Yext Transforms Search with Brand Verified Answers
Yext Transforms Search with Brand Verified Answers MTS Staff WriterJune 4, 2019, 5:00 pmJune 3, 2019 Next-Generation Yext Platform Enables Businesses to Capitalize on Paradigm Shift in Search From Results to AnswersYext, Inc., the platform for Brand Verified Answers in search, kicked off a new era in the world of search today with the next generation of the Yext platform. New enhancements to Yext enable businesses to answer the questions consumers ask about them: in search, using voice assistants and chatbots, and on their own websites. Brand reputations are increasingly at stake with what consumers find online, and so businesses need to be able to provide verified answers to their questions. Now any business can deliver an authoritative, brand-verified answer.“There’s a massive paradigm shift going on in the world of search from chaotic results to brand verified answers. Today’s customer journey starts with a question, and consumers expect answers,” said Howard Lerman, Founder and CEO of Yext. “Today’s expansion of Yext allows companies to build their complete knowledge graph, which is the foundation of meeting the consumer at the precise moment of intent.”Marketing Technology News: Alorica Taps Business Transformation Veteran Colson Hillier to Be Chief Marketing OfficerYext allows businesses to create and connect all the facts about themselves in an answers-ready knowledge graph, so they can power their own sites and services and sync with search, voice assistants, and chatbots. New custom entities and fields make Yext adaptable to any business, so brands can connect any type of fact to the information about it consumers want to know, from a store location and open jobs there, to a menu item and its nutritional information, to a doctor and her specialty and educational background. This allows a consumer asking something like “Who is a wealth advisor in San Francisco who speaks Mandarin?” to get an accurate, direct answer.Marketing Technology News: Alpha Software Launches Alpha TransForm, Cuts Build Time for Robust Offline Enterprise Mobile Apps from Months to Hours“The customer journey starts with a question. It’s up to every business to provide the brand verified answer,” said Marc Ferrentino, Chief Strategy Officer of Yext. “Yext’s comprehensive fact platform contains hundreds of millions of connected facts about our clients’ businesses. Facts in Yext are structured for search so that businesses can meet their customers in the moment of intent. Today marks the first step toward a world of perfect answers everywhere.”Yext’s founding principle is that the ultimate authority on a business should be the business itself. Businesses need a platform to provide verified answers to drive digital discovery, customer engagement, and reputation enhancement. Yext leads brands into the future of search, bringing the world one step closer to perfect answers everywhere.Marketing Technology News: StarfishETL Partners with PeopleSense, Inc. customer engagementdigital discoveryHoward LermanMarc FerrentinoNewsreputation enhancementYext Previous ArticleSnapLogic Announces Strategic Partnership with Solita in the NordicsNext ArticleWorld’s First Crowd Promotion App Set to Shake up the Sharing Economy – by Allowing Anyone to Monetise Their Social Media Profiles
The Fastest Growing Apps of 2019, from Zapier Zapier’s Apps at Work Report Highlights the Fastest Growing Apps PRNewswireJune 11, 2019, 4:26 pmJune 11, 2019 crmFacebook Messenger MarketingMarketing Technology NewsNewsroductivity automationWade FosterZapierZapier’s Apps Previous ArticleCuracity Announces Dwell PartnershipNext ArticleNeudata Appoints Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Piers Thompson as Chief Technology Officer “Zapier is a helpful source for people who are looking for new apps that take productivity to another level, and we help fuel user growth for the apps themselves,” said Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier. “This report highlights a major trend of people shifting away from the traditional curated suite of programs to a new, modern work toolkit that better fits their daily needs.”Marketing Technology News: Crimson Agility Receives Two Nominations from MagentoThe report’s findings include:ManyChat had the most growth: 1,005 percent YoY. ManyChat is a Facebook Messenger Marketing platform and is frequently connected with MailChimp, and is one of two Facebook-related apps in the Top 10.Front was the second-fastest growing app on Zapier, with 506 percent YoY growth. Front was one of several customer support/CRM apps ranked on the list, which includes Liondesk (#8, 285 percent), Bonjoro (#10, 264 percent), Mailshake (#11, 227 percent), and Freshsales (#16, 151 percent).Zapier conducted an online survey of more than 1,100 U.S. customers who work full-time to uncover insights about the impact of automation within the workplace. The survey found that more than three-quarters (76 percent) earn over the national median salary ($61,372), and a third (32 percent) earn more than $100,000 per year. Moreover, another 41 percent have been promoted in the last 12 months, and over two-thirds (68 percent) have received a raise.Marketing Technology News: DAA Announces Enforcement Deadline for ‘Political Ad’ Guidelines and Transparency IconAdditional findings include:Automation saves significant time during the work week: 20 percent of respondents save 11 or more hours per week using Zapier to automate tasks, and 13 percent saves more than 20 hours per week.Automation is becoming a key skill for employees: 76 percent of customers would list competency in automation as a skill on their resume or job application.“Our survey confirms that automation is not only growing in popularity, but it’s making people better at their jobs. By automating time-consuming tasks, people can use the time saved to focus on more important work,” continued Foster. “We are providing the connective tissue that allows people to link together apps that make them more successful, more productive and more efficient at their job.”Marketing Technology News: Loyalty Brands Announces Partnership with Textellent To Deliver Innovative SMS Sales & Marketing Capabilities ManyChat, Front, Mojo Top the List The company leads the industry with 1,500 app integrations and four million users across 177 countries. Zapier’s Apps at Work Report: The Fastest-Growing Apps of 2019 showcases the true nature of work and how integrating applications and embracing automation allows for increased productivity, time savings, and a refocus on the most important tasks for businesses. With an average year-over-year (YoY) growth of 256 percent, the list includes new applications as well as top-tier business apps that people are using to make work more productive. Zapier, the leader in productivity automation, revealed Zapier’s Apps at Work Report: The Fastest-Growing Apps of 2019. The report uncovers the business and workplace apps that have experienced significant growth over the past year on the Zapier platform, and details the rise of sub-category apps that are fueling growth to accomplish tasks for today’s modern workplaces.
