Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Collaborates With Pinewood Forrest To Deliver Fiber Connectivity

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) closed at $37.82 losing 1.84% in yesterday’s trading session. This company will soon be partnering with Pinewood Forrest to give 10-gigabit service to businesses and 1-gigabit speed internet to residents. The online experience that will come along with the technology is expected to play a huge role towards helping users perform high-bandwidth activities with speed.

Every homeowner in Pinewood Forrest will be entitled to the enjoyment of Comcast’s X1 and gigabit-speed Internet service. X1 happens to be the simplest way for each of them to access entertainment on their screens.

The Xfinity Digital Starter tier comprises of a complimentary set top box, the Xfinity Stream app and about 140 channels. It is pretty easy for the users in one home to stream movies, download files, play games and surf the web simultaneously. Each and every resident is at the moment looking forward to obtaining a Gig and TV service for a year. Currently, Comcast provides gigabit-speed Internet across its service footprint in the greater Atlanta.

Pinewood Forrest was envisioned as a community for artisans, storytellers and creatives. Upon completion, it will serve as a home to over 3,000 residents. Also, almost 3,500 professionals working on the Pinewood Atlanta Studios campus will be able to access it.

Pinewood Forrest’s Builders Guild will be entrusted with the provision of the complementary service. The Builders Guild is made up of about four local builders, each possessing an in-depth understanding of Pinewood Forrest’s vision.

Comcast has promised that it will be providing up to 10-gigabit speeds to shops, businesses and restaurants within Pinewood Forrest. On top of that, the community’s 118 acres of green space is set to be connected through XFINITY WiFi service.

Asides from that, most of the business customers at Pinewood Forrest have revealed their intention to leverage on the cloud-based solutions and the ultra-fast Internet connectivity to achieve their goals.

The President of Pinewood Forrest, Rob Parker opined, “In today’s digital world, connectivity and speed are crucial, and even more so to our community of movie studio professionals.”

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QUALCOMM, Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon Processor Set To Power The ASUS ZenFone 4 Series

The stock of QUALCOMM, Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) closed at $51.55 gaining 0.82% in yesterday’s trading session. The leading wireless chipset manufacturer through its subsidiary – Qualcomm Technologies, Inc has already made the required preparations.

It will soon be integrating its new imaging technology and fast connectivity to the ASUS ZenFone 4 family of smartphones. That will of course be with its diverse Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platforms. Most probably, the ASUS ZenFone 4 series of smartphones might just turn out to be the first commercial smartphone to feature 802.11ad multi-gigabit Wi-Fi technologies and Gigabit LTE. It is expected to deliver ultra-fast virtually seamless gigabit connectivity on the go as well as indoors.

The Snapdragon X16 Gigabit LTE modem is integrated into the Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform and it thus enables the ZenFone 4 Pro to download faster. That takes speeds of about 4G LTE with Qualcomm TruSignal dual-antenna technology backed up by a superior signal quality.

Qualcomm Technologies’ 11ad Wi-Fi makes it possible for the various users to move ahead and download as well as share 4k videos in the shortest time possible. Asides from that, it also enables them to enjoy a super-fast access to various cloud services.

Asides from that, the gigabit connectivity, the Asus ZenFone 4 Pro also stands to benefit quite much from the integrated Qualcomm Spectra 180 Image Signal Processor (“ISP”).It is thus able to offer features of the most recent generation of Qualcomm Adreno 540 Graphics Processing Unit (“GPU”) and the dual 14-bit image signal processing.

Experts purport that the feature will move quite a long way towards enhancing the gadget’s imaging experience. The different users will thus be able to enjoy a 360-degree immersive visual capture experience.

The company’s spokesperson opined, “Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Mobile Platforms will support the ZenFone 4 and ZenFone 4 Selfie series. The latest Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform allows the ASUS ZenFone 4 deliver fast, energy efficient performance with extended battery life.”

The one unique attribute about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors is the fact that they are widely known for their Internet of Things (“IoT”) applications.

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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) Settles On Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) For New Chip

The stock of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) closed at $345.25 gaining 0.08% in yesterday’s trading session. This provider may settle for Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in the manufacture of chips for the “infotainment” system in the cars of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).

A lot of people expected it to chose NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), but that didn’t happen. Shortly after the announcement of the news, the shares of Intel were seen to move a notch higher.

