Google Makes It Super Easy to Subscribe to Premium Content

Google on Wednesday released Subscribe with Google and several other journalism-associated initiatives.

Subscribe with Google lets purchasers save credit card facts with Google, which may be used to get admission to collaborating publishers' subscription offerings. Google looks after billing, fee protection and account control.

Subscribe with Google soon may be available to be used with several release companions, inclusive of The New York Times, USA Today Network, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, the Financial Times and McClatchy.

Subscribers can get entry to content whilst signed in to their Google account while not having to undergo paywalls. They'll remain logged in when switching from computing device to mobile. They'll also be capable of link subscriptions bought immediately from publishers to their Google account.

For publishers, Google has started testing a "Propensity to Subscribe" signal that uses machine gaining knowledge of to make it simpler to apprehend capability subscribers and gift them the right offer on the proper time.

Further, Google has brought News Consumer Insights, a dashboard built on Google Analytics, to help news agencies recognize and section their audiences and entice subscribers.

Locking In Ad Customers

"Once once more, this is a way to leverage Google's energy in seek to promote not most effective advertising, however now new, sparkling content," stated Michael Jude, research supervisor at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

"The next step on this procedure can be Google signing contracts with the various newspapers to offer advertising and marketing services, for which the paper gets sales based totally on the click-through to their content," he informed the E-Commerce Times.

That could assist. This yr, Google will take in a bit more than 37 percent of the USA virtual advert marketplace, to the tune of almost US$40 billion, eMarketer anticipated. However, opposition from gamers together with Instagram, Amazon and Snapchat, which heated up quicker than expected, has eroded Google's marketplace percentage. It had 38.6 percent of the marketplace remaining year.

The Impact on Publishers

Meanwhile, Google has been at odds with publishers for years, who contend it is stealing their content material.

Subscribe with Google "feels more like a reaction to both aggressive concerns and concerns about efficaciously stealing content material," recommended Rob Enderle, major analyst on the Enderle Group.

It "gives Google even more control, and if you don't accept as true with Google inside the first location, that would not be a terrific element," he advised the E -Commerce Times.

It's much like Apple's lock-in version, Enderle pointed out.

If a publisher need to "take exception to a Google exercise or out a Google government," he puzzled, "will they be reduce off from revenue?"

The closer ties among Google and the publishing industry may want to result in a "close to remaining shape of censorship," Enderle warned, for the reason that "Google controls so much of what humans presently see. They should use their sales control to materially effect coverage."

However, many others -- including release members McClatchy and The Washington Post, as an example -- have expressed optimism about the Subscribe with Google software.

It will offer publishers better targeted commercials and make matters less complicated for them, referred to Ray Wang, important analyst at Constellation Research.

"Google has discovered a way to not simplest lessen the friction of creating and monetizing content material, however to also deal with content material fine," he informed the E-Commerce Times. This "now not simplest improves ad rank however also allows identify fake information."

Consumer Benefits

Readers gets a "one contact, easy-to-use content feed and the potential to subscribe to new services," Wang remarked.

Still, "the whole notion of on-line newspapers is out of step with the more youthful generations," Frost's Jude mentioned.

"Millennials don't certainly examine newspapers," he stated, "and it appears a stretch that they'll are looking for out such guides online."

5 Services That Help You Create Your Website For Free

Normally it is said that nothing is free in this world. But, in the world of Internet, you will definitely find lots of amazing things for free. One of such things is writing your own Blogs! When you are a creative writer and want the world to read your writing, making blogs is the best alternative. These blogs can either be created for free or at some monthly premium. What should you choose, free or paid?

Now, by natural instinct, we are inclined towards free versions. But the main problem in that is with the flexibility. Where free blogs give you a basic platform to express your creativity, paid platforms give you much more flexibility to have full control over your website and its various widgets.

If you are a beginner, free services are much more preferred. You can then create various blogs based on your interest, for example, about makeup and cosmetics, stars and celebrities, sports, health, etc.  There are many websites which offer these services for free. And when you will be fully familiar with the platform and want to explore more, you can then upgrade to their premium versions

Best 5 Free Websites

Let’s look at the top 5 websites that are very popular for their blogs and ease of use. 

Wordpress.org

Do not confuse this with wordpress.com. Where wordpress.org allows you to create a website on their self hosted version, wordpress.com is just a hosting platform. This is the most popular platform used for blogging by millions of people around the world. Even though it is not much beginner friendly, still it is the favorite of many. Day by day, the number of hosted websites is increasing on WordPress.

Some popular celebrities like Beyoncé, Margot Robbie, etc. use WordPress. Not just the famous stars, even some leading businesses like Forbes and Variety use this platform. Using WordPress, you can create huge no. of different types of website. For example, forums, business portals, fan clubs, etc. There is just no limit to creativity with WordPress.

Blogger.com

This is the 2nd biggest Blogging website where people can create blogs for free. And this is also the best platform for absolute beginners, who have no idea about coding or designing. Its ease of use and great User Interface allows a smooth sail for any user. It is so much easy with Blogger.com that your website will be fully live in just 10 minutes of your experimentation.

Some of the great ideas that you can explore with Blogger are your personal blogs, sports news, eCommerce platforms, or even live movie streaming website. If you want to check some great movie ideas, you can visit Bestoftheyear.in. Not just movies, you will also find top trending songs on this website, which makes another great option for your website.

