By Laura Kobylecky

In an online session entitled “CES 2022 Tech Trends to Watch,” Steve Koenig VP of Research at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) talks about the behaviors, global trends, and emerging technologies to watch out for this year.

Consumers Level Up

One trend that Koenig observes is consumers “leveling up” their technology in a sort of “home makeover.” situation. He describes this overall trend by saying that consumers “want a 21st-century lifestyle.”

Consumers leveling up their technology in a sort of home makeover situation #TechTrends #CES2022
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This lifestyle may include “smart technology.” People are purchasing more IoT technology in order to have a connected home that serves their needs and wants more efficiently. These smart technology devices may have “attached services” instead of being “just a simple, dumb, device.”

These devices include things like “connected fitness.” Products like this can track progress of individuals with IoT tech or be connected to online experiences.   Koenig explains that “research has shown if you buy one or two products you tend to want more.” So, after these smart home purchases are made, these customers may continue to expand their ownership in that area. Koenig emphasizes that this trend is a worldwide phenomenon.

The average consumer now subscribes to 8 streaming services #TechTrends #CES2022
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More growth has also occurred in the field of “premium brands.” Koenig describes this as a “simmering” trend that has risen over time. He points to Beats headphones and Nintendo Switch as good examples of premium brands that has been embraced by consumers. According to Koenig, consumers want that premium brand experience, and “maybe we’re willing to open our wallets a little bit wider to get that,” he says, adding that this trend increased with the pandemic as more and more people decided to level up their tech.

Another area of growth is the increasing use of subscription services. Koenig says that “customers’ zeal for services” is growing in the socially distant world. The average customer is subscribed to eight services. These “pandemic pivots” are a “product of this season of the pandemic” and according to Koenig, this increasing use of subscription services is set to continue into the future.

Fixing Problems

One pandemic trend that Koenig hopes will end soon, is the issue of the “supply chain.” He shows a chart highlighting how this issue has increased during the pandemic.

Technology could help address future supply chain issues so that they don't affect the industry so badly as they have done during the pandemic #TechTrends #CES2022
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The chart also shows that shipping costs are already going down, so the trend may not remain so severe in the future. He mentions some technology solutions that could relate to this issue, like the possible use of “autonomous trucks.” He says that several companies at CES may be relevant to that future.

Another issue in the supply chain is the “chip shortage.” Koenig says that some semiconductor fabrication plants are responding by increasing their productivity, adding additional shifts to increase production. He also mentions that new chip fabs are being built, but that this solution will take years to address the issue. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are semiconductor fabrication plants.

Trends in Innovation and Industry

 Koenig also sees some larger, relevant, and potentially-positive trends. 5G is a part of this vision. He explains that 5G will “provide the connective tissue for a lot of innovation in this decade.” This 5G wireless generation will be a bit unique in that it is turning away from the previous generations’ “consumer focus.” 5G is “the first wireless generation that will be led by the enterprise and not by the consumer” according to Koenig.

The “real value of 5G” is “the enterprise quotient” and the possible use of this technology in things like industrial IoT #CES2022 #TechTrends
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He says the “real value of 5G” is “the enterprise quotient” and the possible use of this technology in things like industrial IoT. Industry can use IoT to keep their production connected in real-time using the increased connectivity made possible by 5G. Also, data centers are increasingly pushing more things to the cloud and 5G will be crucial in making that happen efficiently.

Another big trend that Koenig mentions is the growth of AI. He says that it’s getting better and better, and that this may allow for transformative new applications and use cases. He uses the “see and spray” function of the new John Deere tractor presented at CES 2022 as a good example of this: This function uses AI to differentiate between plants and weeds and targets pesticides at the weeds, reducing the overall pesticide use.

And of course, the Metaverse

Koenig sees the Metaverse as “the next generation of the Internet that will convey increasingly immersive digital experiences.” This Internet will “become inextricably linked with our physical reality,” he says.

According to Koenig, “the metaverse is closer than you think” and “the building blocks are already present and in place.” According to his reckoning, haptics and volumetric video technology will help make the metaverse more realistic and immersive. Cloud technology combined with the “robust connectivity” of 5G will make this world more possible. He cheekily reminds the audience that “Ready Player One was set in the year 2045,” so perhaps we should begin to anticipate that future.

The Metaverse is the next generation of the Internet that will convey increasingly immersive digital experiences #CES2022 #TechTrends
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CES 2022 may be over, but the online content and video on demand sessions remain available until January 31. And CES remains an interesting place to become aware of the future of technology. Keep your eyes wide open to see which of these trends continue and which of these predictions come true in 2022.

Laura Kobylecky is a contributing writer to Tech Trends. She is particularly interested in new and emerging technology and culture. Connect with her on LinkedIn 

The post #CES2022 Tech Trends to Watch appeared first on Tech Trends.

Can you provide the highlights of your background?

I am a frequent speaker at events and engage with hundreds of business executives about their overall data management strategies. In the high-velocity world of IT and data management, I remain focused on helping businesses harness the power of data and use it to fuel the economic engine of growing companies, communities, and people.

I believe IT can be transformed from a cost center into a revenue generator with the right data management, analytics, and execution. I bring more than 20 years of experience in the industry building and managing communications and operational teams in data and technology industries in both private and publicly traded organizations. Notably, I have twice helped companies earn a top 500 designation in the Inc. 5000 annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

What is the mission of Aunalytics and what unique products/services are provided by the company?

Digital Transformation is top-of-mind for organizations across various industries. But that doesn’t mean simply converting systems into digital formats — it is an organization-wide shift to enable the full utilization of data. Aunalytics turns company data into answers with a secure, reliable, and scalable data platform deployed and managed—as a service.

