficient. Their solar vapor generator and condenser uses porous paper covered with carbon black, a materialthat has a near-zero reflectivity and therefore absorbs a higher amount of solar heat. The carbon-covered paper is then placed over floating white polystyrene foam and a thermal insulator that helps concentrate the solar heat onto the carbon layer. The device is thenplaced on the surface of a dirty water source while the paper acts as a sponge and the carbon as an evaporator. The vapor then condenses on the angled wall of the vaporizer, seeping into a culvert that collects the potable water.

Gan and his teamhave claimed that their prototype produces as much as three times more potable water as comparable solar stills, or about 4.2 cups an hour under sunny conditions. The average healthy adult needs about eight cups of water aday. Crucially, this is all done using cheap materials that can be scaled, meaning arrays of floating stills could be tappedin emergency situations to provide a considerable amount of fresh drinking water to a disaster-struck community, especially in the sunnyparts ofAfrica, Asia and Latin America.

In November, the researchers registered a company called Sunny Clean Water and are hoping to have a production-ready version of their prototype by the end of the year.

Gan, 37, spoke to Salon about his teams work to improve the efficiency of a renewable-energy-using technology thats been around for a very long time.

What attracted you to this project?

Water stress is a global challenge, and its become more and more significant, including in the U.S. The water quality in the U.S. should be the highest in the world, but actually we still have a lot of accidents of contamination which jeopardizes our citizens health. Then there are those resource-limited countries and developing countries, like China and India. Everyone is interested in this issue. We feel that we can do this better.

What does this prototype do that makes it better than other methods of water purification?

Currently, the main technology for water purification is not solar energy based at all. They use reverse osmosis. This technology pushes saltwater or contaminated water through membranes so that clean water can go through. This is the mainstream technology.

But the main disadvantages are, first of all, you have to consume a lot of energy to push the water through these membranes, and secondly the amount of clean water produced is relatively small, leaving a significant amount of water left behind that has a higher concentration of contamination. This wastewater introduces more significant environmental issues. So these are the two major disadvantages.

What are the disadvantages of using solar energy to produce clean water?

A solar water still is a supplementary technology. We cannot compete with the high level of productivity of the mainstream technology [in terms of the output of clean water]. Developed areas of the world would still want to use the high-productivity technology.But our aim is to focus on areas where huge populations suffer from lack of access to clean water.

Think about, for example, Africa. Weve received responses from South African companies that are very interested in this technology. A lot of small areas, for example islands the people there cannot afford those energy-consuming, environmentally unfriendly high-productivity systems. Solar stills are a better option. They can provide the minimum required amount of clean water.

How much water can you theoretically produce with your solar still?

Currently our practical productivity is around 1kilogram per hour per square meter. That means if we have 1 square meter [of contaminated water], after one hour we can produce 1kilogram [or about 4.2 cups] of clean water under full sunlight.

Its totally dependent on solar energy, so if its cloudy or raining, you should not expect as much clean water. Tropical countries have a lot of solar energy therefore I dont think this is a big problem. Currently the practical rate of productivity is around 1kilogram, but the upper limit is about 1.4 to 1.5 kilograms [or 6.3 cups] per hour per square meter.

The basic need for an individual is about 2 kilograms of water [or 8.45 cups] per day under full sunlight. So if we had eight hours of full-sun illumination, then we would be able to generate 5to 8kilograms of water, which could meet survival needs for a small family. We want to improve this performance and have a lot of engineering things yet to do.

Your prototype is about the size of a small refrigerator. A larger solar still would presumably be able to produce more clean water.

Definitely. Weve set up a company to commercialize this technology and we plan to scale it up, much like a solar panel array with many, many solar panels in a given area. We can do a similar thing for solar water stills.

Could you use solar panels to make the solar stills more efficient by adding more heat to the evaporation process?

Its possible. And the water evaporation could also cool down the solar panels, which is good for their performance. If we can find some collaborator in the solar-panel industry, then we can combine the systems. This would be a very good system.

