Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
DeepMind has unveiled a new neural network that opens the door for computing systems to (eventually) intuitively understand the relationships between objects or things in a human-like manner. The Alphabet subsidiary has potentially opened the door for relational reasoning, the intuitive understanding that has so-far been off-limits for machines. The new approach lets DeepMind ask the system complex questions that can’t be answered using the current processes, such as “’what size is the cylinder that is left of the brown metal thing that is left of the big sphere.” Achieving a 95.5% success rate, DeepMind posted results that it says are slightly more accurate than humans – when it comes to understanding the relationships between physical objects and their states.…
The US Senate will likely appoint Jessica Rosenworcel as a Democrat FCC Commissioner now that President Trump has nominated her, but don’t believe this will affect the balance of power at the FCC. A new Republican nomination is likely to be Brendan Carr, a Republican who is currently general counsel at the FCC. There is also the fact that the second Democrat is up for re-election imminently, and so Chairman Ajit Pai will have his majority of 3 to 2 to push through his neutering rules for Net Neutrality. Rosenworcel’s term ended late last year and the Senate at the time refused to confirm her appointment, until Trump made the recent nomination. Video analytics company Conviva has announced a funding…
The US’s linear TV ad market will likely suffer a recession in 2017, according to Us finance analysts who follow the media sector. Michael Nathanson, analyst for MoffetNathanson, this week lowered his projections for TV ad revenue growth in 2017, saying that the 2017 TV upfronts lacked the urgency of last year’s market. Nathanson predicts TV ad revenue growth will drop 4% in 2017, a bit more than the 3.5% dip he predicted earlier this year. The decline in growth can be attributed to a number of trends: shrinking linear TV audiences and demand from consumers for lighter ad loads being two important ones. The rising tide against ad loads and in favor of subscription, ad-free services isn’t helping TV…
Technicolor has just jumped into bed with Nokia to collaborate on the creation of future VR content, as the Finnish vendor makes another push towards not just being a major supplier of VR tools, but also in its efforts to force VR itself into the mainstream. Despite some flattering forecasts doing the rounds, we think that prizing VR out from its niche use cases presents some significant barriers – a task which will require some major technological leaps over the next ten years or so. Technicolor is bringing its Experience Center to Nokia’s VR party, a project where artists and scientists in gaming, animation, traditional media and technology industries can come together to explore ideas in immersive experiences. The first…
Streaming specialist Wowza has published a handful of results from a survey that focuses on the combination of interactive elements within streaming video, such as comments or emojis in a live feed, finding that 93% of respondents are concerned with syncing video with these additional data elements. This is not a particularly mind boggling statistic, considering data overload is a pretty major concern for any company in the business of streaming video, but Wowza has some sizeable customers that might just be worth listening to. Wowza surveyed over 700 companies spanning operators, service providers, app developers and platform providers to gain some insights into these emerging viewing experiences where the video itself is no longer the sole focus – a…
The newest standard in the US broadcast TV sector is ATSC 3.0, which promises to bring the broadcasters into the mobile age. The technology is still making its way past the regulator, the FCC, but it is already too little, too siloed and too late to make a significant impact. ATSC 3.0 could begin being deployed by early next year. Broadcasters are eager for the upgrade – it promises to transform over-the-air TV by delivering broadcast content through an IP backbone that will enable local stations to improve emergency alerting, deliver UHD content, offer video-on-demand and improve advertising. Local station groups like Sinclair Broadcast Group have placed a lot of hope in ATSC 3.0 as a bridge to the future…
Cassia Networks has announced a partnership with GE Digital, targeting Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications with its long range Bluetooth routers, which can achieve ranges of over 300 meters. If the company succeeds in its mission, it will establish an alternative to current lower power wide area networks (LPWANs) – the LPLAN (low power local area network). Cassia argues that Bluetooth can be far cheaper, and that it has already has a huge market and developer presence. The LPLAN idea, especially if supported by a giant like GE, potentially pushes Bluetooth – usually firmly confined to personal area network distances – into a range of new use cases, especially in the Industrial IoT. Here, the GE deal could open up a…
In every area of the network, the mobile operators are making it clear that they want vendor lock-ins to end. From open sourcing their own software (AT&T) to demonstrating multivendor virtualized networks (NTT Docomo), they are issuing a powerful message to suppliers, that they need to work together to support true interworking, not the halfway house of so-called standards like CPRI. Vodafone is doing its bit in the area of NB-IoT, talking up its recent interoperability tests even while reports swirl that equipment from different vendors is not fully compatible. Vodafone has missed the deadline in some countries for deploying the low power WAN technology – which it has been heavily instrumental in promoting – and interoperability was reported to…
Ericsson and Nokia are united on one thing, and that is Europe’s failure to take a lead on 5G, a view which is supported by operators too. In a joint statement, six operator and technology associations criticized European Union lawmakers for a “timid approach that will do little to improve Europe’s chances of success” and demanded a new regulatory environment with 5G investment and innovation at its heart. The signatories were: COCIR (European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT industry) Cable Europe Developers Alliance DigitalEurope ETNO – (European Telecommunications Network Operators Association) GSMA Europe Meanwhile, Nokia’s CTO, Hossein Moiin, said European operators were already lagging behind their peers in Asia and the US in 5G investment. He…