The Aunalytics® cloud-native data platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics, and AI while unifying disparate data silos into a single golden record of accurate, actionable business information. Its Daybreak industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI to ensure access to timely, accurate data and answers to critical business and IT questions. Through its side-by-side digital transformation model, Aunalytics provides on-demand scalable access to technology, data science, and AI experts to seamlessly transform customers’ businesses.

Rich Carlton, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Aunalytics

Can you provide a walkthrough of the company’s offering and its benefit to customers?

Aunalytics provides a portfolio of services and software that includes the Aunalytics® Cloud Storage and Compute solution — providing a highly redundant and scalable platform for hosting servers, data, and applications at any performance level. Managed services enabled include enterprise security, cloud storage and compute, backup/disaster recovery, IT support, and analytics services.

The Daybreak Analytic Database provides daily insights powered by a robust data platform, industry intelligence, and smart features that enable analytics solutions across client organizations
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With this powerful solution, libraries of data are cleansed and enriched by third-party sources and insights gleaned by Daybreak’s AI and machine learning. The intelligent relational data marts organize data by customer, patient, product, service, facilities, account, marketing campaign, and more.

Daybreak is enabled by the Aunsight Data Platform, which provides cloud-native advanced analytics, computing, and data warehouse storage infrastructure and software. The data accuracy feature provides automated data management including data profiling, auto-mapping, ingestion, integration, ELT/ETL, cleansing, Golden Record and governance. The platform includes Smart Features, which are high-value data fields created by the organization’s data scientists to answer industry and functional questions. The service also includes access to a team of expert data engineers, ingestion engineers, business analysts, client success team, and data scientists for expert guidance.

Having a corporate analytics solution does not guarantee accurate insights. How does the company go beyond competitive options to improve business intelligence?

Aunalytics provides cloud-native advanced analytics, computing, and data warehouse storage infrastructure and software. The data accuracy feature provides automated data management including data profiling, auto-mapping, ingestion, integration, ELT/ETL, cleansing, Golden Record, and governance. The company orchestrates libraries of customer data that is cleansed and enriched by third-party sources and insights gleaned by Daybreak’s AI and machine learning. Our intelligent relational data marts organize data by customer, patient, product, service, facilities, account, marketing campaign, and more.

The post Delivering Insights-as-a-Service for Enterprise appeared first on Tech Trends.

After more than a year when most of us had no choice but to do most of our shopping online, Lush was far from the only retailer which had to rely heavily on technology to keep going. Yet even now as things seem to be returning to something closer to a pre-pandemic reality and we look forward to going getting out of the house to go shopping (imagine!) that doesn’t mean we have to give up all the benefits that technology can add to making the retail experience better.

Lush Lens was designed to offer customers a packaging-free and contact-free shopping experience.
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With that in mind, the handmade cosmetics company has just relaunched the Lush App, developed in collaboration with Saleor using open-source technology in line with Lush’s Digital Ethics Mission Statement. It will allow customers to browse product ranges with improved search optimisation, a new checkout process, and new ways to pay.

Lush Lens has had 2.6 million scans since its launch on iOS in 2018
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The app – which is now available in the UK on iOS and Android – features for the first time one of the most successful #LushLabs features, called Lush Lens, a mobile AR feature which was designed by Lush’s in-house tech R&D team to offer customers a packaging-free and contact-free shopping experience.

Lush Lens has had 2.6 million scans since its launch on iOS in November 2018, prompting the company’s founder, Mark Constantine, to assert that the technology had the potential to revolutionize the packaging industry, and even possibly eliminate it.

“At Lush we make products by hand, with fresh and ethically sourced ingredients, and this informs our digital products too. I’m so proud of the new platform the teams have created which showcases the best of what we can do – ethical treatment of customers’ data, created using open source technologies and providing a five star customer experience, with a few Lush surprises along the way,” says Jack Constantine, Chief Digital Officer at Lush.

Lush Digital believes in ethical tech that ultimately gives back more than it takes from society and the environment
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Lush champions ethical hardware, ethical data, ethical design and open source technologies. Just as the company ethically sources ingredients, Lush Digital believes in ethical tech that ultimately gives back more than it takes from society and the environment.

Adam Goswell, Lush Tech R&D, believes that such technology can add (not replace) in giving quality, up to date information in matching customers with the perfect product.

“If we can reduce the time spent at the till or eliminate the queue (which we all hate) then technology is really going to elevate the retail experience to be much more about human interaction and experience,” he believes.

Tech Trends’  Consultancy services offer support for companies looking to enhance their brand’s digital strategy with immersive and emerging technologies such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a technology journalist, communications consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter

The post Getting a Post-Pandemic Digital Makeover appeared first on Tech Trends.

It’s rare to find an app where even the free version is also free of advertisement. So what’s the catch? Surely it profits from user data in some way, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in tech…

In a nutshell, Camo is an app that turns your smartphone into a webcam
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Yet according to Camo’s Founder Aidan Fitzpatrick, the app’s strict no-tracking policy is a point of principle, and there is, in fact, no need for such intrusion into user privacy. Enough of their users are happy to pay the very reasonable $4.99 a month for the “Pro version” to fund the free app as well.

In a nutshell, Camo is an app that turns your smartphone into a webcam. Like all great tech ideas, it’s a simple concept, well-executed.

Even cameras in older phones are much better than any webcam on the market, so by using that old phone sitting in your drawer doing nothing as a webcam, you can get next-level video quality.

A big part of the harm consumers face with advertising is their data, demographics, and tracking running across the web
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The app has been used by the likes of Seth Godin, Wall St Journal’s Joanna Stern plus employees from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford Universities, who praise it for its ability to create a professional-quality webcam experience from the user’s phone and browser.

