Using Astronomy to Prospect for Asteroids Could Help Us Mine the … – Seeker

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NEW YORK Smithsonian astrophysicist Martin Elvis would like to see astronomers take on a crucial role for future asteroid mining: as astronomical prospectors scoping out the next big catch.

Elvis, a researcher with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, discussed his dream for applied astronomy June 4 here at the Dawn of Private Space Science Symposium. Efficientasteroidmining would jump-start a space economy and bring down costs for exploration and space science, guiding humans into a modern space age, he said.

"My basic goal is just to revolutionize our exploration of the solar system, of the universe," Elvis said at the conference. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]

Right now, he said, spaceflight and space science is unsustainably expensive. But asteroid mining could play a critical role in making those endeavors doable on a smaller budget, as private companies likeSpaceXhave decreased the launch cost per pound of payload.

But asteroid mining will face a critical problem, Elvis said: How to choose which asteroids will be worth the trip. And astronomers can play a crucial role in that determination, he said.

"The problem with asteroids is not many of them are valuable. You've got to find the right ones," he said. "We want to throw away that gray, stony stuff and deal with the carbonaceous or metallic ones, depending on whether you're looking for water or precious metals like platinum and palladium. So, this is where we [astronomers] come in."

As an example, Elvis pointed to the twin Magellan 6.5-meter telescopes in Chile. Professional astronomers could use telescopes of that size to characterize a faint asteroid in about 1-2 minutes. Eighty-five percent of asteroids could be thrown out based just on their color, he said, and the remaining 15 percent would be good prospects for sending small, exploratory probes using the data gathered about the objects' orbits and sizes.

Even a few nights per year would allow for the characterization of about 300 such objects, he said. And as larger telescopes come online, like the European Extremely Large Telescope and theGiant Magellan Telescope, the midsize telescopes could become more accessible for even more space-mining projects, he said.

"This means astronomers can turn out to be useful again [like] what [they] used to be, back in the days of navigation," he said. Similar to modern-day mining on Earth, there could be a multistep process of prospecting remotely "you don't just go straight to start digging rocks" before making a trip, Elvis added.

Such a process could cut asteroid prospecting costs by a factor of 10, he said. That would allow asteroid mining to flourish, lowering the cost commercially to put people and science in space.

On Earth, most of the precious metals, like platinum and palladium, are located 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) down, but they can come much nearer to the surface on asteroids. Those metals have dissolved in iron and were drawn to the center of the Earth, Elvis said, and the same thing happened on asteroids but the asteroids were then smashed up enough that it made the precious metals much more accessible. (Cometsalso contain valuable resources, especially water, Elvis said, but the energy needed to reach those fast-moving bodies makes them less worth the cost to explore.)

So far, Elvis has talked to the asteroid-mining companiesPlanetary ResourcesandDeep Space Industries, but neither company initially believed that this kind of remote prospecting would be necessary, he said.

"Both of them are dominated by engineers who are very good at building small spacecraft, and I'm sure they will succeed at building interplanetary cubesat-scale spacecraft for prospecting at the asteroid, but they were initially unbelieving of what I just told you," Elvis said.

They might come around, though, he added. "One of the companies did eventually realize that this was a necessary precursor to their sending out satellites," he said. "The other still isn't interested."

Original article onSpace.com.

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Stars may all be born in pairs and lose their siblings later – Astronomy Magazine

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A cloud of gas and young stars in the Perseus molecular cloud may be revealing a strange truth to the universe: most, if not all, stars are born in pairs. This means that somewhere out there, the Sun has a lost companion and it may be one of several known stars. Essentially, all stars form in molecular clouds. In the Perseus observations, nearly all of these stars were gravitationally bound. This may be a requirement of protostars the egg-like objects could require a common center of gravity with a companion to accumulate mass. The dense cores then use leftover material to form more stars, continuing the process. So why doesnt the Sun have a binary companion (well, depending on who you ask)? It seems that 60 percent of stars shed their binary sister over time, gaining a wider distance from their partner until they are gravitationally severed. They also may not all have the same symmetry with regard to mass, meaning that some former companions could be brown dwarfs cast out by larger stars. The authors of the paper, accepted in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, say more work is needed to confirm their hypothesis. But if its true, the hunt may be on for the companion the Sun once had.

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Review: "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" | Mo Books … – The Missourian (blog)

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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, is exactly what it says it is a short tour of our understanding of the cosmos that is charming, conversational, witty and perfect to read in short bursts. Its a great introduction to astrophysics. If you lack time to read a longer book but remain curious about why a subject like astrophysics matters, pick this one up.

Tyson is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, hosts his own television show, hosted an updated version of Carl Sagans classic television series Cosmos, and frequently appears on talk shows. His enthusiasm for astrophysics, contagious on television, translates to print. I could hear his voice as I read the words.

Tyson breaks his book down into 12 easily-read chapters. He starts with the beginning of the universe and then continues through subjects such as dark matter, dark energy, the space between galaxies, alien intelligence and the prevalence of round objects, until he ends with an argument on why the cosmological perspective is essential for humanity.

Its fascinating, succinctly written limited jargon. That doesnt mean its an easy read. The books shortness means you can stop reading on occasion to make sense of all the big ideas and still finish the book. (Remember, this is written for curious people in a hurry.)

Along with the mind-blowing science, Tyson is funny, full of interesting opinions, and folksy proclamations. Yes, Einstein was a badass, writes Tyson. And then, later, Without a doubt, Einsteins greatest blunder was having declared that Lambda was his greatest blunder.

Towards the end, after explaining what we know about the universe, Tyson attempts to put it all in perspective. Why does astrophysics matter to us, in our daily lives? Understanding the rules of the universe helps us understand ourselves and equips us for the future, he argues. Figuring out the rules of the universe is how people moved from caves to agriculture. This is the continuation of that movement.

How does it help us understand ourselves? Simply put, we are made of the stuff of stars.

We do not simply live in this universe; the universe lives in us.

Furthermore, if we ever discover alien intelligence, it too will be made of the stuff of stars. It behooves us in the meantime to study the stars and understand how the universe works. After reading this, youll see that there are a lot of strange, unanswered questions lurking in space.

This short, excellent read should find a happy home in every librarys science section. After reading this, readers who want more can move on to books with additional detail.

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Facebook using artificial intelligence to combat terrorist propaganda – Telegraph.co.uk

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Facebookhas spoken for the first time about the artificialintelligence programmes it uses to deter and remove terrorist propagandaonline after the platform was criticised for not doing enough to tackle extremism.

The social media giantalso revealed it is employing 3,000 extra people this year in order to trawl through posts and remove those that break the law or the sites' community guidelines.