The Surprising Reason Why Brandon Routh Is Returning to Superman TUSTIN, CA — The eighth-generation of America’s best and best-known performance car launched here Thursday night. The 2020 Corvette is finally a mid-engine two-seater, as its architects have dreamed of for more than half a century. It has a strong dose of technology ranging from over-the-air updates to a standard 12-inch digital (LCD) instrument panel, a bigger head-up-display, and a GPS database that raises the low-slung car when it approaches a bump in the road or a sharply pitched driveway.The cheapest 2020 Corvette will cost “less than $60,o00” when it ships early in 2020, according to GM president Mark Reuss, one of the speakers at the event. That’s a 6 percent increase over the least expensive 2019 Corvette. Why This Corvette Is DifferentThe 66-year history of Corvette includes a long-running difference of opinion between GM’s sports-minded engineers, particularly Zora Arkus-Duntov, and cost-conscious financial staff. Duntov proposed better underpinnings to make early Corvettes drive as well as they looked. Fast-forward half a century and the C8 – Corvette, generation 8 – finally has one of the hallmarks of the highest-end sports cars, the mid-engine layout. Some say GM had only bad experiences with its few early mid-engine production cars, particularly the 1960s Corvair which was a) rear- not mid-engine, b) troubled not by the engine location as much as the low-cost rear suspension that came to the attention of a young Ralph (“Unsafe at Any Speed”) Nader even though c) the VW Beetle had the same “swing-axle” design and that didn’t pique Nader’s curiosity.The things you’ll read elsewhere about the C8 Corvette will often center on the mechanical differences, particularly moving a traditional small-block Chevy V8 with the very same bore spacing (distance between cylinders) as on the earliest Corvettes, from the front to behind the passenger compartment. The lone transmission choice is an eight-speed Tremec double-clutch transmission with a low first gear for tire-smoking acceleration (our words, not Chevy’s), closely spaced gears 2-3-4-5-6 to keep the car in the sweet spot of the power band, and long gears 7-8, meaning gears that let the engine run at highway speeds at less than 2,000 rpm, for fuel efficiency. With no driveshaft, the former transmission tunnel is now a piece of high-strength aluminum with a carbon fiber finisher (aero-smoothing) panel. Also to save space, the shifter linkage gives way to shift-by-wire gears: a Park-Reverse-Drive selector and paddle shifters.Magnetic ride control shocks are an option. They instantly adapt to changing road conditions; the same dampers can be stiff for sporty driving, soft for daily driving especially with a spouse/partner aboard who loves Corvettes with limousine rides.The wrap-around cockpit resembles a racecar cocoon. Or to some bigger drivers, it may seem a little confining. The 8-inch center stack display has a volume and a Home button; everything else is done by touch.More, Better High TechFor 2020, every Corvette gets a 12-inch LCD display. It’s mated with an 8-inch center stack LCD. To keep the dashboard uncluttered, the LCD has only a volume knob and a Home button; everything else is touch or voice. A head-up display is optional. Audio is by Bose: 10 speakers standard on entry trim models, 14 speakers including woofers in the door panels.A MyMode feature lets the driver cycle among preferred driving style configurations. A single “Z mode” (named after the Z06, ZR1, and Z51 performance packages) is activated by a steering wheel button lets the driver take a My Mode feature, add engine and transmission tweaks, and store that in the button for back-roads and track use.The Corvette adopts GM’s new “digital vehicle platform” for next-generation technologies. It minimizes wiring, allows faster data transmission, and enables higher-res displays. Other features are Chevy’s first one-touch Bluetooth pairing via a Near Field Communication patch, Qi wireless charging.Corvette’s Performance Data Recorder has been upgraded. It’s an integrated action camera/security, records lap times or point-to-point travel times, and even knows where you are on a racecourse for auto-calculation of lap info. Don’t trust valet parking? You can set it to record when the ignition is set to valet mode.First-generation Corvette C1 greets attendees to the 2020 Corvette C8 launch at the Tustin (CA) Blimp Hanger. The C1 cost $3,490 in 1953, equal to $33,500 in today’s dollars.Corvette HistoryCorvette launched in 1953, a decade before Porsche came out with the Porsche 911. Its best era was the 1970s, ironically at the time of the first oil embargos from the Middle East. In this decade, production ranged from a high of 42,000 in 2016 to a low of just under 10,000 last year. Sales and production numbers also followed the aging of the models which ran 5-10 years:First-generation (C1, 1953–1962)Second-generation (C2, 1963–1967)Third-generation (C3, 1968–1982)Fourth-generation (C4, 1984–1996)Fifth-generation (C5, 1997–2004)Sixth-generation (C6, 2005–2013)Seventh-generation (C7, 2014–2019)Eighth-generation (C8, 2020-)In comparison, the Porsche 911, often considered the most iconic sports car, has about 1.1 million units produced. (No Ferrari is remotely close to a million.) Porsche sales are throughout the world where Corvette sales are centered in North America. Porsche sold 35,000 911s last year, worldwide. But where the 911 by itself was Porsche Cars for decades, now it’s only a fraction of Porsche’s 256,000 worldwide sales last year, outsold by the Macaan compact SUV (86,000), Cayenne mid-size SUV (71,000), even the Panamera sedan (38,000). The 911 came out in 1963, at which point Corvette had a 70,000-unit head start. Porsche’s biggest market is China, followed by the US and Germany.Detroit-focused Campbell-Ewald ad agency campaign from a decade ago noted who gets sung about.More than a dozen songs have been written about the car, including “Little Red Corvette,” even if the lyrics meant something else, “Riding with Private Malone,” “Dead Man’s Curve,” “Shut Down,” “The Best Day,” “Corvette Dreams,” “The One I Loved Back Then,” and “Corvette Crusin’.”The Corvette has been the Indianapolis 500 pace car 16 times (17 when the C8 paces the 2020 race). It has been on the Car and Driver 10Best Cars list 20 times (Honda Accord has been on 33 times, BMW 3 Series 23 times). It has been Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1984 and 1998.Chevrolet produced 1.7 million Corvettes over seven generations since 1953. Production topped 50,000 in 1979 and 1984. This decade, production averaged 23,000 units a year. Note: Low figures such as 1983 are when most 1983 sales were assigned to 1984. New models were in 1953, 1963, 1968, 1984, 1997, 2005 and 2014.More Than 1.7 Million SoldChevrolet produced 1.7 million Corvettes over seven generations since 1953. Production topped 50,000 in 1979 and 1984. This decade, production averaged 23,000 units a year. Note: Low figures such as 1983 are when most 1983 sales were assigned to 1984.The car goes into production later this year at its sole production facility in Bowling Green, KY. First sales are due to be early in 2020. You will likely find few sub-$60K cars in the early allotments. Buyers will find dealer markups because that’s what the market will bear. While 100 Corvette owners staged their own polished cars outside the launch site, there will also be cranky owners who can’t fathom the idea of a Corvette with a mid-mounted engine, as if better weight distribution and handling is a bad thing. Their fathers likely protested fuel injection.2020 Corvette Crossflags symbol and script in chrome.How Soon Can You Get a C8 Corvette?The base 2020 Corvette will be called Stingray and gets a 6.2-liter V8 (LT2) engine with 495 hp (369 kW) and 47-pound-feet of torque. Tires are 18 inches in front, 19 inches in back, with 35 series front tires and 30 series rear tires. One option will be the first Corvette rated all-season performance tires.Chevrolet will release more complete pricing in the fall. Be prepared for dealer pricing adjustments (markups) if the Corvette is in hot demand. In the past, premiums on popular high-end sports cars have been $10,000-plus in their first months on the market.Along with every other journalist in America, we can’t wait to test-drive the C8 Corvette. Version 8 appears to be a quantum leap forward.Now read:Hands On at the Track With the 2020 Mini Cooper SE ElectricBrooklyn Electric Car Races Add Showroom Stock CarsThe Go-Fast, Go-Safe Parts You Only Get on Police Cars 62 Comments The Possibility Of An ‘Iron Man 4’ Finally Addressed Tagged In carsautomobilesautoscar reviewsChevrolet2020 carsChevrolet corvetteperformance data recorder2020 sports carsC8CorvettesPDR Post a Comment 62 Comments Wesley Snipes Fans Have Something to Say About ‘Blade’ Reboot A 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray cutaway. The cockpit was moved forward 16.5 inches. While the new car is five inches longer (182) and two inches wider than the prior model, every cockpit dimension is the same or slightly less roomy for 2020. (A convertible is coming; just not at the beginning.)<><>123456789101112131415 ‘Mindhunter’ Season 2 Images Introduce Charles Manson and More By Bill Howard on July 19, 2019 at 9:35 am The ‘Jojo Rabbit’ Trailer Is Here ‘Endgame’ Directors Apologize To Tom Holland You Might Also LikePowered By ZergNet Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pinterest Google Plus Reddit Hacker News Flipboard Email Copy 0shares This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use. 2020 Corvette Launches: Mid-Engine, 495 hp, More Tech, Less Than $60K Actors Who Could Barely Stomach Kissing Each Other on Screen Little Lucy From ‘Narnia’ is Head-Turningly Gorgeous Now at 23