“I’ve spent years building products to help people get better access to their own data,” says Fitzpatrick, who founded his company Reincubate in 2008 after building the world’s first tool for iOS data recovery, which enabled users to securely manage their data.

Camo’s Founder Aidan Fitzpatrick is a software engineer, angel investor, entrepreneur, and author who started his first company at 14

There's a huge amount of competition by unworthy publishers, trying to rank low-quality services or information
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Working in that space for so long gave him many opportunities to see the more distasteful ways to use data, and the wide range of bad actors out there looking to get access to it, he explains as he unpacks how important the issue is to him.

“The internet has played a big role in my life and my career, and it’s in almost everyone’s interests to push it along the responsible, sustainable path of public good rather than narrow, private interests.”

Fighting Fakery

Fitzpatrick talks about the idea that consumers on the web these days are surrounded by “fakery.”

Yet while some forms of fakery — fake news, fakery in public discourse, and the use of trolls to attack viewpoints on social media – have been widely discussed, there is a lot more to it than that, he explains.

“Fakery pays off for the unethical. Amazon and other platforms have received coverage for fake product reviews on their platforms. Instagram is busy with promoted products, many of which use fake reviews and undisclosed influencer endorsements. Sometimes even the products themselves are fake.”

Even cameras in older phones are much better than any webcam on the market
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“More broadly, consumers have experience with this fakery on Google. There are some Google searches that are just hard to do. Have you ever tried searching for a plumber or medical advice on Google?  There’s a huge amount of competition by unworthy publishers, trying to rank low-quality services or information.”

Even services like Grubhub and Postmates have been criticized for allegedly faking profiles for restaurants that they don’t partner with, in an attempt to capture and redirect their leads. “A big part of the harm consumers face with advertising is their data, demographics, and tracking running across the web,” says Fitzpatrick

Making it Pay

While Fitzpatrick believes that consumer privacy and choice have been jeopardized by large web corporations and social media giants, he recognizes that they must make money.

His argument, however, is that there is no need for such companies to be so data-hungry in capturing and monetizing information about their users. It is, in fact, still possible for them to build effective first-party advertising networks with a smaller set of data.

“Paid services along the lines that Apple focuses on, or which Google have explored with YouTube Music may prove increasingly worthwhile.”

And of course, his own product manages to make money without storing and tracking consumer data:

“Our model is very simple: we offer a free version of our products, and a paid version. We’ve no need to track data for trials, or to try and monetize with ads baked into our products, so we don’t.”

Algorithm Anarchy

He breaks down this disruptive rationale into three key areas that those designing tech products must think about to enable consumers to have more authentic experiences online:

1. Product: We don’t track user data in the products. We have no need to, and no interest in doing so. People’s data belongs to them. If the app fails, we do record information on what went wrong, but that’s clearly metadata, and about the functioning of the product in order that we can improve it, rather than anything about the customer. Where we record limited metadata on how the app is used, we only do for the purpose of better understanding and developing our own product — not for marketing — and we don’t share that information with any third parties.
2. Customer Records: If you buy something from a company, what data do they collect? We ask for the UK’s statutory minimum. We need their email and country of residence in order to send them the license and to apply the correct taxes. We use a third-party for card-processing, and don’t have any card details. In the UK we have to keep financial records for at least 6 years, but where users have lifetime licenses we need to keep that data for at least that time. Fortunately, it’s a very narrow set of data.
3. Marketing: This is hard because overreach in data capture feels like the norm. Most systems that permit advertising ask customers to embed tracking tools in their mobile or desktop apps or on their sites, and this is something we push back on. We don’t embed any advertising analytics tools in our products for this reason. Then there’s visitor tracking. We do use an analytics product to count the number of visitors to our site, and we’ve more work to do as the industry evolves to get ourselves happier with how these systems work. We’ve made good progress.

“The tech industry often assumes that using particular channels to market a product requires tracking. We reject that. Reincubate will continue to safeguard consumer privacy and choice with our commitment to respect privacy, refuse data monetization and intrusive tracking.”

Camo key features include:

• Film-quality video
• Easy customizing:  lighting, crop, zoom, focus, at your fingertips
• Plug and play
• Plays well with others:  use with Zoom, Meet, Teams, Skype, Slack, Google Chrome, Cisco Webex Meetings  +.
• Previews before going live
• The newly released 1.3 version offers even better functionality, including support for an additional 11 languages supported, power conservation, and screen aesthetic features.

Camo’s free edition is great for straightforward, high-quality calls, but lacks adjustments. It gives you resolutions up to and including 720p video, along with a choice of the device’s selfie lens, or it’s main back lens (the wide one). The free version of Camo also lets you access your device’s audio, and keep the screen of your device dimmed while using Camo. With free version, you can also connect multiple iOS devices and switch between them.

If you upgrade to Camo Pro, you get the following:

• Access to every lens on your phone (such as selfie, telephoto, ultra-wide & wide)
• “Portrait mode” on iPhone’s that support it, with bokeh effect and shallow depth-of-field
• Control of the device’s flash for use as a light ( turn it on and off, control the brightness)
• Access to any resolution the device provides (opening up 1080p and 1440 x 1080)
• Video mirroring
• Rotation of the feed in 90° increments (in case your phone is orientation locked)
• Zoom controls, with pan and tilt to keep you front and centre
• Focus adjustments (autofocus, focus on a particular area, manual focus control)
• Shutter speed and ISO adjustments
• Image adjustments including brightness, temperature, tint, hue, saturation, contrast, gamma, sharpness

Alice Bonasio is a technology journalist, communications consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post How Algorithm Anarchy Can Set You Free appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Laura Kobylecky

I am alone in the empty streets of Austin. Everything has been simplified to geometric shapes and the stars are brighter than they’ve ever been in the middle of the city. Strange eyes look from high points and serve as a unifying aesthetic to the strange world. There are no bats, no rats, and no raccoons. The closest things I’ve seen to life are the hovering drones that await my instructions. Who made this strange, virtual, world? The story begins last March.