It also plans to boost it's "counter-speech" efforts, to encourage influential voices to condemn and call-out terrorism online to prevent people from being radicalised.

In a landmark post titled "hard questions", Monika Bickert, Director of Global Policy Management, and Brian Fishman, Counterterrorism Policy Manager explained Facebook has been developing artificial intelligence to detect terror videos and messages before they are posted live and preventing them from appearing on the site.

The pair state: "In the wake of recent terror attacks, people have questioned the role of tech companies in fighting terrorism online. We want to answer those questions head on."

Explaining how Facebook works to stop extremist content being posted the post continues: "We are currently focusing our most cutting edge techniques to combat terrorist content about ISIS, Al Qaeda and their affiliates, and we expect to expand to other terrorist organizations in due course.

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Artificial Intelligence And The Future Of Work – HuffPost

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The future of work is now, says Moshe Vardi. The impact of technology on labor has become clearer and clearer by the day.

Machines have already automated millions of routine, working-class jobs in manufacturing. And now, AI is learning to automate non-routine jobs in transportation and logistics, legal writing, financial services, administrative support and health care.

Vardi, a computer science professor at Rice University, recognizes this trend and argues that AI poses a unique threat to human labor.

From the Luddite movement to the rise of the internet, people have worried that advancing technology would destroy jobs. Yet despite painful adjustment periods during these changes, new jobs replaced old ones and most workers found employment. But humans have never competed with machines that can outperform them in almost anything. AI threatens to do this, and many economists worry that society wont be able to adapt.

What people are now realizing is that this formula that technology destroys jobs and creates jobs, even if its basically true, its too simplistic, Vardi explains.

The relationship between technology and labor is more complex: Will technology create enough jobs to replace those it destroys? Will it create them fast enough? And for workers whose skills are no longer needed how will they keep up?

To address these questions and consider policy responses, Vardi will hold a summit in Washington on December 12, 2017. The summit will address six current issues within technology and labor: education and training, community impact, job polarization, contingent labor, shared prosperity and economic concentration.

A 2013 computerization study found that 47 percent of American workers held jobs at high risk of automation in the next decade or two. If this happens, technology must create roughly 100 million jobs.

As the labor market changes, schools must teach students skills for future jobs, while at-risk workers need accessible training for new opportunities. Truck drivers wont transition easily to website design and coding jobs without proper training, for example. Vardi expects that adapting to and training for new jobs will become more challenging as AI automates a greater variety of tasks.

Manufacturing jobs are concentrated in specific regions where employers keep local economies afloat. Over the last 30 years, the loss of 8 million manufacturing jobs has crippled Rust Belt regions in the U.S. both economically and culturally.

Today, the 15 million jobs that involve operating a vehicle are concentrated in certain regions as well. Drivers occupy up to 9 percent of jobs in the Bronx and Queens districts of New York City, up to 7 percent of jobs in select Southern California and Southern Texas districts, and over 4 percent in Wyoming and Idaho. Automation could quickly assume the majority of these jobs, devastating the communities that rely on them.

One in five working class men between ages 25 to 54 without college education are not working, Vardi explains. Typically, when we see these numbers, we hear about some country in some horrible economic crisis like Greece. This is really whats happening in working class America.

Employment is currently growing in high-income cognitive jobs and low-income service jobs, such as elderly assistance and fast-food service, which computers cannot automate yet. But technology is hollowing out the economy by automating middle-skill, working-class jobs first.

Many manufacturing jobs pay $25 per hour with benefits, but these jobs arent easy to come by. Since 2000, when millions of these jobs disappeared, displaced workers have either left the labor force or accepted service jobs that often pay $12 per hour, without benefits.

Truck driving, the most common job in over half of U.S. states, may see a similar fate.

Source: IPUMS-CPS/ University of Minnesota Credit: Quoctrung Bui/NPR

Increasingly, communications technology allows firms to save money by hiring freelancers and independent contractors instead of permanent workers. This has created the gig economy a labor market characterized by short-term contracts and flexible hours at the cost of unstable jobs with fewer benefits. By some estimates, in 2016, one in three workers were employed in the gig economy, but not all by choice. Policymakers must ensure that this new labor market supports its workers.

Automation has decoupled job creation from economic growth, allowing the economy to grow while employment and income shrink, thus increasing inequality. Vardi worries that AI will accelerate these trends. He argues that policies encouraging economic growth must also support economic mobility for the middle class.

Technology creates a winner-takes-all environment, where second best can hardly survive. Bing search is quite similar to Google search, but Google is much more popular than Bing. And do Facebook or Amazon have any legitimate competitors?

Startups and smaller companies struggle to compete with these giants because of data. Having more users allows companies to collect more data, which machine-learning systems then analyze to help companies improve. Vardi thinks that this feedback loop will give big companies long-term market power.

Moreover, Vardi argues that these companies create relatively few jobs. In 1990, Detroits three largest companies were valued at $65 billion with 1.2 million workers. In 2016, Silicon Valleys three largest companies were valued at $1.5 trillion but with only 190,000 workers.

Vardi primarily studies current job automation, but he also worries that AI could eventually leave most humans unemployed. He explains, The hope is that well continue to create jobs for the vast majority of people. But if the situation arises that this is less and less the case, then we need to rethink: how do we make sure that everybody can make a living?

Vardi also anticipates that high unemployment could lead to violence or even uprisings. He refers to Andrew McAfees closing statement at the 2017 Asilomar AI Conference, where McAfee said, If the current trends continue, the people will rise up before the machines do.

This article is part of a Future of Life series on theAI safety research grants, which were funded by generous donations from Elon Musk and the Open Philanthropy Project.

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An Artificial Intelligence Developed Its Own Non-Human Language – The Atlantic

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A buried line in a new Facebook report about chatbots conversations with one another offers a remarkable glimpse at the future of language.

In the report, researchers at the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab describe using machine learning to train their dialog agents to negotiate. (And it turns out bots are actually quite good at dealmaking.) At one point, the researchers write, they had to tweak one of their models because otherwise the bot-to-bot conversation led to divergence from human language as the agents developed their own language for negotiating. They had to use whats called a fixed supervised model instead.

In other words, the model that allowed two bots to have a conversationand use machine learning to constantly iterate strategies for that conversation along the wayled to those bots communicating in their own non-human language. If this doesnt fill you with a sense of wonder and awe about the future of machines and humanity then, I dont know, go watch Blade Runner or something.

The larger point of the report is that bots can be pretty decent negotiatorsthey even use strategies like feigning interest in something valueless, so that it can later appear to compromise by conceding it. But the detail about language is, as one tech entrepreneur put it, a mind-boggling sign of whats to come.

