Press Reports 2018:
December 2018:
December 11-12, 2018 :
Energy Storage Summit 2018:
San Francisco
Energy Storage Summit gathered financiers, utilities, innovators, regulators and storage professionals to discuss U.S. and global storage market. It was organized by Greentech Media, GTM Research that provides strategic insights on the technologies and business models for the electricity sector.
The speakers and panelists discussed a variety of subjects such as storage policies, latest initiatives, utility procurement, C&I storage adoption, global storage, enabling energy storage storage systems in the U.S., system integration and financing storage projects. The speakers discussing FERC 841, the latest initiatives and wholesale markets pointed out that utilities looking for the community investment and emphasized the role of location in determining locational pricing. The speaker discussed optimizing the resources. DeSocio discussed the New York case and how they created a model for balancing the risk. He explained the Opportunity cost, Standardizing and better optimization. Klauer compared New York and California and talked about Hybrid models and optimization from energy storage perspective and how to create incentives for aggregating. The audience were asked the following question: “what ISO is poised to emerge as the next big opportunity for energy storage?” 32% chose CAISO.
Utility procurement and resource planning best practices were discussed by the panelists. Jolly talked about storage procurement objectives and the electric system and jurisdictions. She discussed Behind the Meter & Front of the Meter projects and testing how the customer valuate them. Irwin talked about SCE storage projects and Distribution system. He explained Building hybrid facilities, hybrid enhanced gas turbines 20 MW. Then he discussed Economic solutions and different projects challenges.
The next speakers discussed C&I storage adoption. They talked about Resource planning and alternative cases, operational data, and modeling and tools, Energy storage research priorities and Integration technical training. They focused on solar power and the electric utility market evolution. They discussed the future of energy storage. They emphasized clean energy and replacement of fossil fuel based generation. The panelists discussed the crucial elements of DER rate design for improving the integration and value of resources.
Energy storage is a great challenge in the production of energy. The involvement of batteries in the energy storage process is problematic because they don’t have the essential capacity of storing and it is considered a challenge. Even clean energy has its own challenges: solar and other energies must be stored and the problem is lack of enough capacity for these storages. (C) CTR Press
December 5, 2018:
Digital Publishing Conference
San Francisco
Digital Publishing conference gathered Publishing professionals together to discuss the latest in digital Publishing platforms and the latest creative ways of engaging the audience in the digital Publishing processes. The speakers and panels discussed different forms of contents in a a variety of platforms in digital Publishing. With the emergence of new sets of pipes for creating innovative contents people spending less time on watching TV and spending more time on social media. They emphasized the need for creating quality content and trying to engage the audience at the same time.
The speaker mentioned that full screen storytelling with creation of web support has become popular. He added that shifting social media ecosystem creates adaptability of contents. The next speaker discussed digital media startups and the challenges they are facing such as the market domination by Amazon and Google. He pointed out that solution varies because each serving different purposes.
The next panel discussed digital Publishing and subscription models. The speaker explained that some digital publications are subscription based and subscribers pay for the contents and some offering free contents. He added: “some platforms are just for the paid content model and some are for content marketing.”
The next speaker discussed web apps and native apps and the digital publication innovations. He explained the fully featured digital Publishing platforms and online publishing softwares. The latest digital publishing innovation promises high level of consumer interaction through smart phones and tablets but the main question that arises is the quality of content; should the ultimate goal be the audience interaction or the quality of the content? From advertisers and marketers point of views, it is the level of interactions that makes money not the quality of the content. (C) CTR Press
November 2018:
November 24-26, 2018:
Beyond Reason & other Exhibitions
San Diego Museum of Art
Maritime Museum of San Diego
&
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum
San Diego
&
Santa Barbara
The San Diego Museum of Art is a must see cultural place. It is located in the beautiful Balboa Park. The permanent collection of classics: Italian, French and Spanish paintings are magnificent and unique. Also there are many sculptures displaying at the open air surrounding the museum: each piece of arts has been designed and positioned to relate to its surroundings. Each work of art is a challenge and thorough provoking. The visitors stand by the art piece reflecting on its meaning and discuss its message. A sculpture by Francisco Zúñiga called “Mother and Daughter Seated” created an enormous discussions among the visitors. Mainly they were reflecting which one is the mother and which one the daughter and each visitor reasoning differently; it was a very interesting experience to listen to their reasoning that was so diverse and complicated as the human nature.
There are some season exhibitions such as Beyond Reason displaying the unique artworks by talented Irish artist: Tim Shaw. It wasn’t clear if his great grandparents had any relationship with the genius Irish playwright, Bernard Shaw or not. But both are highly talented. Beyond Reason was addressing humanitarian issues such as freedom of speech and power abuse. His artworks mainly based on his personal experiences but their themes are universal. Deputy director for curatorial affairs at SDMA says: “His work draws us closer to the reality of these conflicts and daring us to engage with them.” These works of art confront us with our responsibilities and roles in society and what will be ahead of us as human beings.
In 2017, Tim Shaw invited all people in the world who are interested in art and human experience to send their recordings of silence and photos of darkness for displaying in Scotland’s Galloway Forest that is one of the darkest places in Europe. His goal was portraying three challenges: documenting darkness, recording remoteness and sending silence. The sanctuary was launched in 2013 for art where there is no internet connection, no pollution, no disturbing sound and no interference. In fact he invited his audience to listen to the sound of silence. There was also an interactive exhibition by Tim Shaw that visitors interacting with a robot. In one part the robot tells the visitors: “you think you are independent, no, we are both programmed.” It tells about the future of artificial intelligence and its impacts on our lives.
Maritime Museum of San Diego is an interesting place to visit and learn about the history of maritime. A replica of an 1848 Revenue Cutter, the Californian that was designed for speed with 7,000 square feet of canvas of the Gold Rush era was on display. In 1542, San Salvador under the command of Juan Rodriguez Carrillo was the first recorded European vessel arriving at the port of San Diego. The U.S. Navy’s Patrol Craft Fast called Swift Boats for their speed is part of Pacific maritime history. Also there was some displays from English ships and Navy in 19th century. It was a quote from Winston Churchill describing English Navy: “English Naval tradition is nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.” Steam Ferry Berkeley was the first steel hulled ferry boat to operate on San Francisco Bay. And one of her efforts was evacuating the burning city after 1906 earthquake. Euterpe was a reminder of 19th century trans oceanic migration. From 1871 to 1897 Euterpe sailed from Europe to Australia and New Zealand twenty one times.
The history of oil in the Santa Barbara Channel exhibition at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was interesting and informative. Oil has always been part of maritime history. Geology of oil in the channel, diving deep for oil, oil in our everyday lives and oil and the environment were discussed in the captions of the various objects on display.
The exceptionally wonderful movie called “Gaviota, The End of Southern California” about Gaviota Wildlife directed by Shaw Leonard and narrated by John Kay is a must see film. It is very interesting and breathtaking; it is a fantastic journey to the wildlife of Southern California narrated by impressive and powerful voice of John Kay. It leaves the audience with an unforgettable pleasant experience. (C) CTR Press
November 17, 2018:
The Glass Menagerie
Repertory Theatre:
San Luis Obispo
The Glass Menagerie is considered the most autobiographical play by Tennessee Williams and is one of the masterpieces in the American theatre. SLO REP invited Erik Stein to direct this play. REP was founded in 1947 and in 1952 incorporated as California non profit. It has produced more than 150 plays in 25 venues.
The Glass Menagerie was premiered in 1944 and was a real success. Its first title was “The Gentleman Caller” and then it was changed to “The Glass Menagerie”. The play was well directed by Erik Stein and well played by the cast. It was introduced by Tom, the narrator and it was based on his memory of his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Amanda is a Southern mother who has constant worries about the future of her daughter who has a limp and is very shy and introvert. Amanda is obsessed with finding a husband for Laura who spending her days with her collection of small glass animals. Tom under pressure finally inviting Jim a colleague from work for dinner to create an opportunity for Laura to meet a potential suitor. Amanda calls them “gentlemen callers” and constantly boasting of her past and how she was popular with them.
The cast were playing powerfully; they were playing real human behavior and acting through technique of Stanislavsky: the audience forgetting watching a play but feeling as if they are witnessing a real family quarrel. The cast playing powerfully especially Amanda, Suzy Newman emotional performance was demonstrated through her facial expressions. At the final scene that she is facing the harsh reality, her facial expression was unforgettable and heartbreaking. The stage designer and costume designer too did a wonderful job of creating the right atmosphere for the play. In general, REP has a classically chic atmosphere and it is well designed.
Tennessee Williams powerful screenplay includes the following sentences: “I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. But I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.” The Williams’ plays are timeless, the characters’ challenges are real and show the complexities of human behaviors. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was written by Tennessee Williams in 1955 and is another masterpiece that has a new style of description of suffering and redemption of human beings. (C) CTR Press
November 7-8, 2018:
OpenTalk Conference 2018
San Francisco
Open talk conference was organized by Talkdesk. Talk desk is a cloud based contact center software provider. It’s headquarters are in San Francisco and Lisbon. The conference was all about customer service experience innovations. The speakers discussed different aspects of customer service: customer centered economy, innovation ecosystem, customer experience success, winning sales strategy, AI powered voice analytics, chat bots and customer experience, leveraging the cloud for perfect consumer experience, how to create customer engagement experience, communication channels, human power in digital age, and measure CX.
Mario Martinez talked about digital sales benchmark. He said: “Sales person should involve the manager in all the meetings. Buyer should feel that he or she has an executive connection in the company.” He recommended that all sales people follow the buyer on LinkedIn. “It will be the touch point because buyer will receive the notification and feels connected.” He mentioned that 62% of buyers look at the sales people profiles in LinkedIn. He didn’t mention the source of this research. The next speakers from Alaska Airlines emphasized the need to stand out. She said:” Airline industry is highly competitive and for standing out we need to build the nationwide loyalty.” The organizers used technology and gave the audience headphones and they were following the session through it. The speaker pointed out that customer service should be innovative and to create joy in the customer service experience. “Caring approach and problem solving initiatives are very important.”
Tiago Paiva, CEO Talkdesk, talked about the future of innovation. He said: “Four years ago we were 10 people in the company; now we have more than 500 employees.” He discussed Enterprise scale and their global data centers. He added: “Highest call quality helps you to earn more money. We are 100% uptime SLA.” Uptime is the amount of time that a service is available and it is considered as the most important metric for a website. He emphasized Culture of innovation and said: “We doubled the company: 50% growth.” He added that 50% is in Portugal and 50% in the U.S. “everything in Talkdesk is API.” He talked about launching Talkdesk innovation fund $10 millions. The next speaker introduced Talkdesk IQ.