On March 6 of 2020, South by Southwest was canceled at the decree of the City of Austin. This occurred shortly before the event was scheduled to begin on the 13^th of March and was one of the first of many large events that would be canceled as a result of the coronavirus.

#SXSW Online 2021 includes a variety of online meetings, sessions, musical performances, and many attempts at virtually recreating the interactive experience of SXSW
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This year, restrictions remained in place that prevented a full return of the in-person SXSW experience. However, the conference organizers decided to pivot to a digital format and that was the beginning of SXSW Online 2021.

SXSW Online 2021 included a variety of online meetings, sessions, musical performances, and many attempts at virtually recreating the interactive experience of SXSW. A notable addition to this is the SXSW Online XR experience. XR is an all-encompassing term referring to include Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and other forms of immersive media.

Blake Kammerdiener: XR and Film Programmer

I sat down for a video chat with Blake Kammerdiener, XR and Film Programmer, to learn more about this project.

According to Kammerdiener discussions about the idea of a virtual Austin began in October of 2020, yet work on the project didn’t start in earnest until sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It was initially a larger concept, but the scope was limited over time.

Discussions about the idea of a virtual Austin began in October of 2020 @sxsw
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In order to create the world, they collaborated with Louis Cacciuttolo and his company VRrOOm. Kammerdiener already knew Cacciuttolo and had been looking for a chance to work together. VRrOOm was provided with basic concepts and blueprints as well as videos and reference images. Kammerdiener explains that “They really worked a lot of magic to make it all happen.”

Designing an XR World

Art direction was provided by Vincent Masson. His aesthetic ended up being an excellent match for this year’s SXSW. The overall look and feel of SXSW 2021 includes a variety of simple graphics of eyes and geometric shapes that meshed will with a virtual world. This theme had already been established before this particular project, so its suitability for VR was more of a happy coincidence.

To create the #SXSW virtual world, they collaborated with Louis Cacciuttolo and his company @_VRrOOm_
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The world of virtual Austin exists within VRChat, an online, virtual reality, social platform. It begins on Congress Avenue and continues with a portal to Red River Street. Kammerdiener explains that they “had to scale it down in some respect.” The Paramount, Empire Control Room, The Mohawk and Cedar Street Courtyard are all venues that you can explore in the virtual world. This world also contains the Texas State Capitol building and the river.

Kammerdiener describes some of the other ideas the team had chosen to include, “Austin has these things called ‘moontowers’ which are these extra-large, big, lights that go up super high and have six or seven lights around them and they’re famous from Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused ‘party at the moontower.’ And so we threw a moontower in there, over there by the capital in the corner, and it’s a real scale model of the moon tower.” Kammerdiener would have liked to include some other iconic, Austin, details as well, “We talked about bats. Don’t think we didn’t talk about bats, at the very least.”

Another exciting feature, according to Kammerdiener, is the virtual concert that happens on demand at the Empire Control Room. If you travel to the virtual Empire, you can press a button and summon a tuba player. That player is Theon Cross, a British tuba player and composer. They did a motion capture recording of him performing at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London and put that performance into the SXSW Online XR experience. Kammerdiener is very enthusiastic about this particular element of the virtual world.

The world of virtual Austin exists within @VRChat, an online, virtual reality, social platform
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One of the most fun things to do, from Kammerdiener’s perspective is go to virtual parties and meetups. These events occur at the virtual venues at specified times. At these events, you and your avatar can hang out and interact directly with other people’s avatars. These events included an XR developers meetup, a DJ at the Paramount, an avatar costume contest, and a virtual axe-throwing contest at The Mohawk. Kammerdiener said that the events created a different level of connection and simulated some of the real feelings of being at a SXSW event. He enjoyed attending the events then hanging out in the virtual spaces afterwards with fellow attendees.

Kammerdiener felt like these meetups really did help fill some of the missing spaces in a virtual SXSW experience. He explains that “from the very beginning, one of the biggest, most important, things that everybody agreed upon” is the importance of creating networking opportunities and interactions between attendees. These experiences are “the bread and butter of SXSW” because they bring in “creatives from all walks of life,” including the entertainment industries and technology sectors. The creative, who normally might not meet, have the chance to interact together in the same space.

The XR Experience

After speaking with Kammerdiener, I did some further exploration in the world of virtual Austin. The worlds are only available to PCVR, Oculus Quest and Windows PC users. I used a PC, without a VR headset. As a result, my experience did not contain the full range of 3D imagery available and I had less mobility for my avatar. However, using a mouse and the “W, A, S, D” keys (forwards, left, backwards, right), I was able to explore a nice range of the world map.

The world begins at Congress. From there, you can either walk or you can grab onto a drone. The drones carry you across the map from a great height so you can quickly move from one space to the other. Without a VR headset, I don’t have as much control, but I am able to traverse the world anyway.

The world of Congress Ave looks a great deal like a simplified 3D rendered cartoon of Austin with a geometric aesthetic. Quiet, pleasant, music plays in the background. Simple eye shapes hover at various points and rotate slowly. At night, you can see very bright stars in the virtual sky. I wander to the Texas State Capitol building and see the famous moontower nearby.

The SXSW Closing Party is happening at The Empire Control Room, so I decide to navigate to that destination. In order to move to the other worlds, you have to find a portal. The portals are large circles labeled with their destination. I walk down the empty street, north towards the Texas State Capitol building and find a portal that leads to “Red River Street.”