More here:

University's solar-powered still improves ancient water cleaning technology - Salon

Artificial intelligence, natural-language processing, and bots integrated into messaging apps will create new opportunities to interact with users via their mobile devices. (Image: Just East)

Mobile technology like smartphones will be changing in ways many users can't even imagine today, and much of this change will come from trends such as the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

The convergence of devices, bots, things, and people means organizations will need to excel at mainstream mobility and prepare for the "post-app" era, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

The future of mobility will offer ubiquitous services provided anywhere, by any person or thing, to any person or thing, said David Willis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. Alternative approaches to interaction and service delivery will spring up, and code will move from traditional mobile devices and apps to the cloud, he said.

It's clear that mobile has become an integral part of doing business today. Gartner has estimated total shipments of 2.37 billion devices (including laptops, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones) and 293 million wearable products for 2016. It projects shipments of 2.38 billion devices and 342 million wearables in 2017.

The proliferation of devices means they are now omnipresent within the business environment, reinventing the way people interact and work, Willis said.

While users are always looking for new and compelling experiences with apps, the importance of apps in delivering services will diminish, and the emergence of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and bots will replace some of the functions performed by apps today, he said.

"App mania has created a horrible experience for customers," Willis said. "There are too many of them. Many large brands have multiple apps in the same app store. Consumers are abandoning apps at an alarming rate. App fatigue has set in."

Users are settling on fewer, more trusted apps, Willis says. "The brands that are the most reliable, trustworthy, and are the easiest to deal with will win," he says. "We used to say that if your customers need a manual, you've lost. Now, if your customer has to train and configure their experience, you've lost."

Newer tools and technology developments such as wearables, IoT, VR and AR are changing the parameters of customer experience with mobile, Willis said. "It's going to be a dynamic, immersive, and highly varied world out there," he said.

The growing use of wearables and "bring your own thing" such as smart power sockets and smart light bulbs in the workplace will introduce new ways of interacting and new platforms, Willis said, diluting the need for specific mobile app experiences.

A lot of the innovation in the mobile technology market in the future will not come within the devices themselves, but in the things that communicate with the devices. Gartner predicts that by 2018, 25 percent of new mobile apps will talk to IoT devices.

Advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence, natural-language processing, and bots integrated into messaging apps will create new opportunities to interact with users seamlessly via their mobile devices, the firm said.

VIDEO: Here's how Facebook envisions you being social in VR

Read more:

Prepare for a new age of mobile technology - ZDNet

Top of the Order:

Here Comes the SunPower:With the way the weather has been around the region lately, and more rain coming down everywhere, the sun shining in the clear blue sky has been as rare as a day without the soul-crushing gridlock along our parking lot-like freeways.

But, all the clouds and the rain couldnt dampen the enthusiasm that greeted San Jose-based SunPower after thesolar-technology company signed a deal to provide solar-panel technology to the Cajon Valley Unified School District near San Diego. SunPower investors liked the thought of the company going back to school so much, so to speak, that they sent SunPower shares up 8.8 percent to close Tuesday at $8.58.

All in all, signing up a school district near San Diego isnt that big of a deal. However, with the solar-panel market seen as being in a bit of a holding pattern for now, SunPowers new deal suggests the company is still able to sign contracts, and that there is growing confidence in its technology. The company is viewed as setting itself up for 2018, when the solar-panel industry is expected to turn around and grow, again.

So, in spite of all the rain right now, SunPower is finding a way to shine.

Middle Innings:

The Old Boss is Back, In a Way: Chances are that late last week, you focused your attention on what you were going to do during the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend. For me, it was spending the time up at Yosemite celebrating the latest anniversary of my 29th birthday with my family and some friends.

So, no one would blame you for missing that former Cypress Semiconductor Chief Executive T.J. Rodgers decided to sue the company he founded, and led for more than three decades.

Rodgers said he was suing Cypress in order to obtain books and records related to what he called irreconcilable conflicts of interest involving the semiconductor companys executive chairman, Ray Bingham. In a statement, Rodgers cited Binghams ties to Canyon Bridge Equity Partners a private equity firm Rodgers said is backed by the government of the Peoples Republic of China and which is attempting to buy chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor as evidence that Bingham may not be acting in Cypress best interests.