Weebly.com

If you are a beginner, it would be better to avoid this platform. Even though Weebly is one of the best platforms available. But to get a comfortable hand on this website, you need to have a little experience in managing blogs before.

It can be useful to create a website on weebly, if your site will have a fixed kind of content. Only static content is supported comfortably on weebly.com. The rigid user interface does not allow you to explore much.

Tumblr

Compared to Weebly, it is a lot easier. But, except blogging, there is nothing much to do on Tumblr, like any other platform. Using this, you can also create Web 2.0 websites which are extremely good for your SEO. But the best part is that even if you want to create a website with your own domain name, you can purchase directly from Tumblr itself. Or you can use their domain name and create a free website. Plus, there are no hosting charges.

Unlike Wordpress, very few celebrities use Tumblr, like Amitabh Bachchan. He uses this platform to maintain his own personal blog.

Wix.com

Just like Weebly, even Wix is difficult to use. Also, the upgradation from free to premium version is extremely high. So, it is totally NOT recommended for the beginners with no design knowledge whatsoever.

Wix is beneficial for those only who have some previous experience with blogs. And those who are looking for a free platform to show their talent to the world.

Conclusion and Analysis

If you are just a beginner and want to write blogs just for fun, go with WordPress or Blogger for sure. You can go with WordPress then also if you are looking for maintaining your website for a long term. Since, in that case, WordPress provided you hosting as well. And if you are good with blogs and want to create one just to showcase your talent, go with Tumblr or Weebly.

How You Can Hire an Expert For Result Guaranteed SEO Services?

Have you been looking for the experienced and premium result guaranteed SEO services provider? It is a common fact that with the passage of time the demanding popularity of holding the services of the SEO development has been raising on the high level. It is being raising up on the high potential measurements. It is to be noted that website users can just have an access to the internet all through the use of the mobile devices or the laptop devices itself. If in any condition the website is not set out to be compatible along with the operating system and the platform is not visible over the screen of the iPhone then the users do favor taking the service assistance from the SEO Auckland service provide.

 

But the main question that does hit so many minds is that how you can hire the perfect service provider for making your task easier! Let's see how is it possible!

Important Guidelines About Hiring an Expert For Result Guaranteed SEO Services:

Guideline No 1:  As you do start searching for the service provider, then first of all you should be studying the need of the SEO. You should know that what should be the future demand of the SEO service which you have developed. In simple, the need and so as the demand of the SEO services should be studied and put into the analyzing modes.  This is one of the most important guideline which you should be considering out in mind.

Guideline No 2:  Be sure that is there any other SEO service that is already similar to the service which you have developed. If your developed service application is similar to another application that is already available in the market, then try to let your customer get the assurity that your designed application is better than the first one. As you develop the application similar to any other application then it can either come up with the result of success or can turn out to be bigger lose as for your business implementation. You just need to stay clear with the aim that the service should be different and unique in the market.

Guideline No 3: Sometimes it is rather a difficult task for the users in order to search for the best result guaranteed SEO services provider from the market as there are so many present around. It can be tricky in the conditions when you are holding the unique and that too with the complete range of proper development.

Summary:

Hence, all in all, we would say that finding the best result guaranteed SEO services in YEAH! Local is an important task to do. Guidance is important and each single step should be carried with great care and attention!

Top 5 Worst Computer Viruses

In this article I will be covering 5 of the worst computer viruses in history. The computer virus has been one of the most devastating influences on our computer systems. Viruses are malicious code designed to read, write and erase computer data. These malicious pieces of code are capable of causing a world of problems for your systems and yourself.

As the user, you are equipped with the ability to track down and erase all instances of the virus, or you could simply format everything and start over. However, both of these choices will lead to loss of time and data, potentially. These viruses are also capable of transferring the data on your computer to another, essentially violating your privacy. Fred Cohen was the first notable person to identify a computer virus, and defined it as a self-replicating program, designed to adversely modify our systems as a virus. Since them, the name virus has stuck.

There was a time when viruses were only capable of infecting a system through manual means, but thanks to the evolution of our technology, viruses today are mostly transferred through the internet.

 

1. ILOVEYOU

One of the trickiest computer viruses was discovered for the first time in the year 2000, in the Philippines. It was essentially an email with the title ILOVEYOU which contained an email attachment (a virus). Around 10% of users online made the mistake of opening it. The attachment was a VB script. It worked by mailing the same email out to all the contacts in the users address book, while attacking the hard drive of the system it was on, this ultimately led to over $10 billion in damages.

2. Melissa
This virus was named after an exotic dancer from Florida, and it was created in 1999 by David Smith; it was a Microsoft Word macro. It worked by spreading itself through email. The virus would arrive in peoples Inbox with the subject title “here is the document you asked for, don’t show it to anybody else”. This was of course, designed to goad people into clicking on it, and for those who did, the virus would immediately forward itself to all the people in the users address book. After some time, the virus was able to replicate itself across a large portion of the web.

Though it didn’t adversely affect the internet, it did cause a big problem for many email services, as it increased traffic tenfold; this ultimately led to email services running considerably slower. David Smith was eventually arrested and sent to jail for 20 months, he was also fined $5000 by the US government. Though, it didn’t cause any real damage to any systems, it was one of the first viruses to gain any sort of recognition.