To be clear, Facebooks chatty bots arent evidence of the singularitys arrival. Not even close. But they do demonstrate how machines are redefining peoples understanding of so many realms once believed to be exclusively humanlike language.

Already, theres a good deal of guesswork involved in machine learning research, which often involves feeding a neural net a huge pile of data then examining the output to try to understand how the machine thinks. But the fact that machines will make up their own non-human ways of conversing is an astonishing reminder of just how little we know, even when people are the ones designing these systems.

There remains much potential for future work, Facebooks researchers wrote in their paper, particularly in exploring other reasoning strategies, and in improving the diversity of utterances without diverging from human language.

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Are We Overestimating Artificial Intelligence? – CMSWire

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A lot of the hype surrounding AI is exactly that: hype PHOTO: NeONBRAND

Can technology ever truly replace a present and attentive human mind?

Its a question with philosophical undertones, but as Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and surprise us, that isnt stopping the tech industry from debating it.

While some in the tech world would have you believe that AI is on the brink of replacing vast swathes of the human workforce, now may be a good time to pause and think about just how much AI can realistically do on the ground level.

The intelligence side of AI often captivates people more than the artificial dimensions of the technology at hand. And while AI technologies by definition are capable of certain cognitive functions, they can only learn from the data put in front of them. New and unexpected scenarios can still stump the machines.

Humans, on the other hand, have the innate ability to adapt in real time, even in totally alien situations.

An example posed to CMSWire by Timo Elliott, global innovation evangelist at Walldorf, Germany-based SAP, illustrates this point:

The modern world is full of complex but repetitive tasks that most of us would be happy to let a computer take over, he said.

A simple example in the finance department: if an invoice and payment match, the transaction can easily be processed automatically. But as soon as there are two invoices for a single payment, or the reference numbers dont quite match, it takes a human being to sort out whats gone wrong.

These theoretical issues are compounded by the very raw problems AI is running into in the field. The vulgarity of the Microsoft Tay disaster springs to mind, while recent studies have exposed how AI programs can exhibit racial and gender biases. Once again, the simple fact that machines can only learn from what we serve up means they at times perpetuate the worst traits of humankind.

To get a firmer grasp on where AI technology is today, and whether or not were overestimating its practical usage, CMSWire spoke to some well-placed executives to gauge their perspectives.

Are businesses overestimating the practical powers of Artificial Intelligence?

After completing her Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chen started work at Oracle before joining SDL 14 years later. Tweet to @PBC88

When it comes to crunching data and automating mundane tasks, AI is incredibly beneficial. However, when it comes to customer interactions, machines still have a lot of learning to do.

Until they are able to more fluently emulate people, there should always be an integrated human touch readily available. Chatbots can be useful for answering quick and easy questions, but when customers are having a negative experience with a brand, only the most advanced chatbots are capable of detecting this negative sentiment and responding in an appropriate way. Consumers appreciate the self-service approach the digital world has enabled, but its important that they can always connect with an actual person when they want. With information available online everywhere, customers need a way to comprehend it all and want catered, personalized experiences.

Ironically, AI has actually become adept at delivering these more custom, personalized experiences, but machines can only do so much. For this reason, organizations should strive to humanize their digital experiences through AI, but always in tandem with the human touch.

As well as holding the position of President at Michigan-based Valassis Digital, a media delivery company, Tran is an investor with sales, business development and acquisition experience in high-growth potential technology companies. Tweet to @Valassis

While the concept of chatbots is not entirely new, we have only scratched the surface in terms of how they can be utilized for consumer engagement. The recent wave of innovation in artificial intelligence has brought chatbots to the forefront supplementing job functions. Bots can increase employee efficiency and productivity while allowing companies to react quickly to consumer inquiries, ultimately improving the customer experience. They are not, however, meant to replace human interaction.

Consumers tend to favor self-service and chatbots can be a first point of contact, but in the case of an angry customer, chatbots arent necessarily meant to handle these issues independently. If necessary, the bot should have the capability to forward the consumer to the appropriate person immediately at any time during the experience. In addition, the bot may have already addressed many of the initial questions, which can help the representative solve the issue quicker.

The 24-hour, online and real-time assistance chatbots provide can remove friction between brands and consumers while allowing shoppers time to learn about a product or service on their own terms. To make a chatbot 'smarter,' and ensure it better meets consumer demands, bot language 'scripts' should be customized to the business and products or services they represent.

While its clear it will take time for companies to make chatbots as useful as possible, along the way they should be viewed as tools to help engage consumers and deliver value not solve every issue. Thats where humans come in.

Abiri has built an 18-year career at London-based NICE Systems, the globally recognized customer experience and financial security firm. In his current position as Vice President, Portfolio Sales Enablement, Abiri takes control of ensuring that all client-facing employees have the capability to consistently conduct productive conversations with current and potential clients. Tweet to @NICELtd

In todays digital age, customer service is not always easy. Customers are interacting with organizations on a variety of channels (surveys, social media, text, phone, etc.) and expecting immediate, personalized responses. While every single interaction is an opportunity for companies to connect with the customer, the millions of individual interactions can feel extremely daunting for service providers.

By using technology like AI and machine learning, customer service agents can better understand customer requests while optimizing their business processes. There will always be a need for a human interaction especially for tricky customer service calls but AI technology can help companies respond to customers with real-time, intelligent, meaningful interactions. Additionally, with advanced technology like robotic automation, organizations can also receive assistance with back office and reporting tasks, allowing more time for human-to-human interaction.

Humans will never be replaced, but machine learning will help augment and optimize a customer service agents day-to-day tasks.

Daisy Hernandez is VP of Product Management for SAP Jam, SAPs social collaboration cloud product. She is responsible for driving the product vision to solve business challenges by facilitating meaningful interactions between employees, customers and partners. Prior to SAP, Daisy held several leadership roles in business operations, engineering program management and software development at companies such as Oracle. Tweet to @mmcHernandez

Customers and vendors alike are still identifying the best ways to apply AI and chatbots for the right scenarios, both for internal and external use. There will be adjustments to how AI is being applied based on lessons learned, which naturally happens with most cutting-edge technologies. There are certainly some cases where using a chatbot to interface with a virtual assistant will be useful, and many others where it will be inappropriate or harmful. Whether chatbots are an asset or a liability depends heavily on what the person needs and how simple or complex their request is.

For example, if a customer knows exactly what they want, and its a straightforward and simple request such as getting the status of a flight or delivery then the expediency and simplicity of a chatbot will be much preferred by most customers. There will certainly be other cases, though, where resolving an issue will require an actual person.