She said that there are Millions of conversations each year and Caller’s mood is analyzed and how savvy they are is taken into consideration. The speaker said: “The customer is hiding from you, it is your job to find them.” He added: “We provide a technology for digital higher education.Talk desk supports quality student success; there have been 20,000 coaching conversations in three months.They have the flexibility, efficiency and improved connectivity to learn at home.”
The next speaker from Microsoft emphasized using technology for being more human and more interactive and creating more meaningful experience. He said: “Technology without people brings no success: Technology + people= success.” Talkdesk uses cloud technology and machine learning for improving customer service. They are using machine learning algorithms that monitoring customer communications and based on those data recommends how representatives talk and behave on the specific situations. They use chatbots for conducting conversations with the customers. Some chat bots using sophisticated natural language processing systems, but the simpler systems scanning within the inputs and provide the most matching keywords. Many customers are not aware of that and they may think that they are interacting with the real people. (C) CTR Press
November 6-7, 2018:
Smart Home Summit 2018
Burlingame
Smart Home summit gathered analysts, developers, IoT experts, AI and Machine Learning researchers, IT professionals, and IoT marketers for discussing smart homes, future of intelligent interactions, smart entertainment devices, AI in the home, cyber security, privacy issues in IoT, risk of using smart devices, IoT market opportunity, integrated smart home market and the future of smart home market. The speakers and panelists discussed IoT market landscape and technical challenges.
Fishel talked about designing complex intuitive interfaces to control smart homes and using voice recognition system. He emphasized the need to create the process of interacting with chat bots the same way we interact with other people in social media. He compared voice system usage to playing violins and mentioned that they have the same meaningful interaction. He pointed out that complexity of interface is positive element and explained how to make these complexities meaningful for the users. He said: “we should provide them with the suggested plans.” Then he discussed lowering the barriers to action and relative availability in interface process. He said: “Neither Alexa nor Google device have the quality that people needs.” He emphasized the necessity of learning how to be flexible in speaking to the smart devices: Natural language processing to talk to smart devices.
The next Panel discussed Smart entertainment devices. Abello said: “Smart home doesn’t make our life easier.” And he added: “Users don’t like the complicated processes or setups that are complicated.” Hatambeiki talking about Automation mentioned that we should avoid simplistic approach in making the home smart. “Reliable system design and functionality, Smart TVs have more capabilities.” He emphasized that level of configuration should be easy for the average users. He said: “Technical support in the initial setups is necessary.” “AI and machine learning by tracking users behaviors predict everything at home.” Speaking about the negative side he said: “Facial recognition can cross the line and people are not comfortable with it.” Discussing controlling data pipes and displays he said: “Any device that create experience can be called a Hub.”
Discussing the voice system in the smart devices, Miller said: “Screen, camera and great personality are the key features people are looking for.” He added: “People don’t like adding more screens at home and prefer voice system. People like inviting smart device at their home but they dislike over notifications.” Mark Honeycutt mentioned that looking from the point of view of developers we see that consumers are not always super users. He said: “Default settings are preferred by people.” Talking about the privacy issues and GDPR ( General Data Protection Regulations) he said: “People don’t like their privacy be violated and many people are sensitive to AI.” He added: “Indoor camera and videos are used when people are not at home; they don’t like it when they are at home.”
Groopman discussed both positive and negative impacts of AI on the smart home market. She discussed AI convergence, shift from data collection to data management and “from smart devices to intelligent interfaces”. She talked about smart homes, collecting data all the time and a variety of methods and tools. The speaker talked about AI powered objects for facial recognition and chat bots. She pointed out that lots of people are not motivated to use the smart devices at their homes. She said: “Amazon and Google created smart devices that monitoring and tracking our pattern of behavior all the time that can be used by insurance companies.” Talking about AI powered interfaces, Biometrics, voice and gestures, VR and AR/MR she said: “Multi model authentication using face and voice instead of passwords. On AI powered functions, she discussed Security, customer experience and interoperability, Invisible sensing and pattern recognition. She said: “People are tricked by chat bots and California law will require the companies to tell the users when they are interacting with chat bots, not the real people.”
Jakuc discussed IoT, Risk and cyber security. He talked about IoT and the management of product security and the problem when it was not considered during design. He talked about the Bluetooth risks, Vulnerability of devices and Hackers implanting malware. He said: “Hackers can find the back doors and then will have the full ownerships.” He explained Weaponizing by hackers, spreading viruses and cyber attacks. He added: “There are lots of vulnerabilities that manufacturers haven’t addressed.” He emphasized Security by design and the customers must be notified of the risks. In the exhibition hall, Marek Steffanson, Calumino founder introduced his new company that disrupting thermal imaging. It uses thermal imaging sensors that enables new use cases in smart home technologies and monitoring. But the important point is that they respect the privacy of people involved in the process and there is no facial recognition and no clear picture of anyone. Thermal imaging is visual display of the amount of energy emitted and reflected by an object or person. (C) CTR Press
October 2018:
October 29-30, 2018:
XRDC Conference 2018
San Francisco
XRDC Conference gathered AR/VR producers, designers, Virtual Reality professionals, software engineers and UX specialists to discuss the latest in Immersive technology. The focus of the conference was VR/AR across games, entertainment, medical research, education, design and healthcare. Immersive technologies and latest services and tools in a variety of industries were discussed.
Sam Rodriguez and Thomas Caruso, pediatrics from Stanford university discussed the effects of new technologies: VR on decreasing the pain of the patients. They talked about the Stanford CHARIOT program, smart projects and non traditional technologies that are used by medical professionals to decrease the pain of patients. But the actual effectiveness of these methods are disputed among medical professionals: some believe these procedures are effective in decreasing the pain of the patients and some critics arguing that it adds salt to the injuries of the patients: “the VR may mess with their minds of those who suffer physically, and causes them more suffering.” But the speakers from Stanford University were certain that these VR experiments help the patients.
The speaker said: “The more anxious they are VR will be more useful to them.” He added: “VR helps anxious kids, but it is not suitable for very young kids.” He mentioned that kids are much more cooperative in VR experience. He pointed out that using different VR games as technical tool not just as entertainment is the goal. Discussing VR risks such as Eye strain risk, False memory formation and Injuries, the speaker mentioned that adults get more nausea in VR processes than kids. He emphasized the importance of reengaging the kids in the procedures. The speaker talked about different VR games they currently use in the hospital such as “Pebbles The Penguin” and asking the kids: Which penguin do you choose? Do you want a girl penguin or a boy penguin? He discussed Passive, active and smart content and Low intensity contents. He pointed out that the kids facing two options in the injection process either with VR or while they are sleep after taking anesthesia. He said: “VR is not helpful in very serious cases just for the moderate to medium anxiety.” One of the attendees expressed his concern that during these procedures children may associate their VR experience to the pain and that someone hurting them.
Charles Yust in the session mixed reality with Magritte talked about his interactive museum experience. And how they used Mixed reality in the art exhibition in SF MOMA. He explained how they tried to engage the visitors and how SFMOMA is Open to the new experiments on technology. He pointed out that they used eye tracking and other methods to analyze the visitors engagement. He mentioned that their goal was Eliminating the gap between what we see and what we know, showing the contrast between Inside and outside, Natural and artificial, and Real and fake. He pointed out that the technology being invisible in the exhibition. They did Facial recognition testing and new ways to engage visitors. When he was asked about the budget, he mentioned that it was over sixty thousand dollars.
The couple speakers from Netherlands, Brada and Sjollema talked about healing underwater and VR Dolphin Swim Club. She mentioned that she is an artist and she has spent over two decades researching dolphins in a variety of countries. She said: “There is no dolphins in Baltic Sea so we founded Dolphins Swim Club.” She talked about Universal appeal of dolphins and the Project Braveheart preparing young patients for heart surgery. They showed many videos on Swimming with VR headsets and imaginary swimming with dolphins.
VR is a growing technology and currently being used in video games, rehab clinics for patients and the battlefield. Researchers in the University of California have found that virtual world affects the brain quiet differently from the real world. Researchers recorded the brain activities of the rats in the lab while they were running in a virtual reality setup and it showed that they couldn’t form a mental map of their surroundings as they normally do in the real situations. And for human too it can create the confusion and problem in distinguishing between what is real and what is fake. (C) CTR Press
October 27, 2018:
Rites of Spring Concert
Santa Cruz
The Rites of Spring Concert was organized by the Santa Cruz Symphony. There was a selection of three different pieces by three different composers from America, France and Russia. First performance was “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” by Debussy, then “An American in Paris” by Gershwin and finally “The Rites of Spring” by Stravinsky. As the speaker in the talk session before the concert pointed out there were “three different pieces of music with three different attitudes”. He mentioned that Debussy was influenced by Wagner during his teenage years and then by establishment of French school, there was increasing pressure to be far from German music. He called it a “very risky ballet.” Speaking about Gershwin’s work the speaker mentioned that It sounded American. “Before jazz, the music was mostly European, then “An American in Paris” was really American.” He added: “There is nothing profound with this piece and it is a fun piece.” The speaker was very impressed by “The Rites of Spring” and recommended the audience to watch the performance in the original costumes in YouTube. He said: “The Rites of Spring was very revolutionary portrayal of the Pagan Russian rituals. The rhythms are so difficult especially during Sacrificial dancing.”
Achilles Claude Debussy was a French composer in the late 19th century that was influenced by the 16th century composer Palestrina. In 1885 he decided to follow his own style and he was certain that the Academy won’t approve it. His composition was inspired by the poem: L’après midi d’un faune by Mallarmé. The critics consider this piece of music as a turning point in the history of music.
George Jacob Gershwin was an American composer and he composed “An American in Paris” in 1928. It is a jazz that was composed when he was staying in Paris and influenced by the ambiance of Paris in 1920s. Some critics call it a very American piece and on the other hand, some called it a very Parisienne one. The composer himself mentioned that his purpose was to show an American visitor’s impressions in Paris as “he strolls about the city and absorbs the French atmosphere.” Gershwin was influenced by Maurice Ravel and once was his student.
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer. His style was diverse. He composed The Rites of Spring in 1913. It was a revolutionary piece that revolutionized the boundaries of musical design at that time. Its original choreography was by Nijinsky and in 1913 performance at the Théâtre dès Champs Élysées caused a sensation in the audience. It portrayed the primitive rituals for celebrating Spring and a young dancer became a victim of a sacrificial dancing. Like all the revolutionary pieces it had a mixed critical feedbacks. Le Figaro music critic called it “a barbarity” but the critic in Commedia called it wonderful. Puccini described its choreography “ridiculous” and “the work of a madman”.