On Red River Street are more buildings. There are carts you can ride in if you want to move faster. The Empire Control Room is labeled and you walk through that portal to enter the virtual venue. The venue is a fairly accurate representation of Empire Control Room, complete with a stage, gig posters and a food truck parked in the yard.

The world of Congress Ave looks a great deal like a simplified 3D rendered cartoon of Austin with a geometric aesthetic #SXSW 2021
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The venue is surprisingly crowded with outlandish avatar characters. A great number of people have decided to become cats for some reason. There are robots and aliens and jalapeno peppers. As I walk through, I can hear snippets of other people’s conversations. The spatial audio gives an accuracy that allows me to tell where the speaking avatars are located.

Some people are making their avatars dance or hug or do other, more advanced, movements. I can see the gestures that accompany people’s expressions in conversations. The conversations include a variety of topics, but many of them are reflecting on the experience of a virtual social event. People chat and exchange contact information. Social interactions are happening here.

I go to the courtyard of the venue. It is replicated with some accuracy as well. There are benches and decorative lights. I find the pedestal sculpture that hosts Theon Cross. I summon him with the press of a button. A glowing figure rises from the pedestal to play a beautiful bit of jazz as light and animated details flow around him.

I leave with the faintest feeling that I have actually been somewhere #SXSW 2021
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As the night goes on, avatars disappear one by one. The few that remain are some of the most enthusiastic people and also people who are involved with the event. It is an interesting and strange experience. I leave with the faintest feeling that I have actually been somewhere. SXSW Online XR is a pleasant experience that adds a layer of immersion and interactivity to this year’s online conference.

Tech Trends’ Digital Consultancy services offer support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Laura Kobylecky is a contributing writer to Tech Trends. She is particularly interested in new and emerging technology and culture. Connect with her on LinkedIn 

The post SXSW: A Virtual Experience appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Laura Kobylecky

#SXSW Online 2021 is bringing people together in a socially distant world. For this session, “Can 5G Transform the Live Music Experience?” Cristiano Amon and Steve Aoki have come together to talk about the impact of 5G technology on music. Cristiano Amon is the president of Qualcomm Incorporated and Aoki is a Grammy Nominated DJ, Producer, Music Executive, and Designer.

5G is a popular topic in 2021. It was discussed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year and remains a point of interest at SXSW this year. Qualcomm’s website explains that 5G is “a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G network.” This wireless network could be a large improvement over the previous networks by delivering “higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users.”

5G remains a popular topic in 2021 #SXSW
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The virtual session with Amon and Aoki begins on the lighter side with a casual tour through Aoki’s opulent home. Aoki jumps off of a roof into a pool that is 16 feet deep. He shows off a large library room full of books and vinyl. Amon and Aoki discuss their mutual fondness for vinyl. Aoki shares an anecdote about how he acquired some of his vinyl after college when some friends couldn’t move with all their bulky collection. While technology has moved forward and allowed more efficient digital storage of music, Aoki seems to have maintained a deep fondness for this antiquated, tangible, method of music collection.

The home tour moves into Aoki’s home office, also known as “Aoki’s Playhouse.” Aoki’s Playhouse “pays the bills” and is also “where the magic happens,” according to Aoki. This room used to be a racquetball court. It has been remodeled and contains a large green screen, some GoPros, and the other tools that Aoki uses to perform and live stream concerts as a DJ.

Aoki talks about how the progression of technology has changed his experiences as a DJ. Nowadays, “anyone can DJ any song at any given place.” However, earlier in his career, “I used to tow in records. I could only play the 60 records that I brought. So, you go from 60 records 15 years ago, to having unlimited access to the internet.” Nowadays, when Aoki is traveling around the world, he can quickly download new music to an SD card and then insert the SD card into his unit.

@steveaoki talks about how the progression of technology has changed his experience as a DJ #SXSW 2021
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For Aoki, the possibility of 5G streaming would be a game-changer. He says it would give him “access to being able to play so much music to so many people.” One thing that 5G could help with is increasing access to computing power. Amon, of Qualcomm, explains how this would work. With 5G, the internet speed would let you connect to the cloud in real-time. Through that connection, you could get access to more computing power. Even if you were working from a phone, you could potentially access the “processing power of your studio,” from a distance, through the cloud.

@steveaoki believes that technology played a key role in keeping people connected during this time of social distancing and online conferences #SXSW 2021
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Aoki sees the value in that processing power. He explains that input and output speeds are significant to his work. For him, “It’s all about being in the flow, I don’t want to disrupt the flow.” He remembers how he used to spend a great deal of time sitting around and waiting for downloads or waiting for stems to render. He says that the faster workflow, enabled by 5G would help prevent being stuck in the “bottleneck of creativity.”

Even if you were working from a phone, you could potentially access the processing power of your studio, from a distance, through the cloud #SXSW 2021
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5G could also have a big impact on the festival experience. Aoki talks about the difficulties of staying connected with people at festivals. Currently, a person might just turn their phone on “airplane mode,” since they can’t get reception anyway. They could be at Coachella or Electric Daisy Carnival, trying to post but it’s like “a wall has gone over.” For Aoki, being able to share his experiences in real-time is important. 5G connectivity could make that possible soon.

This 5G connectivity could also enable better quality video. Amon explains that with 5G, people might be able to broadcast 4k interactive video in real-time. He also proposes the idea that Augmented Reality glasses could be a tool for sharing those perspectives, where a person could live stream high definition video taken by their glasses and the video would let other people look at the world through their eyes. The glasses could also provide real-time overlays of digital experiences so that a person could interact with the virtual world and the real world simultaneously.