ET Deals: AMD Ryzen 7 2700x for $199 During Amazon Prime Day Proof Henry Cavill Isn’t a Very Good Dude at All With the launch of AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X, AMD’s last-gen flagship CPU has started its slow exit from the market. The Ryzen 7 2700X still offers excellent performance, however, and you can get one of these high-end processors for an almost unbelievable price of $199.99 during Amazon’s Prime Day sales event.The Ryzen 7 2700X features eight CPU cores that can handle two threads each, which enables the processor to run a total of sixteen threads simultaneously. Each CPU core is also able to run at a max clock speed of 4.3GHz and the processor as a whole has whopping 20MB of cache.Though it is no longer the top SKU from AMD, it’s nonetheless one of most powerful processors available and it can competently compete with Intel’s Core i7 products. Marked down from its original retail price of $329 to $199.99 for Prime Day, the Ryzen 7 2700X also costs less than half of what the new Ryzen 7 3700X is listed for.You can also get the even faster AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X that comes loaded with 16 cores marked down from $899.00 to $499.99, which makes it also an excellent deal. If you want to buy one of these processors at the current price you will need to act today, however, as the deal expires at 11:59 PM EST. 1 Comment Natalie Portman Reacts to Being the Next ‘Thor’ Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pinterest Google Plus Reddit Hacker News Flipboard Email Copy 0shares This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use. Wesley Snipes Breaks Silence On Marvel’s Huge ‘Blade’ Decision Actors Who Could Barely Stomach Kissing Each Other on Screen Saying Goodbye to Johnny Depp The Emotional Way ‘Riverdale’ Paid Tribute to Luke Perry at SDCC By Michael Sexton on July 16, 2019 at 12:56 pm Extremetech may earn affiliate commissions from the shopping links included on this page. To find out more, read our complete terms of use. You Might Also LikePowered By ZergNet Sun Baby From ‘Teletubbies’ Is 22 Now & Unrecognizably Gorgeous Things Only Adults Notice in ‘ThunderCats’ Tagged In et deals Post a Comment 1 Comment
Awesome ‘Star Trek’ Projects We Never Got To See Hands On at the Track With the 2020 Mini Cooper SE Electric Movies That Hollywood Didn’t Want to Make By Bill Howard on July 17, 2019 at 7:30 am We Now Understand Why Sean Connery Has Disappeared Anna Kendrick’s Transformation is Turning Heads 6 Comments Dani From ‘Girl Next Door’ is Absolutely Gorgeous Now at 36 Don’t Watch These Movies With Your Parents Mini is targeting urban performance over exurban range with the 2020 Mini Cooper SE. And its performance is exceptional, even if battery life will be better suited for urban/suburban driving than vacation treks. Mini says the Cooper SE travels 235-270 km (146-168 miles) on a full charge, at least based on European testing. Some reports say EPA range will be as little as 114 miles per charge, while US pricing is likely to start around $35,000-$38,000. Those estimates are based on European pricing, although euro-to-dollar conversions can be too simplistic.Some of the Cooper SE’s tradeoffs stem from the car’s provenance: The three-door hatchback body is based on a Mini design that dates to 2014. The drivetrain is sourced from the first-generation BMW i3 that goes back to 2013. Both are likely to be upgraded in the next two years, and the electric Mini should follow.The Mini Cooper SE (Mini Electric outside the US) is cat-quick on Brooklyn’s tight 1.5-mile Formula E racetrack.Crisp Handling, One-Pedal Driving at the TrackMini used the occasion of the Formula E race in Brooklyn to invite a dozen auto writers and editors to sample the new car on the 1.5-mile track. (After the professionals were done racing for the day.) Flat-out driving wasn’t possible on the tight track. What was clear was how quick the car accelerated at the kinds of speeds you’d experience building up steam entering a highway on-ramp or getting through a stoplight that just turned yellow. There was very little lean even at the track’s 180-degree hairpin turn.Most significantly, when you flip a button on the console for max regeneration, the resistance provided by the generator charging the battery effectively takes over the braking chores. Driving in a tightly bunched wave of five similar Minis, lifting off the throttle immediately slowed my car significantly for the next turn. I only needed to feather the brakes a couple of times on a 15-turn track, typically when the pre-collision alert indicator flashed in the head-up display. (The PCS warning provides ample advance notice.)If you’ve ever been karting, this is the same one-pedal sensation: The moment you lift off the throttle, you’re effectively braking. If you haven’t karted, it’s like being aboard a riding mower when you lift. (If you haven’t been aboard a riding mower, well, it’s exciting for 15 minutes.) For drivers who find max regen unsettling, at least at first, you can flip the switch for more minimal brake regeneration.Crossing NYC bridges in the Cooper SE.Night Rider, TooTo round out the sporty urban-car experience, Mini offered night drives during the race weekend. In this case, the cars were driven by company pros, because it was hard enough making it to the 6 PM lapping experience without a drink (the FIA race sponsoring body has a 0.0 percent BAC rule for anyone going on the track) and impossible to get to 10 PM without a cocktail or two.In crowded Brooklyn and Manhattan, this was a perfect car for moving about at night, plenty quick, with zero tailpipe emissions. It’s a good car for two, although this two-door has seatbelts for five. At 152 inches long (12-plus feet), it’s easy to find openings in traffic and then at the curb.The instrument panel and center stack.Mini Cooper SE SpecsThe Mini Cooper SE (US name)/Mini Electric (Europe name) is a front-motor, front-drive car. The 32.6-kWh lithium-ion battery forms a T that runs between the front seats and under the back seats. The electric motor is rated at 135 kW or 181 US hp, and 270 Nm (199 pound-feet) torque. It’s a transplant from the carbon-fiber BMW i3 city vehicle, or as Mini puts it, “[The] drive technology comes from the BMW Group competence centers for electro mobility in Dingolfing and Landshut [Germany].” Production is in Oxford, England.The battery/motor combination is good for 7.3 second 0-100 kph runs (0-62 mph). In testing, it felt especially strong getting to 30 mph. The low position of the battery packs lowers the car’s center of gravity by 30 mm (1.2 inches). You’ll have to work to roll this Mini. It weighs in at 3,010 pounds (1,365 kg), 320 pounds (145 kg) more than the gas-engine Cooper S with an automatic gearbox. Top speed is 93 mph. Charging is possible from a 12-volt socket, a wall-mounted home charger, or public charging stations, including DC fast charging at 50 kW. At 50 kW, you get an 80 percent charge in 35 minutes.Electronics include Apple CarPlay, a 5.5-inch multi-information display in the instrument panel, and a 6.5-inch LCD in a big circle at the top of the center stack.Mini Cooper SE (electric), gas-engine Mini Cooper S, and BMW i3. (Far left: BMW C Evolution electric scooter.)How Successful Will a $35K Short-Ranger Be?The car is half a year from shipping in the US. But judgments are being formed. Some of the early press/analyst reports say it’s a lot of money for a car that gets as little as 114 miles in the US. (AutoPacific analyst Ed Kim says it’s a good price/performance point for a 2015 EV.) US pricing is likely to be in the mid-thirties for a Mini. It’s a little better price/performance ratio at 140-150 miles (the European WLPT estimate). BMW execs said they didn’t want to burden the Mini Cooper SE with a higher price tag. Our $35,000-$39,000 USA starting-price estimate is a simple conversion of UK pricing, £27,900, or Europe pricing, €34,400. There will be three trim lines: Signature, Signature Plus, and Iconic.At a weekend press conference at the Formula E race in Brooklyn, Pieter Nota, BMW board member for customer-brands-sales, got roughed up by the media who noted that a short-range EV is more of an urban than a suburban car, yet most urban areas, especially New York City, have precious few charging stations. (BMW and Mini have a relationship with the ChargePoint network.) And, said writers and editors who live in the Big Apple, when you go to a parking garage that claims to offer EV charging, it may be the wrong kind, it’s not working, or there are no free charging spaces. This is not a BMW-Mini problem, though.The real BMW-Mini-specific problem is where Mini’s future lies: It’s primarily a sedan/coupe brand at a time when SUVs dominate. Electrification may boost Mini’s sales, which peaked at 66,502 in the US in 2013 and had led Mini to say they’d sell 100,000 vehicles a year in 2020. Instead, they fell to just 43,684 last year and may be as low as 36,000 this year, based on June year-to-date sales of less than 18,000. Mini’s woes may be one reason chairman Harald Krueger opted not to seek an extension of his contract that expires next year.Our take is that the range — say it’s 140 miles — is a little disappointing relative to the price. But Mini needed to get an EV into the market. It had a prototype out in 2008 that was made available to 400 enthusiasts, and Mini had plenty of time to digest their comments. (One was that they didn’t like batteries replacing the back