This is no different than being shuttled to a 'phone tree' system when you dial the support line for a product or service. How many times have you been frustrated when a phone tree doesnt give you a simple option to talk to a person right away? If you as the customer already know your issue will require more complex interactions than just punching in codes, being pushed off to an automated solution will most definitely become irritating and time consuming. The key to all of this will be dependent on whether chatbots and AI are developed to understand intent, need and complexity.

After Co-Founding VirtualSoft Systems in 1998, Shrivastava went on to work for tech giants like Oracle and Rackspace. As CSO at inContact, he oversees the teams responsible for overall strategy, product management, user experience, partnerships, business development and M&A. Tweet to @Rajeev_Shri

While many organizations are currently using AI in meaningful ways, its definitely not the solution to every problem. In the customer service industry, specifically, theres a lot of promise for what the technology can do to improve overall customer satisfaction. With AI supporting routine queries, customer service agents can focus on more complex interactions that drive customer satisfaction. Organizations are looking to Chat bots and speech recognition technology to automate routine service interactions, drive enhanced agent productivity and thus improved customer satisfaction.

Some think the future is AI in order to deal with the growing number of customer interactions across a multitude of channels, companies must not forget the human element. The answer is in integrating AI with traditional, conversational communications customer experience. There is no replacement for empathy, and human interaction will always be a key element for a positive customer experience in the contact center.

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Microsoft Pix can now turn your iPhone photos into art, thanks to … – TechCrunch

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ISIS to be wiped out by Artificial Intelligence? Major probe into causes of radicalisation – Express.co.uk

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GETTY

In the wake of three deadly terrorist attacks in as many months in the UK, scientists have upped the ante in the war against terror.

A team from Boston University created a computer-simulated human mind which has the ability to see how the impacts of terror on behaviour pan out.

The results found there is an increase of religious ritual behaviour after terror-inspiring events which drove people beyond a threshold of fear.

When the results are placed under further scrutiny, they could help to explain why people commit atrocities in the name of God.

GETTY

Wesley Wildman, a School of Theology professor of philosophy, theology, and ethics at Boston University and who was head of the research team which developed the simulation, said: This is a potential explanatory tool for understanding why people get radicalised, why religious violence is increasing, why were seeing culture wars about religion in our political discourse.

He added: Youve got a big, complicated system in the real world; you try and approach it from the top, from sociology, you can only get so far.

GETTY

You approach it from the bottom, from psychology and neuroscience; you can only get so far.How do you get to the actual system dynamics?

The thing to do is to simulate the complicated social system in a computer so that you can slowly study it.

IG

1 of 10

The computer was developed by Connor Woods, a postdoctoral fellow in religion studies, who was hoping to gain an insight into the ways in which religion affects human behaviour.

The research was given a $2.4 million grant as they hope to figure outthe process of integration and refugee flow and the risks of religious extremist violence, according to Prof Wildman.

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ISIS to be wiped out by Artificial Intelligence? Major probe into causes of radicalisation - Express.co.uk

USAA invests in Austin artificial intelligence software firm – mySanAntonio.com

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By Samantha Ehlinger, Staff Writer

Photo: William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

USAA invests in Austin artificial intelligence software firm

Financial services giant USAA is investing in Austin-based artificial intelligence company CognitiveScale which has developed software that can predict what customers want before they even ask for it.

The software company delivers what it calls industry-specific machine intelligence software, which can emulate human learning by pulling in data from different sources, market events and user behavior to foresee what products customers might want, CognitiveScale said Tuesday in a news release.

People talk about artificial intelligence as man-versus-machine, generally speaking, thats been sort of the perception, said Akshay Sabhikhi, CognitiveScales CEO and co-founder. And our view is that there are so many possibilities within an organization where humans are involved, knowledgeable workers are involved, and how could you bring artificial intelligence to them to help improve their productivity?

Nathan McKinley, VP and head of corporate development for USAA, said in an email that the artificial intelligence will help help us replicate USAAs well-known member service over the phone on digital channels, which are an increasingly popular way for members to interact with USAA.

Neither company disclosed the size of USAAs investment.

Indeed, many people worry that artificial intelligence will eventually lead to jobs being automated and then to unemployment. A 2016 White House report said that 83 percent of jobs making less than $20 per hour have a high probability for automation. The report asserts, however, that humans are still smarter than artificial intelligence in many arenas.

Sabhikhi stressed that CognitiveScales offering is focused around making employees smarter and helping companies provide better customer service not slashing jobs.

CognitiveScale offers a software-as-a-service subscription model for customers in financial services, healthcare and retail. It has worked with several large banks, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Macys and Under Armour, among others, Sabhikhi said.

And many of its executives are former International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) employees. Sabhikhi served as the global leader for Smarter Care at IBM, and CognitiveScales Executive Chairman Manoj Saxena was General Manager of IBM Watson. And Founder Chief Technology Officer Matt Sanchez was the leader of IBM Watson Labs and was the first to apply IBM Watson to the financial services and healthcare industries, according to the CognitiveScale website.

Imagine being able to service you with the things that you need preemptively, without you sort of asking for them, just because it knows you, it knows you as a consumer through your journey, and offers recommendations and offers at the right time, he said.

CognitiveScale has now raised $50 million in funding to date, it also announced Tuesday. And $15 million of that total comes from USAA and several other investors Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures and The Westly Group, according to a news release.

The software USAA is installing is similar to what a customers experience on Netflix, or on Amazon.

The plan for now is to start implementing CognitiveScales offering in the banking division of USAA, Sabhikhi said, and its really around servicing their members.

We are taking a very holistic view with USAA to start small, but really think big, he said. Its important that we start small to prove that we can deliver something quick, but the goal with USAA and our vision is really fairly massive, its really to service their 12-to-15 million members that they have, and to bring the benefit of what AI can drive as the next best action and the next best offer, to the consumer.

USAA provides banking, insurance and other financial services to about 12 million customers, who are service members, veterans and their families.

In implementing the new products USAA will have a jump start from CognitiveScales 10-10-10 method, according to the press release, which helps businesses select and model their first cognitive system in 10 hours, configure that system using their own data in 10 days, and deploy it within 10 weeks.

The company has implemented products for more than 25 customers using the strategy, Sabhikhi said.

sehlinger@express-news.net

Twitter: @samehlinger

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Paris Air Show 2017: Latest Defense And Aerospace News And Deals – Investor’s Business Daily

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The Paris Air Show is the aerospace industry's headline event of the year and serves as a venue for Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSY) to announce aircraft deals with carriers from around the world as well as a showcase for military aircraft from giants like F-35A Joint Strike Fighter maker Lockheed Martin (LMT).

General Electric (GE) and United Technologies (UTX) also get a chance to shop around their jet engines.