The conductor was Maestro Stewart, the Music Director of the Santa Cruz Symphony. He passionately conducted this difficult piece of music with the unique rhythms. The audience was impressed by his energy during the performance. The team was very well prepared in playing “An American in Paris” and the first 15 minutes of “The Rites of Spring”. The location was Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz and the hall was almost full with the enthusiastic audience who were mainly over fifty years old.” (C) CTR Press
October 22-25, 2018:
Oracle Open World 2018
San Francisco
Oracle Open World brought industry leaders, tech experts, managers, developers, IT professionals, marketing experts and the industry enthusiasts together to attend a variety of sessions chosen from 500 sessions. Products roadmaps, customer case studies, IT infrastructure, integrated cloud platforms and emerging technologies were discussed. AI has tremendously changed the customer expectations. Cutting edge technology such as Siri and self driving cars have made businesses to adapt to these rapid changes by adopting the innovatory measures. Oracle representative said that Oracle adaptive intelligent Apps provides solutions for customer experience problems. Discussing the autonomous databases the speaker mentioned that basic security processes such as encryption and auditing can be done autonomously and leave the room for higher value tasks.
Digital economy has changed both businesses and customer expectations. Now consumers use mobile apps for a variety of transactions. Big data, application development, business intelligence and cloud platforms were discussed. The speaker talked about the show case for local and global customers and how they manufacture low end and high end products, innovation and its role in achieving customer success. Brand new application for machine learning and the future of AI that the customers looking for were discussed. The pressure of innovation, micro data, giving the pattern and using algorithms and the machine learning were focus of his talk. The speaker said: “The customers behavior analysis is the basis for building the algorithm system.” He added: “customer experience professionals are under real time pressure because the expectation is very high. The Competition is tough.” He explained the process of building something that take the picture of the receipt in various transactions and then machine learning analyzes it.
Larry Ellison, executive chairman, Oracle talked about future plan of Oracle and Cloud Generation 2. Second generation of cloud computing and cloud defenses.He mentioned that even the small technology companies are regularly attacked and their data is stolen. “Building impenetrable barriers” was the focus of his talk; the barriers that surround each customer’s system. On building the autonomous robots, searching and finding threats he pointed out that it has to be robot that patching all the structure system. “Database threats are discovered automatically for protecting our data and our cloud. The computer that you use to control your data if it is shared by anther customer, your data can be stolen. Don’t put your cloud code in the same system that have customers codes. Threats can be spread.” He discussed Oracle cloud infrastructure and said: “We trust you. No offense, We don’t trust all of you. We don’t put our code on what we share with our customers.” He added: “Our goal has always been to protect your investment, data and application and eliminating the errors through automation.” He mentioned that Oracle uses One secure platform to run all the applications. Dozen of times he mentioned Amazon and said: “Amazon charge you 100 times more for moving data out of cloud. But moving data in is free but you have to pay a lot for moving out. Amazon charge you a lot…move your data in Amazon you are done!..Amazon semi-autonomous is like semi-autonomous self driving car, you use it you die.”
The speaker discussed the most important component: the autonomous database. He emphasized the necessity of being 100% isolation in the cloud that no other customer can have access to data; he pointed out that it is unique feature of Oracle Cloud. He said: “The administer can’t see the user data, it constantly optimize itself.” Machine learning, customization and running unique and standard codes challenges constantly changing the business practices. (C) CTR Press
October 15-17, 2018:
Virtual Reality Strategy 2018
San Francisco
The conference was organized by Greenlight Insights. Scaling immersive transformation, scaling VR/AR, the VR/AR Ecosystems, the ways VR changing human connections, how to bring VR to the masses, immersive entertainment, VR innovations in healthcare, location-based VR and scalable strategies for X-RAYS business communications were discussed.
Bruce Vaughn from Dreamscape Immersive talked about their design philosophy, digital screens and how people responded to their innovative approach. He discussed how they used VR and tech for storytelling and how images attracted people in the marketing process. He discussed the experience of opening their first store and the social space for brand introduction and expansion. He said: “We want to be IP creators.” And he added: “we chose a low risk approach in the entertainment industry and it worked.” The speaker explained how to use other platforms in the future and discussed financial modeling in the entertainment industry. He said: “We continue to push the cost of production down.”
McRee from HTC in conversation with Ben Delaney from Greenlight Insights talked about the emergence of the experimental enterprise. He discussed using VR to build the virtual model and Experimental enterprise. The speaker explained their Software solution and advantage program and their relationship with the larger companies.
In the session Immersive marketing campaign, Alex Hertel, Ex google employee explained how to encourage the potential customers get close by the shop by virtually rewarding them with VR prizes and then when they are close to the shop encouraging them to go inside and receive more virtual points and at the last effort telling them if they shop they will receive double digital rewards. He pointed out that the experiments have shown that it is much more effective than traditional marketing.
Escudero from Microsoft discussed how mixed reality is streamlining the future of work. He talked about Visualizing the design processes and dynamically visualizing and analyzing different parts of body in medical research and virtual surgery. He talked about Microsoft projects in gathering data and telling stories in VR, object recognition, language recognition and translation and ways of making extremely powerful application in the future.
(C)CTR Press
October 2018
Photo Exhibition: Power of Words & Images Combination
Ajaccio, France
The photo exhibition was organized by the Agence Artistique Girard. In a beautiful space facing the Mediterranean Sea in Ajaccio, birthplace of the great Napoléon Bonaparte, the photos and poems of the artist from Nice, Khaled Youssef was on display. In almost all the pictures, there was some sort of bubbles. His poems were also on display and the visitors had a chance to watch both words and images at the same time and find out about their relations and how words and images can make our life more interesting and more understandable.
The photographer had captured the short moment of bubble’s life. In the background there were a variety of children from different countries. There was no captions for the photos and that made the visitors to speculate on the whereabouts of each image. The organizer, Stéphanie Girard explained that the artist on purpose deleted the captions to give a sense of the universality to each image. But our reporter insisted on the necessity of captions. The powerful image of this boy from Turkey was the highlight of the exhibition. His eyes and facial expressions say it all.
The following picture had been taken in rural area of Iran. It shows how the innocent children following the bubbles.
The variety of pictures taken in cities of Nice, Menton, Ajaccio and other Mediterranean cities. It was an interesting exhibition, especially mixing poetry with the image. The artist is both: a poet and a photographer. According to the artist, “poetry has a magical quality” that influencing the souls and photography has a universality that the visitors from any culture speaking any language can connect with it, understand it and appreciate the message it conveying.
The artist was trying to communicate with the visitors through words and images combination and with the inclusion of bubble in each photo demonstrate the fragility and delicacy of the human relations and how the smallest factors can change or destroy it for good. (C) CTR Press
October 5-6, 2018:
Social Exhibitions for the Seniors
Ajaccio, France
According to researchers in Columbia University, the abilities and functionalities decline with age. It is not just health issues that affects the seniors, but the social issues and living arrangements affecting their health and wellbeing. Researchers working on the social elements influencing elders. Financial status, work history, education and the quality of their living influence their status and health. Advanced society cares for their wellbeing and how they cope with the social, financial and health issues.
This exhibition that was held in Ajaccio, the beautiful city and the birthplace of the great Napoleon Bonaparte, was about what to do making the seniors live more comfortable. Different companies located in Ajaccio taking parts and exhibiting their products and services. L’Aspect Corse working on public health for the seniors and focusing on health education and prevention was participating in the projects and covering corse area.
CIAS Anziani providing different activities and programs for the seniors living in Ajaccio. In the grand gallery du musée Fesch on October 16, November 27 and December 18, Philippe Perfettini will lecture on « Napoléon et les seins ».
APF France handicap also was another attendee that provides products services for disabled seniors. One of the interesting products was four wheel transporting vehicles designed for the seniors and those with issues with balancing.
The representative of the journal Corse Matin encouraging the seniors to subscribe to the journal.
A senior lady presenting 100 percent natural products for the elders and explains how using natural products can help seniors to cope with the health issues. She mentioned that using natural products in nearly one decade helped herself to overcome the health issues.
The representative of L’ Oliver Bleu Azur that provides residence with services for the seniors living in Ajaccio mentioned that they provide affordable services for the elders in Ajaccio. (C) CTR Press
September 2018:
September 2018
Unique Exhibition in Italy (Part Two)
Milan, Venice, Palermo, Bologna, Naples, Florence and Rome
Italy, country of culture and history, is a must see for all who love culture and history and those who are curious to know more about our past generations. Words cannot express its grandeur, elegance and beauty. When you walk on the street you are witnessing the history through numerous protected archeological sites, unique architecture of the buildings, beautiful galleries and elegant museums. All telling the visitors what happened in the past; the visitors can feel the atmosphere and connect with it.
In Naples, Sappho is the Mona Lisa and unique jewel of museo archeologico nazionale di Napoli. It is located in room 78 and most of the visitors are fascinated by the charm, beauty and sophistication of this rare piece of art. This museum is one of the most ancient and important museums in the world. It was the seat of the University of Naples from 1616 to 1777. Its first galleries were set up during the French Decade that was 1806 to 1815. After the unification of Italy in 1860, it became the National Museum. Other interesting pieces are the Golden coin, the Mosaics, statues and the ancient paintings discovered during the various excavations.
Museo delle torture is outstanding and heartbreaking. It displays various means of torture in the past. There were many videos telling the stories of Giordano Bruno and Galileo and their destiny in the hands of executioners. Bruno ( 1548-1600) famous quote: “Ask for power to change power; that is ingenuity. There are many drawings telling stories of executioners and how they mutilate, scooped the eyeballs and cut the ears. It is both disturbing and informative for the visitors. It helps them to understand human nature.Gallerie d’Italia palazzo zevallos stigliano is located in the heart of Naples and it offers the unique paintings that providing the visitors with the information about history of Neapolitan.
In Florence, Museo di palazzo Vecchio is a must see place and it’s tower “towering over Florence.” It is one of the city’s symbols. It was built in the 13th century. Inside the tower, a stone stair case of 222 steps leading up to the top and providing a panoramic view over the city. Museo Novecento in Florence is dedicated to 20th and 21st century arts. In the addition to the permanent collection, there are a variety of temporary exhibitions and educational activities for families, teenagers and adults. Another gem of Florence is Giardino di Boboli. The current exhibition is the horse riding through time, the art of horse riding from antiquity to the Middle Ages.
