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“The Iowan Project wants to identify skilled tech workers who have left the state” plus 29 more VentureBeat

“The Iowan Project wants to identify skilled tech workers who have left the state” plus 29 more VentureBeat

The Iowan Project wants to identify skilled tech workers who have left the state

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 01:45 PM PST

A lot of young professionals dream of leaving their hometowns after graduating high school or college in search of broader career opportunities or new lifestyles. It seems like an inevitable thing. However, it’s also a problem for states like Iowa that are losing valuable tech talent to other ecosystems.

But what if Iowa could identify the tech talent that has left the state and recruit them back? That question led a group of Iowa organizations headed by the Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) to launch a new talent development initiative called “The Iowan Project.”

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The Iowan Project is a web application featuring a map of Iowa expats around the world. Expats drop a pin on their current location and list past associations with the state of Iowa including hometown, educational institutions, and past workplaces. TAI then uses that data in a workforce attraction campaign that identifies tech-skilled Iowa expats and recruits them back to the state.

“We have so much cool stuff going on in the technology space that we feel we have a compelling argument for these individuals,” said Brian Waller, TAI president. “TAI is excited to connect with tech-skilled Iowa expats and reacquaint them with the great tech companies, communities, and job opportunities awaiting them back home.”

Waller said that Iowa expats already know the Iowa story, but they just may not realize the scope of opportunities that the state’s tech industry has to offer.

“If you’re a technologist, you want to create technology solutions, and I think you can do that in Iowa in various industries,” said Waller. “There are tons of opportunities to work on different technologies in manufacturing, agriculture, higher education, and health care.”

The Iowan Project has already been collecting information in their database for three years. TAI hired social media firm ChatterKick out of Sioux City to help them identify and recruit over 1,500 expats using very precise social media tactics.

By adding themselves to the map, users can find and connect with fellow Iowans in their area. They also give over 300 TAI member companies, including startups, large corporations, and organizations, the chance to recruit them back into Iowa’s tech talent pipeline.

“The Iowan Project is a great opportunity to keep talented Iowans around the world connected to each other and their home state,” said Mary Bontrager, executive vice president of talent development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. “We are proud to have so many people with Iowa connections making a difference in the world, and want them to share their Iowa pride with others wherever they are. We want to ensure they know they are welcome back anytime.”

In addition to the website, TAI, Iowa Economic Development Authority, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, and the City of West Des Moines will be hosting dinners in Denver and Chicago this year to spread the word about the project.

Waller said that TAI also wants to show that Iowa is an inclusive state that welcomes women, minorities, and rural Iowans not only to have a seat at the table when it comes to their tech community but also encourages them to assume leadership roles.

The Iowan Project is just one piece of TIA’s efforts to build Iowa's community of tech talent. The organization also hosts the annual IT Olympics and the HyperStream program in schools with robotics, game design, and cybersecurity programs, and it supports legislative work to get money for teacher training and computer sciences.

“There is a global war right now for talented, skilled workers,” said Waller. “We understand this problem is universal … but with shoulders to the wheel, we’re fighting for that talent, and we believe we have a compelling story to tell.”

This story first appeared on Silicon Prairie News. 

Human: Fall Flat defies physics with 2 million copies sold

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 01:26 PM PST

I like silly physics games, and based on the sales of Human: Fall Flat, I’m not alone. That deliberately awkward platformer from developer No Brake Games has surpassed 2 million copies sold across PC and console platforms. It has players controlling a stumbling gelatinous human-like creature through a series of obstacles by walking, running, jumping, and climbing all while fighting with the controls and the physics. It’s delightful.

No Brake Games founder Tomas Sakalauskas said that he found Human: Fall Flat’s success confounding but welcome.

"The idea that the game started out as a solo-development endeavor and now incorporates over two million players worldwide is amazing,” said Sakalauskas. “I've always tried to listen to the fans and bring their ideas into the game where feasible and where it chimed with my original vision.”

With the help of publisher Curve Digital, No Brake was able to expand Human: Fall Flat from PC to every major console. It is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The original PC version, meanwhile, is still getting major updates including an 8-player online multplayer mode that debuted in November.

"We're thrilled for Tomas, everyone at Curve and the now millions of players worldwide enjoying the wonky, physics-based fun,” Curve Digital managing director Jason Perkins said. "Tomas has achieved success through exceptional hard work and by listening to the game's community. It shows the potential of iterative design and how a strong voice can resonate with players in a crowded marketplace."

Another reason that Human: Fall Flat has resonated is YouTube and Twitch. The game is conducive to comedic videos, and that has made it popular on those sites. It’s also a game where a lack of skill can make it even more fun — especially if you’re playing with friends or during a livestream.

But more than anything, Human: Fall Flat’s sales are more evidence that predicting what will succeed and what will fizzle out is more difficult than ever in gaming

Apple will require support for iPhone X screen, iOS 11, and watchOS 4 on April 1

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 12:58 PM PST

Starting April 1, 2018, Apple will require all new iPhone and universal apps to natively support the iPhone X Super Retina display, as well as requiring new iOS apps to be built with iOS 11 SDK or later, and new Apple Watch apps to be built with the watchOS 4 SDK or later. Apple’s Developer Program notified developers about the new requirements in an email this afternoon.

Apple’s push for Super Retina display support could be taken either as obvious or suggestive of future development trends. The company has historically used similar developer requirements to guarantee support for larger iPhone screen sizes, so it’s no surprise that Apple will require developers to include higher-resolution Super Retina assets and notch-abiding UI layouts roughly six months after the iPhone X’s release.

On the other hand, some may take the requirement as a hint that more Super Retina devices — or similarly proportioned iPhones — are coming later this year. In previous years, Apple mandated that new apps include 64-bit support after the release of iOS 8, and comply with a new “flat” visual style after the debut of iOS 7, heralding widespread changes across its devices. But more than two years after its release, Apple has not imposed a similar screen support requirement for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which didn’t represent any major directional shift for iPads or other Apple products.

Apple’s new developer requirements differentiate between new apps and ones already in the App Store: Existing apps can continue to be built with some older versions of the iOS and watchOS SDKs, but Apple said today that it will stop accepting apps built with the watchOS 1 SDK on April 1. Roughly 65% of iOS devices are currently running iOS 11, 28% are on iOS 10, and 7% are on earlier versions of iOS; similar numbers are not available for watchOS.

The new requirements are designed to push all developers to more quickly adopt improvements found in the latest operating system releases. Apple has frequently cited security and other under-the-hood enhancements as reasons for customers to keep their devices up to date with the latest OS releases; a guarantee of continued compatibility with popular apps can also give users reasons to update.

AI could be the future maestro of music education

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 12:10 PM PST

GUEST:

Music is a universal language that can bring people together from all over the world. As emerging technologies help us communicate better, artificial intelligence is beginning to overtake our hearts, minds, and even ears.

AI is opening up a world that users can automate, personalize, and learn from. The music and education sectors are not exempt from the efficiency of emerging technologies. Smart bots like Amper’s A.I. can now compose their own albums, while other intelligent applications like SmartMusic allow users to experiment with composition and production. Yet, before emerging musicians strike the right chord with audiences, they need to foster their own talents.

AI is in line to become the next big learning tool. For now, AI can’t completely take over the creative process, but it’s definitely making music education and creation easier than ever before. But how will machine learning revolutionize music education and inspire continued human innovation in music?

For music students and emerging musicians, artificially intelligent education technology (AIEd) can reorchestrate music education to become more supportive and creative, all while democratizing the medium and the scope musicians have for creating new songs.

Computing sound to rhythm

In traditional music classrooms, teachers share their expertise by offering guidance on the likes of rhythmic patterns, cadence overlaps, and chord progressions via communication and demonstration with physical instruments. But AIEd may prove to be a helpful hand for human teachers in the classroom.

In the United States, one of the first smart classrooms was created by a music professor at Penn State University. In this AI/virtual reality setting called First Class, teaching apprentices could practice with AI students. If educators can use AI to help assist pre-service music educators, they can surely use the technology to assist music students too.

Companies like Third Space Learning are already implementing platforms that offer artificially intelligent software to monitor and improve teaching. In this case, pupils interact with tutors through an online whiteboard as they answer questions.

Analyzing around 100,000 hours of audio and written data from tutorials, the company along with scientists at the University College London are identifying how AI helps augment lessons to foster better student knowledge and performance. In addition, success metrics can be gleaned from raw audio data to show how many problems came up, how useful the session was for the student, and how the tutor rated the session.

Other education companies like Pearson say existing computer systems can already offer one-on-one tutoring and facilitate group discussions. They can also simulate complex environments or situations for learning purposes. In their report Intelligence Unleashed: An Argument for AI in Education, they predict that AI can offer feedback on students’ progress, knowledge status, and even moods in a matter of seconds. Companies can then make musical instruments and supplemental teaching programs with and connected to digitized features and platforms that can monitor, direct, and use data to analyze practice and performance while students are active in music classes and at home.

In fact, Laurie Forcier, the author of Pearson’s AI report, says that “lifelong learning companions” — robotic tools in the form of devices or apps — could ask questions, provide encouragement, offer recommendations, and connect to online resources. If difficulties are encountered by students, like a faulty rhythm, the companion can help guide the performance or even suggest new techniques.

AI from classroom to recording studio

To an extent, everyone learns from real-life experiences that they may not ordinarily encounter in a classroom. But with AI, music education can continue to become democratized in a physical or virtual classroom and through apps and tools in and out of the recording studio.

Today, music learning reverberates outside the classroom and into the music studio as musicians are regularly incorporating AI tools into their own musical development. Douglas Eck and his research team at Google have implemented Project Magenta, a machine learning research program that is helping them understand how computers can create various forms of art and music. The neural learning project offers a synthesizer and a note sequence generation model that interacts with human musicians. Through Google, users can even use plugins for Ableton, a leading digital audio workstation. These tools for musicians, powered by the open source machine learning library Tensorflow, provide insight into the ways musicians can learn, in and out of educational and professional music facilities.

A handful of startups are helping facilitate these learning experiences with apps and tools that nurture music creation. Popgun boasts the first AI that learns from human musicians, possessing skills that can complement and augment music compositions and the whim of its creators. Weav is another startup that can create songs as an experiment for variations in tempo, beat, energy, and mood, depending on the whim of the listener. Lars Rasmussen, Weav’s cofounder, says human artists continue to create its adaptive music. In the future, Rasmussen forecasts AI helping, not replacing human artists entirely.

All the data musicians store in the cloud for these new technological instruments could provide valuable recordings of a music student’s progress. Indeed, AI can help us analyze melodies, beats per minute, and more. But music education is largely intangible and even biased with numerous ways to interpret its styles and character. Even Beethoven was adamant that music would never be perfected because of different interpretations and that each performance could never be entirely replicated or even judged like another.

