by tyler | Oct 11, 2022 | Pulse, Tech
Shortly after the COVID pandemic hit, inspiration struck Ryan Abernathey and Joe Hamman. The pair had been watching the “mass mobilization” of the epidemiology research community, Abernathey said.
“Joe and I were both thinking at the time, ‘We wanted to be part of something with that level of intensity and urgency around climate change.’”
Abernathey and Hamman met while working on open-source projects, including Pangeo and Xarray , both of which gave them a taste of where the field was heading. Abernathey , who is an associate professor of Earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, said he saw his lab’s work on tools having a greater impact than the results of their research projects.
Hamman , who previously worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also foresaw how data tools could begin to change the field. The business world was benefiting from a slew of new tools that worked well for their data types. “But none of those really exist for scientific data,” he said.
The pair eventually connected with Tony Liu , a partner at Costanoa Ventures who specializes in data infrastructure.
“We’ve seen the transformation of the business analytics world over the last few years,” Liu said, “where you have this ecosystem of cloud-native tooling that’s emerged that really reduces the complexity for someone less specialized to set up data infrastructure in their company. We believe that a similar pattern will emerge here.
“We’re seeing use of climate data increase, even among our portfolio — there’s several companies that are making use of climate data at scale. And also we expect a continued, massive investment into climate tech companies,” he added.
The scale of the data, and of the problem, is why Abernathey and Hamman’s new company, Earthmover , raised a $1.7 million pre-seed round from Liu and Costanoa, TechCrunch learned exclusively.
by tyler | Sep 30, 2022 | Pulse, Tech
A group of House Democrats has unveiled a new bill that aims to put limits on the use of facial recognition technologies by law enforcement agencies across the United States.
Dubbed the Facial Recognition Act , the bill would compel law enforcement to obtain a judge-authorized warrant before using facial recognition. By adding the warrant requirement, law enforcement would first have to show a court it has probable cause that a person has committed a serious crime, rather than allowing largely unrestricted use of facial recognition under the existing legal regime.
The bill also puts other limits on what law enforcement can use facial recognition for, such as immigration enforcement or peaceful protests, or using a facial recognition match as the sole basis for establishing probable cause for someone’s arrest.
If passed, the bill would also require law enforcement to annually test and audit their facial recognition systems, and provide detailed reports of how facial recognition systems are used in prosecutions. It would also require police departments and agencies to purge databases of photos of children who were subsequently released without charge, whose charges were dismissed or were acquitted.
Facial recognition largely refers to a range of technologies that allow law enforcement, federal agencies and private and commercial customers to track people using a snapshot or photo of their faces. The use of facial recognition has grown in recent years, despite fears that the technology is flawed , disproportionately misidentifies people of color (which has led to wrongful arrests ) and harms civil liberties, but is still deployed against protesters, for investigating minor crimes and used to justify arrests of individuals from a single face match.
Some cities, states and police departments have limited their use of facial recognition in recent years. San Francisco became the first city to ban the use of facial recognition by its own agencies, and Maine and Massachusetts have both passed laws curbing their powers — though all have carved out exemptions of varying degrees for law enforcement or prosecutorial purposes.
But the current patchwork of laws across the U.S. still leaves hundreds of millions of citizens without any protections at all.
“Protecting the privacy of Americans — especially against a flawed, unregulated, and at times discriminatory technology — is my chief goal with this legislation,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA, 33rd District) in a statement announcing the bill alongside colleagues Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX, 18th District), Yvette Clarke (D-NY, 9th District) and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA, 34th District).
“Our bill is a workable solution that limits law enforcement use of [facial recognition technology] to situations where a warrant is obtained showing probable cause that an individual committed a serious violent felony,” Lieu added.
Gomez, who was one of 28 members of Congress misidentified as criminals in a mugshot database by Amazon’s facial recognition software in 2018, said that there is “no doubt that, left unchecked, the racial and gender biases which exist in FRT will endanger millions of Americans across our country and in particular, communities of color.”
