Lifeboat Foundation

Deep Space Industries and the Luxembourg Government announce partnership to commercialize space resources.

Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries, together with the Luxembourg Government and the Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), the national banking institution in Luxembourg, have signed an agreement formalizing their partnership to explore, use, and commercialize space resources as part of Luxembourg’s spaceresources.lu initiative.

The Luxembourg Government will work with Deep Space Industries to co-fund relevant R&D projects that help further develop the technology needed to mine asteroids and build a supply chain of valuable resources in space.

Continue reading “Prospector-X™: An International Mission to Test Technologies for Asteroid Mining” »

Barclays bots.

As part its efforts to become the most intelligent bank Barclays Africa, a subsidiary Absa, announced on Tuesday that it would pilot a chatbot that relies on artificial intelligence to simulate intelligent conversation through written or spoken text with customers online.

The pilot will be implemented within the coming few weeks, making it the first bank to do so in Africa.

Continue reading “Barclays will be the first bank to employ chatbot in Africa to handle online banking queries” »

I am not surprised by this; I do expect this given the existing cyber threat risks around AI especially around the existing under pinning technology/ platforms and net infrastructures.

The finance world is cautiously optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence and how it can be used, but, there is more work needed on regulating the technology when it comes to world markets.

“Financial institutions have been fined billions of dollars because of illegality and compliance breaches by traders. A logical response by banks is to automate as much decision-making as possible, hence the number of banks enthusiastically embracing AI and automation,” said Baker and McKenzie head of financial services regulation Arun Srivastava.

Continue reading “Finance actually wants more regulation because of the rise of artificial intelligence fintech in the world’s markets” »

Again; many problems with AI & IoT all ties back to the infrastructure of things. Focus on fast tracking QC and an interim solution (pre-QC) such as a mix of Nvidia’s GPU, blockchain for financial transactions, etc. to improve the infrastructure and Net then investors will begin to pay more attention to AI, etc.

After more than 60 years since its conceptual inception — and after too many hype-generating moments — AI is yet again making its presence felt in mainstream media.

Following a recent WEF report, many perceive AI as a threat to our jobs, while others even go so far to assert that it poses a real threat to humanity itself.

Continue reading “What Does it Mean to ‘Move to the Cloud’? This eBook Breaks Down the Myths” »

I am still not convinced that everyone fully understands how bot technology is about to change IoT and its impact to online business industry. Let me share a few ideas: Financial Auditing and accounting. Bots will be able to do a more thorough job in managing, tracking, reporting financials that many finance back office controls can be performed by bots and requiring a sign off by CFO/ Lead Controller. And, Accounting & Audit firms can easily leverage the technology to perform audits on companies remotely without having to send teams of auditors to a client’s site.

Here’s another one; I decide to set up a few 3D printers to make some unique seals for aircraft manufactures for their jets/ planes; and I need a call center plus online sales teams taking and processing orders. With bot technology my whole operation is automated and no need for sales people, call center folks, or operators. All I need is myself and couple of techies to manage the bot operations; and more profit for me and my team.

However, we still have to keep a tight oversight on hacking which is still a risk; however, we should see more micro-size companies spin up as a result of online bots and 3D printers in our immediate future.

Continue reading “How bots will change the Web, according to a bot we built to answer that question” »

Scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia have enabled the longer distance (250 Kilos) of secured data transmission occur via Quantum. Nice; and should be a wake up call to the US as well on advancing their efforts more.

A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia has developed a novel approach to the construction of quantum communication systems for secure data exchange. The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 kilometers or more, which is on par with other cutting edge analogues. The research paper was published in the Optics Express journal.

Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises, but even for small businesses and individual users. However, the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect — in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting round it is just the matter of time.

Continue reading “Long-range secure quantum communication system developed” »

D-Wave not only created the standard for Quantum Computing; they are the standard for QC in N. America at least. Granted more competitors will enter the field; however, D-Wave is the commercial competitor with proven technology and credentials that others will have to meet up to or excel past to be a real player in the QC landscape.

Burnaby-based D-Wave, which was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from the physics department of the University of British Columbia has become nothing less than the leading repository of quantum computing intellectual property in the world, says the analyst. He thinks D-Wave’s customers will be positioned to gain massive competitive advantages because they will be able to solve problems that normal computers simply can’t, such those in areas such as DNA sequencing, financial analysis, and artificial intelligence.

“We stand at the precipice of a computing revolution,” says Kim. “Processing power is taking a huge leap forward thanks to ingenious innovations that leverage the counter-intuitive and unique properties of the quantum realm. Quantum mechanics, theorized many decades ago, is finally ready for prime time. Imagine, if we could go back to 1946 and have the same foresight with the ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer. ENIAC’s pioneers created a new industry and opened up unimaginable possibilities. The same opportunity exists today with D-Wave Systems. D-Wave is the world’s first quantum computing company and represents the most unique and disruptive company that we have seen in our career.

Continue reading “D-Wave Systems is most disruptive company we’ve ever seen, says Paradigm” »

The Japanese government is considering giving away money ‘vouchers’ to poor young people to boost consumption, according to reports.

Following the examples of Finland, Canada and the Netherlands, Japan is considering the introduction of basic income, a tax-free income, after recent surveys showed that under-34s in Japan have cut spending by 11.7 per cent year on year.

Proponents of basic income say that not only does it reduce financial poverty but it has a number of other benefits, such as rewarding unpaid activities not recognised as economic contributions (parenting, for instance).

Continue reading “Japan is considering giving away free money” »

I started writing this column while I was in Manila, Philippines for a talk with UnionBank, one of the most innovative banks I’ve ever come across.

Driving across Manila is often a painful experience with far too many cars locking up all possible arterials, and nowhere near enough money to redesign and build the needed infrastructure. But this is not unique to Manila.

As I’ve traveled around the world, I’ve run into equally bad traffic in Istanbul, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Seoul, Mexico City, San Francisco, Rome, London, Beijing, and Mumbai. In fact there are literally thousands of cities where bad traffic is a way of life.

Continue reading “128 Things that will disappear in the driverless car era” »