Thursday, 23 February 2017

The AI of Google is now learning to make another Artificial Intelligence

While Artificial Intelligence systems seems like the recipe for a software development Sci-Fi nightmare, experts agree that it can create a future with less costly and more efficient work force. The benefits of an Artificial Intelligence-powered future could be outweighed by the jobs that the technology makes obsolete. The most prolific minds in Artificial Intelligence research from groups, which include Google Brain, DeepMind, OpenAI and university research departments’ at the most prestigious tech schools in the nation are developing software development program tools and machine-learning systems that could create machine-learning systems. Google Brain researchers were able to design software that built an artificial intelligence system to take a test that will measure how well the software could process language. The software performed better on the test compared to a software that’s designed by humans. According to Jeff Dean, the leader of the Google Brain group, automated machine learning is the most promising research avenue for his team. If it turns out that artificial intelligence could consistently perform at comparable levels to the Google Brain experiment, self-starting artificial intelligence can lead to rapid technology implementation. However, even if the prospect is very exciting to technology enthusiasts, a growing number of people are way of what increased roll-outs of artificial intelligence systems would mean for their livelihoods.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Automation is set to disrupt the way that the economy and even capitalism has operated for centuries. Machines in the long run are cheaper than human workers. There would be no worry on unionization, vacation time, health insurance or a lot of aspects of employment that people expect and need from employers. Nonetheless, the more effective, cheaper labor force would come at a great cost.

 Google learning Artificial Intelligence

At present, creating a powerful AI means hard work. It would take time to train AI’s carefully using machine-learning and also money to hire experts who know the software developer tools needed to do it. The ultimate aim of Google Brain is to minimize the costs and make artificial intelligence or AI more efficient and more accessible. If a corporation or university looking to build an artificial intelligence of their own can just rent an AI builder, rather than hiring a team of experts, it will minimize the cost and boost the number of AIs, spreading the benefits that the technology could offer far and wide. Additionally, using AIs to create more AIs could also increase the speed wherein new AIs could be created. At present, artificial intelligence’s could take weeks or even months to learn how to do tasks via the use of unfathomably huge amounts of computing power to try things again and again, quite literally beginning with no comprehension of anything that they are doing. Artificial intelligence trainers could find ways of optimizing the process wherein no human can hope to discover. However, the downside is that artificial intelligence building more AIs sure appears as if it’s inviting a runaway cascade. Once an AI is trained to accomplish a specific goal, one could not necessarily crack it open and check out how it is doing it. AI’s understanding of the world is definitely alien. Thus, the plans of Google to prevent a Skynet kind of catastrophe involve discouraging AI’s gently from disabling their own kill switches as they’re being trained.

The biggest sector to be affected by automation proliferation would be manufacturing, particularly in the developing world. In his farewell address, President Obama even mentioned automation. He stated that the next wave of economic dislocations will not come overseas. Instead, it would come from the relentless automation pace, which makes plenty of middle-class, good jobs obsolete. Experts in the industry tend to agree to this statement. Furthermore, as the development indicates, not only low-skill jobs are compromised. Currently, there are AI systems that’s been developed, which could replace songwriters, film editors, journalists and a whole lot more. Now, with AI capable of making AI function better than humans, people should be a bit more aware and observant of what awaits on the horizon. Designing a good AI is difficult. For a company such as Google that heavily relies on artificial intelligence, the best possible artificial intelligence software is paramount. And who better to design an artificial intelligence than another artificial intelligence?

The people at Google Brain’s lab is reportedly creating an artificial intelligence software that could create more AI software, the goal which is in the future, making artificial intelligence easier and affordable. As of now, Google stated that its artificial intelligence maker, in competition with human engineers is not advanced enough yet. Nevertheless, given the fast pace of developing artificial intelligence, it could be a few years before this would no longer be true. If self-starting artificial intelligence methods become practical, they could boost the pace in which machine-learning software is implemented across the economy.