The bill has so far received glowing support from privacy advocates, rights groups and law enforcement-adjacent groups and organizations alike. Woodrow Hartzog, a law professor at Boston University, praised the bill for strengthening baseline rules and protections across the U.S. “without preempting more stringent limitations elsewhere.”
Yes, Americans can opt out of airport facial recognition — here’s how
by tyler | Sep 29, 2022 | Pulse, Tech
Anyone who has followed global news events of late will have noticed the devastating floods that have engulfed pretty much every corner of the world, from the U.S . and Europe , to Africa , Australia , and Asia, where India and Pakistan have been hit by some of their worst floods in recent memory .
By pretty much all accounts, such climate change-driven disasters are only going to get worse . And while there are varying opinions on what — if anything — we can do to avert such catastrophes in the future, some companies are looking at ways to plan for this new reality, and at least go some way toward mitigating the impact of flooding.
One of these companies is 7Analytics , a Norwegian startup founded back in 2020 by a team of data scientists and geologists to reduce the risks of flooding for construction and energy infrastructure companies. With its first product, FloodCube , 7Analytics serves customers with AI and advanced machine learning techniques to calculate current surface water and where it’s flowing today (the “runoff”), then models how that will look in the future with increased rainfall.
So in effect, FloodCube is more about predicting how a flood will unfold, showing exactly where water is likely to accumulate based on various environmental factors. While it’s possible to achieve this already today through combining multiple software programs and manual calculations, FloodCube brings everything together under one roof.
FloodCube in action Image Credits: 7Analytics
FloodCube in action Image Credits: 7Analytics
As with just about any AI and ML-infused software, large data sets are pivotal to 7Analytics’ promise — it gathers data from openly available sources spanning digital elevation models ( DEM ) for terrain, satellite imaging, and climate data, then integrates these sources to make it easier for users to derive insights from. Its customers include the Municipality of Bergen where 7Analytics is headquartered, multinational construction giant Skanska , and engineering consultancy Multiconsult . And this gives a strong indication as to who 7Analytics is targeting, and who is most likely to care about predicting future flooding scenarios — protecting urban infrastructure is very much the name of the game here.
“Today, most developers and real estate owners know very little about their exposure to flood risk,” 7Analytics cofounder Jonas Toland told TechCrunch. “We close this gap with a high-precision risk tool.”
While its technology is mainly used by construction companies in Norway for now, 7Analytics is expanding into new areas such as energy infrastructure, and is currently in talks with a handful of energy companies in the U.S. To help, 7Analytics’ has partnered with StormGeo , a weather service and meteorological company that essentially tailors risk data for specific business use-cases — such as disaster management in ship-routing, or energy production sites. In short, 7Analytics is helping StormGeo “enhance” its existing offering to its oil and gas customers, which includes companies in Houston, Texas.
“Our product takes a real-time StormGeo weather forecast — for example, the risk of rainfall tomorrow — and translates it into actionable risk info, such as their site is at risk of x-inches of flooding tomorrow,” Toland explained. “This information can be used to inform them whether their staff will be able to use the parking lot, or to reroute supply trucks [for example].”
Recent data from reinsurance company Swiss Re suggests that extreme global weather events cost insurers $101 billion last year , apparently only the third time since 1970 this figure has surpassed $100 billion. And Hurricane Ida alone reportedly caused at least $50 billion in damages , depending on what figures we’re to believe. As such, we’re seeing all manner of climate-tech startups enter the fray, even companies that weren’t initially focused on climate at all. Yesterday, TechCrunch wrote about a six-year-old company called VRAI , which initially delivered VR simulation training to the aerospace and defence sectors, but is now expanding into renewable energy, where it will focus on helping to upskill the European workforce and support plans to increase offshore wind energy capacity in the coming decade.
Elsewhere, Australia’s FloodMapp recently raised $8.5 million to serve real-time flood forecasts , while last year we wrote about New York-based Forerunner, which is developing a flood plain management platform .
