How Ice Bucket Challenge Raise Awareness For ALS?

More than 17 million people participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge to support ALS and other causes. Nationally, 2.5 million people donated $115 million to the ALS Association.

Darren Huston also responds to the ice bucket challenge to rase awareness for ALS. Have a look at the video on CNBC:

Ice Bucket Challenge videos did a great deal of good. Two summers back, the test, intended to raise money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, took the internet by storm.

Custom Software Built on Assembly Line - Engineer AI

Sachin Dev Duggal and his college mate Saurav Dhoot. Duggal, a serial entrepreneur, holds an engineering degree from Imperial College, London, and a master’s degree in entrepreneurship from MIT. The duo set up their first company Nivio in 2004. They cashed out in 2012 and started SD Squared that finally evolved into Engineer.ai.

The Idea

“A decade ago, ‘tech’ was just a tag, but now, it is a must-have,” says Duggal. “However, for millions of SMBs in India and elsewhere, buying expensive software or hiring in-house IT teams is not a viable option. So, we have built tech solutions to turn ideas into products at double the speed and tailored pricing.”

How It Works

Customers can specify their concepts with the help of a drag-and-drop features menu on a human-assisted and AI-powered cloud platform called Builder. Here applications are developed in an assembly line manner to ensure speed, scale and cost efficiency. Simply put, each project is broken down into building blocks, and up to 60 per cent of the work is done by AI tools and automated processes.

Also Read : Engineer.ai launches Builder app for customized digital products

As most of the applications have standard features and repeat codes, these are automatically assembled in projects as per requirements and customers only pay for unique coding. The ‘custom’ part of the work is allocated to domain experts from a network of 50 software firms and 10,000 developers. Support and maintenance are provided for a monthly fee.

The start-up is also into cloud arbitrage and offers CloudOps, an AI-based cloud management platform for businesses to ensure smart usage and cost benefits. Plus, there is a prepaid card for buying cloud storage capacity.

Read Full Article @ https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/the-buzz/custom-software-built-on-assembly-line/story/278877.html

Knowledge Engineering in AI - Definition, Process

What is Knowledge Engineering?

Imagine an education company wanting to automate the teaching of children in subjects from biology to computer science (requiring to capture the knowledge of teachers and subject matter experts) or Oncologists choosing the best treatment for their patients (requiring expertise and knowledge from information contained in medical journals, textbooks, and drug databases).

Knowledge Engineering is the process of imitating how a human expert in a specific domain would act and take decisions. It looks at the metadata (information about a data object that describes characteristics such as content, quality, and format), structure and processes that are the basis of how a decision is made or conclusion reached. Knowledge engineering attempts to take on challenges and solve problems that would usually require a high level of human expertise to solve. Below Image illustrates the knowledge engineering pipeline.

Knowledge Engineering Processes

In terms of its role in artificial intelligence (AI), knowledge engineering is the process of understanding and then representing human knowledge in data structures, semantic models (conceptual diagram of the data as it relates to the real world) and heuristics (rules that lead to solution to every problem taken in AI).

Expert systems, and algorithms are examples that form the basis of the representation and application of this knowledge.
The knowledge engineering process includes:

• Knowledge acquisition
• Knowledge representation
• Knowledge validation
• Inferencing
• Explanation and justification

The interaction between these stages and sources of knowledge is shown in Figure below.
 

The amount of collateral knowledge can be very large depending on the task. A number of advances in technology and technology standards have assisted in integrating data and making it accessible.

These include the semantic web (an extension of the current web in which information is given a well-defined meaning), cloud computing (enables access to large amounts of computational resources), and open datasets (freely available datasets for anyone to use and republish). These advances are crucial to knowledge engineering as they expedite data integration and evaluation.

Read Full Article @ https://study.com/academy/lesson/knowledge-engineering-in-ai-definition-process-examples.html

Kevin Carmichael taking economic growth seriously?

Kevin Carmichael: While he does have a policy idea that would actually make a difference, Jason Kenney isn't running for PM just yet

Finally someone campaigning to become prime minister has proposed to do something that might actually change the trajectory of the economy.

Alas, that someone is Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who only secured his current job five months ago, and won’t be pursuing the position that every pundit says he really wants until 2024 at the earliest.