seat, which shows how far technology has come. Now the back seat is back.) It should have been out already. We’re assuming the Mini Cooper SE will live for 2-3 years and then we’ll see a much-improved version using newer BMW-Mini technology. BMW will ship the iX3 — a battery-electric X3 — in a year or so, reportedly with a 300-hp motor and battery good for 250 miles on a charge. The next electric Mini likely will use a scaled-down version of that motor.Meantime, for the price of what the Mini Cooper SE likely costs, you can get a Tesla Model 3, Kira Niro EV, Chevrolet Bolt, or Nissan Leaf Plus with 226 to 258 miles or range. Only the Tesla matches Mini as a perceived premium brand, which may justify some of the pricing. Or for $30,000 you could get a 150-mile Nissan Leaf. Mini must be counting on the fun factor to woo buyers. That it is: fun, and fast.Now read:2019 Mini Countryman S E All4 Review: Bouncy, Fun-to-Drive Plug-In HybridBrooklyn Electric Car Races Add Showroom Stock CarsThe Go-Fast, Go-Safe Parts You Only Get on Police Cars Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pinterest Google Plus Reddit Hacker News Flipboard Email Copy 0shares This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use. The Transformation of Daisy Ridley Is Turning Heads Winona Ryder Is Not Letting Anyone Forget She’s Married to Keanu You Might Also LikePowered By ZergNet Tagged In carsautomobilesautosteslaEVsBEVsFormula EMiniMini Cooper SEMini Electric Post a Comment 6 Comments
4 Comments Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pinterest Google Plus Reddit Hacker News Flipboard Email Copy 0shares This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use. Tagged In smartphonesmobileARMqualcommsystem-on-a-chip Post a Comment 4 Comments Why Billy Hargrove from ‘Stranger Things’ Looks So Familiar You’d never expect a sub-$100 phone to be as fast as a flagship device like the Pixel 3 or Galaxy S10, but they can still be unreasonably slow sometimes. The bargain-priced Qualcomm Snapdragon 200-series chips have offered bare minimum performance in the past, but the company’s new Snapdragon 215 system-on-a-chip (SoC) could make ultra-cheap phones much more usable with better performance, higher resolutions, and more. The Snapdragon 215 replaces the 210, which has been a bottom-tier chip for Qualcomm since 2014. You’d see the 210 most often in ultra-cheap unlocked phones from white label manufacturers. Those are the sort of phones no one necessarily wants to use but plenty of people still do. The 215 SoC is a quantum leap over the 210 — Qualcomm says it’s 50 percent faster across the board. Like the old 210, the SD215 has a quad-core CPU. However, it has Cortex A53 cores instead of the aging A7 CPUs. These 64-bit cores are considerably faster and more efficient than the old 32-bit A7s. Cheap phones are slowly moving toward tall display ratios like 18:9, and the Snapdragon 215 will support that up to HD+ at 720×1560 (19.9:9). The more powerful Adreno 308 GPU can also decode video and render games more easily. It’s 28 percent faster than the 210’s GPU while offering better video battery life. Qualcomm’s new chip will also help budget phones compete on the camera front with its dual ISP (image signal processors). The 215 supports dual camera setups for enhanced depth sensing and portrait effects. Camera resolution also gets a boost to 13MP from 8MP on the 210. The new Hexagon DSP allows for about five days of music playback on an average phone, and apps that use sensors like GPS won’t drain the battery as much. The new SoC has more wireless capabilities, too. There’s NFC support for the first time on a 200-series chip. It was understandable to omit that in 2014, but mobile payments are much more common now. There’s also dual-SIM support with VoLTE on both cards. The updated 802.11ac Wi-Fi radio also means faster speeds, up to 433Mbps down. However, LTE still tops out at 150Mbps like the 210 (it has the same old X5 LTE modem). The first devices with the Snapdragon 215 will launch later in 2019. While it supports more features, there’s no guarantee device makers will utilize all the technologies offered by the Snapdragon 215. Phones with this SoC will cost well under $100, so there’s not going to be room for all the bells and whistles. Now read:The Entire Semiconductor Market Just Suffered the Worst Downturn in a DecadeReport: Apple Bought Loads of Cheap Patents to Make Qualcomm Look BadIntel CPU Shortage Could Worsen in Q2 2019, Opening Path for ARM, AMD Don’t Watch These Movies With Your Parents The Stunning Transformation of Shailene Woodley The Little Kid From ‘Jerry Maguire’ is Now 28 and Unrecognizable The Sad Situation That Hayden Panettiere Is Living In Today Helen From ‘Waterworld’ Is 56 Now and Incredibly Gorgeous By Ryan Whitwam on July 9, 2019 at 3:29 pm Wesley Snipes Sounds Off On The Latest ‘Blade’ News Winona Ryder Is Not Letting Anyone Forget She’s Married to Keanu You Might Also LikePowered By ZergNet The Snapdragon 215 Could Make Cheap Phones Less Terrible
Dark DataData ProtectionMarketing TechnologyNewssoftware-defined storageVeritas Technologies Previous ArticleThe Future of Retail Environments – Architecture Design Collaborative Talks Experiential ArchitectureNext ArticleMarTech Interview with Eric Christopher, Co-Founder and CEO at Zylo Global businesses continue to house ‘dark data’ within their organizations, creating a honeypot for cybercriminals, finds research from Veritas Technologies, a worldwide leader in enterprise data protection and software-defined storage. Classifying data enables organizations to quickly scan and tag data to ensure that sensitive or risky information is properly managed and protected, regardless of where that data lives. This broad visibility into data helps companies comply with ever-increasing and stringent data protection regulations that require discrete retention policies be implemented and enforced across an organization’s entire data estate.Public cloud and mobile environments represent the weakest links in data security, with the majority of data across these environments most likely to be left unclassified and potentially unprotected. Just five percent of companies claim to have classified all of their data in the public cloud, while only six percent have classified all of the data that sits on mobile devices. Three in five (61 percent) companies admit they have classified less than half of their public cloud data, while over two-thirds (67 percent) have classified less than half of the data that sits on mobile devices.Marketing Technology News: US Podcast Ad Revenues Hit Historic $479 Million in 2018, an Increase of 53% over Prior Year, According to IAB & PwC ResearchVeritas’ previous Truth in Cloud research revealed that an alarming majority (69 percent) of organizations wrongfully believe data protection, data privacy and compliance are the responsibility of their cloud service providers, although cloud provider contracts usually place data management responsibility on businesses.“As workforces become more mobile and the barriers between work and personal life break down, company data has become dispersed across numerous environments,” said Jyothi Swaroop, vice president, Product & Solutions, Veritas. “When data is fragmented across an organization and has not been properly tagged, it is more likely to go ‘dark’, threatening the company’s reputation and market share if it falls foul of data protection regulations such as GDPR. So it’s vital that organizations take full responsibility for ensuring their data is effectively managed and protected.”Marketing Technology News: Futurus Group Files First Ever Patent to Predict Gratitude Using Artificial IntelligenceThe dark age of dataOrganizations consider strengthening data security (64 percent), improving data visibility and control (39 percent) and guaranteeing regulatory compliance (32 percent) among their top key drivers for day-to-day data management. Yet the majority of respondents admit that their organization still needs to make improvements in all of these areas.“A company’s dark data reservoir may be out of sight and out of mind for many organizations, but it’s an enticing target for cybercriminals and ransomware attacks. The more organizations know about the data they hold, the better they will be at judging its value or risk,” added Swaroop. “But with the average company holding billions of data files, manually classifying and tagging data is beyond human capability. Businesses must implement data management tools with algorithms, machine learning, policies and processes that can help manage, protect and gain valuable insights from their data, regardless of where it sits in their organization.”Marketing Technology News: Box Maintains Aggressive Revenue Growth in Q1; Reveals Loyal Customers Continue to Drive Sales Over half of all data within organizations remains unclassified or untagged, indicating that businesses have limited or no visibility over vast volumes of potentially business-critical data Over Half of Company Data Remains Unclassified, Despite a Rise in Security Breaches and Stringent Data Protection Regulations Dark Data Exceeds 50%, Creating Major Security Blind Spot for Most Companies PRNewswireJune 5, 2019, 4:02 pmJune 5, 2019 The Value of Data study, conducted by Vanson Bourne for Veritas, surveyed 1,500 IT decision makers and data managers across 15 countries. It reveals that on average, over half (52 percent) of all data within organizations remains unclassified or untagged, indicating that businesses have limited or no visibility over vast volumes of potentially business-critical data, creating a ripe target for hackers.