The Paris Air Show happens once every two years, alternating with the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K.

Bookmark this page to trackthe latest defense deals, airline orders and other aerospace news from thethis year's show, which runs from Jun. 19-25.

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New flagship aerospace facility approved by CU regents – CU Boulder Today

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CU Boulder is set to begin construction this fall of a new 139,000-square-foot aerospace engineering building that will help the College of Engineering and Applied Science enhance its reputation as a national leader in aerospace education and research.

Capital construction approvals

In addition to the new aerospace engineering building, the CU Board of Regents on Thursday approved six other capital construction projects on the CU Boulder campus:

Approval by the Board of Regents on Thursday paved the way for the long-awaited $82.5 million project, which was first conceived in 2008at that point as an addition to the current Engineering Center on Main Campus.

The new building is slated for completion by July 2019, in time for the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences to move into its new East Campus home for the fall 2019 semester.

This is a watershed moment, not just for CU aerospace, but for our entire college, the university and the state of Colorado, said Bobby Braun, dean of engineering. CU Boulder is already recognized as a national leader in aerospace, and this state-of-the-art facility will take us to the next level.

In addition to providing world-class learning spaces, the new building will group together aerospace engineerings six main research clusters in a way that facilitates greater collaboration between students and faculty. Among its features will be an indoor flight environment for testing unmanned aerial systems, as well as a unique roof design that accommodates faculty research and provides the lines of sight necessary for activities like satellite tracking.

This facility will be a beacon of innovation for the students, researchers and industries of the future, Braun added.

The facility will help accommodate the rapid growth experienced by the aerospace program in recent years. Combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment grew from 647 in fall 2011 to 946 in fall 2016. The rest of the College of Engineering and Applied Science will also benefit thanks to the collaborative spaces and interdisciplinary endeavors that the building will foster between aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineers, as well as the colleges mathematicians and computer scientists.

The college is already well on its way toward achieving its capital campaign fundraising goal for the project, thanks in part to a generous gift earlier this year from Ann Smead and Michael Byram as well as a sponsorship by industry partner Lockheed Martin.

The new building will be located along Discovery Drive between the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC) and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) Space Science Building. The site is also just a short walk from the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy and LASPs Space Technology Building, helping to create a synergistic hub of space-related programming on East Campus.

This new building shows our states commitment to growing its aerospace industry in a serious way, said Penina Axelrad, chair of the aerospace engineering sciences department. Colorado already has the nations second-largest aerospace economy, and this flagship facility will strengthen CUs status as a major hub for innovation in this industry.

The departments new home will include a 200-seat auditorium, distance-learning-equipped classrooms, faculty offices and spaces for graduate students. It will also include space modeled after the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, an award-winning hands-on learning environment at the Engineering Center that has proven crucial to student success.

The state-of-the-art innovation facility comes at a critical juncture for this nationally-recognized aerospace research hub, program namesake Ann Smead said in CU engineerings blog.

With approval by the CU Boulder Design Review Board already in hand, architects are now wrapping up final drawings. Bids from potential general contractors are expected to be returned in mid-September, with groundbreaking anticipated for November.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science advancement team continues to work with prospective philanthropists and industry partners who have expressed interest in helping fund the world-class people and programs to be housed in the new aerospace building. These supporters illustrate a commitment to continued momentum in sustaining a top aerospace engineering program that drives innovation and produces the next generation of space and aeronautics leaders.

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Safran shareholders approve plan to buy Zodiac Aerospace – Reuters

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PARIS, June 15 Shareholders in Safran on Thursday backed resolutions that will free the French aero engine maker to pursue an agreed takeover of parts maker Zodiac .

The planned merger would create the world's third-largest aerospace supplier after U.S companies United Technologies and General Electric.

Thursday's Safran shareholder vote was a key demand of UK hedge fund TCI, which had waged an intense campaign to block the deal, or at least reshape it.

In May, Zodiac accepted a 15 percent cut in Safran's $9 billion offer after Zodiac profit warnings.

Safran's original $9 billion offer was weakened by conflicting movements in share prices and a deteriorating industrial performance at Zodiac, though on Wednesday Zodiac eased concerns by reiterating financial targets.

Shareholders in Safran had been asked to vote in favour of two mechanisms that will enable the company to issue new preference shares that would then be convertible in ordinary shares after three years.

Safran says it is confident of resolving Zodiac's industrial problems after visiting its plants, including a British factory blamed for the latest profit downgrade in April.

Safran is offering 25 euros per Zodiac share in cash, down from 29.47 euros previously, or an alternative of preferred shares up to a total of 31.4 percent of the $7.7 billion deal.

Zodiac Aerospace shares closed up 0.9 percent at 23.92 euros. Safran eased 0.2 percent to 77.86 euros. (Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Matthias Blamont. Editing by Jane Merriman)

The following Spanish stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Friday. Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy:

* 58.com - Guazi.Com, co's unit that operates a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) used car trading platform, announced over us$400 million in series B financing Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

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Fennel Reduces Postmenopause Symptoms – Anti Aging News

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Posted on June 13, 2017, 6 a.m. in Women's Health Botanical Agents Sleep

Study confirms the benefits of fennel in reducing postmenopause symptoms such as sleeplessness, hot flashses, vaginal dryness, and anxiety.

A recent study has confirmed that fennel helps minimize postmenopause symptoms. This herbal medicine is rapidly growing in popularity as it has helpedcountless women across the globe manage their postmenopause symptoms. Women love the fact that fennel doesnot have any serious side effects.

About Fennel

Fennel is an herb commonly used in cooking. It has an anise flavor that is quite pleasing to the palate. The herb has long been valued for providing an array of health benefits for all sorts of issues ranging from digestion problems to premenstrual symptoms. Fennel has essential oils and phytoestrogenic properties. Similar to estrogen-like chemicals found in plants, phytoestrogens are used to successfully treat myriad menopause symptoms.

The New Study

The study referenced above confirms fennel is quite effective in managing postmenopause symptoms like anxiety, sleeplessness, hot flashes, irritability, depression, joint discomfort and vaginal dryness. The study results were recently published in The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) online journal Menopause.

Women have made use of alternative and complementary medicine for menopause symptom management across the past decade-plus. There has been a steady movement away from hormone therapy (HT) as it has its fair share of side effects. Though HT is a highly effective means of treating the majority of menopause symptoms, women are turning to herbal medicine in droves. Some are not candidates for HT while others are fearful of the side effects.

The study was conducted in Tehran, Iran. Women who live in Tehran reach menopause at a younger age (48.2 years) than women who reside in the United States (51 years). Soft capsules with 100 mg of fennel were provided to Iranian women between the ages of 45 and 60. The capsules were consumed two times per day over an 8-week period. The study was comprised of 79 women, some of whom were in a placebo group.