Canyon Bridges pending $1.3 billion acquisition of U.S. programmable logic maker Lattice Semiconductor, a company Cypress has attempted to acquire on two previous occasions, clearly demonstrates that Canyon Bridge competes directly with Cypress, Rodgers said in a statement. As Cypresss Executive Chairman, Ray Bingham has intimate knowledge of the Companys M&A (mergers and acquisition) strategy and Rodgers believes that Bingham can use that knowledge to benefit Canyon Bridge to the detriment of the Company and its stockholders.

Rodgers is more than just an angry ex-boss who is shaking his fist at the place where he used to work. When he retired as CEO last year, Rodgers had been the only chief executive Cypress ever had since Rodgers founded the company in 1982. And with more than 8.6 million shares of Cypress stock, Rodgers remains the companys single-largest individual shareholder, so his opinions are likely to have some impact with Cypress other stock owners.

Rodgers also said he was nominatingDaniel McCranie and Camillo Martino for Cypress board of directors. McCranie is chairman of On Semiconductor, while Martino is on the board of directors of MagnaChip Semiconductor. Rodgers said he would send out McCranies and Martinos names as part of a proxy statement to Cypress shareholders who will be able to vote for the nominees at Cypress next annual meeting.

Bottom of the Lineup:

Heres a look at how some leading Silicon Valley stocks did Tuesday.

Movin on Up:In addition to SunPower, gains came from Coupa Software, Advanced Micro Devices, Finisar and Extreme Networks.

In the Red:Decliners included Quotient Technology, Depomed, Pandora Media, TiVo and Shutterfly.

The tech-focusedNasdaq Composite Indexrose 0.5 percent to 5,865.95.

The blue chipDow Jones Industrial Averageadded 0.6 percent to end the day at 20,743.

And the broad-basedStandard & Poors 500 Indexalso rose 0.6 percent to finish at 2,365.38.

Quote of the Day:I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone. Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannapoulous, who resigned his editor position at Breitbart amid a controversy over comments he had made related to pedophilia.

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Originally posted here:

Biz Break: SunPower shines with new solar panel technology deal - The Mercury News

Introduction

Nowadays, almost every automaker possesses considerable resources to develop self-driving technology for cars, which is the next big step for the automotive industry. The market for autopilot technology is clearly huge, which is evident by an estimation, that approximately 100 million "connected" cars with the capacity of self-driving will be shipped in 2021.

While most auto manufacturers try to invent their own solutions, they will be forced to collaborate with technology companies in fields of both software and hardware to bring self-driving cars to roads. Therefore, in this article, I provide a list of the most promising publicly traded tech corporations, which should be considered by investors who would like to try to profit from the development of autonomous driving.

Technology overview

First of all, let us very briefly look at the technology. The final solutions of each automaker will be different, but still they will share some common characteristics.

In general, autopilot uses three types of sensors: cameras, ultrasonics/radars and lidars. Each sensor performs its own function and has different abilities. Radars are able to detect moving objects in the surroundings of a vehicle but are unable to detect lines or traffic lights, and they are not very precise at human detection.

Lidars have similar features, but can more easily detect humans but are also more expensive than radars. The primary sensors are cameras, which can detect all objects, including lines, traffic lights and pedestrians. However, cameras fully rely on software to process all the input, therefore, using only cameras is difficult for a self-driving car system.

Then, all the input from the sensors needs to be processed and analyzed, which is made possible by the use of Deep Neural Networks (DNN). DNN is a code, which lies in the basis of every autopilot and it helps recognize objects, distinguish them, and make decisions on what to do. For instance, DNNs are needed to recognize borders on the road, the colors of a traffic light, or discern a sedan from a truck. In the end, the software system inside the car's computer processes all the information and operates the steering wheel and pedals, thus safely driving a car to a destination.

To illustrate how exactly neural network recognizes objects and makes decisions, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) provided a video of autopilot in motion, which can be seen here.

Companies:

Nvidia (NVDA)

Nvidia is considered to be the pioneer of hardware related to autopilot technology. The company has already proven its superiority in terms of automotive infotainment systems (i.e. cars on-board computer systems) with its Visual Computing Module, which uses Tegra chips to provide graphics to a vehicle's interior screens.

Nvidia currently counts such automakers as Audi (OTCPK:AUDVF), Porsche (OTCPK:POAHY), BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Tesla, Honda (NYSE:HMC) and Mini as its customers for digital cockpits claiming "more than 10 million cars on the road today" are powered by Nvidia. Through the first 3 quarters of 2016, the corporation derived 7.6% of its revenue from the automotive industry, and I believe that corporation is going to maintain these relationships to develop autopilot technology.