CCWcustomer experience technologyIntelligent Virtual AssistantsMarketing TechnologyNewsTTEC Holdings Previous ArticleThe Benefits of Empowering Agents to Go Omni-DigitalNext ArticlePoor Data Mastery Impacting Ability to Drive Value From Data, Oracle Report Shows TTEC to Debut AI-Enabled Associate Assist Solution at Customer Contact Week (CCW) 2019 PRNewswireJune 24, 2019, 3:15 pmJune 24, 2019 Company to Showcase AI Solutions Within the TTEC Experience – Booth #724 at CCW, June 24-27, in Las VegasTTEC Holdings, Inc., a leading digital global customer experience technology and services company focused on the design, implementation and delivery of transformative customer experience for many of the world’s most iconic and disruptive brands, will be showcasing Associate Assist and other innovative technology solutions for AI-enhanced training, omnichannel interactions and journey orchestration during Customer Contact Week, June 24-27, in Las Vegas.TTEC creates employee experiences that increase engagement and designs, builds and operates customer experiences that deliver results. The company’s approach to AI and automation balances human intuition and creativity with the computational power and efficiency of technology. TTEC uses Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) to empower employees and deliver seamless service experiences that enable hyper personalization, increase response time and improve accuracy.Associate Assist augments associates by monitoring conversations between associates and customers and scanning through data to deliver the suggested next best action or response to the associate, in real-time. In addition, the solution establishes a closed loop, AI-enhanced, self-training knowledge base that is used not only to train new associates but also improve associate accuracy, efficiency and consistency.Marketing Technology News: Insite Software Announces Major New Enhancements for InsiteCommerceThis approach results in:Reduction in Average Handle Time (AHT) by 20%Improvement in First Contact Resolution (FCR) by up to 10%Increased Net Promoter Score (NPS) by nearly 15%Throughout the show, TTEC will be demonstrating Associate Assist in Booth #724 featuring the TTEC Experience. The company is also offering site tours of the company’s CX Innovation Lab in Las Vegas to a select few from the CCW audience on Monday, June 24. Booth visitors and site visit participants will learn more about the company’s technology solutions, such as:AI BotsAI-Enhanced TrainingOmnichannelJourney OrchestrationTTEC has been named a finalist for this year’s CCW Excellence Awards for Best Training and Development Solution. The CCW Excellence Awards honor, recognize and promote individuals and teams who have made a commitment to driving superior contact center and CX performance. TTEC won the CCW Excellence Award for Best Training and Development Program in 2017 and was named a finalist for the same award in 2018.Marketing Technology News: Leading Associations Turn to ON24 for Member Engagement and Revenue GrowthLearn more about the company’s award-winning programs during CCW’s Interactive Discussion Group #15 on Wednesday, June 26 from 10:50am – 12:30pm. TTEC will also be sharing perspectives on Omnichannel during Interactive Discussion Group #22, from 3:55pm – 5:40pm.“TTEC brings together people, process and technology to deliver seamless customer experiences and drive digital transformation for our clients. Digital transformation is not only about how technology facilitates customer self-servicing but also enabling customer service professionals to deliver seamless support,” said Judi Hand, Chief Revenue Officer, TTEC. “During CCW, we look forward to demonstrating how AI, bots, RPA and knowledge management enhance human connections and optimize business results for our clients.”Marketing Technology News: Adaptive Ad Systems Completes Installation of New Ad-Insertion Equipment on National Cable TV Systems Adds 40,000 Additional Subscribers
TD Reply, the company specializing in marketing and innovation consulting within the Reply Group, developed China Beats, a business intelligence solution that enables companies to gain an in-depth understanding of the Chinese market and its players. This is ensured by AI-supported social listening with connection to all major Chinese e-commerce, social media and search platforms such as Alibaba, Baidu, WeChat and Weibo.“Users gain unique market insights – which lay the foundation for long-term success in China.”The prosperity of the Chinese population is growing at a rapid pace. According to analysts estimates, around 550 million Chinese will belong to the middle class by 2022. As a result, the Chinese market is also becoming increasingly important for international companies. Entering the market, however, is challenging, especially in terms of reliable identification of target groups, analysis of their consumer behavior and preferences. Digital data can provide a remedy, because the majority of Chinese consumers are netizens who shop on digital platforms, exchange their opinions there and thus leave behind many digital traces.Marketing Technology News: Tencent Champions “Tech for Good” in CannesAdvantage through market insightsObtaining reliable data from Chinese online platforms has so far been a resource-intensive and technically challenging task. In addition, an in-depth understanding of the Chinese market is necessary to draw the right conclusions from the data.This is where China Beats comes in, a newly developed business intelligence solution from TD Reply. The development is being driven forward jointly by the Berlin and Beijing locations. The Beijing location, which opened in 2010, has already supported several leading industry players in expanding their business in China using digital data. The market knowledge gained over many years as well as the corresponding technical know-how have been strongly incorporated into the development of China Beats.“China Beats will be the first SaaS-Solution that can answer questions like: In which markets in China can I be particularly successful with my products? Who are the players? And above all: How does the Chinese consumer tick, whom I want to convince”, says Lars Alexander-Mayer, Partner TD Reply. “Users gain unique market insights – which lay the foundation for long-term success in China.”Marketing Technology News: Only 6% of Small Businesses Focused on Retaining Customers, Despite Main Digital Marketing Goal of Increasing SalesUnderstanding Chinese consumersThe answers are provided by digital data and through the AI-supported Advanced Analytics Engine. All relevant Chinese e-commerce, social media and search platforms such as Alibaba, Baidu, WeChat and Weibo are connected as data sources. Millions of social media posts, forum entries and reviews are evaluated. In addition there are contextual data from legislative texts, patent databases, news platforms and job portals.The reduction and analysis of the data is carried out by advanced scrapping algorithms and Machine Learning combined with Natural Language Processing. “The technology allows the recognition of context, slang, and clustering of core information into different subject areas. Consumer perceptions in China are interpreted correctly and made easily available to the user,” says Lars-Alexander Mayer. “The data and insights flow together in the performance dashboard. In the end, users have all strategically relevant information that has to do with their business in China in one place”.China Beats will be presented to a wider audience at the Reply Xchange in Munich and Milan. The launch will follow in Q3 2019. Users of Pulse, TD Reply’s Insights platform, will have the opportunity to integrate China Beats into their existing dashboards.Marketing Technology News: Insite Software Announces Major New Enhancements for InsiteCommerce business intelligence solutionChina BeatsMarketing TechnologyNewsReply GroupTD Reply Previous ArticleWPP and iHeartMedia Launch ‘Project Listen’Next ArticleRazer and Visa Announce Partnership to Transform Payments in Southeast Asia REPLY: New Tool “China Beats” Provides Deep Insights Into the Chinese Market Business WireJune 24, 2019, 7:11 pmJune 24, 2019 
