“Funds managing billions hunt for investment clues in newswires, weather, Twitter.
In SoHo offices where robots occasionally ply the hallways, dozens of Ph.D. scientists with degrees in fields like astrophysics, immunology and linguistics huddle every day around computer screens that show billions of dollars zapping around the world. Their goal: to give their secretive hedge-fund firm a leg up in investing the $24 billion it has under management.
In a room called the “Hacker’s Lab” where staff work on side projects, a researcher prints out an ergonomic keyboard on a 3-D printer while another teaches a Robot to play air hockey. A Robot from the lab occasionally plays shuffleboard in hallways.”
[#PhysicalComputing influence at Work] #FinanceAndBanking #ComputationalFinance#FinancialEngineering
A New breed of Wall Street “Quants” – They are “Makers”!
New breed of Wall Street “Quants” – They are “Makers”!
What does the not-so-distant future of Sports look like? Have a look!
“Digital Sports & Sports Science” : At My Ventures
#DigitalSports #PhysicalDigital
Applications Areas
1. Mechanical Systems, Robotic Player, Simulator
Cricket
Batting against a Machine that throws a ball with adjustable speed and spin / swing
3D video of bowler running towards the batsman and the machine throws the ball from a hole – feels like a real match; sound of crowds cheering
Table Tennis
Baseball
Tennis
Robocup
People playing not video games, rather with a Robot in the real world. More realistic than “Kinect”-like experience.
2. Big Data Analytics Applied to Sports
Player Analysis, Match Analysis Software
Cricket
Finding weakness of a batsman from database of description of every ball he faced and the strokes offered.
Computer Vision
Machine Learning, Statistics, Big Data
Soccer: Match Analysis
Machine learning & Statistical Analysis, Image Processing, Computer Vision (e.g., finding weakness of a batsman in cricket)
Application of Data Science / Visualization techniques to Team play Analysis (e.g., Soccer).
New “Abstractions” to name and describe various elements of “Play”.
New “Abstractions” to name and describe various “Strategies”.
Sensors for feedback, performance analysis (e.g., in Tennis, Golf, etc.)
3. “Athletic Skill” Acquisition:Motor Learning
Enumerating all the “Athletic skills”to play at “Expert” level or for a specific move, helping others learn those skills (making the skills automatic – so that players can perform them without thinking). Systematic acquisition of skills.
Learning a specific Athletic skill:
Biomechanics. Image processing. Use of “Sensors”.
How close to learning the skill? Feedback from Biomechanical Images – Movement of Muscle and bone (e.g. while learning the skill of “Serving” in Tennis).
4. Neural representations of over-lapping “Motor skills”
Hierarchical representation of Motor Skills in our brain.
Low level Motor skills (unconscious processes).
High level motor skills, each skill consisting of several “low level Motor skills”
(People learn these High Level skills consciously, but they become “unconscious process” with time. Do you remember the time when you started learning Cycling or Swimming? You were conscious that you were learning those “Skills”. But those skills became “automatic” with time. You no longer have to swim “by thinking how to swim”!)
Researchers working on Neural Representations of Motor Learning / Motor Skills
A brief overview of the nature of Physical Digital Retail #21stCenturyRenaissance
Retail has become a blur – with Physical Stores and Online Retail (together with Mobile) – each approaching the other to create something new – Physical Digital Retail.
Target, Macy‘s and Walmart, the Physical Stores, are focusing on
Online Retail and
In-store Mobile Tracking & Commerce
while Amazon and Google, the online giants, are investing in
“Same-day delivery Services” (the “instant gratification” factor – that only Physical Stores could offer in the past).
“In-store” Intelligent interfaces that interact with customers are beginning to make their appearances in Physical Stores.
Big Data and Analytical Tools will get popular among Physical Retailersfor tasks such as
Sales patterninvestigation
Supply chain management(SCM)
Product placement in Stores (utilizing methods such as Market basket Analysis).
“Physical Digital Retail” is big!
Youtube Playlist (Compiled By Me):
Physical Digital Retail : What does the future of Retail look like?
The Beginnings Of A Renaissance In The 21st Century #21stCenturyRenaissance
A Renaissance in Scientific and Engineering Innovation has quietly started in 2014 – mostly inside the walls of Large Corporate Houses.
People will begin to notice its impact within a year or so – when novel innovations from Corporations really start affecting our day to day lives and people begin to write and talk about those innovations widely.
My ideas and my writings are inspiration to this 21st Century Renaissance. My capacity to challenge the best Companies on the planet is the driving force.
Software & IT Corporations
Software & IT Corporations – Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon – all have renewed their focus on innovation.
We have already seen several new products.
Google bought lots of Companies (from “Robotics” & “Smart Home” Companies to “Artificial Intelligence” & “AeroSpace” Corporations) – belonging to areas which people thought Google would never venture into.
Microsoft brought Microsoft band, Microsoft HoloLens, Windows 10 and brought about changes to its corporate structure and company culture.
Facebook bought Oculus Rift and increased budget allocation for research and innovation (even if by compromising short term revenues – according to Zuckerberg).