For the most part, AIEd is still in its nascent stages. While it can store data and automate simple tasks, it can't answer broader, theoretical, or even cultural questions. Yes, AI will disrupt the musical education system, but used in tandem with real teaching and mentorship, it can be a tool that offers more access and precision to the art.

Music’s most powerful tool: ears or AI?

Artificial intelligence has yet to mimic the human ear in all its nuance and emotional depth. In fact, AI is still learning how to program itself to teach and understand music, too. But the power of human creativity can be nurtured through new, democratized tech that can help everyone, even the most novice player, become a more seasoned and aware musician. In the future, music teachers may give a standing ovation to the more personalized education as AI becomes a lifelong learning companion.

Enrique Cadena Marin (DJ ECM) is one of Latin America’s fastest rising EDM artists and producers.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is nearly profitable only two days after release

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 12:06 PM PST

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is out now, and it is already about to pay for itself through brisk sales on PC and consoles. Warhorse Studios director Daniel Várva told HN.cz that the medieval adventure has racked up hundreds of thousands of sales — with 300,000 of those coming from Steam alone. It is available now for $60.

“I think the game will be paid (for) tomorrow,” Várva told HN.cz (translated from Czech by Google). “Anything over a million sold will be nice for us.”

Warhorse first debuted the concept of Kingdom Come as part of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that went on to raise approximately $1.5 million in 2013. But in the five years since, the studio has taken on additional funding. Two days from its February 13 release, and kingdom Come is already well on its way to that 1 million milestone.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a new take on the open-world adventure. It tweaks many of the concepts from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but with a focus on real-world history instead of fantasy. It also uses the powerful CryEngine toolkit to build beautiful visuals. But at its heart, the game is about finding creative solution to problems — like getting arrested.

Várva has referred to this as his “dream” project, and it seems like players are responding well to it. Kingdom Come is among the top-played games on Steam right now with a peak simultaneous player count of 75,000. It is also the best-selling game on that platform at the moment.

On Twitch, Kingdom Come is also attracting a huge audience. It has maintained a spot in the top 5 most viewed games, and it is often only behind huge hits like Fortnite, League of Legends, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Oracle acquires cloud security startup Zenedge

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 11:16 AM PST

Oracle announced today that it reached an agreement to acquire Zenedge, a company that provides firewalls and denial-of-service mitigation to enterprises.

The deal is part of Oracle’s overall work to build out its cloud platform, providing customers with security features for their applications that help them stay secure and running in a hostile web environment. Zenedge fits in with the company’s previous acquisition of Dyn, a domain name system (DNS) provider that helps determine how traffic gets directed between different applications.

Customers can use Zenedge’s product suite with applications that are deployed in private datacenters, the public cloud, or in hybrid configurations. Right now, the company’s products are used to secure more than 800,000 web properties and networks. Bringing it into the Oracle product family (backed by the company’s sales team) has the potential to significantly grow Zenedge’s customer base.

It’s also a major win for Oracle Cloud, which competes against larger players like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Oracle’s advantage in the cloud market is its existing set of relationships with enterprise customers, and the company continues to add features through both homegrown product development and acquisitions in order to make its platform more appealing.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement from Oracle earlier this week that it plans to add 12 new cloud regions to its global computing infrastructure, building out the company’s product portfolio.

Zenedge will continue to operate its products during the acquisition process, and the company will continue to take on new customers. Oracle said that it plans to accelerate Zenedge’s feature and product development, as well as integrate the company’s services more deeply with its own cloud portfolio.

Oracle declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. Zenedge’s team is expected to join Oracle at the close of the deal, though it’s unclear when that’s expected to take place.

GamesBeat Summit speakers — Second Life creator Philip Rosedale, video host Andrea Rene, and FoxNext’s game chief

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 10:05 AM PST

We’re stocking up on star speakers for our GamesBeat Summit 2018, which will take place at the beautiful Claremont Resort in Berkeley, California, on April 9 and April 10. Our conference is all about making games better and improving the business, and our latest speakers should help us realize this vision.

Our speakers include Philip Rosedale, the CEO of virtual reality world High Fidelity and former head of Linden Lab, the creator the virtual world Second Life; Andrea Rene, host, video producer, and writer at What’s Good Games; and Aaron Loeb, the president of studios at FoxNext Games.

You can get your tickets here at 30 percent off our rate using the code DEAN.

Above: Philip Rosedale, CEO of High Fidelity.

Image Credit: Creative Commons

Rosedale will participate in a panel dubbed “The Leisure Economy,” which is about all of the ways that people are finding how to be paid to play games — such as esports athletes, game modders, and cosplayers. That panel also includes Gio Hunt, executive vice president at Blizzard Entertainment, and Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs, one of the pioneers of virtual spaces and a cryptocurrency leader.

Rosedale cofounded High Fidelity to make virtual reality spaces in 2013. He invested in startups such as Milk, Sunglass.io, Akili Interactive, and Crowdfunder. He was a cofounder of Coffee & Power, and in 1999, he started Linden Lab, which built Second Life, one of the most successful virtual worlds in history. He was also chief technology officer at RealNetworks.

Above: Andrea Rene is cofounder of What’s Good Games.

Image Credit: What's Good Games

Rene will moderate a fireside chat with Janina Gavankar, the actress who had the starring role as Iden Versio in Electronic Arts’ blockbuster game Star Wars: Battlefront II. Rene cofounded What’s Good Games in April 2017, and she is a frequent host of game-related shows and events. She also co-hosts the daily video game news show Kinda Funny Games Daily. She was recently nominated for Trending Gamer at The Game Awards 2017, and she has hosted for Facebook Live, VICE, IGN, Gamespot, and many more.

Above: Aaron Loeb, president of FoxNext Studios.

Image Credit: FoxNext

Loeb will appear in a fireside chat, dubbed Hollywood 2.0, with NBCUniversal’s Chris Heatherly and Michael Metzger of Houlihan Lokey.

Loeb runs the studios for publishing mobile and virtual reality games at FoxNext Games, the new game division at Fox. FoxNext formed recently, and it acquired Aftershock, which included a couple of studios that made mobile games for Kabam. FoxNext games acquired Cold Iron Studios to work on a sci-fi shooter PC game based on the Alien films. FoxNext is also working on mobile games based on the Avatar films and The X-Files TV show. Besides FoxNext and Kabam, Loeb is also a veteran of mobile games at Electronic Arts.

Our speakers fit within our theme of The Future of Games: Better games, better business, the Time Machine. If you could see the future of games before it happens, that would give your business a competitive advantage. Our event will let the hottest game developers, publishers, and investors talk with their peers and business executives about their insights into the future of games.

GamesBeat Summit 2018 is the destination conference for networking, inspiration, and intelligent interaction. With the right people in the room to make great deals happen, our flagship industry event attracts the best game and tech developers and publishers, executives, marketers and venture capitalists. This event is intended for VP-level executives and the hottest game developers and publishers.

We'll touch delve into the strategies of the future for gaming, and how to drive excitement, growth, and new startups. Our talks will feature augmented reality, virtual reality, esports, influencers, mobile games, core games, indies, new game technologies, and the connection between games, tech, and science fiction. We want to expose you to ideas like The Leisure Economy, where everyone in the future will be able to make a living playing games.

Games have changed as they've reached a billion people and $116 billion in yearly revenues, reaching the mainstream like they never have before. Can we still apply the lessons from the past to the current and future marketplace? And what type of innovations and companies will draw the blueprint of what's to come? So much of the industry's internal narrative has been about it being cutting-edge. How can we imagine a broader set of drivers other than technology that will shape the industry?

Our previously announced speakers include Janina Gavankar, lead actress of Star Wars: Battlefront II; congressional candidate Brianna Wu; Tencent’s Dan Brody, vice president of business development at Tencent; Rand Miller, co-creator of Myst and Riven; John Underkoffler, CEO of Oblong Industries and science adviser for the influential sci-fi film Minority Report; Amit Kumar of Accel, a venture investor; Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs, CEO of Neverdie Studios. Josh Yguado, president and chief operating officer of Jam City; Matt McCloskey, vice president of commerce at Twitch; Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research; Nick Earl, CEO of Glu; Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors; Michael Metzger, investment banker at Houlihan Lokey; Chris Heatherly, head of NBCUniversal’s new game business; Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17; Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners; Stephanie Chan, writer at GamesBeat; Bill Roper, chief creative officer at Improbable; and Paul Bettner, CEO of Playful, the creator of the VR titles Lucky’s Tale.

Advisory board

  • Nicole Lazzaro, CEO of XEO Design
  • Noah Falstein, chief game designer at Google
  • James Zhang, CEO of Concept Art House
  • Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research
  • Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive
  • Jamil Moledina, Google Play
  • Michael Metzger, senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey
  • Mihir Shah, CEO of Immersv
  • Gordon Bellamy, visiting scholar at USC
  • Kate Edwards, former executive director at IGDA
  • Tom Sanocki, CEO of Limitless
  • Phil Sanderson, managing director at Ridge Ventures
  • Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
  • Sibel Sunar, CEO of Fortyseven Communications
  • David Edery, CEO of Spry Fox
  • Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors

Topics will include:

  • Intersection of sci-fi, games and tech
  • Platforms: Where to place your bets? AR, VR, & more
  • Creating a culture of inspiration and creativity
  • Emerging markets for games
  • Monetization: How to acquire and retain users
  • Esports and building the community
  • Deals: Follow the money
  • Diversity and the expanding ecosystem
  • Early Access as a business model
  • How mods can launch new game genres
  • What game engine should you use?

Sponsors include: Intel, Appodeal, Accel, Epic Games, Yomob, Wargaming, Worldpay, Altered Ventures, and Gfycat.

Roostify Closes $25 Million Series B To Fund Expansion

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 08:25 AM PST

PRESS RELEASE:

Cota Capital Leads Round; Company to Advance its Trusted Home Lending Platform

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 15, 2018–

Roostify, a leading digital lending platform provider, today announced the completion of a $25 million Series B round of financing. The round included new investments from Cota Capital, Point72 Ventures, and Santander Innoventures, the venture capital arm of Banco Santander, as well as additional funding from previous investors JPMorgan Chase, Colchis Capital, and a subsidiary of USAA. The new funds will power the company’s ambitious growth goals, including a deeper presence in the enterprise space, rich product enhancements, and expansion into new markets.

“We were immensely impressed with what Roostify has accomplished in the last four years,” said Bobby Yazdani, Cota Capital’s Managing Partner. “Roostify has evolved not only their own offering and product focus, but the market as a whole, helping the lending industry transform itself for the digital age. We’re pleased to be a part of that transformation, and look forward to seeing Roostify and the industry continue to move forward.”

Launched in 2014 with the aim to speed up the mortgage process and eliminate paper-bound inefficiencies, Roostify has grown into an enterprise-class digital lending platform used by lenders across the US to accelerate, simplify, and reduce costs around the origination process. Roostify’s cloud-based, API-enabled, partner-friendly solution allows lenders to offer their clients a seamless, branded experience from searching to closing their home loan. With the additional resources provided by the Series B financing, company leadership plans to accelerate delivery of its roadmap and drive market expansion.

