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“Metal Gear Survive — watch me puke and punch animals” plus 29 more VentureBeat

“Metal Gear Survive — watch me puke and punch animals” plus 29 more VentureBeat


Metal Gear Survive — watch me puke and punch animals

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 12:31 PM PST


The new Metal Gear game is out from publisher and global pachinko-gambling syndicate Konami, and as far as I can tell, it’s about drinking dirty water and struggling with the inventory system. OK — that’s not true. It’s about surviving in another hell dimension by finding enough resources to upgrade your character and your base. I’ve spent a brief amount of time with it, and I wanted to share my experience with you.

Metal Gear Survive is available on PC and consoles right now for $40. It uses the same Fox Engine that runs the gorgeous Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and it is the first new Metal Gear from Konami since series creator and long-time director Hideo Kojima left the publisher in 2015.

As you might assume from the $40 price and the lack of Kojima, this is not a traditional Metal Gear. While it has stealth and infiltration elements, you are going out on runs while dealing with ever-depleting hunger and thirst meters. This game is much more about resource-collecting and character management.

One of the first missions after the lengthy introductory cutscenes (it’s still Metal Gear is some way) had me tracking down a small herd of sheep. After beating the sheep to death, I could take their meat back to my campsite to cook and eat to replenish some health as well as my hunger meter.

Later, I found some scrap metal to build a fence that I used as a makeshift defensive barrier in a fight with the zombie-like wanderer enemies. These brainless dopes are so dumb that they’ll line up behind a single section of fence, which makes it easy to impale them safely from the other side.

Even later, I ran out of clean water and drank some of the dirty water I had put in my empty bottles. That gave me an infection, and my character began to puke uncontrollably at random intervals until I figured out how to heal him. It was both funny and off-putting. I will say that it took me a long time to find that the cure was buried in my base somewhere, and the game didn’t guide me to it — but that’s not uncommon for these kinds of survival sims. You learn the hard way and from “helpful” people yelling at you in your Twitch chat.

I’m too early to have an opinion beyond “This isn’t Metal Gear,” but I think I can see an interesting gameplay loop emerging. Whether that sticks will depend on the quality of the missions and how interesting it is to build up my character and base.

For now, I’m just gonna keep punching these sheep.

AR Marketplace Surreal Rebrands as Leo AR, Joins betaworks AR Accelerator

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 12:25 PM PST


MojiLaLa also rebrands as Leo Stickers

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 22, 2018–

Augmented reality marketplace Surreal has rebranded as Leo AR and joined visioncamp, a new accelerator program operated by betaworks.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180222006332/en/

Leo AR lets smartphone users unleash their creativity (Graphic: Business Wire)

Leo AR lets smartphone users unleash their creativity (Graphic: Business Wire)

MojiLaLa, the emoji marketplace operated under Surreal, will also be folded under the LEO umbrella as Leo Stickers. The name changes reflect the brands’ shared focus on augmented visual communication, a growing medium that is revolutionizing how people interact with each other and the world around them.

By letting users download realistic 3D and 4D animated objects and photogrammetry, Leo AR empowers smartphone owners to fully express their creativity in the physical world. Alongside Leo Stickers’ artist-created emoji stickers, these innovative tools put the LEO companies at the forefront of a new era of visual communication.

“Uniting these companies under the LEO umbrella lets us pursue our shared vision of an exciting world in which every smartphone owner can bring a new kind of creativity to their everyday environments,” said Dana Loberg, co-founder and CEO of LEO. “Just as the Leo astrological sign is associated with a strong drive to bring people together and create change, our companies are creating powerful new tools for self-expression and unique ways for people to reimagine the physical spaces around them.”

As an example of Leo AR’s power, a user might choreograph a scene in which their child interacts with an AR tiger and elephant right in their living room, or they might place rainbow-inspired dinosaurs around the kitchen floor and act out a scene from their favorite Jurassic Park film.

In joining the visioncamp accelerator, the LEO companies are in the midst of an 11-week residency in New York City, learning from betaworks’ expertise in building conversational UI and mixed-reality companies. After participating in Leo Stickers’ 2017 seed round, betaworks presently offers the firm hands-on guidance across a number of key disciplines, including product development, platform integration, data science, branding and fundraising. Leo AR is joined in the accelerator program by six other companies that also specialize in augmented reality.

About LEO

LEO is the first marketplace for augmented visual communication, a growing medium that is revolutionizing the way people interact with each other and the world around them. LEO operates Leo AR (an AR marketplace for realistic 3D and 4D animated objects and photogrammetry) and Leo Stickers (the world’s leading emoji marketplace) — unlocking new forms of visual expression to anyone with a smartphone. For more information, visit www.leoapp.com.

FLIGHT PR
Alysha Light, 310-740-7539
alysha@flightpr.com

Imagining a future where AR, VR, and chatbots converge

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 12:10 PM PST


Few emerging technologies generate as much buzz as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and chatbots. Even so, it seems like these new technologies explode onto the public radar, then vanish as quickly as they arrive. Behind the scenes, though, companies and researchers are making ongoing breakthroughs in all three of these areas. And when AR and VR combine with AI-powered chatbots, magic happens.

A brief history of AR and VR

Augmented reality has been around for a few years, notably in games such as Pokémon Go. It didn’t really grab the public’s attention on a large scale until the last generation of iPhones was released, though. The iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, and iPhone X were all billed as having special chips designed to make AR a better experience. A few apps were showcased, a few hit the App Store, and it’s been mostly crickets since.

Virtual reality has been a science fiction staple for decades, with its origins traceable as far back as the 1950s. In recent years, it’s become a reality, with headsets available at major electronics stores. VR in the mainstream seemed to peak with Facebook’s purchase of Oculus and the release of Samsung’s Gear VR, but there are some exciting new headsets coming soon.

Chatbots are getting smarter

Virtual assistants are gaining in popularity as more businesses adopt them, especially in voice communication. Amazon, for example, opened up its voice-based chatbot tools to developers. Called Amazon Lex, these tools are part of the intense competition between Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft to gain a lead in the voice assistant space.

These accelerating technologies could help chatbots move beyond text-only functions to voice communication. Businesses could then more easily provide an automated phone system that can answer questions without needing to involve human representatives. This could be a more natural and convenient way to communicate with bots than typing in a chat interface.

When they come together…

Companies are realizing that these technologies are complementary. Facebook, in particular, is in a unique position to capitalize on the convergence of AR, VR, and chatbots. The company’s Messenger chatbot platform boasts over one billion users. Meanwhile, Facebook also owns Oculus, one of the biggest names in VR. As mentioned above, the Oculus headsets were some of the first to enter the public consciousness.

With these two platforms operating under the same roof, there’s a ton of potential for unique solutions. And since the Facebook Messenger chatbot platform is open to third parties, almost any company could get in on the action.

…Big things happen

Chatbots, AR, and VR have potential outside the traditional business setting. Airports around the world already use chatbots to provide customer service to passengers. Airports have also employed VR since 2011, starting with Copenhagen Airport’s smartphone app. It wouldn’t be a stretch for the two technologies to merge and enhance every traveler’s experience.

A mix of AR and chatbots has a lot of possibility in the retail space as well, especially if something like Google Glass ever takes off. Someone could walk into a store and have a digital overlay automatically pop up with a chatbot on hand to assist them. This could work with a smartphone, but the need to pull the phone out constantly is inconvenient. This inconvenience is part of the reason augmented reality never took off in airports. Wearable technology could help solve this problem.

Virtual reality and chatbots could also come together in the travel industry to provide interactive travel agency services. Customers could browse vacation destinations and hotels by visiting them through VR, with a chatbot available to answer questions and book trips. The same could happen with AR to a lesser degree.

Potential privacy concerns

These technologies involve the collection and use of data. Chatbots need to understand typing and speech patterns, AR requires location awareness, and VR could involve any of these factors. VR could also bring in fine levels of detail, like what an individual looks at during the experience. What will companies do with all this data? Will they violate user privacy in these situations?

It’s not so much a question of whether these concerns are valid — companies already collect a lot of data on users for targeted advertising. The question is how seriously these businesses will take privacy concerns.

While AR, VR, and chatbots are exciting technologies on their own, the possibilities opened up by merging them are really worth looking forward to. It’s still a little early to tell how they’ll work together, but this is definitely a space to watch over the next few years.

RaShea Drake is a digital journalist who writes for Glassdoor, Socialnomics, and Business2Community.

Stellaris launches Apocalypse expansion after selling 1.5 million copies

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:45 AM PST


Paradox Interactive revealed today that its space strategy game Stellaris has passed 1.5 million copies sold since launching in May 2016. The in-house development team, Paradox Development Studio, also released the Apocalypse expansion today, which features new planet-scale combat and weapons. The DLC is available now for $20 on PC.

Stellaris is a 4X game, which is a term that refers to how players can “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.” And the Apocalypse expansion definitely leans into that last one. It introduces the new weapon Colossus capable of destroying whole planets a la Star Wars’ Death Star. Players will also be able to pilot new ships called Titans that give bonuses to their entire fleet, fortify planets against attacks, and hire nomadic Mauraders as mercenaries.

In addition to the new units, Stellaris: Apocalypse will include ascension perks, which are powerful abilities can give bonuses like more defense to ships or unlock new research options. Homeworlds will also have new civics, and players can use their in-game currency to customize their gameplay in more ways.

The paid expansion is released alongside Stellaris’s free 2.0 Cherryh update, which will affect the way players travel with wormholes and how starbases work.

Kansas City’s struggle with the sharing economy is holding the tech community back

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:30 AM PST


Banning or heavily regulating short-term rentals in Kansas City could deter tech companies from building in the metro, tech council members say.

It’s more than just the perception that Kansas City is not tech-friendly, according to Chris Brown, attorney and founder of Venture Legal, who advocates for friendlier laws for the sharing economy. It’s going to hurt the tech employers’ ability to recruit highly skilled tech workers, he said.

“These employees that are being recruited, they want to stay in a neighborhood because they want to see what it’s like to live here,” Brown said. “They might second-guess, ‘Is Kansas City the right place for me?’ It may not be intentionally, but it’s subliminally. Those individuals will look at other cities that embrace this more than we do, and those other cities will have a leg up.”


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Brown serves on the policy committee of the KC Tech Council, but his opinions are his own, he said.

Members of the Kansas City Council on Thursday are expected to take up the the most recent proposed ordinance that would ban short-term rentals in specific residential zones comprising huge areas of southern and northern Kansas City.

To listen to public testimony on short-term rentals, skip to the 1:34:00 mark of this video.

Ryan Weber, chief executive officer of the KC Tech Council, agreed that Kansas City’s struggle to come up with fitting regulations on short-term rentals is reminiscent of the metro’s challenges with the sharing economy as a whole.

Weber’s goal is for Kansas City to adopt a more holistic approach to the sharing economy by updating out-of-date ordinances and regulations and gathering key data that would otherwise not be available to the city, he said.

“Our concern is the city is taking a more focused approach on regulating these industries, like a taxi or hotel, rather than taking a new approach, not necessarily regulating the sharing economy but finding a way to maximize the opportunities with that,” Weber said.

Part of the problem, Brown said, is efforts to shoehorn city regulations to fit the business models of the sharing economy, which are entirely different from what everyone is used to: the business models of the hotel and taxi industries.

“They’ve all operated under a certain set of city codes and now, all of a sudden, what seems like overnight, we have a whole new business model that doesn’t fit city code,” Brown said. “My concern is when this happens, the way the city addresses it is they look at the laws they currently have, and they try to fit this into these laws, and it doesn’t work.”

Brown recommended the city start over with a clean slate, rather than working within its existing regulatory framework.

“Why don’t we create a new process? Let people rent their home. If a problem arises, we should address it,” Brown said. “But we shouldn’t pass a bunch of regulations that limit participation based on a fear of what might happen.”

There have been tens of thousands of stays in the city, and the city has received only 30 or 40 complaints, Brown said.

“All of this red tape just because of some tiny amount of complaints, it just doesn’t make any sense to me,” he added.

Other communities in the area are waiting for Kansas City’s decision, giving council members a greater responsibility to set the trend for the metro area as a whole, Weber said.

The conflict on short-term rentals parallels the city’s conflict with the ridesharing industry a few years ago, both Brown and Weber noted.