The intervention and placebo groups were compared at the following intervals: four, eight and 10 weeks. A major statistical difference was noted. Fennel proved to be an effective and safe means of decreasing menopause symptoms without inducing major side effects. This is one of the first clinical studies to determine if the benefits of fennel for the management of menopause symptoms had merit. Fennel was previously studied to determine if it was effective in managing premenopause symptoms. It was determined that fennel helped in managing these symptoms.

The Findings

The study determined that consuming fennel two times per day alleviated the severity of menopause symptoms. The placebo had minimum effect. It is still necessary to conduct a longer and larger randomized study yet these findings make it clear that fennel is quite effective for reducing postmenopausal symptoms.

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Inside Ambrosia: Could infusions of millennial blood make you young again? Scientists have doubts. – Mic

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According to Greek mythology, when you consume ambrosia, the blood running through your veins is replaced with ichor, a golden fluid. Ambrosia, consumed only by gods and goddesses, grants immortality.

Ambrosia is also the name of a startup that aims to combat aging. Rather than golden fluid flowing through the veins of gods, the company's product is the blood of the young actual blood, donated by adults up to age 25 which it will inject in customers 35 and older who have $8,000 to spare.

The question remains: Do young blood injections actually work? Are we just a needle prick away from sweet, fresh-faced longevity?

"I know what you're thinking," said Ambrosia founder Jesse Karmazin in an interview. "Is it all just, like, Silicon Valley tech people?"

It's true: Silicon Valley has a fascination with immortality. Investors have poured billions into longevity research and startups. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, the billionaire Facebook board member and adviser to Trump, has invested millions into anti-aging medicine. Ambrosia hasn't raised any capital yet, and Karmazin told me that the company has no affiliation with Thiel.

Actually, Karmazin said, Ambrosia's client base is "a real mix of different types of people."

Karmazin said that it's mostly Americans currently undergoing the treatment, with slightly more men than women. He said the company has treated doctors, lawyers, biotech CEOs, someone with a theater background and other individuals from a variety of different industries.

A quote from Jesse Karmazin

Ambrosia currently has two clinics, one in Florida and one in San Francisco. "The treatment is large: It's two liters, which is a pretty significant amount of blood. It's like four pints if you use the American measuring system."

Still, for $8,000 a pop, blood injections are meant for customers who tend to have a little more disposable income. Ambrosia may not be affordable for everyone, but the pricing is reportedly at cost for now; Ambrosia isn't making any money from it yet.

The company gets its spritely plasma from blood donors. It buys blood from blood banks, an industry Karmazin noted is both heavily regulated and expensive.

Karmazin said that the company has both subjective and objective evidence that its treatment is conclusive. He mentioned clients who looked younger after the treatment, as well as people having more energy, sleeping better and feeling stronger. He also noted that people have had "dramatic improvements in Alzheimer's disease."

From an objective standpoint, Karmazin said the Ambrosia treatment can improve cholesterol, amyloid levels plaques in the brain and cancer risk.

"I want to be clear, at this point, it works," Karmazin said. "It reverses aging. We're pretty clear at this point. This is conclusive. We are probably done with the clinical trial. It worked so well, we're going to start treating people. We're pretty amazed with this. Yeah, no, it works, there's really no question whether it works or not."

"I want to be clear, at this point, it works," Karmazin said. "It reverses aging. We're pretty clear at this point. This is conclusive. There's really no question."

But the lack of science casts doubt on Karmazin's confidence.

Evidence on the Ambrosia website includes a handful of links to both human clinical trials and mouse experimental studies. Of the six total human clinical trials included, one is sponsored by Ambrosia. The study was first received in June of 2016. The longest trial dates back to September 2014. The trials aren't yet completed. Some of then haven't even started enrolling yet. And they're small one has just 18 people. Phuoc V. Le, an assistant professor in the school of Public Health at University of California Berkeley and associate professor of Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco School of Medicine, said a clinical trial of this size is "minuscule" and just a first step to make sure there aren't any adverse reactions.

"Something like this needs to have large clinical trials for years before they can make claims as hefty as what they're making," Le told Mic. He added that "this is years and years away" and that that is something consumers need to be aware of. "This is an unproven remedy."

A quote from Phuoc V. Le

Nir Barzilai, a professor of endocrinology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the director of Einstein's Institute for Aging Research, also agreed that Ambrosia's treatment can't be called conclusive just yet.

There would have to be clinical trials where some elderly participants receive infusions of something else rather than the blood from younger people because the placebo effect in such trials is high, he said.

Derek Huffman, assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said in an email that the willingness to treat individuals with transfusions for aging at this point is, in his view, "a distortion of the studies it is based on, and an example of an idea getting too far ahead of the science." He added that "this is not to say that this burgeoning area of science is not promising, and that related strategies will not one day come to fruition to successfully target aging, but they will require a much more targeted and fine-tuned approach than is being suggested here.

Le noted that for vulnerable populations, such as people suffering from stroke or early-onset Alzheimer's or dementia, they can't and don't want to wait, so it's dangerous for Ambrosia to make promises of reversal or amelioration of their conditions that are inconclusive, and at a considerable cost.

"For example, if I had early-onset dementia and I lived in Palo Alto and I'm a retiree and I'm living off of social security but I saved up $8,000, and I've seen my parents die of dementia, and saw how bad it was, I might consider spending essentially my savings on something that is unproven," Le said. "Although they are selling it as, not a cure-all, but potentially life-altering and so I worry that it's clearly not coercion but I worry that that people will fall into this trap of spending big bucks and not getting approving benefits."

It's also important to consider the ethical implications of companies like Ambrosia. As Karmazin mentioned, the company gets it plasma by purchasing blood from blood banks. If this type of treatment were to scale up, and companies had millions of people using it, the demand for young blood would be astronomical.

"Could we see a day when young people are selling their blood on the open market for companies like Ambrosia?" Le hypothesized. "And then what do we do in terms of balancing the public good? Meaning, if I were a patient in a hospital and I required plasma because I have a really bad medical condition, but maybe the Red Cross can't get any, because people would rather sell their blood to a company than to donate their blood because it's a limited public good."

Le compared this commodification of blood to the organ black markets in developing countries, noting how this can disproportionately coerce and hurt the poor while benefiting the wealthy. Someone can donate their kidney to a rich person and, as he noted, the type of individual to do this is someone extremely impoverished.

If large clinical trials do bear out, great. But Le believes there could be more benefits yielded from that type of research than just an outpatient elective treatment like Ambrosia. He said that we should f
igure out what is in plasma that actually confers the benefits, and potentially try and isolate that.