“Four years ago, Roostify was a pioneer in moving the consumer home lending experience online. We sought to deliver an offering that we would experience ourselves for our own home purchases,” said Rajesh Bhat, co-founder and CEO of Roostify. “Since then, a digital strategy has evolved from an ambition to a business imperative for our customers. Lenders now realize the value of providing consumers with a transparent, mobile, and seamless experience to obtain a loan without needless stress-inducing delays and red tape. We have developed a solution that allows lenders of all sizes to give their teams a tool to digitally engage with clients and to bring the loan origination experience to the consumer.”

Roostify has made several recent moves to expand the platform beyond the core loan application and processing experience. The company recently announced an integration with LendingTree, which enables consumers to shop for a loan and then get that loan with their preferred lender in just a few clicks, and previously introduced the new Decision Builder tool to improve education for consumers and lead quality for lenders.

About Roostify

Founded by consumers looking for a better way to find a home, Roostify provides the industry’s leading digital platform for home lending. From enterprise banks to independent brokerages, dozens of lenders across the United States trust Roostify to speed up closings, reduce unnecessary work and give their customers a smooth, anxiety-free mortgage experience. Since 2014, Roostify has transacted over billions of dollars in mortgages and helped close hundreds of thousands of home loans nationwide.

Roostify is backed by several top banks and investment groups, and headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, please visit roostify.com.

VerbFactory for Roostify
Richard Berman, 415-359-4906
richard@verbfactory.com

Elisa promises 5G-ready network by end of May in Finland’s oldest city

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 08:20 AM PST

Finnish carrier Elisa has promised to complete a 5G-ready network in the city of Turku by the end of May, the company announced today. Turku is Finland’s oldest city, settled during the 13th century, and is expected to be one of Europe’s first cities with next-generation 5G wireless capabilities. Elisa describes the new network as laying the foundation for Turku to become a “smart city,” including new wireless health, traffic, and utility infrastructures.

The plan for Turku casts a spotlight on some of the interesting challenges faced by 5G providers, particularly in Europe, despite years of advance testing and preparation. 5G requires new base station hardware that is still in the process of being finalized, operates on radio frequencies that may not be licensed in various countries, and yet promises to have a major impact on virtually every facet of society in the foreseeable future.

Like Verizon in the United States, Elisa will build its network by replacing existing 4G network hardware with brand new 5G-ready technology that can be upgraded after 5G standards have been finished. Unlike Verizon, Elisa has not specified the 5G devices that will be offered for its network. For the time being, Elisa says that the new hardware “will immediately benefit people living in the area” by improving 4G speeds, while making it “easy to add features required in 5G services to the network, for instance, considerably faster data transfer speeds, short delay, and functionalities needed in the Internet of Things.”

Last week, Elisa and Huawei successfully conducted live tests of 5G in a Helsinki suburb, relying on “the most important 5G frequency band,” 3.5GHz. Beyond hitting a 1.4Gbps peak speed during the tests, Elisa ran YouTube, Skype, and VR tests over 5G and offered “Europe’s first 5G gaming experience,” including real-time game demos. Elisa previously worked with Nokia in Espoo, Finland on the first Nordic tests of fixed 5G, including a VR headset test featuring “a concert by the metal band Amorphis filmed with a VR camera.”

It’s worth noting that Elisa’s latest announcement leaves out two important details. While it suggests that Turku will be Finland’s second city with an “extensive modern network,” it’s unclear whether the first is Helsinki or Nokia’s headquarters city of Espoo; each location has been the site of limited 5G tests that don’t appear to be city-scale.

Another issue was noted in an Elisa press release last week: “To build a 5G network in Finland requires that the 3.5 GHz frequency is licensed for 5G operation during 2018.” Thus far, Finland’s regulatory agency FICORA has issued testing permits for 3.5GHz but has not yet authorized carriers to offer 5G service on that frequency — a change that might not happen until early 2019. This is another example of how regional regulations may prevent 5G from launching in Europe before the U.S. and Asia, despite obvious interest from local carriers and manufacturers.

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn hits Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC this spring

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 08:10 AM PST

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is getting a physical and digital release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC this spring. Wired Productions will publish the game from independent developer Saber Interactive.

The sequel to the 1994 game reached its crowdfunding goal of $450,000 on Indiegogo back in 2014. After suffering numerous delays, the beat-’em-up starring the NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is finally nearing release.

The original Shaq Fu is a bizarre fighting game has O’Neal travel to another dimension to fight strange monsters and aliens. Its weird premise has helped endear it into the minds of retro fans, even if the actual game isn’t all that great. Shaq was a big star in the ’90s. Along with his NBA career, he released rap albums and starred in movies … none of which were all that good.

But Shaq Fu has a dubious legacy. Some even call it one of the worst games ever made, a moniker that Saber Interactive is embracing for the sequel.

“Master devastating combos, battle outlandish celebrity bosses and take on all comers with an array of weapons, including katanas, shuriken, and baseball bats,” Saber detailed in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Channel Shaq's alter egos, Big Daddy O and Big Diesel, in epic battles in the successor to the worst game ever on a mission to restore Shaq's legacy.”

 

The IndieBeat: Lucah shows how guilt is a powerful foe

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 08:05 AM PST

Lucah is an unforgiving action role-playing game that follows the journey of a child as they wrestle with their own identity in a hostile world. It’s set in a low-fi nightmare realm that’s etched with neon slashes and jagged creatures who attack with no provocation. It’s the latest game from indie developer Colin Horgan, and it’s slated for a PC release later this year.

The protagonist, Lucah, has been accused of being cursed and only capable of causing destruction. Though they occasionally meet other characters who mean them no harm, more often than not, they’re hunted by monsters called Nightmares.

Horgan launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for the game last year. They’ve also released a free demo and two side stories, Sacrament I. and Sacrament IV, that delve into the story. As the titles of the accompanying games might imply, Lucah’s world is scattered with references to religion and defined by a deep sense of isolation.

“To me, Lucah’s world represents a sort of weaponized Catholic guilt; this feeling that there's something wrong with you for just being who you are, and unless you do X, Y, and Z, you deserve the torment that the world throws at you,” said Horgan in an email to GamesBeat.

Lucah’s gameplay is challenging, but Horgan includes a Sin and Punishment system that enables players to adjust the level of difficulty. And though healing isn’t an option, you can rewind time for another shot. The caveat is that you’ll also have sacrificed any progress you’ve made along the way. The difficulty is part of the story, though.

“Every in-game failure is really another opportunity to grow, because Lucah will always get back up,” said Horgan. “By the end of the game, I want the player to grow with Lucah and gain that confidence that comes with self-acceptance, because they were able to survive and triumph alongside Lucah and learn to love themselves for who they are, whatever that means to them.”

Horgan has developed several other titles, many small projects for game jams. They were also the lead developer on EctoPlaza, a local multiplayer beat-’em-up for the Wii U.

Here is an edited transcript of our interview.

GamesBeat: Can you tell me more about yourself? How did you get into game development?

Colin Horgan: Games were an on-and-off interest of mine for pretty much my whole life, so when it came time to start thinking about what I wanted to do after high school, I thought game development might be a neat thing to try. I took a Java programming class my senior year and used that to start making super-tiny text adventure games. It felt pretty natural to me, so I just kept going with it.

I went on to study game design at the University of Southern California's Interactive Media and Games division, where I made sure to keep making tiny solo projects alongside my classwork. During that time, I was mostly focused on games in the health or educational sphere, the "serious games" sort of thing, but as I got closer to graduating I realized I wanted to branch out and make more games like the ones I enjoyed playing, which were mostly indie action games (developers like Cactus and Vlambeer were my big inspirations at the time).

That eventually led me to where I am now — since graduating I've worked both full- and part-time in mobile and VR spaces to make ends meet, but I never lost sight of that innocent (and a bit naive) indie spirit. Now I'm getting to live that dream with Lucah, and while it's some of the toughest work I've ever had to do, I'm happy that I'm fortunate enough to even have the chance to do it.

GamesBeat: What’s the inspiration for Lucah?

Horgan: Lucah started as a top-down roguelike-shooter prototype I was making in my spare time after work back in early 2016. It was supposed to be an evolution of a jam game I'd made the year before, using the same sort of visual style and genre, but made into a full game. As I continued working on it, I started to see it wasn't really doing anything new or interesting to me; I was just making a fangame of games I'd already played, but with a different coat of paint.

I started to change direction and challenge myself to do things I'd always wanted to do but never really felt like I could for one reason or another. This included design challenges like making a melee combat system and hand-designed levels, to more creative challenges like writing a narrative game and handling all the art & animation.

Once all the pieces started coming together, certain themes and images started to emerge — the focus on religious imagery, anxiety, dreams, etc. — and I just let myself fall deeper into whatever hole this game was becoming. I thought it was appropriate for the style of game this was becoming to let it sort of "flow" from my head to the screen, like I was capturing the subconscious process that gives us dreams.

GamesBeat: Can you tell me more about the story and what kind of themes you wanted to explore?

Horgan: Lucah tells a story about a cursed child who can only seem to cause harm in the world no matter what they do. Vicious beings called Nightmares hunt them down wherever they go, and unless they can find some sort of salvation, their path will only bring about death and destruction.

To me, Lucah’s world represents a sort of weaponized Catholic guilt; this feeling that there's something wrong with you for just being who you are, and unless you do X, Y, and Z, you deserve the torment that the world throws at you. The problem is, sometimes living up to the expectations others set for you isn't possible, or isn't true to who you really are, and escaping that feeling that you must follow these arbitrary rules and guidelines to become okay with yourself can be an almost impossible struggle.

That's why I call the game a "nightmare action-RPG about finding oneself." "Finding oneself" as a phrase is a bit of a cliché, but it's the best way I can think of to describe that journey. I was raised Roman Catholic, and a lot of what I'm putting into Lucah’s world and story reflects my own version of that struggle: feeling like I didn't fit into this structure I'd been raised in, that I was unwanted for not adhering to it, and dealing with the mental and emotional battles that kind of alienation can cause, ultimately finding a way out of those structures to come to peace with who I am.

Lucah (the player-character) might be "cursed," but that's a status imposed on them by others, and not indicative of the kind of person Lucah can actually be. Lucah’s world is hostile and treacherous, but you can survive it if you don't let it crush your spirit. Every in-game failure is really another opportunity to grow, because Lucah will always get back up. By the end of the game, I want the player to grow with Lucah and gain that confidence that comes with self-acceptance, because they were able to survive and triumph alongside Lucah and learn to love themselves for who they are, whatever that means to them.

GamesBeat: Lucah has a unique aesthetic — can you talk more about how you arrived at that art style? Was it challenging to keep that kind of sketch-y look while conveying information to the players?

