We’ve put together some of our best practices when unboxing that shiny new Mac you may have spoiled yourself with or received as a gift from a friend, family member, or work this holiday season. Starting with a fresh machine is, hands down, the best way to kick off a productive year. Here’s the […]
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In my opinion, one of the most despicable types of computer criminals today is the phisher. As Wikipedia explains: “Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication… Phishing is typically carried […]
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Apple has continued its journey into the world of artificial intelligence through the $200 million acquisition of machine learning start-up Turi, according to Geekwire.
The deal has not been explicitly confirmed by the team at Apple, though it does back up claims from CEO Tim Cook the company is extending its footprint into the growing sub-sector. Although Apple has not been the most prominent in the industry in terms of grabbing headlines, Google and IBM have been particularly vocal, a number of its products are built on the basic principles of artificial intelligence. Siri is a prime example though expanding its potential through the implementation of more advanced technologies offers the potential to improve the user experience.
Turi offers tools which enable developers to embed machine learning into applications, which automatically scale and tune. Use cases for the technology include product recommendations, sentiment analysis, churn prediction and lead scoring for trial customers.
The long-term plan for the business is not clear for the moment. Whether the tools will be made available for the Apple developer community, or remain in-house for the tech giant, or even if the company will remain in Seattle, are unknown as the acquisition still remains officially unconfirmed.
“These experiences become more powerful and intuitive as we continue our long history of enriching our products through advanced artificial intelligence,” said Cook on the company’s earnings call last month. “We have focused our AI efforts on the features that best enhance the customer experience.”
During the briefing, Cook highlighted the potential for Siri to not only understand words from the user, but also identify the sentiment. The acquisition of Turi could be a link between a relatively simplistic function currently, to one which can more effectively predict what the consumer wants and better refine search results.
“We’re also using machine learning in many other ways across our products and services, including recommending songs, apps, and news,” said Cook. “Machine learning is improving facial and image recognition in photos, predicting word choice while typing in messages and mail, and providing context awareness in maps for better directions.
“Deep learning within our products even enables them to recognize usage patterns and improve their own battery life. And most importantly, we deliver these intelligent services while protecting users’ privacy. Most of the AI processing takes place on the device rather than being sent to the cloud.”
Although less vocal than other industry players Apple has been expanding its capabilities through various acquisitions. Since the turn of 2015 the company has acquired 15 organizations, not including Turi for the moment, which does contain a number of machine learning competences. VocalIQ, a UK speech tech firm, and Perceptio, an image recognition company, were both bought in September last year, as well as facial recognition business Emotient in January.
The sluggish smartphone market has been causing challenges for manufacturers, driving the need to provide more differentiation. Hardware has provided little opportunity for brands to differentiate products and operating systems offer even less variance, meaning manufacturers have had to invest more in software solutions. Siri is already one of the more recognizable personal assistant features on the market, and the inclusion of an in-phone AI offering could bring about much needed differentiation.
Meet Sam Wood. Sam is a real power-user of Parallels Desktop for Mac; it is an essential part of his workflow as an organizer of a Taekwon-Do competition and as a software developer. Today, he would like to share its virtues and benefits with you. Sam is one of the organizers of a famous Taekwon-Do competition […]
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Research firm IDC says shipments of the Apple Watch have dropped by 55% resulting in the first year-on-year quarterly shipment decline for the smart watch sector, reports Telecoms.com.
Preliminary data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker estimates vendors shipped 3.5 million units, down from 5.1 million in the same period 2015. Apple, which dominates the smart watch market share, saw its shipments decrease from 3.6 million in Q2 2015 to 1.6 million this year. While it is a substantial drop, it does also demonstrate Apple’s strangle hold on the market. All other vendors in the top five increased shipments, however Apple still controls 47% market share.
“Consumers have held off on smart watch purchases since early 2016 in anticipation of a hardware refresh, and improvements in WatchOS are not expected until later this year, effectively stalling existing Apple Watch sales,” said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers. “Apple still maintains a significant lead in the market and unfortunately a decline for Apple leads to a decline in the entire market. Every vendor faces similar challenges related to fashion and functionality, and though we expect improvements next year, growth in the remainder of 2016 will likely be muted.”
A recent report from Ericsson indicating the wearables market is not performing in-line with consumer expectations, as general consensus is the technology is not advanced enough to date. A common cause of dissatisfaction is customers feel tethered to their smartphone, as the wearable device does not have standalone features. Respondents of the survey also highlighted the price was a barrier to entry, though this may be down to the fact smart watches cannot currently be used as a standalone device. Currently, it is an add-on.
“What will bear close observation is how the smart watch market evolves from here,” said Llamas. “Continued platform development, cellular connectivity, and an increasing number of applications all point to a smartwatch market that will be constantly changing. These will appeal to a broader market, ultimately leading to a growing market.”