Santa Maria Novella including two cloisters of the former convent and the Spanish Chapel with amazing paintings.Muse Galileo in Florence is a must see.Pierre Puget masterpiece from Marseille had an amazing trip to Florence and Rome.Museum of Fine Arts has fascinating collections. Two masterpieces are the must see:The Boar Hunt by Pierre Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painting that was painted on 1616. It is part a series of four paintings dedicated to the theme of hunting.
And the famous work of art by Puget:
Sorrento Palatina is amazing.Since Roman times, the city had a special defense system that was ensured by the imposing walls. It has a rare archaic beauty of the coast of tufa rock. Museo Correale di Terranova offers unique collections and it is surrounded by luxurious garden and rare panoramic and breathtaking views of the sea. Palermo Castle is breath taking. Musei, gallerie e aree archeologiche di Sicilia is a must see.
In Rome, Museo nazionale romano, Museo di Roma and Palazzo Merulana collections take the visitors to an interesting and educational journey to the centuries ago. Bologna is a city of culture and history. Collezioni Comunali d’Arte has an interesting permanent collections. During the 18th and 19th centuries the artists usually made visual references to models from previous periods and breaking esthetically new ground for the new movements. The major Bolognaise painters in that period demonstrated New Romanticism styles. The human faces in the paintings of that period showing the tastes and fashion of that time and in some of them, the recovery of the classic antiquity is observed.
The unification of Italy drew parallels between Neo classic and Romantic arts in the main paintings by the artists from Rome, Milan and Venice.
Palazzo Pepoli, Museo della Storia di Bologna have amazing collections. In sixteenth century a new scientific and artistic interest in the study of city of Bologna developed. It demonstrated how advanced the experimentation in cartographic themes was. Room 23 demonstrating the arrival of Napoleon in Bologna on June 18th, 1796. Napoleone influence on the city is enormous: marking by the university, the hydraulic system of the Reno, the transformation of the Montagnola into public gardens and the creation of tree lined roads around the city walls.Napoleon Bonaparte made a significant social and cultural change and also breaking the static socioeconomic structure. Aldini, a professor of Law described the terracotta bust made by Giacomo de Maria as “one of the most outspoken representatives of the Napoleonic middle classes in Bologna. Napoleon emphasized Merit Based development.
Alfonso Rubbiani, journalist and writer was a very influential figure he passionately involved in restoring monuments in Bologna.Bologna is also the birthplace of the talented journalist, poet, filmmaker and writer: Pier Paolo Pasolini. He was one of the most misunderstood person in the history. No doubt, he was a victim of the character assassination. Lots of people are not aware of his hard work on making the religious film on Christ. Pasolini won praise from much of the Catholic worlds for his movie: The Gospel According to St. Matthew. They saw him as the first director “to respect and convey in an autonomous manner the spirit of Matthew’s word. It is a must see movie that tells a lot about the real Pasolini not the falsely made one. The current exhibition in Bologna demonstrating his pictures, his pictures with his mother, his photos with Fellini and other directors.
National Gallery of Bologna displaying masterpieces. The room dedicated to Guido Reni is unique and it is considered the cornerstone of the classical ideal of 17th century. Museo Civico Archeologico in Bologna demonstrating artifacts showing the human presence in Bologna from Paleolithic period, 800,000 years ago up-to final Bronze Age 10 centuryBC.
In Milan , MUDEC, museo delle culture, is a place for the intellectuals. As Leopold Survage pointed out, Modigliani used to say that he had an explosion before his eyes which he forced himself to control and organize it. Natural rhythm helped him to achieve his goal and before each of his work he had deep reflections.
Fascinating paintings by Amedeo Modigliani developed by the Crossmedia Group presents a multi sensory approach to “accompany the visitors on their journey” to understand Modigliani’s artistic style. The exhibition ends with a room where visitors watching his most iconic arts such as Jeanne Hebuteme that her eyes are the reflection of the sea.
Santa Maria delle Grazie church is a must see. The Last Supper visitors had tears in their eyes, the excitement of watching this masterpiece and the powerful message of the painting make the visitors speechless. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci painted on the wall between 1494 and 1498 showing the final episode of the Passion of Christ. Unlike his previous paintings and identification of the treacherous Judas, representing the announcement: “one of you will betray me.” The facial expressions are very powerful and the visitors were fascinated by this work of art. Some of the visitors bought the tickets three months in advance to see this masterpiece just for 15 minuets time slot for each visitor.
Piazza Castello is the jewel of Milan. Two rare masterpieces are located there: the first art piece is so powerful that the visitors need to hold their breath watching it. Giovan Battista, 1578: Martyrdom of St. Peter of Verona, oils on wooden and donated by Cereda family in 1901.
The second masterpiece is the Camera Picta by Roccabianca. The opening sentences of the Stories of Griselda starting with the tragic experience of the plague that broke out in 1348 “interweaving the themes of love, noble ness of the soul and virtue while moving towards a light-hearted close.” And the final story is the story of Griselda: a beautiful peasant woman who married Marquis Gualtieri of Saluzzo. He subjected her to the most distressful experience just to test her but finally they lived happily as nobles. In the room, the museum visitors observing the contrast between “green earth”and elegant figures. It was originally a rich gold paste decoration and nowadays there are traces of this gold element on the flowers adorning the robes.
The Sforza Castle Museum presenting nearly 2000 items, is considered the most important collection of Late-Antiquity, Medieval and Renaissance sculptures in Lombardy. The Castle picture gallery displays 1500 works of art and photographic archive containing over 600,000 photographs. Works of Michele da Firenze who used to work in terra-cotta are on display; his presence in Lombardy is proved by the documents. The Gonfalone of Milan is very impressive. It was crafted by Giuseppe Arciboldi who used mixed technique combining embroidery with tempera paint. Room VI demonstrating historical souvenirs of Milan in the Middle Ages. Reliefs of Porta Romana was built in 1171 by order of the consuls of Milan. Three monks displaying in Room VII And was used for decoration on the facade of a church.
Leonardo’s vineyard which is located a few steps from the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a historic Renaissance residence is a must see location. On the wall of the first room hanging a magnificent painting, a unique and breathtaking piece of art . According to the museum: “the painting has been made by a family from Tradate (VA), the Avogadro di Tradate, a family of painters active for generations in the sixteenth century.”
Italian people: there is no exaggeration if you call Italian people one of the best nations in the world: They are warm, sincere, interesting and kind. According to the several sources, if you have an unpleasant experience with some people in Italy, do some digging and you would find out that they are not Italians but from India, China, Africa, Germany or…that live there. Scot Fitzgerald used to describe Italian people as “the happiest people in the world.” He lived there for many years and you can find the reflection in most of his stories.
In Venice, Da Vinci Experience is a must see. It is a multimedia show demonstrating Leonardo’s rare talent. It is based on the concept of “edutainment”. The production of cultural, family oriented and educational entertainment for the visitors.
Machines à penser exhibition is on display in Fondazione Prada. There are several pictures of Heidegger’s hut that was built in 1920s; it is demonstrating the habit of hut dwelling for philosophers at that period. Also there is a video made by one artist who making fun of Heidegger and his philosophy.
(C) CTR Press
August 2018:
August 6-10, 2018:
ICCM 2018
Rome, Italy
The 9th International Conference on Computational Methods gathered scholars, engineers, industry practitioners and researchers from around the world to discuss the latest findings on traditional and contemporary computational methods. The speakers discussed the numerical modeling and stimulation. In science and engineering, computational modeling and simulation are fundamental and can be applied to many disciplines such as Chemical, Mechanical, Aerospace and Bio medical. It covers a broad range of subjects including mechanical design, failure analysis, fluid mechanics, nano and micro mechanics and novel materials. The conference chaired by Prof. Trovalusci from University of Rome.
Multiscale simulations of metals from atoms to components were discussed by Schmauder. He explained Multiscale materials modeling: time and length scales, Scale bridging techniques and Characterization and modeling: production and microstructure. He showed some slides on Film growth process in stimulating of the Sic and Mechanic behavior. He pointed out that Nucleation and propagation of dislocations in an AI polycrystal under tension is very important subject for the researchers. The speaker said:”People in copper industry are interested in simulation and solution effects and virtual cu alloys development.”
The role of computational methods in geotechnical earthquake engineering discussed by Majid Manzari from the George Washington University, USA. He talked about verification and validation of the numerical methods in geotechnical earthquake engineering. He explained Major geo structure, the program Adina and analysts of a major geo structure in practice. Typical analysis of the designed geo structure and the need for validation: the question of credibility were discussed. International cooperation among leading universities in USA, France and Italy on researching liquefaction experiments and analysis projects was pointed out. He showed some slides on the limitations of each model and uncertainties of experimental data. The speaker said: “the stimulation teams from around the world are doing experiments and analyzing the simulation exercises in centrifuge facilities.” Image tracking and samples of simulations and the results analysis and predictions are the current subjects for the research.
The analysis of valued structure with a regularized non smooth-contact-dynamic approach was discussed by Gianni Royer Carfagni from the University of Parma, Italy. He showed many slides on responses to dynamic loading of arches. Dome models and the frictional sliding in circular domes. Oval domes and interlocked dome and geometry of the domes and how the dome herringbone patterns effects its durability analysis were discussed.
(C) CTR Press
August 2018
Unique Exhibitions in France & Italy (Part One)
Paris, Milan, Genoa & Marseille
From April to August, there was a unique exhibition in Paris about Napoléon Bonaparte. It was called Napoléon Stratège. A variety of paintings and objects portrayed different times in the history such as: the first campaign of Italy in 1796 and the second campaign of Italy in 1800. They demonstrated how “clear-minded, organized and unpredictable” Napoleon was. Napoleon as an skillful strategist had three different roles at the same time: “leader of men, leader of army and head of state.” He created the Legion of Honor and “kindled the men’s moral fiber.” Also in Louvre museum, there is a unique painting by Jaques Louis David that shows Napoleon crowning his wife as the Empress in the presence of his family and the Pope. The ceremony attendees’ faces and costumes in the paintings look exceptionally realistic.
In Marseille, ICARD Maritime ferry takes the enthusiastic visitors to Chateau d’If. The Chateau was built in 1529. In 1844, Alexandre Dumas published The Count of Monte Cristo, a fascinating book in which the protagonist, Edmond Dantes is imprisoned on the If Island. In 1880, the island was opened to the public. Dumas was inspired by actual events and his own experiences. He also built Château de Monte Cristo in at Port Marley. In the courtyard of the If castle, there are many inscriptions by the revolutionaries of 1848. And the last prisoners were Germans in the World War I.
The Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan was the home of a 19th century Milanese called Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli. More than two hundred Murano glass items dating from 15th century are on display. Jewelry Room showcasing the jewels and bronzes. Downstairs in the Fresco Room, the magnificent 16th century Persian Carpet attracts the attention of the visitors and creates their admiration for this unique piece of art. The hunting is symbolic and shows the eternal struggle between “vice and virtue.”
Also Palazzo Brera museum hosting other cultural institutions such as the Academy of Fine Arts is a must see museum for the History & Art enthusiasts. In 1796, Milan becomes capital of the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon. Each paintings has a unique story to tell and each visitor interprets it in his or her own way.
The World of Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition demonstrating Leonardo da Vinci as an artist and inventor. Working models of his machines are on display and the visitors can watch the digitalized restorations of his paintings. The Time Machine restoration and the multimedia display stations encourage the visitor to interact and understand his works of art.Museo di Sant Agosto in Genoa takes the visitors to a unique journey of art and history. The artifacts from 13th century are on display. It is the main museum of Ligurian sculpture. The painting section showing wooden pieces with the unique themes that dating back to 13th century. The ceramic section demonstrating the cultural exchanges in the Mediterranean shores. For understanding the history and culture of Genoa, visiting this museum is a must.
And the last but not the least important is Mucem, Fort of Saint Jean built in 17th century; it is overlooking the sea with the unique architecture. The current exhibition: Manger à l’œil, showing the evolution of food and gastronomic meal in France from 1900 to present. The pictures on the display are by both amateurs and professionals. It shows the extraordinary and unique history of food in France. Eating while sitting around deeply rooted at all level of society the tableThe atmosphere of the exhibition is very pleasant and instructive. (C) CTR Press
July 2018:
July 15, 2018:
Cybersecurity Gaps Analysis
Washington
Cybersecurity gaps are considered top concern and exist across “multiple areas”. According to SC Media Analyst, DePompa, the latest research shows that 47% can’t detect unknown threats, 37% lacks enough contextual awareness, 34% can’t detect lateral movement and 26% lacks network visibility. Regarding priority for securing proactively, 27% prioritizes access management, 26% focuses on advanced defense, 25% considers encryption as the top priority and 22% focuses on software security applications.
The latest survey shows there are some confusion about “cyber security techniques and tools. The larger organizations with over 6000 employees, only 40 percent consider “cyber security as part of the company’s DNA.” 35% believing that cyber security is important but not that important as the operations. According the latest survey, the percentage of the detections are as follows: 53% file-less malware, 46% password comprises, 36% control detection, 32% file-based malware, 31% DDoS and 22% SQL injections.
The answer to the existing gaps in security operations are as follows: 33% said they have security products; 32% asserted their “security operations are not fully integrated”; 31% mentioned lack of staff training for how to use the products; 30% said lack of enough testing and 21% haven’t done any analysis on the security gaps. Regarding the area of the investment the answers are as follows: 33% system upkeep, 26% falsely considered positive reports, 23% security incident resolution and 19% system troubleshooting.
July 6, 2018:
Internet Archive
San Francisco
Internet Archive is a non profit library of millions of books, movies, music, images and webpage that is accessible to all for free. Their mission is providing all knowledge accessible to all. Brewster Kahle founder of Alexa Internet that sold it to Amazon in 1999 was an MIT graduate in Artificial Intelligence and helped to found Thinking Machine; he founded Internet Archive in 1996 and created Wayback Machine that provides 20 years of web history. He explained that they work with 460 libraries through their Archive-It program to choose important web pages. The Archive containing billions of web pages, millions of books and videos and hundreds of software programs. Millions of people worldwide visit the Internet Archive each day. Their funding comes from donations, grants and book digitalization services for their partners. He also mentioned that they don’t keep the IP addresses of the visitors to respect their privacy.
Kahle pointed out that they make the old stuff available online and make online material permanent. Their OpenLibrary project provides millions of eBooks free to download. It is an Open project and any one can participate in the project. He also mentioned that over 1000 books are scanned everyday. There are over 1 million news broadcasts in the TV News archive in different languages. When one attendee asked about Net Neutrality, he responded that he doesn’t like monopoly by big companies such as Apple, Amazon and Comcast and he advocates public internet access.
Currently there is a court case against Apple. Apple charges app developers 30% commission fees and only allows iOS apps to be sold on its store and it has inflated iPhone apps prices. The outcome of the court case can alter antitrust law and as the result weaken or strengthen consumers against monopolistic power. Last year Apple had over $11 billion revenue only in App Store commissions. There are so many people that are unhappy with the prices of apps and how is handled by Apple. A photography student was complaining that as the result of misinformation by Apple employees and App Store he purchased an app online that only works in the cloud and doesn’t have what was advertised and he couldn’t contact any Apple customer service to resolve the issues. Some Amazon Prime customers are also unhappy with the service and complaining that they are overcharged. In a conference, the speaker asked the Comcast costumers raise their hands if they are happy with the service and no hands was seen. (C) CTR Press
June 2018:
June 24-28, 2018:
Design Automation Conference
San Francisco
Design Automation Conference was an event focusing on design automation for IC chips “all the way to systems”. There was a variety of sessions discussing EDA, IP, embedded software and systems, security and privacy, IOT, design infrastructure and design on cloud. The speakers in the session, Deep secure thoughts discussed the research projects employing deep learning to achieve security and Recognizing malware execution and enabling private distributed collaboration. On the subject of the internet of threats, the speaker talked about the way of reducing the overhead of authentication memory encryption using data encoding and ECC memory.
Jason Moore talked about designing security into commercial products. He pointed out that the cost is very high and very divergent requirement comes from very divergent market. He said: “Cost is a part of equation and we cannot deny it.” He discussed Best practices that address the challenges and explained Immune VS resistant. He emphasized: “The designers should be able to think like adversaries.” And added: “Government, academia and tech companies collaborating to find solutions.” Checking status by running into entire process and Negative testing and the value is associated with it were discussed. One of the attendees asked about the security of the products and how to measure them. She asked: “How do we know a product is secure and at what point the manufacturer release the product?” The speaker explained the “mixed function” of the products.
Maja Mataric discussed Automation VS augmentation: socially assistive robotics. She explained that based on neuroscience and behavioral science, human behavior is strongly influenced by “physically embodied social agents” that includes robots too. She discussed SAR, the socially assistive robotics that providing assistance through social rather than physical means. She said: “If you tell people that something is bad, it doesn’t change behavior.” She added: “ But the most effective element for changing human behavior is social factors.” She said: That’s the way we are wired and we are wired for social interactions.” She explained the strategies for behavioral changes. She mentioned that the rate of strokes doubled during the last decade because of people’s lifestyle and now robots can help them in the rehabilitation process. She added that the rate of Autism in children tripled during the last two decades and showed some videos using robots to assist the patients. She said: “Social interactions are fundamental to human wellness.” And she added that robots can be a replacement. She said: “Data show us how to design robots properly. Autonomous cars is easier than interacting with people.”
Chris Pawlowicz , TechInsights, discussed Large scale integrated circuit reverse engineering. He talked about advances in integrated circuit reverse engineering and physical attacks, Security assessment: theft, Trojans, malicious circuit injection, IP Piracy and Side channel attacks. He showed some slides about Extra circuitry on chips and Chip level circuit extraction. On Circuit extraction: delayer, he explained removing dissimilar materials with nanometer precision over centimeters squared. The speaker showed slide on Circuit extraction: imaging, capturing image data with nanometer precision over centimeter squared. He said: “The problem is how many pixels is collected.” He pointed out that Net-list organization is a big challenge. He said: “Finding extra circuitry that wasn’t part of design and finding the part of layout that is encrypted are usually observed.” He added: “Commercial software packages are poorly suited for this type of work.”
Edward Principe talked about Fully automated plasma FIB IC deprocessing. He discussed Semi automated montage imaging and fully automated multi voltage montage imaging. He said: “Tool exchanger provide step down grinding.” On the initial imaging he explained the Structures observed through residual silicon. The speaker said: “Multi beam cannot be combined with delayering, it doesn’t bring everything to one roof.” He talked about Implementation of a compressed sensing schema developed specially for scanning microscopy. The next speaker Shahin Tajik talked about Semi invasive physical attacks from IC Backside, Semi invasive optical attack, Optical contactless probing technique and Changes in the absorption coefficient index of device. (C) CTR Press
June 25-26, 2018:
DCD>Webscale
San Francisco
DCD >Webscale was a full stack infrastructure ecosystem operation conference. The attendees were senior executives and technical teams who design, build and operate data centers. The speakers and panels discussed digital infrastructure design for both hyper scalers and the startups, and both physical and logical data enters. The keynote speakers talked about the position of companies today on redesigning their infrastructure for digital transformation. The speaker explained how data managed and pointed out that manipulating data in nonlinear way is the real challenge. He said: “Some Open source codes are functionally meaningless.”
The next speaker, Anthony Robinson discussed Technology roadmap updates and market need for speed. He explained the optical path, QSFP + Electrical connector that has matured PMDs. He mentioned that 400G QSFP-DD PMDs are still in early stages and the Elimination of components in parallel transceivers creates savings in power and cost over WDM. He said: “Parallel port breakout reducing cost and increasing port density. Power comparison of the transceiver are cut in half.” Then he discussed Hollywood films about AI and Threats of AI. He mentioned that Amazon Alexa and Google Home spying on people. They record everything that has been said in the house. He mentioned that Google’s Deep Mind AI controls 120 variables of data center like fans, cooling system and windows. Then the panel discussed Scaling up, having infrastructure plan for covering exponential demand increases on IT system. They talked about Factors influencing plans. Harmail Chatha said: “Every little components of infrastructure should be carefully considered to avoid delays.” He discussed how to growth, to scale and Planning business operations and optimization. He mentioned that there are Multiple options for scaling operations and emphasized Building hyper-dense environment in Designing and scaling operations. Yigit Bulut talked about Looking beyond, measure and control for Data center operations. He pointed out that long term planning and creating efficiency in designing data centers should be prioritized.
The next panel session was very interactive and for each slide that was presented the panels and the audience expressed their thoughts and discussed the challenges were involved. The main topic was Designing data center and implementation of cooling. They discussed Liquid cooling distribution unit and demonstrating the process, Cooling with varying degrees of efficiency and OPEX return, 2phase dielectric fluids immersion, Heat sink liquid touch cooling, Cold plate touch cooling and Rear chiller door cooling. The speaker mentioned that climate, proximity to consumers and networking connections can influence the choice of location for data centers.
