Daily Archives: March 4, 2017

Home automation is a growing trend with its roots in decades old wired technology. It is quickly becoming a child of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. While many of its components still host wired connections like their ancestors, much of the recent innovation is linked viaAI-based virtual assistants. Here's a look at some of the ways you can invest in this nascent technology.

Investors looking for a pure-play in the growing trend of home automation need look no further than Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ:CTRL), the industry-leading provider of automation and control solutions for the connected home or business. This is an extremely small company, with a market capitalization of about $365 million, so investors should expect some share price volatility that is often associated with small market cap companies. Its professional systems are installed during the initial homebuilding or can be part of a retrofit. It provides homeowners with a growing number of options for automation including communication, entertainment, security, lighting, and temperature control. Products can be connected via a central network and the system can integrate over 10,000 third-party product choices.

The home automation segment is forecast to grow. Image source: Getty Images.

Control4 has been exhibiting massive growth. In its most recent quarter the company produced revenue of $57.4 million, up 34% over the prior year quarter, and earnings of $0.16 per share compared to a loss of ($0.03) year over year. The company has been increasing its sales and marketing efforts, which appears to be paying off. Control4 continues to expand its base of dealers in both its domestic and international markets. Early last year, it acquired Pakedge Networking and is continuing to roll this product out among its dealer base. The inclusion of an organic networking solution will drive revenue and increase customer satisfaction, by more quickly identifying issues in customer networks. The company is also expanding its addressable market by providing lower priced options for middle income homeowners.

Investors looking for a more diversified offering have numerous options. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is a top choice in the managed services segment of the market. While nested in the company's security service, it also provides lighting and environment controls. Investors will no doubt be familiar with Comcast's cable and broadband services, which provides the company with the advantage of controlling the network. Comcast has grown both revenue and earnings consistently over the last five years, and the stock has increased 156% to the S&P's 75% over the same time.

The home automation Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Market offers a multitude of options. The list of products in the segment is extensive and range from lighting, thermostats, cleaning products, and many more. Some of the biggest names in technology provide artificial intelligence-based virtual assistants that can act as the controller for your DIY system and a gateway investment in the category. Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Alexa, Alphabet'sGoogle Assistant and Apple's Siri virtual assistants will integrate with a plethora of devices.

The development of the smart-speaker system controlled by these virtual assistants will likely prove to be the tipping point in the DIY segment. Amazon's Echo, powered by Alexa, currently boasts more 7,000 third party skills. While not all these skills are related to home automation, it does provide an indication of just how much of a lead Amazon possesses in the area. Google Assistant, which is integrated into most Google hardware, is the smarts behind its Home smart speaker.

These companies are major players in big tech, with any income from home automation barely making a dent in their overall revenue. Each is making a play for the control of your in-home ecosystem. By becoming a one-stop shop, and having an assistant become a virtual presence in your home, each company hopes that this will lead to a greater share of your consumer dollars.

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Each of these companies represents a solid way to invest in the home automation segment, offering pure play, or diversified options. This is an emerging technology that bears watching, as investments will evolve over time. Now how can I automate making my bed?

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Danny Vena owns shares of Alphabet (A shares), Amazon, and Apple. Danny Vena has the following options: long January 2018 $85 calls on Apple, short January 2018 $90 calls on Apple, long January 2018 $640 calls on Alphabet (C shares), and short January 2018 $650 calls on Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Stocks to Buy in Home Automation -- The Motley Fool - Motley Fool

March 3, 2017 Credit: Shutterstock

Fear of losing our jobs to those who can perform tasks faster, cheaper and perhaps with more creativity, has been longstanding. Equally, the introduction of a new leisure class with more free-time to spend once liberated from mundane, repetitive and boring tasks has also long been promised. With some forecasts indicating that within 20 years, 35 % of UK jobs are at risk from automation, it might be time to sort the job terminators out from the tumble dryers.

When Caf X opened a few weeks ago in San Francisco selling coffee made by a resident robot, baristas were highlighted in a list of jobs which were under increasing threat from automation. Research published last year by Oxford University and the business advisor Deloitte, indicated that in the UK there is a 77 % probability of 1.3 million 'repetitive and predictable' administrative and operative roles being automated.