3. SQL Slammer

This virus successfully shut down South Korea’s online capacity for around 12 hours, affecting over 500,000 servers across the entire world.

This virus worked by affecting servers, not computers. Compared to other viruses, this one was very small, no larger than 380 bytes. It worked by generating random IP addresses and sending itself to these IP addresses. If the IP address belonged to a computer system that ran Microsoft’s SQL Server Desktop Engine (unpatched version), then that computer would become infected and send itself out to more random IP addresses. This virus was able to infect over 75,000 computers in less than 10 minutes. It created so much unwanted traffic that it overloaded thousands of network routers across the world, which eventually led to shut downs.

4. My Doom
My Doom was another virus, a worm to be exact, which arrived in 2004. It became another fast spreading email virus, much like ILOVEYOU. My Doom was able to infect two million computers, and created a massive denial of service attack that adversely affect the whole world wide web. It replicated by sending itself via email. It fooled people into clicking on it by using the subject line “Mail Transaction Failed”, and it would send itself out using the email address book of the user. The damages of this virus were said to be in the range of $38 billion.

5. The Klez Virus

With the natural progression and advancements in our technology, new viruses have been developed and pushed out there; one of such viruses, known to quite a number of people is the Klez Virus. It first arrived on the scene in 2001, and its unique characteristics lead to it floating around the internet for several months. The Klez Virus successfully replicated itself via email services. There were numerous versions of it; all made its behaviour either like a Trojan, worm or virus. As a virus it was capable of disabling the internet security software on an end users computer and act as a fake antivirus removal tool itself.

When the virus came out, there were many new versions that were released shortly after, these updated versions were capable of spoofing. It was also capable of deleting email messages and rendering a computer system inoperable.


--AUTHOR INFO--

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website http://www.compuchenna.co.uk

5 Ways Business Process Management Software Improves Your Workflow

Your business process management software offers important benefits in productivity and efficiency. More than that, if used to its full potential, your business process management software will help you develop set protocols that become the heart of your organization.

Think about this - employees need to follow a set workflow in order to accomplish their tasks with BPM software. This means that you'll limit common errors and catch mistakes faster. It also gives your employees an easy to navigate protocol. This makes training for new positions and learning new skills much more understandable. In essence, good business process management software becomes the structure of your company's documentation.

There are a number of ways that your business process management software helps to improve your workflow. Here are a few that you should look for when researching new business process management software.

5 Traits of Excellent Business Process Management Software

You'll find a lot of programs on the market and each boasts their own benefits. These three tools should be included in any good system:

• Document Lifecycle Mapping. A great BPM software includes a way for you to easily map the lifecycle of your documents. This might be a web-based application where you can access and set the workflow for each document through the modern browser. Once your workflow is configured, employees can follow set cues so that they’ll never miss steps in completing the necessary document actions.
• Secure Application. Your business process management software should include security features to help your company maintain compliance. These features should include rules for user access and permissions. Therefore, employees can only gain access to certain aspects of your documentation if they have the proper authority. If you're dealing with sensitive or personal information of any kind, it's imperative that you stay in compliance and can track which personnel has access to sensitive documentation.
• Real Time Communication. Your BPM should allow real time updates and communication with employees company-wide. If, for example, one employee updates a client file with new information, another employee in a different department can see that immediately. This eliminates the issues that arise when multiple departments deal with the same accounts but don't communicate effectively.
• Oversight of Analytics. Your BPM gathers data to offer concise analytics on any and all processes. What this means is that you'll be able to draw a picture of progress at any time to better understand what your current and future productivity needs are.
• Improves Organization. One key aspect your BPM will improve is your organizational structure. Because you're setting workflows that must be completed in a set way, your employees will have a more cohesive organized structure to follow in meeting their daily responsibilities.

Your business process management software can help you better organize documentation. But it also enhances the way that you can organize day-to-day workflows and delegation of responsibilities.

Author Bio

As Marketing Communications Manager, Lauren Ford is the dynamic voice behind Square 9 Softworks. Delivering highly effective messaging across reseller channels, end user communities, and outside agencies, Ford develops, drives and executes communication plans that effectively support Square 9’s overall marketing goals and objectives. To learn more visit https://www.square-9.com.

A Deeper look at AI Technology

The world is in a perpetual state of change. All through the centuries, humans have endured numerous extinction events such the plague of the Spanish Flu and Smallpox. In the present day with the progression of technology and massive advances in science and medicine, man appears to have everything in check.

In this high-tech period, we find ourselves in, our lives have been made much relaxed by transferring demanding and labor-intensive stuff that would take colossal strength and time to machines and robots. This is appealing, isn’t it? But to take it a notch higher, we have now developed intricate Artificial Intelligence that can aid these machines and robots to execute their actions even better.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence or AI as it is more usually branded as, is the synthesis of human intelligence processes by machines, principally by computer systems. Some of these processes comprise learning, reasoning, and self-correction.

In computer science, AI research can be well-defined as the study of "intelligent agents". Any device or object which is not human or organic that can distinguish its situation and takes actions that raises its chance of achievement of an objective can be considered an Artificial Intelligence.