Whatever his aspirations, Kenney is the only national political figure who has used the federal election campaign to show an interest in doing something about crippling productivity rates. His pledge on the weekend to drop some inter-provincial trade barriers in order to create momentum for talks on making Canada a proper single market could be a game changer. It also comes with a note of seriousness that so many previous commitments lacked.

Here’s the prize: The International Monetary Fund said earlier this year that freer internal trade would increase per capita gross domestic product by about four per cent. It was an astonishing finding, given several studies predict the new North American trade agreement will have essentially no effect on GDP. It makes you wonder what could happen if the country’s business, political and media elite united in excitement over a Royal Rumble within the federation the way they obsessed over last year’s confrontation between Team Trudeau and the Trump administration.

Read full story @ https://business.financialpost.com/news/election-2019/want-to-know-who-is-taking-long-term-economic-growth-seriously-hint-he-doesnt-lead-a-national-party

Sachin Dev Duggal, Co-Founder of Shoto, Talks About a Career-Shaping Accomplishment

Sachin Dev Duggal is Co-founder of Shoto and SD Squared Labs. I enjoy speaking with entrepreneurs like Duggal. Why? Because Sachin has a macro-view of the world, an important skill to develop when you are trying to solve world problems.

Solving world problems not only requires a unique reframing of the issue, but it also needs support from individuals that are working on macro-issues. Finding a platform where Sachin could research solutions and consult magnets became the next stage of his development. 

Duggal was fortunate to find what he needed at the World Economic Forum. At WEF Sachin took full advantage as he met with Bill Gates, and discussed ideas with Paul Jacobs.

As a result, of his experience at the World Economic Forum Duggal donates to various charities including Keep a Child Alive by Alicia Keys.

What problem are you looking to solve? How are you reframing that problem? How are you connecting with others that can help you?

Let’s read on how Sachin Dev Duggal tackles these challenges.

CEO and Founder of Engineer.ai, Sachin Dev Duggal's Story

I (Sachin Dev Duggal) was born in London back in the day before broadband and studied in London. When I was 14 I managed to break my mother’s computer (T86 I think or 1x86) and under the nervousness of her wrath I read all day all week to get it fixed.

Eventually through early DOS programming I managed to get this back up and actually, got my first “fix”, something that would later become the key to anything tech I did.

The next year I wanted my own computer and built my own after much persuasion (I managed to narrowly avoid blowing it up), realizing that my PC cost was about 400 pounds less and so this was a great idea.

Long story short, I ended up building a PC business with my friends for the next couple of years, made more than enough money to pay for tennis lessons and candy and then went onwards to hosting.

Fast forward to December 2014, my final year of college, I rang up my best friend at 5am with an “I have an idea moment”, and went on to tell him how we would never have PCs again and that everything would be in the datacenter; and this began the start of Nivio, the world’s first desktop as a service company, one of the first providers of the cloud (in fact we owned the trademark for Cloud in some countries!). This was my best friend and I’s first “startup” and so much of the journey I felt like a learner driver in a formula one car; just because we were designing the track.

We spent the first 3 years trying to get license from Microsoft, Adobe and others, we built hardware that brought the cost of the CPE down to 50% and a mini netbook (we called the “Cloudbook”) that ran linux (do you remember Meego?) and connected to Windows in the cloud.

9 years in, and just over $21m in investment we exited the company in 2012; to a larger extent not out of our free will but in hindsight; a decision that has set us up to the times to come.
I took 3 months off after we exited, did the 10 days silent meditation and I was ready to get back on the track.

In 2012 I went on a road trip to Yosemite with one of my dearest friends on his Birthday (Ken) and throughout the trip I noticed so many people taking photos and asking the question of how we would share them, it got me thinking, we can send man to the moon but we still can’t “see the photos” our friends take.

From then till then I have spent most of my time building product and understanding user behavior only to realize no-one wants to share photos, there is no dopamine in private sharing. The key however is delivering the “seeing” of photos your friends take, and the new version of Shoto is based just on this.

Read Full Story @ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sachin-dev-duggal-co-foun_b_8917202

To Make In 2019 : 7 Best Investments

Investments to Consider in 2019

But, where should you invest your money? This question plagues both beginning investors and established pros. While no investment is guaranteed, I wanted to share my thoughts on the best investment options for 2019 and beyond.