What seemed to be unexpected was the range of jobs at risk from our cybernetic cousins. While factory workers have been familiar with automation taking over repetitive, precise and physically arduous tasks for decades, the list also cited work performed by the police, teachers and even senior executives as amenable to computerisation. Similar research in the US by the consultancy firm, McKinsey also backs up these findings.

Perhaps to buck what might be seen as a passive approach and given that insurance writers topped the 'at risk list', it was recently reported that the insurance company Aviva apparently recently wrote to all of its 16 000 UK workers asking them if they consider that their job could be automated. In a twist, and firmly putting the ghost back in the machine, the carrot for full disclosure was that the self-selecting staff would be retrained.

Conceivably the current debate is prompted by the seemingly daily inundation of autonomous device innovations, exemplified by driverless cars as under development by Google and others, leading the way. Alongside, this is the deliberately imperceptible and ubiquitous nature of the technology dubbed the 'internet of things'.

So how worried should we be? Anyone familiar with the term Luddite could be forgiven for responding by asking, 'wasn't it ever thus?' The more optimistic forecasters point out that while innovation drives change - resulting in social adjustments - the reality is rarely exclusively negative, straight-forward or even predictable.

McKinsey research points out that the discussion is misleading if by 'job' we mean 'occupation', going on to say that only some functional activities will be automated, leading to a redefinition of occupations in the same way that automatic cash machines changed that of the bank clerk. The researchers found that less than 5 % of US occupations could currently be completely automated. They did however also find that 60 % of occupations could have around a third of their activities automated.

Additionally, the more sanguine remind us that after two centuries of automation the net sum is not less jobs, but more. Another Deloitte study found that while automation had reduced agriculture and manufacturing employment in the UK over the preceding 150 years, the growth in business and technology services, along with the caring and creative professions had more than offset this downward trend.

Rather than either a dystopian or utopian future, the reality is likely to be more mundane as policy and law makers get to work tackling issues such as culpability in the instance of driverless car accidents. Just a few days ago, Bill Gates even suggested that there should be a tax applied to robots that replaced human workers. Currently, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are asking the European Commission to establish a legal 'status' for robots to exploit their economic potential, while guaranteeing citizen safety and security, including job security.

And will discussions about responsibilities also bring us to those of 'robotic rights?' Well that raises the prospect of Artificial Intelligence (AI), beyond the scope of this articleunless my computer disagrees?"

Explore further: Automated cafe sets up shop in tech-crazy, fancy coffee-loving San Francisco

As Katy Franco waited for her morning coffee, passersby pulled out their phones and snapped photos and video of her barista.

"Make an appointment for 4pm today with Gary," I say to my assistant as I hang up from a promising phone call with a potential client. There was a time when you had to be high up in an organisation to have an assistant.

If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. Or as a plumber.

Ronald De Feo has watched robots take factory jobs for years. Now he sees them threatening a new class of worker: People who drive for a living.

Computers have been an important part of many industries for decades already and have replaced humans in many jobs. But a new wave of technological development means that even positions that we once saw as immune to computerisation ...

Jobs, or more accurately, not having a job, has been in the news this week.

A team from the University of Leicester's Department of Engineering has, for the first time ever, vibration-mapped the famous London bell Big Ben in order to reveal why it produces its distinct harmonious tone.

Despite advancements in fuel-saving technologies over the last 25 years, on-road fuel economy for all vehicles is up only one mile per gallon during that time.

Amazon says an incorrectly typed command during a routine debugging of its billing system caused the five-hour outage of some Amazon Web Services servers on Tuesday.

The car of the future will let you pay for petrol or parking directly from your vehicle and receive traffic alerts and restaurant recommendations from your onboard digital assistant.

For 2017, Toyota has added its most fuel-efficient Prius ever: a plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid called Prius Prime that can travel up to 640 miles on a full electric charge and a single tank of fuel.

Usually people don't notice the "cloud"unless, that is, it turns into a massive storm. Which was the case Tuesday when Amazon's huge cloud-computing service suffered a major outage.

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I would really be surprised if in 20 years more than 1% of jobs(work) are performed by humans. 🙂 The only thing holding it back now is battery technology and that is being well researched.