Horgan: Lucah’s style definitely started as me working within limitations. I don't really consider myself an artist, since I first starting making games from a programming background. Any visuals that were in my solo projects were super simple, either basic shapes or text-only. Eventually I decided to try my hand at basic pixel art, so I started with outlines of characters that I'd put into my prototypes (with the intention of "finishing" the sprites later), but the look of these sketchy wireframe-like sprites on top of black backgrounds was super appealing to me. I tried out the high-contrast, outline-only sprite art in some tiny games, and people seemed to like it enough that I figured it was something worth exploring.

Lucah now uses a more refined version of what those early prototypes looked like, with some camera effects and tracks to make everything read a bit better, but that rough DIY feeling is still something I try to keep. There's been some difficulty of conveying what the game is through its visuals on social media and the like, but generally people who play the game and see it in motion get a better grasp of what's going on.

I think it helps that everything in the world is color-coded, with things that can hurt you mostly being red, and other characters you interact with standing out from the muted world. It's been a lot of work getting the colors and animation to reach this point, but for the most part, when someone plays the game I'll hear "I'm not exactly sure what everything is, but I know when it's trying to hurt me," and for the experience I'm going for, that sounds about right.

GamesBeat: Can you tell me a bit more about the Sin & Punishment system? Why did you decide to let players adjust the game for their skill levels?

Horgan: The Sin & Punishment system was implemented on a whim right before I launched the Kickstarter, because the game was becoming too easy for me while testing, but was still pretty difficult for anyone picking it up for the first time. I needed to achieve a better balance between hostility and gentleness if I wanted to accomplish my goal of bringing people on a journey of self-actualization, but there wasn't really a good way to do that without providing some sort of option to adjust difficulty. While I was toying with the idea of difficulty modes, I saw an opportunity to make the choice a bit more interesting, so I came up with the dual Sin & Punishment system.

The first option, "Sin," dictates how smart or aggressive the enemy Nightmares are. On the lowest difficulty, they're slow, have less HP, and don't react too intelligently to the player. As you increase the Sin difficulty, enemies start to act and react faster, putting up more of a fight. "Punishment," the second option, dictates how much damage Lucah takes from enemy attacks. As you increase the Punishment difficulty, enemy attacks take off more and more HP, with the highest difficulty turning all hits into one-hit KOs.

Enemy AI is an integral part of most technical character action games like the ones Lucah is modeled after. It's also one of the most interesting parts of designing the game for me, so I didn't want people to miss out on that work if they were playing on a more traditional lowered-difficulty. I figured, if someone could instead just adjust how much the game punished their mistakes, but without toning down enemy behavior, they could still get a valuable action game experience that's suited to their ability. With the dual-difficulty system, this is an option players can have.

Likewise, if someone (like myself) is used to these sorts of games, or simply wants more of a challenge, they can up the difficulties to make the game borderline unfair. My hope is that players will experiment to find the right settings for themselves that still provide the sort of experience I'm going for, and by allowing players to change these settings at any time, I'm trying to make it as easy to do as possible!

GamesBeat: It seems like an integral part of the experience is to feel like the character is always in danger — but there’s also a “rewind” option. Why did you decide to include that?

Horgan: The Rewind mechanic has been an interesting problem throughout development, as it's something I wanted to include as an important part of the game's core loop from almost the beginning, but it works against the expectations people typically have of games in this genre. Whereas most games give players some sort of resource to heal their character, I opted to replace that function with a more intense "do-over," which can act similarly to a heal, but produces a very different psychological effect.

Lucah’s Rewind was inspired by my experience playing Bayonetta, which I was really into right around the time I was making the Lucah prototype. Bayonetta is a game that, at its highest levels of play, demands a kind of "perfection" from its players. Specifically, the game awards its highest grades for a fight where you never get hit by an enemy attack, never break your combo, and finish within a strict time frame. The effort it takes to accomplish all these goals is intense, but when you watch someone do it, the action on screen looks like a beautiful cacophony of bullets and acrobatics. It looks Cool, in the way that Bayonetta is Cool — calm, confident, and untouchable. That was what I wanted high-level Lucah play to feel like.

To get to that point, you need to fail a lot. When I played for perfect rank, most of my time was spent resetting the game after getting hit a few seconds into a fight. It was kind of silly when I thought about it, and I wished there was some way to just instantly rewind the fight whenever I made a mistake. As soon as I had that thought, everything seemed to click, and I ran to put the Rewinds in Lucah.

While it may seem like an instant do-over could diffuse the tension in a fight, in practice I think it does the opposite. If you had a simple healing item instead, you could make a few mistakes, get hit a few times, heal in the middle of the fight, then pick up where you left off. Rewinding the fight, on the other hand, can erase any mistakes you made, but it also erases all the progress you made — the fight just starts over right where it began. This means you need to ask yourself some questions before you commit to the Rewind: "Do I Rewind now and erase everything I've accomplished so far? Have I done enough damage to the enemy that I'm confident I can finish it off before I get hit again? If I win the fight with only a sliver of HP left, will I be able to survive the next fight? Can I survive to the next checkpoint?" And so on.

Making the main "healing" mechanic of Lucah a do-over means that mistakes are precious, and the only way you can really advance is to learn how to play better. Thankfully, resetting the fights gives you more time to learn enemy patterns and practice your play to more confidently take down the Nightmares. There are ways to recover lost HP in Lucah that aren't as drastic as the Rewind, but they'll never be as numerous or integral as the Rewind. By introducing the concept early in the game, my hope is it'll gently guide players down a path that has them not just surviving the game's world, but thriving in it.

GamesBeat: Can you tell me a bit about running a Kickstarter campaign? What were the main challenges there?

Horgan: Running a Kickstarter was a really interesting experience! I think the biggest challenge running one, and the challenge most people probably don't see, is everything leading up to the Kickstarter. My collaborators and I were lucky enough that our Kickstarter was successful, but a big part of that success came from the audience Lucah had gathered before then, as well as the state of the game at the time. I had shown Lucah at a few small festivals at that point, and my personal Twitter and Tumblr had accrued a small but dedicated following of around 600 people, after about a year of sharing Lucah GIFs and updates.

There was also a public demo that had been published and iterated on for a few months, and though most of our views and plays for the demo during the campaign did not come from the Kickstarter page, much of the coverage we landed during the campaign emphasized that we had a substantial playable demo. By the time we launched the Kickstarter, it was apparent Lucah was a "real" game, and I think that gave people the confidence to contribute to our campaign, and more importantly, to champion it to their friends and followers, who would then also contribute.

Of course, I should give credit to the specific contributions from my friends and collaborators that helped me expand Lucah’s appeal way beyond the little niche it occupied before the Kickstarter launched. I brought on producer Kevin Wong to help me with PR and public outreach, and Brianna Lei worked with me to create the amazing header art for the campaign. Lucah composer and longtime collaborator Nicolo Telesca spent hours with me refining the Kickstarter trailer so that it put forth the best first impression of the game we could give.

All these elements lined up to polish and refine our Kickstarter's presentation, giving us that extra bit of legitimacy that a lot of game Kickstarters seem to struggle with. It helped us generate the interest we needed, both in the press and on social media, to reach our funding goal. Our goal wasn't a super large amount of money, especially compared to some other game Kickstarters, but it was still more than a project as relatively unknown and weird as Lucah probably should have expected to raise. For that, I am extremely grateful.

IndieBeat is GamesBeat reporter Stephanie Chan's weekly column on in-progress indie projects. If you'd like to pitch a project or just say hi, you can reach her at stephanie@venturebeat.com.

Orwell: Ignorance Is Strength tackles fake news and alternative facts February 22

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 08:00 AM PST

Discussions about fake news are here to stay, and indie studio Osmotic Studios is tackling the tricky topic in its new episodic game Orwell: Ignorance Is Strength. It’s the second season of the award-winning Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Surprise Attack Games is publishing Ignorance Is Strength, and the first episode launches on February 22 for PC.

The surveillance simulator has three episodes, and the other two roll out March 8 and March 22. Players get all episodes when they purchase the game.

Where the first game asked players to spy on citizens and unravel a potential terrorist threat, Orwell: Ignorance Is Strength dives into the murky waters of what constitutes truth. It will examine social media, “alternative facts,” and fake news, subjects which are particularly relevant today.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You debuted in October 2016 and has since sold over 130,000 copies. It’s been nominated for a slew of awards, such as the Excellence in Narrative Award at the 2017 Independent Games Festival, and won others like the Best Education Game award at Brazil’s Independent Games Festival.

Transform — the event about digital transformation — coming June 25-26

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 07:50 AM PST

VB EVENT:

We're delighted to announce that we're in full-throttle planning mode for Transform, our event focused on bleeding edge innovation for executives from the wider marketing and product development ecosystem. It will be held on June 25-26 in San Francisco.

This event was previously called MobileBeat, and is our flagship event. But "Mobile" has become long in the tooth. The story of innovation has shifted in past years, as our event has grown — from the smartphone, to apps on those phones, to completely new engagement habits of consumers as video and messaging apps dominated.

Renaming the event Transform is our way of recognizing, like many others have, that AI has become a more tangible, forceful trend to be reckoned with than say, even fire or electricity.

Above: Nick Rockwell, CTO, New York Times

So Transform will focus on stories about business results companies are getting right now from the much-hyped new technologies and strategies leveraging AI and data. We're looking for the best success case studies we can find, and will give a lot of time to highlighting the practical lessons executives can learn from them.

Some of our formatting won't change that much from the MobileBeat of past years. In addition to engaging case studies, we'll showcase at least a dozen of the most disruptive emerging technology products/companies executives need to know about.

Above: Rashmy Chatterjee, CMO, IBM

Our bottom line here: Leveraging AI and data can help smart product managers and marketers regain their edge in engaging and converting users. We’ll also be showcasing several of the most transformative companies.

The technologies can bolster them against the mass confusion that has beset industry players of late: Ad giants like Google and Facebook have entirely co-opted the media landscape, tech behemoths including also Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are changing communication patterns with smart personal assistants, and video and other formats have revolutionized engagement.

Above: Deepak Agarwal, VP of AI, LinkedIn

See more about our themes here.

We've also signed up some initial speakers, including leading digital transformation executives from leading companies like IBM, Walmart, LinkedIn, and the New York Times.

Want to be on stage at Transform?

We're going to put a spotlight on the those companies who are busting down barriers with AI and showing demonstrable advances through innovative AI technologies. If that sounds like you, let us know — the best applicants chosen will get five minutes on stage to demonstrate how they’re at the forefront of the AI charge. Apply here.