Divvy and TripActions Partner to Simplify Travel for Divvy CustomersDivvy, the modern payment and expense management platform for business, and TripActions, the fastest-growing business travel platform trusted by the world’s most innovative companies, announced the launch of Divvy Travel powered by TripActions. Divvy Travel will bring a comprehensive travel and expense management experience to Divvy customers by leveraging Divvy’s expense management platform and TripActions’ corporate travel technology and service experience.Divvy Travel, supported by TripActions, will help businesses stress less and spend smarter on travel. This partnership will offer all Divvy customers access to an unrivaled combined travel and expense management experience while enabling easy tracking of travel expenses and giving companies real-time insights into spending.CBO and Co-Founder Alex Bean of Divvy said, “We entered into a fruitful relationship last year when we partnered with TripActions, and now we’re ecstatic about launching Divvy Travel together. Business travel is a huge part of so many of our customers’ finances, so our partnership makes perfect sense. More specifically, Divvy Travel will give customers a one-stop business travel experience within the Divvy platform.”Marketing Technology News: Report: Native Email Security Systems Open Doors to VulnerabilitiesWith the addition of TripActions’ industry-leading technology and support, Divvy customers will be able to book and manage business travel simply and quickly. This will save customers time, money, and eliminate many of the hassles typically associated with business travel. With Divvy Travel, companies will enjoy an automated and integrated expense process that tracks travel spending in real-time, reports on budgets at the point of purchase, and keeps money more secure with virtual cards.“Having used TripActions for a couple of months, we’ve experienced an intuitive interface and excellent customer service. And having used Divvy for a few months longer than TripActions, equally intuitive with its smart card services and excellent customer service, we’re excited that they are collaborating to create an even more efficient experience for the user. Since we launched Divvy and TripActions, both companies have completely transformed the way our team manages travel and spend as related to travel and more,” says Nicole Evans, Executive Assistant from Magleby Construction. “Given we’re a high-growth business, having this level of efficiency will be invaluable.”Marketing Technology News: Liferay Announces New Content, Commerce and Headless Capabilities to Drive Personalization at Scaleprn“Conducting business in person is a powerful thing, and the process of business travel, from the time you book a trip to the time you’re reimbursed for it, has traditionally been a cumbersome and real burden for travelers and finance teams alike,” said Rich Liu, Chief Revenue Officer at TripActions. “Divvy has been a significant partner in helping us streamline this once clunky process to create one that is user-first, and ultimately helps organizations gain more visibility and efficiency.”Marketing Technology News: E-discovery and Information Governance Expert Rena Verma Joins FTI Consulting Divvy Expands Offering by Launching Business Travel Platform Powered by TripActions PRNewswireJune 6, 2019, 1:50 pmJune 6, 2019 Alex BeanDivvyDivvy Travelexpense management platformMarketing TechnologyNewsTripActions Previous ArticleFormstack Announces Key Hires Joan Lavis, Rob Wiley and Nathan SinsabaughNext ArticleMarTech Interview with Khris Thayer, CEO and Founder at OPTIZMO
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a swipe at his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan over his claim that Indo-Pak peace talks will have a better chance if the BJP wins in Lok Sabha polls, saying it was an attempt by the former cricketer to influence the elections in India with his reverse swing.Modi also noted that Khan had used a slogan targeting him during Pakistan elections. “We should not forget that Imran Khan was a cricketer and his recent statement was an attempt at reverse swing to influence Indian elections. However, Indians know how to hit a ‘helicopter shot’ on a reverse swinging delivery,” the top BJP leader told The Times of India in an interview published on Wednesday.”We should also remember how he used Modi’s name during Pakistan elections. His slogan was: ‘Modi ka jo yaar hai, woh gaddar hai woh gaddar hai’,” the prime minister added.The Congress had used Khan’s comments to corner the BJP, which has often hurled pro-Pakistan barbs at its rivals.In the interview, Modi also expressed confidence that the BJP will win more seats than before, saying he is seeing “unprecedented” support for the party and that the first phase of polling on April 11 has reinforced his confidence.Modi had led the BJP to its first ever majority in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 winning 282 of the total 543 seats.To a question about criticism that that the BJP has resorted to “hyper-nationalism” instead of focusing on real issues in its campaign, he asserted that a large part of speeches is dedicated to the issues of development but they never make headlines.He then asked if decades of terrorism and deaths of soldiers cannot be considered as real issues.Attacking his rivals like the Congress, Modi said, “Those who did absolutely nothing on the critical issue of national security are now having problems when India’s national security doctrine has seen a strategic shift.”Hitting back at the opposition’s charge of politicisation of armed forces, he said, “Politicisation of the Army happened when they created a fake news of revolt by the Army to gain sympathy. It happened when credit for victory in the 1971 war was given to Indira ji.”Asserting that patriotism is not a “disease”, he said as hyper-secularism was invented to strike at the root of India’s culture and ethos, similarly the terminology of hyper-nationalism has been invented to portray ‘deshbhakti’ (patriotism) in poor light.With political experts wondering if the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be able to repeat its feat of 2014 elections, when it had won 71 of the state’s 80 seats with its ally winning two more, he said the state will vote for those who put India first not those who put family first.The uniting factor for the SP-BSP grand alliance in the state is personal survival and personal interest, he alleged, and asserted that the state is witnessing double-engine growth with central and state governments working in tandem to transform lives.UP will vote for vision not division, he said.Attacking his rivals, Modi said parties like the Congress want to take India back to the era of “corruption and loot”.There is such a mood against the Congress that the party by its own admission is fighting on the lowest number of seats, he said.Asked about the opposition’s attack on his government over the escape of economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, he said it should not be forgotten that his dispensation got corruption accused like Christian Michel, Rajiv Saxena and Deepak Talwar back.”I will like to again state that anyone who has looted the nation will not be spared,” he added. BJPImran KhanLok Sabha elections 2019Narendra Modi First Published: April 17, 2019, 5:06 PM IST
Will Detroit be the ultimate test for Argo A.I.’s self-driving Ford? This ’60s Ford Mustang EV has Tesla-like specs and a Rolls-Royce-like price Electric truck maker Rivian scores $500 million investment from Ford GM wants to make an electric pickup, but can it beat its rivals to the punch? Ford says it puts 250 bottles’ worth of recycled plastic in the average new car Editors’ Recommendations Volkswagen and Ford previously established an alliance focused on commercial vehicles, but the two automakers will also work together on electric cars, according to a new report. Following reports of an expanded partnership, Ford and VW confirmed that they will work together in these two areas of technology.The agreement will allow Ford to use Volkswagen’s MEB platform for electric cars. MEB will be the basis for a family of electric Volkswagens, starting with the I.D. 3 hatchback, and eventually encompassing models like a crossover based on the I.D. Crozz concept, as well as a reborn electric version of the classic Microbus. When it comes to electric cars, MEB is one of VW’s most valuable assets. Ford will launch an MEB-based vehicle in 2023, according to a press release from the automaker, but U.S. sales haven’t been confirmed.This is Ford’s second notable electric car partnership. The Detroit automaker recently announced a deal with startup Rivian. Ford will invest $500 million in Rivian, and use the startup’s “skateboard” platform to develop a future electric vehicle. Rivian’s platform was designed for a pickup truck and SUV, so it’s likely Ford will use it for similar purposes. This is a very different application from the smaller cars Volkswagen’s MEB platform was designed to underpin.In addition to the model co-developed with Rivian, Ford plans to launch an all-electric version of its bestselling F-150 pickup truck, and a “Mustang inspired” electric crossover. Access to Volkswagen’s MEB platform would give Ford an easy way to develop electric passenger cars to go with these more rugged vehicles, but Ford’s current disinterest in selling cars in North America could mean those models never reach our shores.The second major component of the agreement is a Volkswagen investment in Argo A.I., the autonomous-driving tech startup already backed by Ford. The German automaker will contribute $2.6 billion, including $1 billion in funding and the creation of a $1.6 billion company called Autonomous Intelligent Driving (AID). Staffed by veterans of VW’s in-house self-driving car development program, AID will function as Argo A.I.’s European arm. Volkswagen will also purchase $500 million in Argo A.I. shares from Ford over three years. Ford previously announced that it would invest $1 billion in Argo A.I. Both Ford and VW want to use Argo A.I.’s autonomous-driving tech in their future production cars.The Volkswagen and Ford partnership currently focuses on commercial vehicles. The two automakers previously said that Ford would develop medium-sized pickup trucks launching in 2022 for global markets. Ford will follow that with a large commercial van for Europe, while VW will develop a smaller van aimed at urban use.Updated on July 12, 2019: Added confirmation of VW’s investment in Argo A.I. and Ford’s use of the VW MEB platform.