AI was considered and established as an academic discipline in the mid-1950’s and in the years subsequent it has undergone several highs and lows. The discipline of AI was established on the contention that human intelligence could be so precisely defined that a machine could successfully mimic it.This assertion created philosophical sentiments about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings capable of human-like intelligence.  

The Resurgence of AI
In the twenty-first century, AI technology has received a shot of adrenaline in a manner of speaking owing to concurrent hikes in computing power, huge amounts of data, and a better theoretical comprehension of the subject area. AI technology has developed into an essential element of the technology industry and is facilitating the resolving of many perplexing difficulties in computer science and other areas such as production and manufacturing.

With AI being adopted by many industries and supplanting humans, there has been a significant increase in the number of workers laid off by huge companies who embrace AI technology or robots. These massive losses in the workforce have a direct impact on the economy. Jobs are gone and the purchasing power of people is significantly reduced leading to a less strong economy. However, best job search websites help people find great jobs that suit their skills.

From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is developing quickly. While science fiction regularly depicts AI as robots with human-like features, AI can actually comprise anything from Google’s search systems to IBM’s Watson to self-directed weapons.

Artificial intelligence currently is accurately recognized as narrow AI (or weak AI because it is intended to perform a specific task (e.g. only facial recognition or only driving a car). But, the long-term aim of many scientists is to build a general AI (AGI or strong AI). While narrow AI may outclass humans at whatever its precise task is, like playing chess or solving equations, AGI would outdo humans at virtually every intellectual assignment.

Benefits of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is intricate by design. It uses a very complex combination of computer science, mathematics, and other difficult sciences. Complex programming aids these machines imitate the cognitive capabilities of humans.

1. Reduction of Error

Artificial intelligence helps to diminish mistakes and the chance of precision with a greater degree of exactitude is a real prospect. Artificial intelligence is practical in numerous studies such as space exploration. Smart robots are provided with information and are sent out to travel space. Since they are machines, they are more resilient and have a better capacity to tolerate space and its unfriendly environment. They are built and adjusted in such a way that they cannot be altered or spoiled or breakdown in the inimical atmosphere.

2. Exploration

Artificial intelligence and the science of robotics can be of immense help in mining and other fuel exploration procedures. Also, these complex machines explore the depths of the ocean and therefore performing beyond human confines. Owing to the programming of the robots, they can execute more arduous tasks with better accountability.

3. Numerous Applications

Computed systems for automated reasoning, learning and perception are now a normal occurrence in our daily lives. We have Siri or Cortana to assist us. We also go for long drives without a pre-determined destination in mind but with the aid of GPS, we can easily find ourselves a way home. No more getting lost. Smartphones are in vogue and that is just a simple example of the use of artificial intelligence.

Even when you are typing, they can envisage what we will type and correct the human mistakes in spelling. This is a classic example of machine intelligence at work. Pictures are identified using the artificial intelligence algorithm and a person’s face can be identified and tagged when the image is posted on social media sites. Artificial Intelligence is extensively used by commercial/financial establishments and banking institutions to organize and manage data

4. Digital Assistance

Very innovative establishments use ‘avatars’ which are models or digital aides that can essentially interact with consumers, consequently not requiring the necessity for actual human interaction. For artificial intelligence, sentiments do not have any consequence on logical reasoning in any way. The total lack of the emotive cognition makes the robots reason logically and make the accurate program assessments. Emotion is related toa disposition that can distort proper reasoning and affect human competence. This problem absolutely out of the question for machine intelligence.

5. Medical Applications

In the field of medicine, you notice the extensive use of AI. Doctors evaluate patients and their health with the aid of artificial machine intelligence. It teaches them about the possible reactions/side effects of different medicines. Medical professionals are habitually taught with artificial surgery emulators. There are even novel medical applications powered by AI to identify and monitor neurological conditions as they can be programmed to mimic the brain functions. Robotics is often employed to help mental health patients to battle depression and stay active. A common use of artificial intelligence is radiosurgery. Radiosurgery is employed when operating tumors and this can really aid the operation without harming the immediate tissues.

6. No Breaks

Machines and therefore AI unlike humans, do not need regular cessations and food. They are pre-set for long hours and can constantly execute tasks without getting tired or sidetracked or even exhausted.
Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence:

1. High Cost

Construction of artificial intelligence involves enormous expenses as they are very intricate machines. Their renovation and preservation also entail enormous expenses. They have software programs which require regular upgrades to accommodate the requirements of a fluctuating milieu and the necessity for these machines to keep getting smarter. In the event of a random collapse, the process to regain and mend missing codes and resetting the system will need huge time and cost.

2. No Replicating Humans

Intelligence is assumed to be an ability that is natural for humans. An ethical dispute remains, as to whether human intelligence is to be computer-generated or not. Machines do not possess emotions and moral values. They execute what they are preset to do and cannot decide if something is right or wrong. They cannot make the proper assessments if they come across a condition that is outside the scope of their programming code. They will either execute inaccurately or collapse in such circumstances.

3. No Improvement in Experience

Dissimilar to humans, artificial intelligence cannot be enhanced with experience on the job. Machines are incapable of adjusting their reactions to fluctuating situations. We are relentlessly barraged by the question if it is indeed thrilling to substitute humans with machines. In the world of artificial intelligence, there is nothing like being passionate. Care or apprehensions are not existent in the machine intelligence dictionary. They fail to differentiate between an assiduous person and an incompetent person.