Back when the city struggled to resolve conflicts with ridesharing services, including Uber and Lyft, the council members were concerned that drivers would be dangerous for passengers, Weber said. Those same concerns are arising in fears that hosts will be bad for neighborhoods, he said.

“There’s just no data to prove any of that,” Weber said. “What is being proposed is a solution looking for a problem, and that’s very disappointing. The city is listening very closely to unfounded concerns about what this could do to neighborhoods instead of educating those neighbors (about) opportunities that exist with home-sharing.”

Some of those opportunities, Weber noted, are homeowners gentrifying their neighborhoods to make them more appealing to their customers.

The city should embrace new technologies because they create jobs and boost the economy, Brown said.

“I feel like the city truly hasn’t learned from its past mistakes,” he said. “I feel like we’re repeating the exact same thing during the Uber debates.”

Ultimately, the struggle to welcome home-sharing companies to do business in the city “sends a bad message to the sharing economy as a whole,” Brown said, although he noted the city has made some compromises.

“They spent the last two years working on this, so it’s not like they haven’t tried,” Brown said. “I think some sharing companies will stay here, but I fear there might be lawsuits that come out of this legislation, and that’s not going to help anybody. The city could get sued.”

Brown appreciates the city staff’s efforts, he said.

“I just wish that they would not have such a reliance on the existing law,” Brown said. “I wish they would be more willing to take a novel approach to things, (but) I think the city is moving in the right direction.”

Weber echoed Brown’s praises of city staff.

“They’ve worked so hard on this,” Weber said. “And they’ve done a good job of trying to find a compromise when one probably doesn’t exist.”

This story originally appeared on Startlandnews.com. Copyright 2018

Ivy is back for Soulcalibur VI and she’s still mostly boobs and butt

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 11:08 AM PST


Soulcalibur VI‘s new-character reveal shows that Ivy will be returning to the series when the fighting game comes out later this year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. And sh5e’s looking … well, she’s not wearing much. Which is pretty typical for Ivy.

Ivy’s been a mainstay in the franchise’s roster since the first Soulcalibur came out for arcades in 1998. She has a unique playstyle that focuses on her sword, which turns into a whip. But Ivy stands out for, you know, other reasons. Soulcalibur was one of the first games to put an emphasis on “jiggle” physics, and its busty female roster would ripple with enough unrealistic chest-bouncing if you so much as breathed on them.

But Ivy always stood out. Not only does she have the cartoon proportions, but her outfits are revealing and her voice lines are mostly dominatrix-flavored innuendo. And for awhile, her outfit and bust size seemed to get even more outlandish with each sequel. Just look at the difference between her first design and how she looked in Soulcalibur IV.

Above: Practical battle gear!

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Bandai Namco would tone her appearance down a little bit after Soulcalibur IV (I’m not really sure you could make it more intense than that). Her Soulcalibur V outfit was relatively modest.

Above: Almost classy??

Image Credit: GamesBeat

It’s obviously still sexy, maybe comically so with the lace and crotch-accentuating leggings, but this outfit is also a bit classier. But her new outfit is taking inspiration from the original Ivy, albeit with the bodily enhancements she’s received over the years. That makes some sense, since Soulcalibur VI is sort of a remake of the original.

Fortnite Season 3 adds a new Battle Pass, 60 fps for consoles, and hoverboards

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 10:08 AM PST


Epic Games’ hit multiplayer shooter Fortnite: Battle Royale is starting Season 3 today, and with it comes a new Battle Pass that gives players access to a new wave of cosmetic items, including costumes, gliders, pickaxes, and more. It also includes some new console frame-rate options and other additions.

Fortnite: Battle Royale has over 40 million players across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and it’s often the most popular game on Twitch. The Battle Pass gives Epic Games a way to monetize the free-to-play title. The Battle Pass costs 950 V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency. You can buy 1,000 V-Bucks for $10.

The Battle Pass unlocks some items immediately, but you can also earn more by playing and unlocking new tiers of content. So not only does it give Epic Games a way to make money, but it encourages those who buy it to keep playing Fortnite.

The Season 3 update also adds new 60 fps options for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, a new orchestral score, and a hoverboard for futuristic travelling (hoverboards may not work on water unless you’ve got POWer). You can find the full patch notes here.

 

Airbnb debuts premium Plus program and new listing categories

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:46 AM PST


Airbnb today announced a series of changes to give people more ways to decide what kind of home they want to stay in when away from home. Starting this summer, Airbnb will allow people to search for properties based on new categories like unique homes, vacation homes, bed and breakfasts, and boutique hotels. Unique homes include listings that let you stay places like barns, boats, campers, caves, and treehouses.

Right now Airbnb’s 4.5 million listings can only be searched for based on three categories: shared room, private room, and entire home.

“Wer're going to be adding thousands of new categories and it will make it easier for guests to find a place to stay,” Airbnb cofounder Brian Chesky said onstage at a press conference held at The Masonic in San Francisco for members of the press and Airbnb staff.

Airbnb Collections, homes preset for specific occasions, launches today with offerings like Airbnb for Families and Airbnb for Work. Collections for weddings, honeymoons, dinner parties, and group getaways will be launched later this year. The social stays collection is made for experiences where the host stays with the guest and shows them around town.

Also new today: Airbnb launched Plus, a higher tier of Airbnb listings inspected in-person by Airbnb staff to make sure they met the company’s criteria. Plus will begin with 2,000 homes in 13 cities, according to a release from Airbnb. Plus homes are inspected for 100 total areas of interest including cleanliness, comfort, design, and fully-featured bathrooms and kitchens.

Hosts of Plus listings will receive higher placement in search results, in-home services, and additional customer support from Airbnb. Hosts who apply will be asked to pay a one-time $149 fee to pay for the inspection and things like photos of the property.

Plus listings will allow people to delineate between whether the home owner lives on the property or whether the property is owned by a property manager, an Airbnb spokesperson told VentureBeat. Stays at initial Plus homes will cost an average $250 a night.

As any seasoned Airbnb user can attest, the quality of your stay can be different based on these settings, since a host that lives on the property can be a helpful local guide, and one hosted by a property manager may be less helpful but provide more privacy.

To take things a step above Plus, Airbnb also introduced its Beyond by Airbnb offerings today so guests can enjoy stays in mansions or top-tier properties around the world.

The news today represents some of the largest changes to Airbnb since the company was founded in 2008.

Above: Airbnb cofounder Brian Chesky speaks onstage at The Masonic in San Francisco Feb. 22, 2018 about superhost benefits

Image Credit: Khari Johnson

Airbnb will also roll out new features for its 400,000 superhosts worldwide, like additional resources for superhosts like custom URLs for your listing and exclusive pricing on smart home devices, beginning with discounts on Nest thermostat and security systems. A superguest pilot program to give benefits to frequent Airbnb users will roll out this summer.

Changes being made today to broaden Airbnb listings and user community in order to reach one billion users a year by 2028, Chesky said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the same day as the departure of CFO Laurence Tosi, Airbnb said it will delay plans to file an initial public offering (IPO) until after 2018. A week after Tosi’s departure, a Bloomberg report found that the company was operating an internal hedge fund that may be related to his departure.

Zero Gravity Solutions’ Wholly-owned Subsidiary, BAM Agricultural Solutions, Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement for the Country of Mexico

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:25 AM PST


BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 22, 2018–

Zero Gravity Solutions, Inc. (“ZGSI” or the “Company”) (Pink Sheets: ZGSI), an agricultural biotechnology public company commercializing its technology derived from and designed for Space with significant applications for agriculture on Earth, has announced its subsidiary, BAM Agricultural Solutions, Inc., has entered into a License and Distribution Agreement (the “Agreement”) with a group of Mexican businessmen with longstanding relationships with markets in Mexico and a successful history in building companies in Mexico and in the US. The group is led by Pedro Lichtinger, former President of Pfizer Inc.’s Global Animal Health Business and Global President of Primary Care, Pfizer Inc. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company grants exclusive distribution rights to certain BAM-FX® products in exchange for initial and subsequent milestone payments to the Company, an equity investment in the Mexican entity currently being established and conditions that need to be met in order to maintain exclusivity.

“We regard the very robust Mexican agricultural industry as becoming an increasingly significant market for our BAM-FX technology over time, both as a standalone nutrient delivery product as well as a potentially important performance enhancer when combined with other agricultural products,” stated Harvey Kaye, ZGSI’s Chairman.

“We are excited with the opportunity that BAM-FX offers to our country and company. Mexico leads the world in Avocado production and technology and is a major exporter of multiple crops. BAM-FX can enhance productivity to improve competitiveness on a global scale and contribute to making internal crops more accessible to the Mexican population,” stated Pedro Lichtinger.

For more detailed information, please see the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2018.

About Zero Gravity Solutions, Inc.

Zero Gravity Solutions, Inc. (www.zerogsi.com) is an agricultural biotechnology public company with technology derived from and designed for Space with significant applications here on Earth. These technologies are focused on providing valuable solutions to challenges facing world agriculture. ZGSI’s two primary categories of technologies aimed at sustainable agriculture are: 1) BAM-FX, a cost effective, ionic micronutrient delivery system for plants currently being introduced commercially into world agriculture by Zero Gravity’s wholly owned subsidiary BAM Agricultural Solutions 2) Directed Selection, utilized in the development and production, in the prolonged zero/micro gravity environment of the International Space Station, of large volumes of non-GMO, novel, patentable stem cells with unique and beneficial characteristics.

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This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, acceptance of the Company’s products, increased levels of competition for the Company, new products and technological changes, the Company’s dependence on third-party suppliers, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by applicable law or regulation, Zero Gravity Solutions undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date on which such statements were made.

Zero Gravity Solutions, Inc.
Harvey Kaye, Chairman, +1-561-416-0400
info@zerogsi.com

FanAI raises $2.5 million to use AI to monetize esports audiences

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:00 AM PST


FanAI has raised $2.5 million in seed funding for its platform that uses artificial intelligence to monetize esports fans.

Esports ventures are getting a lot of funding these days, and market researcher Newzoo believes esports will grow to $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in 2020. Santa Monica, California-based FanAI figures out the value of fan data in order to optimize sponsorship engagement within esports.

Courtside Ventures and CRCM Ventures led the round, with participation from Bitkraft Esports Ventures, BDS Capital, Catalyst Sports, Deep Space Ventures, Everblue Management, Greycroft GC Tracker Fund, M Ventures, Rosecliff Ventures, and Sterling VC.

FanAI is already being used by esports teams Cloud9; OpTic Gaming; Overwatch League’s LA Valiant and NYXL; and Cav’s Legion GC, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA2K League team. The additional funding will be used to expand the product and data science teams and round out the client engagement structure needed to support the startup’s growth.

While esports continues to grow rapidly, esports enthusiasts still spend significantly less than fans of traditional sports. As a comparison, in 2017 the average esports fan is expected to spend only $3.64, while NBA basketball fans spend, on average, $15 each. FanAI wants to change that by driving monetization across the entire esports ecosystem, while providing a personalized experience for fans to engage the most effectively with sponsors.

“Brands and sponsors are flooding the esports industry, but are still struggling to prove return on investment in order to justify marketing spend. Until now, this was next to impossible within the esports ecosystem,” said FanAI CEO Johannes Waldstein, in a statement. “FanAI unlocks the value for our esports clients by providing unique purchase behavior and lifestyle data on their fan base, opening the doors for sponsors and brands to invest with confidence."

Above: FanAI CEO Johannes Waldstein.

Image Credit: FanAI

FanAI enables esports teams, leagues, game publishers, event organizers, broadcasters, agencies, and brands to understand, grow, predict, and monetize esports audiences by analyzing purchasing behavior, psychographic details, and social and demographic information. With this data, sponsors can improve their return on investment with targeted sponsorships, rights holders can turn audiences into a monetized asset, and consumers benefit from better segmented content.

FanAI tracks the fans, influencers, players, teams, tournaments, and games that make up the esports ecosystem. It collect first-party data where available, overlays digital fan profiles with exclusive payment purchase behavior data, and so provides insights and recommendations to help everyone involved make better decisions. Beyond these insights, FanAI makes fan audience data actionable to facilitate marketing activations and measure results.