The on-board entertainment and information system behind the large screens in the center console of Tesla cars will be powered by the Intel chips. Most of the car’s features are controlled by the drivers through those screens. For instance, the Model 3 sedan manufactured by Tesla is practically devoid of any dials and switches on its dashboard. Almost all the processes require that users control everything through the on-screen system.

News reporters moved out to try and engage with both Nvidia and Intel in a bid to get them to comment in relation to the matter. Unfortunately, none of them was immediately available to comment. In an in an email to CNBC, Tesla spokesperson outlined that it was the provider’s policy to always take a back-seat whenever it was asked to comment on anything it considered speculation.

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is considering lowering its dependence on personal computers. Asides from that, it has also been trying to persuade the various car makers on the great need for them to utilize its powerful processors in the manufacture of vehicles. Such vehicles will be capable of making more important decisions. Intel has been pretty silent regarding the revenue it obtains from the market.

One of the top officials working with Tesla opined, “The main prize for chipmakers will be providing the computing engine that allows cars to become fully autonomous. Those systems are still in development with automakers and chipmakers announcing test programs with multiple partners.”

A large number of cars in the current times are being manufactured with more electronics inside. That has made the automotive market increasingly important to most of the chipmakers. In the past two years, Nvidia’s stock surged more than sixfold.

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Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) To Unveil A Gadget To Serve Translation Purposes

The stock of Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) closed at $234.49 losing 2.53% in yesterday’s trading session. This Chinese web company and search giant has expressed its great commitment towards making it a lot much easier for all tourists to get around Japan, China and the English-speaking countries. To achieve its objective, it will soon be unveiling a new gadget. It will have the ability to listen to a given person speak in a particular language and then immediately repeat it back in another language.

It is easy for anyone to argue out that this is basically a role that can be played by most of the phone apps. However, the expected gadget is expected to come with more benefits. It hasn’t been assigned a name to this point in time, but that will happen with time.

This translation device will impress most of the users considering that it won’t be draining on a user’s battery. The most amazing part is the fact that the translation device will be automatic. That will be contrary to the phone apps which will always require that users open them up and set them up before they get going. Baidu is considering setting up a dedicated internet connection into the translator as well. It is reportedly said that it will be serving as a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Nikkei has revealed that Baidu has plans underway to unveil the device in China, with units being available for both rent and buy. A lot of analysts tend to be in favor of the rent option. It makes more sense considering that this is a device that one needs only for between one to two weeks and upon extension it moves to one year.

It is not yet clear as to how soon the product will go on sale. At the moment, the only available image looks like a mock-up but one thing that is for sure is that it will weight far less than a smartphone. In terms of weight, it will be about five ounces. The company hopes to unveil the device in Japan next year.

An official working with the provider opined, “There’s no word on which other languages the device will support, but Nikkei reports that it’ll be compatible with cell networks in 80 countries.”

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Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Alexa Makes Waves In The Home Smart

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Echo has increasingly become the hit on the market as a smart home product. With numerous features, every organization wants to integrate its products and services with Amazon’s customizable virtual assistant, Alexa. As the integrations keep increasing at a faster rate, it’s hard to understand which products preferably work well with Alexa. Though Amazon is trying to keep things in order, its interface on the website is still tough to navigate. Also, it’s clear that one doesn’t require an Echo to use Alexa.

The company has not only integrated Alexa into its other products, such as the Fire TV and the new Echo Show, but has also allowed the third-party hardware developers to construct Alexa into their own devices including allowing Ford to incorporate the virtual assistant tool into its new car models.

Though Apple’s Siri is among the oldest voice-based virtual assistant to be launched, there are some reactions from various groups of people that the tool is far less than enthusiastic. But a former employee of Apple stated that even though Amazon and Google smart products have made waves in the home smart space, they generally focus on the audio quality than the intelligence. However, another former employee blames Apple for concentrating on the user privacy which consumes too much data rather than improving on the essential market capabilities.

Another report from WSJ mentions that several Apple ex-workers and developers were disappointed at the recent launch of the Amazon Echo showing that Amazon had figured out a lot of things than what Siri had already mastered. In addition, Siri’s delay in allowing the third parties to access its app and the company’s limited accessibility is another obstacle for Siri.