We're expecting a sell-out event this year, so it's a good time to grab a ticket. The first batch of tickets go on early-bird sale today at 50% off for a limited time.

onX Closes $20.3 Million Growth Equity Investment Led by Summit Partners: Elevates Mobile App Technology for the Outdoors

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 07:25 AM PST

PRESS RELEASE:

MISSOULA, Mont. & MENLO PARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 15, 2018–

onXmaps, Inc., provider of the onX HUNT mobile app and industry leader in mobile mapping technology for outdoor adventurers, today announced it has raised $20.3 million in a funding round led by global growth equity investor Summit Partners. Additional investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Next Frontier Capital and Steve Burke (CEO NBCUniversal). This event marks the largest growth equity investment in a mobile and consumer-focused business in Montana’s history.

“The onX team is incredibly passionate about empowering our customers’ outdoor pursuits by providing the best mobile experience and most relevant data,” said Eric Siegfried, CEO of onX. “This investment enables us to take our solutions and our team to the next level. Whether our customers are hunting big game, looking for the best spot to camp, fishing new water, or walking land ownership boundaries, onX has them covered – now and in the future.”

The capital will be used to expand the teams at onX’s Missoula and Bozeman, Montana, offices, to continue building all aspects of the company’s mapping solutions, and to assemble the definitive off-pavement mapping data set.

“In many ways, the onX story represents the quintessential entrepreneurial journey. Eric founded onX to address a major gap in the outdoor recreation market and bootstrapped the business to an impressive scale,” said Greg Goldfarb, Managing Director at Summit Partners and onX board member. “onX HUNT combines the power of the nearly ubiquitous global positioning receivers that are now in every smart phone with layers of mapping information to help users get the most from their time in the wild. We are excited to partner with the onX team for this next phase of growth.”

For additional perspective on Summit’s investment, visit: “Backing Bootstrapped Companies in the Mountain West – Our Investment in onX“.

OnX was founded in 2009 with the promise of providing confidence to always ‘know where you stand’ at the center of its mission. This still rings true today as the company’s flagship product, onX Hunt, helps hundreds of thousands of outdoorspeople successfully navigate public and private lands. Fueled by a deeply held passion for successful outdoor experiences, onX now employs nearly 70 people and plans to continue building its extraordinary team.

“A growth equity financing of this caliber, by a Montana company, is testament to onX’s vision and resolve to build best-in-class products for customers,” said Jason Mittelstaedt, Founding Partner at Yellowstone Growth Partners and onX Board Member. “It’s been an incredible experience partnering with Eric and the team for the past 2½ years to transform the business into a world-class mobile technology company. The growth of the company, team, technology and brand is amazing. And we believe they are just getting started.”

About onX
onX delivers the most relevant and rich geospatial data to any device, anywhere. The company aggregates nationwide data on property ownership, trails, permitted land use, and many other parameters. World-class GPS and mapping technologies present customized information to users, tailored to their off-pavement activities and locations. Founder and CEO Eric Siegfried initially launched onX products to hunters, a highly discerning mapping community. Since the Company’s 2009 founding, onX has used hunters’ backcountry experience and feedback to deliver products with ever wider appeal. Hundreds of thousands of customers trust onX to “know where they stand” and to open the off-pavement world to new, successful experiences. Whether they are finding a new hiking destination, a backcountry hunting spot, or an undiscovered fishing hole, onX helps customers create new outdoor experiences. Where the pavement ends, onX begins.
www.onXmaps.com or Instagram @onXHunt

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $14 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 475 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. These companies have completed more than 140 public equity offerings, and more than 190 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Notable technology investments in the U.S. Mountain West region include, Clearwater, RightNow Technology, TSheets, Nighthawk Radiology, Podium, Vivint, Progressive Finance, ProClarity, Solutionreach and Wowza Media Systems. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe, and invests in companies around the world. For more information, visit www.summitpartners.com or on Twitter at @SummitPartners.

About Yellowstone Growth Partners
Yellowstone Growth Partners works with innovative, big aspiration companies via board-level growth acceleration partnerships to build disruptive, high-value technology businesses. YGP leverages its transformative Growth Acceleration Program to bridge the gap between great ideas and products, to great businesses. With deep expertise across all C-level and Board roles for public and private SaaS companies, IPOs, M&A and capital sourcing, the YGP team is uniquely equipped to help transform early and mid-stage technology companies into built-to-last industry leaders. www.YellowstoneGrowthPartners.com

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11–12 St. James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4LB, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

Backbone Media
Doug Stuart, 970-963-4873, ext. 201
doug.stuart@backbonemedia.net
or
Summit Partners
Meg Devine, +1 617-824-1047
mdevine@summitpartners.com

Pandora’s Premium music streaming service arrives on the web

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 07:00 AM PST

Online music provider Pandora has revealed that its on-demand music streaming service is now available on the web.

Pandora Premium was first announced in late 2016. After a short invite-only period, it was made available to everyone in the U.S. from April of last year. Unlike its free ad-supported service and Pandora Plus, Pandora Premium offers full, on-demand access to tens of millions of tracks, similar to Spotify and Apple Music.

At launch, Pandora Premium was only available on Android, iOS, Chromecast, and connected car platforms, though support was later added for Amazon’s Fire-branded devices, Android TV,  and XFINITY X1.

A desktop-based offering was sorely missing from Pandora Premium, given the $10/month fee, but from today all subscribers will be able to access their catalog from their PC or Mac.

Above: Pandora Premium: My music (web)

There are, of course, some limitations to launching a web app as opposed to a native desktop app, as it means offline access to music isn’t yet available. A spokesperson wouldn’t confirm whether a native desktop app is in the works or not. However, the company said that web access has been the feature most requested by its subscribers.

The story so far

Though Pandora has been streaming music for nearly 20 years now, the company has been playing catch up with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music in the on-demand sphere. While a desktop-based service is a welcome addition to Pandora Premium, the company still doesn’t offer a family plan like its competitors do, though this appears to be on the way, according to a tweet sent a few weeks ago.

The timing of this latest announcement is notable, as Pandora is preparing to announce its Q4 2017 results next week. Shareholders will be hoping for better news than the Q3 results, which saw Pandora’s overall active listeners drop for the third straight quarter, while its ad income — which represents most of the company’s revenue — missed expectations. The company’s shares fell around 40 percent in the aftermath of that report and went on to hit an all-time low of $4.13 a share in January.

Pandora Premium passed 1 million subscribers in October of last year, a far cry from Spotify’s 70 million subscribers, and it will need to boost this figure considerably if it’s to rely less on ad revenues and put a dent in the mighty Spotify and Apple.

HP adds Apple gadgets to device-as-a-service offering

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

HP launched its device-as-a-service (DaaS) business in mid-2016, allowing customers to lease computers rather than buy them outright. And now it is expanding its offering of machines, adding Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod for the first time.

HP is also adding HP Z4 Workstations and HP Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets to its DaaS offering, which means your employees can use the devices as they wish by paying a monthly fee. HP officials have said this offering is key to the future of their computing business.

Under the program, HP’s customers can use their personal computers like a utility, where they pay a monthly fee per seat over a three- or four-year period. They get custom service and support from HP, such as PC configuration, software updates, repair, data migration, and the ability to upgrade to the latest HP computers for the next contract period.

“We are expanding our HP device-as-a-service offering to drive more increased user productivity and IT efficiency for businesses looking to empower the employees while managing complex fleets in a more efficient manner globally,” said Michael Park, vice president and general manager of emerging compute solutions at HP, in a press briefing.

Above: HP device-as-a-service is targeting people who want more flexibility at work.

Image Credit: HP

HP is also adding better predictive analytics capabilities and endpoint management with HP service experts. It is also launching the HP Tech Café Market Enhanced offering for improved instant access to accessories and device swaps.

“The challenge facing companies today is there is a lot going on, and technology enables us to live truly blended lives” between work and play, Park said. “That line of where you are doing it crosses everywhere.”

Millennials in particular want access to a broader set of IT devices. About 77 percent want mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones for use at work, and 75 percent of them want to work more at home. Most IT managers don’t have sufficient resources to procure and manage the range of devices that the employees want. And 48 percent of workers say they would be happier if they could choose their own computer for work.

By 2020, HP predicts there will be 9 billion commercial devices, or four devices per employee. Park said that companies want to stretch out the use of their computers to something like six years, but that makes the devices obsolete for a longer period of time, and it also presents security risks.

“We constantly hear from IT managers that they want a partnership instead of vendorship,” Park said. “That is why we went forward with creating HP DaaS.”

The offerings have evolved over a couple of years, and it has improved employee flexibility and cost predictability, Park said. HP has a standard, enhanced, and premium version of the DaaS program. The contract terms range from one year to five years.

HP offers next-day onsite repair or replacement, device health monitoring, and accidental damage plans.

HTC raises Viveport subscription to $9 per month and adds more VR titles

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

HTC, maker of the Vive virtual reality headset for the PC, is raising the price for its subscriptions to the VR apps and games in its Viveport app store. As it does so, it is adding perks for those who pay the monthly fees for access to the titles.

Starting March 22, the Viveport monthly subscription price will rise for $7 to $9. All current Viveport Subscription members and those who sign up before March 22 will keep their $7 monthly price for at least the rest of the 2018.

“We launched subscriptions 10 months ago with 50 apps, and it has been a great success both for consumers and developers,” said Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport, in an interview with GamesBeat. “In Q4, more people were getting paid content through subscriptions than through paid downloads. We are now turning that subscription service into a membership service with benefits.”

Subscribers will get access to exclusive promotions and discounts every month starting in February. To kick off the new membership benefits available to subscribers, Viveport will be sending a free title to all current subscribers this month. Viveport will continue to add value to the subscription through additional benefits and perks as the service grows.

“As a member, you can get benefits like special discounts on apps and games,” Steiber said. “We’ll also launch surprises on a regular basis. We’ll also make it better for developers so we can get more premium content.”

In the fourth quarter, Viveport gave its 30 percent share of VR revenues to developers, enabling the makers of the VR apps to take home 100 percent of the proceeds during the all-important fourth quarter.

Above: Viveport

Image Credit: Viveport

"Viveport Subscription has gained incredible momentum and traction among consumers as well as developers," said Steiber. "Our subscription catalog has grown to over 375 titles, which is more than 600 percent increase since we started the service.”

He added, “We are always looking to support the developer ecosystem and with the subscription increase, developers will now be earning an additional 22 percent from their title in the Subscription catalog. Our exclusive promotions on select titles will also give developers another avenue for marketing their games to our most engaged audience."

The new price increase will take effect across the 60-plus countries served by Viveport. Asked why Viveport is raising the prices, Steiber said the company is trying to balance consumers and developers.

“If you can get five apps worth $100, then it’s a very good value,” Steiber said. “We have some really good content, and we want to make sure it is a better proposition for developers. By increasing the price and increasing the benefits, consumers can consume more content. We’re finding most of the people who subscribe will continue to do so.”

LimeBike pedals to $70 million additional funding

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

LimeBike just keeps piling on the millions. The dockless bike-sharing startup announced today that it has raised an additional $70 million from Fifth Wall Ventures and Rainbow Technology. This is an extension of the $50 million Series B round the startup announced last October.