The company said it helps customers understand and custom segment the global fan audience. It measures behavior, purchase likelihoods, social engagement, true reach, fan loyalty, brand affinity, and results of digital marketing campaigns.

It measures where audiences are on digital channels and how a company should spend it marketing dollars, how fans differ, and why sponsors should target a particular audience.

“As esports investments have grown by orders of magnitude, the sponsorship ecosystem remains an enormous and untapped opportunity. From teams and publishers to agencies and brands, the lucrative demographic of the gaming industry has sparked a lot of interest,” said Deepen Parikh, partner at Courtside Ventures, in a statement. “Johannes and the FanAI team have created a rapidly growing and scalable platform that for the first time enables all parties in the ecosystem to apply actionable data and measurement to their purchasing decisions.”

To date, FanAI has raised $4.5 million, and it has 14 employees.

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The IndieBeat: How Way of the Passive Fist’s animators helped make it accessible

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 08:05 AM PST


Way of the Passive Fist is a side-scrolling brawler … in which you never throw a punch. Rather than tussling with your enemies, it’s all about dodging, defending, and wearing them down until they run out of stamina. Then you simply push them over and move on. It’s the debut of Household Games, and it launches March 6 on PC and PlayStation 4, and March 7 on Xbox One.

Alongside Way of the Passive Fist’s unique twist on the fighting genre, it’s also got a forward-thinking take on accessibility. At Double Fine’s Day of the Devs event last year, I spoke with Household Games founder Jason Canam about how the studio worked with AbleGamers charity and streamer HalfCoordinated to bake in accessibility from the very start. Players can remap every control in the game, play it one-handed, and adjust the difficulty level.

Household Games also considered Way of the Passive Fist’s visual effects. Some players have trouble seeing or they’re sensitive to flashing lights. So animator Rosemary Brennan and the art team worked on tackling that aspect of accessibility.

In a phone call, Brennan walked me through the details of what goes into animating a video game. She also explained how the art team approached making sure a wide variety of people could play Way of the Passive Fist.

Here is an edited transcript of our interview.

Above: A comparison between the game in its default mode versus a high contrast color mode.

Image Credit: Household Games

GamesBeat: Who are you and what’s your background? 

Rosemary Brennan: I'm an animator, illustrator, small bit of game dev on the side, very small. And I've worked with Household Games for about a year and a half. 17 or 18 months, around there. I'm currently not with them. I'm a freelance artist. But I would love to work with them again.

GamesBeat: You also do some game development on the side. Have you made your own games, or do you mainly freelance for other studios?

Brennan: I have been very slowly trying to teach myself how to code, but mainly I do animation and illustration work for other studios.

GamesBeat: What other games have you illustrated and animated?

Brennan: A bunch of Facebook games and early iOS apps that aren't around anymore. The first indie game I worked on from the ground up was called Fate Tectonics, which came out in 2015. Aside from that, and then Way of the Passive Fist, those are the "big" games.

GamesBeat: How does artwork and animation fit into the development process?

Brennan: It really differs from project to project. Sometimes art is definitely the focus and sometimes it's less so. Generally speaking, when I come into the project, there's usually a firm idea of what the other devs are looking for. It's my job to take these verbal cues and these scribbled-out ideas and then flesh them out into a cohesive visual style. And sometimes that's something as simple as just designing a couple of characters, and sometimes it's completely starting from the ground up and setting environment style and character style and lighting and textures and all sorts of things.

GamesBeat: Did you join Way of the Passive Fist early in its development? Did you have a lot of direction from the team, or did you come up with the aesthetic yourself?

Brennan: They had a fairly robust style already fleshed out, thanks to an illustrator who was on the project slightly before me. They'd set the tone as far as character design and color and layout and that sort of thing. And so my job, once I joined, was to just take that and run with it. I also didn't really touch a lot of the layouts. That was all Gavin McCarthy.

GameBeat: Is it challenging, as an artist with your own style, to work with others on a project like this, to make sure it's all cohesive?

Brennan: I personally have never had an issue with that. I was classically trained as an animator, and part of that is being flexible with your style. Each individual artist has their own personal style, which is just shorthand we use to visually represent whatever it is we're drawing. For me, it was really easy to slide into this project and adopt the very particular style they had already set.

GamesBeat: Have you animated a fighting game before? Are there any challenges particular to doing the art and animation for a game like Way of the Passive Fist?

Brennan: Way of the Passive Fist was my very first fighting game. All of my animation experience before that was either television-related, or if it was in video games, the sprites were very small and much less detailed. This was my first foray into big chunky sprites with lots of animation.

GamesBeat: When we talk about gameplay, often people talk about how juicy it feels. You feel like you're interacting with the world. Is that a challenge when you're animating for games? How do you communicate to the player that sense of immersion or depth to the animation?

Brennan: It really varies game to game. With Way of the Passive Fist, it was all about making sure that hits didn’t just visually look good, but you could almost feel it in yourself, you know? Which, considering that it's a fighting game where you actually don't do a lot of fighting, that was really difficult. Not only did we have to make things like hits feel really good, we had to make things like dodging feel really good. Which you don't normally think about when you're just animating whatever.

GamesBeat: Were you mainly tweaking the speed of the dodge, so it felt very forceful? How did you approach that?

Brennan: Definitely, when it came to dodges, we had a list of movements that every character had to do. When it came to the dodge, it was dodge A, B, C, and so on. We would always start with one that felt very even, so the timing for the animation was very even. It would be your start frame, three in betweens, an extreme, three more in betweens, and a settle. Which, programmatically speaking, is very consistent and easy to get into the game and get it working, but visually speaking it's very bland and boring.

So once we had the basic dodge animation, then we would go in and tweak the timing, remove an in-between frame here, add another one there, change the drawing so this key frame was a little more pushing into the foreground. It was a lot of give and take and testing and re-testing and re-tweaking, a lot of over and over again to make it just right.

GamesBeat: Can you ballpark how long it takes to nail down the animation for one character like that?

Brennan: Are you talking about just one move set, or all of the animations? In the case of the player character, who has the most distinct animations, which I guess makes sense considering that's the one you're going to be staring at the most. Each individual move set will take somewhere between two and four days. We would start with a very rough wire frame. You wouldn't even necessarily know what character you're looking at. It's just a chunky stick man. We would try to check the timing on animations, and then once that's approved, we go to the second stage, which is just blocking out each character.

Each character originally started as this weird colorful patchwork that would let us track specific items, like faces and hands and hair and things like that. Which we would flesh out the animation a little more, and the characters would become a bit more recognizable at this point.

Once that's been tested and approved, then we go to the final stage, which is the cleanup and final tweaks. That's when we would apply what you see in the final game, the final sprite, with the character's colors, the outlines, the highlights and shadows. That's the most labor-intensive section, because it's taking the same drawing over and over again, redoing it, adding all the dithering and the little filigree and things like that.

And then overall, the player character's animations, from day one when I first built the sprite, to the last day when I wrapped on them—it was basically from the beginning of the project until I finished, but if I were to condense it, it was probably four months of work just on the player character.

GamesBeat: Did you also have to make changes based on feedback?

Brennan: Oh, for sure. We would do something in the game, or even—I would animate something in my art programs and say, “Oh, this looks really good, I'm really happy with it.” Then we would put it in the game and it was kind of floaty, or it didn't hit the timing we needed, or it was too big or too small. Then I'd have to take that feedback, go back to my original file, modify it.

Luckily, because we did these animations in chunks, in these very scratchy, rough, "easy to distinguish character but still rough compared to final"—usually these issues were caught in the first stage, and very rarely did they go any further. There wasn't a lot of time wasted when it came to changes and fixes and things like that.

GamesBeat: You mentioned floatiness. I've seen that in games. What's the main solve for that? Is it the body language, or animating the environment in a certain way? How do you make it feel like these are solid characters moving in the world?

Brennan: I can't speak too much on 3D animation, but definitely with 2D animation, floatiness is the result of too many frames. When a character, let's say, does a punch, if you need the punch to hit in five frames it has to be five frames. If it ends up being seven frames, because you need the animation to read properly, it takes two extra frames to play.

Even though the player hits the button and it should take X number of fractions of a second to play, if it takes longer, it feels unnecessary, and that's when players get this disconnection between the character that they're playing as and their actions. When we first started setting an animation style for the game, we were running into a lot of issues with floaty or unresponsive movements. But we were able to solve these issues with an animation technique called smears, which I'm not sure if you're familiar with.

GamesBeat: No, is that a kind of motion blur?

Brennan: It's kind of like motion blur, but it's a more traditional form of motion blurring. If you watch old Looney Tunes, or even if you look at fighting game sprites from Capcom, if you look at one individual frame as a still instead of seeing it in a series of drawings that are an animation—just looking at one frame, if a limb or their face or something looks like someone's pulled it out, like taffy, that's a smear.

It basically allows you to get the maximum amount of movement in the shortest time frame. A good example in Way of the Passive Fist: We had a character who had to take their leg from a rested position on the ground to up in the opponent's face. They're doing this wide, sweeping kick. I had to do that in, I think it was five or six frames.

Typically a motion like that needs like 20 frames, just to get from point A to point B and have it read without it just popping from one place to the next. A smear allows you to build this bridge of color between one frame and another, so you don't have to draw six frames of the leg going from one place to another. It's just one drawing of this stretched-out, deformed image. But because it plays so quickly, your eye doesn't register it as a single drawing. It just counts it as motion. It's a nice cheat, and it allows us to get the exact timing that we want without losing in quality of motion.

GamesBeat: You mentioned four months for the player character. How many different move sets did you have to come up with for all the enemies? Did you try to keep it to a relatively small number, so you weren't spending years on unique move sets for every enemy you encounter?

Brennan: Well, thankfully—we sort of grouped characters in sets. We have the badland characters, and all their move sets are very similar. When we were in the rough stage, we would typically use the same roughs for them, and then in the cleanup stage give them the appropriate skinning. But we tried to save as much time as possible by reusing move sets within character types.

As an example, we have the sun-worshipper characters. All their movements were very flowy and dance-like. We just made sure that we used the same style of animation for those base character move sets, and then when we applied them to the final sprites, there was a lot of back and forth checking to make sure that timing was lining up, stuff like that.

GamesBeat: How many different categories of characters are there?

Brennan: Five? There's four basic enemy types and then the bosses, but the bosses are individuals on their own. Each boss has their own set of moves. I guess that's more than five, then.

GamesBeat: You mentioned the sun-worshippers have this dancer-like movement. Is it difficult to come up with those unique animation styles, since you're constrained by the way bodies move physically? How do you develop your own style or make a character move in a unique way that players haven't seen before?

Brennan: We wanted to make sure that each character read as an individual. Because we'd been working so closely with AbleGamers, we know there are different kinds of disabilities that can hinder a player, so we wanted to make sure all the silhouettes were different, so they read automatically as a different character.

Luckily, there are lots of different types of fighting styles that already exist in the world. When we started assigning animations to these very distinct silhouettes, we would say, okay, for the junker fighter characters, we're going to give them a sort of lower grappling style of fighting. We would watch a lot of [close quarters combat] and modern hand-to-hand combat videos and tutorials and things like that.

And then with the sun-worshippers, we wanted their fighting style to be very light and almost dancerly, so we were watching a lot of capoeira videos. We were looking at ballet videos, looking at Shaolin monks. We always made sure the reference we were using was very distinct, so the fighting styles of each character type were very distinct.

GamesBeat: More generally, about the artwork, can you tell me about what inspired the aesthetic and the world design?

Brennan: Personally, I have a long-standing love affair with early ’90s pixel art, especially from arcade games and things like that. I spent a lot of my very young childhood in arcades when I probably should have been, I don't know, learning a sport or something. A lot of that ended up being where I pulled a lot of my reference from.

I spent a lot of time staring at Street Fighter II sprites. I spent a lot of time staring at Final Fight sprites. Pretty much any early to mid-’90s arcade game that I could get my hands on, I would sit and stare at how they approached light and color and outlines and shadows and—basically trying to keep that look and update the feel, because a lot of those sprites would have four images for a punch, whereas in Way of the Passive Fist a punch will have maybe eight or nine images. The animation is just a little more fluid. That was what I wanted to do, to make it visually the same, but feel a little more updated.