The latest autopilot hardware introduced by Nvidia is its Nvidia Drive PX 2 - a car computer that uses artificial intelligence to support autonomous driving. The system is able to derive and use data from all kinds of sensors like cameras, lidars, radars, and ultrasonic sensors, locating a vehicle in space and on a map, planning a safe path and being aware of all objects around a car.

Nvidia describes the product as follows:

DRIVE PX 2 can understand in real-time what's happening around the vehicle, precisely locate itself on an HD map, and plan a safe path forward. It's the world's most advanced self-driving car platform-combining deep learning, sensor fusion, and surround vision to change the driving experience.

Moreover, the corporation's autopilot technology is powered by another of Nvidia's invention - the Nvidia DGX-1 supercomputer, which enables fast machine learning on the basis of deep neural networks. This means that a car supported by DRIVE PX autopilot is able to continuously develop its ability to detect possible collisions and understand types of objects in its range of vision, thus making autonomous driving even more safe and precise.

Nvidia already provides the autopilot technology hardware for all new Tesla cars, running a Tesla-made software - neural network for vision. I expect that in the near future most carmakers that are interested in autonomous driving will implement the computer made by Nvidia, since it is currently the most powerful and well-developed solution. Therefore, Nvidia corporation will inevitably benefit from future collaborations, and the company's growth will be positively impacted by Nvidia's exposure to the increasing autopilot market.

While Nvidia should definitely be included in a portfolio of autopilot technology companies, I consider the current price level of Nvidia stock to be too high to buy. Its P/E ratio is an astronomical 55.0 and the price increased by more than 400% over the last year. Additionally, preliminary data shows 2.7 times growth of net income from 2016 to 2017 and it will be hard for the corporation to maintain this pace of growth over the long term.

The notable support levels of Nvidia stock are around $100 and $90, and the range between them, representing around a 40 P/E ratio, seems to be reasonable to consider a buying opportunity. However, taking into consideration the market rally we currently see, it is possible the price may not drop to these levels.

Delphi Automotive (DLPH) and Mobileye (MBLY)

Another notable company is Delphi Automotive PLC based in the United Kingdom. The corporation provides vehicle components and is especially interesting due to its safety technology solutions and electrical architectures. Autopilot technology is to some extent based on these very same safety systems, and therefore it is possible for Delphi to develop autonomous driving solutions based on its own existing products, which the company is already doing.

It is also interesting to note that Delphi received 22% of its net sales from the two huge automakers (9 months ended September, 2016) - General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), which are also working on providing autonomous cars in the nearest future. This shows that the existing ties with the automotive industry can enable Delphi to bring to life its autopilot solutions and quickly commercialize products for autonomous driving.

There are many examples of Delphi's efforts in the autopilot market. In 2015, Delphi in collaboration with Audi demonstrated its autonomous vehicle technology with a cross-country trip in the USA. The self-driving Audi car installed with Delphi's solution drove "99% of the time" controlled only by a computer without any human interaction. Moreover, in 2016, Delphi was selected by Singaporean authorities to implement an autonomous mobility concept in the state. The company is expected to provide a fleet of autonomous vehicles and develop cloud-based mobility software.

One of the most important alliances for Delphi in terms of autonomous driving is with another vehicle products supplier - Mobileye, from Israel. In 2016, the two companies revealed their partnership, which was formed in order to provide fully automated cars by 2019, while other automakers were expected to achieve this only by 2020-2021.

In turn, Mobileye, the supplier of vehicle localization and mapping software and machine learning solutions, is another corporation, which should be considered by investors who are willing to gain from autopilot development. Although the corporation lost its one important client, Tesla Inc., in late 2016, Mobileye claims that "13 automakers are working with Mobileye to enable autonomous driving." Moreover, about 27 corporations from the automotive industry use the corporation's solutions in terms of safety on roads.

Both Delphi and Mobileye should be included in a portfolio of autopilot technology companies. I find the financial situation of both companies to be in good shape. For instance, from 2011 to 2015, Mobileye's revenue grew by 80% on average, and I expect that the growth will continue in the near future.