We have already seen novel innovative products from Amazon and HP (including a Physical Digital Computer – “HP Sprout” [4] ).
And Apple, the consumer Electronics Company, has started working on a new Digital Car ( #DigitalCar ) – that is Self Driving [5] and Electric [6]and a new Search Engine [7].
Auto Companies
Auto Companies have renewed their efforts on innovation and research.
And It’s not justAmericanAuto Corporations. German and Japanese Auto Corporations are equally excited by innovation possibilities!
We witnessed their efforts and had a glimpse of our future cars in CES 2015.
German automakerMercedes-Benz showcased their “Concept Car” [3] – which is pretty far from “Cars” as we know them today!
Japanese automakerToyota unveiled almost 6000 patents concerning “Fuel Cell Technology” to the world – furthering opportunities for research and innovation for people all over the world in CES 2015 [2].
Physical Digital Computing
And in the mean time – several new areas of innovation are taking shape – (from Digital Manufacturing and “Wearables” to Smart Home and Physical Digital Retail) – all of which fall under the broad area “Physical Digital Computing”.
Innovations will accelerate by several magnitudes as soon as I start working on Engineering & Scientific Innovations : At My Ventures[1].
Welcome to the 21st Century Renaissance!
Welcome to a new World – a world far better than the world we used to live in!
“initiative will allow those who want to contribute to making changes in the world the opportunity to hear about how they can contribute by signing up through a new website, GlobalCitizen.org“
Physical Digital Computing (#PhysicalDigital) & Internet of Things (IoT) dominated this year’s Consumers Electronics Show – CES 2015, which was the bigget CES in recent times.
Smart Home, Wearables, Smart Car, Drones and 3D Printers were the hot topics of interest.
[e.g., Smoke sensors in buildings connected to the Fire department, leading to quicker responses in case of an emergency]
Smart management of City “Resources”
Traffic, Parking, etc.
Large Scale Engineering#LargeScaleEngineering
Digital Displays
=> Access to “City Services”
Examples:
Transportation, Metro-train, “On-demand Cars” etc.
=> When City Officials and National Leaders want to allocate budgets for “Smart City”, they look for Technologies that are visible, so that people can instantly identify the City as a “Smart City”.
“Digital Displays” with access to “City Services”, are one of the technologies that can play this role. The Spanish City of Barcelona embodies this concept.
[ “Digital Displays” in Barcelona ]
Urban Planning
Consulting to “City Governments”
City Budget Planning
Attracting Businesses
Smart City Services (IT-enabled)
City: Platforms & Services
Engaging and encouraging the Youth and Citizens
to devise solutions to City Problems,
to start new “Services” that make life better for City dwellers.
Starting new Competitions. Introducing Prizes, Awards, Honors.
– These would bring “life” to each City; and a sense of “excitement and engagement” among City dwellers.
Opening up “selected” Data-sets to Developers (respecting Individual Privacy):
“Intel CEO Brian Krzanich offered a glimpse into the company’s vision of the near future with a number of cutting-edge demonstrations including gesture controls, facial recognition security prompts, drones that know how to move around obstacles and a jacket that can help the visually impaired or blind sense what’s around them.
At the heart of many of the demonstrations was Intel’s RealSense 3D, the company’s depth-sensing camera technology.
Intel also made another push for wearables with Curie, a button-sized chip
“2015 is truly a unique year,” Krzanich said. “It‘s the beginning of the next consumer technology wave.”
“A self-parking car, a plant pot that knows when it needs watering and a tracker for your pet, are just some of the highlights of the world’s biggest gadget show in Las Vegas.”
Increasing urbanization, and its constituent clogging of roads;
a growing global middle class;
air quality, or what you could call a lack thereof in many parts of the world;
and finally, changing consumer sentiment, with shifts in the global economy seeing youths, for example, have different buying patterns than their parents.”
This year, the International CES may be energized by a wave of new exhibitors chasing a top trend in consumer electronics: the Internet of Things. The term refers to the concept of a world full of connected devices controlled through a consumer-friendly hub, like a smartphone app.
#SmartHome
#Wearables
Wi-Fi-connected ceiling fan controlled by a Nest Learning Thermostat, and automated door locks, light switches and LED bulbs. Under Armour, the sports apparel company that has experimented with smart sports clothing, will exhibit at CES, as will the Girl Scouts of America, which is introducing a new digital app
Apple … HomeKit development platform
Nexia Home Intelligence connects your smartphone, tablet, or computer with compatible items in your home, such as door locks or a thermostat.
two separate wristbands on display — the Reemo and the Myo — will let their wearers control video games, phones and connected devices in the home using arm waves and gestures.
“Aesthetics and fashion become a core component. It’s either hanging in my house or I’m wearing it every day.”
home products such as security systems, monitoring cameras, smart TVs and even connected baby monitors.
The antivirus and security company Bitdefender, for example, will show off its just announced Bitdefender box, which plugs into a home network and can protect connected devices from malicious software.
#SmartCar
Cars, too, will be increasingly connected at this year’s CES.
