From a curious fad, cryptocurrencies have developed into a much more mainstream method of funding and investment. Huge companies such as PayPal and Mastercard have played a significant role in building up crypto’s popularity and credibility in recent years. This, in turn, has inspired many blockchain start-ups to enter the market.
With such a huge influx in crypto start-up projects, competition has skyrocketed. As a result, running a successful marketing campaign in this space is tougher than ever. In fact, it is a full-time job that requires focusing on implementing and overseeing customized marketing strategies to secure a project’s growth.
Marketing Agencies and Expertise
A crypto marketing agency can use its expertise to guide a start-up through its advertising and marketing with innovative strategies. A number of marketing strategies have delivered good results for many cryptocurrency projects.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the fundamental building blocks that every good marketing campaign should include.
1.   A Standout Whitepaper
A whitepaper is an authoritative report presenting a problem and a solution on a particular subject. Marketers produce whitepapers to inform readers on a specific topic or to describe and promote a specific methodology.
Satoshi Nakamoto first established the process of releasing a whitepaper for a blockchain project. Nowadays, almost all well-known cryptocurrencies have a whitepaper. This document must be well put together as it is an essential component of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) marketing.
Whitepapers also play a big role in generating sales leads. A whitepaper educates and sells the product to the reader simultaneously. Unsurprisingly, whitepapers have higher conversion rates than most other marketing methods.
Continue reading: https://beincrypto.com/marketing-top-5-ways-crypto-start-up-noticed/

The number of practical ways blockchain technology can improve a company’s operations is truly unlimited. It is versatile and can be used in every sector that prioritizes transparency and data integrity.
Blockchain supports faster financial transactions, protects data integrity, strengthens security, and reduces the need for paper-based documentation.
Cryptocurrency may have started as solely an alternative to fiat money, but today, many are buzzing about blockchain and its innovative features. This network enables immediate and efficient transactions and allows users to transmit money completely anonymously. Apart from these, blockchain can be used for multiple organizational purposes.
Blockchain is an open network in which data is stored in the form of units known as blocks. These blocks are linked in a chain network, hence the name. Accordingly, while blockchain technology is most recognized for its link with cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, it has many other practical applications that could benefit you and your business.
If you’re new to blockchain, it may be difficult to envision how it can serve you in the day-to-day operations of your organization. Below, we’ll discuss what makes blockchain beneficial and why many industries are incorporating it into their business.
Continue reading: https://www.coinspeaker.com/practical-ways-blockchain-business/

I am an investor at Y Combinator, where I invest and partner with startups in B2B software, in cybersecurity and enterprise infrastructure.
 
While digital currencies have shown early promise in going mainstream, security and compliance challenges could hinder their long-term adoption. Given the anonymous nature of the blockchain network, digital currencies are especially appealing for illicit activity (such as darknet markets, terrorism and money laundering). For blockchain solutions to achieve their potential, regulators, fintech and financial institutions must address its flaws through better security standards and policies. According to WSJ, in 2021 alone, around $14 billion of digital asset transactions went to illicit entities. Not surprisingly, the European Union has called the digital currency market the “Wild West.”
Fundamentally, the architecture of the blockchain network was designed around anonymity. While the fiat system is built around user identity, the blockchain system is built on wallet identity, which is designed to be anonymous. For example, if you are sending or receiving digital assets (e.g., ethereum), you would send that ethereum to a wallet address. Unlike the fiat world, that wallet address does not have information attached that ties it back to a specific identity or person. There is no information attached such as Social Security number, name of the owner, country of residence. You don’t know if it belongs to an institution or individual or if it is on a sanctions list. Given the anonymous nature of wallet identities, digital currency is an appealing mechanism for criminals to evade law enforcement agencies.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2022/08/25/the-unique-cybersecurity-challenges-in-blockchain/?sh=ceb1c067d428