This is not the first warning sign for the smart watch subsector, as Strategy Analytics recently released a forecast which estimated shipments would decline by 12% over the course of 2016. There has been a growing consensus shipments of the Apple Watch may have peaked following a blockbuster launch in Q2 last year, though the research from IDC could imply the decline is moving faster than previously anticipated. IDC also stated it does not expect the market return to growth in 2017.
Although smart watches have not penetrated the mainstream market currently, what could give the devices a lift is the entry of traditional watch brands. Casio, Fossil, and Tag Heuer have launched their own models, though the brand credibility associated with these brands could give the segment a much needed boost.
| Top Five Smartwatch Vendors, Shipments, Market Share and Year-Over-Year Growth, 2Q 2016 (Units in Millions) | |||||
| Vendor | 2Q16 Unit
Shipments |
2Q16 Market
Share |
2Q15 Unit
Shipments |
2Q15 Market
Share |
Year-Over-
Year Growth |
|
1.6 | 47% | 3.6 | 72% | -55% |
|
0.6 | 16% | 0.4 | 7% | 51% |
|
0.3 | 9% | 0.2 | 3% | 75% |
|
0.3 | 8% | 0.2 | 4% | 26% |
|
0.1 | 4% | 0.1 | 2% | 25% |
| Others | 0.6 | 16% | 0.6 | 11% | -1% |
| Total | 3.5 | 100% | 5.1 | 100% | -32% |
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, July 21, 2016 | |||||
Apple has restored services to customers around the world after many of its cloud-based offerings and other services faced outages of up to seven hours.
The outages, which were reported from users mainly in North America, are yet to be explained by the company but impacted numerous products including the App Store, iCloud, Apple TV, photos and iMovies as well as a host of others.
The issues would have appeared to have begun at around 9pm (GMT) June 2, and all services were resumed by 4:55am (GMT). Apple spokespersons have been directing journalists to the company’s support page where it posted insightful comments such as “Users experienced a problem with the service above” and “Users may have experienced slower than usual performance when using iCloud Drive, Backup, iCloud Notes, iWork for iCloud and Photos. Users may have experienced slowness with multiple services at iCloud.com”.
The services aspect of the Apple business has been reporting healthy numbers in recent months, seemingly offsetting the drop in iPhone sales. During its Q2 earnings call the company ended its long run of constant year-over-year revenue growth, as it reported a decline for the first time in 13 years, according to Telecoms.com. iPhone shipments were down 16% and Mac sales also went down from $5.61 billion to $5.1 billion, however its services business increased by 20% to almost $6 billion.
Promise Technologies has announced Apple will exclusively sell its Apollo ‘personal cloud’ appliances instore from June 7.
The product itself is billed by Promise as a safer way to share and save photos, videos and files, which can be uploaded from anywhere in the world through the Apollo Cloud App which are then stored on a physical device which is owned by the customer. While the device does allow customers to utilize the internet to upload files and data, the offering is seemingly very similar to an external hard drive.
“Promise has a relentless commitment to innovating new solutions that improve how we live and work,” said HC Chang, GM of Promise Technology APAC. “Apollo is our latest innovation, however, it is just the beginning as we are looking at building a whole new line of solutions for the IoT market. We are looking forward to showcasing Apollo to the many users passionate about technology and we are excited to hear their innovative ideas on what the next generation of Apollo should offer.”
The news was made public by the Promise Technologies team at Computex in Taiwan, and to-date there has been no comment from Apple.
Apple has been making efforts in recent months to bolster its position in the cloud marketplace, and this latest effort would appear to be a move towards the consumer market. The company does already play a role within the consumer world; iCloud is a similar offering to Dropbox; though the Promise technology would appear to an alternative for the security conscious customers. In the enterprise world, the company has recently announced a partnership with SAP, to develop iOS apps based on the SAP HANA cloud platform, as well as entering the e-Health market with the launch of CareKit, an open-source software framework.
The introduction of products geared towards the consumer market is not a new move for the industry, as there are already a number of tech giants fighting for market share. Statista estimates 1.74 billion people will be using personal cloud storage worldwide by 2017, with this number increasing to 2.04 billion in 2019.
Dropbox could generally be considered the market leader, announcing it had exceeded 500 million users in March, with Google’s Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, also offering similar services. The Promise solution would appear to be a private-cloud-twist for consumers, with increased security claims as well as a customer’s maintaining oversight of their own data, though it is ultimately a ‘on premise’ product, as the company makes no mention of cloud back-up storage. As mentioned before, it would appear to be very similar to an external hard drive, with the added benefits of internet-enabled uploading features.
Santander has claimed it is now the first UK bank to use Blockchain technologies transfer live international payments between £10 and £10,000 24 hours a day.
The implementation is currently being rolled out as a staff pilot, though the team have not announced when it will be available for customers to use. Blockchain technologies are beginning to gain more traction in the cloud world, as it can enable faster and more accurate transfer of data and value.
“The need for finance has evolved from providing a physical Pound in your pocket or card in your purse, where you pay at a till, to being seamlessly integrated into a new, always on, connected lifestyle,” said Sigga Sigurdardottir, Head of Customer and Innovation at Santander.