To take things to the next level now that it’s officially entered the U.S. market, 7Analytics today announced that it has raised $2.5 million in a seed round of funding led by sustainability-focused VC firm Momentum Partners , with participation from Construct Venture and Obos VC. While this funding will help 7Analytics expand both in Europe and the U.S., the company said that it eventually plans to use its technology to model for other “nature risks,” including landslides and biodiversity.
“Everything we build is rigged for global use, so we are scaling our model fast across continents,” Toland said. “At the same time, we need to consider that our cities are different both in terms of topography, climate, and how they are built. Our models are easy to adapt for new use cases which is underlined by the various customer groups we have onboarded — from construction developers to municipal caseworkers and infrastructure owners.”
by tyler | Sep 21, 2022 | Pulse, Tech
TikTok has announced an incoming tightening of its policies around political accounts using its video-sharing platform, such as those belonging to political parties, politicians and governments.
The changes look intended to limit, er, political grifting (for want of a better term) — with an incoming ban on use of monetization features (like tipping, gifting and ecommerce) or on using the video-sharing platform to solicit campaign donations directly.
Political accounts will also be ineligible for TikTok’s Creator Fund, as well as being unable to access ad features by default.
A spokeswoman for the company said the changes are designed to promote a positive environment and reduce polarization in line with its mission of being an entertainment platform. TikTok said the changes will roll out and/or start being enforced in the “coming weeks”. It also confirmed the new policies are being applied globally.
In a blog post about the policy update, it added:
TikTok is an entertainment platform where people come to share their stories, and understand other people’s experiences too. Those stories can touch on all aspects of their lives, including current events like elections and political issues. As we have set out before , we want to continue to develop policies that foster and promote a positive environment that brings people together, not divide them.
While TikTok has banned political advertising since 2019 it is going a little further now — saying it wants to build on that prohibition on “political content in ads” by applying ad restrictions at an account level.
“This means accounts belonging to politicians and political parties will automatically have their access to advertising features turned off, which will help us more consistently enforce our existing policy,” it explained.
TikTok notes there may still be “limited” situations where it will allow political accounts to advertise — such as for raising awareness of public health reasons. But it said government organizations will be “required” to work with a company representative in order to run such campaigns, so it will be vetting all requests.
“We recognize that there will be occasions where governments may need access to our ads services, such as to support public health and safety and access to information, like advertising Covid-19 booster campaigns,” it noted, adding: “We will continue to allow government organizations to advertise in limited circumstances, and they will be required to be working with a TikTok representative.”
The changes regarding solicitation for campaign fundraising will see TikTok disallowing content that makes direct appeals for donations.
TikTok has given examples of “a video from a politician asking for donations”, or “a political party directing people to a donation page on their website” as types of fundraising content that it will not allow under the new policy. But it remains to be seen whether politicians will find creative/coded ways to encourage fundraising on TikTok that workaround these limits. As ever, a policy is only as strong as the enforcement it receives.
“TikTok is first and foremost an entertainment platform, and we’re proud to be a place that brings people together over creative and entertaining content,” the company added in the blog post. “By prohibiting campaign fundraising and limiting access to our monetization features, we’re aiming to strike a balance between enabling people to discuss the issues that are relevant to their lives while also protecting the creative, entertaining platform that our community wants.”
It’s not clear how much political grifting is going on on TikTok’s platform currently. Asked whether there are a substantial number of political accounts using monetization features like tipping etc, a spokeswoman for the company declined to specify, saying the company does not release information about specific user demographics.
While TikTok is clearly very keen for its platform to be seen as ‘just a bit of harmless fun’, it can’t avoid being a political ‘hot potato’ topic in and of itself.
Lawmakers and intelligence agencies in the West have — for years — raised a range of concerns linked to TikTok being owned by a Chinese company and thus subject to wide-ranging national security laws which give the Chinese state sweeping powers to access data held by tech firms. Hence it’s invested in opening so-called ‘ transparency centers ‘ and on moving US users’ data to Oracle servers (as well as announcing date localization plans in the EU, too ). Though concerns persist about China-based employees’ ability to access data on Western users.
