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Seniors More Active on the Net

3 Jun

For years, there has been a pretty direct correlation between age and Internet use — with those 65+ and older having relatively interest. But times are changing!!

As just reported by Felix Richter for Statista:

“While young people in the United States have grown up using technology and spend a substantial part of their lives online, people from older generations are not what we often refer to as ‘digital natives.’ A record 46 million seniors live in the United States and many of them are still disconnected from the digital world.”

“However, according to Pew Research Center, technology adoption of Americans aged 65 and older is on the rise. 67 percent of U.S. seniors now use the Internet, up from just 12 percent in 2000. As our chart illustrates, older Americans still trail the overall adult population in terms of tech usage, but the digital gap is no longer as pronounced as it used to be.”

 

Infographic: U.S. Seniors No Longer Disconnected From the Digital World | Statista You will find more statistics at Statista

 

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Waymo Vs. Uber: Self-Driving Car Intellectual Property Rights

25 May

Waymo (part of Alphabet — the parent of Google) and Uber are now engaged in an intense legal battle about intellectual property rights regarding self-driving technology. This battle was enjoined when Uber hired away a leading technologist from Waymo.

As reported by Knowledge@Wharton:

“A federal judge’s orders last week in a lawsuit by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, against ride-hailing app company Uber may have launched a major rethink on how the automobile industry braces for competition and protects its intellectual property (IP). Alphabet subsidiary Waymo had accused Uber of stealing trade secrets and patent infringement by hiring Anthony Levandowski, an engineer who formerly led Google’s driverless car project, and buying a firm he had founded after leaving Google.”

“Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Levandowski to turn over some 14,000 documents he allegedly downloaded before he left Google and granted a preliminary injunction Waymo sought to prevent Uber from using know-how Levandowski brought to the firm. Judge Alsup also referred the case for a federal criminal investigation. Uber has since taken Levandowski off its driverless car project and asked him to comply with the court order or risk termination of his job. Meanwhile, Levandowski has remained silent on the matter, citing the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.”

 

Here is an interesting 30-minute podcast on this matter, featuring Wharton’s John Paul MacDuffie, Santa Clara University’s Dorothy Glancy, and University of Pennsylvania’s R. Polk Wagner.

 

 

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GREAT YouTube Videos: Learn More About AI

23 May

For organizations of any type, artificial intelligence (AI) promises to be the next big thing. What is AI? According to Webopedia: “Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. The term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” However, AI is only now really coming into its own!!!

Webopedia notes that “Research associated with artificial intelligence is highly technical and specialized. The core problems of artificial intelligence include programming computers for certain traits such as:

  • Knowledge
  • Reasoning
  • Problem solving
  • Perception
  • Learning
  • Planning
  • Ability to manipulate and move objects”

 

Here are EIGHT YouTube videos to give you a better perspective on the current state of  artificial intelligence.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thinking About a Career in Data Analytics?

22 May

As we know, data analytics and big data are extremely important to millions of companies around the world. So, it is pretty clear that new jobs in data analytics are opening every day. If you are an analytical person, think of the career possibilities.

According to Dataconomy:

“The importance of big data and data analytics is going to continue growing in coming years.  Professionals in this field can expect an impressive salary, with the median salary for data scientists being $116,000. Even those who are at the entry level will find high salaries, with average earnings of $92,000. As more and more companies realize the need for specialists in big data and analytics, the number of these jobs will continue to grow. Close to 80% of the data scientists say there is currently a shortage of professionals working in the field.”

“Many who are working in the field today have more than one role in their job. They may act as researchers, who mine company data for information. They may also be involved with business management. Around 40% work in this capacity. Others work in creative and development roles. Being versatile and being able to take on various roles can make a person more valuable to the team. Being willing to work in a variety of fields can help, too. While the technology field accounts for 41% of the jobs in data science currently, it is important to other areas too. This includes marketing, corporate, consulting, healthcare, financial services, government, and gaming.” [Red signifies marketing-related opportunities.]