Since launching in March 2017, LimeBike has rounded up a total of $132 million, which seems a little extreme considering that, well, they’re just bikes. Cofounder and CEO Toby Sun had this to say:

"Yes, bike-sharing is a capital-intensive business … We design everything in-house and work with the best manufacturers in the world. We do not do off-the-shelf products. You may have already noticed, but some players in the bike-share industry will not make it because of a lack of funding and operational excellence."

And $132 million pales in comparison to other rounds, especially when it comes to Chinese competitors like Mobike, which raised $600 million last June, or Ofo, which secured a whopping $700 million last July.

LimeBike's biggest competitor, however, seems to be New York City-based Jump Bikes, which recently closed a $10 million round. In an interesting turn of events, the startup received an exclusive permit from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in early January to launch 250 dockless ebikes — effectively blocking other bike-sharing startups (including LimeBike) from receiving such a permit for the next 18 months.

Sun has been contesting the decision since it was announced.

"There was recently a special hearing led by Supervisor Malia Cohen, who was very concerned about the lack of transparency on the bidding process and how many community members, including the Board of Supervisors, were blindsided by the agency's decision as well. More actions from the City will follow … All we are asking from SFMTA is for fairness and transparency."

Product-wise, both startups are banking on electric bikes. LimeBike just added motorized bikes to its dockless fleet.

Choosing Fifth Wall Ventures to lead today's round was a smart move on LimeBike’s part. The real estate-focused VC firm, which closed its first fund last May, will help support the startup's strategic partnerships with commercial real estate owners, according to a statement.

In addition to tapping into the real estate market, LimeBike will use the fresh injection of capital to improve its mobile application and expand aggressively. The startup is present in more than 45 markets across the U.S. and Europe (Switzerland and Germany).

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Blockchain startup Aura will offer gaming rewards for your idle computer time

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

These days, everybody wants to use your unused computer time. Aura is the latest blockchain company to make you an offer you can’t refuse while you’re AFK.

Aura’s GammaNow is a desktop app that lets PC gamers lend their idle computing power in exchange for rewards such as in-game credits, skins, hardware discounts, meets and greets with game celebrities, and esports tickets. GammaNow is available for download in beta form.

By downloading GammaNow on Windows PCs, gamers will receive GammaPoints based on the computational time given to the network when their computer is not otherwise in use. GammaPoints can be redeemed for in-game content in the GammaNow marketplace, which offers rewards in games such as Overwatch, Hearthstone, and League of Legends.

New York-based Aura will face a lot of competition for that idle computer time. Sliver.tv also wants to use your idle computer so that it can use the spare cycles to speed up streams for esports tournament spectators. And graphics rendering firm Otoy wants to use idle cycles of graphics chips to render big visual computing jobs through distributed computing. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency miners are hacking computers and stealing the idle time so they can do more mining.

"We are bringing the worlds of blockchain and gaming together in a natural way, and offering gamers the chance to easily participate in the crypto movement in a gratifying way, without any complexity,” said Aura CEO Gabriel Schillinger, in a statement. “It's simple: Gamers get free rewards for joining our community and running GammaNow. It's by far the easiest way for gamers to get rewarded."

Above: Aura CEO Gabriel Schillinger

Image Credit: Aura

The crowdsourced compute power of GammaNow users' devices will help power the Aura Network, which is created with the mission of better meeting the needs of decentralized application (DApp) developers, and solving some of the most pressing scalability and interoperability challenges to the existing blockchains.

"Ironically, my son installed a malware-infested cryptocurrency miner on my work computer the same day that GammaNow came across my desk,” said Kai Huang, a co-creator of Guitar Hero and GammaNow investor, in a statement. ” Not only did I now have first-hand experience with the need for a project like GammaNow, but I was incredibly eager to get involved because GammaNow combines two of today’s most active communities — gaming and crypto — in a smart way that can create the next big thing. And of course they offered a secure and legitimate way for my son to understand crypto mining, so that's an added bonus."

Above: You can earn skins and other rewards by using GammaNow.

Image Credit: Aura

Former Unity Technologies CEO David Helgason invested in the company. He said in a statement, “GammaNow is really really cool. I was blown away by Gabriel and Sam and their cleverness in understanding how important trust and fun rewards are to gamers. Beyond their impressive list of investors and team they brought together, their execution so far has been on point and exciting to watch.”

Schillinger started Aura with cofounders Sam Snyder, chief operating officer; and Frank Huang, chief technology officer.

Besides Helgason and Huang, investors include: Sparklabs Global Ventures; Zynga cofounder Mark Pincus; Lars Rasmussen, the creator of Google Maps; GC Tracker Fund; Gree Japan; Akatsuki; longtime venture capitalist Bill Tai; Plays.tv CEO Dennis Fong; Hong Kong Esports; and IDreamSky.

Chartboost Creative Studio wants to boost app marketers’ effectiveness by 60%

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

Chartboost has launched an in-house creative team, dubbed Creative Studio, that will help game and app marketers create their own mobile ads to run on the company’s in-app ad network.

Chartboost’s team will collaborate directly with clients to create mobile-branded video and interactive ad content, with a focus on using detailed engagement data to come up with the best version of the ad. Chartboost said that in a performance world, ad units are critical to the success of any user acquisition strategy. It's not only about creating immersive experiences in the ad, but about leveraging data to understand what users want and what message will resonate best with them.

With unique and specific target audience research and segmentation, the studio aims to build the right creative mobile ads for the right audiences. Chartboost said early results show that brands using the studio can achieve an average conversion rate (impressions to installs) increase of 60 percent, and an average eCPM (effective cost per mille, or the cost of acquiring 1,000 users) improvement of 40 percent for a complete creative set.

"With over 300,000 integrated apps and seven years worth of campaign data, Chartboost is in a unique position to combine player metrics and creative talent to build ad formats that drive revenues to our partners,” said Chartboost CEO Maria Alegre, in an email to GamesBeat. “We've proven that when our Creative Studio creates and optimizes the ad formats, our advertisers get increased conversions and higher return on ad spend."

The traditional banner ads on mobile aren’t working as well as they once did. To reach new users, brands have become increasingly interested in interactive ads that not only showcase products but deliver compelling messages, encouraging users to take an action and allowing brands to measure results in real time, Chartboost said.

Above: Chartboost

Image Credit: Chartboost

According to a report by market researcher IPG Media Lab, interactive ads extend the amount of time consumers spend with the brand, driving a 47 percent lift in time spent with the ad compared to non-interactive ads. The same study also found that interactive video ad engagement is tied to purchase intent at a nine times higher rate than passive video ad viewing.

The global app economy will be worth $6.3 trillion by 2021, yet with so many apps competing for awareness and new users, many brands are struggling to cut through the noise and increase traffic from qualified users.

Chartboost has years of data and experience working with top gaming companies to create tailored and playful ad units. It wants to use that expertise to help new categories of customers in food delivery, ecommerce, and travel. The studio uses machine learning to create innovative designs that optimize for conversions and return on ad spend.

Above: Chartboost

Image Credit: Chartboost

"We've been listening to our customers and we know brands not only want, but need to increase their ad performance," said Johan Lofstrom, vice president of Chartboost in Europe and the Middle East, in a statement. "That's why we're excited to launch Chartboost Creative Studio, where we're now delivering the kind of interactive mobile ads with the in-ad data and retention rates advertisers have been looking for."

Creative Studio will take the burden off advertisers by helping them outsource the creative process for their ads, from the idea phase to testing which form of the ad is best. The studio team also tracks in-ad data to keep optimizing ad units. For instance, if a user doesn't install an app after seeing an interactive ad, the advertiser is able to see their interaction path within the ad and detect drop-off. This data is critical to fine-tuning the messaging and ad experience to increase brand awareness and conversions.

Founded in 2011, Chartboost reaches more than 900 million unique users a month through more than 300,000 mobile games that use its games-based growth and ad monetization platform. Chartboost has more than 100 employees in San Francisco and Amsterdam.

Trendage uses AI and visual search to help retailers recommend goods

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

When you have millions of choices, shopping isn’t easy. That’s why Trendage is using artificial intelligence, visual search, and crowdfunded fashion expertise to help retailers make the right recommendations for shoppers.

Trendage is a data-driven style platform that is coming out of stealth today with Automated Product Recommendations for retailers. The company has raised $1.5 million in angel funding.

It draws on a combination of AI, visual search, and a community of trendsetters to generate more than 10 million style recommendations a month for apparel, accessories, and footwear retailers. Trendage can highlight what items pair well together based on a shopper's age and regional trends to increase average order values and conversions.

Trendage has also identified 216 core body types for shoppers and will enable anyone to create their personal avatars with a selfie and matching body type on its outfit game Style Challenge. The game is a consumer product that also solves the problem of gathering consumer style preference data and powers Trendage’s insights.

The company was cofounded by Vineet Chaudhary, CEO; Roya Ansari, head of business development; and Mohammad Ahmad, head of operations. The three have worked together for over 12 years.

Funding comes from investors in retail, technology, and fashion and includes Bhupen Shah, cofounder of Sling Media; Ilaria Galimberti, cofounder of Impressa Hong Kong and O'ahu Sport; and Nooshin Esmaili, founder of Sutro Footwear and ShoeBiz SF.

Above: Trendage crowdsources results from a fashion game to make retailer recommendations.

Image Credit: Trendage

Style Challenge is available on mobile and desktop platforms and enlists millions of community members to determine what clothes, accessories and shoes from leading brands work together. It then builds various outfit combinations on virtual models that are shared and rated by the Trendage community.

In January 2018 alone, Trendage's community created more than three million customized outfits. Trendage uses machine learning to automatically generate data that helps customers "complete the look" based on the choices of the individual’s community.

This process yields recommendations for popular clothes, accessories, and shoes that retailers can use to personalize product pages and email marketing campaigns and lets them suggest frequently paired items within a shopper's age and region.

The company can also provide a report to help retailers better predict style trends in the fashion industry and avert costly inventory mistakes.

"Retailers are struggling to find ways to compete with online giants and fast-growing mail-based startups that have massive data,” said Chaudhary, in a statement. “The challenge of making sense of all the various data points gathered from website views, email campaigns, sale and return data, however, is that the data is often not available until it's too late to impact a shopper's decision.”

He added, “By the time the data is ready, the season and trends have changed. Trendage gathers all the same data without ever having to touch a single item of clothing or receive a return, giving retailers an important time advantage of leveraging current trends just when they need it most: at the point of sale while customers are making critical purchasing decisions.”

The Santa Clara, California-based company was founded in 2015 and has eight employees.

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Indian character crashes iOS 11.2.5, may require full device restore (Updated)

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 05:52 AM PST

Sending a specific Indian character in a text message can crash an iOS device’s Messages app and potentially require the device to be restored from a backup, Italy’s Mobile World reports. The bug follows last month’s device-freezing ChaiOS issue, which Apple rushed to patch in iOS 11.2.5, but has more serious potential to damage the data on your device. Backing up your iPhone or iPad right now might be a good idea.