4. Loss of Jobs

Substituting humans for machines will mean a rise in the loss of jobs. Unemployment is generally unattractive. Individuals who have no jobs will turn their attention to using their time and minds for the wrong purposes. Humans can be needlessly reliant on the machines with the increased usage of artificial intelligence. Also, when people begin thinking in a negative manner, they can make chaos with these machines. Artificial intelligence under the influence of bad people is a grim hazard to humanity. It can premeditate large-scale devastation.

As a consequence of the points noted above in this article, the Association for the advancement of artificial intelligence has two major goals;

1.    To develop and advance the science of artificial intelligence and to promote and educate about the responsible usage of artificial intelligence.

2.    Identifying and studying the risk of artificial intelligence is a very important task at hand.
These two goals will aid in solving the concerns of several people. Programming blunders or cyber-attacks will require more committed and cautious research. The technology industry and its stakeholders will need to be more attentive to the quality and features of the software. All that has been produced in the world as a whole and in our distinct societies is the endless consequence of intellect. Artificial intelligence supplements and endows human intelligence. So far as we keep technology beneficial and productive, humanity will ultimately reap the benefits.

AI Research

The necessity of devising helpful applications of artificial intelligence for the general public has driven research in various sectors such as security, transportation, production and even economics. Trivial problems such a laptop crash is insignificant when compared to the unthinkable likelihood of an airplane’s autopilot software malfunction or a mistake on your trading. Dangerous autonomous weapons are also another creation of artificial intelligence and the future test is to regulate them efficiently.

The creation of artificial intelligence very high up in the achievements of the human race. If this technology is properly harnessed and developed positively, we may even use artificial intelligence as a tool to eliminate poverty and hunger from the world. The dispute that humans can never match the absolute level of artificial intelligence shall continue for a long time. The architects and designers of artificial intelligence assert that machine intelligence is valuable and will aid the progression of humanity. However, the potential threat of artificial intelligence to accidentally cause devastation and harm should not be disregarded. Proper and ethical research is the only way help regulate AI better and reap its benefits.

The Dangers of AI

Majority of researchers settle for the assumption that a super-intelligent AI is improbable of displaying human emotions like love or hate, and that there are no grounds to presume that AI will develop deliberately compassionate or malicious. Rather, when evaluating ways that AI could become a menace, experts think that these two situations are the most probable:

The AI is programmed to do something catastrophic:
Autonomous weapons are artificial intelligence systems that are preset to kill. In the hands of dangerous people, they could certainly result in a large number of fatalities. Furthermore, an AI weapons race could accidentally result in an AI war that would also result in several casualties. To prevent being stopped or destroyed by opposing countries in the arms race, it is most likely that these weapons would be programmed to be really challenging to just “switch off.” In this case, the human fear of being inferior is what will inadvertently give rise to such a dire situation where an AI can have absolute control. This likelihood is one that is even possible presently with narrow AI, as ranks of AI intelligence and autonomy surge.

The AI is programmed to do something constructive, but it employs a negative method to be efficient
This can occur if we do not fully align the AI’s goals with ours, which will be extremely challenging. For instance, you may ask a self-driving car to get you to the airport quickly, it will do just as you asked but you may not be able to get on your flight as the car may have flouted traffic regulations and the police will hold you accountable.

With this example, it is easy to notice why the apprehensions about cutting-edge AI could become a problem. The AI is doing what it is programmed to do alright but without recourse to anything else but the parameters that have been set for it. In this case, the AI isn’t being intentionally malevolent but it is just seeking to be competent. A super-intelligent AI will be exceptionally great at achieving its objectives, and if those objectives are not in line with ours, then we have a huge issue to address. An essential objective of AI safety research is to never place humanity at peril.

The AI Safety Concern Debate Keeps Raging

Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates just to name a few are several of the big players in the science and technology sectors. Some of these people including many leading AI researchers have voiced their concerns about the dangers posed by AI.

The notion that the pursuit of a strong AI would eventually flourish was initially assumed as science fiction, and not quite plausible anytime soon. But, in the light of latest developments, many stuff about AI, that experts thought of incapable only a few years ago, has been already attained. This had made many experts rethink and truly consider the prospects of super intelligence very soon. Though others still insist that human-level AI is still quite far-fetched presently, most AI researchers and experts at the 2015 Puerto Rico Conference agreed that it would happen around the year 2060. Though it may take a while to finalize a comprehensive fail-safe safety research on Ai, it is practical to begin now.

Due to the fact that AI has the capability of becoming smarter than humans, we do not have a definite prediction of its possible behavior. We cannot rely on or refer to previous technological developments as a basis. This is because we have by no means produced anything that could develop the capacity to, consciously or unconsciously, outwit us. The nearest sample we have is the story of our own evolution. We govern the planet because we are the cleverest. If we are no more the apex of the food chain, are we confident of being in control of affairs?

BIO
Theodore  Adrohu is a Writer. Communications Specialist. Social Media Manager for Ghana employer job posting websites. Realist. Unorthodox Thinker. Health Fanatic. Voted Best Dad Ever by Twin Sons Jason and Jaden.

www.nepttech.com

5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Transform the Moving Industry

Artificial intelligence is a big buzzword right now and for a good reason. It can disrupt and transform the entire industries profoundly changing the way people work and interact with each other.