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35 percent of UK jobs may be at risk from automation - Phys.org - Phys.Org

Providing 24-hour news coverage to cable viewers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, News 12 operates seven distinct local channels as well as an interactive network of websites and mobile applications. The demands for productivity in a 24-hour news environment are intense, so the group leverages automation solutions to maximize its operation and improve efficiency. Launched more than 30 years ago, News 12 has been using automation solutions fromGrass Valley, a Belden Brand, from the beginning. As the News 12 team looked to upgrade the studio automation system, they carefully evaluated all the options on the market and determined that the latest Grass ValleyIgnite Automated Production Systemwith theKayenne K-Frame Video Production Centerswitcher addressed more of their requirements for workflow, hands-on operation and on-air effects/transitions.

We were the first station in the country to use the automation system that preceded Ignite, so Grass Valley has been an important part of our success over the years, saysMilan Krainchich, VP of operations, News 12 Networks. The Ignite system is capable of cutting live news as well as freeform breaking news for an extended period of time, which is extremely important to us. Our operators value that they can tailor the workflow in a way that works best for them.

Ignite is designed as the industrys first and most complete link between the control room and the newsroom, providing an unmatched return on investment with single-operator capabilities. It allows a single operator to manage control room devices used to produce live newscasts and event programming, making it possible to control on-air timing, accommodate last-minute show changes and direct any type of production on the fly. It also makes it easier to repurpose content for digital multicasting and webcasts, increasing overall production value.

News 12 uses Ignite to control six cameras in its studio connected through a Kayenne K-Frame switcher. The integrated approach was an important consideration in the upgrade, and theIgnite Katalyst control panelis a critical and unique component of the workflow. An essential component for unscripted and breaking news productions, the purpose-built tactile surface of the Katalyst panel enables directors to produce compelling live productions with Ignite. Another important new component is the Media Object Portal (MOP) Gatewayone of the most advanced newsroom control system portals ever developed. The MOP Gateway provides visibility from Ignite into the control system that details what has changed and where that change is in the rundown and alerts the director if there are conflicts that require attention.

The way the whole system comes together, including integration with ENPS and other devices, is one of the biggest benefits for us, says Krainchich.Also, we appreciate having choices over control surfaces while being able to operate the system on air with a standard keyboard or with the Katalyst dedicated control panel, but not requiring a full switcher control panel and audio mixing console. Its the right solution for us.

News delivery has changed a lot over the years, but the value of automation has remained consistent. Ignite has been delivering that value to users around the world for years. News 12 is a perfect example of an operation that embraces technology to strengthen its own business while providing an outstanding experience for its viewers. The latest upgrade positions News 12 to continue its success for years to come, says Kyle Luther, vice president of sales for North America, Grass Valley.

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News 12 Upgrades Newsroom Automation With Grass Valley Ignite - Sports Video Group

The new revenue recognition standards issued jointly by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have been a long time in the making, and merging U.S. and international standards into a consolidated, principles-based rule has required a collaborative effort. With such a long and slow ratification process, its surprising to learn most companies are still assessing the impact, according to the results made available from this expansive survey by PwC and the Financial Executives Research Foundation late last year.

Companies are generally struggling to implement the necessary major changes and establish individual policies which accurately account for revenue and produce detailed documentation and analysis to validate the reported numbers.

Many companies are still attempting to manage the process using spreadsheets. In addition to being manual, slow and fraught with errors, spreadsheets do not allow for version controls, security or operational controls, audit functionality or automation. Most notably, they are not scalable to meet large company enterprise-level revenue recognition automation and reporting needs. With ASC 606 and IFRS 15, its time to ditch the spreadsheets altogether and move to automation.

Not only does automating revenue recognition free accounting organizations from the tedium and challenges of manual spreadsheets, but it offers companies significant ROI across a number of important vectors.

Cost savings While some financial leaders may view automation technology as added effort and expense, in reality an automation solution reduces staffing hours and expenditures. Cost savings are realized through reduced staffing hours, infrastructure and auditing fees as well as more indirect means such improved performance through consistent data and rule-making efficiency. A recent report by Gartner Inc. indicated tools that help coordinate financial statement preparation, regulatory reporting and investor report production reduce process costs by up to 30 percent.

Accelerated closing During the frenetic, deadline-driven quarter close, often called the last mile, accounting and finance teams must close books quickly by consolidating data from a multitude of systems and ledgers, reconciling high-risk accounts, recording adjustments and creating financial statements. More leading companies today are implementing financial close software that automates the many last mile activities to reduce errors and improve process efficiency, according to Deloitte & Touche.