Apple needs to set its priorities right by making significant improvements to Siri so as to match other market competitors. However, one advantage about Siri is that it supports more than 21 languages, while Google Home has seven languages and Alexa speaks only two languages, English and German.

A few days ago, Amazon was reportedly planning to launch a new pair of Alexa-enabled smartglasses, which transmits sounds directly into the user’s head discreetly rather than using headphones.

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) To Take On Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) More Aggressively Through The New HTC Deal

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary Google is looking to take the fight to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) through the recently announced plan to acquire HTC’s engineering and design team.

Google revealed on Thursday that it the deal for the acquisition of some of the Taiwanese company’s employees was already in motion. The HTC deal is considered to be a significant move for Google because it will help to transform the Google Pixel so that it will be more competitive against Apple’s iPhone. The internet and software giant is most likely planning to take a more aggressive stance when it comes to its handset strategy and this most likely points towards a strong offering for the next generation Google Pixel phones.

The HTC deal also highlight’s Google’s increased focus on hardware. The company has so far had a lot of influence in terms of software because it owns the Android OS which is used in billions of handsets all over the world. However, it has not been a major player when it comes to hardware but the birth of the Google Pixel line ushered an opportunity to dive deeper into hardware.

“Our team’s goal is to offer the best Google experience across hardware, software, and services to people around the world,” stated Rick Osterloh in a blog post that announced the HTC deal.

Google is also trying to follow a similar strategy adopted by other companies including Apple and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). It involves having a strong presence in both software and hardware. Microsoft did this with its Surface line of products which have been quite successful.

Google’s venture into the handset market proved quite a challenge due to the fact that the market was already saturated with major players such as Apple and Samsung. Making an impact was thus going to be challenging but the company managed to attract a lot of attention with the Google Pixel This is especially because its camera was rated as the best handset camera in 2016. Google still has a long way to go if it wants to one-up the competition but it certainly has the resources to do so.

Alphabet stock closed the latest trading session on Thursday at $947.55.

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Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Is Building Its First Wearable Device To House Alexa

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is working on its pair of first smart-glasses to house its virtual assistant Alexa, a home security camera that could be connected to a smartphone. The wearable device is designed to look exactly as the regular pair of spectacles that can be worn comfortably and discreetly. Reports show that the device could be launched before the year ends but an Amazon spokesperson rejected the rumors, saying that the company policy does not allow them to comment on speculation.

The smart glasses are not the only product that Amazon is planning to launch. Reports indicate that the company is growing its smart home with an addition of home security camera system with an internet-connected camera tied to its echo products. The devices would allow Amazon customers to monitor their orders on the site and have them delivered to them. While Amazon has experienced failures in the past including the Fire phone, which flopped costing the company huge amounts of cash.

Amazon has already sold numerous Alexa-enabled devices across the globe and its plans to enhance Alexa shows that the company is keen on taking risks with new technologies. Today, an internet-connected security camera is the basis of smart home and has become a popular accessory among the Americans. Amazon selected a secretive product development team to study the smart-home market to compare other devices that the company can build, but the move to settle on the smart glasses is unexpected and risky, considering that the product is yet to be tested on the market.

Smart glasses which would be Amazon’s first wearable would enable Alexas from anywhere compared to the current devices where customers use the static in-home speakers. However, Google and Apple have a strategic advantage over Amazon which has no mobile phone platform of its own. Amazon may not create its voice AI into smartphone hardware where customers may access easily hence the product is likely to face challenges in the long run. Amazon has grappled with connected device portfolio since it launched its first Echo smart speaker in 2014 and the journey seems to have just started.

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Subsidiary Google’s Head Of Artificial Intelligence Thinks Elon Musk’s Worries About An AI Apocalypse Are Overstated

Elon Musk recently expressed his concerns about the threat that artificial intelligence poses in the future but Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary Google’s head of AI, John Giannandrea claims that those worries are overblown.

Giannandrea stated that people are already having a hard time trying to understand AI. This was in response to previous claims by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk who expressed a lot of concerns over the possibility of a machine apocalypse as AI rapidly develops. However, the Google executive shot down those claims as hyped up worries. He believes that the assumption that AI might become a reality at some point in time but rather than pose a threat to humans, it will help improve their lives.