Virgin Mobile USA has announced a new promotion that will give iPhone customers a year of wireless service for a single dollar if they transfer their number to the carrier. The promotion is only live for a limited amount of time, but includes unlimited talk, text and high-speed data for the duration of 12 months. New customers must transfer their number to the carrier’s Inner Circle plan to get the deal. The key perk here — the $1 annual service aside for a moment — is that you can bring your existing iPhone to the service rather than having to buy a model through the carrier. That makes this promotion effectively something like a very, very long trial of the service.Assuming you take the company up on its promotion, Virgin Mobile says that the average customer will save around $1200 over the course of two years if they stick with it for those full 24-months. Of course, the company is anticipating customers who sign up for the promotion sticking around for longer than just that first year.The plan assumes that your phone is compatible, though; ‘most’ iPhones starting at the 5s are eligible, though you’ll have to check your own handset on the carrier’s website. As well, those who sign up will need to order a SIM from the carrier. The SIM cards are being offered for free until September 29, at which point the price will increase to a hefty $25 USD.Once the promotion ends, Virgin Mobile explains that customers will be transitioned onto a plan priced at $50/month. Upgrading to a new iPhone, though, will get you an additional 6 months of unlimited service for $1. Buying a new iPhone through the carrier also brings the same $1/year deal. SOURCE: BusinessWire
Just in time for tax refund season arrives a new promo from MetroPCS: a free iPhone SE for anyone who switches over an eligible line and signs up for an eligible mobile plan. It’s a great deal if you’re looking for a new carrier and a new smartphone, but it’s not your only option. Starting this Friday, T-Mobile will kick off its own special promotion that will give certain customers a second smartphone for free. READ: iPhone SE Review – Classic RemixFor iOS lovers, MetroPCS is offering a $150 Instant rebate that gets carrier switchers a free 32GB iPhone SE. This promotion requires a new customer to switch over their wireless number, which itself needs to be eligible. In addition, that customer must sign up for an Unlimited LTE plan.For existing MetroPCS customers, MetroPCS is offering a $50 instant rebate if the customer adds a line to a current $60 Unlimited LTE plan. That rebate can go toward any smartphone the carrier offers, including budget-tier ones that would be free with the rebate (like the LG Aristo). If you’ve been a subscriber for more than three months, the $50 rebate can go to phones priced at least $79 even if you’re not an Unlimited LTE plan subscriber…but you’ll have to switch plans.Not interested in MetroPCS? You can stick with T-Mobile itself and take advantage of a BOGO deal on LG smartphones specifically. That BOGO deal will start on Friday, at which point someone can get a free second phone valued up to $850 when buying an LG G6 or an LG V30/V30+ with a T-Mobile Equipment Installment Plan. The second free phone will be of equal or lesser value to the model purchased.As with past T-Mobile BOGO deals, the free part of the deal comes in the form of a monthly bill credit, which means you’ll need to stick with the carrier long enough for the monthly credits to total the value of the phone.
On that list is a new sidebar, which will allow Gmail to integrate other Google services more readily. For example, the sidebar will be used to show Google Calendar, for easier scheduling, along with Google Keep, the company’s notes and task manager. Other new features are expected to include the ability to snooze emails, and Google Inbox-style automations that pull out relevant content such as order tracking numbers. Now, a new leak suggests the refreshed Gmail will also attempt to make email more secure. Screenshots shared with The Verge show a “Confidential Mode” which will control things like email expiry and limit what recipients of messages can do with them. It will also allow emails to be locked down.For instance, senders will be able to set a passcode, delivered by SMS, that must be entered before the email can be opened. An expiration date, meanwhile, will automatically delete the message after a certain preset length of time, such as a week. Recipients will be warned of that expiration date when they receive the message. AdChoices广告If that sounds a little too much, then simply being able to prevent people from forwarding, downloading, or copying a message – or its attachments – may be sufficient. The new Gmail will allow for that, too. Google’s email service isn’t the only one to support security features like these, and in most of the cases it’s not the first, either. However they’re more typically included in enterprise-focused software, such as the desktop version of Microsoft’s Outlook. Exposing them to regular email users is less common, though with Google pushing its service not only to the public but businesses as well, Gmail’s additions could make it more alluring for companies looking to jump ship with their email service. Gmail’s big update on the web won’t just be a visual and productivity treat, it’ll also apparently be a more secure one courtesy of a new Confidential Mode. The existence of the upcoming refresh was confirmed earlier this week, closely followed by a number of leaks about just what improvements it would include. Story TimelineGmail for web is about to get a redesignNew Gmail redesign: Your 3 optionsNew Gmail redesign: 3 reasons we’re excited
While getting struck by a vehicle can cause serious damage, the aftereffects can be nearly as bad for the person. When a vehicle is traveling at a decent speed, the person getting hit can often be sent flying in one direction or another. This can aggravate the injuries already sustained, as well as create new ones that will have to be treated. Google thinks the answer is to adhere the person to the front of the car, until it stops.That’s right, Google’s latest patent is for an adhesive coating that would be applied to the front of a car. Upon colliding with a person, they would be kept in place, rather than bouncing off onto the road. Here’s an excerpt from the patent description about how it should work. “Ideally, the adhesive coating on the front portion of the vehicle may be activated on contact and will be able to adhere to the pedestrian nearly instantaneously.” Google has been hard at work on their self-driving cars, but people still have a lot of questions about them. Some of the biggest questions revolve around what happens when one of the cars inevitably hits a pedestrian. Even the best driver (or computer driver) can’t always avoid hitting someone, if they walk or run out in front of a car. Knowing this, Google has been hard at work trying to find ways to help mitigate the damage to someone struck by one of their cars. And their latest patent shows a bizarre method for doing it. Story TimelineThe must-read news from Google I/O 2016Google Home versus Amazon Echo: Alexa’s Prize FightGoogle lets loose beta-quality Android N PreviewFive ‘OK Google’ commands that’ll make your life easierAllo and Duo are in Google Play for Android now (sort of)
The patent further describes a thin “egg shell” layer that would go on top of the adhesive coating, which would prevent any other objects such as debris from becoming stuck to the front of your car. Once something large enough, such as a person connects with the layer, it would instantly break, allowing the person to become stuck to the car. You’d no doubt have to somehow replace the layer on your car, likely at a special shop.Of course, the big benefit to this is that in the event that a pedestrian is struck, they don’t have to wait around for emergency medical services. You could just drive them straight to your hospital, as long as the adhesive layer held on long enough. (No, you shouldn’t actually do this, in case that wasn’t obvious.)Source: USPTO
StartRocket has released a concept video demonstrating the product it envisions: a series of CubeSats equipped with lights that would enable them to glow like bright stars. Called the Orbital Display, the startup says these CubeSats could be arranged to display company logos as if they were star constellations in the night sky, expanding corporate advertising into a new space…literally. A Russian startup called StartRocket is working on a terrible idea: space billboards that glow from low Earth orbit. The company hopes to one day offer these space billboards to corporate customers, enabling them to display their logo as a giant glowing banner across the night sky. The company hopes to launch its product by 2020 with the first displays going live in 2021. The CubeSats would operate in low Earth orbit, where they’d display the logos for six minutes at a time. It’s a terrible idea, of course, one that would face a large number of issues, not the least of which being regulations that would need to be worked around.StartRocket isn’t the first company to envision deploying bright lights in the night sky. Back in October, a Chinese company called the Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co. revealed plans to launch an artificial moon that would essentially function as a giant night light to illuminate areas on Earth.It’s doubtful that such plans will actually proceed, and certainly not within StartRocket’s narrow time frame. The concept comes at a time when the effects of light pollution have increasingly been the subject of studies, finding disruption to both wildlife and human health. A number of countries have designated so-called Dark Sky Reserves as a result, which are areas of land free from light pollution.