A faster workflow enabled by 5G would help prevent being stuck in a bottleneck of creativity #SXSW 2021
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Aoki is enthusiastic about the ideas presented. He says “I believe not just in the merging of music and technology, but in human and technology.” Although he is an avid tech enthusiastic, Aoki remains practical about the limitations. Not everyone is caught up on the latest tech and Aoki doesn’t want them to get left behind. He explains his methods for deciding which innovations he wants to include in his process:

“When I produce I always listen on every different medium. You have to think just enough ahead but not too far ahead because if you think too far ahead they won’t get it. It goes right over their heads.”

For Aoki, the main priorities are quality content and connection and 5G may help with both of these. His music and live streams could be improved with 5G. The content would be delivered faster and with higher definition. This instant delivery would allow Aoki to take those lifestream experiences and amplify connections as he is able to provide more instant responses.

5G could also have a big impact on the festival experience #SXSW by @TheLauraKoby
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Aoki believes that “technology played a key role in keeping people connected” during this time of social distancing and online conferences. He feels that “at the end of the day I want to be able to connect with as many people as possible…in all the different ways that I can.” 5G may help Aoki fulfill those goals and enable other creators to do the same.

Tech Trends’ Digital Consultancy services offer support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Laura Kobylecky is a contributing writer to Tech Trends. She is particularly interested in new and emerging technology and culture. Connect with her on LinkedIn 

The post 5G and the Future of Music appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Laura Kobylecky

Normally, a convention like CES has a big expo hall with a variety of companies and promotional marketing techniques. This year, at online CES 2021, that has been replaced with a virtual exhibit hall. It is a section of the CES website where the exhibitors are listed alphabetically.

You can also narrow the exhibitors by category. Click on their name and you will go to a page with some basic info and whatever facts, media, and contact information they choose to provide. There is also a chat function available. Some of them have a “microsite,” a custom website they have created solely for their CES presence.

P&G LifeLab

Proctor and Gamble have taken it a step further. They created a virtual world, accessible as a microsite. It is called LifeLab. In some ways, it is the recreation of a basic experiential marketing event at a convention. There is an event “footprint,” a small area transformed into a branded space where they have demos. There are brand representatives roaming about and waiting to help or explain.

#CES2021 features a virtual exhibit hall
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When you first click on the microsite, you are offered the chance to modify your avatar. The standard is a genderless blue form in tan slacks and a black long-sleeve shirt. You enter an elevator and appear to be traveling through the void of space, except the stars are replaced by various P&G products.

You leave the elevator to enter a large white room. There you can go to other areas, like the strangely dark “Oral B” world. You walk up to videos and they show animated screens with bacteria and speak ominously about tooth decay. The audio is dimensional. As you turn to leave, the sound retreats quietly and in a spatially-correct direction.

Overall P&G's LifeLab it is an interestingly ambitious experiment in virtual experiential marketing
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On the main floor, you can speak with the representatives. If you stand still, they are likely to approach. They speak to you with real human voices and human names and you realize that these are probably actual humans. They offer to explain things to you and you can press space to speak. Or you can back away without speaking. Oddly enough, the experience seems slightly more awkward than avoiding a conversation in real life, perhaps because the room is so empty.

If you walk by other people, you can hear their conversations too. This experience is also rendered with appropriately dimensional sound. There are “private” sitting areas you can go to if you would like to speak without all ears on your conversation. There is also a chat function for those who choose not to speak.

Proctor and Gamble have created a virtual world, accessible as a micrositem called LifeLab
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If you walk to the edge of the room you see a beautiful coastal view through a giant glass wall, but you can walk no farther. It might be a lake or an ocean. How this striking coastline relates to the LifeLab remains a mystery, but it makes the strange, white, room you roam in seem more bare and stark by contrast.

Occasionally, a small group of birds flies by randomly. You hear their calls at random points throughout the hall. Their sound, like the rest, is spatially placed, to a haunting effect as their voices echo in the room. They seem as hopeless as a sparrow in a grocery store. Who are these birds and how did they become trapped in the LifeLab? The answer is a mystery, known only to the makers of this mysterious lab.

Overall, it is an interestingly ambitious experiment in virtual experiential marketing. The graphics ran smoothly and the overall layout seemed well designed. I can imagine companies seeing this as a cost-effective substitute for the live events they would normally do.

Oddly enough, the experience seems slightly more awkward than avoiding a conversation in real life, perhaps because the room is so empty
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Does it meaningfully recreate the level of engagement normally available at a convention? Probably not. However, the P&G LifeLab is an admirable attempt at engaging marketing in a socially-distant world.

Tech Trends’ Digital Consultancy services offer support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Laura Kobylecky is a contributing writer to Tech Trends. She is particularly interested in new and emerging technology and culture. Connect with her on LinkedIn 

The post Virtual Marketing at #CES2021 appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Laura Kobylecky

CES is a yearly technology trade show and conference, owned and operated by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Last year, it snuck in under the wire, on January 7-10^th in Las Vegas, before 2020’s wave of coronavirus-related cancelations. This year, like many other conferences, it happens in an online-only format.

The event features a combination of video and some interactive elements. When you log into the website, you are greeted by a short video, explaining the basic functions of the website and accompanied by a jaunty little melody. The Exhibitor showcases begin on Tuesday, January 12. On Monday the 11^th there are live videos available.   Closed-captioning is one of the bonuses of the digital experience.

This year, like many other conferences CES happens in an online-only format
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One of these live videos is the “CTA’s Tech Trends Live Q&A,” with Steve Koenig, VP of research, and Lesley Rorhbaugh, director of research for CTA.

When asked about what technologies they find exciting for this year, Rorhbaugh mentions that smartphone technology interests her. Koenig mentions Mercedes Benz new high-tech MBUX dashboard.

