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Keysight Technologies and Nozomi Networks collaborate to deliver industrial cyberdefense solution – Automation.com

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

December 18,2019 Keysight Technologies, a technology company that helps enterprises, service providers and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, announced a collaboration with Nozomi Networks, a provider of industrial cyber security and operational visibility,to deliver a joint solution that enables utilities, oil and gas facilities, and other industrial manufacturing sites to identify and defend against cyberattacks.

The joint solution from Ixia, a Keysight business, and Nozomi Neworks includes anIxia Vision network packet broker(NPB), which collects data from all locations connected to an operational network and delivers it toNozomi Networks Guardianfor real-time processing and analysis. Ixias aggregation of traffic removes duplicate packets and unwanted traffic to improve performance and visibility into critical systems and processes, delivering comprehensive, automated visibility to secure connected operational environments.

The joint solutioncan also beintegrated with security information and event management (SIEM), as well as other systems, to establish automated threat response to indicators of compromise (IoCs). In addition, Ixias NPBs integrate with tools such as firewalls to improve policy enforcement and mitigate unwanted traffic.

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Keysight Technologies and Nozomi Networks collaborate to deliver industrial cyberdefense solution - Automation.com

Albertsons, Takeoff Technologies expand automation partnership – Supermarket News

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

To accelerate the creation of an e-commerce infrastructure, Albertsons Cos. has formed a strategic partnership with automation specialist Takeoff Technologies to open micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) for online grocery orders.

Albertsons said Thursday that the move expands its relationship with Waltham, Mass.-based Takeoff. Last year, the companies unveiled plans to pilot Albertsons first MFC at a Safeway supermarket in South San Francisco. The facility began operating on Oct. 23.

Related: Albertsons appoints new chief customer & digital officer

Under the wider partnership, Albertsons has agreed to buy more MFCs from Takeoff as it sizes up market expansion opportunities. Another MFC pilot, part of the collaboration that Albertsons and Takeoff announced last fall, is scheduled to kick off before the years end at a Safeway store in San Jose, Calif.

Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, the nations second-largest supermarket retailer, has stores in eight of the 10 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

Related: Supermarket chains step up automation to power online grocery

The micro-fulfillment center model is a key element in the store of the future, Albertsons Cos. President and CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement. It combines the efficiency of automation with the ease of meeting customers when and how they want to shop. In working with Takeoff, we can evolve how the MFC ties into our store and e-commerce ecosystems and accelerate our path to best serve our customers.

Situated inside existing stores, Takeoffs MFCs typically run around 10,000 square feet and hold 15,000 to 18,000 of the local markets most popular products, according to Albertsons. The retailer noted that the facilities combine the proximity of brick-and-mortar stores with the productivity of a large automated warehouse.

Takeoff's MFC solution can process about 3,500 online grocery orders weekly week per location for a two-hour service.

Compared with other fulfillment schemes for online grocery, such as a centralized model, MFCs offer a lower cost to build, faster rollout timetable and quicker time to serve, since the facilities are located near shoppers.

In collaborating with Takeoff, were able to leverage their thought leadership in e-commerce fulfillment with our expertise in running great grocery stores that meet customers everyday needs, and thats exciting turf for us, commented Chris Rupp, executive vice president and chief customer and digital officer at Albertsons. By placing an MFC in an existing store close to customers, we can carry a diverse and locally relevant selection of products with the friendly touch of our local team to service the customer.

Takeoff said its artificial intelligence-enabled robots can assemble grocery orders of up to 60 items in less than five minutes, a fraction of the speed and cost of current manual-picking options. For the robotics technology, Takeoff has an exclusive agreement with Knapp, a global provider of automated warehouse solutions.

We are thrilled to broaden our partnership with Albertsons Cos., a clear leader in grocery retailing and a key player shaping the future of eGroceries, stated Max Pedro, co-founder and president of Takeoff. With our strategic partnership, were confident well be able to add significant value to their business and consumers as we work in partnership to define the future of e-commerce.

The robotics can pick about 800 items per hour versus 60 items for manual in-store picking, and the system can process approximately 3,500 online grocery orders weekly week per location for a two-hour service. Takeoff noted that retailers can use its solution to leverage underutilized real estate and turn existing stores into micro distribution centers. And with real-time information about inventory, automated fulfillment can dramatically reduce or even eliminate product substitutions.

The grocery industry is transforming its way into the future, and the winners will be the ones getting it right first, added Takeoff co-founder and CEO Jos Aguerrevere. Albertsons Cos. move to expand its micro-fulfillment capability is a clear testament of such transformation.

Overall, Albertsons Cos. operates 2,262 stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under the banners Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw's, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Amigos, Haggen and United Express.

Huge appetite among the Scottish workforce to evolve in-step with automation – News for the Oil and Gas Sector – Energy Voice

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Government and businesses are being urged to prepare for reskilling workers at risk from automation as almost half of the Scots population said they feared their jobs were at risk.

A study, conducted by PwC showed 45% of Scottish employees worried about being replaced by technology compared to just 38% across the UK.

Most workers in Scotland believe quotas should be introduced to protect human jobs from robots. However, there is a huge appetite among the Scottish workforce to evolve in-step with automation and reskill, according to the study.

Opito CEO John McDonald, said technological advances were creating jobs in the oil and gas industry and said it shouldnt be feared if we work together to ensure training and qualification is effecitively delivered.

He said: Advances such as Artificial Intelligence, automation and robotics are having a progressive and positive impact on the energy sector as it moves towards a lower carbon future. These new ways of working are creating thousands of job opportunities in positions which are either not in existence today or are an evolution of current roles.

It is imperative that we take a collective responsibility to ensure jobs can be protected as well as created by providing the training and qualifications needed to elevate peoples capabilities. As the global skills body for the energy industry, we are working closely with governments as well as employers, trade unions, and academic institutions to deliver a strategic route map which will support the transformation of the sector and benefit todays workforce and future generations.

Stephen Ashley, digital solution centre manager at the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) said the energy industry needed to provide a clear landscape for the digital transition.

He added: By 2025, 4,500 people will be in brand new roles that currently do not exist. This will only be made possible by harnessing the indigenous skills and expertise of the existing North Sea workforce, through development opportunities, utilising technology as a tool to train and simulate, to upskill and evolve positioning the UKCS as a pioneer at the heart of innovation.

The Making the UK fairer: How we work report found that workers also believe the UK government and businesses are responsible for ensuring the current workforce is reskilled where required, as automation begins to play an increasing role in the likes of manufacturing and production of goods.

More than one in seven Scots said they would be willing to take an online training course if their job was at risk to automation, with 64% willing to study full-time via distance learning and 51% prepared to study full-time at college or university. This acceptance of automation was compounded with 55% prepared to accept a lower or entry-level position at another company, and almost half (47%) prepared to take a lower salary.