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Top Mobile App Development Software for 2017

There are so many software platforms in 2017 that are used by thousands of mobile app developers all over the world. The app development platforms evolved with the changing needs of the mobile market.

In terms of the mobile industry, developers could not possibly rely on older development tools and technologies. The same goes for older application development plans and strategies. Innovation and the adoption of latest trends is quite an important aspect of corporate enterprises and culture that could not afford to fall behind. The mobile field goes through fast changes due to the new development technologies, latest gadgets and other trends. Technologies and devices that influence the development process as a whole are wearable devices such as smart watches, fitness devices and others, IoT and cloud technologies.

There is a profusion of mobile application creating platforms, which build and develop applications without exhausting the bank.

Top Mobile app development software for 2017

TOP MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE OF 2017

1. Appy Pie. It is a great software or tool for users who have no coding experience and are looking for a very quick and simple way of creating an application. However, Appy Pie is not for those looking for an application that has a very specific or native application functions.

2. Telerik. An application platform that has cloud integrations that are aimed at enterprise clients. It’s an end-to-end cross-development platform that enables users to create applications and deploy them across all main operating systems. The main advantage to develop on Telerik is the speed which developers could build, iterate and deploy their application. It has a great support team that goes above and beyond in their willingness to help.

3. OutSystems. Enterprise clients who are in need of an application solution, such as development and management. It is not for small and medium businesses or any client with less budget. The platform is available as a yearly subscription for organizations that deliver mission-vital apps that have to work across multiple device types. The IT development and operations teams would coordinate in an isolated and secured environment.

4. Alpha Software. An application development software that is capable of making mobile applications offline. It has many very impressive features. It has inbuilt scripting tools for JavaScript that build an effective app. It is easier to learn than most software. Its mobile ability to create offline mobile apps or standard web-based apps stand out. It is easy to build a decent-looking mobile application with plenty of power.

5. Salesforce App Cloud. The great thing is the app exchange, the fact that when a tool is needed, chances are someone has built it already. The ramp-up time could be in minutes and capital outlay often is zero. Clients could enjoy better customization capacities via custom Salesforce development services that help meet a company’s unique requirements efficiently.

6. Xamarin. Is an app development software for users who have C# knowledge. The tools are polished and has quite impressive enhancements in the general software stability. It really helps to speed up the process of development. Great results are seen in getting clients to market faster so they’re able to kick off marketing and advertising campaigns rapidly.

7. Kony, Inc. Is a cloud-based enterprise mobility solution and MADP provider. Kony is a cloud-based, fast-growing enterprise mobility solutions firm and also an industry leader among mobile app development platform or MADP providers. For end-to-end business solutions, Kony is a wonderful choice.

8. Appzillon. An end-to-end development solution. It supports enterprise level security and improved user-experience controls to efficiently and rapidly build applications. The automated development approach of Appzillon enables organizations to create a customized app with very little development and coding effort. It is very flexible and easy. Interaction was good and are prompt.

9. July MX platform. Provides clients the flexibility of an application creator with features that are easy to use, like a drag and drop editor and application management tools that do not need coding experience, while offering backend capabilities as well that are more typical of an enterprise level system.

10. MagPlus Designed. It is a mobile application creation software that has features that are great for publication companies. MagPlus was a much greater value in a financial standpoint. The three major reasons for its choice are ease of use, cost effectiveness and the support it provides. Support is much better and the support site is really good and very handy. There are also training documents and training available.

11. Kinvey. Is a fully managed BaaS application development platform that’s scalable and secure. The best features of Kinvey was that it offered a solution that needed very less code. It allows a powerful, big and scalable solution that’s also managed and maintained fully. This was a perfect solution since the client did not have a team that can monitor web servers. It ties in the logic of easily integrating APIs.

