The metaverse is a concept that has been around for decades and to many sounds like science fiction: a parallel, virtual universe in which we live our lives as if in a video game. However, recent advances in technology mean that this fiction is becoming a reality. Countless technological components that will make up the metaverse already exist today, and society is increasingly preconditioned to virtual and augmented experiences. The creation of a parallel digital world opens the doors for organizations to create new experiences for businesses and consumers, and we can expect companies to provide virtual content and services from education to entertainment, medicine to fashion. The possibilities go on as network technologies continuously grow stronger, telecommunication providers offer more tailored offerings, and connectivity becomes interwoven in enterprise operations at all levels. The convergence of technological maturity and society's readiness to accept digital alternatives have accelerated in recent years.

Despite the emergence of experimental methods for simultaneous measurement of multiple omics modalities in single cells, most single-cell datasets include only one modality. A major obstacle in integrating omics data from multiple modalities is that different omics layers typically have distinct feature spaces. Here, we propose a computational framework called GLUE (graph-linked unified embedding), which bridges the gap by modeling regulatory interactions across omics layers explicitly. Systematic benchmarking demonstrated that GLUE is more accurate, robust and scalable than state-of-the-art tools for heterogeneous single-cell multi-omics data. We applied GLUE to various challenging tasks, including triple-omics integration, integrative regulatory inference and multi-omics human cell atlas construction over millions of cells, where GLUE was able to correct previous annotations. GLUE features a modular design that can be flexibly extended and enhanced for new analysis tasks. The full package is available online at https://github.com/gao-lab/GLUE . Different single-cell data modalities are integrated at atlas-scale by modeling regulatory interactions.

April 29, 2022In 2015, McKinsey acquired QuantumBlack, a sophisticated analytics start-up of more than 30 data scientists, data engineers, and designers based in London. They had made their name in Formula 1 racing, applying data science to help teams gain every possible advantage in performance. Healthcare, transportation, energy, and other industry clients soon followed. Many times, acquisitions melt quietly into the parent company. This isn't the case for QuantumBlack; it has been an accelerating force for our work in analytics.

DUBLIN, April 26, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) in Telecommunications Growth Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report examines the strategic position of telecommunication service providers (TSPs) in using artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to offer enterprises Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) solutions. TSPs play a vital role in deploying enterprise AIoT solutions amid the increasing deployment of 5G networks, edge infrastructure capabilities, and location-based data at their disposal. Given their network and connectivity capabilities and AI and services focus, TSPs are in a unique position to monetize AIoT opportunities. They increasingly offer solutions by industry vertical as part of their AIoT focus.

SoftBank Group Corp. is lining up startup investments in Japan, aggressively pursuing entrepreneurs in its home market for the first time since its Vision Fund's launch. The Japanese startup scene is going through a revival, helped by an influx of young talent from private equity funds and consulting firms, said Kentaro Matsui, a managing partner at the Vision Fund who overseas Japan investments. Combined with a shift in strategy to invest smaller sums than its previous threshold of $100 million (¥12.8 billion), this has meant more opportunities for the world's largest tech fund to invest at home, he said. Japan's weight in SoftBank's overall portfolio will "definitely" increase, Matsui said in an interview in Tokyo. "The caliber of people in the companies we are investing in is clearly different" compared with 2018 or 2019, he said.

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Phones, laptops and other telecom devices serve as essential bridges that connect the world. However, the telecom industry is also exposed to several ongoing threats and vulnerabilities, as malicious actors continue to advance with more sophistication and even innovation. The Truecaller Insights 2021 U.S. Spam and Scam Report estimates a staggering $29.8 billion was lost to phone scams in the United States in 2020 alone. Steven Wilson, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Center (EC3), said in a report that financially motivated cybercriminals will always find ways to exploit new and existing business processes and technologies.

T-Mobile announced that Lucid Drone Technologies has chosen the Un-carrier to be the exclusive provider of IoT connectivity and management for their fleet of industrial spraying drones. Together, Lucid Drone Technologies and T-Mobile are collaborating to put maintenance teams and exterior cleaning companies out of harm's way using drone technology for high-risk facilities maintenance work like exterior soft-wash cleaning and high-rise window washing. The companies also plan to leverage T-Mobile's industry-leading 5G network in the future to fly drones beyond line-of-sight and power more data-intensive capabilities like video streaming. Lucid Drone Technologies has chosen T-Mobile as the exclusive provider of IoT connectivity and management for their growing fleet of industrial spraying drones that provide commercial cleaning services. Commercial property management firms and developers make significant investments to keep maintenance teams safe.

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Today, Intelligent Workforce Platform Observe.AI announced it has raised $125 million as part of a series C funding round led by SoftBank with participation from Zoom. Observe.AI's solution uses artificial intelligence (AI) to process customer interactions with contact center agents to generate business intelligence (BI) and develop more sophisticated insights into how to improve customer experience. The company's approach enables enterprises and technical decision makers to surface intelligence from customer support interactions, so they can share the insights with customer-facing teams within the organization and make strategy changes to provide a better customer experience. Observe.AI's funding announcement comes as consumer demand for seamless customer experiences has increased with research reporting that 76% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments, yet 54% saying that it feels like sales, service and marketing teams don't share information.

People are creatures of habit. Your morning routine, what you order at Starbucks, the route you take to work, and your late night snacking are all driven by habits. These habits also appear in the digital world. How you browse social media, what sites you visit, and in today's modern environment, how you conduct work. When habits change in the physical world, it can be a sign of something good.

SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Light is struggling to raise funds after the world's largest tech investor balked at putting more money into the startup, people familiar with the matter said. SoftBank owns about 30% of Light through its first Vision Fund, which led an injection of $121 million (¥15.4 billion) into the advanced camera developer in 2018. SoftBank's continued support is critical for the cash-strapped startup, which had been spending millions of dollars to expand into self-driving tech at SoftBank's urging. Hurt by plunging tech valuations, SoftBank is walking away from some of its loss-making portfolio firms to comply with stricter investment criteria, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter was not public. Many of the two Vision Funds' portfolio of 300-plus companies are loss-making.