“I am definitely not worried about the AI apocalypse. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to discuss [the concerns], but what I object to is the belief that it’s inevitable…and I think that if we have better machine intelligence, it need not be scary, it can augment us,” stated Giannandrea.

A few years ago, the Google executive compared AI to a four-year-old boy but he recently changed his stance on the matter, stating that the situation is currently worse than that. He also added that there has been a lot of hype regarding AI and that a lot of people are unreasonably concerned. Giannandrea pointed out that AI and Machine Learning are a vital part of revolutionizing many industries.

Giannandrea also reiterated that AI and machine learning are focusing on improving user productivity. Meanwhile, Musk has become one of the most trusted tech leaders on account of his success in various technologies including autonomous vehicle systems, electric cars and space travel. He has also been quite vocal when it comes to criticizing various technology aspects. His claim about AI being a reason to worry raises the question of whether Musk knows something that the rest of the world is still oblivious of.

Alphabet stock closed the latest trading session on Tuesday at $936.86 after a 0.76 percent gain compared to the value of the stock during the previous close on Monday.

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Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) To Testify In Case Investigating The Involvement Of Russians In 2016 U.S Election

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and other social media giants are expected to testify in a legal proceeding that is currently investigating the involvement of Russians in last year’s U.S presidential election.

One of the top Democrat members of the House committee involved in the investigation revealed that Facebook and other social media firms including Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) would testify. The investigations are currently trying to determine whether the Russians played a part in the outcome of the elections.

“They need to be fully forthcoming. And I’m confident they will. I think, frankly, they need to come and testify before congress because there’s a lot we need to know about this,” stated Rep. Adam Schiff, regarding the social media companies.

Facebook recently revealed that fake accounts reportedly owned by Russians acquired political ads worth $100,000. Copies of the ads along with the details attached to them have already been submitted to special counsel Robert Mueller. The submission already suggests that the acquisition of the ads by the Russian accounts means that they had vested interest in the outcome of the presidential election.

Schiff told ABC’s “This Week” that the agenda of the Russians was to cause a divide in the U.S especially on some of the most critical issues in the country. He further added that all Americans regarded of their political affiliation should be angered by what the Russians tried to do. Thus the need to know the full extent to which they used social media to influence Americans.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) who are the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee have already expressed their interest in discussing the matter with the heads of the major social media companies. Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify in court this month in a different matter. His firm is currently defending its plan to start issuing non-voting stock to shareholders. Zuckerberg is expected to testify on September 26 this year in a Delaware Chancery court.

Facebook stock closed the latest trading session on Monday at $170.01 after tanking by 0.95 percent compared to the value of the stock during the previous close.

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WhatsApp Messaging App Owned By Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Is Working On An ‘Unsend Message’ Feature

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is reportedly working on an “unsend message” feature that will allow users to delete already sent messages even if they had already been delivered to the recipient.

The WhatsApp team is reportedly testing the “unsend message” feature thus suggesting that it might soon be available for users. Various rumors regarding the feature claim that it is currently in the late stages of testing and that it might be launched soon through an update. The rumors also claim that servers can now handle or facilitate the feature.

The new feature which has been given the name “Delete for Everyone” has led to a lot of speculation regarding how it will work. The most viable explanation is that it will allow WhatsApp users to recall messages they have already sent even if the recipient has already received the message. A user will basically have the ability to delete a text that is already visible in the recipient’s thread.

London-based Twitter account, WABetaInfo was one of the sources that revealed the news about the pipeline WhatsApp feature. WABetaInfo tests WhatsApp updates before they are available to other users and it claims that “Delete for Everyone” will soon be available.

“WhatsApp is finally testing the Delete for Everyone feature: The server finally works and it successfully recalls the message,” stated WABetaInfo.

The reports also claim that the feature will work on all types of messages including images, gifs, texts, status replies, documents, and videos. This is certainly good news for WhatsApp users especially because it offers the convenience of deleting accidentally sent content. However, it is not the first time that such a feature has been seen in a messaging platform. The Skype video call and messaging platform which is owned by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also has a similar feature that allows messages to be deleted by the sender even if seen by the recipient. However, the Skype feature only allows this for a limited duration of time and older messages cannot be deleted. The upcoming feature for WhatsApp is expected to function in a similar way but Facebook has not revealed any details to confirm the rumors.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Dispute With QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) Putting It At A Disadvantage Against Rivals

The dispute between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and chipmaker QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) might in the end be disadvantageous to the iPhone maker since it will give its rivals an edge. This is because Apple is using Intel modem chips in some its new iPhones and Qualcomm chips in others.