According to the reports by Transparency Market Research, the global blockchain technology market is projected to be worth $20 billion by the end of 2024. As a technology, blockchain has taken the world by storm. People don’t trust one another with their personal data, so they need to share their data in a secured and tamperproof platform. And blockchain helps in creating that platform. But the probable benefits and weaknesses can easily be overlooked due to the hype of blockchain in the world. Looked upon as one of the most disruptive technologies across industries, Blockchain most certainly has the potential to reduce costs, increase transparency, enhance security and increase efficiency among others.
Enhancement of data security that it provides is the primary benefit of using blockchain as a technology. Data is by far one of the most important assets in the world. Some of the world’s leading conglomerates like Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, etc. are data-centric companies. Securing data has become the most critical priority for businesses around the world. This is where Blockchain can be used as a strong alternative to Cloud and Server based companies.
Let’s look at how blockchain’s impact when it comes to data security:
Encryption and Validation
Blockchain platform ensures that your data is encrypted, which means that modification in data is a difficult task. You can also save a cryptographic signature of a document or file on a Blockchain. This would give users a way to ensure a file is un-tampered, without needing to save the entire file on the Blockchain. Because of its decentralized nature, you can always cross check file signatures across all the ledgers on all the nodes in the network and verify that they haven’t been changed. When you look at a file, you can guarantee that it is the same version of the document that existed at another time. If someone does change a record, then the signature is rendered invalid. Blockchain offers reliable, independent data verification which is undeniable.
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/318477

Blockchain technology has changed the way modern people invest in assets, attracting younger and less affluent investors into the space.
Over a decade after the release genesis block on the Bitcoin network, blockchain technology has changed how people invest their money, with many platforms in the crypto space having much more relaxed requirements for investors when compared with traditional finance. 
It’s easier for investors to buy into cryptocurrency than traditional assets. Anybody can download a free Bitcoin (BTC) or multi-crypto wallet and sign up for one of the many available cryptocurrency exchanges. Many exchanges still don’t require users to verify their identity, while others only require ID verification once certain limits have been reached.
Compare this to buying stocks, where almost every platform has Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures that users must complete before buying their first stock. On top of this, users can only buy stocks from publicly listed companies and cannot own any shares from a private company.
On the other hand, crypto investors can invest in tokens that public or private companies have created. Investors in the crypto space can also participate in early-stage funding rounds, including seed-stage funding.
In traditional markets, usually only accredited investors and high-net-worth individuals are allowed to participate. In contrast, seed-stage funding in crypto projects can allow anyone with a wallet to take part. It’s all at the discretion of the founding team. Jeremy Musighi, head of growth at Balancer — an automated portfolio manager and trading platform on Ethereum — told Cointelegraph:
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/how-blockchain-technology-is-changing-the-way-people-invest

Tokenization, DeFi, DAOs, Smart Contracts, NFTs, GameFi – these terms are often used when discussing Web3, a catch-all term to describe the vision of a new, better internet based on blockchain technology. Web3 supporters dream of a future stage of the internet that is led by users, organized in a decentralized network, and run on blockchain technology, in contrast to the current internet, which tech companies and other entities control.  
Many have doubted China’s appetite to support Web3 due to the country’s preference for centralized systems and controls and its tight regulations on cryptocurrencies. Yet while overseas venture funds are actively investing in Web3 ecosystems, the Chinese government and top Chinese tech companies have also devoted themselves to building consortium blockchains and have successfully launched blockchain projects in government affairs, commerce, and the broader society.
This article attempts to illustrate the development of the Chinese Web3 industry by assessing the technical characteristics of Chinese blockchain projects and identifying the unique value that differentiates China’s Web3 from other cryptocurrency-based financial markets.
Public chain and consortium chain: Two technical routes in Web3
When it comes to the difference between Web3 in China and in other countries, it is essential to distinguish between two blockchains: the public chain and the consortium chain.
The public chain is open for anyone to join and offers unrestricted access for all users to participate. Data is transparent and cannot be tampered with. It is considered to be a truly decentralized blockchain. The consortium chain is jointly managed by multiple verified organizations. Each organization manages one or more nodes to uphold common goals a
nd ensure accountability. Consortium chains tend to enjoy good privacy protection, low transaction costs, and fast transaction speeds. The core difference between the two chains is that the public chain has a token incentive layer that the consortium chain does not have. Therefore, the former is also known as blockchain with cryptocurrencies, whereas the latter is blockchain without cryptocurrencies.
Continue reading: https://technode.com/2022/08/25/web3-in-china-will-it-happen-and-what-form-will-it-take/