12. Pegasystems Logo. Is an enterprise application solution with major mobile, cloud and BPM integrations. It has been proven in enterprise-wide, transformational deployments in the biggest companies in the world. It is a unified platform with everything when one needs to deliver end-to-end front and back-office business operations. Create apps that meet the diverse requirements of numerous business units, products, channels, geographies and customer segments.

When it comes to mobile application development, there is a plethora of software and tools that are very popular this year. All these could make mobile app development easier, faster and with less bugs.

Thursday, 9 February 2017

Top technology trends in Education

The education sector continues to boost its technology investments to make learning more interactive, more effective and streamlined. Education technologies continue to evolve to provide more value to learning or students anywhere in the world.

As the education field continues embracing the power and promise of digital technology and learning, one thing for sure is that regardless of how exciting the new technology may be, the tool itself should always be secondary to the goal that the student, teacher or administrator wants to achieve or the problem they want to solve. Utilizing disruptive innovation to improve educational institutions, the most successful designers of education technology would keep the end in mind, instead of pushing tech innovations for technology’s sake.

Pressure continues to rise on education budgets all over the world. However, despite this fact, the education sector is continuing to boost its technology investment that’s related to learning. Some of the top technology trends in the field of education include the following:

Top technology trends in Education

1. Online corporate learning. The corporate e-learning market is expected to grow around thirteen percent every year until 2017. This is due to the growing number of companies that have realized that there is indeed great value in furthering the knowledge of their employees in cost-effective and flexible ways that are tailored to each and every needs of an individual. Opposite the academic MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses which remain struggling to find the best path to a reliable revenue stream, businesses that are focused on corporate e-learning enables employees in each industry and at any experience level the power of customized training, 24 hours a day on any device. Unlike training that is classroom-based, learners get to rain on their own time with customized formats. Everyone could move at their own pace, learning what they should know as well as exploring their individual interests. While still a relatively young industry, corporate e-learning promises in delivering new teaching models and a future of exciting breakthroughs.

2. Alternative styles of learning. The days are gone when students have to rely on tutorials that are text-based or even video-base. Although those are effective still, new learning styles will continue to emerge, providing online learners more interactive experiences such as directly writing code in the browser, or accomplishing online challenges as part of the learning process. One example of this is Code School which offers a one-of-a-kind approach which relies on alternative learning style that is believed to be more engaging, fund and effective compared to plain videos. With this, users watch a short video, stop and practice what they’ve learned via a series of interactive coding and assessments all the browser before proceeding. As they progress, they earn points and badges which serve as guide for one’s learning and progress. Furthermore, there is a mobile application so users could watch and review videos anytime.

3. Online competency-based training. Online learning and competency-based training are nothing new. However, the combination of the two is making a revolutionary approach to education. Online competency-based training providers could cost-effectively combine learning modules into pathways which are adaptable and agile to the evolving labor market. They do so by breaking down learning not by course or even by subject matter, but through competencies, so releasing learning from the hindrances of traditional methods and institutions. The method helps students via targeted learning outcomes, portable skill sets and customized support that employers care. This trend is expected to highlight the vital role of employers to build a value network that aids students to directly connect with prospective job opportunities.

4. Skills measurement. In relation to creating momentum in online corporate learning, expect an intensified focus on determining better ways of assessing skills and measure individual progress, competency-based learning and the end result which is ROI. Measuring a skill set could be accomplished with just ten questions in less than two minutes based on an adaptive algorithm. This enables educators to give students a SAT-like score for any skill, which could provide the foundation for a new industry standard in terms of skills measurement. Other web education organizations have begun experimenting in this area.

5. Flipped-learning technology. A flipped class is a kind of blended learning wherein students will watch video lectures outside of class to learn about content online and perform homework in class with a teacher’s guidance. This helps in engaging students both outside and inside the classroom. Designers of online tools and video streaming that are centered on this approach should make it a priority to optimize them for interactivity.

With numerous technology options, combining educational and technology landscapes could be daunting for educators. The future technology trends in the education environment looks bright. Clearly, there is a lot more to come and remaining on top of the latest developments is paramount.

