Google's fascination with hardware stretches back years. Remember the early days of Android and the G1? It took Google a while, but that fascination turned into a sort of experimental hobby, and now into something far more serious. Software is Google's art, and the company has been working for a long time to craft the right canvases. Google has more control over the development -- and destiny -- of these two smartphones than it ever had with any Nexus phone. It's not surprising, then, that the company has turned to close friends to help chart this new course. Former Motorola Mobility CEO Rick Osterloh is back at Google heading up hardware after the search giant sold his company to Lenovo. HTC, which most recently worked with Google on the Nexus 9 tablet, is handling the Pixel phones' production and assembly. There's a palpable sense that Google wanted to round up its A-team for this project.

Columnist Ed Baig reviews Pixel, which features the high-IQ Google Assistant and a competitive, high-end smartphone camera. NEW YORK--Google's new Pixel phones should be on a smartphone shopper's shortlist -- and not just for those disheartened by Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 recall. Pixel is a winner for anyone looking for an excellent phone. Start with cameras that are at the very least on par with the terrific cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7 that represent its main competition. Add the baked-in voice-enabled Google Assistant, Google's answer to Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa, where another battleground is poised to take place.

Like doesn't have a version number new?" The line, from Google's ad introducing its new Pixel smartphone, is a clear dig at Apple's iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which some critics derided as just a modest update. By contrast, Google's new flagship smartphone has been redesigned and rebranded. The Pixel represents a strategy shift for the search giant, which is known more for its advancements in software, algorithms, and online advertising rather than hardware. With the Pixel, Google is looking to change that perception.

Lobster, a Startup Battlefield company from 2014, is breathing new life into its AI-powered media licensing platform by partnering with Verizon Cloud. Advertisers, publications, agencies and will now have the means to license images sourced from social media and now, Verizon Cloud. For every image sold, 75% of the profit goes towards the contributor, ranging in skill from pro photographer to regular Instagrammer. For regular users (you!), this means is that if you sign-up for Lobster and upload images to the service from your Verizon Cloud, you can proceed to license and sell them for profit. Lobster's artificial intelligence engine kicks in by analyzing these images, building a neural network and enabling detailed search methods, thus enabling the discovery of your work.

MediaGamma has announced the launch of a new Audience Prediction product, which is set to make a major impact on the ad tech market. By applying deep learning to unique data sets, coupled with MediaGamma's unique AI Decision Support Engine, the product is set to provide players in the ecosystem with over 90% certainty about a user's interests and demographic profile. The new product will help people to navigate uncertainty to make better decisions, and a major telecoms company has already signed up. The Audience Prediction product is the latest in a broad portfolio of products created by MediaGamma (http://www.mediagamma.com/), The start-up's world-renown team of data scientists deliver bespoke real time, prediction-based data science solutions focusing on online user behaviour.

PRNewswire has recently reported on ABI Research regarding Mobile Broadband Operators. They are ramping up spending for big data and machine learning as they transform into digital service providers. With a long history of handling huge datasets, and with their path now blazed by the IT ecosystem, mobile operators will devote more than 50 billion to big data and machine learning analytics through 2021, forecasts ABI Research. Machine learning technologies will lead operators to profoundly change how they manage the telecom business. "Machine learning-based predictive analytics are applicable to all aspects of the telecom business," says Joe Hoffman, Managing Director and Vice President at ABI Research.

Huawei will provide a US 1 million fund to UC Berkeley for research into many subjects of interest in AI, including deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision. Through close cooperation, the Research and Development (R&D) teams of Huawei and the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab will strive to make significant breakthroughs in AI theories and key technologies. The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large. As one of the world's leading higher education institutes, UC Berkeley has profound expertise in machine learning and other AI domains. Its newly founded BAIR Lab brings together UC Berkeley researchers across the areas of computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, and research planning.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Huawei's R&D arm, Noah's Ark Laboratory, announced on Tuesday a partnership with the University of California, Berkeley's artificial intelligence (AI) lab focused on researching AI in all its forms. Initially, the Chinese smartphone company will fund UC Berkeley 1 million as it covers areas like deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision. Huawei is likely investigating AI in order to ensure its not left behind by rival smartphone companies like Samsung, Apple, and Google, all of which have begun implementing AI into their devices. As hardware shipments begin to decelerate, hardware companies are looking at AI as the next growth platform.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Huawei's R&D arm, Noah's Ark Laboratory, announced on Tuesday a partnership with the University of California, Berkley's artificial intelligence (AI) lab focused on researching AI in all its forms. Initially, the Chinese smartphone company will fund UC Berkley 1 million as it covers areas like deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision. Huawei is likely investigating AI in order to ensure its not left behind by rival smartphone companies like Samsung, Apple, and Google, all of which have begun implementing AI into their devices. As hardware shipments begin to decelerate, hardware companies are looking at AI as the next growth platform.

Artificial intelligence continues to have its moment in the spotlight, with a surge of interest in startups and efforts from huge tech companies to push the boundaries of how we might best use machine learning, computer vision and other areas of AI in the future. The latest development on that front comes from China's Huawei, which today announced that it would form a research partnership with UC Berkeley focused on AI, and fund it to the initial tune of 1 million. The alliance, between Huawei's Noah's Ark Laboratory and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), is being billed as a "strategic partnership into basic research", and it will cover areas like deep learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision. "The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large," Huawei notes. Some of these areas of AI you will have heard a lot about already.