#1: Stock Market

If you’ve been keeping up with stock market twists and turns lately, you have probably heard the rumors that a correction is on its way. The S&P 500 will have lost all its 2018 gains by the end of the year and then some, and many believe that’s just the beginning of a spiral that might last years.

But, if you’re investing for the long haul and have a long time to ride the wave before you retire, you may not have to worry too much. Financial advisor and author of The 8 Biggest 401(k) Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Mitchell Bloom says that it’s important to develop an investment philosophy so you have guidelines to keep you on track when emotions get in the way of investing.

CNBC News :Why Darren Huston is spending big?

“Emotions can hinder a good investment plan in different market environments, whether you’re experiencing a bull run where the markets are up, or a bear market where the markets are off 20% or more from their highs,” he says.

That’s why many investors focus on dollar cost averaging — a term used to describe a strategy where you invest the same amount of money every month. Dollar cost averaging allows investors to take advantage of opportunities when the price of investments go down since you’re buying all along. 

If you don’t feel comfortable buying individual stocks, consider investing in globally diversified, low-cost index funds. If you need some help and guidance along the way, you can also use the services of a robo-advisor like Betterment.

Betterment will help you outline your investing goals and figure out a long-term plan to achieve them instead of focusing only on returns. They can help you move into investments with lower fees than you’re paying now, and you can receive personalized advice for less than you’d pay a traditional financial advisor.

Finally, don’t forget that there’s an incredibly easy way to invest more money into the stock market that could also help you save money on taxes. By adding more money to your 401(k), you can reduce your taxable income and grow your wealth in one fell swoop.

Also remember that you may be able to reduce your taxable income by investing in a traditional IRA, and that you can invest after-tax dollars in Roth IRA too provided you meet income requirements.

Fortunately, the government has upped the amounts you can contribute to these accounts for 2019: $19,000 in a 401(k) and $6,000 across traditional and Roth IRAs.

8 Steps : How to Invest in Stocks for Beginners

You don't have to be rich to learn how to invest in stocks.

Only 55% of Americans invest in the stock market in 2019. That’s down from 63% of Americans who were invested in stocks directly (through equities), or indirectly (ETFs, mutual funds or retirement savings accounts) in 2004. Of those who invest, some people enlist the help of a financial advisor who makes a lot of the necessary investment decisions for them. But not everyone has the time, money and faith needed to use a financial advisor. The good news? Investing in the stock market has a lower barrier to entry than ever before. Here’s a brief breakdown of how to invest in stocks for beginners.

CNBC Article: Why Darren Huston booker-in-chief is spending big?

 

Make sure you're ready and able to invest.

Just as one walks before they run, so too does one save before they invest. That seems obvious, but this might not be: the rule of thumb is to have at least six months' worth of living expenses saved up should catastrophe strike before you can start buying stocks. On top of that, all credit card debt should be paid off before you set off to become Gordon Gekko 2.0. The interest you pay on credit card balances is typically 15% to 25%. Paying that down is the easiest way to guarantee yourself a return that high on your money. With free trading apps like Robinhood, there's no amount too small to start with – although starting with $1,000 to $2,000 makes things much easier.

Define goals.

Saving up for a car? House? School? Retirement? Do you want to get rich quick, or are you content to earn market returns on whatever extra money you can? These are all very different objectives, and honestly defining your goal is the first step to successful stock market investing – for beginners and veterans alike. If you know exactly how much money you want and when, you can calculate what you’ll need to regularly invest, assuming certain rates of return. Investors “should have realistic goals and make sure they are also using realistic rates of returns on their projections. Using a 12% rate of return is very different than using a 7% or 8% rate of return,” says Ryan Marshall, certified financial planner and partner at Ela Financial Group.

More at: - US News

Toyota and Aisin AW commit to combined $791M investment in Texas manufacturing

Texas serves as Toyota USA's home state and the company isn't shy about investing in its presence there.

 

Toyota's manufacturing presence in the US is absolutely huge, and that's in large part due to the company's commitment to building cars in the market for which they're intended.

One of the company's most important US plants is its truck assembly plant in San Antonio, and Toyota announced on Tuesday that it was investing a cool $391 million in the facility. That investment is part of Toyota's larger commitment to investing $13 billion in its US manufacturing infrastructure through 2025.