Facebook’s Telecom Infrastructure Project (TIP) is highly disruptive to the established telco network supply chain, especially in the RAN, which has proved resistant for so long to open source or even transparent technology licensing. Whether or not TIP itself creates a commercially successful new-look industry around its open source, commoditized platforms, the mobile landscape will be reshaped. That was made clear last week when Orange announced investments in four start-ups under its new Telecom Track program, which was set up in partnership with Facebook TIP. All of these innovators, introduced at a special event in Paris, are focused on new and disruptive ways to deploy a telecoms network, though there may be battles ahead over the licensing model for their…
The mobile industry may be pulling back on the more ambitious latency targets originally discussed for 5G – 1ms latency features far less regularly in operator presentations than it used to – but there is still a significant latency challenge to address if the promise of the cellular Internet of Things (IoT) really is to be addressed. Amazon’s Greengrass edge cloud platform, integrated into the mobile network via ETSI MEC (Multi-Service Edge Computing), could be an effective way to rise to that challenge. Some of the IoT applications which will lend themselves most naturally to mobile and wireless connections – rather than fixed, or highly localized in personal area networks – are also those which will require very fast response…
Make sure to subscribe to get ATW in your inbox, for free, each Monday. // M&A, Strategies, Alliances // Solera is acquiring Colimbra, a Dutch software provider for the automotive insurance industry, expanding Solera’s ID, automotive, and home focused software portfolio. OpenText is acquiring Covisint, a cloud-based provider of identity, auto, and IoT applications, adding to OpenText’s Enterprise Information Management (EIM) stack. The eSync Aliiance has been launched, aiming to drive ‘multi-company solutions for OTA updates and diagnostic data in the automotive electronics ecosystem.” SoftBank has acquired Boston Dynamics, Alphabet’s robotics division that has been up for sale for some time following its owner’s push for subsidiary-business-viability. Qualcomm’s NXP acquisition is being investigated by EU antitrust regulators, increasing the pressure…
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has said that the US government is about to unveil its revisions to the Obama-era federal self-driving vehicle rules, which will lower barriers to entry and make it easier for companies to test vehicles on US roads. Details are scant, but this could prove a boost for upstart companies looking to upset the established automakers. Such a move would be counter to what one would expect from the Republican Party, which typically favors big business and lobbyists, rather than the smaller startups – although it’s worth pointing out that Tesla is now worth more than GM. The incumbent automakers have voiced dissatisfaction with the current rules, claiming that they are compelled to hand over too much…
US broadcast TV’s newest standard, ATSC 3.0, promises to bring US broadcasters into the mobile age – but the technology is too little, too silo’d and too late. ATSC 3.0 as the latest US broadcasting standard is still making its way through the FCC, but the technology could begin being deployed by early next year. And broadcasters are eager for the upgrade. The technology promises to transform over the air TV by delivering broadcast content through an IP backbone that’ll enable local stations to improve emergency alerting, deliver UHD content and offer video on demand, and improve advertising. Local station groups like Sinclair Broadcast Group have placed a lot of hope in ATSC 3.0 as a bridge to the future…
Here at Faultline Online Reporter we look at news every day and the first thing to notice about the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) held this week is that it did not force itself into our news feed for at least 2 days. People are writing less about Apple. The second thing is that most of the product lines have been merely tweaked, some very nicely, but the only real new introduction is the HomePod and it’s a flop. We have a message for Tim Cook – even Apple loving consumers are not stupid and at $350 you are not serious. Or should we say Siri-ous. Apple has been a system innovator – but that’s over. Apple has been…
Iliad is already creating a stir in the Italian mobile market even before it launches there, as the established operators take pre-emptive action against a possible re-run of the Free Mobile experience in France. Vodafone Italia plans to launch a low cost MVNO service this year, which looks like a defensive move against the imminent entry of a fourth MNO, owned by Iliad. Telecom Italia has already set up a similar internal MVNO, called Kena Mobile. According to reports in Milano Finanza, Vodafone created a limited company called Vei in March and announced the business holds a general licence for MVNO activities. Vodafone says it has not made final decisions about the launch, but other sources believe the MVNO will…
The pieces are coming together in Softbank’s ambitious attempt to create and drive a platform for the next generation technology platform. It has two significant players in enabling artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things – ARM, and a stake in Nvidia, which is pushing its graphics processors into AI engines, driverless cars and other emerging applications. Ian Thornton, ARM’s VP of investor relations, told EETimes that Softbank’s long term plan for the UK-based company is clear – it wants an ARM processor core in every device connected to the IoT by 2035. In the short term, he added, ARM is being run as an independent unit with the same business model, though the deep pockets of Softbank, its…
ARM has unveiled two new Cortex processor cores, the A75 and A55, the first based on its new DynamIQ architecture. DynamIQ is designed to increase flexibility in the Cortex-A range by allowing different types of cores to be mixed and matched for different applications. While the new additions can address many uses, ARM is particularly talking up their place in powering AI-based analytics at the network edge. Fitting into the fog computing/analytics trend, the chips open up options for developers looking to move compute cycles from the cloud to the network edge – a tricky balancing act, when it comes to bandwidth and batteries. While artificial intelligence (AI) is still the hottest technology buzzword, there are real applications that are…
China has been seen as a significant threat to Qualcomm’s dominance of its market. The US firm came to a settlement of the antitrust case against it in the country, but at the cost of lower royalty rates and a long fight (now mainly won) to get local companies to sign up for licences. And rivals from Greater China, such as MediaTek, have been eating into Qualcomm’s market share and putting pressure on its prices and margins. However, China is also a major opportunity for a company which remains ahead of the pack in the advanced state of its technologies in key markets. Qualcomm has been steadily offsetting its disadvantages in the country via new partnerships and investments. It has…