“At Santander we work hard to ensure our banking is simple, personal and fair and believe new Blockchain technology will play a transformational role in the way we achieve our goals and better serve our customers, adding value by creating more choice and convenience.”
The new app connects to Apple Pay, where users can confirm payments using Touch ID. The Blockchain technology underpinning the app is provided by Ripple, which has been the recipient of investment through Santander Innoventures, the company’s global corporate venture capital fund, focused on early stage FinTech investments.
“As an early adopter and pioneer in the banking industry, Santander is the first bank in the world to transfer real funds externally. In doing so, they are creating a new, exemplary standard of service,” said Chris Larsen, CEO at Ripple.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (Left) and SAP CEO Bill McDermott (Right)
Mobile device giant Apple has announced a new partnership with enterprise software vendor SAP to develop iOS apps based on the SAP HANA cloud platform, reports Telecoms.com.
This marks the latest move by Apple to strengthen its position in the enterprise sector, following a similar partnership with IBM in 2014, and other with Cisco last year. The most recent iPad launch was focused squarely at enterprise and with shipments of both iPhones and iPads having apparently peaked, Apple will be hoping an enterprise push will yield dividends.
The SAP partnership is focused on the development of native enterprise apps for iOS that support SAP’s cloud platform HANA. There will also be a dedicated SDK and training academy to assist in the development effort and a version of the SAP Fiori UX platform for iOS.
“This partnership will transform how iPhone and iPad are used in enterprise by bringing together the innovation and security of iOS with SAP’s deep expertise in business software,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
“As the leader in enterprise software and with 76% of business transactions touching an SAP system, SAP is the ideal partner to help us truly transform how businesses around the world are run on iPhone and iPad. Through the new SDK, we’re empowering SAP’s more than 2.5 million developers to build powerful native apps that fully leverage SAP HANA Cloud Platform and tap into the incredible capabilities that only iOS devices can deliver.”
“We’re proud to take this special partnership between Apple and SAP to a ground-breaking new place,” said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP. “In giving people an agile and intuitive business experience, we empower them to know more, care more and do more.
“By combining the powerful capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP S/4HANA, together with iOS, the leading and most secure mobile platform for enterprise, we will help deliver live data to people wherever and whenever they choose to work. Apple and SAP share a commitment to shaping the future, helping the world run better and improving people’s lives.”
Tablet shipment numbers are not much lower than PCs these days but the default enterprise device remains the laptop. For mainly desk-based workers this will probably remain the case indefinitely but Apple will be keen to entrench and expand its foothold in enterprise. The BYOD (bring your own device) era that accompanied the smartphone boom is also a great opportunity for Apple in enterprise, as is the work-provided opportunity created by the decline of Blackberry.
Apple has announced the launch of CareKit, an open-source software framework which enables its consumers and doctors to proactively keep track of their health through monitoring symptoms and medications in real-time.
The open-source framework follows the launch of ResearchKit last year and enables consumers to us data collected from various sources to understand their health. The app also enables consumers to record feedback on how well they are feeling or recovering from a procedure which can be shared with family members and their doctor remotely.
“We’re thrilled with the profound impact ResearchKit has already had on the pace and scale of conducting medical research, and have realised that many of the same principles could help with individual care,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO. “We believe that giving individuals the tools to understand what is happening with their health is incredibly powerful, and apps designed using CareKit make this a reality by empowering people to take a more active role in their care.”
From next month, the developer community will be able to build their own apps through the open-source software, however Apple have designed four modules in the first instance. Care Card is a to-do list reminding consumers to take medication or perform certain exercises, which can be tracked through various Apple devices. The Symptoms and Measurement Tracker enables consumers to record their symptoms and progress. The Insight Dashboard compares the symptoms to the data taken from the Care Card to ensure that treatment is effective, and the Connect module shares all information with the person’s doctor.
The concept of CareKit is one of the few data analytics use cases available to the consumer market, though the open-source framework will offer opportunities for developers. While the framework is not available for the wider community currently, Apple has been working with a number of developers to demonstrate the use case of the framework. One example, Glow Nature, is an app incorporating the CareKit modules to offer advice to women to guide them through a healthier pregnancy.
The launch of CareKit follows healthy adoption of ResearchKit, a similar open-source framework designed for medical researchers. ResearchKit enables doctors, scientists and other researchers to gather data from participants anywhere in the world using iPhone apps. While ResearchKit enables researchers to more accurately gather data and further their research, CareKit provides these organizations an alternative means to communicate with the mass audience.
“With ResearchKit, we quickly realised the power of mobile apps for running inexpensive, high-quality clinical studies with unprecedented reach,” said Ray Dorsey, Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Centre. “We hope that CareKit will help us close the gap between our research findings and how we care for our Parkinson’s patients day-to-day. It’s opening up a whole new opportunity for the democratisation of research and medicine.”