When asked about expectations for smart glasses, Koenig expresses enthusiasm. Saying “this is definitely the year for AR. He emphasizes that the future maybe be found in “discrete solutions” and “degrees of immersion.” The discretion can be found in wearables that you can wear “all of the time.” These sorts of glasses won’t look out of place in the day-to-day.

The “degrees of immersion” can be found by moving past the segmented world of VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), and MR (mixed reality). Really, these terms describe only how much the “virtual” has replaced or overlaid the “real” world. With this sort of easy-wear wearable, more easily integrated in the day to day, the level of immersion is not perfectly defined and might vary based on your personal usage.

This is definitely the year for AR
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Rorhbaugh is excited about voice technology. She envisions this as something that could help in-vehicle tech, particularly autonomous vehicles. From her perspective “safety plays a really key role” in that sector and voice technology might contribute to that.

In regard to another hot topic, remote learning, Koenig is optimistic to an extent. He believes in the positive side of “extending opportunities” and feels that universities may “lean into these spaces.” In a “post-crisis” world they will have “manifold options” to continue using this technology to their benefit. He believes that some of the current “friction” in the online learning world will be improved when the world is not in a “panicked rush online.”

Koenig believes that 5G networks will become significant in the near and distant future. He believes they will reach “dense urban areas first.” After that “we’ll be talking about this at CES’s in the next few years, how 5 g is just gonna really overlay the entire global economy.”

5G networks will become significant in the near and distant future
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The CTE trend forecasting session at CES is a bright take on a complicated year
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Televisions are another subject of optimism. In Koenig’s opinion, “there’s always something next for TV at CES.” Unfortunately, CES 2021 will require a bit more imagination than years past. There’s really no way to judge the crystal clear realism of a TV when it’s viewed through the window of another screen. But Koenig remains positive that these “massive, massive, TVs” being showcased will delight the public. With 4K and HDR being standard fare at the moment he believes that “we’ll see more 8k displays” and even greater resolution. He also thinks there will be more competition in the “OLED” (organic light-emitting diode) space.

In his opinion, smart TV is another thing that “continues to get better and better.” Touch-less technology will allow greater and simpler command and control. He also has believes AI applications will learn our viewing patterns and enhance the viewing experience as they “serve up content to us.”

There's always something next for TV at CES
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Other ideas mentioned in this session are smart masks, data dashboards, smart filtration systems, and emergency alert systems that create a more connected world or leverage the Internet of Things.

The CTE trend forecasting session at CES is a bright take on a complicated year. These ideas may serve as inspiration for those curious about what’s new and next for the world of consumer technology in 2021.

Tech Trends’ Digital Consultancy services offer support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Laura Kobylecky is a contributing writer to Tech Trends. She is particularly interested in new and emerging technology and culture. Connect with her on LinkedIn 

The post CES: The Online Experience appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Donna Peng, editor of Digiarty Software

Many people have a DVD collection, large-sized, modest-sized, or small-sized, but they may have not watched any of those discs for years. One reason is that streaming services thrive these years, the other might be that it’s too much work to find the target DVD and turn on the DVD player (maybe, some even don’t have a DVD player anymore). But there is a way around this. We can digitize DVDs so that we are able to store the digital copies on NAS and manage and access using Plex. Once that is done, you can store them on a hard drive, USB flash drive, the cloud, or anywhere else.

To convert a physical disc into a digital file, we can seek a DVD copying service near us or download a piece of DVD ripping software online to do the job by ourselves. The latter tends to be a better choice because it costs less and gives us more control and convenience. No technical skills are required to handle a DVD ripper. After launching the program, we just need to load the target DVD, choose the desired output format and hit a button  to begin ripping. If you want to give that a try, I recommend WinX DVD Ripper Platinum.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Features

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is a mature product with over 70 million users since its debut in 2009. It can create rips from both your own home-made DVDs and commercial DVDs on Windows and Mac. It can make a 1:1 replica copy of your DVD and convert the main movie only into a space-friendly and watchable format for all of your devices.

Advanced DVD decoding mechanism

This feature plays an important role in making WinX DVD Ripper Platinum stand out from the multitudinous throngs of DVD rippers. This mechanism is regularly updated so that it can bypass new DVD copy protection schemes without the help of third-party applications like libdvdcss or something. Till now, it can circumvent all region codes, RCE, CSS, APS, UOPs, Sony ARccOS, Disney X-Project, and more encryptions on movie DVDs, TV series DVDs, workout DVDs, and other video DVDs. It can read and decrypt old DVDs, newly-released titles with ease, and even handle badly structured and damaged DVD discs.

Multiple speed-boosting technologies

To improve DVD ripping speed, various technologies are added in succession, including Intel/NVIDIA powered GPU hardware acceleration, Multi-core CPU, Hyper-threading, and Super Encode Engine based on MMX- SSE & 3DNow! As a result, users just need about 5 minutes to rip a 2-hour DVD movie to MP4 format. Of course, the speed has a lot to do with computer hardware. But under the same conditions, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum works much faster than similar programs, such as HandBrake.

Rich output profiles

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is designed with more than 350 output presets covering from mainstream formats to hot devices to address different user needs.

Here are some typical use cases:

• General Profiles: MP4 Video (h.264+aac), AVI Video (Divx/Xvid+mp3), iPhone, iPad, Android Phone/Pad, WMV Video (wmv2+wav2), DVD Video Copy (MPEG2+DTS), M4V Video, MPEG4 Video, MOV Video.
• DVD Backup: clone DVD to ISO image, clone DVD to folder, main title content copy, full title copy
• Apple Device: iPhone video, iPad video, iPod video, Apple TV video, iMovie…
• Android Mobile/Pad: Samsung, Huawei, Google, Amazon…
• Sony Device: PS4, Xperia…
• Microsoft Device: Xbox, Surface Pro…
• Web Video Profile: YouTube Video, Facebook Video, Vimeo Video…
• To Music: MP3, AAC, AC3/DTS

Original quality kept

Choose a DVD backup preset and you will get a copy with the original quality. If you choose a general format, such as MP4, you also will not see visible quality loss. And you can drag the quality level to HQ point while selecting a profile and check Use High-Quality Engine to enhance the output image quality. Interlaced video will be changed to progressive scanning mode by ticking Deinterlacing.