The moving industry has not been left on the sidelines of this life-changing process. In fact, it is one of the five industries most affected by AI. Let’s have a closer look.

1. Driverless trucks
 

According to The Guardian , AI will eliminate 6% of all jobs in the US, and truck and taxi drivers are the first ones to be substituted. As you can imagine, the benefits for a customer are supposed to be significant but employees will be simply pushed out of the industry.

AI-run trucks will hopefully get involved in fewer accidents on the road. Since there would be no drivers, the truck can move without interruptions (drivers need to eat and sleep which increases time on the road). This will reduce the delivery time and cut down costs. 

2. Less scams

The moving industry is infamous due to a large number of frauds, scams and unethical practices widely used by unreputable movers. “This casts a shadow over the whole industry but AI can change this altogether. Full automation, transparency and accountability will leave little room for fraudsters.” – says Ross Shetman, Long Distance Moving Company CEO.

3. A quest for a new kind of knowledge

Experts predict that the real wave of AI implementation will begin as soon as 2021. While the benefits for customers are v tangible and promising, the moving industry’s employees will encounter a new harsh reality. There will be less vacant jobs and the skillset required to get hired is going to be very different. For example, according to Wired, semi-autonomous vehicle technology enables a pair of truck drivers to safely navigate a convoy of multiple trucks. 

Working with AI technology scares a lot of people because few of us understand how it works. And so the moving companies will likely employ less staff and look for workers who specialize in AI and possess the specific knowledge to manage it.

Add to this that a truck driver is the most common job in the world – 3.5 million in the US alone, according to The Newsweek. To say that AI will disrupt the moving industry almost feels like concealing the true scale of the change.

4. A changing face of the competition in the industry

As always with the big changes, there are early adopters who are willing to innovate and rejectionists who prefer to do business the old way, even if it is costing them big.

Lots of companies in the moving industry will oppose the AI impact. But the truth is that once the tide actually begins, it will likely sweep the entire industry, leaving those who do not wish to adapt sidelined.      

AI also means that the customer service will be better than ever before. Movers that will be able to adopt AI will get in the lead and customers, seeing lower costs and better service, will switch to them. 

Unions will have their say too, naturally opposing the technology that will leave its members jobless. But will their efforts be fruitful remains a question without the answer just yet.

5. AI is flawless, or is it?

Even computers cannot guarantee a 100% flawless outcome of a specific task. In the moving industry, GPS is not always perfectly reliable, especially when it comes to the minor roads. Human creativity and willpower often solve this problem at a moment’s notice and experienced drivers rarely find themselves stuck in these situations.

In case with the AI, things are going to be different. Most likely, companies will need remote control pilots to track trucks and oversee the delivery process. But that will require new technology and specific skillset. For small local movers which are oftentimes family businesses this might become impossible to implement due to the costs.

There is no doubt that AI will continue to progress as we can conclude from a bustling startup scene working in the area. For the benefits of both companies and customers, it is very important that the moving industry can work out a sustainable way to grow.

Top 5 Tech Trends Predicted to Rule through 2017 and Beyond

In an age where the technology is increasingly gaining the power to transform the digital world at a frightening pace, all that organizations worldwide have is to study the latest trends and stay abreast of the rapid market changes. By understanding and acknowledging the current and future trends in their strategic plans, business leaders are given the margin to make necessary adjustments in their operational procedures and business models. While failing to stay tuned with such trends put enterprises at huge risk of losing their competitive advantage over their rivals as well as capturing the mighty opportunities in different markets.

The 2017 Tech Trends Report published by Future Today Institute is quite full of detailed information, which needs more than ample time to understand everything within. As for this blog post, we are going to highlight the 5 important technology trends that are highly expected to go strong through 2017 and beyond.

1.    The rise of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has gone past the stage of infancy or just a mere concept, and is now residing in the phase that has become a key element in almost all the trends outlined in this content. Regardless of the industry, it is vitally important for business owners to get well-aware with the employment of AI. At a gradual pace, AI is starting to acquire its place into most of the major operations of organizations across the globe.

The scope of AI is much beyond our imagination and has a long stream of benefits stored for different industries. Consider the example of Deep-Neural Networks, this comparatively new direction of machine learning is soon destined to become a hidden part of every organization. Programmers can now use deep learning algorithms summed with terabytes of different data such as text, videos, images, speech, etc. The point is to empower the systems into learning independently.In other words, this calls for automating a plethora of human processes at the hands of intelligent AI-induced programs, for instance, software writing, monitoring cyber security, etc.

While another major branch of AI—real-time learning has its own benefits to offer. You can now seamlessly acquire a continuous flow of transactional data and make required alterations in models in real time. The website behavior could be revamped, the user will be navigated to the exact product based on his/her behavior and custom preferences.

2.    Enhanced acquisition of bots and virtual agents by top brands

Over the course of last year, we have witnessed the hatching of bots and becoming a part of mainstream business processes. Around 12,000 and above Facebook Messenger bots, and different kinds of platforms are easily evident of the increased adoption of the technology by all the big shots globally.