In those iPhones that the Cupertino, California-based tech giant is using Qualcomm’s chips, it is disabling the features which give these chips an edge over the ones provided by Intel. This is with the objective of maintaining consistency in performance among all the devices.

$1 billion lawsuit

Traditionally the world’s biggest corporation by market capitalization has preferred not to be reliant on one component supplier. This makes it highly unlikely that it would choose Qualcomm as its sole supplier of modem chips and this even gets more complicated with the ongoing dispute between the two firms.

The dispute between the two took a legal turn when earlier in the year Apple filed a $1 billion lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of unfair pricing practices and illegal market monopoly. Qualcomm also retaliated by lodging a complaint with the International Trade Commission asking for the body to ban the importation of iPhones into the United States on the basis that they had infringed on patents.

EVDO/CDMA standard

One reason why Apple might have chosen to use modem chips manufactured by Qualcomm on some of its iPhones is because these chips are the only ones that are compatible with the EVDO/CDMA networks of Sprint and Verizon.

“Intel’s baseband does not currently support CDMA — therefore the GSM versions of iPhone still won’t work on CDMA networks such as Verizon, Sprint, at Japanese carriers, or at China Telecom,” said Chris Caso an analyst at Raymond James.

However, Intel is expected to dismantle Qualcomm’s monopoly with regards to modem chips that work on the EVDO/CDMA networks as it is launching a modem chip, the XMM 7560, which will be compatible with the standard. This modem chip is not expected to be ready for iPhones until next year though.

On Wednesday shares of Apple Inc fell by 0.86% to close the day at $158.28.

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Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) Hires Former Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Executive Kay Madati As Its New Head Of Content Partnerships

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has announced that it has hired Kay Madati, a former executive at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to lead its content partnerships division.

The company made the announcement yesterday, revealing that it namedMadati as its new executive in charge of content partnerships.He will be taking over from Ross Hoffman who stepped down from the position after seven years at Twitter. The fact that Madati also happens to be a former Facebook executive makes it even more interesting because having experience at the two social media giants is quite an achievement.

“Excited to join @Twitter as head of content partnerships & to work with @anthonynoto + other amazing leaders,” stated Madati in a Tweet.

Madati already has quite the portfolio of positions. He was the head of entertainment and media global marketing solutions during his tenure at Facebook. Before that, he worked at CNN where he contributed significantly towards making social media a part of daily programming on multiple platforms. He has also held down marketing and operations positions at BMW North America and Octagon Worldwide.

Madati joins Twitter after exiting his previous position at BET which he secured in September 2014 after leaving Facebook. During his BET tenure, he was in charge of social, digital and mobile strategies. He also oversaw various other aspects including content creation, technology, operations and product development throughout BET’s various digital platforms.

Twitter hopes that Madati’s vast industry experience will play a significant role in its plans for the future of content partnerships. However, he joins the company at a time when the company’s relationship with investors has been rocky. There have been numerous changes in the company’s leadership body, especially over the past year. The social media company has been struggling to grow its user numbers. The new hire also comes at a time when the firm has been aggressively pushing its video content strategy to accommodate a wide variety of content such as live sports. Madati’s role at Twitter will include overseeing the content strategy and helping the firm to achieve more growth in this area through strategic partnerships.

Twitter stock closed the latest trading session on Wednesday at $18.20.

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Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Takes To Preloading Instant Videos

The stock of Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) closed at $173.51 gaining 1.50% in yesterday’s trading session. There is a glimmer of hope for a large number of the company’s users that occupy the spotty areas. That was after a section of Facebook’s android users took to testing a series of videos that could download over Wi-Fi and pre-load before opening the app.

Facebook recently made its statement explaining that the Instant Videos feature was to help facilitate the removal of data costs as a barrier to watching videos on its platform. Enabling the feature is a mechanism that will see to it that a large number of users avoid a wide array of the spotty cellular network connection issues. The other thing would be to try and save on the company’s cellular data allowance.