The majority of Scots believe the job they are doing now will be different in 10 years time, inversing the view of workers across the UK. When asked to consider someone doing their job in a decade, 51% said it would be different, with 49% believing it would be the same. At a nationwide level, just 46% said it would be different.

Stewart Wilson, head of government and public sector of PwC in Scotland, said that with the world of work rapidly changing, government, employers and workers all have a responsibility to respond.

He said: It is reassuring to see that so many people working in Scotland today both recognise the role that automation is going to play, and that they are keen to develop new skills in response to this. However, what our research tells us is that Government and business must ensure they collaborate to create opportunities for everyone and that work must begin now.

Our research has previously projected that more jobs will be created as a consequence of auto-mation in Scotland than displaced leading to a net benefit. But we must recognise that while automation can improve the lives of skilled workers it may make life more difficult for those less skilled and so the UK and Scottish Governments, along with local authorities and businesses need to work together to invest in upskilling initiatives which will benefit the whole workforce.

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Huge appetite among the Scottish workforce to evolve in-step with automation - News for the Oil and Gas Sector - Energy Voice

Banking automation’s potential can unlock more than $70B in value by 2025 – Banking Dive

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Dive Brief:

Banks were projected to invest more than $5 billion in artificial intelligence in 2019, according to a September report by International Data Corp., up from $4 billion last year. Meanwhile, technological advances could cost the banking sector more than 200,000 jobs over the next decade, Wells Fargo Securities predicted in a report the following month.

Still, the Accenture report emphasized a greater reliance on automation can empower human employees to focus on higher-value work such as innovation, relationship building and customer service.

"Rather than removing the human touch from financial services, technology can enable organizations to offer more personalized and more human experiences at scale,"said Bridie Fanning, who leads Accentures talent and organization group. "By automating tasks in both the front and back office, financial services companies can provide employees with meaningful work and develop client relationships that are characterized more by human ingenuity than routine transactions."

The Accenture study cited account reconciliation and data entry and gathering as among the 10% of tasks that could see complete automation by 2025. Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, can help loan officers determine default risks more accurately and help financial advisers make personalized real-time recommendations, the study suggested.

"Its an opportunity as opposed to something to fear,"Wahlstrom told Bloomberg. "Done right, its going to be great both in terms of productivity savings and ultimately client experience."

Accentures findings reinforce Bank of New York Mellons recent pivot toward AI. The bank has deployed 300 bots that execute about 5 million processes across businesses and functions.

"These robots are doing manual work,"Roman Regelman, BNY Mellons senior executive vice president and head of digital, told American Banker in October. "Theyre doing stuff that humans can do, but dont like to do, and often dont do that well. That allows the humans we have, the employees, to spend time on more value-added activities, like spending time with clients and spending time on more complicated cases."

The bank is set to accelerate its technology spend in 2020, Todd Gibbons, BNY Mellons interim chief executive, said last week, without specifically detailing by how much. The banks software and equipment expenses in the third quarter rose to $309 million, an 18% jump from a year earlier, according to American Banker.

"The future of AI is not AI alone, but what we call AI and human intelligence,"Regelman said. "Its not about robots replacing people, and its not about people fighting with the machines. Its them working together as artificial intelligence plus human intelligence. When they work together, we have something very different that fundamentally unlocks something neither can do."

JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, is looking to use AI to develop products and services to help people build retirement savings, the banks chief information officer, Lori Beer, said at a conference last week, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"I do think we are uniquely positioned to really have an impact on how AI will address social-economic issues that provide wider access to financial services in our communities,"she said.

That positioning is a result of the banks access to about 390 million gigabytes of data.

This is not to say the bank wont also use AI for efficiencies. At the same conference, Beer said the bank has started using machine learning technology to process expense reports and determine whether they comply with company policies.

Wells Fargo fired or suspended more than a dozen employees last year for allegedly falsifying expense reports, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Automating expense-report scrutiny "[takes] some bureaucracy out of our managers hands,"and eliminates the need to farm out the analysis to auditors, Beer said.

JPMorgan Chase has made several moves this year to enhance its AI footprint. It signed a five-year deal in July to use Persados AI to generate marketing copy. CEO Jamie Dimon told shareholders in an April letter that machine learning could help the bank save $150 million by better detecting credit-card fraud.

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Banking automation's potential can unlock more than $70B in value by 2025 - Banking Dive

SaltStack Integrates with ServiceNow to Deliver Closed-Loop IT and Security Automation – The Herald Journal

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

LEHI, Utah, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --SaltStack, the creators of intelligent automation software for security operations teams, today announced SaltStack Enterprise is now certified with the ServiceNow New York release with an app now available in the ServiceNow Store. This ServiceNow-certified integration combines the strengths of the SaltStack and ServiceNow platforms for best-in-class closed-loop IT and security automation eliminating manual work, improving median time to repair (MTTR), and remediating critical security issues at any scale.

The SaltStack integration with ServiceNow bridges the gap between process and technology by empowering end users with self-service automation while simultaneously ensuring that least-privileged access and business rules remain in force. Users can run or request powerful SaltStack automation jobs directly from ServiceNow. System administrators can restrict access by user or group role, with the capacity to build each job into ServiceNow workflows for request, approval, testing, execution, and disposition.

"Our joint customers can now easily utilize the power of ServiceNow workflow automation integrated with SaltStack infrastructure automation for security and IT operations teams," said Alex Peay, SaltStack SVP of product. "We've received substantial customer demand for this integration and see notable value in the integration of both platforms to deliver more accessible and intuitive automation for IT and security operations teams."

The SaltStack integration with ServiceNow was delivered with the SaltStack Enterprise 6.1 release and uses a bi-directional API to surface SaltStack functionality and run SaltStack commands directly from the ServiceNow interface, allowing IT to provide end users such as departmental IT, support, and development teams with role-based access to powerful infrastructure automation. This combination reduces redundant support tickets and enables highly-skilled engineers to spend more time focusing on the work that moves business forward.

Key use cases for SaltStack integrated with ServiceNow include:

Additional Resources:

About SaltStackSaltStack intelligent IT automation software is used to help the largest businesses in the world manage and secure their digital infrastructure. Known for its powerful event-driven infrastructure automation engine, SaltStack is designed to control, optimize, and secure the inherent complexity of Web-scale while providing efficient, collaborative solutions for ITOps, SecOps, NetOps, and DevOps teams. https://www.saltstack.com

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SaltStack Integrates with ServiceNow to Deliver Closed-Loop IT and Security Automation - The Herald Journal

eBay relaunches Motors app with AI and automation at its core – VentureBeat

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Online commerce giant eBay has relaunched its dedicated mobile app for car sellers and buyers, more than four years after killing the app. The eBay Motors app has been in beta for a few months, and version 1.0 is now live for Android and iOS.