See also Why Darren Huston spent big? 

"What a huge win for San Antonio. This is exactly the kind of project our city has strategically been preparing for -- it shows we're a competitive region ready for big investment from large manufacturers," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a statement. "Toyota's investment in our people and our city creates opportunity that can change the lives of an entire generation."

Maybe even cooler than the investment of money in its factory is Toyota's plan to invest in the local workforce to help provide jobs for the plant. This will come in the form of a $500,000 donation to Alamo Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to providing tuition assistance for local students.

"We've been in the US for more than 60 years, creating a tremendous value chain in this country and creating an extensive footprint in the Alamo City since 2003," Chris Reynolds, Toyota Motor North America chief administrative officer of manufacturing and corporate resources, said in a statement. "With 10 US plants, [a] 1,500-strong dealer network, an extensive supply chain and other operations, we directly and indirectly employ over 475,000 Americans and are committed to investing here."

But wait, there's more. Aisin AW -- which is a major supplier for Toyota and is also a part of the Toyota Group -- is investing $400 million to build a facility in nearby Cibolo, Texas. It's expected to bring 900 new jobs to the community. 

More information at: CNET

 

Why Darren Huston spent big?

Darren Huston was trying to watch a hockey game; half-listening to a headhunter talk about a company he had never heard of before. But as the headhunter went on, the then 45years old executive in charge of Microsoft’s global consumer and online businesses tuned out the arena noise and began listening to what he thought was an impossible story.

“I said, ‘There’s nothing that big in Europe on the Internet,”’ Darren Huston recalled, laughing.

The 2011 call was from Booking.com, the Amsterdam-based unit of Priceline Group that dominates the European online travel market. By last year, Darren Huston became President and CEO of Priceline Group itself, which has come from dot-com laughingstock to the fifth most-valuable U.S. Internet company—if one still really considers it a U.S. company, because 90 percent of its profits come from overseas, most of them from Booking.com.

Everyone knows Booking and Priceline now. Continue reading

Darren Huston : Priceline tops on hotel bookings

After beating earnings expectations, the Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston, discusses how macro factors like oil and terrorism impact the travel environment.

Priceline tops on hotel bookings from CNBC.

Darren Huston : Mobile a vital driver of growth for the company

Darren Huston

Darren Huston says, "Mobile has been critical to our market share gains in the past year. It’s been driving more of our business direct, through repeats, rather than requiring us to have to buy it. That said, Priceline remains committed to paid acquisition as a technique. We need to keep throwing out the fishing net to acquire more customers, as long as we can do so with a positive return on investment. As mobile receives more direct business we don't have to pay for, we'll adjust our marketing mix to do paid elsewhere."

"Our next move as a company is to address homeowner-managed rather than professionally-managed vacation rentals....There is a lot of interest among our consumers in self-catered products.... We've taken steps here. We've adjusted our business system. We’ve rolled out a simple extranet. We have a lot of things in our pipeline to address the needs for a single-owner model. Delivering single-owner vacation rentals is ultimately where our destination as a company."

Read more @ https://www.phocuswire.com/Priceline-reported-a-solid-2014-on-the-strength-of-mobile-Asia

Shiv Shankaran Nair meets Kiribati president Dr. Tong

Shiv Shankaran Nair stated this in his meeting with Anote Tong, the three-times President of Kiribati, who called upon him at the group’s head office.

Dr. Tong is one of the world’s leading campaigners against global warming and climate change and sits on the board of many international organizations combating climate change.

Shiv Shankaran Nair, who was appointed as Vanuatu’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Commonwealth, has been instrumental in facilitating the UK-Vanuatu jointly-chaired commission on elimination of plastic waste in the oceans. Subsequently as principle advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vanuatu, he initiated Vanuatu’s membership of the International Coral Action Group, based in Monaco.

Shiv Nair has been negotiating on behalf of the Pacific microstates with European, primarily Spanish fishing companies, on adding value in-country, to the millions of euros worth of tuna netted annually in the Pacific by these companies.

As a result of his public relations experience, a group of Spanish companies have agreed to set up a salt processing plant in Kiribati which will be used by fishing vessels to keep their catch fresh until processing.


Source: MaltaToday