Story TimelineSpaceX will lay off 10% of workers in bid to get ‘leaner’ for projectsSpaceX Dragon cargo ship departs ISS packing scientific cargoThe Office just brought Steve Carell to Netflix for a new show: Space Force
Romney Vow To Restore Medicare Funding Raises Tough Fiscal Issues; GOP Platform Adds Revamping Of Medicare In the short term, the Republican presidential candidate’s promise to stop the Medicare cuts included in the health law would increase beneficiaries’ costs. Meanwhile, the GOP draft platform embraces the Medicare changes advanced as part of Paul Ryan’s House budget plan.The New York Times: Patients Would Pay More If Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts SayMitt Romney’s promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama “robbed” from Medicare has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his House budgets. … While Republicans have raised legitimate questions about the long-term feasibility of the reimbursement cuts, analysts say, to restore them in the short term would immediately add hundreds of dollars a year to out-of-pocket Medicare expenses for beneficiaries(Calmes, 8/21).Politico: Draft Republican Platform Embraces Ryan Medicare IdeasThe platform language (on Medicare) isn’t a total surprise … (but) it gives the Republican Party one more level of commitment to the controversial idea of turning Medicare into a premium-support program, in which seniors would get subsidies to buy private health insurance. And while Romney’s Medicare plan doesn’t call for raising the retirement age, Ryan’s most recent budget, as passed by the House, would gradually start to increase the retirement age starting in 2023 to match Social Security’s retirement age (Hohmann, 8/21).The New York Times’ The Caucus: Ryan Takes To Pennsylvania To Push Medicare MessageRepresentative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin customized from his menu of attacks on President Obama to fit a full day of campaigning in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, putting state-specific numbers on his assertion that current Medicare beneficiaries will suffer benefit cuts under the 2010 health care law. “In Pennsylvania, 38 percent of Pennsylvania seniors choose to get their Medicare from a plan called Medicare Advantage,” Mr. Ryan said here. “Forty-seven percent of them are going to lose it under Obamacare, according to Medicare, by 2017” (Gabriel, 8/21).CNN Money: Medicare: Private Insurers Not Always CheaperThe Republicans’ proposal to increase the role of private insurers in Medicare has sparked a debate as to whether it can actually lower the cost of care. Many experts say Medicare Advantage hasn’t produced the expected savings. Proponents of private plans, however, say that increasing competition will drive down costs even more. Medicare was opened up to the private market in the 1970s with the idea that insurers could provide benefits more efficiently and cheaply. Enrollment didn’t really start taking off until 2006 though. That’s when the Medicare prescription drug plan was rolled out (Luhby, 8/22). This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Today’s headlines headlines include reports about a study that details accelerating health care spending. Kaiser Health News: Boom In Trauma Centers Can Help Save Lives, But At What Price?Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: “When Orange Park Medical Center won preliminary state approval in November 2011 to open the first new trauma center in northeast Florida in almost 30 years, executives said the decision would save lives. But that’s not how its competitor 18 miles away saw the move by Orange Park Medical and its parent, HCA Holdings, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain” (Galewitz, 9/24). Read the story.Kaiser Health News: Insuring Your Health: Health Plan Open Season Brings Rising Premiums And More Expensive Dependent CoverageIn her latest Kaiser Health News’ consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: “The fall health insurance open enrollment season is when many people consider changes to their health coverage. This year, premiums will rise, although perhaps not as much as last year, and dependent coverage may be noticeably more expensive than in the past. Comparing plans may be easier, though, thanks to new coverage summaries that group health plans and insurers must provide” (Andrews, 9/24). Read the column.Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Higher Prices By Providers Drove 2011 Increases, Study Finds; Study Links Longer Office Hours, Lower Health Care CostsNow on Kaiser Health News’ blog, Julie Appleby writes about a study detailing higher hospital and provider costs: “Spending on medical care for Americans with job-based insurance rose 4.6 percent last year, driven mainly by higher prices charged by hospitals and other medical providers, a report out today says. The growth came despite a sluggish economy which some economists thought would translate into more modest spending growth. Still, last year’s per enrollee increase ranks below the 5.8 percent increase in 2009, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonpartisan research group funded by insurers” (Appleby, 9/24).Also on the blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni reports on a study linking longer doctor office hours with lower costs: “After primary care doctors close their doors on weekends and evenings, patients turn to urgent care facilities, pharmacy ‘minute clinics,’ and emergency rooms to get the care they need. In doing so, they may also be contributing to the nation’s skyrocketing health system costs” (Kulkarni, 9/24). Check out what else is on the blog.Los Angeles Times: Presidential Debate Questions Sync Up With Voter ConcernsA new Pew Research Center polling analysis, released Monday, finds that the economy is voters’ dominant concern in this fall’s presidential election. An overwhelming proportion 87% said the economy would be “very important” to their vote (the same percentage as in the 2008 presidential contest). The jobs issue was a close second. … Other topics — healthcare and the size and scope of government — will occupy most of the remainder of the initial debate, along with questions about governing. … On healthcare, a matter of greater importance for women than for men, recent polling by the Pew Center found that Obama holds an advantage over Romney when voters were asked which candidate would do a better job of dealing with the issue. The same goes for Medicare, which ranked sixth in importance for swing voters (West, 9/24).NPR: Romney Medicaid Remarks Raise EyebrowsIt’s not so much what Mitt Romney said about whether the government should guarantee people health care in his interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday that has health care policy types buzzing. It’s how that compares to what he has said before (Rovner, 9/25).The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: Romney Rebuke On Emergency Care Draws RebukeMitt Romney’s comments in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview Sunday that emergency rooms provide care to people who don’t have insurance drew a rebuke from a group representing emergency-room doctors and a jab from the Obama campaign. But the question and answer weren’t so clear (Radnofsky, 9/24).The Associated Press/Washington Post: Report: Double-Digit Premium Hikes Seen In 7 of 10 Top Medicare Prescription Drug PlansSeniors enrolled in seven of the 10 most popular Medicare prescription drug plans will be hit with double-digit premium hikes next year if they don’t shop for a better deal, says a private firm that analyzes the highly competitive market. The report Monday by Avalere Health is a reality check on the Obama’s administration’s upbeat pronouncements. Back in August, officials had announced that the average premium for basic prescription drug coverage will stay the same in 2013, at $30 a month (9/25).The Washington Post: Health Insurance Costs AccelerateU.S. spending on health insurance grew at an accelerated rate in 2011, breaking a two-year trend of smaller cost increases. The culprit, a new study suggests, is not Americans seeking more treatment but rather rapid growth in the price of medical care. Spending for private health insurance surged by 4.6 percent in 2011, according to a report from the Health Care Cost Institute. That growth rate is faster than the rest of the economy and higher than the previous year, which had 3.8 percent growth (Kliff, 9/25).Politico: Medicare Advantage Bonuses Boost Plan QualityThe Obama administration will announce later this week that the quality of private Medicare plans is on the rise, thanks to an $8 billion demonstration project that pays them bonuses for good performance. And Republicans say that same project is covering up cuts to the popular program under the federal health care law (Norman, 9/25).The Wall Street Journal: Workers Eye ‘Consumer-Directed’ Plans In Bid To Cut Health CostsIt soon will be time for the autumn ritual of open enrollment, as people who get insurance through their employers sign up for next year’s coverage. But this season, which kicks off next week, also will mark a seminal shift—with more workers than ever weighing whether a “consumer-directed” health plan might pay off for them (Marte, 9/24).USA Today: Prescription-Drug Use Drops Among Young PeoplePrescription-drug abuse in the USA declined last year to the lowest rate since 2002 amid federal and state crackdowns on drug-seeking patients and over-prescribing doctors (Leger, 9/25).The Associated Press/Wall Street Journal: NY A Busy Battleground Of Competitive House RacesNew York state’s congressional elections are testing the staying power of Republicans who rode a tea party wave to a House majority two years ago — as well as the resilience of Democrats striving to regain control. … The big money involved in the contests reveals the GOP’s intent on preserving its foothold in the heavily Democratic state. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it had reserved $5.25 million for TV time in New York, more than half to defend three freshmen. The rest is going to three districts held by Democrats, including the Buffalo area seat won by Kathy Hochul in a special election upset last year. … Hochul made national headlines by pioneering the strategy of casting the race as a referendum on the GOP plan to transform Medicare, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, now the party’s vice presidential candidate (9/25).NPR: Todd Akin Bets He Still Has A ChanceRepublicans from presidential nominee Mitt Romney on down have called for Akin to stand down, believing that his infamous comments about “legitimate rape” have disqualified him as a candidate (Greenblatt, 9/24).Los Angeles Times: California’s State Hospitals Mostly Released From U.S. OversightA U.S. District Court judge Monday released the state’s mental hospitals from federal oversight on all but one issue — a significant step in ending a costly six-year reform effort. The extensive court-supervised changes were imposed on four hospitals in 2006 as part of a settlement to a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. The department alleged that the state was violating patients’ civil rights by heavily drugging and improperly restraining them and failing to provide appropriate treatment (Kim and Romney, 9/25). Check out all of Kaiser Health News’ e-mail options including First Edition and Breaking News alerts on our Subscriptions page. First Edition: September 25, 2012 This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.