Several established brands are affirming the influence of bots in customer service and marketing communications. Take KLM for example, the royal Dutch airlines have incorporated bots in their operations with the aim to provide boarding passes and status updates to their travelers, along with acknowledging the countless messages they receive over the Facebook Messenger app.

The trend isn’t likely to slow down any time soon as more and more brands are opting bots to improve the performance of their customer service and social media conversations. Companies like Autodesk and Bradesco Bank are making the best use out of bots at the moment. They are automating responses to FQAs (frequently asked questions) that customer service professionals typically encounter throughout their workday. This allows the agent to save valuable time for more personalized conversations for customers requiring special attention.

3.    Cognitive Computing to catch pace

This new trend of cognitive computing has evolved from the more traditional anticipatory computing, and is registering as one of the top tech trends for a fifth straight year.
IBM Watson is the grand platform that showcases how a powerful cognitive computing can elevate the ability of businesses and humans to understand and solve highly complex problems. The platform has now extended well beyond the initial horizonsand has invaded the healthcare, engineering, law sciences, and other major industries worldwide. Through cognitive computing, the respective industry professionals are fabricating new ways to cure cancers, personalize customer interactions, improve the quality of data discovery, acquire vital customer insights, and formulate new trends that will help companies in obtaining a competitive edge in an already intensified competition.

Even after experiencing a decent start this year, the trend is likely to gain additional momentum with upcoming years. Last year,IBM unveiled the launch of Cognitive Horizons Network—a high profile network of schools with the purpose of working jointly for solving elite cognitive problems and promote the technology in a plethora of industries.

4.    The dominance of Big Data continues to grow

We are all familiar with the application of big data, while this year and further there is going to be no shortage of vast data sets as organizations are striving hard to streamline the employment of big data, hence a mighty indicator for economic growth. Established companies will tend to acquire more and more analytics tools and specialists to assist in key decision making processes, and government institutions will look forward to deploy big data technology for acquiring finances for different programs.

Undoubtedly, the job openings for Chief Data Officer will see increasing demand in both mid-sized and large-scale enterprises. Such professionals will be responsible to master the data initiatives, focus on smart and powerful decisions, and connect well will security and surface intuitions.

Agreeably, one of the toughest challenges even experienced companies are continuously facing is hunting the right personnel acquiring the expertise of AI and cognitive-based solutions and mindset. The once-unnoticed and rare positions of data scientists, are set to stand strongly as the most sought-after positions in the market. The trend is likely to cause significant shortage of the data science skills, with some statistics predicting a gap of 50% between the supply and demand.

5.    More disruption than ever

Summing all the above and other trends, it is safe to say that we are going to see a potential boom in the technology trends. This year’s report has marked around 150 glaring trends, while a staggering 85% boost in the 80 trends identified in the last year’s report. As the exploding pace of technology advancements is evident from the current and predicted figures, it is obvious the trend of one technology rooting the ground for the succeeding technology is going to happen more than ever.

Author Bio

Ronald Marshall is an accomplished software developer having worked with some of the best tech companies across the globe.Besides his technical expertise, Ronald is also a tech geek blogger and an experienced assignment writer acquiring an established client base in a variety of academic disciplines.

5 Ways Live Chat can be implemented in different industries

Customer support has been a hot topic in business in the past dozen years. Companies are competing to bring the best possible service and experience for their consumers and this is how they are able to keep a loyal base of customers that makes them sustainable.

There are many ways in which businesses work on improving this aspect of their organization, but now there are even tech solutions that go had in hand with customer support and allow organizations to cost-effectively improve this area of business. One of the best solutions that companies use today is called live chat software.

With online chat software, companies can reduce their running costs, give valuable information to customers, help them more quickly, start valuable customer relationships, and scale better. To achieve this, a business needs to use this tool in a proper way. There are many types of businesses that can use live chat and here are 5 different industries that will find it very useful. 

1. Software industry 

 
The software industry has probably been one of the fastest growing, since the beginning of the 21st century. No matter what branch of software industry you are looking at, software developers are constantly looking to provide new solutions, optimize their products, and give new features.

Given the fact that changes happen often and quickly, it's important for providers to be able to explain all the important things about their software quickly and update them when needed. This is presenting a problem for software companies, as they are unable to clearly explain what their software can do.

This is why software providers and a majority of those who offer cloud solutions can utilize on live chat to explain their offers and adjust them to their current or potential customers. We are talking about complex products and companies will be able to explain all the features, hear the customer’s needs, and connect the dots during a live chat conversation.

On top of that, customers looking to buy software solutions are in most cases tech savvy and they are almost always open to contacting a business through the chat help tool and relying on this kind of communication channel to get help.

2. Ecommerce
 

Online stores are becoming very popular. Simply put, there are more and more people looking to buy something online and more business organizations that want to fulfill this need. This can be a very profitable business model but it has its difficulties.

One of the most common problems for ecommerce stores is that their conversion rates are quite low because of the fact that they are not communicating with their potential customers as well as they should. This is where live chat comes into play, as this is an engaging customer support tool that has the power to convert visitors into buyers.

Ecommerce stores can be messy and confusing because they have so many products available. Customers can have a lot of questions they need answers to quickly or they will simply bounce away. By approaching potential customers with a chat help tool, you can offer them instant help that can allow them to make direct purchases.