 

Infographic Source: Dataconomy

 

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Another Technological Innovation from Amazon

3 May

Not only is Amazon the leader in online retailing overall, it continues to develop innovative technology. Among its already popular innovations are the Kindle, Kindle Fire, TV Fire Stick, and Echo (Alexa).

Due to its getting more heavily involved in apparel retailing, Amazon has just patented a unique new technology-driven, custom-clothing process.

As Nick Wingfield reports for the New York Times:

“This year, Amazon will surpass Macy’s to become the largest seller of apparel in America, by several analysts’ estimates. It is looking at ways to keep expanding, too. Amazon is exploring the possibility of selling custom-fit clothing, tailored to the more precise measurements of customers, and it has considered acquiring clothing manufacturers to further expand its presence in the category.”

“If there are tipping points in retail — moments when shopping behavior swings decisively in one direction — there’s a strong case to be made that apparel is reaching one now, with broad implications for jobs, malls, and shopping districts.”

Also for the New York Times, Wingfield and Kelly Couturier describe Amazon’s customization effort:

“In April [2017], Amazon received an intriguing patent for an ‘on demand’ apparel manufacturing system, which can quickly fill online orders for suits, dresses and other garments. Here’s how it would work. (1) The process starts when customers submit online orders to the retailer for shirts and other articles of clothing, accessories, bedding, curtains, and towels. The patterns, printed onto rolls of fabric or other material, are arranged to reduce scrap.”

“(2) A “cut engine” then carves out the various pattern pieces, while cameras analyze them to make sure they aren’t being distorted in the process. (3) A robotic arm with a mechanical gripper places all the pieces into a tote on a conveyor belt. (4) The conveyor belt delivers the totes to a sewing station, where ‘an attendant and/or automated sewing machine’ stitches the item together. The items are then examined at a quality control station, packed up and shipped to customers.”

 

Click the image for many other figures that visually highlight Amazon’s customization process.

Source: Amazon 

 

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Winning at Omnichannel Marketing: A Video Overview

19 Apr

Check out this video and paper on omnichannel marketing from BRP and Radial:

“Today’s customer is always connected and always on. Digital and mobile commerce have elevated consumer expectations of the shopping experience. She expects service anytime, anywhere, and any way she wants it. Marketers realize they need a different approach to enable a unified experience, one supporting the convergence of digital and physical worlds.”

“A unified commerce platform becomes a single consolidation point for all transactions, inventory, pricing, order management, CRM, call center, etc. This platform provides a single version of the truth across all channels to enable transparency, or the ‘glass pipeline’ of real-time visibility to inventory, product, and customer information. This is the nirvana, or end-state, that many marketers are trying to achieve with their customer experience and unified commerce goals. By moving the heart of the transaction, merchandising, and fulfillment activities to a centralized platform, marketers can allow their digital commerce applications to be more innovative and agile. This enables marketers to utilize their digital commerce offerings to contribute to the personal, ubiquitous, and unified experience that customers expect.”

 

 

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A New Way to Track Shoppers

28 Mar

Over the years, marketers have done lots of research on shopper behavior. including eye tracking and facial recognition. Now, we can add shoe (foot) tracking to the list of research techniques used by retailers.

As Oliver Smith reports for The Memo:

“Now,  there’s a novel new technology that can figure out your age, gender, and social class, just by looking at your feet. Hoxton Analytics has created a small camera unit which, placed close to the floor near the doors of a shop, watches people’s shoes as they walk by.”

“As well as counting the sheer number of people walking past (the ‘footfall’ of the store), the cameras use artificial intelligence to figure out the kind of people who are walking. Hoxton can deduce gender, age, social class, and whether people are alone or in a couple, all from looking at their shoes. What makes Hoxton so unique is that retailers get all this data without any ‘creepy’ privacy invasions, like tracking your smartphone or watching your face.”

Click the image to learn more.
 

Hoxton’s low-profile cameras track people’s shoes.


 

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