Web3 has been hailed as the savior of the internet, a new paradigm, the future of networking, and, a digital revolution. To its proponents, this open internet standard promises to right all the wrongs that are synonymous with Web2, from lack of ownership to censorship and opaque data sharing.
Should this vision materialize, Web3 will host a vastly different internet to the one we have become accustomed to, but there are some who doubt the tech will take off. Ownership of user-created content, greater privacy, and an end to rampant de-platforming might be easy concepts to sell, but achieving this grand vision is likely to take longer than Web3 architects hope.
Establishing Trust in a Trustless Setting
Web3 is built on many of the same cryptographic tools that are synonymous with cryptocurrency including blockchain, tokenization, and distributed storage. “Don’t trust, verify” is the catchphrase of bitcoiners who would rather rely on mathematics to safeguard their wealth than the whims of central bankers and governments. And yet, paradoxically, convincing web users that they can trust such trustless technology is proving to be a greater undertaking than web3 developers might have imagined.
As Dr. Gavin Wood, the founder of Web3 Foundation and Polkadot blockchain network acknowledges, “We may have to go through one or two hype cycles before the most important elements of the technology break through.”
While the tech is ready, the world may not be ready. It took the better part of a decade for Bitcoin to permeate public consciousness and achieve mainstream recognition. Could the same be true of Web3, and if so, what does this mean for the industries that stand to benefit the most from the technology?
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencewintermeyer/2022/08/25/web3-will-make-or-break-social-media/?sh=3988bed45f38

Identity and access management (IAM) today is much more complicated than in the early days of the internet.
For starters, we have a plethora of account types: "user," "guest," "admin" and "service" accounts with associated passwords requiring regular managed changes to protect a variety of systems. Password creation has also become much more complicated: You need a minimum of eight characters, one uppercase, one lowercase, numbers and special characters. Plus, personal identification numbers (PINs), two-factor authentication (2FA), multi-factor authentication (MFA), biometrics, soft and hard tokens, card readers, proximity sensors and photo ID form parts of our individual access and identification profiles.
With all these tools in place to manage who gets access to what data and under which circumstances, cyberattacks must be a thing of the past. Right?
Cybercriminals' methods have evolved alongside changes to cybersecurity standards -- and they're now using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to hack into your accounts.
Here's how, and what you can do to prevent it:
How AI Can Compromise Cybersecurity
Even the most sophisticated hacking tools need human-like intelligence to direct them against potential victims. That's where AI comes in.
Continue reading: https://www.techopedia.com/ai-in-cybersecurity-the-future-of-hacking-is-here/2/34520

There is a tension at the heart of how we build our world. We want our buildings and infrastructure to last. The projects we’re starting today are supposed to be standing 20 or 30 years from now. We also need to reduce our emissions on a massive scale in the same timeframe. But the infrastructure we’re designing today is not ready for the zero-carbon world of 2050.
There is a tool that can help us get there: artificial intelligence (AI). It’s often used as a buzzword, conflating a wide range of algorithms in computer programming. But the ability of AI, and specifically machine learning, to recognize patterns and respond instantly might be the key to a future of sustainable infrastructure.
Here’s a simple example: turning lights off and thermostats down. This might be easy to do in individual households, but it’s a much more complex task for commercial buildings, 75 percent of which are not managed as efficiently as they could be. Facilities teams often need months to create models that can interpret sensor data and adapt lights and heating to work around the ebb and flow of occupants. AI systems can figure out these patterns within days, and respond to changes in those patterns just as fast.
Early warning for resilient grids
It’s not just buildings that can benefit from AI. With superior detection capability powered by machine learning, our power grids can become much more environmentally friendly, too. One of the lesser-known problems for grids is the occurrence of high-impedance faults, where a power line meets an object like a tree branch. This can easily cause forest fires that destroy entire ecosystems. Such faults are incredibly hard to detect simply because the lost power is so small that traditional systems don’t pick them up as critical. AI systems could identify a high-impedance fault by analyzing changes in the power flow of the grid. Siemens is currently working on exactly that kind of tool, which could act as an early warning system and prevent forest fires.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siemens-smart-infrastructure/2022/08/25/why-we-need-ai-for-sustainable-infrastructure/?sh=638092eb2da6

You’ve probably heard a lot about how the internet of things (IoT) will revolutionize many areas. Along with potential, many managers are finding difficulty to understand the basic concepts of IoT. And how they can use it to provide additional value to their customers and company.