The triggering character comes from the Telugu language, spoken by roughly 70 million people in India, and is shown (safely) in the image above. According to the report, if the text version of the character is either received in a message or pasted into a text field, applications can freeze or iOS as a whole can crash. Attempts to restart the application will fail.

Worse yet, if the character appears in a notification, iOS’s Home screen — known to developers as Springboard — will crash. Should that happen, Mobile World suggests waiting and hoping for Springboard to restart properly, because rebooting the device will force a bootloop, requiring initiation of DFU mode and a reinstallation of iOS. At that point, having a recent backup ready will help you avoid losing data.

The issue is said to impact certain apps running on the latest final versions of iOS, macOS, and watchOS, though only iOS appears to suffer from the bootloop issue described above. Mobile World notes that the beta version of iOS 11.3 appears to have remedied the issue.

Once deemed safe and secure, Apple’s operating systems have recently hit a rough patch as surprisingly small vulnerabilities have proved capable of causing serious crashes or handing full control over to hackers. Apple typically rushes out patches to address potentially viral crash-causing bugs, but the company has not yet commented on this one.

Updated at 12:35 p.m. Pacific: Apple has confirmed that it will fix the issue in an update to iOS 11.2.5 prior to the public release of 11.3, as well as similar updates for its other platforms.

DroneBase raises $12 million to bring augmented reality to aerial drone imagery

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 05:13 AM PST

DroneBase, a drone services provider for businesses, has raised $12 million in a series B round of funding led by Union Square Ventures and Upfront Ventures, with participation from DJI, Hearst Ventures, and Pritzker Group.

Founded out of Santa Monica in 2014, DroneBase is one of a number of drone companies to raise venture capital cash in recent years, particularly since the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) passed new rules in 2016 allowing drones to be used commercially.

DroneBase works with businesses to provide them with drones that can capture aerial photos and videos for specific industrial work, be it analyzing construction sites or inspecting cell phone towers.

Up until now, DroneBase had raised around $7 million in funding, and with its latest cash influx it said that it plans to expand its AirCraft augmented reality (AR) offering to include a new Pro service later this year. AirCraft is a beta service within the DroneBase pilot’s app that allows you to overlay virtual objects onto the landscape to build an obstacle course or help visualize how a new structure, for example, may look. While the current incarnation of AirCraft is aimed at the recreational market, the new Pro service will allow companies to upload 3D computer design models, images, and data at scale to showcase anything they want.

DroneBase also suggested that the AirCraft AR toolset could be used to train pilots for particularly tricky missions, before they take to the skies for real.

Above: DroneBase: AirCraft Pro

“We want DroneBase to have the best customer experience for both our enterprise clients and pilots, and that means automating the operations layer so both parties can focus on what they do best,” noted DroneBase cofounder and CEO Dan Burton. “We’re advancing how drones can make enterprises more efficient, and this new funding will allow us to make AirCraft Pro a reality.”

The commercial drone market is estimated to become a $127 billion industry by 2020, and based on recent developments in the drone realm, it’s clear there is a huge push from startups across the land to get their piece of the pie. DroneBase’s latest investment comes hot on the heels of rival PrecisionHawk’s mammoth $75 million funding round just a few weeks ago, while Kespry secured $33 million in December. PrecisionHawk also last week acquired Droners and AirVid to create a massive network of licensed drone pilots.

DJI has now invested in DroneBase across multiple funding rounds, and having such a major drone manufacturer on board as a strategic investor can only be a good thing.

“DroneBase has addressed two key challenges in the industry by providing reliable, affordable and scalable drone services for enterprises across industries, while offering opportunities for pilots of all skill sets with purposeful reasons to fly their drones,” added DJI head of enterprise partnerships Jan Gasparic. “This round marks DJI’s third investment in DroneBase, which demonstrates our confidence in their continued success in an industry that, while growing at a rapid pace, is just at the beginning of realizing its full potential.”

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Miso Robotics raises $10 million to launch Flippy the burger-flipping robot

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST

Miso Robotics today announced that it has raised $10 million to bring its restaurant worker robot Flippy to fast food chains and restaurants. Flippy will begin flipping burgers at CaliBurger in Pasadena, California later this year and expand to 50 CaliBurger locations by the end of 2019.

Flippy is an industrial robotic arm mounted to the floor and modified for use in a commercial kitchen. The arm was manufactured by Fanuc and utilizes Miso Robotics' cloud AI platform to operate the robot using a combination of cameras, thermal scanners, and lasers. Later this year, the robot will adopt additional skills to complete new tasks, cofounder David Zito told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

"Flippy can detect cheeseburgers and remove cheeseburgers. After they're flipped, it can change spatulas while it's working so that we're actually adhering to food safety guidelines, and will switch to a grill scraper and be able to clean off portions of the grill after it's done cooking burgers," he said.

In addition to bringing Flippy to CaliBurger, Miso Robotics will use the funding announced today to place its AI platform in other robots for restaurants, fast food places, or large kitchen operations.

"The proceeds for this will allow us to build a robotic kitchen assistant," Zito said. "You're not going to see BB-8 coming out of our shop; you'll likely see us continue to refine this — the general hardware platform that we have, but then we will see it beginning to get more collaborative and adaptable."

The $10 million round was led by Acacia Research Corporation, with participation from Levy, OpenTable CTO Joseph Essas, and Cali Group, owner of CaliBurger.

Miso Robotics is one of a number of companies trying to use robots to replace or augment fast food workers. Others include Cafex in San Francisco, which uses a robotic arm to serve up coffee and tea, and Pepper from SoftBank Robotics.

 

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MIT professor debuts high-speed blockchain payments platform Algorand

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST

There’s a gold rush going on as investors charge into cryptocurrency and blockchain investments. Even a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is joining the party.

Silvio Micali, a Turing Award-winning cryptographer and professor of computer science at MIT, has founded Boston-based Algorand to create a scalable, secure, and decentralized digital currency and payments platform. He has raised $4 million in seed funding from Pillar and Union Square Ventures.

Algorand addresses the blockchain’s scaling challenges through rapid and efficient user consensus, enabling even the smallest transactions, regardless of volume or number of users. I heard something similar when I interviewed Kochava CEO Charles Manning, who is creating a blockchain digital advertising platform.

Blockchain is a transparent ledger, or accounting system, that is decentralized, and because it is spread across a network of computers that verify the ledger, it is secure, transparent, and accurate. It has become the foundation for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The problem is that it takes a long time to update the blockchain across all of those computers, so you can only update the ledger at slow speeds, like 10 times a second or even slower.

That’s too slow for payment systems. So Micali’s team created an open source consensus protocol. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum require users to solve cryptographic puzzles to mine additional currency. But Algorand’s protocol does not require solving cryptographic puzzles, which keeps the cost of transactions low. The transactions are confirmed within seconds, and transferred funds are immediately available.

“Just as the strength of the Algorand network comes from the diversity of its participants, the strength of the Algorand community comes from the diversity of its contributors,” said Micali, in a statement. “We are an open community bringing together end users, developers, and researchers in cryptography, economics, and computer science.”

Where existing systems suffer from the “blockchain trilemma” — a tradeoff between decentralization, scalability, and security — Algorand has the potential to solve all three. The company’s open source protocol has the capacity to scale to billions of users in a safe and secure way.

For each block of transactions, Algorand randomly selects a small, one-time group of users in a safe and fair way. To protect them from attackers, the identities of these users are hidden until the block is confirmed. The size of this group remains constant as the network grows.

Above: Silvio Micali of MIT is the founder of Algorand.

Image Credit: Algorand

Micali is the first MIT professor to launch a venture-backed blockchain company. He is also a co-inventor of zero-knowledge proofs and is best known for some of his fundamental early work on public-key crypto systems, pseudorandom functions, digital signatures, oblivious transfer, and secure multiparty computation.

Algorand’s unique protocol allows the system to evolve and meet the future needs of the community — whether those changes are technical or monetary — without hard forks, or changes that split the platform in two.

“Silvio is a world-class cryptographer, and he’s attracted an exceptional core team and advisors,” said Pillar investor Jamie Goldstein, in a statement. “Algorand is a sophisticated approach to addressing existing blockchain challenges — scale, settlement times, and cost. The company has the potential to fulfill the promise of a truly decentralized world.”

Algorand will use funds from the financing to continue to grow its team and technology. The company anticipates launching its open source protocol within the year. Algorand was founded in 2017 and has 10 employees in Boston. There are plenty of rivals, such as IOTA’s Tangle and Dfinity.

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Are you ready for AI-powered marketing? (VB Live)

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 04:20 AM PST

VB LIVE:

High-touch, multichannel engagement is within every brand's reach, but it requires putting AI in the driver's seat. Want to learn what's truth, what's fiction — and most importantly, how to even start applying AI powered marketing for notable returns? Don’t miss this VB Live event featuring Rusty Warner, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.

Access this VB Live event on demand right here.

Every day consumers engage with brands digitally, which means customer data has gone from megabytes and gigabytes to terabytes and petabytes. Every click, every like, every search updates a user’s personal information, and with AI, all this knowledge can actually be put to work for you, and used to powerful effect on the customer experience. And that’s more essential than ever.

“We really have begun to be very discerning consumers, because we know that the world is our market,” says Rusty Warner, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. “And when brands don't deliver, it's very easy for us to look for alternatives.”

Consumers get greater buying power, but brands need to step up their game to win in those customer moments of need, offering contextually relevant information that solves a problem or meets a desire.

“The ability to do that goes beyond the traditional marketing capabilities,” Warner says. “We've all invested a great deal in digital technologies, but they're really not able to scale to the level of sophistication required to manage personalized offers and communications in this cross-channel world where we are reacting to a customer-initiated interactions more than relying on marketing on a schedule.”

But it’s too easy for organizations to leap without looking.

“Even though I'm a technologist, I recommend that organizations start with a strategy for what they're trying to accomplish, and how it will deliver business results,” Warner says. “Look at the organization and determine how ready the organization is to get value from the technology investment. And then look for technology that can solve the problem at hand instead of making a technology investment — and then going to look for a problem to solve.”

Above all, that means going beyond being customer-obsessed, and becoming customer-led instead.

“I know all brands will say that they are customer-aware and that they are doing things to serve their customers, but we need to kick that up a notch so that we’re making decisions based on customer behavior — and so our investments are being driven by that customer behavior,” he says. “We have to leverage all of the data that our customers and their interactions are generating, and become insights-driven when we are led by our customers.”

When you get it right, he adds, it will make you more efficient, it will make the organization smarter, it will make you quicker. And as you mature in using the technology, you will begin to optimize the organization and improve your performance. More importantly, you'll be able to meet those rising customer expectations when it comes to what those customers are looking for.