Le said that perhaps medical experts can make plasma synthetically, from animals or in a way that doesn't commodify a public good like blood. That way, it "can provide benefit not just to the rich or to the extremely desperate but also make it available equally to all people."

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Inside Ambrosia: Could infusions of millennial blood make you young again? Scientists have doubts. - Mic

A Top Dermatologist Weighs in on Miranda Kerr's Leech Facial – NewBeauty Magazine (blog)

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Theres no better place to confess indulging in weird or off-the-wall beauty treatments than in the presence of Gwyneth Paltrow at the Goop Health Summit. Miranda Kerr did just that over the weekend when she sat on a star-studded panel of beauty and lifestyle expertsincluding Cameron Diaz, Nicole Richie, Tory Burch and Paltrow herselfand spoke about her experience with leech therapy.

You May Also Like:Why Is Gwyneth Paltrow Purposely Getting Stung By Bees for Beauty?

Ive had a leech facial, said Kerr. I kept the leeches, theyre in my koi pond. Youre not allowed to reuse them, and if you dont take them home, then she kills them, and I didnt like that idea. The model and KORA Organics beauty brand owner also admitted to using leech therapy on her tailbone.

Surprisingly enough, Paltrow, the queen ofbizarre beauty treatments(including bee sting treatments and vaginal steaming) confessed that even she hadnt tried leeches yet. Wow! I thought I was batscrazy!, she said.

So whats so special about leeches? Although the Food and Drug Administration approved them as medical devices in 2004, their primary use in medicine has been in reconstructive surgery and microsurgery to help severed veins regain blood flow. Leech therapy has been around for a very long time, but the use of leeches as an anti-aging treatment is a rather recent, celebrity-driven trend (Demi Moore and The Real Housewives of Orange Countys Heather Dubrow are also fans). The idea is that when leeches bite their prey, they feed on the blood while simultaneously injecting numerous substances with a variety of bioactive peptides.

We asked Greenwich, CT, dermatologist Lynne Haven, MD, if leech facials are effective and if they can really make a difference for your skin. According to Dr. Haven, there are far better ways to anti-age than employing the use of blood sucking leeches. Historically, leeches have been used because they have an anticoagulant, so theyve been used for bloodletting, or to increase blood flow to a skin flap or graft, she says. If youre a normal, healthy person there is no medical reason to use a leech. And I think that leech facials dont make any sense.

If youre looking for the best anti-aging treatments, Dr. Haven says youre likely to achieve better results with some tried-and-true skin care services that dont involve slimy, blood sucking creatures: I would not recommend a leech facial, some people can have an allergic reaction to the anticoagulant they produce called hirudin. Theres really no proven benefit and we have so many proven techniques, therapies and topicals with science behind them, that theres really no reason to follow this fad. For overall anti-aging, I would prefer a fractionated laser, topical retinoids, antioxidants and other proven treatments that have been shown to really make a difference in lines and wrinkles.

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Chinese Medicine is Using Donkey Skins to Boost Libidoand Africa's Animals Are at Risk – Newsweek

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Demand for a form of traditional Chinese medicine is putting the donkey population at risk in South Africa and other parts of the continent.

In recent years, the market in ejiaoa product made from boiled-down donkey skins mixed with herbs and other ingredientshas grown massively in China, putting millions of donkeys at risk of slaughter or poaching.

In South Africa, poor farmers who rely on donkeys as beasts of burden and modes of transport have reported having their animals stolen, only to later find their skinless carcasses.

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South Africas Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has confiscated more than 1,000 donkey hides en route to China in the past year, chief inspect Mpho Mokoena told Voice of America (VOA). Mokoena fears that the growing trade in donkey skins could signal the extinction of the animal in South Africa. In two years there wont be [any] donkeys in South Africa, she told VOA.

Donkey skins dry in the sun at a licensed specialized slaughterhouse in Baringo, Kenya, on February 28. The trade in donkey skins is legal in some countries, but is putting donkey populations in parts of Africa at risk. TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty

The slaughter of donkeys and trade in their skins is on an upward trend in other parts of Africa, too. A January report by U.K.-based charity the Donkey Sanctuary found that demand for donkeys in Africa has risen so much that, in the West African country of Burkina Faso, the cost of a single animal almost doubled from 60 ($76) in 2014 to 108 ($137) in 2016.

Read more: Take Two Herbs and Call Me in the Morning

The global donkey population stands at around 44 million, the vast majority of which are working animals, but the Donkey Sanctuary report estimated that global demand for donkey skins is between 4-10 million, with at least 1.8 million donkey skins being traded per year.

Four African countriesBurkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegalhave banned donkey exports, as well as Pakistan. The consumption of donkey meat is also considered haram (forbidden) in Islam, meaning that the slaughter of donkeys in many countries with large Muslim populations is frowned upon.

Donkeys are under threat largely due to the rise in popularity of ejiao, according to the report. In China, some believe that ejiao has various health benefits, from anti-aging properties to boosting sex drive, and it is even marketed as a gynecological treatment that can reduce reproductive diseases in women. Demand is so high that ejiao can sell for up to 300 ($382) per kilogram, according to the Donkey Sanctuary report.

Traditional medicine in China and other parts of East Asia is associated with the decline of other animal populations and wildlife agencies have said that wild rhinoceros could be wiped out within a decade as a result of increased poaching. Rhino horn can sell for up to $60,000 per kilogrammore valuable by weight than gold or diamondsdue to myths that it can solve a wide range of medical ailments, including cancer and hangovers.

Tiger bones are also reputed to be a remedy for arthritis in traditional medicine, while ivory from elephant tusks is also used in some medications, as well as being prized for ornamental purposes in China.

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Chinese Medicine is Using Donkey Skins to Boost Libidoand Africa's Animals Are at Risk - Newsweek

Literature, Films on Chess Captivates Enthusiasts – High on Sports (blog)

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Chess is a game which has more books on it than any other books in the world combined. The field of chess literature is so vast that one can go on and on and still not find a way out. The history of books on chess go down to many centuries ago. Even in the seventeenth century when it was played in Europe, the players relied on different books on the sport for strategies. The first world champion, Wilhem Stenietz also created his own collection of books. The book My System by Aron Nimzowitzch has sold millions of copies. It is now considered a treasure to have an original copy of his book.

So, why are chess books so popular? What are some of the recent books on the game which have become popular? The answers to these two questions are in fact quite simple. The chess books are immense in the content that they offer. They are full of details which can be easily understood by the player. In fact, there are different levels of books on the game.