This is primarily because Mobileye's average price for autopilot products (which will consist of cameras, driving policy algorithms and mapping) is expected to be in the range of $400-500, which is "10 times above $45 ASP Mobileye currently records for individual ADAS (safety) solutions." The price of Mobileye's stock rose by around 20% in 2017 and any pullback can be considered as a buying opportunity.

Regarding Delphi Automotive, the company's stock is trading with an 18.0 P/E ratio, which is considerably lower than the industry average. Additionally, despite ongoing restructuring, Delphi managed to have stable net income in 2016 and declared an increase in cash from operations exceeding the Street's 4Q forecast. The stock price of Delphi already increased by 13% in 2017 and now is near a 2-year high showing good performance. I believe the current price level ($75-76 as of February, 15) can be considered by investors as a buying point.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Cisco (CSCO)

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a semiconductor company, which has a good portfolio of products including car audio and car vision products for safety. NXP already has 14.4% of the automotive semiconductor market, and the company's chips are already implemented by many carmakers including Tesla, Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), BMW and Audi.

I consider the company as a potentially big player in the autopilot market. This is not only because autonomous driving solutions will require some existing products from NXP (like safety car systems, microcontrollers and sensors), but also because the corporation has a high potential for developing new solutions based on existing technologies. For instance, NXP already provides transaction security systems and in-vehicle networking products, which can easily be transformed into new solutions to enhance vehicle networking security and establish connections between cars on roads making a cloud-based communication system.

Thus, NXP with Cisco made the first step to achieve inter-vehicle networking by making an investment in Australian company Cohda Wireless. The company specializes in radio systems and software that will allow vehicles to establish communication networks between them. This will enable vehicles to share information such as current speed, heading, and "whether they are braking or accelerating."

Qualcomm seems to be interesting due to its expertise in data communication, but the main value of the corporation is its Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives segment (QSI) which invests in early-stage companies in various industries, among which are different communication systems. Moreover, the corporation made an offer to buy the aforementioned NXP Semiconductors, in which case, Qualcomm will have direct exposure to the automotive market.

Regarding buying points of NXP, the corporation's stock is consolidating in the range that is 10% lower than the price offered by Qualcomm ($100 against $110). This is because the company has high short-term expenses, and due to that fact, NXP is likely to show negative income in the near future. However, if the corporation will eventually be bought by Qualcomm or will receive a counteroffer, the gain for the investor is inevitable.

Both Qualcomm and Cisco are trading with P/E ratios, which are significantly lower than the industry average (17.2 and 15.7 against 27.7 and 22.5 respectively). At the same time, the corporations show solid operating margins and very strong returns on equity (ROE) that are higher than the industry average. Cisco's stock price has already risen by 10% in 2017 showing a very strong pace and I believe current price levels (around $32) are good moments to buy the stock. Qualcomm shares have dropped by 13.36% in 2017 but have now consolidated near $55 level, which is a good opportunity to invest in the company.

Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT)

Both tech giants show their mobility in terms of thinking, since they are involved in developing many future technologies. For instance, I already wrote how these blue-chip corporations work on the blockchain, and now I expect they will work closely with automakers to bring autonomous cars to life. Thus, Intel has already revealed at CES 2017 its collaboration with BMW claiming they will start testing autonomous technology on the roads by the second half of 2017.

In turn, Microsoft took another approach saying it will try to integrate its existing products, like Azure cloud, Windows, and Office 365 into vehicles of established auto manufacturers. Therefore, I believe both Intel and Microsoft should be included in a self-driving technology portfolio.

Regarding moments for making investments in Microsoft and Intel, I restate my valuations made in the previous article and consider current price levels for both stocks ($64 and $36 respectively) as good moments for buying. These points represent around a 30 P/E multiple for Microsoft and a 17 P/E multiple for Intel.

Conclusion

Overall, the technology of self-driving requires many separate products to be combined to achieve a comprehensive solution. Clearly, many tech companies will try to become involved in autonomous driving development and gain from this market opportunity. However, I believe that the 8 corporations described in this article are the most promising options for investors who want to profit from the autopilot expansion.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Self-Driving Technology: 8 Tech Companies For Investment - Seeking Alpha

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