The new incarnation sports a number of notable automated features to help people sell their vehicles, including an image-categorization tool that groups photos by type, which was built using Googles AutoML Vision Edge tool for Firebase. The app has also been rebuilt from the ground up using Flutter, Googles open source platform for developing cross-platform apps based on the same codebase.

For background, eBay first launched a dedicated mobile app for cars back in 2011, but ended up pulling the app alongside three other standalone apps in 2015 as it consolidated its services under the main eBay platform. Fast forward to 2019, and eBay Motors has risen from the dead with a renewed focus on helping individuals compete with professional dealers with as little friction as possible.

Its worth noting that eBay is no stranger to computer vision the main eBay app has offered visual search tools for a few years. The eBay Motors app itself offered a visual search tool as far back as 2012, allowing users to snap a photo of a car in the real world to find similar vehicles on eBay.

But with advances in technology and edge computing, the 2019 incarnation of the app is a different beast, with all the image processing now taking place on the phones themselves. This shows how far weve come in terms of the power of off-the-shelf solutions such as AutoML Vision Edge. According to eBay, its algorithm was created by a single engineer in a matter of days, using just a few hundred photos from existing eBay listings to train the model.

The ease-of-development speaks to the maturity of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning), which have moved beyond the province of data scientists to off-the-shelf tools which are available to software engineers, eBay wrote in a blog post.

Being able to instantly categorize photos might seem like a minor factor for sellers, but images are particularly important for anyone looking to sell a vehicle. The average number of photos someone uses to sell a car on eBay is 15 to 20, though you can upload as many as 100. Thats a lot of photos to sift through for casual individual sellers and if theyre competing against professional dealers, this puts them at a disadvantage. Moreover, eBay itself is an attractive option for auto enthusiasts looking to get into the nuts and bolts of a car, so being able to automatically group pictures by type, allowing enthusiasts to easily see the engine, will help it compete with other similar sites.

With the new eBay Motors app, users can snap photos via their phones camera and upload them, and the app will group them by exterior, interior, and engine / drivetrain. This covers most of the likely areas that different buyers will be interested in some people care more about the look of a car, and some are more concerned with what its like inside. And the car geeks probably want to have a peek under the hood.

Above: eBay Motors: Photos grouped by interior, exterior, and engine.

Additionally, this method of grouping photos will give amateur listings a more professional look. User testing of the eBay Motors app showed that photos which are well-organized into three buckets make buyers feel the listing is more trustworthy, eBay wrote.

As an aside here, while eBay already allowed users to embed videos directly from sites such as YouTube, the new eBay Motors app will now support video uploads a first for any eBay app.

Elsewhere in the automation realm, the eBay Motors app also now lets users snap a photo of their license plate to automatically pull in all the relevant details, including make, model, and year.

Above: eBay Motors: Scan a license plate to upload a cars information.

Looking to the future, eBay said that next year it will introduce a new feature that uses AI to help sellers generate a description of the vehicle. The app will ask the seller to provide a few pieces of information about the car, such as the condition and any modifications that have been made, and then the eBay Motors app will use a natural language generation model to create a description. This fits into a trend weve seen elsewhere, where publishers like the Associated Press (AP) produce journalistic content, such as sports and finance reporting, written by algorithms based on data points.

While eBay Motors is a niche app focused squarely at one market, its worth noting that the U.S. used-car industry shifts more than double the number of vehicles each year compared to new ones. In other words, eBay Motors taps a gargantuan market, and that is why eBay has elected to relaunch a dedicated mobile app for the segment.

With these various automation features combined, eBay said that sellers should be able to list their vehicles directly from their phone in less than 5 minutes. Ultimately, the less friction there is, the better both for the seller and for eBay.

With the new launch, were serving an elevated experience that is unrivaled in the market for buyers and sellers alike, and is a game changer in the way users buy and sell cars, noted eBay Vehicles general manager Ron Jaiven.

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eBay relaunches Motors app with AI and automation at its core - VentureBeat

How to Access the Benefits of Automation as an Average Person – Interesting Engineering

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

The robotics and automation industry keeps growing each year. Many of us can be thankful for that as automation can remove the tedious work we sometimes have to do as workers.

UiPath, the fastest growing and leading provider of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) software worldwide, is one of the many companies working in the robotics and automation world.

Daniel Dines, UiPath's CEO and co-founder spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in Berlin on Thursday to explain how the average person can access the benefits of automation.

RELATED: 7 OF THE BEST ROBOTICS EVENTS COMING UP IN 2020

For Dines, us humans created automation processes, he said that we put the systems in place that means we use interfaces at work.

At UiPath their interface replicates the human steps and processes human readable interfaces into technology.

The biggest challenge is that we are used to these work processes, so it is tricky to push people to start new ways of operating. The way UiPath began instilling this in their own company was by using this technology, proving it's possible to embrace new processes.

This may be a smoother process with a small company, however, Dines pointed out that this is possible with bigger companies too.

For instance, in just 18 monthsUiPath employed more than2,000 employees. This is incredibly fast scaling, meaning processes need to be added quickly, and managing an entire organization has to be a smooth process.

Streamlining processes and getting rid of bureaucracy by introducing automation were high priorities for Dines and his company.

Automation was not created to replace jobs, according to Dines. People rarely do simple tasks in their work, their jobs usually consist of a series of activities, which robots can't do. Only 5% of jobs can be fully automated, even with state of the art technology.

That said, tech can change jobs for the better. Just take the farming industry and how quickly it's improved in the past century. From manual and very hard labor, much of the work is automated nowadays.

Dines wants to "take the robot out of the human", to make jobs more interesting for humans in the end, as the simpler tasks that are sometimes hard can be taken over by automation.

Dines predicted that in two years the top ten companies in the world will seriously adopt automation into their processes.

People will understand that robots are their friends. At the moment it's still focused on the 'Terminator' stance, but that will change soon and quickly.

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How to Access the Benefits of Automation as an Average Person - Interesting Engineering

FinancialForce Receives Top Honors for Professional Services Automation and Accounting Software from G2 – MarTech Series

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

For the Second Consecutive Year, Financialforce Is the #1 PSA Leader Recognized by G2

FinancialForce, the #1 Enterprise Professional Services Automation (PSA) and the only customer-centric ERP (CCERP) cloud solution, has been named a Leader in G2s latest Main (overall market) Grid, Enterprise Grid, Mid-Market Grid, Small Business Grid and Momentum Grid reports for Professional Services Automation. FinancialForce has also been named a leader in G2s Mid-Market Grid report for Accounting.

G2 recognized FinancialForce for its extremely high customer satisfaction scores and its large market presence. FinancialForce received the highest score among all vendors in G2s Main Grid, Enterprise Grid and Mid-Market Grid for PSA, and was the only Leader for both Accounting and PSA in the Mid-Market.