GamesBeat: I wanted to talk about accessibility. When I talked to Jason, he mentioned you made sure that the buttons were all remappable. What are the things you had to think about from an art perspective as far as making sure the game is accessible?

Brennan: The big one for the art team was making sure that colors read properly. Because we had been working so closely with AbleGamers, we tried to stay on top of any issues that might arise with varying types of gameplay. There's default filters in Photoshop that allow you to look at an image through the eyes of someone with specific kinds of color blindness. You can turn those on and off.

While we were building sprites for the game, we would constantly turn on these filters, look at it. Does it still read? What doesn't read? OK, go back and retool and make the contrast higher or change the colors so something reads properly for someone with normal colored vision and someone with a specific type of color blindness. That was the main one that we as artists had to stay on top of.

GamesBeat: Why did you and the team feel it was important to make sure the game was accessible with the art, as well as the controls?

Brennan: There are plenty of individuals out there and everyone has a different way of approaching the world. Sometimes it's by choice and sometimes those are the cards you're dealt. We just wanted to be able to make sure that as many people could enjoy our game. Because where's the fun in cutting people out over something you could easily make accessible to them?

IndieBeat is GamesBeat reporter Stephanie Chan's weekly column on in-progress indie projects. If you'd like to pitch a project or just say hi, you can reach her at stephanie@venturebeat.com.

Indigo Fair raises $12 million to ‘reinvent wholesale’ with AI-powered marketplace for indie retailers

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 08:03 AM PST


Indigo Fair, a platform that connects independent retailers with makers and manufacturers, has raised $12 million in a series A round of funding led by Khosla Ventures and Forerunner Ventures, with participation from Sequoia.

Founded out of San Francisco in 2017, Indigo Fair targets smaller local retailers with a marketplace where they can procure anything from jewelry and stationery to kitchen accessories, appliances, and condiments. Unlike other ecommerce marketplaces, Indigo Fair doesn’t target individual consumers, as most items can only be procured in minimum set quantities, such as a case of 12. It’s basically an online wholesaler focusing on unique goods that you may not find on the shelves of your local department store.

Retailers can “try before they buy,” as they’re not charged for any products until two months after they’ve shipped.

Above: Indigo Fair

Marketplace

Online marketplaces that seek to connect supply with demand are key components of the digital economy, with well-established companies such as Uber, eBay, Amazon, and Airbnb building billion-dollar businesses by joining the dots between sellers and buyers. The concept is simple and has filtered down into all manner of industries, including logistics, local buy-and-sell platforms, online auction housesrecruitment, and more.

Some smaller ecommerce marketplaces, such as Trouva, help brick-and-mortar boutiques get online with their own inventory. But Indigo Fair is targeting things from a slightly different perspective: It wants to give retailers access to broader and more interesting inventory.

Additionally, Indigo Fair said that it uses machine learning technology to make product recommendations when a retailers first signs up for an Indigo Fair account by analyzing their “brand aesthetic.”

Indigo Fair had already raised around $4 million from Y Combinator, SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, and Forerunner Ventures, and with another $12 million in the bank the company said it plans to “continue evolving” Indigo Fair's technology, with a particular focus on AI and machine learning.

Indigo Fair was actually set up by a triumvirate of former Square employees: Daniele Perito, Marcelo Cortes, and Max Rhodes. Alongside today’s funding announcement, the company has revealed that it’s integrating with Square, in addition to Shopify, to roll out “advanced capabilities” that will make continuous product recommendations based on a retailer’s in-store sales. To activate these integrations, retailers need to synchronize their point-of-sale product (e.g. Square Reader) with Indigo Fair, which will then monitor sales performances and recommend similar products. So if those black coffee mugs are selling like hot cakes, well, you might get a recommendation to carry the cream ones, too.

Indigo Fair said that it now serves more than 17,000 retailers across the U.S., with more than 500 makers listing their inventory.

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Early 5G phones will make LTE voice calls, add VR and spherical calls later

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:59 AM PST


As the first 5G phones are less than a year away, a new report from FierceWireless explores how 5G networks and devices will handle — and evolve — traditional voice calls. In short, U.S. carriers expect to continue using 4G Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for the near future, but exciting new 5G voice services are in the works that will radically improve phone calling.

VoLTE was originally rolled out in 2014 with the promise of dramatic improvements to voice call quality. During a VoLTE call, muddy and bassy conventional phone audio is replaced with more dynamic, clear sound that’s akin to being in the room with your caller. Since early 5G phones will simultaneously maintain connections with 5G and 4G/LTE networks, they will begin by making VoLTE calls.

Currently, international standards organization 3GPP is working on an improved 5G standard for phone calls. According to Fraunhofer IIS, the 3GPP is developing support for “multiple audio channels, immersive audio, and VR communication use cases,” including sound quality improvements for both video and audio-only calls. Tantalizingly, Fraunhofer expects 5G to enable “spherical” calls that immerse each caller in the other’s environment — for example, letting a caller in an office hear and see a beach, while the caller at the beach can hear and see the office.

The key question is when these new features can be expected and, unfortunately, there’s no timeline at this point. Moreover, carrier VoLTE adoption was much slower than expected; even today, there’s no guarantee that a call made from a T-Mobile customer to a Verizon customer will automatically use the superior standard.

Today’s phone calls only use VoLTE if both callers are on the same or interoperable LTE networks, connected to VoLTE-compatible towers, and using VoLTE-ready phones. Otherwise, the call will fall back to a traditional, lower-quality connection. FierceWireless notes that the top three U.S. carriers currently have strong VoLTE support, including 100 percent of T-Mobile’s and Verizon’s towers, and most of AT&T’s. Fourth-place carrier Sprint is still working on a fall 2018 VoLTE deployment.

Given the current state of their LTE networks, carriers appear to be in no rush to support 5G voice calling. Verizon completed early tests of 5G video calling and 5G voice calling earlier this month, and Europe’s Vodafone followed with a similar voice call test that switched from 4G to 5G networks — though none of the tests included the audio enhancements currently in the works with 3GPP. However, as the carriers are already working to upgrade their network hardware from 4G to 5G, groundbreaking voice calling improvements could become only a software update away.

4 tech upgrades that will change how we use our devices

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:50 AM PST


Presented by CSG


The future is here — but that doesn't mean we can't still look forward.

It's easy to ask how smart devices can get smarter; to wonder how to satisfy a plugged-in society that's used to having every convenience at a literal arm's length.

"Customers expect access to their services whenever and wherever they want, and they expect a consistent user experience across devices," said Ken Kennedy, Executive Vice President and President of Technology and Product at CSG, a leader in digital transformation. "Today's customer is conditioned to expect immediate gratification, and anything less will result in a dissatisfied customer."

Netflix just announced, promoted, and released a movie with a $50 million budget on the same night. NBC is mainstreaming virtual reality with its coverage of the Winter Olympics. Innovations are happening faster than most people can keep track of. If you want a glimpse into what else the future holds, here are four tech upgrades set to change how we use our devices.

1. AR and VR are the future

We've all been there: aimlessly walking through the store with a basket full of items we don't need, looking for the one thing we do. Some tech companies are working to change that with innovative VPS technology, an augmented reality system that uses cameras to map indoor locations.

Verizon is also investing heavily in the AR space, creating simulated cities out of its Massachusetts innovation center to streamline everything from basic infrastructure planning to more in-depth civil engineering.

Meanwhile, NBC focused on providing easier access to virtual reality in its coverage of the Olympics. Because of tools like Oculus, Google Daydream, or simply panning-and-scanning on your phone, watching NBC's 50-plus hours of VR Olympic coverage was as easy as signing up for a subscription. It allowed you to get up close to the action, without having to deal with Pyeongchang's subzero temperatures.

2. Consolidated spending

Simply put, there are almost too many ways to spend money these days. From your Google Wallet to your PayPal account — not to mention your everyday bank accounts — it can be easy to lose track of where your money is coming from and where it's going. That's why streaming services like Netflix, ride sharing apps like Uber, and all-in-one services like Amazon are bigger than ever: they've streamlined the billing process.

Whether it's Dynamics' Wallet Card, an IoT payment solution that can load an almost infinite number of cards onto what otherwise looks like a regular bank card, or the increasingly popular Near-Field Communication (NFC) solutions from Apple and Android, making it easier (and safer) for consumers to streamline their billing is what will keep them loyal.

3. Keeping up with the cloud

It's no secret that the digital landscape moves fast, but one constant is the cloud. Far from the abstract idea we once thought of it as, the cloud is more than just a place for files to live; in the era of Software as a Service (SaaS), it's where a product lives.

But agility is key, especially when it comes to meeting consumers' demands. The set-it-and-forget-it days of the past are now a surefire way to be left behind, which is where platforms like Ascendon come in. Ascendon is a SaaS, cloud-based platform offered by CSG. Ascendon reduces operating costs and unifies and streamlines a company's digital ecosystem, freeing budget and resources to focus on customer-first initiatives, product innovation, and, perhaps most importantly, scale. It can integrate with legacy systems, allowing more traditional communications companies to adapt quickly and offer new services to customers in 90 days or less. It's no wonder, then, that companies like Comcast and iflix and TalkTalk are on board.

4. Auto assistant

From Siri to Cortana to Alexa to the unnamed Google Assistant, smart speakers and digital assistants are becoming more and more commonplace in everyday households. For some, they're part of the family. Customers expect to be able to discover content using a voice interface. That means less time fiddling with remotes and controllers, and more time getting what they want — and this extends beyond simply finding what to watch.

This year, that market heats up even further. Apple has thrown itself into the mix with its HomePod, while Google is taking things up a notch with its Android Auto Assistant. The future might not be flying cars and moon pies, but heading home in your driverless car and telling it to turn your coffee pot on, porch lights off, and to cue up the game on your Smart TV is a consolation not even The Jetsons could have predicted. You don't even have to imagine instructing your PVR to record the Oscars while Alexa reads you your dinner recipe — that's already possible.


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Amazon’s IMDb launches Alexa Flash Briefing sponsored by Paramount Network

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:03 AM PST


Amazon-owned online movie and TV show database IMDb has launched its first real Alexa skill in conjunction with Paramount Network.

The new skill is a Flash Briefing, which is a customizable news alert that Alexa plays containing information gleaned from numerous online sources, as determined by the user. You can activate the briefing by saying, “Alexa, what’s my Flash Briefing?”

In the case of IMDb’s “What’s on TV” Flash Briefing, users will receive airtime and network details relating to the day’s top five trending TV shows, based on IMDb pageview data.

You may recall that Amazon last year explicitly banned advertising in Alexa skills, with two notable exceptions: ads within music and Flash Briefings. And there are some rules in place for those ads — for example, they can’t use Alexa’s voice or a voice that sounds similar.

Officially, the IMDb Flash Briefing is “presented by Paramount Network,” which seemed to suggest that all recommendations would hail from the network’s own TV shows. That isn’t the case, which is a good thing, as it would be a little one-dimensional. As a sponsor, Paramount Network will receive a “featured placement” within each day’s Flash Briefing — but only if one of its shows is airing.

"Continuing our commitment to helping entertainment fans discover new TV shows to watch, IMDb is thrilled to leverage voice-activated data for the first time, using our unique trending data to make decision-making simple for audiences on Alexa-enabled devices,” said IMDb COO Rob Grady, in a press release.

IMDb began as a pre-web hobby project more than 25 years ago and has been an Amazon company since 1998. Alongside Rotten Tomatoes, it’s one of the most popular online repositories for information on all things film and TV, so it’s a major attraction for big TV networks like Paramount.

“As we launched Paramount Network, we were looking to align with brands that would help us deliver innovation to the marketplace in support of our exciting new slate of shows,” added Anhelo Reyes, senior VP of marketing at Paramount Network.

Alexa actually already taps IMDb for one voice-activated command, letting users request ratings for movies and TV shows by asking: “Alexa, what’s the IMDb rating for [title]?” But it’s interesting that Amazon is now dabbling with ads within the Alexa ecosystem. The news comes a month after a CNBC report suggested that Amazon was ramping up plans to monetize Alexa through sponsorships within skills, with the likes of Procter & Gamble and Clorox reportedly involved in talks with Amazon.

It’s still not clear exactly how Amazon plans to shoehorn ads into its burgeoning Alexa skills platform, but its tie-up with Paramount Network is a strong indication as to the direction things are heading. It’s starting to look a lot like Google’s ad placements, whereby companies pay to have their product promoted amongst organic results.