Small Files

High-quality output doesn’t necessarily mean a big file. WinX DVD Ripper Platinum will compress DVD to the smallest file size possible. Here’s an example. We once used it to convert a 7.26GB movie DVD to MP4 (codec: H.264+AAC, resolution: keep origin), and finally got a 1.24GB file. The DVD rip is around 80% smaller than the original. We can save a lot of space this way, usually a few gigabytes for a DVD movie.

Edit features

This DVD copying software also gives users a few useful editing features. Users can trim off unwanted clips such as ads and tidbits, crop out unwanted area like black bars, add external subtitle tracks, and merge multiple titles/episodes into a single file.

For more information, visit WinX DVD Ripper Platinum product page.

The post Digitizing Your DVD Library appeared first on Tech Trends.

Please tell us more about yourself?

I’m Philip Attfield, CEO of Sequitur Labs Inc. I have more than 25 years of experience in computing, networking, security and systems modeling at both large and small enterprises. I began my career at Nortel where I was a member of the scientific staff, developing software tools and in-house products for modeling, synthesis and verification of telecom and network equipment hardware. I later founded Signal 9 Solutions, which pioneered PC/desktop firewalls and created the Conseal brand of security products. At Boeing, I led the team responsible for the development of large-scale security policy and management framework. I’ve served in a number of high-profile roles in the field of digital forensics and am a frequent keynote speaker at international security conferences.

What is Sequitur Labs’ mission and what unique products/solutions do you provide?

Sequitur Labs is a software company developing and commercializing revolutionary technologies to improve embedded device and system security, manageability, and trustworthiness in the connected economy. Sequitur helps device OEMs reduce the cost and complexity of implementing security correctly by providing packaged software as a product. Sequitur’s software leverages advanced, on-chip hardware security technologies to deliver high-value strong security, economical and accessible security solutions.

Sequitur’s software solutions are critical security enablers for a large, worldwide market of device makers that need strong security but cannot afford the in-house expertise. Sequitur’s business approach includes demystifying and driving down the cost of security, simplifying deployment, and messaging the business value of security.

Could you give us a walkthrough of Sequitur’s products and what sets them apart?

The EmSPARK Security Suite was designed to address solutions in industries where embedded security is paramount such as industrial control, building automation, the smart home, machine vision, automotive communication, and medical devices. Built on three pillars of product security – design, build and sustain, EmSPARK provides device manufacturers with the firmware, tools and APIs needed to properly execute IoT protection. Our latest version of the EmSPARK Security Suite provides a robust security framework protecting embedded firmware, keys and security-critical assets through the entire device lifecycle. It enables silicon hardware security features, secure device provisioning, and API access to essential trust services such as secure storage, firmware updates and payload verification.

The EmSPARK Security Suite delivers a host of capabilities, including the integration of OpenSSL with functions secured by ARM TrustZone and preconfigured to use cryptographic functions available processors supporting this technology in hardware. The EmSPARK Security Suite also includes key management functions that form the basis of several secure processes such as trusted boot, storage and authentication with IoT clouds.

This allows developers to focus on building their application and/or device rather than spend time reading through data sheets to configure various hardware components. The result is that they can get their products to market faster.

Having an IoT security solution in place does not guarantee protection against an attack. How does your company offer greater assurance?

Devices secured by the EmSPARK Security Suite help customers reduce the risk and liability associated with IoT deployments. The Suite covers security requirements relevant at various stages of a product’s lifecycle.

We believe that a product must be secured from the time it is manufactured to the time it is decommissioned. This ensures that a company’s intellectual property (IP) is not stolen, the device operates without compromise at any point in its life, and that customer data is protected at all times. Additionally, it ensures that connections with remote systems, such as IoT cloud servers, are secure and tamper-proof.

For example, the EmSPARK Security Suite enables implementing a root of trust, which supports a variety of secure processes such as trusted boot. It creates a dual operating environment because a TrustZone-enabled processor can switch between secure and non-secure states. This allows isolating and separating critical material and data in a hardware secured area, dramatically improving device security. Developers can easily build applications that use secure resources without having to become experts in cryptography and complex hardware security technologies.

Analysts predict the global IoT security space will grow to USD $36.6 billion by 2025. Where do you see the future of IoT going?

With as many as 60 billion smart devices expected to be online in the near future, the likelihood that IoT products, applications and systems are going to be the main points of vulnerability from an organizational security standpoint seems fairly obvious. There are lots of lines of security built into corporate data centers to prevent break-ins and malicious attacks from cybercriminals but not nearly as much effort to secure the devices connecting to those data centers. The greatest obstacle to a future serviced by smart devices is security, including aggressive new variants that attack endpoints at the edge and threaten embedded computing systems.

IoT security is at an inflection point. In-house efforts to address device-level security are difficult and expensive, making it an unattractive option for many manufacturers. But I believe that the success of our industry will be achieved by helping developers build applications that use secure resources without having them having to become experts in cryptography and complex hardware security technologies. IoT will only be successful if device manufacturers and system operators can successfully and economically protect against threats. Working hand-in-hand with a comprehensive IoT security software solution will promote the growth of the industry beyond analysts’ predictions.

The post Improving IoT Security in the Connected Economy appeared first on Tech Trends.