Videos pre-downloaded, pointed to by a lightning bolt, are expected to have no load time before the actual viewing. To this particular moment, there isn’t yet a vivid outlook on how Facebook should determine how long the various videos stay downloaded to any given user’s smartphone or the specific videos to be pre-downloaded.

The company’s spokesperson opined, “When you’re on Wi-Fi, we’ll save some videos for you so you can watch them without using mobile data.”A number of analysts have termed the introduction of the dedicated Watch tab a good thing. It sees it as a deliberate plan for the company to draw more users to its platform and services.

Reports indicate that the mobile ad revenue accounted for about 87 percent of the company’s ad revenue which currently stands at $9.2 billion. The company did not move ahead to give any details regarding when it will be rolling out the Instant Videos feature.

Facebook is confident that this development together with others it has made lately will help it generate more revenues in years to come. The company has plans underway to use the revenues towards carrying out major business expansions. With the market competition getting heated up each and every passing day, the company hopes to sharpen its competitive edge in order to maintain its position.

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) Makes A Major Leeway Into The Digital Economy

A few months back, Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) bought the Whole Foods Market. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) has been in the same realm before.

Two years back, Alibaba penetrated the consumer psyche. That was after the provider took to putting in place Hema, its own supermarket chain. Any user with the Hema supermarket app can easily hook up to Alibaba’s payment system and commerce platform. Shopping for groceries online is now much easier for customers. The Hema chefs are available to prepare any purchased fresh foods. These foods are then paid for through the Alibaba online payment platform Alipay.

R.J. Hottovy, a morning star analyst opined, “Historically, supermarket food delivery has been a difficult, low-profit category from an e-commerce perspective. It doesn’t make a ton of profit but the rationale is that it gets people to keep coming back to their online ecosystem, moving Alibaba from a customer acquisition phase to a customer engagement phase.”

Hopefully, groceries will just be but a section of the company’s many businesses that will be interconnected via the digital economy. It will move quite a long towards helping ensure customer loyalty.

Alibaba has expressed its determination to succeed and sees its expansion into the multiple facets of the digital economy as a major step forward since its establishment. Asides from that, it considers itself to be one of the most trusted companies in the provision of data. The data has been found to be quite useful especially when it comes to carrying out promotions and advertisement too. Through the sale of the data, Alibaba has empowered the sellers of products on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in a major way. Most of them have taken advantage of the data to better target a large number of buyers.

A spokesperson working with Alibaba has revealed that the company has plans under way to  complete the construction of a new brick-and-mortar mall. It expects to unveil it in April. It will comprise of a Hema grocery store and that together with other business undertakings will help the company generate higher revenues.

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Ivo Rook Named The Senior VP of IoT For Sprint Corp (NYSE:S)

The stock of Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) closed at $7.74 losing 2.89% in yesterday’s trading session. This provider’s newly created position of senior vice president of IoT will be filled by Ivo Rook, a seasoned Internet of Things (IoT) executive. Sprint made this announcement today and it expressed optimism that the official will do a remarkable job towards enhancing its IoT business.

As a strategic advisor, the official is expected to help both Sprint and Softbank come up with better plans and strategies that will help the two generate higher revenues.

The official worked with Vodafone for seven years where he served as the chief executive officer of the provider’s IoT Business. In that particular capacity, the official will lead Vodafone’s IoT strategy, driving its growth, operations, products, and profit and loss around the world.

The president of Sprint Business, Jan Geldmacher opined “We’re very excited to have someone of Ivo’s caliber and expertise lead our IoT organization. He brings a wealth of experience to Sprint including organizational leadership, sales success and the ability to develop end-to-end product and marketing strategy that leads to sustained growth for companies.”

Rook will be heading a body of world-class product specialists who will soon be engaging in the development IoT solutions in a segment that that has been witnessing immense growth in the recent years. The leader will be working on the formulation of growth strategies to take B2B and B2B2C a notch higher.

AT&T Inc (NYSE:T), Sprint, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) and T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) are collaborating to come up with a taskforce that will see them develop a mobile authentication solution. Both enterprises as well as the customers are set to start enjoying the associated benefits from 2018.

The Mobile Authentication Taskforce will be able to sail through smoothly considering the fact that it enjoys support from the four largest U.S. mobile network operators. The Chief Technology Officer of GSMA, Alex Sinclair agrees that indeed security and authentication are matters that affect most of the people. This taskforce has expressed confidence that it will indeed be able to resolve issues of identity theft and fraud.