An evolving financial automation process built around a consistent and transparent revenue automation engine improves accountability and control while reducing bottlenecks and duplication of effort. The right automation engine allows a company to re-create and improve upon the often mundane but important last mile tasks, freeing up staff to focus on analysis and decision-making. The incoming guidance, ASC 606, comes with many subjective requirements depending on how it is interpreted by each company. Replacing inefficient manual data entry with automated data validation and collection takes advantage of modern analytic capabilities previously unavailable. Essentially, the more data available, the better the opportunity to build a companys efficiency and reduce the last mile time to close.

Improved accuracy According to Bloomberg BNA, human blunders were behind most tax and accounting mistakes leading to the nearly $7 billion U.S. businesses accumulated in IRS civil penalties in 2013 alone.

The new accounting standards have proven to be one of the key drivers for increased CFO technology adoption.

The threat of restatements keeps every CFO up at night yet manual data entry into spreadsheets is a significant source of errors. With automation, business processes and controls are repeatable and auditable which, in turn, leads to a smoother, faster, less costly and more accurate audit preparation process and transaction trail.

A recent Accenture study touted todays CFO as a technology evangelist who understands even the so-called soft benefits of evolving technology. For revenue automation, that includes quick and clear visibility to detailed revenue data, availability to management reporting and financial forecasting systems at a granular level.

Revenue is a companys most critical piece of the quote-to-cash cycle. Automation technology makes it possible to streamline this critical function and be confident that, in the face of changing standards, a companys reporting is streamlined, accurate, on time and cost effective.

Theres never been a more opportune time to move beyond traditional methods of revenue management to an automated revenue recognition solution in order to streamline required processes for ASC 606.

Reddy co-founded Leeyo Software, which makes makes revenue recognition automation software, in 2009. He has served as President and CEO since inception.

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Voices The ROI of revenue automation in a post-ASC 606 world - Accounting Today

KINGSVILLE, Ontario Theres no sign of a track on the polished concrete floor, yet the driverless engine goes straight to the packing room load of yellow plastic crates filled with freshly harvested mini cucumbers.

The little train makes its way out the door of Mucci Farms new lit greenhouse and down the long hall before making a wide U-turn into the station.

Once its load is weighed and the output of every harvester is noted automatically (the best will get a bonus), a robotic arm sweeps the yellow RPCs and their contents into the adjacent room for packing. New crates appear, sterilized and dried, and are automatically loaded onto the now-empty carts.

Guided by the invisible 24-volt conduction wire embedded in the floor, the little train quietly returns to the greenhouse and stops in the zone there are four where the empty crates are needed.

In the packing room next door, workers in white lab coats and gloves pack preportioned mini cukes into Eat Brighter!-branded bags. Beside them, a machine stands ready to automatically fill black Styrofoam trays of mini cucumbers.

Grower Gaetan Totaro said the workers now packing cukes by hand wont lose their jobs when their line is automated one day. The company is expanding so rapidly and labor is so hard to find there will be plenty of other jobs available.

Though Mucci imported its automated equipment from the Netherlands, they might just take a drive down the highway next time to see what manager Darren Ward and his commercialization team are up to at the eight-month-old Collaborative Research Technology Centre at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Vineland, Ontario.

The centers robotics and automation program was created to design automation technology for the greenhouse sector. They already have potential buyers for their first invention, a Canadian-made robotic arm that places graded mini cucumbers on trays, each machine capable of filling 240 trays an hour.

Its elegant as opposed to complex, Ward says, a nice example of simple automation.

The center is also working on a robot to harvest mushrooms, as well as an irrigation system designed to mimic a growers decisions. Its for use in non-hydroponic greenhouses such as the floral industry that pot their plants in soil or a substrate.

The industry has saved a lot of labor in post-harvest handling, notes Glen Snoek, marketing and economic policy analyst for Leamingtons Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers.but harvesting remains people intensive because humans are still able to harvest vegetables faster and smarter than robots.

With the speed of automation, my intuition is it will change sooner rather than later, said Snoek.

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Ontario greenhouses move toward automation - The Packer

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H&R Block Shows How Automation Could Change Legal Profession - Bloomberg Big Law Business