In Ukraine and other armed conflicts across the globe, the drone has proven its worth as a gatherer of intelligence and a deliverer of destruction. What’s coming next, however, is a vastly expanded role for the drone here at home: as the gatherer and deliverer of commercial goods and services.
You can’t yet order flashlight batteries or casserole mixes and have them delivered to your door by a flying vehicle. But that’s only because you live in North Carolina rather than in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, or Virginia. Walmart just launched a pilot program in those states to deliver consumer products by drone. Amazon will try out its new Prime Air service in select California communities later this year.
If such deliveries (and pickups) prove popular with consumers, our skies could soon be thick with drones. Are we truly ready for this?
In North Carolina, the answer is … kinda. George Mason University’s Mercatus Center recently ranked the states according to their preparedness for drone commerce. As it happens, North Carolina tied with Georgia and New Jersey for sixth-best in the country. On the other hand, North Carolina scored a 58 on a 100-point scale. Only because so many other states are so woefully underprepared does our state rank so highly.
Continue reading: https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/are-we-ready-for-drone-skyways/

AUSVI and Fortress Information Security partner to establish voluntary standards around cybersecurity for drones and other uncrewed vehicles.
The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Fortress Information Security announced the launch of an industry-wide partnership concentrated on establishing an enterprise cybersecurity model and a set of voluntary standards meant to safeguard uncrewed systems and robotics against cyber risks. Leveraging Fortress’s past experience in establishing voluntary risk-based standards, AUVSI will lead an effort to achieve a consensus, set standards and promote cybersecurity policies and actions among uncrewed systems manufacturers and suppliers.
“Uncrewed vehicles – air, ground, and maritime – are relied upon for national defense, public safety,  commercial delivery, critical infrastructure inspection, and more. These technologies are increasingly part of the economic foundation for nations across the globe,” said AUSVI’s Executive VP of Government & Public Affairs, Michael Robbins. “A cyber-secure foundation built on universal industry standards among industry stakeholders and suppliers will help to ensure the economic and operational potential of uncrewed vehicles is reached.”
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/08/24/cybersecurity-for-drones-auvsi-and-fortress-information-security/

In little over a decade, Web3 has provided a novel way to companies to spawn innovative solutions. But customers will flock to the new-fangled offering if startups keep “customer experience” at the front and center, says Rohit Jain, Senior Vice President and Head of Ventures & Investments, CoinDCX Ventures. Mr. Jain joined us to talk about how content creators, businesses, customers and techies can unlock the potential of Web3.
With all the hype building around web3 as a panacea for the digital world, what opportunities do you think the stakeholders have in the web3 space?
I don't think it's a panacea for everything and I don't see this entire world and every aspect of our digital lives moving on to blockchains in a decentralized manner. Use cases that can give a 10X better customer experience with a decentralized architecture will be crucial.
Also, it's not a “zero” and “one” switch. So there will be components of centralized entity that will run on blockchains. Blockchains are fundamentally a new tech model that enable trust in a decentralized manner and whatever tech stacks can leverage that and can fundamentally be more efficient by being run in that manner, will move over to being run on blockchain.
Can you cite a couple of applications that you feel are clearly a use case for decentralized or Web3 kind of an architecture?
Three sectors that have gained a lot of popularity over the last twelve months are probably decentralized finance, gaming and NFTs. We've just started touching the tip of the iceberg, especially with NFT. It's a simple concept of ownership and sharing incentives while giving gated access to people who own NFTs. I think you will also see music get on to NFTs. And content creators will benefit hugely from web3. It's just opening new models of engagement, new models of monetization.
Do you see decentralized platforms at some point will help connect content creators with their audience on the lines of what Facebook and YouTube have done?
Continue reading: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/crypto-made-easy/web3-moving-from-a-buzzword-to-reality/79133/1

What if blockchain is all that it has been touted to be? What if this technology could really change an entire industry and bring in some much-needed equity and transparency?
Hollywood was one of the last industries to begin exploring blockchain technology, which was to be expected since the creative industries have been under strong gatekeepers for the longest time.
One of the blockchains' superpowers is its ability to make middlemen redundant because of its transparent and direct nature. As blockchain begins to be used within the creative spaces, many possibilities immediately become apparent; For example, with Blockchain technology, there is a strong possibility of actors, producers, and screenwriters contacting film studios directly without a host of intermediaries; imagine the new stories that we could tell, imagine the fresh perspectives that we could explore.
Mails Nielson, CEO of SOLIDProof, expands on the available possibilities: "Blockchain projects are extremely promising, but they are by no means fail-proof. It is not a magic wand that would take all the problems away wherever deployed. Like with any other technology, we still need to examine it on a project-by-project basis to ensure that it delivers as promised. That being said, blockchain's ability to clean up an entire system and make it extremely transparent cannot be overstated. If there is one industry that requires blockchain the most, it is Hollywood."
Nielson is a blockchain expert with years of experience. He co-founded SOLIDProof and has helped build it into one of the most efficient blockchain auditors in the crypto sphere. Over the last year and a half the company has worked with over 500 blockchain brands, helping them bring trust to their projects by auditing their blockchain projects, creating custom and thorough audit reports, performing KYC verification processes, and helping vet and certify smart contracts. Nielson considers SOLIDProof a necessary entity in the blockchain space to protect its integrity, weed out bad players and certify its longevity in industries like Hollywood and beyond.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2022/08/24/breaking-the-chain-how-blockchain-is-sponsoring-more-equity-and-transparency-in-hollywood/?sh=66c440606267