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Recruiting Artificial Intelligence Specialists In China

Reports indicate that Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is building an artificial intelligence team in China despite the fact that its online search engine is still blocked on the mainland. According to online jobs listings posted by the tech giant on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) LinkedIn, Google has been on a recruitment drive since May.

Among the positions that have been advertised are for a machine learning technology software engineer, a technical lead and research scientists. All the positions are based in Beijing. In yet another job posting which first appeared three months ago Google advertised to recruit a cloud machine learning product manager. Google’s move is likely to pile pressure on Chinese online search leader, Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU).

Competitive pressures

“Google’s recruiting creates additional pressures for [its competitors]. There’s still great benefits for a Chinese engineer going to work for a large US firm…” Mark Natkin of Marbridge Consulting, a tech research firm based in Beijing, said.

Google’s plans to bolster its artificial intelligence team in mainland China comes in the wake of the Chinese government setting out an ambitious plan in which aims to outpace the United States in AI and emerge as the global leader by 2030. By 2020 it is expected that the artificial intelligence sector will be worth approximately $23 billion. AI-related sectors will be worth many times more, according to projections by the government.

AI applications market

Similarly IDC, a research firm, has projected that the global spending on artificial and cognitive intelligence will exceed $46 billion in the next three years. This year the amount that is expected to be spent on the two sectors is $12.5 billion. In mainland China the applications market for artificial intelligence is expected to grow at a rate of 50% year-over-year. This will be higher than the global growth rate of 20% as per a report prepared by consulting firm McKinsey.

Google’s recruitment drive in China coincides with a move by the online search giant to create a division known as Google.ai which is solely dedicated to artificial intelligence. During the launch of the new business division executives of the tech firm announced several artificial intelligence initiatives including making it possible for Google Maps to detect street signs automatically as well as the adoption of machine learning to improve Google Search.

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Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) Focus On Tying Future To North Sea Despite Challenges

The stock of Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) closed at $57.88 gaining 1.49% in yesterday’s trading session. This company and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) are the top oil and gas producers in the UK North Sea. Despite the broad retreat in the recent years, these two still tie their future to the ageing offshore basin, and their business strategies have been discovered to be pretty similar.

Both Shell and BP have plans underway to in the course of this year explore new resources in the North Sea. It happens to be one of the oldest deepwater hubs experiencing adverse weather conditions. In a joint move they have sold a large portion of the North Sea fields, a large number of them at the verge of extinction.

However, they still continue hoping for golden opportunities in this wake where technologies seem to be opening up a wide array of profitable resources. Oil is currently trading at about $50 a barrel, though in some cases the figure is lower than that.

Bob Dudley, the BP Chief Executive opined, “We like the North Sea. It has been an important hub for us for a long time and it will remain one. This year we will be drilling six exploration wells in the UK North Sea. That’s more than we drilled in decades.”

It was in the 1970s that the North Sea rose to become a major offshore hub. However, the peak of its production is traced to the late 1990s.It has done quite much towards staging its modest recovery and that is why 2015 will go down records as a rather transformative moment for the provider. The British government has laid claims that it has been holding on to about 20 billion barrels.

Harsh weather conditions as well as the extremely high costs are considerable factors especially when it comes to the determination of prices among other things. But the North Sea has been seen to pay quite a major focus on providing guaranteed payments and a stable tax regime which has continued to give it a competitive edge over the others.

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Collaborates With Xiaomi In A Bid To Capture A Huge Market Share

The stock of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) closed at $928.45 and maintained the same position in yesterday’s trading session. This provider had over numerous instances attempted to lock down the enormous Indian smartphone market with its Android One smartphone program.

Google was optimistic that the Android One would succeed at impressing a lot of users by helping them obtain cheap smartphones employing latest version of Android. This was indeed a remarkable strategy towards kicking out Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) while at the same time guarding against the chaos of Android fragmentation.

Just like it usually happens with a lot of plans, matters did not play out according to the provider’s plan. Google won’t stop there and has resorted to taking another crack at it. The company will be collaborating with Xiaomi, a move that will lead to offering the Chinese provider’s mid-range Mi A1 as the new Android One flagship.