Shareaholic: Search overtook social for referral traffic in 2017 as Google passed Facebook

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:00 AM PST


Google passed Facebook as the top referral traffic driver in 2017 as the search giant doubled down on mobile and the social giant cleaned up its News Feed. That move resulted in an even bigger change last year: Search overtook social in 2017, after the two first swapped spots in 2013. The chart above shows this best, detailing the quarterly share of visits for six search engines and the top 13 social networks.

The findings come from social discovery and sharing platform Shareaholic, which today released a report covering referral traffic data for 2017. The platform tracks over 400 million users visiting its network of over 250,000 mobile and desktop sites. Before we dive deeper into the numbers, some quick methodology:

The data reveals “share of visits,” a percentage of overall traffic — direct traffic, social referrals, organic search, paid search, etc. We source data from a network of opt-in websites that utilize our content marketing and publishing tools. These sites include a diversity of categories (e.g. food, tech, design, fashion and beauty, marketing, sports, parenting, religion, general news, and many more), with sites ranging from independent blogs to publishing companies to commerce sites. The size of websites in the study varies from less than 1,000 monthly unique visitors to over 1 million. Rather than working with a static list, we take advantage of an expanding data set as we integrate with new sites.

For the past few years, site visitors were more likely to be referred from social posts than search results. Search made a comeback in 2017, however, driving 34.8 percent of site visits, compared to 25.6 percent from social.

Search

Search did not gain by ignoring social, but rather by embracing it. Search engines are indexing more and more social content, not just considering it for ranking purposes, but including it directly in search results. Users thus do not have to depend on search features in social networks and can continue to rely on their favorite search engine.

For most people, that means Google:

Notice that although Google gained the most share, all search engines were up in 2017. Social’s decline left plenty of room for search growth across the board.

Shareaholic unsurprisingly predicts search will be the largest traffic driver in 2018. The company also points out that the lack of fragmentation in the space “makes the return on your efforts even more apparent as you only need to focus on one or two platforms.”

Social

Facebook was down double-digit percentage points between 2016 and 2017. As a result, Pinterest and Instagram moved in to capitalize on the opportunity. Pinterest, in particular, is great for sharing content tied to external sites, while Instagram is still figuring out how that should work, as the numbers show:

Still, notice that Instagram is very close to overtaking Twitter. While Facebook still deserves the majority of your attention when it comes to social investment, Pinterest and Instagram are worth considering as ways to grow your audience. Both focus heavily on image-related content, so you’ll need to make sure your imagery is shareable.

YouTube, Flipboard, and LinkedIn all also gained share. Twitter, StumbleUpon, BuzzFeed (really?), Reddit, Yummly, Google+, and Tumblr all decreased.

Google, Facebook, and beyond

Those following the news closely will not be surprised by Shareaholic’s findings. Facebook is driving less traffic to websites, and the competition is mobilizing to compensate.

These results are in line with the latest data from Google Analytics alternatives Chartbeat and Parse.ly. Both have found that Google has been steadily replacing the traffic publishers are losing from Facebook.

Shareaholic found Google’s share increased from 28.56 percent in 2016 to 34.66 percent in 2017, while Facebook fell from 30.92 percent in 2016 to 22.64 percent in 2017.

Does this mean sites should give up on social, or just Facebook, and focus all their efforts on Google? No.

The two could easily swap again in a few years, but even if they don’t, you need a strategy for both Google and Facebook. The duo held 59.48 percent of the pie in 2016 and 57.30 percent in 2017.

Even better, you should focus on search overall, plus all the social networks that make sense for your site.

Beauty brand Glossier raises $52 million to boost its digital roadmap

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:00 AM PST


It's been quite a year for beauty brand Glossier (pronounced gloss-ee-ay). In 2017, the New York City-based startup added two product categories and expanded to new markets, opening offices in London and Montreal. It also acquired Canadian tech agency Dynamo in December. Today, Glossier announced that it has raised $52 million to develop new digital products for its customer base. Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and Index Ventures co-led the round, with participation from existing investors Thrive Capital, Forerunner Ventures, and 14W. New investors Imaginary Ventures and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz also joined.

Glossier is the brainchild of founder and CEO Emily Weiss, who created beauty blog Into The Gloss in 2010 after working as a fashion assistant at Vogue. By sharing beauty tips and interviewing celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Weiss amassed an impressive number of followers, which created a solid base to launch Glossier in 2014. Into The Gloss has two million monthly unique visitors today.

Above: Glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss

Image Credit: Glossier

Glossier has managed to appeal to millennials, in particular, in part by bypassing traditional marketing tactics and relying on word-of-mouth and referrals. The brand also has a strong presence on social media, especially Instagram, where users can view product prices by tapping on an image. They are then redirected to the Glossier website to purchase the product.

Price points are another draw for the younger generation. The Milky Jelly Cleanser, for example, sells for $18, and the Wowder finishing powder for $22. Glossier currently ships to the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

The website is the only place where customers can buy Glossier products online, something Weiss wants to maintain as a way to distinguish her brand from retail giants like Sephora. The underlying mantra for Weiss, who has been dubbed the millennial's Estée Lauder, seems to be “simplicity.” Simple branding, simple products, and a simple way of purchasing.

Above: Glossier makeup products

Image Credit: Bérénice Magistretti/VentureBeat

Although Weiss did not elaborate on the specifics, the fresh injection of capital will be used to focus on new digital experiences to further expand the Glossier community. The startup declined to comment on the number of customers it currently has.

Competitors in this space include Milk Makeup, Beautycounter, and Memebox.

Like many beauty brands, Glossier has a strong female entourage supporting its vision. From its female founder to strong female backers like Forerunner Ventures' Kirsten Green, Glossier is a shining example of a successful female-led startup.

Dear Tech People reported the startup as having 79 percent female employees, ranking it as number six in its report of the 100 most diverse and inclusive tech companies. This is an important reality check for the tech community as a whole: Having a healthier gender ratio within a company can lead to a healthier work environment. Not that men should be banished altogether, but it has been a trying year for women in tech (to say the least), so a bit of good news is very welcome.

To date, Glossier has raised a total of $86 million, and it currently has just over 150 employees.

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Apple reportedly plans AirPods with Hey Siri, water resistance, and new chip

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 06:15 AM PST


Apple is working on at least two new versions of its wireless AirPods earphones, according to a Bloomberg report this morning, with plans to release one as early as this year, and the second as early as next year. Each of the new models is expected to bolster existing features rather than radically changing the current, apparently successful formula.

Developed under the code name B288, the first new AirPods version is said to let users evoke Siri by saying “Hey Siri” rather than tapping on the earphone’s stem. It’s unclear whether Apple’s AI assistant Siri will gain additional functionality for AirPods or largely continue to be used for changing tracks, volume, and play/pause status.

B288 will also include “an upgraded Apple-designed wireless chip for managing Bluetooth connections.” The current AirPods model uses Apple’s W1 wireless chip, delivering five hours of battery life on a charge, and is compatible with Bluetooth 4. Apple has recently added Bluetooth 5 to recent iPhones and the HomePod, suggesting that the new AirPods will follow the same path.

The second new AirPods model will be designed to “survive splashes of water and rain” but is not intended for full submersion in water. Current AirPods are generally capable of withstanding sweat when used for indoor workouts but can be damaged when used in the rain or dropped in water.

Additionally, Apple’s website notes that an “optional wireless charging case [is] coming in 2018,” and Bloomberg mentions the case without discussing Apple’s plans for it. This case was originally shown during a sneak peek at AirPower, an Apple-developed charging mat compatible with last year’s new iPhone and Apple Watch models. In addition to being offered as an additional purchase for current AirPods users, the case might be bundled with one or both of the upcoming AirPods revisions, potentially pushing up the current $159 asking price.

Apple does not break out sales of AirPods in its lineup, but the wireless earphones are generally believed to be popular. The product was extremely difficult to get in the months following its December 2016 release, in part due to initial production constraints, and has been included in Apple’s growing Wearables category alongside the Apple Watch.

Period time? Femtech app Clue launches on Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST


Period-tracking app Clue announced today that it is launching on Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch, thereby allowing women to track their period, PMS symptoms, sexual activity, energy, and fertility windows directly from their wrists.

"The new Clue app on Ionic is the next step in giving users the ability to connect their workout with their cycle," wrote Clue cofounder and CEO Ida Tin, in an email to VentureBeat. "Clue helps its users to understand their cycle and its impact across their lives, including fitness and health. Research has shown a connection between exercise and the cycle. With the wearable market growing year-on-year, it is incredibly exciting to partner with Fitbit and become the first female health app available on Fitbit Ionic."

Above: Clue app on Fitbit Ionic

Image Credit: Clue

Fitbit started selling its smartwatch in October for $300. This is the company's first ever smartwatch, sporting GPS, heart rate monitoring technology, and support for Fitbit Pay, among other features. The watch provides access to more than 400 apps and clock faces and is compatible across most Android, iOS, and Windows phones.

Clue users can feed their Fitbit activity, sleep, weight, nutrition, and heart rate data into the Clue app to help improve cycle predictions. Fitbit's 25 million user base will surely give a good boost to Clue, which currently has 5 million users across 190 countries. The Clue app is free and is available in 15 languages.

When asked whether Clue has plans to become a contraceptive app, Tin was very clear:

Clue is not, and has never presented itself as, a contraceptive. While we support innovation in reproductive health technology, we disagree with the scientific interpretations currently used by apps which position themselves as contraceptives. Fundamentally, we believe that a higher standard of research and transparent communication is necessary for fertility awareness contraceptive apps. There should be as little discrepancy as possible between the understanding of actual risk, and the risk assumed by users. We are excited about the possibility of one day supporting a digital contraceptive product, but would take a very different approach to research and research application in technology, as well as to communication around efficacy, effectiveness, and risk.

Stockholm, Sweden-based Natural Cycles is the first app to have been approved as a contraceptive in the European Union. The startup recently received criticism after several women blamed the app for unwanted pregnancies.

Founded in 2012, Berlin-based Clue has raised $30 million to date from investors that include Union Square Ventures (USV), Mosaic Ventures, and FJ Labs. The startup currently has 55 employees.

Intel partners with Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft to develop 5G-enabled PCs for late 2019

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST


Intel today announced a wide-ranging partnership with a consortium of leading PC makers to begin developing personal computers that can fully leverage the power of 5G networks.

The intention is to use Intel’s XXM 8000 series 5G modem as the foundation of a new generation of devices created by Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft. While some wireless carriers are rolling out early stages of 5G networks later this year, Intel’s goal is to have these new devices ready for the holiday season in 2019.

“This shows the building blocks being put into place,” said Rob Topol, Intel’s general manager for 5G technologies, in a conference call with reporters.

Intel made the announcement on the eve of Mobile World Congress, the massive telecom industry conference that starts on Monday in Barcelona.

Topol stressed that there are no firm specs for the devices at this time, but rather the partnership has agreed on some “guiding principles.”

The development of such devices is critical for Intel, which is in a race with Qualcomm and Samsung to be the provider of choice for 5G modems. Samsung has an advantage in that it can build its own devices that contain its modems.

Meanwhile, earlier this month Qualcomm announced partnerships with 19 mobile device makers and 18 carriers to bring Snapdragon X50 family 5G modems to devices sold across the world, starting in 2019.

As Intel tries to keep pace, it also announced today a partnership with Spreadtrum Communications, a fabless semiconductor firm. The goal is to develop 5G smartphones that use Intel’s XMM 8000 series modem and Spreadtrum’s Application processor by the second half of 2019.

Topol said that while the 5G era will be driven by expansive range endpoint devices, it is critical to have 5G smartphones ready from the start of network deployments to jumpstart adoption and encourage development of new services.

“5G is really the post-smartphone era,” Topol said. “But it’s important that those smartphones really carry us into this new era of capacity.”

Laptops will also be important in order to begin expanding use cases and services. Intel’s booth at MWC will feature demonstrations of 2-in-1 5G laptops.

GameChanger Charity celebrates $18 million of donations with content platform for kids in hospitals

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST


GameChanger Charity has received $18 million worth of donations in the last two months toward its goal of using video games to help sick kids. The nonprofit also announcing a new venture, ZOTT, which is a content platform specifically for children in hospitals. Former Twitch executive vice president of broadcaster success Jonathan Shipman will be heading up ZOTT as president.