The idea of Blockchain that can lead to several developments of unpopular crypto can get its origin in the early nineties when the internet came. In 2008, we saw Satoshi coming up with the idea of crypto, known as Bitcoin, using Blockchain. It was this year when Blockchain as technology went viral. However, earlier, it was there but was not known in the financial market. Blockchain is defined as a sequential method that helps implement the public ledgers and process the potential to carry out the transaction with excellent transparency and a complete track record of earlier owners, becoming the fastest way of managing data. You can find the horizon required to execute the Blockchain, and it is not confined to the virtual currency that brings out the military and medical results that are gaining good buzz on the technology. You can take a plunge into this matter and earn a good understanding of the currency and its technology. First, however, you can see the site for an overview of this subject. You can trade bitcoin with https://bitcoins-era.io/ and improve your trading skills at the same time.
Importance of Blockchain in the Financial segment
You can find the big-time execution of Blockchain in the financial and banking domain that has used decentralization for process, storing, and validating monetary transactions. These industries remain the essential stopovers that seem to have gained a good level of frauds that come into the picture without any hassle or worry. We have seen tremendous money invested in security modules, but not a single solution has been given about the Blockchain technology performance. It has become a practical solution that involves public ownership of data and assures no single scam policy. Today, you can find the top financial and insurance companies are now using Blockchain and are on the verge of replacing the conventional processing model. A recent global survey on the diverse industrial domains showed that Blockchain is used the most for areas like banking and insurance. The reports suggest that 71 percent of the total Blockchain-based solutions are found in Banking and insurance domain. It has helped a lot in carrying out smooth cross-border payments, which have gone beyond 4 B USD in the global market. Even the Asian nations have picked up the choice to grow fast and help people to enjoy an exemplary implementation of any convincing ideologies that are acceptable everywhere.
How is Blockchain defining safety elements?
Blockchain can implement several preventive measures to accomplish better security elements. These are clubbed as under:
Continue reading: https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/08/25/how-does-blockchain-redefine-the-security-standards-of-any-industry/

Women have made great strides over the last four decades in fields like life sciences and material sciences, but their participation rates in engineering and computer sciences stay unchanged or have even declined. These persistent gender inequality in the tech and IT industries can be discouraging, but a new research report from Logitech and Girls Who Code, “What (and Who) is Holding Women Back in Tech?”, reveals ideas for a path forward.
In order to change, the industry must make a deep systemic commitment to Agile principles, a widely used guide for software development. Achieving this begins with understanding some of the challenges women in engineering and computer science can face and what some successful women have done to reach where they are today.
This new report showcases five key moments that either allowed women to forge a path forward or held women back:

• Early cheerleaders and real-life role models matter. Early influences have a big impact on women in tech and IT. Over half of women surveyed (60%) said a parent or a teacher encouraged them to study computer science.
• Passion is a key driver for entering the tech sector. Let’s make sure we support that passion. Women most often cited finding a passion for the industry and pursuing it toward a computer science-related career. The top reasons women are drawn to tech and IT include a passion for computers (35%).
• Once hired, a job that makes a meaningful contribution to society is very important. An overwhelming majority of women working in tech and IT (92%) said the ability to make a meaningful contribution to society is a primary factor in their career development.

