Amazon announced today that it will open a new Research and Development Centre in Barcelona in the first half of 2018. Over time, Amazon expects to hire more than 100 scientists and software engineers at this centre. The centre will be located in Barcelona's start-up district - 22@ - in the same building as the Amazon Seller Support Hub which, from early 2018, will offer assistance to small and medium companies from Southern Europe that sell on Amazon Marketplace. Amazon's global Machine Learning teams work on algorithms which automatically extract patterns from large collections of data to make accurate predictions. Forecasting customer demand, translating product information and automatic speech recognition are just some examples of how Machine Learning is leading to lower prices, greater selection and better customer experiences at Amazon.

Amplero's software, relying on algorithms designed to detect patterns in data, aims to thread through companies' existing sales and marketing tools, running small experiments to find optimal ways for businesses to communicate with their customers. Seattle startup Amplero has bagged $17.5 million in investment, which the company plans to put to work building out its machine-learning-powered software for business marketers. Amplero's software, relying on algorithms designed to detect patterns in data, aims to thread through companies' existing sales and marketing tools, running small experiments to find optimal ways for businesses to communicate with their customers. The startup was spun out of Seattle invoicing-software company Globys last year. Olly Downs, formerly Globys' chief technology officer, leads the firm, which has about 45 employees.

The authors believe that, while the study offers novel approaches for forensics, the work has serious implications for data privacy, deidentification and adequately informed consent. The team concludes that much more public deliberation is needed as more and more genomes are generated and placed in public databases. For the IRB approved study, 1,061 ethnically diverse people ranging in age from 18 to 82 participated by having their genomes sequenced to an average depth of at least 30x. Researchers also collected phenotype data in the form of 3D facial images, voice samples, eye and skin color, age, height, and weight. The team predicted eye color, skin color and sex with high accuracy, but other more complex genetic traits proved more difficult.

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- intelliSCOUT, the world's first cloud-based automated intelligent machine learning platform for agriculture, will roll out major enhancements this fall to bolster access for farmers in the field. Building on the overwhelming reception from universities, seed companies and countries across the globe, intelliSCOUT 2.0 will offer a new user interface and user experience designed to foster more collaboration as well as offer better prioritization of tasks and imagery analysis. A proven leader in the smart agriculture market, which is projected to grow from $5.18 billion in 2016 to $11.23 billion by 2022, according to report by Markets and Markets, intelliSCOUT is the world's first cataloged library of metadata-tagged imagery for plant biology in agriculture. The product is owned by CAMP3, a leader in network solutions with an emerging innovative business unit that develops industry-specific cloud solutions. The library, which is updated daily, houses tens of thousands properly tagged images for machine learning to digitize phenotyping across eight different crops and more than 20 diseases and pests.

SYS-CON Events announced today that MobiDev, a client-oriented software development company, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo, which will take place October 31-November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. MobiDev is a software company that develops and delivers turn-key mobile apps, websites, web services, and complex software systems for startups and enterprises. Since 2009 it has grown from a small group of passionate engineers and business managers to a full-scale mobile software company with over 200 developers, designers, quality assurance engineers, project managers in house, specializing in the world-class mobile and web development. The company's main focus is saving the time and efforts of clients by providing full-cycle product development, offering dedicated project teams for long-term collaborations, making quality assurance an integral part of development, and regular product deliveries. Another major work principle embraced by MobiDev is flexibility: the company adjusts its activities to clients' business processes, tools, and environments; enables transparency of actions and quick problem-solving; and establishes effective communication with other involved teams, if required.

LG Electronics is planning to go all-out in acquiring AI technologies in an attempt to boost its smart home business. At IFA 2017, the South Korean electronics company disclosed what it intends to do by 2020. Over the weekend, LG's home appliance and air solutions division head Song Dae-hyun spoke at a press conference at a hotel in Berlin about the tech company's move to expand its smart home business. According to Song, LG wants to boost this aspect of its company by doubling its investment in mergers and acquisitions of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, Korea Herald has learned. "As for the AI business, inorganic growth would be more effective. LG officially seeks to acquire some AI companies. But so far, many acquisition projects fell apart due to market conditions," Song said before noting that Samsung's neighboring rival "is aggressively looking for a good AI company."

SYS-CON Events announced today that StorageCraft Technology Corp, a global leader in backup and disaster recovery, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. The StorageCraft family of companies, founded in 2003, provides award-winning backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops in addition to powerful data analytics. StorageCraft delivers software products that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data, and lower the total cost of ownership. All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.

Beachgoers in Australia can be a little less panicky about shark attacks this summer, because artificial intelligence-equipped drones will be monitoring the water for big scary fish. Developed by researchers at University of Technology Sydney, the AI system--dubbed Sharkspotter--can identify sharks and notify beachgoers when they're nearby. An Australian drone company called Westpac teamed up with the school to outfit its battery-powered Little Ripper Lifesaver unmanned helicopters with the technology in an effort to, hopefully, offer swimmers and surfers better protection. The AI-equipped drones will patrol "many main beaches in Australia" this summer, the school said in a news release. "The system will give an overhead warning to swimmers/surfers when a shark or a potential risk is detected, using an on-board megaphone attached to the drones," Professor Michael Blumenstein, head of the UTS School of Software, said in a statement, adding that the system "will create a positive impact for the public, making beach recreation much safer." Sharkspotter uses "cutting-edge deep neural networks and image processing techniques" to examine live video feeds in real time and detect the presence of sharks, and distinguish them from other marine life and objects, the school said.

Google's voice assistant is about to be available on a lot more devices beyond the Google Home and Android phones. The AI - which rivals Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana - will now be found on a new set of third-party speakers and appliances, the company announced today at IFA the consumer electronics show in Germany. These devices will either come with Google Assistant built in (meaning you can talk to it) or will be compatible with it (meaning you can use the assistant to control it). Google Assistant- which rivals Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana - will now be found on a new set of third-party speakers and appliances, the company announced today at IFA the consumer electronics show in Germany. Google's voice assistant is about to be available on a lot more devices beyond the Google Home and Android phones.

Cortana and Alexa just went from being rivals to being besties. Microsoft and Amazon's respective digital assistants are teaming up to work together later this year, the companies surprisingly announced today. That means you'll be able to tap into Alexa's smarts via Cortana on Windows 10 PCs and (further down the line) Microsoft's mobile Cortana apps, or access Cortana via Amazon's Echo devices and Alexa-enabled phones like the HTC U11 and Huawei Mate 9. You'll need to specifically summon the assist, however, by saying "Cortana, open Alexa" or "Alexa, open Cortana." The timing might seem weird with Cortana-powered devices like the Harmon Kardon Invoke speaker launching this fall. But with both digital assistants owning a firm niche--PCs and Office software for Microsoft, smart speakers for Amazon--the collaboration helps them extend their reach without stepping on each other's toes too much.