One of the greatest series is authored by none other than the world champion Garry Kasparov called My Great Predecessors. It is a five volume book and talks about Kasparovs greatest predecessors and has their games annotated by the champion himself. This series has been read by most of the worlds top grandmasters and even novices looking to make it big in the sport. Reading chess books makes the player sharper and makes him develop his game. It also helps him analyse various games of the past. Another classic example of a chess book is the book by Bobby Fischer, My Sixty Memorable Games. It shows sixty of his best games and helps the reader understand the logic behind his moves. The reader can enjoy each of Fischers games with relative ease as it is written in a pure and natural text.

These two books are just small examples from the large world of chess books. There are other books on chess which talk about psychology and the mindset of the players during games. One such book is How Life Imitates Chess by Kasparov. It talks about how Kasparov thinks life and chess are co-related. He talks about his life as a chess player and what it meant to be a world champion. He gives insights into his grueling schedule before world championship matches and also his thoughts on what chess meant to him. It is a must read for every book worm whether playing or not.

Chess Books are a great way to improve your game. The biggest advantage with these are that they are self explanatory. One can easily read and understand them. They are the best ways to practice, and books are able to tell the player something that even the worlds best engines cannot say. In fact, a book gives insight knowledge by another human who has been on the same stage earlier and has done his research. Simply relying on computers has never been an effective way to grow and even the worlds best players still rely on these books for enhancing themselves. Thus, chess literature has a whole new future ahead.

Chess in films has risen in the past two decades. One of the earliest films that I can recall seeing was Searching for Bobby Fischer, based on the true life story of International Master Josh Waitzkin. This film is based on the book of the same name by Fred Waitzkin, Joshs father. It showcases the world of a chess player and how the role of a parent is crucial for a childs development in the early part of his or her career. The movie tells Joshs story in such a powerful manner that even a grandmaster can learn a lot by watching it.

A recent film on the game was directed by the acclaimed director Mira Nair called Queen of Katwe. The film has inspired millions of people across the globe, including the world champion, Magnus Carlsen. What makes this film unique is the fact that a young girl from an extremely poor background rises up the ladder and becomes the first player from her country -Uganda- to participate in the Olympiad. All of sixteen, this girl wins the heart of millions by her never say die attitude. She was none other than Phiona Mutesi, who along with her coach, Robert Katende, made the game popular in an area where the people were so stricken with poverty that they had no place to stay in even in the worst conditions. The film showcases how to overcome extreme hardships in life with a positive mind frame.

Another amazing film on chess was Magnus. A film by a Norwegian debutant director Benjamin Ree, this film has the live footage of several important moments in the world no.1s career. It shows how he became a grandmaster at thirteen and how his quest for becoming a world champion came true in 2013. The documentary draws on the experiences of the entire Carlsen family and how they, as a unit, helped the reigning world champion become a phenomenon that he is today.

The above examples are just a few from the world of chess literature and films. It is rightly said that chess is an ocean full of treasures. It not only ignites the mind, but it also helps to develop oneself holistically. The game of chess is not only a sport, it is an art, a science, and a philosophical sea. One can only reap the benefits from this beautiful game.

Image courtesy: The Seventh Seal (Movie)

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Shadow raises $57 million for its cloud computing service for … – TechCrunch

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French startup Shadow, also known as Blade, just raised a Series A round of $57.1 million (51 million). Shadow thinks your next computer is going to be in a data center. Your existing phones, laptops and Shadows own device (pictured above) act as a thin client, a window into your virtual machine running on a beefy server in a data center near you.

Shadow had already raised $14.6 million from around 20 business angels. The same ones invested again, starting with Nick Suppipat, Pierre-Kosciusko Morizet and Michael Benabou.

Ive already written a bit about Shadow. The startup is running thousands of virtual machines on 800 server-grade Intel Xeon processors with a dedicated Nvidia GTX 1070 for each user. Its only available in France for now.

In my own testing, it works quite well already even though you can feel that the service is still a bit young. The only issue is that you currently need a speedy fiber connection, which still limits the market quite a bit in France.

You can get your personal instance for around $32.70 per month (30). This isnt just a gaming platform, you get a full Windows 10 virtual machine. So far, 3,500 people have been using the service as the company has been accepting new users in batches every other month.

With todays funding round, the company plans to accept a lot more customers. The first thing were going to change is that we were relying on a pre-order system, co-founder and CEO EmmanuelFreund said. We have a lot more demand compared to our offering output. Were going to switch to an instant ordering system.

Eventually, youll be able to sign up to Shadow and use your Shadow computer the next day. This is going to be challenging as Shadow will need to keep up with the demand and roll out enough servers so that new servers are always available.

Shadow already said that it isnt in the business of looking at your data. You control your Windows instance, you can encrypt your data and Shadow doesnt have your Windows password. But the company said that it plans to provide its own encryption system and write stronger terms of service when it comes to privacy.

On average, these users have been spending 2.5 hours per day per user over the last 30 days. By targeting gamers, Shadow has been focusing on heavy PC users so this number isnt that surprising.

But the startup doesnt plan to stop there. Up next, Shadow wants to sell instances through B2B channels and target less powerful needs. Eventually, Shadow wants to replace computers in your office or your grandparents computer. Those servers probably arent going to have a big Nvidia GPU, but its going to bring the next big wave of users.

The startup wants to attract 100,000 clients by the end of 2018. Shadow is going to expand to the U.K. and Germany in 2017, with other European countries following suit. For each geographical expansion, the startup needs to find new data centers and sign peering deals with telecom companies around Europe.

The company is also going to open an office in Palo Alto so that they can talk with American partners, such as server makers and Microsoft. And Im sure that the company will need a ton of capital to buy new servers and expand its infrastructure.

While cloud computing for end users have been a wild dream for years, internet connections may have become fast enough to turn this into something that you can actually use. Shadow plans to take advantage of that.

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Amazon.com to open second government cloud-computing region … – The Seattle Times

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The cloud-computing unit of Amazon.com said the new AWS GovCloud Region which can include one or more data centers is expected to open in 2018. It will be located on the East Coast.

Seattle Times business reporter

Amazon Web Services is launching a second cloud-computing region dedicated to hosting sensitive data and workloads from the U.S. government and regulated industries.

The cloud-computing unit of Amazon.com said Tuesday that the new AWS GovCloud Region which can include one or more data centers is expected to open in 2018. It will be located on the East Coast.

Amazon launched its first region dedicated to sensitive computing needs by U.S. government agencies and their contractors in 2011. Located on the West Coast, it was designed to meet tough compliance requirements and remain isolated from other parts of the public cloud.

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Amazon.com to open second government cloud-computing region ... - The Seattle Times