TikTok’s platform has also faced sporadic accusations that it censors views not aligned with the Chinese Communist Party — although it refutes the claim. Other political fears the platform raises in the West relate to its ability to track users, given how much user data it captures (including concerns about biometric data ), as well as wider worries about its ability to influence public opinion via the application of its powerful content-sorting algorithms. The fear — or, well paranoia — here is that TikTok is a wildly successful foreign influence op brainwashing Western kids…
Only last month , the British parliament closed an account on TikTok days after opening it after it faced criticism from senior MPs and peers who called the data security risks attached to using the app “considerable”. So it may take more than a few policy tweaks for TikTok to rise above the political fray.
This report was updated with responses from TikTok
TikTok explains its ban on political advertising
by tyler | Sep 20, 2022 | Pulse, Tech
No short form video platform has quite figured out how to share ad revenue yet, making it difficult for creators on apps like TikTok to make a living from their content alone. But today, YouTube announced major changes to its YouTube Partner Program, allowing creators to earn ad revenue on Shorts, its TikTok competitor.
Now, Shorts creators can qualify for the Partner Program, which allows creators to earn ad revenue from YouTube. The existing Partner Program requires YouTubers to have over 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last year. Now, Shorts creators can join the Partner Program if they have at least 10 million views on the platform over the last 90 days. As members of the Partner Program, these creators will earn 45% of ad revenue from their videos.
“I’m proud to say this is the first time real revenue sharing is being offered for short form video on any platform at scale,” said YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan. He’s right. TikTok has started experimenting with ad revenue sharing , but its efforts seem to focus more on the advertiser than the creator, as only the top 4% of all videos on TikTok can be monetized through its TikTok Pulse program. For the most part, creators have found it increasingly difficult to make money from TikTok’s Creator Fund.
Today’s news was leaked in a report from the New York Times last week, but now that it’s confirmed, YouTube Shorts is poised to become TikTok’s biggest competitor . If creators can make more money on Shorts than on TikTok, then they’re incentivized to make original content for the YouTube platform.
“For me, the key benefit of Shorts is that it helps me reach loads of people and pull people into my community. But my long form content brings in a lot more revenue. So there’s been sort of a trade off,” said YouTuber Kris Collins ( KallMeKris ). “That’s why this news about the Partner Program coming to Shorts is so huge. I’ll be able to make a living from both formats.”
YouTube also shared that this update to the Partner Program will enable the platform to license more music for use in Shorts, which could help encourage creators to use Shorts more often. Creators in the program will be compensated the same, regardless of whether they use licensed music.
TikTok and other short-form video apps haven’t unveiled a similar revenue-sharing program yet because it’s trickier to figure out how to fairly split ad revenue on an algorithmically-generated feed of short videos. You can’t embed an ad in the middle of a video — imagine watching a 30-second video with an eight-second ad in the middle — but if you place ads between two videos, who would get the revenue share? The creator whose video appeared directly before or after it? Or, would a creator whose video you watched earlier in the feed deserve a cut too, because their content encouraged you to keep scrolling?
YouTube shared some details about how it will share revenue.
“ Ads for Shorts are different than long form. They’re not attached to specific videos, but run in between videos. S o every month, revenue from all those S horts ads will be pooled together,” said Mohan at the Made on YouTube event. “Th at money will go to paying Shorts creators as well as covering the costs of music licensing from the share of money allocated to the creator.”
YouTube wrote in a press release that money will be distributed to creators based on their share of total Shorts views.
“L et me be very clear, nothing is changing in terms of the importance of long form,” said Tara Walpert Levy, a YouTube VP working on content partnerships. “ We are equally committed to all of the formats that help creators express themselves.”
YouTube also unveiled Creator Music , now in beta testing. Creators can browse a large catalog of songs to purchase for use in their content, with the terms of the music rights spelled out in simple terms. They’ll also be able to opt for tracks with new revenue-sharing option where both creators and music rights holders earn money from their content.
YouTube Shorts could steal TikTok’s thunder with a better deal for creators
YouTube announces Creator Music, a new way for creators to shop for songs for use in videos
by tyler | Sep 15, 2022 | Press Article, Pulse
CHICAGO, Sept. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Cannabis Market size is estimated to be valued at USD 27.7 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 82.3 billion by 2027, recording a CAGR of 24.3% in terms of value from 2022 to 2027, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™.
Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=201768301
Browse in-depth TOC on “Cannabis Market”
236 – Tables
68 – Figures
298 – Pages
The medical segment sees demand for treating anxiety and pain management
Medical segment also significantly contributes towards the total cannabis market. Cannabis is used in treating various medical situations like anxiety, gastrointestinal disorders, seizures, and epilepsy. Increased network of cannabis dispensaries will help increase the reach of the cannabis products to consumers thus, projecting a bright future for the market.
Despite increased knowledge of its medical benefits, existing manufacturing inefficiencies and manufacturers’ poor-quality control are hindering output. Many products fail to meet regulatory and content requirements. However, because of enhanced manufacturing procedures and quality standards, the pharmaceutical industry is now poised to supply more consistent products.
The CBD-dominant segment is projected to account for the second-largest share in the cannabis market during the forecast period
High demand and progressive policy reforms will ensure the cannabis industry’s growth. As more people around the world experience burnout as a result of work and other stresses, consumers are more inclined to focus on self-care and mental wellness, and CBD fits perfectly into this change. The CBD market has risen as a result of the progressive growth in the availability of CBD products. Furthermore, the industry is predicted to grow positively as a result of CBDs growing presence in edibles, skincare, and increased online distribution channels.
The demand for medical cannabis in South America is driven by the increased legalization of medical cannabis within various countries
The market in the region is driven by the legalization of medical cannabis. The legalization of cannabis originated from Uruguay and Colombia, which was later joined by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other South American countries. Although personal cultivation of recreational cannabis for personal consumption is legal in many countries in the region, the commercial sale is limited only to Uruguay. Several countries in South America have decriminalized possession of small amounts for personal use such as Chile, Colombia, Costa, Ecuador, and Peru. The South American cannabis market is also growing tremendously as many local companies are receiving EU-Good Manufacturing (GMP) certification, and countries are approving favorable legislation. This market also benefits from the favorable climate, low-cost labor, and construction costs, as they are very low as compared to North America.
Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=201768301
This report includes a study on the marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It consists of profiles of leading companies, such as Canopy Growth Corporation (Canada), Aurora Cannabis Inc. (Canada), VIVO Cannabis Inc. (Canada), Tilary Inc. (US), Unrivaled Brand Inc. (US), HEXO Corp. (Canada), Medical Marijuana Inc. (US), The Cronos Group (Canada), Medmen Enterprise Inc. (US), Cresco Labs (US), Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (US), Organigram Holdings Inc. (Canada), Stenocare (Denmark), Trulieve (US), and Indiva (Canada).
Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=201768301
Browse Adjacent Reports: Food and Beverage Market Research Reports & Consulting
Related Reports:
Industrial Hemp Market by Type (Hemp Seed, Hemp Seed Oil, Hemp Fiber, and CBD Hemp Oil), Application (Food, Beverages, Personal Care Products, Textiles, and Pharmaceuticals), Source (Organic and Conventional), and Region – Global Forecast to 2025
Cannabis Testing Market by Products & Software’s (Instruments, Consumables, LIMS), Services (Heavy Metal Testing, Microbial Analysis, Potency, Residual Screening), End-User (Cultivators, Laboratories, Research Institutes) -Global Forecast to 2025
About MarketsandMarkets™
MarketsandMarkets™ provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies’ revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets™ for their painpoints around revenues decisions.
Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets™ are tracking global high growth markets following the “Growth Engagement Model – GEM”. The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write “Attack, avoid and defend” strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets™ now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets™ is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.
MarketsandMarkets’s flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, “Knowledge Store” connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.
Contact:
Mr. Aashish Mehra
MarketsandMarkets™ INC.
630 Dundee Road
Suite 430
Northbrook, IL 60062
USA: +1-888-600-6441
Email: [email protected]
Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/cannabis-market.asp
Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/
Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/cannabis.asp
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg
SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