G2, an online B2B software review platform, ranks products and vendors in an industry grid based on reviews gathered from its online community of software users, as well as data collected from social networks and other online resources. The G2 review platform leverages more than 650,000 independent and authenticated user reviews read by more than 3 million buyers each month.

Being recognized as a leader in the G2 report is a true honor and underscores our unwavering commitment to customers success, said Debbie Ashton, senior vice president, strategic customer experience at FinancialForce. Customer satisfaction is at the very core of our business, and this latest report highlights the fact that users love our market-leading solutions and that we are going above and beyond to deliver the very best customer experience.

Marketing Technology News: Why Your Digital Marketing Strategy Needs Instagram

Highlights from recent FinancialForce PSA and Accounting customer reviews on G2 include:

FinancialForce PSA is very configurable and flexible: The best part of this software is it improves resource management metrics and optimizes project profitability. The integration with Salesforce is wonderful and straightforward.

Above and beyond: The best thing I like about FinancialForce is the simplicityI have worked with a great number of software (applications) and all the time I had the same issue: the environment wasnt user friendly and the support community was the worst. With FinancialForce its the opposite, everything you need is one question away.

The most comprehensive accounting application, period: FinancialForces extensive resources (documentation, video training, and community) make learning the application possible without consultants and formal training. I couldnt be more impressed with their all-in approach on the Salesforce platform.

Marketing Technology News: Bassem Ghali and Green Lotus Nominated for CanadianSME Business Magazines National Business Awards

This latest recognition from G2 adds to the strong industry validation that FinancialForce has received over the past year. FinancialForce was recognized as:

Marketing Technology News: Nimble Named Top 3 Most Popular Small Business CRM in Capterras Top 20 CRM Roundup

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FinancialForce Receives Top Honors for Professional Services Automation and Accounting Software from G2 - MarTech Series

NoSQL and automated databases "DBAs can be the thought leaders" – JAXenter

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

JAXenter: Which issues do database management and monitoring currently have? In what ways can they profit from cloud technologies and automation?

John:One of the biggest challenges DBAs have is keeping up with the growing number and variety of platforms they have to manage. In fact, according to a survey carried out by Unisphere Research, more than two thirds (70 per cent) of DBAs are now managing more than 11 or more databases, and incredibly, 10 per cent were found to actually be managing more than 100! So, all this complexity combined with the astronomic growth of, and the need to protect data means DBAs are spending a disproportionate time dealing with tasks related to keeping the lights on and less time thinking more strategically. Automation, when used properly, can save DBAs many hours of time according to many estimates, as much of 80% of their daily/weekly routine tasks could be automated.

Migration of databases to the cloud is one way to reduce the administration workload, but there is a trade-off. As a DBA, do you go for IaaS or DBaaS? With DBaaS, the cloud services provider manages your databases backups, patching, security, etc, and you have some database monitoring capability for that specific database, but the extent to which you can manage other things like performance tuning, etc. are restricted. Unlike IaaS, where you manage the database, therefore the administrative workload is the same as on-premises, although the business costs (CapEx) will be lower.

An effective monitoring solution that works across all these different databases and environments is a must if you want to lower the administrative footprint. Added complexity means that your MTTR, in the event of a performance issue, will suffer without an effective way to detect, diagnose and resolve problems in a timely manner.

JAXenter: Aside from the positive effects, do you see any downsides in using cloud technologies for database administration?

One reason why we wont see the role of the DBA go away with autonomous databases is because of the importance they play in ensuring the safety of data.

John:The downsides of moving databases to the cloud depend on the type of cloud service the company subscribes to. With DBaaS, the DBA stands the risk of a database being taken down at any time as the service provider performs a backup or applies a security patch (or worse still, the cloud provider suffers an outage). Also, the level of service the company chooses ultimately dictates the monthly subscription cost and many companies over-subscribe because they didnt effectively right size the service ahead of time. Its really important to choose the service tier that is most appropriate for acceptable application performance and that is sometimes a challenge because cloud database behave differently than in a data center.

Another ongoing concern is security and the protection of personal or sensitive data. Having personal data in the cloud does not obviate the companys responsibility to identify and protect it in order to be compliant with data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Vendor lock-in is another concern and there is a growing adoption of multi-cloud strategies where companies may choose different cloud providers according to application requirements, cost and risk balance, regional dependencies (e.g. EU provider if having to comply with GDPR).

JAXenter: In your opinion, what impact will autonomous databases have on DBA in the short and long term?

John:Some believe that autonomous databases will impact DBAs to the point that theyll be out of a job. While I dont agree with this, I do believe that the role of the DBA will certainly shift as AI and adaptive machine learning enable organizations to automatically self-patch, self-tune, detect anomalies, and optimize indexes much more quickly and efficiently than manual hands-on processing. DBAs, now free from many of their mundane tasks, will have to take on more strategic roles in developing new business initiatives and focusing on finding new areas where they can provide value, such as DevOps.

One reason why we wont see the role of the DBA go away with autonomous databases is because of the importance they play in ensuring the safety of data. DBAs are responsible for implementing data privacy regulations, ensuring compliance, and as DevSecOps grows, theyll begin to enable things like proper testing in production environments.

In fact, DBAs should consider reinventing themselves as data administrators, since the value of data to the company is huge and the DBA is a key stakeholder who can help drive the business forward. They can be the thought leaders in what database technologies are most appropriate for their applications and help shape company strategy.

JAXenter: NoSQL has been on the rise as well. Do you believe we will keep heading in that direction over the next year?

The other benefit of using NoSQL that simplifies the DBAs job is scalability.

John:Yes, in fact, 75 percent of companies are already using both SQL and NoSQL databases with MongoDB and Cassandra being among the most popular, according to the cloud database trends report from DeveloperWeek 2019.

NoSQL hasnt seen a huge amount of movement in recent years, but I believe well see it pick up more next year, especially as people move towards fresher and newer data needs. While relational databases are good for traditional workloads like OLTP applications and business analytics (OLAP), for more complex OLTP workloads that include low-latency applications, NoSQL is better (versatility, agility, scalability). Ultimately, its a matter of getting the right database to suit the workloads of the organization, especially with the variety of structured and unstructured data in use. I also think well also see adoption of cloud NoSQL databases (such as Amazons DynamoDB and Googles Cloud Datastore).

JAXenter: Which implications will the increased use of NoSQL have, e.g. regarding the way DevOps and DBA interact?

John:Depending on the type of application, NoSQL databases offer some advantages in a DevOps CI/CD pipeline that can hinder the use of relational databases. Synchronizing relational database changes with an object-oriented application can be a challenge (called impedance mismatch) and requires application developers to leverage Object Relational Mapping (ORM) classes in their application code to relate to the database schema structure and any changes that might occur (e.g. change a column, add a table). This is something DBAs and the application team must manage to ensure things dont break.