Hyper scale operators such asFacebook and Amazon usually locating their data centers where they can benefit the tax breaks. The Scandinavian countries have offered tax exemption for data centers. The largest data centers in Europe are located in London and Frankfurt. “London has 495MW of power capacity for data center.” The panel discussed the physics of using liquid rather than air for removing heat from server racks. They pointed out that the exponential adoption of the cloud and IoT has resulted in the need for building more data centers. Also the autonomous vehicles in the future will have continuous data interchange that will lead to the architectural changes in data processing. They emphasized that cost and energy efficiency are the main challenges.
The environmental activists expressing their concern about the potential environmental damages of data centers. The data centers need coolant that might used for liquid cooling. They are usually mildly to highly toxic and can cause ozone depletion. Some have zero ozone depletion but they still can trap heat within the atmosphere. Everyday more and more networking devices are being released and we shouldn’t ignore the environmental impact of these devices and data centers. (C) CTR Press
June 13-14, 2018:
The TV of Tomorrow Show 2018
San Francisco
TV professionals gathered together to discuss the latest and the future of TV industry. A variety of panel sessions discussed the future of television, video, ACR and measurements, TV, data and social networks, market for digital programming, AI-powered media, TV advertisements, sports betting, peak TV, mobility, VR and AR and cross-platform measurements.
The panel discussing ACR, talked about automatic content recognition data and measurement. ACR is an identification technology tracking and measuring the content played on a media device. Developers of the application provide customized content to viewers based on ACR measurements. Jason Bolles from Gracenote explained Dataset, pros and cons. He said: “ACR is very fast.” Then he talked about Opportunity for cross platform, Benefit of data acquisition, Unified measurement and Multitouch platform. Neumeier mentioned that people see different ads and Ads Addressability is changing the way TV ads work. ACR data measures viewing from any device and is being used for powering multitouch attribution. Regarding Privacy issues of ACR the speaker said: “There is an opportunity for the users to opt out.” But the critics concern that the viewers don’t know how to turn off ACR in the smart TV. They usually don’t know how to deny permission for ACR when setting up the TV. People often skip all the privacy policies and user agreements because they are too complicated to understand and usually just click OK. Consumer advocacy groups insist on simplifying the texts for consumers.
In the another session, a marketing video was shown telling the viewers Smart homes and smart cars make them smarter! Seth Haberman moderated the next session discussing TV, data and social networks. Haberman said: “People want to watch what other people watch. Hits have much greater return.” He added: Hits drive business, but not the quality; art movies don’t sell.” He mentioned that there are Enormous distinction between production and reproduction costs. He pointed out that advertisers spend much more money on bigger shows because of the greater returns. “The larger market share has more customers loyalty. Big brands and hits: People pay more on larger show.” Hits and Visits are not the same. Every time a web browser requesting a file, a hit is recorded. Each web page consists of a number of files. But a visit is registered when a user opens a web page. A hit is a special request made to a website for a particular file. The panel discussed the role that TV has on our lives. The speaker mentioned that influencers can turn some program that hasn’t been popular and make them popular. “In Amazon you can manipulate the viewers.” “Music industry: all money is made by hits.” “Amazon has exclusive right and exploiting the hits.” “People are attached to the brand.” He said that television is more profitable when the funds are focused on a small numbers of big shots.
The next panel discussed Bundling AI features. Emerson from Microsoft talked about Contextual relevancy in advertising. He explained User insights, type of contents and driving engagement. The speaker pointed out that environment, facial recognition, object identification, speech to text transcription and language translation creating a very different video data.
The speakers in the peak TV session discussed the bubble and how consumers increasingly feeling overwhelmed by the number of programs available to them to choose and there is a bubble in this environment of too much contents. Sherry Brennan from Fox Networks said: “The number of pieces of glasses such as TV, tablets we use to watch the shows are also increasing and it’s not just the contents.” Jon Giegengack from Hub Entertainment Research said: “There’s no magic bullet for television and the viewers have to bundle together multiple services before they feel like their TV needs have been met.” (C) CTR Press
June 5, 2018:
Opera Lecture Series
San Francisco
Simon Williams from university of Santa Barbara talked about opera; especially the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner. He started his lecture by expressing his appreciation for opera and his love for opera from his teenage years. He mentioned that he was deeply moved by the intensity of the music. He expressed his deep respect and profound fondness for Ring by Wagner. He said: “Ring is a very long work : it took Wagner 28 years to complete it in 1876.” He added: “Wagner used to write his own libretto.” “The Ring is compact.” He spent two decades to study Ring: every single notes.
He described the story of Wotan in Ring as incredible. “If you possess the ring you will have full control over the world but Wotan, the chief god, threw out the ring.” But Mime: the guardian of Siegfried who was the grandson of Wotan gained the Ring and forced Wotan to the retirement. Then the fight over the Ring started and Siegfried was killed. He pointed out that Emotional power of the scenes are overwhelming and how Political struggles and Conflict between Passion and Power were illustrated in the piece. He praised Wagner’s essay on art and revolution in 1849. “Ride of the Valkyries” by Wagner is unique and deeply moving. The speaker discussed Shakespearean qualities in Ring: Gap between the dramatic characters. “Human experience and symbolic experience were united by Shakespeare.” He added: “We can identify with each character.”
Opera and classical music have captured the hearts and minds of people for centuries. Giuseppe Verdi’s famous works such as Rigoletto and La Traviata are unique. Beethoven wrote only one opera: Fidelio that was considered as a tale of freedom from political oppression. Bizet’s masterwork Carmen fascinated the classical music fans for centuries. Mozart’s the Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni are among the most popular operas. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is a unique work. Maurice Ravel’s Bolero is enchanting. Barber of Seville by Rossini was continuously performed and praised in the 20th century. And the most recent one, Rodrigo with his masterpiece: Concurso de Aranjuez that was composed in 1939 in Paris and was written as the response to the death of his first child is so deep and emotional that leaves an everlasting impression on the listeners hearts. (C) CTR Press
May 2018:
May 22-24, 2018:
CONNECTION
San Francisco
Connection conference was the premier connected home conference organized by Parks Associates. The goal was to discuss the challenge of unifying so many different technologies in the smart home ecosystem. The experts and professionals in IoT and smart home industries gathered to talk about the latest in IoT industry, evolution of the smart home, digitalization of data in IoT, consumer engagement strategies, security and risk in IoT, connected ecosystem, innovation in the connected home and data analytics.
One major issue in the smart home is privacy. The panelists in the session Tech Support & Privacy talked about network reliability threats, Identifying the threats and security of the devices. Ted Haeger, Control4, asked the Media to write more about real extent of the security and privacy problem and the solutions: “what can be done.” He pointed out: “63% of the users are concerned about privacy issues.” He added: “Differentiate your consumer from your products.” He emphasized the need of securing data in the cloud. He mentioned that GDPR should be taken more seriously: “we should not look at GDPR as the tax that should be paid.” Jon Clay talked about monitoring all the networks and to see whether the ports are exposed. A port is an endpoint of communication that identifying a specific process in computer networking. It is always associated with an IP address. Specific port numbers are reserved for identifying specific devices. “Lifespan of the products are very short.” He emphasized: “Change your passwords. Regularly update your products both hardware and software.” He said: “According to the recent survey, 60 percent of the users prefer to go without water for four days rather than to have no internet connection for that period!” He pointed out that more consumer awareness is essential. He mentioned that hackers looking for IP addresses and extortion is the source of revenue for them.
Keynote speaker, Tom Kerber , Park Associates talked about Safety and security solutions, DIY impact on the security industry. He discussed Innovation and Different customer surveys for DIY security products and how to assess its impact on the security industry. He said: “Younger generations are faster to buy a smart product but the security products main users are 35 years old and older generations.” He discussed estimated impact of DIY security solutions on security customers: monitoring smart products, optional/hybrid models, interactive services, home controls, and security penetrations. He mentioned that likelihood of subscribing to a professional monitoring services survey shows that for $10 per month service it would be %23 ; $20 per month, %18 ; $30 per month, %13 and $40 per month, %11.
The Panel discussing Customer engagement strategies talked about Smart home devices that are being offered by a variety of sales channels with different strength and reach. Geoff Ferrell, chief technology officer emphasized Creating healthier and more comfortable smart devices and he mentioned that Safety, security and visibility are the keys. He pointed out that toxic environment should be avoided by educating the home owners. Mike Wajsgras: director of channel development talked about Cross sale, Omni channel Challenges and Issue of security in connected homes. He said: “Are home devices integrated and enhance customer experience? Platform changing over time.”
Smart insurance panelists discussed Automatic data sharing and the devices that automatically notify insurance companies. “When the house in fire or is a kind of water leak the consumers receive notifications.” They talked about how connected consumers impacting insurance industry. “Consumers expectations are high and they are looking for safety.” Doleski said: “The shift to “mobile first” platform is an issue for insurance companies.” He added: “How to make people engaged to download the app is very important.”
The critics of IoT and smart devices have demonstrated concerns over privacy and cyber security in IoT. They believe that Amazon Echo, Google Home and Siri have privacy issues and they have concerns about the way the manufacturers treating the data collected from these devices. All these devices can be hacked and all the data can be compromised and hackers can force their ways into the houses via smart home assistants. Medical devices being hacked can have serious consequences for the people. The hackers can remotely control and manipulate these devices. Currently there are many court cases and legal disputes about the privacy issues in smart devices. The manufacturers have not shown sensitivity to data privacy and security issues in these devices and by 2020 the market will reach to 29 billion things and $300 billions spending. According to the recent research, two essential enablers for IoT: the sensors and microcontrollers growth has been outpaced the usage of semiconductors. The manufacturers thinking about profits as their main goal and usually they overlook the privacy and security of devices. Privacy advocates increasingly showing concern about how data is collected and how it is used and in the future, 90% of IoT data will be stored in the cloud and it is the responsibility of the device or app providers to secure it.
(C) CTR Press
May 14-17, 2018:
Internet of Things World
Santa Clara
IoT world conference sessions included a variety of topics in IoT world: connected healthcare, smart communities, smart agriculture, innovation in smart clothing, from sensors to cloud, analytic marketing, leveraging cloud technologies and the US smart cities challenges. The keynote speaker discussed IoT project adoption: learn and innovate predictive and Data driven process integration at the real time. He emphasized the need to change the business model completely. He explained Historical data analytic and predictive analytics and said: “The landscape of IoT software vendors and service providers is crowded.” He added: “A lot of marketing is involved in running the projects in a sophisticated way.” He mentioned that lots of IoT projects had failed because of the inefficiency in the projects. He pointed out that Security measures should be separate from IoT project and security and data privacy need more attention.