Taylor Carol and his father founded GameChanger a decade ago. Its inspiration comes from Carol’s own battle with cancer and how he found comfort in video games during his multiyear stay at medical institutions. The nonprofit has launched a number of initiatives such as scholarships for cancer survivors and events at hospitals. It’s also partnered with the charity Child’s Play to get games and consoles to sick children.

Since the nonprofit was founded, it’s attracted industry support. Popular YouTuber Jordan “CaptainSparklez” Maron has been a board member for two years. Today, GameChanger announced that Treyarch chairman and former studio head Mark Lamia has also joined its board. And Microsoft donated Xbox Game Pass subscriptions to hospitals through the charity, contributing much of the $18 million of donations so far this year.

“Tech can be used to supplement kids' learning while they're in the hospital, so they leave the hospital not just with newfound distractions, things they like, but with newfound passions,” said Carol in a phone call with GamesBeat. “Same thing with socialization. Things like Minecraft provide a capability for kids who are like me, who are stuck in a room by themselves, to play in virtual playgrounds with other kids.”

Carol emphasizes that hospitals are doing the best they can for their patients. However, most facilities have limited resources and children end up having to rely on watching TV to pass the time.

“A lot of the hospitals have really outdated gaming systems, really outdated tools to stay intellectually engaged, to play with their friends, and to feel connected to the world around them,” said Carol. “It's an incredibly painful situation, and one that often seems delineated between different socioeconomic status. Some families can afford to give their kids a Switch or bring an Xbox One or PS4 into the room. Those kids can stay engaged. But so many patients can't do that.”

ZOTT is also meant to be an alternative source of entertainment and education for kids, providing opportunities for socialization and distraction from harrowing treatments. GameChanger hasn’t disclosed when ZOTT will be live, but a pilot program is currently being tested in eight hospitals. The platform will include games alongside, videos, comic books, and livestreaming content. A moderation team will work to make sure it’s a safe environment.

"I know from my own son's experience the positive impact meaningful opportunities to play, learn and socialize can have for those fighting through a life-threatening illness and the ensuing recovery, especially at a young age," said Shipman in a statement. “ZOTT is a new leap forward in patient engagement and support, with the power to scale GameChanger's founding mission for socioeconomic good upward around the world.”

 

Uber and Citymapper show how technology is blurring the line between public and private transport

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 05:20 AM PST


When is a bus not a bus? Give up? When it’s an eight-seater private hire vehicle designed to bypass strict city regulations.

If that punchline didn’t have you laughing out loud, well, you should know it wasn’t a joke. Popular city transit app Citymapper is launching its own public transport service in London, called Smart Ride, which is now live in the London area. You can basically book transport directly through the Citymapper app.

This adds to a growing number of initiatives from the tech startup world that blur the lines between what constitutes a “bus” and a “taxi” — or, to put it another way, between public and private transport.

By way of a quick recap, Citymapper is a popular transport app used in dozens of conurbations globally, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and its native London. The company announced last May that it was putting its gargantuan arsenal of travel data to good use by plugging the gaps in London’s transport infrastructure. To do this, it started trialing its own smart green bus in the U.K. capital, following pre-set routes and allowing passengers to jump on and off at bus stops.

Yes, it all sounded very much like a traditional bus, except it sought to use its trove of urban mobility data to observe how users travel around the city and identify areas that could be better served by public transport. The company introduced its first commercial bus service a few months later to serve East London through weekend nights.

Above: Citymapper Bus

However, Citymapper identified a key problem with running a commercial bus service in London — namely, regulation. The company said that it had garnered enough data from its first weekend in operation to change how it operated its route, but it had to apply to local transport authorities for permission to do so and then wait for the lengthy approval process. So Citymapper was effectively shackled in its attempt to use real-time data to tweak its “fixed-route” bus service.

Private hire vehicles (such as taxis), on the other hand, aren’t bound by such regulation and are therefore afforded more freedom to roam wherever they wish. According to the powers that be, if a vehicle can carry nine or more people, it is classed as a bus, but if it carries fewer than that, it is branded a private hire vehicle.

“As a result, a private hire vehicle can respond to demand, a bus cannot,” the company noted in a blog post this week. “That makes it hard for a bus, even a smart green minibus, to be part of the 'demand-responsive' future.”

The upshot of all this is that Citymapper is now focusing on smaller eight-seater vehicles in its latest attempt to fix urban mobility with its own transport. The Smart Ride service will work similar to buses insofar as it will operate on a fixed network and will have dedicated stops.

But, unlike a bus, you’ll be able to book a seat, much as you would with a taxi. Even more importantly, Citymapper retains a degree of flexibility over any tweaks and changes it may wish to make to the service and avoids having to jump through regulatory hoops.

Above: Citymapper

If this is all starting to sound familiar, you’re likely thinking of a couple of well-established urban mobility tech firms in the U.S.

Is it a bus? Is it a taxi? No, it’s a … what is it?

Last March, Lyft drew ridicule when it effectively reinvented the bus with its Lyft Shuttle service that offered fixed routes and fares.

And just yesterday Uber announced the official launch of its first new product in several years. Uber Express Pool is similar to the company’s existing carpooling service, UberPool, except Express Pool doesn’t offer a precise door-to-door service. Instead, Uber figures out an optimum route that runs near the people wishing to share a ride and requires those individuals to walk a block or two to meet their Uber at an “Express spot.” They may also have to walk a short distance at the end, depending on their actual destination. In theory, this means the service should make fewer stops, with fewer detours, and offer a more efficient journey than UberPool.

Above: Uber Express Pool

Similar to Citymapper’s initiative, Express Pool meshes some of the benefits of private and public transport to create a cheaper, more streamlined service. But it’s not the first time Uber has dabbled in bus-like services, as it previously experimented with UberHop, which was also similar to UberPool, except that it followed a set route during key commuting hours for a flat fare — just like a bus. The UberHop pilot was later discontinued as the company looked to take its learnings and improve UberPool in the future.

Uber is also now looking to enter the dockless bike-sharing business via a partnership with Jump, and it has been testing Uber Bike in San Francisco for the past few weeks, with plans to extend the program to more cities.

At a conference in San Francisco last week, new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talked in depth about his vision for the company, explaining that the ultimate goal is to get people (or goods) from “point A to point B,” as noted by Bloomberg.

It has been clear for some time that Uber’s raison d’être goes well beyond being a simple e-taxi app. It’s an intricate transport network that uses data to join the dots between vehicles, people, and goods. The company now delivers food, it has shown its potential as a courier service via UberRush, and it has also entered the lucrative freighting space.

But Uber’s ambitions extend even further — it wants to run public bus networks for cities. “Cars are to us what books are to Amazon,” Khosrowshahi added. “I want to run the bus systems for a city. I want you to be able to take an Uber and get into the subway … and get out and have an Uber waiting for you.”

The big debate

Many cities could benefit from greater efficiencies in their public transport infrastructure, and data can clearly play a large role in this. However, debates will continue over how much leeway private companies such as Uber should be given in terms of their control over public transport. When profits are the ultimate goal, should Uber be given a seat at the public transport table?

Despite encountering regulatory troubles in many cities around the world, Uber isn’t going away anytime soon, and it — along with its competitors — has shown how data can be leveraged to match supply with demand. Increasingly, urban mobility companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Citymapper can be used to augment, rather than replace, existing public transport.

A few months back, Uber, Citymapper, and a bunch of other transport-focused companies joined public transport advocacy network UITP, a nonprofit global advocacy network that brings together stakeholders from across transport to improve urban mobility. “Alone, these new players do not have the capacity or capability to meet every journey need or solve congestion issues," said IAPT secretary general Alain Flausch, at the time. “They therefore need to operate to complement existing high-quality public transport.”

Elsewhere, Berlin-based Door2Door, which joined the UITP last year alongside Uber and Citymapper, offers cities and local authorities a mobility platform to launch and operate their own on-demand transport systems, providing ride-sharing services and analytics to help inform their decisions. Door2Door’s ultimate aim is to make personal car ownership a thing of the past by giving city residents more efficient alternatives. And Israeli transit startup Moovit, which is along the lines of Citymapper and just yesterday announced a $50 million funding round, is licensing its data to cities so they can analyze traffic flows, improve their transit systems, and better plan transport infrastructure projects. Canada’s Transit is also giving data to local transport authorities.

There are many discussions to be had around the role private mobility technology companies should play in improving urban transport. One thing is clear though: The lines between what constitutes “public” and “private” transportation are blurring.

Indianapolis tech community sees lack of funding and diversity as its biggest challenges

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST


Entrepreneurs can pull up plenty of data about the business conditions in Silicon Valley. But tech companies outside of the coasts often don’t have access to the same level of information about how diverse the local workforce is or how many entrepreneurs are raising funding in their area.

That’s a problem Powderkeg, a community-building platform that works with tech workers and leaders in nine cities, is aiming to solve with today’s release of its first Indianapolis Tech Census. Powderkeg surveyed 359 members of the Indiana tech community — 78 founders, 12 investors, and more than 250 tech workers — to find out what kind of challenges the tech community faces and get a better sense of who works in tech in the city. According to Indianapolis organization TechPoint, there are currently 428 tech companies in Indianapolis and its surrounding suburbs.


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“Our plan is to [eventually] do this in all of the big tech hubs around the country,” Powderkeg CEO Matt Hunckler told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “There's some really great national organizations … that do some really good comprehensive reports, but if you want to drill down into a city or a metro, it's really hard to find that information.”

According to Hunckler, the survey did back up some anecdotal assessments he had made about the Indianapolis tech community, after having grown up in the city and worked in the tech community for more than eight years.

The majority of the founders surveyed (54 percent) said their companies were bootstrapped, while the majority of respondents said that a lack of funding was the number one issue holding the Indianapolis tech community back.

Half of the companies participating in the survey said that their startup recorded over $1 million in recurring revenue in 2017, while 34 percent of companies saw their revenue grow by more than 100 percent.

Marketing and SaaS companies seem to be experiencing the highest growth rates — which isn’t surprising, as the city’s most well-known exit to date comes from a SaaS company — ExactTarget, which was acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion in 2013. Fifty-six percent of marketing and SaaS companies surveyed said their revenue grew by more than 100 percent in 2017.

“[SaaS] is where you see a lot of the collaboration between the companies — you will actually see the Indianapolis SaaS companies using each other’s products and giving feedback,” Doxly founder and CEO Haley Altman told VentureBeat. Doxly offers a cloud-based platform that helps automate the processing of legal documents.

The survey confirms that one of the biggest challenges facing the Indianapolis tech community is a lack of diversity. Just 30.4 percent of workforce respondents were women, while 9.61 percent identified as an ethnic minority.

According to 2014 Census data, 58.4 percent of residents in Indianapolis-Marion County were white. Respondents gave the Indiana tech community a score of 4.4 out of 10 on diversity, and a score of 6.3 on inclusivity.

“I think we just need to continue to have the conversation with more people from more representative backgrounds,” Altman said. “People are acknowledging that it is an issue … and you see more companies making it a part of their platform to say they value diversity.”

Lighthouse uses AI and voice command in its home security camera

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST


Lighthouse is launching a new home security camera powered by voice commands and artificial intelligence. It lets you ask who was jumping around in the living room after you find a broken vase on the floor. And it will tell you if there’s a burglar in your home or if it’s just one of the kids getting milk at night.

Palo Alto, California-based Lighthouse hopes to be the first to bring real smarts to the home security camera business, which is expected to grow 11 percent a year globally to $8 billion by 2023, according to research by Market Research Future. Most home security cameras are connected to Wi-Fi and smartphones, but they can still be pretty dumb about sending alerts to you when a cat walks by the camera. Lighthouse considers its product more like the Alexa of security cameras, with built-in computer vision, voice controls, and AI.

“We see a lot of camera companies out there,” said Lighthouse CEO Alex Teichman, in an interview with VentureBeat. “We don’t see AI companies. There are plenty of camera manufacturers, but this is a different thing. We are an AI services company that makes hardware to support the AI.”