With the growth of the use of NoSQL document databases such as MongoDB and CouchDB, this problem goes away since there is no schema in the traditional sense, meaning application developers can arrange their data (structured, semi-structured, unstructured) how they want and remove the impedance mismatch that ORM was designed to resolve.

The other benefit of using NoSQL that simplifies the DBAs job is scalability. NoSQL databases leverage commodity hardware and therefore are far easier to scale out compared with relational databases.

Thanks very much!

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NoSQL and automated databases "DBAs can be the thought leaders" - JAXenter

AI R&D is booming, but general intelligence is still out of reach – The Verge

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Trying to get a handle on the progress of artificial intelligence is a daunting task, even for those enmeshed in the AI community. But the latest edition of the AI Index report an annual rundown of machine learning data points now in its third year does a good job confirming what you probably already suspected: the AI world is booming in a range of metrics covering research, education, and technical achievements.

The AI Index covers a lot of ground so much so that its creators, which include institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and OpenAI, have also released two new tools just to sift through the information they sourced from. One tool is for searching AI research papers and the other is for investigating country-level data on research and investment.

Most of the 2019 report basically confirms the continuation of trends weve highlighted in previous years. But to save you from having to trudge through its 290 pages, here are some of the more interesting and pertinent points:

All this is impressive, but one big caveat applies: no matter how fast AI improves, its never going to match the achievements accorded to it by pop culture and hyped headlines. This may seem pedantic or even obvious, but its worth remembering that, while the world of artificial intelligence is booming, AI itself is still limited in some important ways.

The best demonstration of this comes from a timeline of human-level performance milestones featured in the AI Index report; a history of moments when AI has matched or surpassed human-level expertise.

The timeline starts in the 1990s when programs first beat humans at checkers and chess, and accelerates with the recent machine learning boom, listing video games and board games where AI has came, saw, and conquered (Go in 2016, Dota 2 in 2018, etc.). This is mixed with miscellaneous tasks like human-level classification of skin cancer images in 2017 and in Chinese to English translation in 2018. (Many experts would take issue with that last achievement being included at all, and note that AI translation is still way behind humans.)

And while this list is impressive, it shouldnt lead you to believe that AI superintelligence is nigh.

For a start, the majority of these milestones come from defeating humans in video games and board games domains that, because of their clear rules and easy simulation, are particularly amenable to AI training. Such training usually relies on AI agents sinking many lifetimes worth of work into a single game, training hundreds of years in a solar day: a fact that highlights how quickly humans learn compared to computers.

Similarly, each achievements was set in a single domain. With very few exceptions, AI systems trained at one task cant transfer what theyve learned to another. A superhuman StarCraft II bot would lose to a five-year-old playing chess. And while an AI might be able to spot breast cancer tumors as accurately as an oncologist, it cant do the same for lung cancer (let alone write a prescription or deliver a diagnosis). In other words: AI systems are single-use tools, not flexible intelligences that are stand-ins for humans.

But and yes, theres another but that doesnt mean AI isnt incredibly useful. As this report shows, despite the limitations of machine learning, it continues to accelerate in terms of funding, interest, and technical achievements.

When thinking about AI limitations and promises, its good to remember the words of machine learning pioneer Andrew Ng: If a typical person can do a mental task with less than one second of thought, we can probably automate it using AI either now or in the near future. Were just beginning to find out what happens when those seconds are added up.

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AI R&D is booming, but general intelligence is still out of reach - The Verge

Could Cyberpunk 2077 Really Come to Xbox Game Pass in 2020? – CCN.com

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Game Pass is Microsofts trump card. The subscription service has basically been the lynchpin in the Xbox brand. Recently they announced new features like streaming games instead of downloading them, as well as added a bunch of high profile games.

A recent leak is pointing towards a 2020 that is even stronger for Game Pass than 2019 has been. More high profile games could be coming to Game Pass in 2020, including arguably the most highly anticipated game of the decade: Cyberpunk 2077.

Yesterday, Xbox South Africa had a bit of an operational hiccup. They posted an advert for Xbox Game Pass showing of some games that Microsoft intended to add to the service. It has since been taken down but the list of games had some pretty surprising entires.

Things like Halo Infinite, Minecraft Dungeons and Wasteland 3 were to be expected. However, there were a few games that came as more of a shock, including Cyberpunk 2077. If the advert is correct, that could mean that Cyberpunk 2077 will be coming to Game Pass either on its release or very near to it.

Since the advert has now been taken down it isnt completely clear if it was correct. It may have been removed because it revealed information before it was ready to be announced. On the other hand, it may have been entirely incorrect information which would mean that well all be waiting for nothing.

Whether or not Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to Game Pass, 2020 is sure to make the service even better. Even if the game was added to the advert by accident, the rest of the games on the list are a pretty big deal. Doom Eternal is a big game coming out next year, and that is also on the list.

It may be reasonable to think of Cyberpunk 2077s inclusion as an accident. But the chances of all of the other games being an accidental inclusion are much lower. Even if the other games being added was dubious information, there is no doubt that Xbox will be trying their hardest to make Game Pass even better next year.

As the year ends and the new one begins, Game Pass has never been so attractive. There are sure to be deals for the service left and right. If youve never considered subscribing now seems like the perfect time to do it.

This article was edited by Samburaj Das.

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Could Cyberpunk 2077 Really Come to Xbox Game Pass in 2020? - CCN.com

Infamy is a digital version of the cyberpunk mafia board game that’s heading into closed beta in January – Pocket Gamer

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Daisu Games are a young Brazillian development company which was established in 2015. They specialise in digitising board games for mobile phones. Their latest endeavour is Infamy, a cyber-punk themed mafia game that'll be moving into closed beta in January.

The game is set on a Martian mining colony where three factions are continually tussling for control over it. Players will take on the role of a freelancer who's set on making a profit for themselves, using the conflict to their advantage. They'll establish a network of contacts who will help them carry out their dirty work or with plotting schemes to increase their reputation.

The game is won when a player reaches 15 Infamy points or by hitting the highest reputation level with one of the three factions. It focuses a lot on an auction type system called 'Pay to Play'. Players will sacrifice bidding power to take part in these auctions but will lose currency if they waste too much time doing so. But you can't sit idly by, otherwise, your opponents will quickly gather all the tools they need to succeed in the criminal underworld.

Daisu Games are committed to making their digital version of Infamy as faithful to the board game as possible. This is an ethos that extends to their other projects. They've already released a PC version of Between Two Castles, which they are hoping to bring to mobile next year. Additionally, they're also working on a mobile version of Unearth, which will be hitting beta during Q2 of 2020.