Juan Perez talked about how IoT enabling business decisions at UPS. He said: “Every second we collect significant amount of data through smart vehicles, smart handhelds and smart labels. He pointed out that Raw data is useless and emphasized the necessity of taking raw data and converting it to insight and as the result making smart decisions. He explained different types of Data analytics: Descriptive analytics, Predictive analytics that have much more insight as output and finally Prescriptive analytics that focus in future and its output is decision. He said: “Data plus insight creates value.” He added that attention to the details would make lots of savings.
Tony Shakib from Microsoft discussed entreprise use cases for AI at the edge. He said: “Our job is the industrial customers become technological customers.” He emphasized that security is a big issue in the process of Digital transformation. “Too much data happening too fast.” “A lot of innovation happening on cloud. Microsoft will invest $5 Billion in IoT.” He discussed highly secure connections in Azure IoT Hub intelligent Cloud. He pointed out that Azure is open and Microsoft is the biggest contributor to GitHub.
The panelists discussed the US smart cities challenges. Bob Bennet, Chief innovation officer, city of Kansas City, Missouri mentioned that their emphasis is not on smart city but on education. He said: “If you come to me just with technology solution our conversation last 10 seconds. But if it is for good education we will discuss it.” He mentioned that they don’t use and don’t keep data but anonymize and aggregate the data. He added: “Threats to our data is like the threats of shark in the movie:Jaw.” Another panelist, Linda Gerull from San Francisco discussed the Challenges in transportation. She said: “There are hundreds of mini data centers in the transportation. How to regulate and make people safe is the top priority.” She discussed Municipal broadband for San Francisco, Neutrality and security of internet and Redesigning the city. She also mentioned there are many smart scooter sharing in San Francisco.
Walter Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology and NIST director discussed industry collaboration and the cyber security framework. He emphasized the need for managing connectivity and privacy at the same time by Encrypted transactions. He said: “If you can measure it you can control it.” He added: “What IoT can do for all of us: It is all about people.” John Horn, Independent IoT executive talked about the glitch in the smart system. He said in that case if you change the password, it doesn’t change anything if a hacker had access to your account and the compromise continues.” Greg Kahn, CEO, IoT Consortium said that his daughter name is Alexa and once he asked his daughter if she needed any help in her homework. Suddenly Amazon Alexa at their home asked whether it should contact 911. He said: “This is a real issue for privacy.” (C) CTR Press
May 7-10, 2018:
MarkLogic World 2018
San Francisco
MarkLogic event brought together the investors, developers, IT professionals and their customers and partners to talk about the latest innovations by MarkLogic. The main topics of discussions included data governance, data integration, security and agility. The speakers and panelists discussed the ways of integrating and storing data, operational data hub, data management with multi model database, using MarkLogic semantics for data integration, data digitalization in healthcare and location analytics. MarkLogic is an operational enterprise NoSQL database platform for integrating data. The speakers talked about ingesting structured and unstructured data, how to run fast searches across all data, providing APIs for application development and deployment and scalability and elasticity.
Gary Bloom, the keynote speaker pointed out that Oracle running autonomous database but MarkLogic’s focus is on the smart database. He explained how smart database system increases the value. He emphasized getting more knowledge from data by mutual innovations. He joked: “Customer A working with customer B to beat up customer C that is doing everything wrong.” The next speaker Joe Pasqua, started his presentation by announcing that he had received a Twitter message from Prince Harry! He talked about data harmonization with a semantic metadata hub. He introduced some representatives from financial, media and oil industry companies to talk about their IT challenges in data management and what differentiating their business. Representative from Northern Trust said: “Literacy in 21th century is learning, unlearning and again learning new.”
Justin Makeig talked about Multi Model database and pointed out that integration is an expensive process for driving business value. He emphasized the necessity of picking things that add value not just a quick win and running code close to the data. He gave examples of messy data such as one person with four date of births. He explained Document data model and universal indexing: values, full text, structure, scalar ranges and new opportunities enabled by creative reuse and said: “Documents represent data more naturally.” The next speaker discussed how semantic metadata hub bringing together the structured and unstructured data without the loss of data accuracy.
The panelists discussing digitalization of healthcare data talked about their experiences in leveraging data. The speaker emphasized the need for creating systems that empowering consumers and enabling them to engage with different aspects of their care. He explained how a fully transactional and operational database platform and acquiring multi model approach that can handle any data source can be an effective solution. Hajduk called his industry Information Research instead of Information Technology. He said: “We solved cancer in mice 15 years ago. But mice aren’t people. The transformation is how to use data on people. We are creating transformation by leveraging data across the industry.” He emphasized the need for eliminating papers in patient consent forms by digitalization. Bill Fox a former healthcare fraud prosecutor pointed out that we can leverage data instead of experimenting on people.
(C) CTR Press
May 3-4, 2018:
Tech Superwomen Summit
San Francisco
Tech Superwomen Summit was about diversity and inclusion in tech industry. As Cathryn Posey, the founder, pointed out Tech Superwomen brought together influential people in tech and young professionals and student to create the positive changs. According to the recent statistics, five percent of tech startups are led by women and less than 10 percent of CIOs are women. Discussions during the summit emphasized the necessity of using data as the starting point to analyze the “cultural underpinnings” behind the current statistics. The aim was to empower women in the tech industry.
Posey mentioned that in 2011 in Alaska she was inspired by a song to start Tech Superwomen. She discussed hidden figures in tech. She mentioned that lots of attention and little progress is seen in the inclusion issues. She emphasized: “Progress is a long term strategy.” The speaker distinguished between What matters and what works and emphasized the Resilience and thinking outside the box. Keynote speaker talked about Rachel Carson who exposed the pesticide industry with her book: “Silent Spring” writing while dying from cancer. The panelists discussed Why investing in women entrepreneurs will be the future of Silicon Valley. Two venture capitalists talked about their experiences as VCs and how women are underrepresented in the industry. Hornik said: “Our children creating something: the mess.”
Raquel Romano discussed the complaints about tech culture and Tech culture contradictions. She emphasized teaching our kids to be strong. She pointed out that in tech you should constantly learn. She talked about the Performance reviews, the process of measuring employees performance. About Code reviews she said: “ They are incredibly important if it has been done right.” She talked about the difficulties she faced while being code reviewed in Google and harsh, toxic and very mean code reviews in Google. She explained the Contradictions: learning environment vs work environment. She said: “Reward efforts and action and prioritize learning over seeking approval.” She added: “Always choose meaningful learning over learning fast; but in work environment you have to deliver as fast as possible.”
Jez Humble talked about D&I fake news and myth. He said: “We have problems in tech. We have problems with demographics and pay.” He added: “Men consistently overemphasized their worth in workplace.” He mentioned that social factors are the problem not biological reasons. He pointed out: “All of us share these biases both men and women. Inborn brilliance emphasizes should be stopped.” The panelists discussing Women, power and the boardroom talked about their own personal experiences as the board members. Nora Denzel said: “it is the board role to change the CEO: hire and fire CEOs.” She discussed influence, Position power and Leadership game of board members in the organizations. She also mentioned that boards do not post the available positions and it is chosen through connection channels. She pointed out that Women have 87% of buying power in the U.S. household and Board benefits to have more women on the board; “it will be more balanced decision making.” They discussed diversity in age groups, race, gender and backgrounds. The speaker said: “Average age in the company board is 63.” The panelists also discussed how to deal with conflicts in the board, Leading with facts not emotions and talking through issues. “There is conflicts everywhere you should know how to function effectively.” Denzel said: “It is not important to be right but to be effective.” (C) CTR Press
April 2018:
April 28-29, 2018:
Bay Area Book Festival
Berkeley
Bay Area Book Festival was a two-day literary event that brought together 260 writers from around the world in keynotes, panel sessions and discussions, 200 literary exhibitors and tens of thousands of the book enthusiasts. There was a variety of thought provoking discussions that connected writers with the attendees. As Cherilyn Parsons, the founder of the Bay Area Book Festival points out: “when you enter a book, you enter a sanctuary. You enter a place where you can return to yourself, explore in a safe place, and actually follow a thought for a while. You can commute deeply within yourself and with others: the writer and the personalities in the book.” An enthusiastic attendee described the experience of reading an interesting book as an adventurous and “very low emission traveling”.
The speakers in the session:Beyond Jane and Hermione: New smart women in literature discussed the female characters in their books. Jana Casale talked about womanhood in her book: “The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky”. She discussed the obsession with body image and insecurity of the female characters in the novels. The talented young writer: Azareen van der vliet Oloomi who was born in Iran and lived in a variety of countries and currently lives in the U.S. talked about her latest book: “Call Me Zebra”. NY Times book reviewer compared her to Borges. Her main character, an intelligent stubborn girl who loves nothing except literature, after her father dies and she watches the light fall in stripes on her father’s coffin, she decides that she take a new identity and be called Zebra. Also Zebra has a spiritual meaning of survival against all odds and being strong. It has an ability to see in the dark and into hidden realms.
Azareen Oloomi talked about the research she did before writing her novel. She said: “I did seven years of research. I visited many countries including Catalonia. I crossed many rivers, found many abandoned old roads and got lost several times but continued my physical research before writing my novel.” Her new book teaches her to raise her eyes and see the reality about the people in her past, present and future life. She mentioned that she was very bookish and it was difficult for her to “decode others”. She said: “I cannot live another life and I had to write what is important to me and what I think.” She added: “I allow my characters to be completely courageous and unapologetic and it takes lots of psychological energy.” The historian Benjamin Madley talked about Native American genocide and rebirth. He discussed the 19th century native Americans removal Act. He mentioned that indigenous population collapsed as the result of biological devastation and mass death in reservations. Peter Cozzens said: “There was lots of abuse and discrimination, but I haven’t found any evidence of deliberate genocide.” He added: “There were some tribes fighting alongside the army against other tribes.”
Anthony Marra in the session: How stories make the world mentioned that traditionally the novel in America have been about psychological complexities and currently writers write about environmental issues. He said: “when you read something from Dostoyevsky you know that he had never seen a TV show. But recently lots of novels are reflections of TV shows.” He talked about the process of questioning the identity in writing a novel. He said students used to think and feel differently about their writing, nowadays they want to write to an audience. He pointed out that Writings do something to the world and devaluation of cultural creations is a real hazard to the society.
Alice Waters, Food writer talked about her French experience. She mentioned that her trip to France was awakening. She said: “For the first time in my life I felt good about food and tasted good, fresh and healthy food.” She added: “ French are nation of slow food. Their lunch with their family takes two hours and they regularly go to Farmers Market to buy fresh and local food.” Ellen Stokken Dahl, a Norwegian doctor and writer talked scientifically about female anatomy. She was amazingly professional and she discussed the most intimate subjects in a very elegant manner.
