The Comunicano Communique for Monday May 9th, 2016

The Comunicano Communique

This past week and weekend I was back and forth over the weekend to San Diego and kicking around L.A. as part of my "see what's what where" experiment.  What i was amazed at was traffic and how bad it was being reported using various tech tools. Beyond Waze and Google Maps, my GPS equipped Audi has traffic reporting built in. Literally what was supposed to be a less than two hour drive south at 10 AM turned into an almost three hour jaunt as "hazardous driving conditions" were reported from the moment I hit Irvine, CA. About the only hazards I saw were the other drivers who seem to have all been experiencing first time on a freeway. Cars at 55 in the fast lanes. Minivans changing lanes without turn signals and just a bunch of unattended construction locations. And, if I thought traffic was bad going south, it was worse going north. Then there was the seemingly unneeded full stops by the CHP that I saw in a few locations.....making me wonder what was up. But once back in L.A. it was Uber for me. And, what I'm finding is that the Uber drivers who use Waze are far more switched on than those that use Google Maps, and those that use both, and who take their time to check the route options, are they ever earning their 5 stars from me.  My point here is that the travel routing technologies are really getting better, but now it's more about the drivers getting hip to what they can do to be driving better and arriving at their destinations more safely. So read today's Comunicano Communique and get into the news. By the way, don't miss the API event of the summer in Las Vegas. "All About The API"......     Hyperloop Transportation says it will use a ‘cheaper, safer’ form of magnetic levitation     Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of two LA-based startups working to build Elon Musk's futuristic transportation system, announced today that it has licensed a technology called "passive magnetic levitation" to power its prototype. The system is "a cheaper, safer alternative" to regular magnetic levitation, or maglev, which is currently in operation powering high-speed trains in China and Europe.     [continue...]     Google I/O 2016: What To Expect Google's annual developer conference is just around the corner. Every year the company welcomes developers from across the globe to showcase its software, services, and devices. It goes without saying that the next major Android update is going to be formally announced at this event and the company might also announce some major improvements to Chrome OS.     [continue...]     Ads evolve into new forms as media landscape shifts Peter Naylor, head of advertising sales at Hulu, stood on a stage before a roomful of advertising executives who were there to see what the popular streaming service had in store for the year. After trumpeting Hulu's new interactive ads, Naylor made another pitch.     [continue...]     PayPal nixes Purchase Protection for payments made through crowdfunding platforms If you use your PayPal account to support a crowdfunding campaign, you can't rely on its Purchase Protection plan anymore. The payment platform has announced that after June 25, payments made on crowdfunding platforms will no longer be eligible for the program, which allows users to open disputes for items that don't arrive or are different from described.     [continue...]     Opera brings its free VPN service to iOS with a new app, Opera VPN Following the launch of a built-in VPN service in its web browser last month, Opera this morning debuted a free and unlimited mobile VPN app for iOS devices. Called Opera VPN, the app is designed to protect users' privacy - it removes ad blockers, for example - but it's also marketed towards those who want a way to work around restricted internet access, such on networks managed by I.T.     [continue...]     NBC Sports in VR first NBC Sports Group made its first steps into virtual reality broadcasting at the weekend by airing VR footage from the Kentucky Derby, in partnership with NextVR. The companies claimed that Saturday's coverage marked the "first-ever horse racing in virtual reality" with footage captured "from the paddock to the track and...     [continue...]     Manus VR Gloves Add A New Dimension To The HTC Vive  There are certain technical challenges that need to be overcome in order to deliver a good virtual reality experience; some more crucial than others. Two of the most important characteristics contributing to an immersive VR experience lie in good optics for a pleasant visual experience overall, and the VR system's motion tracking capabilities.     [continue...]     Personal digital assistants are on the rise (and they want to talk) NEW YORK-You may already be on a first-name basis with Siri, Cortana, Google or Alexa, the Fab Four of voice-activated digital assistants. Now that relationship is expanding from one device (typically a smartphone) to many. The major tech companies are putting these digital assistants, powered by artificial intelligence algorithms and activated by voice, into multiple products.     [continue...]     Don't crash and burn with your bot: 6 best practices With Facebook's introduction of bots on Messenger last month, chatbots, which have been around for decades, have suddenly taken the leap from fun toy project to cutting-edge business proposition. With this rapid rise to prominence, it's critical to differentiate the hype from the true value bots can offer when you consider using one for your business.     [continue...]     Are Bots Good Or Bad For Online Business? Bots tend to get a lot of bad press. And considering that bots tend to be involved in all kinds of malicious internet activity - including devastating DDoS attacks - it isn't altogether unwarranted. However, the actual story behind bots isn't quite so one-sided. Robot image from Shutterstock Think of your website as a garden.     [continue...]     Tech cafe: Comrade bot The spotlight shines brightly on American companies Tesla and Google X (Alphabet, Inc), even the government contender, DARPA, and education/research institutes like the MIT, when it comes to autonomous and guided bots. From self-driving cars to military UAVs, the robotics universe is expanding with technology and innovation coalescing to fulfil a need, and few would disagree that nowhere is this more pronounced than in the US.     [continue...]     Finally there's a chat bot for calling 911 We are now living in the age of chat bots. Whether they be tied to apps like Slack or Facebook Messenger, chat bots have eliminated the need for users to take car of annoying, time-consuming tasks, such as translating photos, requesting a ride home, ordering tacos, and even posting offensive tweets.     [continue...]     Alibaba invests in Hong Kong startup GoGoVan On-demand logistics startup GogoVan raised a series C funding round, it announced today. The funding amount is undisclosed, but is described as "a decent amount for future business expansion." The round was led by private equity firm New Horizon Capital and was joined by Singapore Press Holdings, Hotung Investment Holdings, and existing investors.     [continue...]     Delta tries radio tags so passengers and luggage arrive together At a news conference at Delta Air Lines headquarters in Atlanta last week, I remembered an old joke about a skyjacker who demanded that the pilots "take me where my luggage is going".     [continue...]     Feds on Verge of Slowing Innovation Again With the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit expected to rule on the Federal Communications Commission's internet regulations any day now, it's hard to believe none of the presidential candidates or more media outlets have acknowledged the agency's rules could seriously alter the internet as we know it.     [continue...]     10 Examples of Remarkable Landing Page Copy Your landing page will succeed or fail based on the written copy. No matter how well designed your page is... if the copy sucks... no one is going to buy it. Great copy rises above the design to convert visitors into leads. What makes for great landing page copy?     [continue...]

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