The current times are witnessing a number of the 4G networks roll out aggressively across the country. Only about 50% of phone users have converted to smartphones so far. A population of 1.32 billion sheds light on India as a lucrative business opportunity. That is for any selling the products needed by such a huge population.

Analyst have taken the perspective that Google needs to consider hooking large segment of those numbers with its services .Most probably, that could end up boosting its stock by quite a large margin.

An official working with Google stated, “Having Android One partners offer Android devices that received official updates reduced the degree of fragmentation. It ensured buyers had direct access to the latest Google services, instead of having third-party equivalents added in by smartphone manufacturers.”

It was easy to see that indeed the main issue was that a large number of those smartphones were going at very cheap prices. A significant number of the Indian consumers have been looking more inclined to settling for the $100 smartphones Google’s partners were offering. It is obvious Google was missing on the growing midrange as well as at the bottom.

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Silences Messages It Dislikes, Former Reporter Asserts

The stock of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) closed at $937.34 losing 0.21% in yesterday’s trading session. Earlier, a scholar called Barry Lynn had offered his support to an EU antitrust to fine against the search provider. In retaliation, the company resolved to eliminate the scholar from the New America think tank it funds.

At the moment, a former Forbes writer has launched claims asserting that Google has recently been covering up a lot of negative things. For instance, it buried a potentially damaging story about a number of practices similar to the ones targeted by the EU.

The episode occurred in 2011 according to a recount by Kashmir Hill at tech news site Gizmodo. This was at a moment when the company was in the midst of unveiling and promoting its Google Plus social network.

A business meeting was held between Forbes and Google. It was in this meeting that a representative working with Google outlined that the search traffic was set to decline. That would be experienced by all those publishers that failed to add Google’s new “+1” social sharing button to their sites.

Hill decided to write a post showing the new search ranking parameter, but this followed the confirmation of the substance of the message with several Google’s press representatives. Her report entailed insights into how user interactions with Plus could lead to the generation of more relevant results to the wide array of users that were linked to Plus. A number of experts hold on to the perspective that the report was to a large extent positive and that the associated benefits were amazing.

However, it seems that Google isn’t quite welcoming to the attention being placed on its strategy and has thus been pressuring Forbes to do away with the article. The provider has indicated its objection to the use of material from an internal business meeting that some attendees had signed nondisclosure agreements too.

Hill opined, “Google is unfairly using its search engine might to boost its Facebook alternative.”A lot is going on at the moment, but whatever the future brings is something that will just have to wait and see.

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Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) Launches Voxi, A Youth Sub-Brand

Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has unveiled a new brand aimed at consumers aged 25 and below as it seeks to grab market share from competitors in the youth segment. The brand known as Voxi will be launched in the next week and will be Vodafone’s first sub-brand in the United Kingdom. For the youth market users will benefit from unlimited data consumption with regards to popular messaging and social media apps.

Voxi is the latest product by an established operator in the SIM card-only space where carriers sell services only but not devices. The Three mobile network earlier in the month unveiled a similar low-cost brand known as Smarty.

Brand revitalization

The new product officering is part of efforts by Vodafone to revitalize its brand in the United Kingdom after concerns were raised that the Vodafone brand stands for nothing. In the recent past Vodafone has had challenges with regards to customer service and the carrier is hoping to turn things around in its domestic market. Though Vodafone has 19 million customers in the United Kingdom it has underperformed compared to competitors for close to a decade.

In other markets such as Portugal Vodafone has also unveiled sub-brands aimed at younger users. This is based on the belief that young people aged between 16 and 24 years consume 2 to 3 time more data vis-à-vis the average users. This demographic also communicates almost exclusively via messaging and social media apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) Snapchat.

10m connections

In this niche in the United Kingdom there are about 10 million connections. To stress the youth credentials of Voxi Vodafone will introduce age restrictions and users will have to show proof of age prior to being signed up. Those who subscribe and stay on Voxi even after they have exceeded 25 years of age will not be cut off. Vodafone will also consider upgrading these customers to its more traditional plans once needs change. The sub-brand will be headed by Dan Lambrou and partly in the control of 100 new employees all aged 25 and under.

“We’ve worked with hundreds of people aged 25 and under, and have really listened to them. They are a generation that’s tired of being stereotyped and talked at,” said Lambrou.

On Tuesday shares of Vodafone Group Plc fell by 0.62% and closed at $28.85.

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