Errol Morris interviewed Geoff Dyer on Street Photography. Dyer’s latest work: “The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand” includes 100 works by the famous street photographer. He talked about the story behind each photo and Metamorphosis in pictures and how frames are in the places that are unexpected and when form is overwhelmed by the content. They analyzed Black and white pictures in 1950s in New York City. “ What is going on at the edge of the photographs” is very important too. He said: “In some color pictures if you take out the color there will be nothing. The black and white photo is more powerful.” The audience in this interesting session learned how to look at the photos, especially the Suspenseful image that nothing happening but something might. Visual sequencing of the images was discussed.
Francisco Cantu, a former U.S. Border Patrol agent who quit his job and now is a writer talked about his book. He discussed value of the stories. He said: “I was told that I am an idealist and naive person.” He added: “Book is part of a conversation. People should hear other voices. Lots of non fiction research is included in my book.” He talked about his friend who left the country to be with his sick mother and couldn’t return and was deported. He said: “My friend wanted to live in the U.S. because of the rule of law.” He explained how he kept daily journal and how he was overwhelmed reading it years later. He pointed out that he included the journal in his book and said: “ I didn’t sanitized those documents.”
In the closing keynote John Freeman talked about the role of social media in creating the lack of empathy. He mentioned that there are lots of twisted, awful and distorted materials in the social media. He pointed out that the time spent on the social media can be spent on reading and writing. He emphasized the necessity of reflection on what has been read. (C) CTR Press
April 16-20, 2018:
RSA Conference 2018
San Francisco
RSA Conference was a cybersecurity event with a variety of sessions and seminars discussing the latest in cybersecurity threats and the solutions. The keynotes, panels and speakers talked about ransomware attacks, the price of cyber-warfare, cryptography, insider threats and cyber awareness, GDPR and privacy, risk management, machine learning algorithms from different domains, privacy rights in AI, cyber-counterintelligence, the privacy implications from facial recognition, AI bots for real time security, investigative journalists speaking out, cyber cases in federal courts, nation state attacks, brand protection and tracking cybercrime.
The keynote speaker discussed Challenges and complexities in cybersecurity and said: “40% of breaches is by the insiders.” He added: “We can’t have a Digital 911 to force us to change.” The panel discussing cryptography pointed out the importance of having Speed and safety at the same time. The panelist said: “If you depend on secrets, you have the vulnerability because the secret leaks.” He added: “We need a road map to deal with the vulnerabilities.” They criticized Facebook privacy violations and the panelist said: “Facebook could prevent the privacy problem but it wasn’t in their interest to do it.” In many sessions, the speakers discussed GDPR. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect on May 25, 2018. It will have a huge impact on privacy for all companies around the world. GDPR focus is protecting the privacy of EU citizens. GDPR protects the privacy of website visitors, their IP address and their PII, personally identifiable information. The speaker said: “GDPR will have a huge effect; the companies can be fined up to 5% of their global turnover for the violations.” They discussed Hardware problems and software problems and security vulnerabilities. The panelist concluded: “If there is no breach in security, you the security investigators, security engineers and security professionals will have to find another job.”
Patrick Wardle and Mikhail Sosonkin talked about their experience of hacking in Russia. They showed slides and explained step by step how they easily hacked a computer using the public WiFi and generating a “mouse event” that apple does not block. Wardle mentioned that hackers using apple logo ask the users to click on the link for updates and then they would have remote access to their victim’s computer and can steal the important data. In the session, How to engineer privacy rights in the world of artificial intelligence, the speakers discussed GDPR compliance, Data controller vs data processor responsibilities and why they consider Data privacy as the top point. Leon said: “For deleting your data in Facebook you have first to register and create an account and then delete it!” He added: Facebook is data controller and Cambridge Analytica is data processor.” He explained Garbage in, garbage out concept in managing data.
Serrato talked about “how data is controlled by data controller and its processing by the processor that comes afterward.” She explained Privacy principles of GDPR: consent and notice and Prohibition of automating consent process. She said: “Who owns your face? Face recognition data privacy is Facebook’s problem.” Jeff Bardin talked about cyber deception and manipulation. He said: “Deception campaign organizers are watching your reactions and based on your response they can manipulate you and this is what the marketer does.” He added: “planners must have clear reason based on their organizational goals to utilize denial and deception.” He talked about forming public opinion via social networks.
Rami Rahim started his keynote presentation by 1984 book and asked the audience: “Is George Orwell’s be proud of 2018?” He added: “Tech was created for doing good but it was exploited by those who want to harm society.” He pointed out that everyone should be an agent of change and mentioned that it would be 2 million unfilled jobs in cyber security in the future, in 2032. The next keynote speaker was Monica Lewinsky. She talked about her humiliation in the eyes of the world and how ashamed she feels. With the tears in her eyes she said: “I was judged and lost my privacy, without context and without compassion.” She added: “Public humiliation has become an industry and more clicks, more money for those who profit from humiliation and suffer of others. We need to return to the value of empathy and compassion.”
Investigative journalist talked about their experiences. Joseph Cox, Motherboard, and other journalists complained that Public Relation teams in Tech companies are the worst to deal with. Joseph Menn, Reuters, gave an advice to the younger journalists: “Learn to hack yourself in order to be able to investigate it and find a good editor.” Nicole Perlroth, NY Times, mentioned that journalists should be good translators and write in a way that people from different generations and experience be able to understand. And their final remark was: “Don’t believe everything you read.” (C) CTR Press
April 10-12, 2018:
London Book Fair 2018
London
The London Book Fair is one of the world’s largest publishing events. The publishers, writers, translators, media professionals and book enthusiasts from around the world gathered to find out more about the latest innovations in publishing and the global marketplace for digital publishing and current and future state of publishing industry. There was a variety of seminars, panel debates, keynotes and discussions on data in publishing industry, audiobooks double-digit growth, gender pay gap in publishing industry, how Brexit affects publishing industry in Europe, role of blockchain in publishing, educational publishing, technology in publishing, the role of publishers in an evolving media landscape, kindle direct publishing, collaboration and the transition to open access and how to connect with the authors and readers.
This year market focus country was the Baltics with the participation of writers and publishers from Latvia and Lithuania. They discussed a wide range of themes such as children’s books, translation, history and fiction and educational publishing. The keynote panels talked about author centered payment model using blockchain, machine verses human and real time applications, and poetry for change. Sabaliauskaite talked about writing history as fiction. She discussed her historical novel Silva Rerum that has been recognized by historians as an authentic portrayal of 17th century atmosphere. She received saint Christopher award for writing it.
David Baldacci, American author who is of Italian descent from Tuscany, discussed his novels. He began his writing from childhood, when his mother gave him a notebook to write them. His book: “Absolute Power” was published in 1996 and it was an international bestseller. He talked about his latest book: “End Game” and mentioned that most of his books had some elements of Virginia in it. End Game is the fifth entry in his Robie series after The Innocent, The Hit, Bullseye, The Target and The Guilty. He said: “The readers can read “End Game” without having to read the previous four novels.” He mentioned that he grew up in a family of storytellers.
The speakers in research and scholarly publishing forum talked about the main issues in the academic publishing and how the open access can influence the future of publishing industry. The London Book Fair Insights Program consisted of 200 seminars that covered a wide range of topics. The speakers in the session, introduction to Rights discussed the essential skills and knowledge in the ever changing publishing and content creating environment. The book by Jon Meacham about Thomas Jefferson portrays Jefferson as the most successful political leader in American history: “from writing of the Declaration of Independence to elegant dinner in Paris, from his complicated life at Monticello to the creation of the University of Virginia, Jeffers was central to the age.” American-Mexican author, Jeniffer Clement, the first woman to be elected president in PEN International promoting cooperation between writers around the world. (C)CTR Press
April 6-8, 2018:
Silicon Valley Comic Con
San Jose
Silicon Valley Comic Con was the third year of SVCC and like the previous years it was about science, technology and pub culture. There was a variety of panels and speakers discussing comics, gaming, science and technology. The keynote speakers discussed “what does it mean to be human?” Richard Wurman, creator of TED and Kevin Eubanks, musician talked about being human in the current digital age. Wurman has written more than 90 books on diverse topics; he chaired the first federal design assembly in 1973. And he is still working with Esri for mapping urban settings. Wurman discussed the issue of merging with AI and said: “I don’t like my washing machine looks like me!” He added: “Why they make robots to look like human?” He emphasized Intellectual conversations and Human values and said: “I am afraid of automated system and the process of making the robots looking like us.” He talked about Learning system vs education system. He questioned all these emphasis on tech in school and mentioned that emphasis must be on learning, not education. He pointed out that by being more like ourselves we would be more human. He said: “My best teacher taught me to be more me not copying to be like him.” He added: “I don’t serve anybody, not working for anyone! I look at things my own way. I love humor.” He emphasized: “Be Yourself.” And said: “What makes us human? Jokes.” Talking about his books, he said: “My book is expensive; I don’t buy it!”
Kevin Eubanks emphasized creating the moral codes for AI. He criticized GMOs and ruining the environment. He said: “From the birth to the death we live in different boxes: work places, apartments and finally coffins.” He emphasized that understanding would give us power.The panels in the session: superhuman discussed the usage of genetic engineering. Zayner a biohacker scientist who had genetically modified his own cells for non-medical reason, wearing a blue wig, talked about genetically modification experiments on human. In Q&A section, a child in the audience asked him “what if anything goes wrong during these experiments?”
Other panels and speakers talked about being a human in space and NASA challenges such as radiation and confined quarters for humans, animal and plants that could make a trip to Mars. They discussed Black Holes, moving to Mars and future of humanity, future of home and how can it be more sustainable while keeping an eye on the carbon footprint. They discussed how technology has reduced the existing gap between science and fiction.
In the exhibition halls, the exhibitors and artists exhibiting their latest works. NASA representatives in the exhibition talked about the LADEE spacecraft and how in the past they have been custom designed and a collection of science instruments and the innovative way of transitioning away from custom designed and moving toward multi use designs that could reduce the costs. He explained that NASA’s LLCD on LADEE transmitting data using a pulsed laser beam between the moon and the Earth.
The artist Melissa Pagluica, creator of the comic book series: “ Above the Clouds” exhibited her art works in tranquil and beautiful colors. She said:” I am in love with stories and I wanted my colors to be reminiscent of old story books you would find of the illustration on one side and the text on the other.”
(C)CTR Press