Continue reading: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/753171-logitech-and-girls-who-code-research-asks-what-and-who-holding-women-back

Despite the progress made in the last decade or so, there are still far too few women in the cybersecurity field—even as the field struggles to find skilled candidates. In fact, while women comprise 51 percent of the population, they represent less than 25 percent of the cybersecurity workforce. And compounding this situation further, women have been disproportionately impacted by pandemic-driven unemployment. When we consider these factors together, it’s clear that there’s an opportunity for alignment—getting more women into the cybersecurity space. It’s a win-win.
The Opportunity for Women in Cybersecurity
Pandemic-related unemployment hit women much harder than men (for instance, one in four women reported job loss due to a lack of childcare—twice the incidence of men). Yet in some ways, the pandemic did not hit the technology sector as hard, partly because these companies were more equipped to switch to flexible work arrangements and remote work. Consequently, leading global technology enterprises were able to reach “almost 33 percent overall female representation in their workforces in 2022, up slightly more than two percentage points from 2019,” according to research by Deloitte Global.
Although this development is positive, there is still much work to be done in the technology industry in comparison to other sectors. For comparison to tech’s 24 percent representation, women make up 47.7 percent of the global workforce overall. Additionally, they represent 50.2 percent of the workforce among those with a college degree. Within the tech field, cybersecurity in particular presents a huge opportunity for women who are looking to do a career pivot or grow in their current cyber career.
Continue reading: https://insights.dice.com/2022/08/24/a-place-for-women-in-cybersecurity/

Medical tools enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) can greatly improve health care by helping with problem-solving, automating tasks, and identifying patterns. AI can aid in diagnoses, predict patients’ risk of developing certain illnesses, and help determine the communities most in need of preventative care. But AI products can also replicate—and worse, exacerbate—existing biases and disparities in patients’ care and health outcomes. Alleviating these biases requires first understanding where they come from.
Christina Silcox, Ph.D., research director for digital health at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, and her team identified four sources of AI bias and ways to mitigate them in a recent report funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. She spoke with Pew about the findings.
How does bias in AI affect health care?
AI tools do not have to be biased. But if we're not paying careful attention, we teach these tools to reflect existing biases in humans and health care, which leads to continued or worsened health inequities. It’s particularly concerning if this happens in groups that have historically gotten poor care, such as those who have been affected by structural racism and institutionalized disparities like lack of access to affordable health insurance and care. For example, when machine-learning-based tools are trained on real-world health data that reflects inequitable care, we run the risk of perpetuating and even scaling up those inequities. Those tools may end up leading to slower diagnoses or incomplete treatments, decreased access, or reduced overall quality of care—and that’s the last thing we want to do.
Continue reading: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/08/24/how-to-understand-and-fix-bias-in-artificial-intelligence-enabled-health-tools

With global revenues from artificial intelligence (AI) software expected to top $62 billion by the end of this year, companies across industry sectors are finding increasingly innovative use cases for the technology. AI brings with it the ability to automate many administrative-intensive functions at scale. When it comes to marketing, AI can help identify new audiences while optimizing spend on campaigns.
“Organizations and agencies are looking for increasingly inventive ways to get the most value possible from their marketing investments. Budgets are tighter than ever in the post-pandemic market. Optimizing return on investment is something most organizations have prioritized. This is putting pressure on the marketing function to not only target the right customer segments, but also do so in ways that yield the best results. This is where AI becomes an enabler for optimization and growth,” says Frik van der Westhuizen, Marketing Director at leading independent customer relationship management company, LoyaltyPlus.
Much of marketing is built on effective data analytics to understand customer segments and develop the most relevant campaigns for those segments. AI brings with it the capability to analyze the exponentially expanding data real estate faster than what human operators can do. This provides users with a platform to apply insights more holistically. It also delivers the means to discover audiences that might have been overlooked in the past and identify existing audiences that have become irrelevant.
Continue reading: https://www.itweb.co.za/content/dgp45MaB6GRqX9l8

For the past few days, I’ve been playing around with DALL-E 2, an app developed by the San Francisco company OpenAI that turns text descriptions into hyper-realistic images.
OpenAI invited me to test DALL-E 2 (the name is a play on Pixar’s WALL-E and the artist Salvador Dalí) during its beta period, and I quickly got obsessed. I spent hours thinking up weird, funny and abstract prompts to feed the A.I. — “a 3-D rendering of a suburban home shaped like a croissant,” “an 1850s daguerreotype portrait of Kermit the Frog,” “a charcoal sketch of two penguins drinking wine in a Parisian bistro.” Within seconds, DALL-E 2 would spit out a handful of images depicting my request — often with jaw-dropping realism.
Here, for example, is one of the images DALL-E 2 produced when I typed in “black-and-white vintage photograph of a 1920s mobster taking a selfie.” And how it rendered my request for a high-quality photograph of “a sailboat knitted out of blue yarn.”
DALL-E 2 can also go more abstract. The illustration at the top of this article, for example, is what it generated when I asked for a rendering of “infinite joy.” (I liked this one so much I’m going to have it printed and framed for my wall.)
What’s impressive about DALL-E 2 isn’t just the art it generates. It’s how it generates art. These aren’t composites made out of existing internet images — they’re wholly new creations made through a complex A.I. process known as “diffusion,” which starts with a random series of pixels and refines it repeatedly until it matches a given text description. And it’s improving quickly — DALL-E 2’s images are four times as detailed as the images generated by the original DALL-E, which was introduced only last year.
Continue reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/technology/ai-technology-progress.html