“So the question for you is, are you ready?” Warner says. “If you're thinking about AI, are you looking at your strategy? Are you looking at the problem that you are trying to solve and how AI might help? Have you looked at the organization to see if the culture and the processes are ready, and if you've got the right blend of skill sets so that the people on your teams can collaborate to get value from AI?”

To find out just how ready you really are, and what it takes to get there, join Forrester, VentureBeat, and Blueshift in this frank discussion on AI, customer data, and cross-channel marketing. You'll walk away with a solid understanding of what it takes to develop the right processes, people, and game plan.

Don’t miss out!

Register here for free.

In this VB Live event, you'll:

  • Understand the power of the customer data you have at your fingertips
  • Learn how to leverage data to drive personalized, cross-channel marketing
  • Discover how AI can transform your marketing strategy

Speakers:

  • Rusty Warner, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
  • Vijay Chittoor, CEO, Blueshift
  • Shannon Johlic, Director of Marketing, Blueshift
  • Stewart Rogers, Analyst at Large, VentureBeat
  • Rachael Brownell, Moderator, VentureBeat

Sponsored by Blueshift

CommonSense Robotics raises $20 million so all online groceries can offer on-demand deliveries

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 04:00 AM PST

CommonSense Robotics, a robotics startup that’s aiming to help online retailers offer on-demand deliveries, has raised $20 million in a series A round of funding led by Playground Global, with participation from existing investors including Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and Aleph VC.

Founded out of Israel in 2015, CommonSense Robotics is setting out to create automated fulfillment centers that any retailer can use to deliver goods to customers within an hour. The Tel Aviv-based startup wants to help smaller companies keep apace with the likes of the mighty Amazon through offering their own speedy dispatch and delivery services.

To enable this, CommonSense Robotics is offering what it calls “automated fulfillment as a service,” which involves building a network of high-capacity micro-fulfillment centers throughout urban areas using underutilized spaces such as underground car parks. The hubs will be owned and operated by CommonSense Robotics, with retailers paying a fee per order. Proximity to the consumer is key, as this is all about optimizing costs and speed.

A micro-fulfillment center could serve a single retailer, or it could be used by multiple retailers. Moreover, if a company has their own underused on-site space, CommonSense Robotics is open to building its facility there, although such a model won’t be its main focus.

In terms of what such fulfillment hubs will look like — well, it will constitute robots and artificial intelligence that will be fused to automatically process online orders. That’s about all we know for now.

Above: CommonSense Robotics

The main focus initially will be the grocery industry, which requires fresh produce to be dispatched swiftly and at scale, though it may delve into other industries that have high-volume orders with small profit margins, including the health and beauty segment.

Up until now, CommonSense Robotics had raised around $6 million, and with its latest cash injection it said that it plans to expedite the rollout of its micro-fulfillment centers and expand its global operations and sales.

“Continued interest from investors is a major vote of confidence in our company and in our vision to make on-demand retail accessible to consumers and retailers alike,” noted CommonSense Robotics cofounder and CEO Elram Goren. “The epicenter of this shift is a drastic change to how food is accessed, bought, paid for, and eventually prepared. We are excited to be facilitating a paradigm shift around how grocers sell and consumers access food.”

The company’s on-the-ground presence is still pretty early stage, however. It currently has an alpha operational facility in the underground parking garage of its own office in Tel Aviv, though there are no plans to make this a commercial site. Its first micro-fulfillment center will go live in Tel Aviv “in the next three months,” the company told VentureBeat, with plans for a further five spaces to open in the U.S. and the U.K. in 2018.

Robotics and automation are increasingly encroaching on the retail realm. Just yesterday, California’s InVia Robotics announced $9 million in funding to bring subscription-based robotics to ecommerce warehouses. And a few months back, French startup Exotec debuted its autonomous Skypod system that uses mobile 3D robots capable of moving in three dimensions at 10 mph, while Marble is engaging in food delivery trials with a number of companies. In the U.K., robotics-obsessed grocery giant Ocado unveiled a new picking and packing robot that uses computer vision to determine the best grasp for packing a fragile product without damaging it.

Ultimately, robotics and automation are designed to cut operational costs and increase logistical efficiency, and this is something we’ll see a whole lot more of across all industries.

“CommonSense Robotics’ urban fulfillment centers will vastly improve the cost and efficiency of supply chains that haven’t evolved in decades,” added Innovation Endeavors founding partner Dror Berman. “By implementing a rapid development cycle that brings together data, machine learning, and robotics, CommonSense is advancing a super evolution of logistics.”

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Nokia may consider selling or closing its digital health business

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 02:10 AM PST

Nokia’s ambitious attempt to reinvent itself continued to unravel today when the company announced it had “initiated a review of strategic options for its Digital Health business.”

In a short statement, Nokia said:

“The strategic review of the Digital Health business may or may not result in any transaction or other changes. Any further announcements about the Digital Health business will be made if and when appropriate.”

The move is a surprising twist, coming less than two years after Nokia paid $192 million to acquire France’s Withings in order to essentially launch itself into the digital health business. Withings was known for its range of connected health products, including watches, fitness bands, sleep-trackers, thermometers, and scales.

Withings CEO and cofounder Cédric Hutchings became vice president of Digital Health at Nokia. In a June 2016 interview, Hutchings said he was thrilled about the potential opportunities that would come with being part of Nokia.

"We have a huge ambition," Hutchings said. "Nokia Tech is essentially a new company. And it's in a very strong position to be seeding and building new businesses at Nokia."

Withings was tucked inside a group called Nokia Technologies, a kind of startup hub based in Silicon Valley that existed within the broader Finland-based Nokia corporation. Nokia Technologies was assigned 30,000 Nokia patents that generate $800 million in annual revenue for the unit. It also had 800 employees, mostly engineers.

The idea was to take these patents, the revenue, and the team of engineers and start exploring new product categories for the company. One of the first initiatives was creating a Digital Media business whose product was the Ozo virtual reality camera. The second was Digital Health, which was jumpstarted with the Withings acquisition.

Nokia had hired Ramzi Haidamus away from Dolby Laboratories to run Nokia Technologies. But in August 2016 Nokia announced that Haidamus was leaving, though the company offered little information as to why.

Last fall, Nokia announced it was closing down the Ozo business and laying off 310 people. At the same time, it also took a write-down of $164 million on its digital health business, essentially setting the value of its Withings acquisition at zero, according to Reuters.

“The charge was taken as we updated our projections for the business,” a Nokia spokesman told Reuters at the time. “Despite the charge, we remain confident in the potential of our digital health business, and believe we have the assets, the brand and the innovation capabilities to succeed.”

Apparently, not so anymore as it appears digital health is next on the chopping block.

In a statement, Nokia emphasized that it wasn’t considering parting with its lucrative patent business. But as the company considers its options for digital health, the future of the Nokia Technologies experiment seems uncertain at best.

Subsurface Circular’s indie robot detective story hits Nintendo Switch on March 1

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 02:00 AM PST

Bithell Games’ Subsurface Circular is one of the latest indies to arrive on the Nintendo Switch. The text-based detective story investigates robot disappearances in a futuristic city, and it hits the Nintendo eShop on March 1 for $6.

Subsurface first launched on PC in August before rolling out to iPad in October. Though it features sleek graphics, it focuses on the conversation that the player-character has with various denizens who are riding the subway. The puzzles are all based on dialogue, collecting clues and teasing out the truth of what’s really happening in the world.

Bithell is working with Ant Workshop to bring Subsurface Circular to the Switch. The studio previously developed titles such as the dual-colored puzzler Binaries and twin-stick “shooter” Dead End Job, both of which have launched on Nintendo’s handheld platform.

Previous Bithell titles have released on consoles. The acclaimed Thomas Was Alone started on PC before rolling out to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and Volume is available on PC, PS4, and Vita.

Since the launch of the Switch, Nintendo has been courting indie developers and showcased a number of “Nindies” that will be arriving this year.

Gree’s VR VC fund rebrands to add AR and mixed reality

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 12:01 AM PST

Gree VR Capital, a venture investment division of Japan’s mobile game publisher Gree, has completed its first fund for virtual reality investments and is rebranding so that it can invest in the broader augmented reality and mixed reality sectors.

Gree invested $18.3 million in 14 VR startups and three augmented reality companies in its first fund, which is now closed. The second San Francisco-based fund will be known as the GFR Fund and will invest in a variety of sectors going forward.

The original Gree VR Capital fund was established in April 2016 and has invested in companies such as Littlstar, VR Chat, Spaces, and Immersv.

“We are committed to providing the expertise and guidance needed to help our portfolio companies interact with other investors, and drive strategic partnerships with U.S. and Asian corporations that can help them grow and succeed,” said Teppei Tsutsui, CEO and managing director of Gree VR Capital, in a statement. “Based on our observations of the emerging AR market, we are looking closely at consumer mainstream as well as enterprise applications such as AR Cloud, navigation, advertising, social media, and consumer content via smartphones or AR glasses."

To date, the GFR Fund has invested in 17 early stage companies, based primarily in the North American VR/AR/MR market. Now the fund is actively seeking AR startup companies for investment, with a particular focus on mobile AR platforms, AR Cloud, consumer AR applications, and enterprise AR, including AR glasses.

Above: Left to right: – Teppei Tsutsui of Gree VR Capital, Kevin Zhang of Upfront Ventures, Tipatat Chennavasin of The VR Fund, and Toby Zhang of CRCM Venture Capital.

Image Credit: Gree

“GFR invested in our [first round] round and has been instrumental in helping our company grow both in the U.S. and Asia,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO of Littlstar, a VR content network and one of GFR's portfolio companies, in a statement. “They brought us to Japan in 2016 and introduced us to nearly a dozen accredited investors, helped us secure Sony and others as new investors, and lined up a speaking engagement for us at the Japan VR Summit. The connections and visibility that GFR was able to bring to us has been critical in making Littlstar the success that it is and has afforded us the opportunity to expand into new markets.”

Other investments for the Gree VR Capital fund include Insidemaps, YBVR, Immersv, Experiment 7, TheWaveVR, Sturfee, InsiteVR, Streem, DottyAR, Upload, and Torch 3D.

In addition to Gree, the original fund’s limited partners included Colopl VR Fund, Mixi, Maruhan, Yahoo Japan, and Akatsuki.

GFR will be hosting an online pitch event for early stage AR companies to get in front of investors. In an email, Tsutsui said he is bullish on standalone VR headsets coming out this year, and he will continue to invest in VR as in the past.

“We believe that the AR market, especially mobile AR, is finally ready for consumers in 2018 — with Google’s ARCore and Apple’s ARKit enabling developers to create killer content,” Tsutsui said. “GVR Fund is one of the early investors in VR/AR/MR. We are very committed to supporting the market across VR/AR/MR and want to see the industry, as well as entrepreneurs in the space, succeed.”

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