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FTD Companies' (FTD) CEO Robert Apatoff on Q1 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

#artificialintelligence

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Jandy Tomy, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. With me today on the call are Robert Apatoff, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Becky Sheehan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, please remember that, during the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws that address the Company's expected future business, financial performance, and financial condition. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. In addition to the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, please refer to the text in the Company's press release issued today for a discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with such forward-looking statements. Also, please note that, on today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, and free cash flow. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors. Please refer to today's press release for definitions and calculations of these non-GAAP performance measures, as well as reconciliations of the non-GAAP performance measures to the Company's GAAP financial results. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Robert Apatoff, President and Chief Executive Officer. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I will provide a brief overview of our business highlights, integration efforts, and strategic and operating initiatives. Following my comments, our CFO Becky Sheehan will review our financial results and outlook for 2016 in more detail. Finally, I will provide a few closing remarks, and then we'll open up the call to take your questions.


1-800-FLOWERS.COM Launches Beta of 'GWYN', an Artificial Intelligence Powered Online Shopping

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GWYN is based on the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper (XPS) software platform, powered by IBM Watson. She is a gift concierge that intuitively guides customers through their shopping experience to help them select the perfect gift from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., including 1-800-Flowers.com,


Sinequa ES: new version of its search and analyltics insight platform

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"Cognitively enabled applications, especially those dealing with unstructured data, are clearly the future for better information delivery to users in a wide range of industries and work environments," said David Schubmehl, Research Director at IDC. "By 2020, 50% of all business analytics software will include prescriptive analytics built on cognitive computing functionality." In order to achieve the quantum leap into the world of Cognitive Computing with this new version, Sinequa has integrated the Spark platform in its distributed architecture and implemented Machine Learning algorithms on Spark within the core of its product. "Our law firm has built a system leveraging Sinequa's Search & Analytics platform to get insight about our experience from millions of records and documents including attorney biographies, subject matter summaries, time notes/billable hours and more. We are excited about this new version with Machine Learning based on Spark and look forward to the added value it can provide to us," said Harris Tilevitz, CTO at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. With nearly 1,700 attorneys, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is one of the highest-grossing law firms in the world.


Lumi Launches Mobile News Curation App Built by You

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Lumi is a mobile news curation app that presents stories based on the decisions you've already made,


Securifi's Almond 3 connected-home router is now available for pre-order

PCWorld

Securifi announced today that its latest connected-home, mesh-network router, the Almond 3 is now available for pre-order at a 30 discount from its final retail price of 150 (your can pre-order at Amazon). First shown at CES 2016 in January, the company expects to ship the router sometime in June. Wi-Fi router, the Almond 3 is outfitted with a ZigBee radio and will be able to function as a connected-home hub. If your smart lighting, door locks, motion sensors, and other devices operate on some other protocol, Securifi offers a 20 Z-Wave USB dongle; the company expects to offer a Bluetooth dongle sometime in Q4. What's more, the new router can also operate in conjunction with Amazon's Alexa digital voice assistant (you'll also need to have an Amazon Echo, Dot, or Tap). Effective today, this last feature has also been added to two of Securifi's earlier routers, the Almond and the Almond 2015.


Data intelligence startup Ripjar secures 'significant investment' from Winton Ventures

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Data intelligence platform Ripjar, founded by former GCHQ engineers, has raised an undisclosed sum from Winton Ventures, the VC capital arm of the Winton Group. The firm, headquartered in Cheltenham, allows organisations to explore, visualise and prioritise real-time information from bulks of structured and unstructured data. To do so, the firm applies natural language processing, machine learning techniques and visual analytics. Tom Griffin, CEO of Ripjar said in a statement: "Data capture and analysis is becoming increasingly important to the day-to-day operations of organisations of all sizes. There is a need for new, advanced tools that facilitate this process and, consequently, enable organisations to focus their own resources elsewhere. "Winton's backing will play a vital role in our continued strategic growth ambitions and enable us to increase our customer base across a variety of new business verticals," he added. Owen McCormack, director of Winton Ventures, commented: "We are excited by the potential of Ripjar's profound data analytics knowledge, which is a central component that underpins and complements our own business, previous investments and partnerships.


Infosys Launches Mana โ€“ a Knowledge-based Artificial Intelligence Platform - Home

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Infosys announced the launch of Infosys Mana, a platform that brings machine learning together with the deep knowledge of an organization, to drive automation and innovation โ€“ enabling businesses to continuously reinvent their system landscapes. According to the press release, Mana, with the Infosys Aikido service offerings, dramatically lowers the cost of maintenance for both physical and digital assets; captures the knowledge and know-how of people, and fragmented and complex systems; simplifies the continuous renovation of core business processes; and enables businesses to bring new and delightful user experiences leveraging state of the art technology. Over the last 35 years, Infosys has maintained, operated and managed systems with global clients across every industry. Building on this deep experience, Infosys has recognized the need to bring artificial intelligence to the enterprise in a meaningful and purposeful way; in a way that leverages the power of automation for repetitive tasks and frees people to focus on the higher value work, and on breakthrough innovation. Today's AI technologies address part of this with learning and information.


Google teams up with Fiat Chrysler to launch a range of self-driving Pacifica minivans

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Fiat Chrysler and Google will work together to more than double the size of Google's self-driving vehicle fleet by adding 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans. The companies announced the agreement on Tuesday, saying that Chrysler engineers would work with Google to install sensors and software so the vans can drive themselves. The added vehicles are needed as Google expands real-world testing. Fiat Chrysler and Google will work together to more than double the size of Google's self-driving vehicle fleet by adding 100 Chrysler Pacifica (pictured) minivans. Google says it will own the gas-electric hybrid vans, and it's not currently licensing autonomous car technology to Fiat Chrysler or anyone else.


Google And Fiat Chrysler Partner To Make Self-Driving Minivans

NPR Technology

Google announced it is partnering with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to expand its self-driving car project. This is the first time Google has worked directly with an automaker to integrate its self-driving technology into a passenger vehicle. Google announced it is partnering with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to expand its self-driving car project. This is the first time Google has worked directly with an automaker to integrate its self-driving technology into a passenger vehicle. Google is partnering with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to expand its self-driving car project, the companies said Tuesday in a joint press release.


Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence

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There is a lot of excitement about artificial intelligence (AI) and how to create computers capable of intelligent behavior. After years of steady but slow progress on making computers "smarter" at everyday tasks, a series of breakthroughs in the research community and industry have recently spurred momentum and investment in the development of this field. Today's AI is confined to narrow, specific tasks, and isn't anything like the general, adaptable intelligence that humans exhibit. Despite this, AI's influence on the world is growing. The rate of progress we have seen will have broad implications for fields ranging from healthcare to image- and voice-recognition.