Leaders face more complex decisions than ever before. For example, many must deliver new and better services for their communities while meeting sustainability and equity goals. At the same time, many need to find ways to operate and manage their budgets more efficiently. So how can these leaders make complex decisions and get them right in an increasingly tricky business landscape? The answer lies in harnessing technological tools like Artificial Intelligence (AI).
What is AI?
AI can help leaders in several different ways. It can be used to process and make decisions on large amounts of data more quickly and accurately. AI can also help identify patterns and trends that would otherwise be undetectable. This information can then be used to inform strategic decision-making, which is why AI is becoming an increasingly important tool for businesses and governments. A recent study by PwC found that 52% of companies accelerated their AI adoption plans in the last year. In addition, 86% of companies believe that AI will become a mainstream technology at their company imminently. As AI becomes more central in the business world, leaders need to understand how this technology works and how they can best integrate it into their operations.
At its simplest, AI is a computer system that can learn and work independently without human intervention. This ability makes AI a powerful tool. With AI, businesses and public agencies can automate tasks, get insights from data, and make decisions with little or no human input. Consequently, AI can be a valuable problem-solving tool for leaders across the private and public sectors, primarily through three methods.
1) Automation
One of AI’s most beneficial ways to help leaders is by automating tasks. This can free up time to focus on other essential things. For example, AI can help a city save valuable human resources by automating parking enforcement. In addition, this will help improve the accuracy of detecting violations and prevent costly mistakes. Automation can also help with things like appointment scheduling and fraud detection.
2) Insights from data
Another way AI can help leaders solve problems is by providing insights from data. With AI, businesses can gather large amounts of data and then use that data to make better decisions. For example, suppose a company is trying to decide which products to sell. In that case, AI can be used to gather data about customer buying habits and then use that data to make recommendations about which products to market.
3) Simulations
Finally, AI can help leaders solve problems by allowing them to create simulations. With AI, organizations can test out different decision scenarios and see what the potential outcomes could be. This can help leaders make better decisions by examining the consequences of their choices. For example, a city might use AI to simulate different traffic patterns to see how a new road layout would impact congestion.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2022/08/24/how-leaders-are-using-ai-as-a-problem-solving-tool/?sh=2e8684e46053

Blockchain has many advantages: decentralized storage, strong security and sharable and traceable yet unmodifiable data. For these and many other reasons, blockchain is growing in popularity across industries like healthcare, supply chain, and even entertainment.  Darian Wilkin, senior solutions engineer at DigitalOcean, says, “There are currently many blockchain businesses building secure and decentralized products and services on public clouds.
He shares his insights about blockchain and cloud and how developers can build and manage these projects effectively.
What are some common use cases for blockchain cloud solutions?
Wilkin: Cloud technology is currently being used to build everything from blockchain APIs for business applications to supporting popular Proof of Stake networks such as Elrond. In its current form, blockchain technology is most useful for ensuring consensus and resilience in a transaction system, which makes it useful for businesses that want to reduce costs, increase transparency, and increase speed in their transactions with other businesses. This is why the majority of use cases of blockchain and the cloud outside of finance and cryptocurrency lie in supply chain, logistics, healthcare, and other regulatory and compliance-heavy industries.
Cloud-based blockchain technologies can help secure the exchange of medical data or provide traceability to the global supply chain of goods.
Do you anticipate more blockchains in the cloud in the future?
Wilkin: In the future, some blockchain experts have suggested that we’ll start to see blockchain-based decentralized cloud solutions, where data will exist on multiple compute nodes. These blockchain-based clouds would be particularly suited for industries such as logistics or financial services, where ongoing monitoring and record-keeping are essential.
Continue reading: https://www.devprojournal.com/technology-trends/blockchain/what-to-consider-with-blockchain-cloud-solutions/