Teichman and chief technology officer Hendrik Dahlkamp started the company in early 2015 in the Playground accelerator started by Android creator Andy Rubin. Both Teichman and Dahlkamp had backgrounds in self-driving cars. They watched the rapid rise of Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, and they thought to apply the natural language voice recognition to security cameras.

Above: Lighthouse cofounders Hendrik Dahlkamp (left) and Alex Teichman.

Image Credit: Lighthouse

But they also noticed the trend toward 3D sensing through inexpensive sensors known as time-of-flight sensors, which have been used in Microsoft’s Kinect 2.0 cameras for video game consoles. They created a camera with the new technologies as well as night vision, a wide field of view, and computer vision.

In a demo, Jessica Gilmartin, chief marketing officer at Lighthouse, showed how she monitors her home with two Lighthouse cameras, including one that watches the front door and living room. Each camera is always recording, but it only actively stores video when it senses motion. Gilmartin can ask the camera to show the highlights of the day, and she can see various incidents where motion triggered the camera.

Gilmartin showed how the dog walker came into the front door and took the dog out for a walk. It can identify the people in the house through face recognition, but also by physical features such as height. That way, it can identify people such as dog walkers, nannies, babysitters, and your family members by names that you give them.

In the videos, people show up in blue outlines, and pets show up in orange. Lighthouse senses objects and sends that data to the cloud, where the heavy-duty analysis is done by a neural network, which gets better over time.

“I have young kids, and I can check on what they are up to,” Gilmartin said. “I can ask Lighthouse, ‘What did my kids do while Dana was there and I was gone?'”

Lighthouse is smart enough to show the right moments in the day, based on such requests.

Above: Lighthouse can respond to natural language questions.

Image Credit: Lighthouse

You can distinguish between kids and burglars, strangers and friends, and pets or other animals. If the device is stolen, the crime will likely be captured on video, which is stored in the cloud. Customers can search through 30 days of motion-activated videos.

“We record and save everything with physical motion,” Teichman said.

Lighthouse charges $300 for the camera and $10 a month for the storage and AI services.

Of course, some people, such as teenagers, won’t like this technology, as it can be used to spy on them. Teichman said the company uses encryption, and it has privacy controls. He said no one at Lighthouse ever sees your data, and you can set the camera to turn off when people come home. Most beta users have not done that, however. And so far, the beta testers have discovered one burglary through Lighthouse.

Lighthouse uses a lot of power, particularly because of its 3D sensor, and so it has to be plugged into a wall. It is not intended for outdoor use.

The company has 35 employees.

“We are excited about the home security camera launch, but we have a lot of interest in the vision platform,” Teichman said. “We are excited about elderly care. For me this comes back to our mission to make useful and accessible home products. We are not restricted to the home or computer vision.”

Little Dragons Café is Harvest Moon creator’s newest project with Aksys Games

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 04:30 AM PST


Yasuhiro Wada has previously espoused his love for “nature, animals, and caring for other people,” which his classic game Harvest Moon clearly expressed. Little Dragons Café seems to tap into the same warm and fuzzy feelings, putting players in charge of running a family restaurant and raising dragons. Wada has teamed up with publisher Aksys Games, and the title will launch sometime this summer for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Little Dragons Café is the story of two children whose mother has fallen into a deep slumber. A mysterious man tells them she’ll only wake up once they’ve successfully raised a dragon. In the meantime, they’ve got to keep the family café running — which means planting crops, fishing, learning recipes, serving food to small-town neighbors.

Aksys founder and CEO Akibo Shieh and Wada are long-time friends, and the two had planned on working on a project together for a while. They’ve been developing Little Dragons Café for two years now. The title is Wada’s first since 2016’s Birthdays the Beginning, a sandbox game about creating and nurturing life.

Challenges and tradeoffs on the road to AR

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 04:10 AM PST


Presented by Intel


Anyone involved in virtual reality over the course of the past few years, whether as a developer of VR, as a user of VR, or simply tracking the industry's progress, will agree there's a word they've heard a few times too many: Holodeck. The well-trod Star Trek concept has become a threadbare metaphor for a supposed end-point for VR technology.

While aspirational visions serve a purpose, they can also do us disservice. The reality is that we are a very long way from that Holodeck vision and that's OK. VR is already serving many useful purposes with near-term solutions that don't attempt to fool all our senses to the point of a complete suspension of disbelief. Most of the industry, it seems, has come to accept this, as have most VR users. We have, collectively, come to terms with the fact that great product solutions can exist in the near term, that deliver some portion of the Holodeck promise, while leaving other portions to the fictions of Star Trek and other sci-fi.

It is surprising then, when looking at augmented reality [1], that so many believe in the promise of a "Holodeck of AR" — sleek and stylish glasses delivered via hardware and software magic that rather than bringing us to any imaginable universe, instead bring any imaginable augmentation of the senses to our real world. Moreover, many believe this is deliverable in the near-term time horizon.

While solutions spanning the immersive technologies domain (AR, VR) will share dependence on common underlying technologies, augmented reality is in many ways a harder problem. AR can be thought of as a whole bouquet of thorny technical problems, each of which is its own very deep rabbit hole.

As with VR, AR involves an input-output loop that needs to execute sufficiently quickly to fool the conscious and subconscious to a degree where the results seem congruous with the surrounding world and the user's sense of what seems natural. What's more, in order to dovetail with the surrounding world, the solution may need to communicate with and draw from surrounding information sources. The sophistication of the processing that the solution may need to perform may vary by use case. And the solution needs to be embodied in something that a user can wear or carry in a manner suitable to their situation.

This is where the challenge becomes apparent. The sheer number of possible inputs and outputs that one can imagine, the depth of each that might be required, the sophistication of the processing that may be required for a given task, and the desired attributes for the embodiment of that solution (price, form factor, etc), make this a boundless problem.

Attributes of AR solutions

For a sampling of the technical challenges facing AR, see the Illustration below, which attempts to present the wide variety of attributes that an AR solution may embody. Titled the 'Attributes of Augmented Reality [2], this — while almost certainly incomplete — is meant to illustrate the breadth of challenging problems to address. I've divided them into four main areas:

  • Sensing: Seeing, hearing, sampling, and otherwise deriving the state of the world surrounding the user.
  • Processing: Making sense of all of that data, what it means in the context of the computational tasks, simulations and/or and applications at hand, and making decisions about what to do next.
  • Augmenting: Taking the output of this processing and presenting it back to the user's senses in a way that augments their sense of their environs.
  • Embodying: The attributes of the physical manifestation of the device or devices that deliver this solution.

This is an admittedly over-simplified division; and the sub-categories within each area are only a subset, to which many working within the field could add. This, in a way, is the point: Solutions that do ALL of these things, let alone do them well, cheaply, and unobtrusively, are a long way off.

Even more challenging still is the number of problems in the space that are ones for which solutions do not yet even exist. I like to think of the problems as falling within three distinct domains:

Problems at the intersection of power, performance, and time. For those of us that work in Silicon Valley, these are the easiest to understand. For known solutions to problems, they are simply a matter of "how long before Moore's Law allows us to do this in real-time, within a certain power envelope?"

Problems requiring breakthroughs in science. This is a more challenging category of problems, requiring breakthroughs in limitations of existing technologies — or more often — multiple breakthroughs. Examples in recent years include image-based inside-out 6DOF-tracking, or Waveguide display technologies. Lightfield displays are an example that feels further out on the edge of today's R&D. While predicting when these problems will be solved is much harder, there's a certain faith that people in the field have enough smart people in labs around the world working on these problems to make progress in solving them.

Problems requiring breakthroughs in design, user experience, and social norms. I sometimes encounter folks who believe that if we tackle problems in the two above categories, the third category of problems will be resolved in short order. Personally, I think this is the hardest category of the three. We can look at many technology transitions and see that there was a sort of "maximum rate of absorption" at which the design community could adapt to the new paradigm (e.g. the half-decade of attempts at 3-finger swipes, swirly gestures, and other touchscreen UI attempts before the dust settled on what most apps use today on smartphones).

Similarly, there's an analogous societal component — it takes time for people to get used to intrusions of technology (real or perceived) on their lives. (Google Glass learned this lesson painfully.)

Specialization versus Jack of all trades

Until a point in the far future where we can deliver all of the attributes of AR at extremely high quality, inexpensively, and seamlessly, we're going to see interim solutions that are forced to make tradeoffs between them. This is a Good Thing. I hold a strong conviction that the path to success in this space is in doing fewer things extremely well, not many things in a compromised fashion.

It's likely we'll see AR solutions that tackle particular problems in point solution devices. We'll see solutions that make compromises on some attributes in order to exceed expectations on others. We'll see solutions that complement existing screens rather than replace them. And like with VR, we'll see solutions that leverage the power of existing devices (PCs, game consoles, smartphones, etc.).

Fostering an environment for progress

If we take the view that solutions will need to decide on different tradeoffs for different optimal solutions for particular problems, customer segments or form factors — and that we want many solutions to make attempts at different flavors of AR solutions — then how to encourage this?

The first step is to acknowledge that the "AR Holodeck" is not likely to arrive in the near term, and that interim, specialized solutions are not only OK, but may be preferred. Second is to foster an environment that allows a multitude of solutions to materialize — through open platforms and open standards. Finally, the industry requires collaboration — as entrants solve a problem in one domain, to share that solution with others to allow cross-pollination. Through these kinds of efforts, we may get our "holodeck of AR" eventually, but we'll have been using AR for years already by the time that happens.

Kim Pallister manages the VR Center of Excellence at Intel. The opinions expressed in this article are his own and not necessarily represent the view of Intel Corporation

Footnotes

[1] I'm going to avoid getting into the AR/MR nomenclature debate. For purposes of this article and the illustrative Attributes of AR poster – I'm covering the full spectrum of cases where a solution would supplement a user's environment with spatial elements, regardless of how seamlessly or realistically the solution attempts to integrate them into the environment.

[2] To give credit where it's due: I owe thanks to the folks at Ziba Design for helping lay out the design in a far more cohesive way than I originally had it on my whiteboard. Also, a huge thanks to John Manoogian III for his creation of the *brilliant* Cognitive Bias Codex, from which I took inspiration.


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Facebook’s first in-house incubator, LDN_LAB, launches in London

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:29 AM PST


Facebook has officially opened its first in-house incubator, which will be held in its London headquarters.

The company first announced LDN_LAB back in December when it opened its new HQ in the U.K. capital. The incubator will launch three 12-week courses throughout 2018, and seven U.K. startups will participate in the inaugural program, which kicked off on Monday.

Each three-month program will focus on helping startups grow their business, with the first intake aimed specifically at those using technology to build communities.

This feeds into Facebook’s broader mission to help people have more meaningful social interactions. Indeed, Facebook launched its first Communities Summit in the U.S. last year to bring group and page admins together under one roof, and it later expanded the program to Europe. A few weeks back, Facebook also pledged up to $10 million in grants for a new community leadership program.

Facebook’s new HQ in London’s West End is the company’s largest engineering hub outside the U.S. and is expected to house more than 2,000 employees by the end of 2018.

LDN_LAB is being spearheaded by an advisory panel that includes Facebook EMEA VP Nicola Mendelsohn, with support from London VC firm Bethnal Green Ventures. Participants will gain access to mentoring from “senior Facebook executives” who will cover such elements as product development, software engineering, data science, and marketing.

“Facebook itself emerged from a vibrant startup ecosystem, which enabled us to move fast and innovate,” noted Facebook VP for northern Europe Steve Hatch. “With LDN_LAB, we want to help pave the way for the next generation of startup success stories in London and across the U.K., who will ultimately grow the economy and create jobs.”

The first seven participants, which largely hail from London and which include five female founders, kicked off the program this week by meeting their mentors and pitching their startup. These include:

  • Sharecare: a platform for connecting volunteers with elderly people who need support.
  • Teacherly: a collaborative platform for teachers to create and share lesson plans.
  • Olio: a network for neighbors to connect with each other and local shops to prevent surplus food from being thrown out.
  • GoodGym: a nonprofit that connects runners with community-based volunteering initiatives.
  • Mush: a social network for new mothers.
  • Rabble: gamifying fitness to make it more fun.
  • Tabl: an independent food community and marketplace.