Infamy is set to hit beta at some stage in January and will release for iOS and Android sometime after. We'll be sure to give you more details nearer the time. In the meantime, you can sign up to Daisu Games' newsletter to be the first to hear about upcoming betas for all their games.

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Infamy is a digital version of the cyberpunk mafia board game that's heading into closed beta in January - Pocket Gamer

A$AP Rocky, Grimes & Run the Jewels to Soundtrack Cyberpunk 2077 – HYPEBEAST

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

As if anticipation for Cyberpunk 2077 couldnt run any higher, a slew of headline-worthy contributors have been confirmed to bolster the games soundtrack. Slated to release for all major consoles in April of next year, the sci-fi video games soundtrack will include the likes of A$AP Rocky, Grimes and Run The Jewels, to name only a few music industry heavyweights.

Acclaimed video game studio CD PROJEKT RED shared information regarding the soundtrack for Cyberpunk 2077, along with a few behind-the-scenes videos featuring the aforementioned artists who are contributing to the upcoming title, in addition to Refused (portrayed as SAMURAI in the game), Gazelle Twin, Ilan Rubin, Richard Devine, Nina Kraviz, Deadly Hunta, Rat Boy, and Tina Guo.

Check out the videos below to hear how the artist felt to be involved with Cyberpunk 2077.

Additionally, along with contributing to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack, each artist will be getting their own in-game character/band. 31-year-old musician Grimes will be portrayed as Lizzy Wizzy, while Samurais lead singer, Johnny Silverhand, will be voiced by Keanu Reeves in the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020.

In more gaming news, Pokmon Sword and Shield introduces new Gigantamax Sandaconda, Centiskorch and more.

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A$AP Rocky, Grimes & Run the Jewels to Soundtrack Cyberpunk 2077 - HYPEBEAST

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Soundtrack To Include A$AP Rocky, Grimes, & Run The Jewels – Boss Hunting

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

The most anticipated game of 2020 is getting a soundtrack to match the hype, with Cyberpunk 2077 set to feature some of the biggest artists in the world.

Creators CD PROJEKT RED have revealed A$AP Rocky, Grimes and Run The Jewels are headling a varied list of artist who will feature in the game. They'll be joined by SAMURAI, Gazelle Twin, Ilan Rubin, Richard Devine, Nina Kraviz, Rat Boy, Deadly Hunta, and Tina Guo.

The music itself seems to be a huge mix of soundscapes, with hip-hop, alternative, pop, electronica, industrial, and punk being the main genres of music helping shape the sound of the futuristic universe depicted in the game.

Check out some of the artist's reactions to being involved in the game below.

Each artist that's part of the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack will also have the incredible opportunity of starring in the game. So far we know Grimes will portray somebody known as Lizzy Wizzy while Keanu Reeves will voice the character of Johnny Silverhand, the lead singer of SAMURAI.

According to the great Killer Mike, "We want to provide you with the soundtrack to fucking things up." And we couldn't agree more.

Cyberpunk 2077is set for release April 16, 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

RELATED: 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare' UnveilsTthe 'Swoopy Boi' 31 Killstreak Unlock.

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'Cyberpunk 2077' Soundtrack To Include A$AP Rocky, Grimes, & Run The Jewels - Boss Hunting

Lost Blade Runner Adventure Game Is Now Available On GOG – GameSpot

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Back in 1997, classic game developer Westwood Studios released Blade Runner, a video game adaptation of the classic Harrison Ford-helmed cyberpunk film. Upon release, the game was a critical and commercial success, and it quickly found its way to being a classic in the genre that nailed the atmosphere and vibe of its source material. But as time went on, legal disputes and rapidly growing changes in technology kept the game firmly in the past, making it difficult to play on new platforms. But now, the digital distribution platform GOG has brought the game back to the market.

Over 22 years since its release, Westwood Studios' Blade Runner is now available on modern PCs via GOG. Just revealed during the digital distribution platform's winter sale, the cyberpunk adventure game is now playable, DRM-free, on GOG for the low price of $10. Thanks to the winter sale, that price drops to $9 for a limited time.

Set before and during the events of the 1982 movie, you play as Ray McCoy, a blade runner who is searching for rogue replicants hiding out in alternate-2019 Los Angeles (yes, the game and the film were set in 2019, now making them period-pieces). Telling an original story, you explore many of the same locales while rubbing shoulders with returning characters as you uncover a vast conspiracy involving replicants and the corporations. With over 10 different endings, many of your choices and interactions with other characters will lead to different paths for McCoy to follow.

What's notable about this adaptation is that it brought back several actors and other creatives from the film. In particular, Sean Young, Joe Turkel, and William Sanderson all returned to reprise their roles as Rachel, Edwin Tyrell, and J.F. Sebastian, respectively. Since its release, it's become something of a lost game due to being stuck in legal limbo and outdated software.

The only way to have played Blade Runner today was by having the original game discs or running it through heavily modified emulated game files. Fans of classic adventure games online banded together to build a modified engine known as ScummVM, allowing newer PCs to run Blade Runner and other games in that style from the past. In a press release, a GOG representative stated that this port wouldn't have been possible without the ScummVM community.

For more on what's available on GOG's winter sale, including a discount on Cyberpunk 2077, be sure to check out our roundup of games.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

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Lost Blade Runner Adventure Game Is Now Available On GOG - GameSpot

Turkeys new machine gun drones are proof that we live in a cyberpunk dystopia – Digital Trends

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

From drones that fire webs to ones able to land vertically on walls, there is no shortage of crazy concept drones out there. Both of these pale into harmless insignificance, however, compared to the latest drone created by Turkish electronics firm Asisguard. What makes the Songar drone so headline-generating? The fact that, unlike regular four-bladed quadcopters, it uses eight blades to enable it to fly. Oh, and the fact that it comes with a mounted machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition for riddling targets with bullets from the sky. That bit as well.

Anyone who has ever flown a drone will know that piloting one accurately can be a bit of a challenge. Thats one of the things that makes great drone racers or photographers so talented. Its no surprise, then, that machine-gunning targets from a flying unmanned (but not unarmed) aerial vehicle is a little bit tough. To make up for that, and compensate for recoil, Songar uses cameras and a laser rangefinder to help calculate metrics such as distance, angle, wind speed, and more. It also uses a pair of robot arms to move the machine gun as it fires to lessen the impact of the recoil.

According to a New Scientist article, Songar has sufficient accuracy to be able to hit a 15-centimeter area from 200 meters away. If youre someone who prefers to measure things in a combination of fruit sizes and sports fields, its the equivalent of shooting a mango from close to two football fields away. That distance could soon double due to software improvements. The drone also has night sensors to allow it to see in darkness. It can additionally be deployed in a group of three, which can be made to converge on a target for simultaneous firing. To select a target, all a Songar pilot would need to do is to select them with crosshairs using a screen on a remote control.