3. Real estate business

One of the industries that has been changed a lot by the acceleration and growth of the internet is real estate. One of the most notable changes is that real estate is now more transparent than ever and this is why people are looking for properties to buy online as well.

Although people usually don’t want to buy a house directly from a website, they like to see what their options are and compare prices while surfing around the web. Sellers and real estate agents can only post offers online and wait for potential buyers to go through their ad and compare different offers.

However, this is slowly beginning to change with the use of live chat solutions. With the implementation of live chat tools, the people who work in real estate have gained the ability to engage people and work on generating leads directly. Real estate is all about selling complex properties that have a lot of features.

With live chat, sellers can make more transparent offers, talk about features and give a dose of real life interaction to the communication. With live chat, a seller will be able to recommend adequate property solutions and show potential buyers their property in detail and in advance.    

4. Pharmaceutical industry

 
One of the most sensitive aspects of people’s lives is their health. Everyone wants to take care of themselves and their loved ones as best as possible. This industry has grown so big that it has entered the online world as well and online pharmacies are slowly starting to grow.

Online pharmacies are still not accepted and people are reluctant to buy drugs this way. This is why this business is looking for ways to get accepted by people and become more legitimate and trustworthy.

This is where live chat steps into play as it can give them the ability to create human interaction, add a human face that can be trusted to the picture, and give important advice regarding this sensitive subject.

5. The hospitality industry
 

When it comes to the hotel industry, the most important things here are attention to detail and quality of service. Apart from the fact that these kinds of service providers need to be punctual and polite when dealing with customers - making sure everything is clean, greeting people, setting the table properly and so on - they also have to have this kind of approach online as well.

When customers are booking a hotel, they want to know all the details and you need to provide them. In this business, establishing relationships with customers is as vital as acting as a true host. With live chat software, a provider can instantly start a relationship with customers and talk about everything they need and want to know.

When renting apartments or rooms, people have different needs and wishes. With live chat, you can quickly find out what they are and how to give customers exactly what they need without a single detail missed. This is how more sales will be made and how you can bring your accommodation business closer to people.

These are the 5 industries that can effectively utilize on online chat software solutions. There are many other types of organizations that can also rely on live chat to improve their results. The only important thing is to use it adequately and adapt it to the way you do business.

Author Bio:

Jason is a technical writer currently associated with ProProfs Chat. He enjoys writing about emerging customer support products, trends in customer support industry and the financial impacts of using such tools. In his spare time, Jason likes traveling extensively to learn about new cultures and traditions.

Drone Delivery - The Future of E-Commerce

Amazon has been shaping the e-commerce world for years, but its recent endeavor could shake the entire industry. The company recently filed a patent for a huge, floating blimp that would serve as an overhead warehouse of sorts. This warehouse would house numerous items, along with smaller aerial delivery drones to deliver those items. This concept would take the “fiction” out of “science fiction.”

Amazon is calling these huge blimps Airborne Fulfilment Centers (AFCs). In short, they would be stocked with products, piloted into the air, and then placed strategically over positions where there is a spike in demand for the items that are placed onto the AFC. When a customer places an order, a smaller drone would grab the package and fly to the ground in order to make a delivery. 

One example that Amazon used during its patent filing was to place an AFC over sporting events. Fans could place orders for snacks and souvenirs on Amazon, who would then deliver the items down to them. These AFCs could also be used to provide giant hotspots for Wi-Fi access and display advertisements on the side. The entire idea, like everything else Amazon comes up with by adopting various technology research services, is truly innovative.

How Does This Patent Affect the Future of E-Commerce?

 
It's worth noting that this whole concept is still on the drawing board. It's still quite a way into the future. There are still just too many technological blocks right now. In fact, there's a chance that it could never become a reality. Companies file crazy patents all of the time to protect their ideas, just in case.

With that said, this idea is so detailed that it's hard to call it just another crazy idea. The patent seemed to be quite detailed. Amazon filed another patent that same week too – a patent for systems related to drone defense against hacking, lightning, and projectiles. Yes, people shoot projectiles at drone for fun!

Amazon continues to pour its resources into all kinds of automation technology. That tells us that the industry is going to see some big changes in the coming years. Here’s a look at what those changes might be.

Flying Drones

We expect to see drone delivery become the go-to method for major commercial retail websites over the next ten years. As it stands right now, drones can carry up to five-pound packages while traveling a distance of approximately 20 miles. Furthermore, they can fly at speeds of up to 70 mph. Flirty has even developed a drone that's capable of delivering packages right to a consumer's doorstep.

The main bottleneck right now is the lack of government regulations when it comes to drones. Companies simply don’t want to risk huge investments only to find that new legislation passes that makes it an unviable option. Once this bottleneck is overcome – and it will be very soon – then drone delivery will start to take off.

Ground Drones

These will probably become the most viable option. Ground drones were actually created well after flying drones. They are really great at navigating sidewalks and can navigate the final mile to a customer's doorstep. As of the time of writing this post, ground drones can carry up to 9 kilograms and travel up to 10 mph.

Delivery ground drones have been used in Australia to deliver pizza. The main advantage is that they will make delivering packages much less expensive while essentially speeding up the process. This new technology will create a same-day-delivery buying experience online.
As technology continues to develop, we’ll see radical changes in the industry. The future of drone deliveries is not as far off as some people tend to believe. It’s right around the corner!