At this year’s show, Ford’s new chief executive, Mark Fields, and Dieter Zetsche, the head of Mercedes-Benz, will give keynote addresses that focus on innovation in the auto industry, including advances in making cars smarter and eventually able to drive themselves.
Volkswagen
4K TVs, or ultra-high-definition sets, with built-in Internet connections
#DigitalManufacturing
#VirtualReality
#AugmentedReality
other major themes at the show would include 3-D printing, games and virtual reality; the headset maker Oculus VR. And he said he expected health and biotech to be big trends, as well.”
“Tech companies, banks and retailers try to make cash a thing of the past. Apple Pay, a new iPhone 6 feature that allows users to buy goods in physical stores with a wave of the device …
Mobile Commerce in US is expected to rise 35% in 2015”
This electric car, retrofitted to drive itself, is being tested in Singapore.
“Singapore plans to let anyone test driverless cars in one of its busy neighborhoods in 2015.
The city-state will open one of its neighborhoods to driverless cars in 2015, with the idea that such vehicles could operate as a kind of jitney service, picking up passengers and taking them to trains or other modes of public transportation.
the government wants to explore whether autonomous vehicles could reduce congestion and remake the city into one built around walking, bicycling, and public transit.”
“The Science Museum is hosting a new engineering exhibition – aimed at 11-15 year olds opened today and will run for the next three years. Engineer Your Future features a variety of objects and interactive games and was described by a museum spokesperson as “an exhibition about careers that doesn’t feel about careers”.
The exhibition includes a game to design a Mars rover, a 3D printed city onto which a game is projected and challenges to deliver luggage in an airport and run trains on time … advice also available about how to pursue a career in engineering or take up further studies.”
“The new elevator technology, nicknamed Multi, can go sideways as well as up and down and will begin testing in 2016.
The innovative new elevator uses magnetic levitation (maglev) technology”
“Tim Berners Lee, Louis Pouzin, Robert Kahn,Vint Cerf and Marc Andreessen have been awarded the first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in recognition of their work on the internet and the web.”
“By 2008, Hawking’s hand was too weak to use the clicker.
… “cheek switch”. Attached to his glasses, it could detect, via a low infrared beam, when Hawking tensed his cheek muscle.
By 2011, he managed only about one or two words per minute
designed by Words Plus. It provided him with a keyboard on the screen and a basic word-prediction algorithm. A cursor automatically scanned across the keyboard by row or by column and he could select a character by moving his cheek to stop the cursor.
Hawking now uses an adaptive word predictor from London startup SwiftKey which allows him to select a word after typing a letter, whereas Hawking’s previous system required him to navigate to the bottom of his user interface and select a word from a list. But He was used to predicting his own word predictor.”
The new version of Hawking’s user interface includes contextual menus that provide Hawking with various shortcuts to speak, search or email
“The idea is to have a camera pointed at Stephen’s face to pick up not just his cheek movements but other facial movements,” says Wood. “He could move his jaw sideways, up and down, and drive a mouse and even potentially drive his wheelchair.
a joystick that attaches to Hawking’s chin and allows him to navigate his wheelchair independently.”
[I wish I could engineer a better and more suitable User Interface for Dr. Stephen Hawking.]
“A £1 million government pot has been awarded to seven startups working on internet of things projects to help solve problems facing UK businesses.
Winners include a company working on sensors for digital farms, a compact air quality monitoring system and a project using data to make cycling safer in towns and cities. The seven companies are all based in either London or Cambridge and will share the £1m grant provided by the government-funded Innovate UK programme.”
The new UCL East campus will focus on technology and engineering
“University College London (UCL) is to build a huge campus on the Olympic Park in a bid to inspire research in technology and engineering.
… the university says it will forge “new connections” between researchers and businesses while creating a space for “radical innovation, new insights and new industries” in the UK.”
[Next: A “Silicon Valley” – “kind of”Tech & Entrepreneurial Hub– somewhere near London!]
“the company is taking a novel approach towards overcoming the usual need for cables. It is doing this by wirelessly connecting small mobile antennas to suitable macro sites.
The technology has already been tested in the village of Sebergham in Cumbria. All 129 households and small businesses within the village can now receive data and voice connectivity thanks to just three meshed antennas that have been installed across the town.”
“The £125 spit test kit is not a diagnostic test, but instead identifies genes that are associated with inherited conditions including cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and sickle cell anaemia.”
“The title recognises the design innovations Dundee has contributed to the world, including aspirin, biomedical research which has led to hundreds of new cancer drugs, comics including the Beano and Dandy, orange marmalade, and video games including Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.
The city’s waterfront is also undergoing a 30-year, £1bn regeneration project including the V&A Dundee museum of design.”
“In order to kick-start its smart-city programme, the government ran a competition last year and the winner, Glasgow, was given £24m to spend on smart technologies.
Some of the money (in Glasgow) may go on using big data … energy efficiency … solve crime … intelligent lighting”
Glasgow
Bristol won the £3m runner-up prize
Bristol plans, to open up a wealth of government data that can be turned into useful apps and services.”