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

How Technology is Changing the B2C Companies

The evolving technology and the internet has transformed strategies in B2C companies. With the recent emergence of touch screens, tablets, mobile apps, consumers demand for convenience in accessing brand or product information and more convenience when it comes to purchases. 

Anyone could have the best-known brand in the world, but in a B2C or business-to-consumer world, if there is no right eCommerce infrastructure, a business could find itself rapidly running out of capital and from there, out of business. A strong brand is essential but not sufficient. Customer growth isn’t enough, as well as inventory availability and so does fast delivery. Plenty of cash would help, but who has sufficient capital nowadays? The key to success in a B2C world is to meet the exceeding consumer expectation. To be able to do that, a company should have the right combination of capabilities. The correct balance of good management of fundamental management leadership skill, good management of capital, scale and definitely branding. However, this balance differs from one business to another.

Since the first dot-coms, the internet has transformed the strategies in retail. As eCommerce irrevocably formed consumer buying behavior, either retailers adapted or died. With the recent emergence of tablets, touch screens and mobile applications, consumer demand for convenient access to information and immediate capabilities to purchase remains to drive technology innovation. The consumerism of B2B technology is picking up speed as well, as the same wave of innovation and adoption is sweeping through the B2B landscape.

 

The business-to-consumer or B2C world that buyer live in today is greatly influenced by technology. Individual habits of consumer when it comes to looking, evaluating, selecting and receiving goods are radically different from what they were before the internet existed. By the implementation of omni-channel strategies, successful brands and retailers provide customer the choice of how they learn and obtain products. Intuitive and simple online and mobile user experiences make it easier for customer to do business with these industries.

Individual consumers could opt to purchase over the web and pick up in store. They could complete in-store returns of products they have purchased on the item or order an out-of-stock garment right from the fitting room of a store. They could use the store as a kind of showroom and buy the product on the web, or vice versa. In a store, they may see a new interesting product, and use their mobile phone to check out detail, read review and buy without having to wait in line and receive the product the following day. In a similar manner that digital and physical channel work together in retail, it is necessary for manufacturers as well as distributors to look at eCommerce development as building on their sales teams, rather than eradicating them. Providing sales representatives with mobile order writing solutions, which include B2C-like user experiences will make them more effective and efficient. Armed with solutions such as these, sales representatives would have the product and consumer information that they require at the fingertips for strategic conversations with the clientele and a seamless digital format when it comes to orders writing and submission. Messages that sales representatives convey consumer visits could be reinforced via the websites of the manufacturers and distributors, as well as applications the next time a buyer logs in.

Using eCommerce solutions, sales representatives could talk with buyers on how to increase margin, phase purchases and comprehend the extensive landscape. With insights from sales representatives, purchasers will be able to distinguish themselves in a world of growing competition from internet channels and other brick-and-mortar players. Most of all, sales reps could distinguish themselves and the products they sell in an increasingly competitive wholesale scenario. The advent of smart phones resulted to high speed wireless internet. This has helped social media become the most popular sites in the world today and then eCommerce platform services came around. All this was triggered with the arrival of these smart devices. Business organizations could benefit from this since 24/7 connected customers offer more data on their behavior and help organizations to better understand them. Moreover, smart phones enable companies a more frequent engagement.

The cloud storage technology is storing of data on a remoter server wherein data could be extracted, edited or added whenever required from anywhere. A big chunk of personal data is on the cloud already. Services such as banking, social media and music streaming are just some to use cloud for convenience. The rise of cloud technologies also brought the concept of SaaS or Software-as-a-Service that enables businesses to have their software and data outsourced to a service provider. With the rising popularity of cloud storage, there will be a decrease for local storage need. Devices that need to access data could connect to a server and retrieve it via the network. This would change the way that consumers use devices such as their smart phones, laptops, tablets and peripherals.