Asisguard is planning to deliver its drones for military use before the end of the year. While not the first deadly drone (or even gun-equipped drone) weve covered, this certainly looks like a fearsome new entry into a growing market place. For better or worse.

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Turkeys new machine gun drones are proof that we live in a cyberpunk dystopia - Digital Trends

EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis 18/12/19 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

EOS

EOS slid by 7.10% on Tuesday. Following on from a 7.48% tumble on Monday, EOS ended the day at $2.2110.

Bearish through the day, EOS fell from an early morning intraday high $2.3804 to a late morning low $2.3289 before finding support.

Steering clear of the major support and resistance levels, EOS recovered to $2.36 levels before hitting reverse.

The reversal saw EOS slide through the first major support level at $2.2487 to a late intraday low $2.1624.

Finding late support, EOS moved back to $2.2 levels to cut the deficit on the day.

At the time of writing, EOS was up by 1.45% to $2.2430. A bullish start to the day saw EOS rise from an early morning low $2.2028 to a high $2.2547.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to move back through to $2.25 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $2.3402.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from $2.20 levels.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, resistance at $2.3 levels would likely pin EOS back on the day.

Failure to move through to $2.25 levels could see EOS hit reverse. A fall through the morning low $2.2028 would bring the first major support level at $2.1222 into play.

Barring a crypto meltdown, however, EOS should steer clear of sub-$2.00 levels. The second major support level at $2.0333 should limit any downside on the day.

Major Support Level: $2.1222

Major Resistance Level: $2.3402

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum tumbled by 7.96% on Tuesday. Following on from a 7.04% slide on Monday, Ethereum ended the day at $121.83

Tracking the broader market, Ethereum slid from an early morning intraday high $132.66 to a late intraday low $119.5.

Steering clear of the major resistance levels, Ethereum fell through the first major support level at $126.75 and second major resistance level at $121.14.

Ethereums first visit to sub-$120 levels since February was brief, however, with Ethereum closing out the day at $121 levels.

The late move saw Ethereum break back through the second major support level before the day end.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was up by 2.74% to $125.17. A bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise from an early morning low $121.20 to a high $125.45.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to steer clear of sub-$125 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $129.83.

Support from the broader market would be needed for Ethereum to break out from the morning high $125.45.

In the event of an extended rally on the day, Ethereum could revisit Tuesdays high $132.66 before any pullback.

Failure to steer clear of sub-$125 levels could see Ethereum slide for a 3rd consecutive day.

A fall through to sub-$124.70 levels would bring the first major support level at $116.67 into play.

Barring another crypto meltdown, however, Ethereum should steer clear of the second major support level at $111.50.

Major Support Level: $116.67

Major Resistance Level: $129.83

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP slumped by 10.76% on Tuesday. Following on from a 5.33% decline on Monday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.18426.

Another bearish start to the day saw Ripples XRP fall from an early intraday high $0.20675 to a mid-morning low $0.19020.

Steering clear of the major resistance levels, Ripples XRP fell through the first major support level at $0.2006 and second major support level at $0.1945.

Finding support in the late morning, Ripples XRP recovered to $0.20 levels before a getting hit by a late sell-off.

The late sell-off saw Ripples XRP slide through the major support levels to an intraday low and new swing lo $0.17854.

A partial recovery late on saw Ripples XRP break back through the third major support level at $0.1796.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was up by 1.54% to $0.18709. A bullish start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise from an early morning low $0.18253 to a high $0.18796.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

A move through to $0.1900 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.2012.

Support from the broader market would be needed for Ripples XRP to break out from the mornings high $0.18796.

Barring a broad-based crypto rebound, however, Ripples XRP would likely come up short of $0.20 levels on the day.

Failure to move back through to $0.1900 levels could see Ripples XRP hit reverse once more.

A fall through the morning low $0.18253 would bring the first major support level at $0.1730 into play.

Barring another crypto meltdown, however, Ripples XRP should steer clear of the second major support level at $0.1616.

Major Support Level: $0.1730

Major Resistance Level: $0.2012

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3701

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4851

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6710

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis 18/12/19 - Yahoo Finance

Tradeshift Says It’s Slashed Cross-Border Transaction Costs Using Ethereum – Coindesk

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Supply chain fintech startup Tradeshift, which boasts two million firms on its platform, says it's slashed the cost of cross-border transactions between buyers and suppliers using the public ethereum blockchain.

Tradeshift Frontiers, the innovation division of the Goldman Sachs-backed unicorn, represents invoice values as tokenized IOUs between buyers and sellers and then settles them in a novel form of on-chain fiat currency.

FlowTokens, as the tokenized IOUs are called, has implications for banks and financial institutions that typically make money on cross-border payments. It could do for supply chain management and trade finance what Libra has been attempting to do at a consumer level with wallets and stablecoins.

Tradeshift, which partnered with Consensys-backed e-money license holder Monerium, completed a domestic transaction earlier this year. This involved retailer Nordic Store and IKEA Iceland, which were issued an e-invoice through Tradeshift; a day later, the transaction was settled through a smart contract.

This next phase of piloting has seen cross-border transactions involving euro-denominated e-money inside the smart contract. Tradeshift and Monerium settled first 1024 (US$1,141.78) and then 512, at a fixed fee cost of 17 cents and 16 cents, respectively, the companies said. (For comparison, using Automated Clearing House in the United States typically costs somewhere between 20 cents and $1.50 in fixed fee, or 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent in variable fee.)

Tradeshift said its preliminary research of the payments space shows that fees vary wildly. To settle a cross-border transaction in the 1000 range can cost between 0 when, for example, using the SEPA payment system in Europe, to 30 or more for doing regional transfers between continents.

Monerium co-founder and CEO Sveinn Valfells said e-money is the oldest and most proven framework for digital cash in any major jurisdiction. We are deliberately going slow and trying not to break things, which is how it should be in finance, he added.

Valfells said Moneriums e-money on ethereum has now been approved for use in Iceland, Denmark, Germany, U.K., Lithuania, France and Sweden.

We issue e-money on ethereum to an ERC-20 compliant smart contract that works as a programmable passbook. Subject to KYC/AML, we issue the e-money as a balance to a person's public key into our ERC-20 contract. They are then at liberty to use that e-money as they would if it were issued in some other digital format, he said.

As for cross-border payments, Gert Sylvest, co-founder of Tradeshift and GM of Tradeshift Frontiers, said, We have taken an accepted invoice and tokenized it on ethereum. On the due day, a smart contract automatically swaps the tokenized invoice for the e-money that is on-chain.

Obviously a blockchain really doesn't care about whether or not that is [a] cross-border or domestic transfer, so the settlement cost is going to be the same, he added.

In terms of timeline, Sylvest said he could not set a date for going into production, but the first quarter of next year would be used to validate interest on the back end among users of the platform.