CRYPTO MIGHT BE in winter, but blockchain technology in the hospitality space keeps growing and evolving. There is an increasing number of opportunities that blockchain technology provides the hospitality industry — notably the restaurant world. 
Blockchain and NFTs could revolutionize supply chain transparency. There are companies, like EZ Labs, that only focus on blockchain solutions — with no cryptocurrency — that give ways of tracking the exact origin of sourced parts in the supply chain to offer security in the finished project. This is tracked on the blockchain so it can’t be falsified. Penfolds is already using this technology for its export of wine to China; wine can be traced on the VeChain blockchain platform. EZ Labs is another example of a blockchain wine-tracking company.
Almost like a certificate of authenticity (but one that can’t be faked), blockchain technology can track and monitor every part of the process, from when it’s picked, bottled and shipped to when it arrives. The touchpoints it moves through are all followed on the blockchain. This is a way of really making sure that the process is secure every step of the way. With 25.8 percent of bottles suggested to be fake according to the Euromonitor 2018 global study on illicit alcohol, it is even more important than ever to make sure the product is genuine. But I think this can go even further.
There are some areas of wine investment that are still woefully behind the times in terms of systems and processes. Legacy systems tend to remain very old-school with big companies doing trading for you. Your wine holding really only exists on paper with faith to the holder. Blockchain technology could give individuals more transparency on their holding and help reduce the risk of fraud. 
Continue reading: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture-council/articles/how-blockchain-technology-changing-the-face-of-hospitality-1234579479/

Blockchain technology has the potential to trigger a new era of digital marketing accountability that will revolutionize the industry.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency have become buzzwords far beyond the worlds of digital marketing and technology. Experts predict the blockchain market will grow to nearly $40 million by 2025. But while crypto-related buzzwords have become impossible to avoid daily, not everyone is fully aware of what the shift toward blockchain technology will mean for brands, consumers and digital marketers.
What is blockchain, and how does it work?
Blockchains are electronic ledgers or databases. They are shared between different connections in computer networks and store information in a digital format. Blockchains differ from other databases because the technology at their core guarantees that records are kept secure.
Another difference between a blockchain and other databases is how the data is structured in the ledger. As the name suggests, blockchains group data together in blocks. Think of them as the individual rooms or compartments of a storage facility. Once one block reaches its capacity, it is closed and linked to the previous block.
This is how a chain of blocks is created. Any information added once a block is closed must be stored in a new block. Once that new block is complete, it is added to the existing chain, and so on. Besides creating a chain, blockchain storage also creates a chronological timeline of when data was added.
A few years ago, blockchains were far from being a household name. That changed with the advent of cryptocurrencies. Since the likes of Bitcoin have grown in popularity, so has the use of the blockchain as a ledger for transactions. One of the most significant differences from other databases is that blockchain-based data is held by all users collectively rather than in one centralized organization.
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/433245

Gender balance in tech is lower now than it was in 1984 (35% vs 32%) and despite there being more tech roles for women and a greater awareness of gender equality, women only represent 17% of leaders. Women, on average, earn €400,000 less than men during their careers – even though gender-diverse companies increase financial returns by 15% – and one out of two leaves tech by the age of 35.
Caroline Ramade – ex-head of innovation and chief digital officer for the mayor of Paris, and founder and CEO of social startup 50inTech – is dedicating her career to fixing tech's big problem of female retention.
"We know that inspiration for little girls comes from the first network," says Ramade. "We can work on education, but we first need to focus on retention of talent in the tech industry…If your mother, sister or friends are happy in tech, you can inspire a lot of women."
Ramade, a UN Woman board member, is committed to gender equality. At the Paris Mayor's office under Bertrand Delanoë, Ramade used tech to engage the startup population at a time when €1bn was being poured into innovation and incubators were emerging across the city. Encountering Paris Pionnières, the first incubator for female entrepreneurs in tech, was life-changing and Ramade left the Mairie in 2015 to become the organization's MD (it was subsequently rebranded to WILLA).
She noticed that WILLA was not like the other male-dominated incubators. "There were 50% women, it was a really inclusive place, so we had gender balance, but it was also diverse in terms of age and background," she says. "It was a different atmosphere, another way of operating and it inspired me."
Continue reading: https://www.zdnet.com/article/as-the-great-resignation-continues-meet-the-entrepreneur-battling-to-keep-women-in-tech/