Technology advances have always changed the way people behave. With continued advance in tracking technology, marketing would evolve into a very sophisticated industry with accurate results and less prediction. Consumer research professionals would take over the manual and labor intensive jobs. Consumer research professionals would be the key strategies to determine company operations. All the changes would mean that the organizations will get closer to their clientele to sense their needs and deliver them before they even realize their needs.

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Your Future Office: Traditional, Cloud, Microsoft or Google?

The future office could be traditional, cloud, Microsoft or Google. Whatever an enterprise chooses, the key for success is to choose a system that could best meet the specific requirements of the company as well as the customer needs.

In today’s continuous change in business processes and customer requirements, a business needs to consider what its future office would be like. Whether it would opt for traditional computing, cloud computing, Microsoft or Google. For those who are undecided as to what office to choose, it would be a good idea to know these four choices to make a well-informed decision.

When it comes to the difference between traditional and cloud computing, the major differences is in the delivery mode or access to computing resources and the associated cost as well. In traditional computing, typically one would have to own or share the said remoter server. With traditional computing, and with an own server, it would incur capital expenses, such as hiring admins, cost of the server and physical rent among others. The cost is almost constant, whether the server is fully used or otherwise.

In the traditional method, files and data are stored with other users and often with conflicting objectives. Lack of isolation exposes to the risk of poor performance and poor security. Most probably, one has to pay fixed charges regardless of how much of the storage portion or bandwidth is actually used. The way of subscribing to storage is not automatic. If more storage is needed, the administrator should be informed and wait for the upgrade of the subscription to occur. While it may appear like automatic, in almost all instances, there is some human admins performing the dirty work at the back-end.

Cloud computing changes the story in a lot of ways. It does not required owning a remote server since it is simple to rent one off the shelf. Furthermore, there is also no need to care about sharing the storage or remote server with others. The risk of privacy, security violations and performance violation is significantly minimized. It is ‘pay as you go or use’, thus equals to great savings. With cloud computing, one is not limited to simply storage. In the cloud, one could rent just about anything, from big cluster or servers, operating systems, block storage, software development platforms and favorite app software as well. There’s been a flood of new cloud-based offerings in the market recently, while intensification in merger-and-acquisition caused main shifts in the service provider community.

Cloud works as well only as a business manages it. The key to achieve the benefits that the system promises is with a centralized, integrated IT Service Management or ITSM system that is focused to demand management, service integration and capacity management. The only way to such a system is via proactive strategies thinking well ahead of the implementation. It’s necessary to take extra care in considering the move to cloud and ascertain that the organization is culturally and practically read to gain the most from what the computing style has to offer.

Microsoft and Google are two systems that could be considered as the future office or an organization. A lot of people think that Google is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Probably in part since Google has challenge the dominance of Microsoft in the technology field. The reality is that both Google and Microsoft offer competing products and their core business does not overlap very much.

The main strength of Microsoft is the Windows operating system, which continues to dominate the desktop via Mac OS and Linus and are gaining ground. On the other hand, the main strength of Google is the big portfolio of search products, which display ads as well. Microsoft is weak in terms of search and cloud computing. Google is weak when it comes to desktop computing and operating systems. Even though Microsoft has ‘phone home’ features inside, the truth is that Microsoft isn’t engaged in the type of massive collection of data that Google is doing. Google keeps entering new markets with products having very fussy privacy rules and policies. Microsoft has been the target of privacy advocates for a long time, and thus, they have cleaned up their act since they are a massive, mature organization.

Microsoft has seen the shift to cloud coming for some time, but has been slow to adapt it. The shift demands that it moves in exactly the opposite direction from where it dominates. The founding mission of Microsoft was to put a computer on every desk in every home, bringing it from the mainframe into people’s homes, otherwise decentralizing computing. Google is on the other hand re-centralizing computing. Google remains very dominant and too powerful. It has turned into the very thing it stood against originally. It has become a snoop and bully, managing to be ignorant and defensive at the same time. It has become the internet’s Microsoft.