Crippling costs and a general lack of transparency when it comes to paying suppliers overseas were among the complaints voiced by Hafsteinn Gubjartsson, CEO, Nordic Store, which is testing the new blockchain system.

Much of Nordic Stores inventory comes from abroad and involves multiple currencies routed through its Icelandic bank to the banks of suppliers and manufacturers, a long and opaque process that is also prone to error, said Gubjartsson.

We send a lot of money to China, which is pretty opaque. Thailand is probably the most problematic; I guess they have some kind of financial constraints on their currency or something, and we cannot buy Thai baht, he said.

So we send them dollars, and in the process of sending them dollars they never receive the same amount as they invoiced for. Our bank charges, but their bank seems to take a lot of money. We always have to send another small payment. It's just extra work for nothing, really.

There are also implications when it comes to trade finance, since Tradeshift opens financing options beyond banks to a wide range of potential investors on the platform, which can reach right across the supply chain.

If you turn invoices into real programmable assets you open up a whole new generation of financial services, said Sylvest.

Small companies are the cash cows of large corporates everywhere in the world, he added. The smaller the company, the harder to get access to finance, which can come at an outrageous price.

It all reflects the fact that banks and financiers typically don't have any kind of insight into what is happening inside small companies, who are they trading with and what are the promises being exchanged between parties, said Sylvest.

Update (Dec. 18, 16:35 UTC): An earlier version of this story used the wrong name for Tradeshift's tokenized IOUs. They are called FlowTokens, not Tradeshift Cash.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Tradeshift Says It's Slashed Cross-Border Transaction Costs Using Ethereum - Coindesk

Why Prominent Crypto Researcher Thinks Ethereum Will Struggle in 2020 – newsBTC

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

Ethereum has just slumped to a nine month low, wiping out virtually all gains it has made this year. The move has been part of a market wide decline catalyzed by Bitcoins drop below $7k. Many are not convinced that ETH prices will recover at any time soon, and here is why.

There has been a lot of negativity about Ethereum lately which may have added to its bearish performance. Research firm Messari has made their contributions in the latest Crypto Thesis for 2020 paper which does not paint the network in a very positive light.

The paper has been penned by founder Ryan Selkis, and is not to be taken as gospel for, in his own words;

I compiled 120 nuggets of my clearest thoughts into one 70 page report. This is NOT an objective analysis, but a collection of my/our strong convictions for the decade ahead.

There is a lot covered in the 70 page report but we will focus on the Ethereum parts to provide a balance for yesterdays Ethereum by numbers article based on ConsenSys research.

The report claims that there will be no ETH 2.0 until 2022 at earliest because the Serenity rollout consists of seven phases. The first of which, Phase 0 or Beacon Chain, is likely to be launched sometime in 2020 according to Selkis.

It details the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap which has already been covered in depth elsewhere. Beacon chain will essentially manage network validators, ultimately assigning them to individual shards.

The new chain will be proof of stake with rewards for those that lock up 32 ETH 1.0 tokens on the chain. There is a caveat however according to the paper;

That one way bridge into the new system is also contentious, but it means ETH1 supply will start getting effectively burned once token holder begin claiming beacon chain validator slots.

Phase 1 which will introduce 64 shard chains is not expected until 2021 according to Messari. This parallel processing upgrade will be the key to scaling but the report continues to add that no network the size of Ethereum has successfully sharded its blockchain.

Phase 2 is the full launch which includes a new eWASM virtual machine and massive dApp migration through smart contracts. Naturally this will not be rushed out and the research suggests late 2021 being optimistic.

ETH 2.0 is a brand new blockchain. Its going to be a chaotic and high-risk transition.

The report continues to elaborate on ETH 1.0 governance adding that there are three goals to boost performance and reduce blockchain bloat.

On the topic of Ethereum killers Selkis says that EOS has no chance due to its cartel-like system but Cosmos and Polkadot could be a threat. Most others have tiny communities and few developers.

The only positive sentiments from the Ethereum section of the report is the DeFi developments and the fact that ETH has a robust aggregate economy and sufficient liquidity to function in this financial market of the future.

Why Prominent Crypto Researcher Thinks Ethereum Will Struggle in 2020 - newsBTC

Ethereum Is Now Officially Net Negative in 2019, Down 91% From ATH – newsBTC

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Danzig

The Ethereum price was at $130 at the start of the year on January 1st across major crypto exchanges. With 12 days left on the calendar, ETH is now net negative in 2019, which comes in stark contrast to the 70% performance that Bitcoin has seen in 2019.

In the last 48 hours, the Ethereum price has declined from $142 to $123, marking a more than 10 percent decline against the U.S. dollar.

Whats worse, the cryptocurrency remains down 91% from its all-time high of $1,450, which was reached at the peak of 2017 and 2018s initial coin offering mania.

Why has Ethereum been hit so hard by bears compared to Bitcoin? And, also importantly, is there any hope for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization?

First off, altcoins havent done too hot this year, with Bitcoin dominance the percentage of the cryptocurrency market made up by BTC pressing higher from 33% to 72% at its peak this year. Ethereum, being the largest altcoin, has understandably suffered in this Bitcoin-centric trend.

Secondly, Ethereum has been subject to a large amount of selling pressure induced by the PlusToken Wallet cryptocurrency scam. A report from Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, recently this week indicates that the scammers, most of which have been apprehended by authorities, have been liquidating dozens of millions worth of Bitcoin and ETH over recent months, presumably pushing prices lower.

With ETH being a more illiquid market than Bitcoin, theres a high likelihood that the PlusToken liquidations have resulted in a strong downtrend forming.

Despite the harrowing price trends, some assert that the cryptocurrencys fundamental trend remains decidedly positive.

Perprevious reports from NewsBTC,RealT, a U.S.-based global real estate platform working with Ethereum and blockchains, just sold the first property ever to be tokenized on Ethereum.In related news, decentralized finance as an industryhas been absolutely exploding, with users being attracted by derivatives and the chance to access financial services in a decentralized manner.

Also, Fidelity Investments a Wall Street mainstay with over $2 trillion worth of assets under management recently revealed that it has plans to add support for ETH services through its cryptocurrency branch, the fittingly-named Fidelity Digital Assets.

Speaking to industry outlet The Block, Fidelity Digital Assets president Tom Jessop said that his firm has done a lot of work on Ethereum, and thus intends to support the asset sometime in 2020.

The catch: clients of the firm need to show that they demand Ethereum, for Bitcoin, the digital currency with the longest track record, has long been the star of the institutional crypto show due to risk factors. Jessop elaborated:

How do I know that if I buy this thing, its gonna be around tomorrow? Like what indication of durability or longevity do I have based on the fact that the history of this asset is 10 years old?

Ethereum Is Now Officially Net Negative in 2019, Down 91% From ATH - newsBTC

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