The second segment of the program will focus narrowly on content creators from Facebook and Instagram, who will be given access to workshops and mentoring, while the third intake, which will begin in August, will invite participation from “community leaders and builders.” It appears this will focus largely on Facebook group and page admins.

Though LDN_LAB is Facebook’s first in-house incubator, the company has previously run incubators elsewhere. Last January, for example, it opened an incubator for data-driven startups on Paris' Station F campus.

Tinyclues Closes $18 Million Investment Round for International Growth

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:25 AM PST


PARIS & LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 22, 2018–

Tinyclues, provider of a leading AI-first marketing campaign intelligence solution, today announced the closing of a USD 18 million Series B investment. Lead investor in the round was the EQT Ventures fund (“EQT Ventures”), with participation from existing investors, Alven, Elaia Partners and ISAI.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180222005622/en/

Tinyclues announced the closing of a USD 18 million Series B investment (Photo: Business Wire)

Tinyclues announced the closing of a USD 18 million Series B investment (Photo: Business Wire)

The Tinyclues solution uses a unique Deep AI technology that captures the latent business and customer insights contained in first-party data. It then predicts the future buyers for any product or service campaign with incredible accuracy, allowing brands to present highly relevant product offers to highly qualified audiences. Using Tinyclues to reinvent the way they create, target and orchestrate campaigns, Tinyclues customers have secured an outstanding +49% average increase in campaign revenue, in addition to a significant improvement in customer experience.

Backed by EQT Ventures, Tinyclues will further accelerate its already impressive growth in North America and Europe; in 2017, the company more than doubled its annual recurring revenue. The investment will also support an aggressive AI-first product development timetable, further empowering brands to win new sources of revenue from intelligent marketing campaigns.

“Tinyclues is changing the game for B2C marketers by adding an AI-first campaign intelligence layer on top of their campaign management solutions and processes,” said David Bessis, founder and CEO of Tinyclues. “As a result we’ve had a triple-digit annual growth and we’ve been able to seek out a top investor that shares our energy, drive and entrepreneurial spirit.”

Bessis continued: “EQT Ventures provides us not just with capital, but also access to individuals with exceptional technology-business growth experience, eager to help us drive our aggressive plans for international growth and our ambitious product roadmap.”

Tinyclues now powers marketing campaigns for more than 80 enterprise companies including Air France, Arcadia, Cdiscount, Charles Tyrwhitt, Club Med, Fnac Darty, Lacoste, Manor, OUI.sncf and Vente-privee.com.

“Tinyclues is transforming a multi-billion dollar global market with Deep AI expertise and a world-class team,” said Alastair Mitchell, Partner and investment advisor to EQT Ventures. “A huge percentage of sales for brands and retailers comes through promotional campaigns – mostly using manual segmentations or crude lookalike algorithms. AI is transforming this. Tinyclues’ platform automates the targeting of customers and the orchestration of campaigns. As a result, Tinyclues increases campaign revenue for its customers by up to 250%. This is game-changing not just for marketing campaigns, but promises to revolutionize the wider value chain, including retail category management, merchandising and customer communication.”

With the support of EQT Ventures, Tinyclues is moving forward its vision of AI-first marketing solutions, removing the guesswork from campaign marketing and redefining how B2C marketers interact with customers.

“For too long, targeted marketing had to rely on static rules and predefined workflows that forced customers into arbitrary segments. Tinyclues’ AI-first vision means that marketers no longer have to worry about figuring out the right criteria: they can simply input their marketing agendas and business goals, and let the AI compute the best audience for each campaign. Not only does AI maximize business impact and long-term customer engagement, but it also creates a radically new experience for marketers: by assisting them with quantitative aspects, it enables marketers to finally focus on content and strategy. This sets new standards for what marketers can expect from software,” concluded Bessis.

About Tinyclues
Tinyclues is the leading AI-first Marketing Campaign Intelligence solution enabling companies to generate additional revenue through intelligent campaign targeting and planning. Tinyclues’ solution uses Deep Artificial Intelligence to identify future buyers for any promoted item, even in the absence of recent intent. Companies like Brandalley, Cdiscount, Club Med, Corsair, Fnac, Lacoste, La Redoute, Manor, OUI.sncf, Rue du Commerce, Sarenza, Vente-privee.com, Vestiaire Collective, and more are using Tinyclues to optimize and orchestrate more than 600 million messages per month across channels such as email, mobile push notifications, direct mail, call centers or Facebook to generate quantified and sustainable additional revenue. Tinyclues has been listed as a Vendor to Watch in Gartner’s 2017 Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Analytics.
For more information, visit http://www.tinyclues.com
Twitter: @tinyclues

About EQT Ventures
EQT Ventures is a European VC fund with commitments of just over €566 million. The fund is based in Luxembourg and has investment advisors stationed in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco and Berlin. Fuelled by some of Europe’s most experienced company builders, EQT Ventures helps the next generation of entrepreneurs with capital and hands on support. EQT Ventures is part of EQT, a global leading investment firm, with more than 170 investments and 80 exits. EQT has raised approximately EUR 38 billion, and its companies employ c. 110,000 people and have revenues of approximately EUR 19 billion.

About Alven
Paris-based Alven is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $500 million under management. Alven backs primarily ambitious European entrepreneurs in the digital technology space. Alven’s sectors of interest include notably AI, data-driven platforms, SaaS, security solutions, as well as disruptive consumer models with a particular focus on marketplaces and web brands.
Past or current investments include Algolia, Dataiku, Drivy, Happn, Wit.ai (Facebook), CaptainTrain (Trainline/KKR), Bime Analytics (Zendesk), Frichti, Tinyclues, iAdvize, Peopledoc and Wynd.

About Elaia Partners
Created in 2002, Elaia Partners is an independent Venture Capital firm, focused on the digital economy and deep-tech. Elaia Partners has more than €250m under management and invests in high potential disruptive start-ups from the first financing rounds to the emergence of global leaders. With more than 60 years of cumulated experience in both venture capital and digital industries, the investment team offers a close, proactive and relevant support to its entrepreneurs.
In September 2017, Elaia Partners launched a new line of activities dedicated to pre-seed and tech-transfer vehicles. The first initiative is the structuring of PSL Innovation Fund, together with Paris Sciences & Lettres research university.
Elaia Partners was an early investor in companies such as Sigfox, Mirakl, Criteo, Teads, adomik, Talent.io, Agriconomie, EasyRECrue, Shift Technology, Tinyclues, Orchestra Networks, Agnitio, etc.
Twitter: @Elaia_Partners
www.elaia.com

About ISAI
Launched in 2010, ISAI is “the” French tech entrepreneurs’ fund gathering more than 200 entrepreneurs across the world. Almost 150 successful entrepreneurs, who have invested in ISAI, and more than 50 startup cofounders supported by ISAI share the collective ambition to write great entrepreneurial stories. ISAI invests in differentiated projects founded by ambitious teams that it rigorously selects and actively supports. ISAI means “different & remarkable” in Japanese. ISAI likes digital business models with a progressive capital intensity: marketplaces, adtech / martech, SaaS / Big Data / AI… With €160M under management, ISAI Gestion, authorized by French regulator AMF, can fund and support high potential companies at early stages (venture capital, €150k to €2M initial ticket with ability to follow on) or at more mature stages (growth equity, €1M to €15M investments).

Tinyclues
Francois Laxalt
Tel: +33 (0)6 800 513 80
E-mail: francois.laxalt@tinyclues.com
or
EQT Ventures
Lucy Wimmer
Tel: +44 (0)755 1289 177
Email: lucy@eqtventures.com

Twitter will crack down on automation and simultaneous actions across multiple accounts

Posted: 21 Feb 2018 08:05 PM PST


(Reuters) — Twitter said on Wednesday it would no longer allow people to post identical messages from multiple accounts, cracking down on a tactic that Russian agents and others have allegedly used to make tweets or topics go viral.

The San Francisco-based social network also said it would not allow people to use software to simultaneously perform other actions such as liking or retweeting from multiple accounts.

Twitter, known for freewheeling discussions in short messages, is under pressure from users and Western governments to stem the spread of false news and foreign propaganda, often done with the help of automated accounts known as bots.

Twitter bots disseminated propaganda before the 2016 U.S. elections and have continued to inflame U.S. politics under cover of anonymity, academic researchers and U.S. authorities say.

On Friday, the office of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies, including St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency known for trolling on social media. The court document said those accused "had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

Twitter's new restrictions are aimed at improving "information quality," Yoel Roth of the company's policy team said.

"These changes are an important step in ensuring we stay ahead of malicious activity targeting the crucial conversations taking place on Twitter – including elections in the United States and around the world," Roth said in a statement.

Posting identical messages to multiple accounts, or simultaneously retweeting or liking a message from multiple accounts, could help vault something into Twitter's trending list, giving a false impression of how viral it is among real people.

Twitter said it would give users until March 23 to comply before suspending accounts. It made an exception for bots of broad interest such as earthquake alerts.

Twitter has cracked down on other violations of its terms of service, including fake accounts by people inflating their following.

Some U.S. users with conservative politics complained their number of followers had gone down after Twitter asked them to verify their identity. #TwitterLockOut was among the trending topics.

Former Twitter user Jared Taylor, editor of the white supremacist magazine American Renaissance, sued Twitter on Tuesday in state court in San Francisco, saying the decision to ban him violated California law governing "privately owned public forums." Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Another company, privately held online publisher Medium, recently removed accounts belonging to far-right U.S. commentators including Mike Cernovich, who said on his Twitter account on Wednesday that Medium was acting unlawfully.

Medium said it would not discuss individual accounts, but a recent rule change banned people from spreading "disinformation."

Find Your Grind and ReKTGlobal team up for $450,000 in esports scholarships

Posted: 21 Feb 2018 07:17 PM PST


Find Your Grind (FYG) has partnered with esports platform ReKTGlobal to create a scholarship program for students and others who want to pursue esports. Each year, the two will be offering $450,000 through the program, which focuses on high school students but is open to anyone.

FYG founder Nick Gross says that esports aptitude isn’t a prerequisite for applicants. Instead, the program is searching for people who have “identified a purpose and a direction” and demonstrate a passion for competitive gaming. ReKTGlobal will also be connecting recipients with folks in the industry and professional players. The scholarships aren’t earmarked for any particular purpose; when students receive one, they can use it for anything, such as college tuition or buying computer equipment.

In 2017, the organization began offering several different types of scholarships aside from esports. It started out focusing on music, art, and technology awards and programs. It has teamed up with Will.I.Am’s I.Am.Angel Foundation, which helps prepare kids for college and provides scholarships.

Through a partnership with memorabilia company Jostens, FYG is on tour until April to speak to high school students about opportunities in creative fields.

“Think Tony Robbins meets Vans Warped Tour,” said Gross in an email to GamesBeat. “We’re really trying to break the mold of ‘the perfect grades equals the perfect college equals the perfect life.’ At each of the events this year we’ve elected two students who embody our scholarship principal of ‘stories not scores’ — our scholarship program supports the kids who have identified a purpose and a direction by helping them take that next step. ”

ReKTGlobal specializes in esports infrastructure, such as building venues for competitions and bringing esports events to conventions. FYG partnered with it to help strategize and execute the new esports scholarship. ReKTGlobal will also be guiding the organization in future events and membership programs.

“I became an investor [in ReKTGlobal] last year, and during every FYG tour stop the No. 1 request we'd get are that the kids wanted to learn more about esports/gaming,” said Gross. “90 percent of kids these days are about playing or watching esports/gaming, so this was a void that was missing which REKTGlobal helps fill.”

FYG’s new program doesn’t just award folks who want to play esports. It also offers other scholarships geared toward various gaming-related disciplines, such as cosplaying, concept art for games, and esports commentating. And though it’s previously focused on encouraging high schoolers to pursue creative opportunities, Gross says that they decided to open up the esports scholarship to everyone. He says that by taking applications for a wide array of skills as well as from various demographics will encourage diversity in the industry.

“We wanted [the scholarships] to be available for the entire esports ecosystem, whether you’re a 30-year-old aspiring gamer or a 14-year-old cosplay fanatic,” said Gross. “It’s important that we open this up to the entire community and not just limit it to high school students.”

Esports is slated to hit $906 million in revenues this year, according to market researcher Newzoo. And the audience will continue to grow — the analyst predicts that esports fans will grow to 250 million strong by 2021.

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