Imtiaz Adam, Twitter @Deeplearn007 Updated a few sections in Sep 2020 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly affecting the world around us. It is increasingly making an impact in retail, financial services, along with other sectors of the economy.

The newest Roku products include a streaming device promising improved video delivery throughout the home, a smaller soundbar that also streams, and an updated mobile app for viewing on the go. The nation's leading streaming platform, Roku said it had about 43 million monthly active accounts at the end of June 2020. Research firm eMarketer estimates Roku captures about 33% of U.S. internet users and 47% of connected TV users. Roku's lineup of devices includes the Roku Express ($29.99) and Roku Streaming Stick ($49.99). But its marquee standalone player – it also markets Roku TVs with built-in streaming capability – is the Roku Ultra ($99.99).

When Shamir Rahim, founder and CEO of VersaFleet, transformed his bio-medical startup into an AI-powered transportation management system, he never imagined being at the epicenter (in a good way) of a supply chain revolution during a worldwide pandemic. As anyone desperately searching for toilet paper discovered earlier this year, the last mile is the crucial link in every supply chain. VersaFleet's SaaS-based cloud platform relies on AI to meet one of the toughest supply chain challenges: last mile delivery. "We wanted to provide our customers with a command center view of last mile product delivery with cost and time savings," said Shamir Rahim, founder and CEO of VersaFleet. "As our customers slowly open up again, VersaFleet is providing greater agility so they can quickly adjust logistics for maximum efficiency, whether people are out sick or returning to work, quarantines are lifted or imposed again, and operational hours shift at any time."

Hosted by Dylan Doyle-Burke and Jessie J Smith, Radical AI is a podcast featuring the voices of the future in the field of artificial intelligence ethics. In this episode Jess and Dylan chat to Veena Dubal about the ethical crisis of the gig economy. What is precarious work and how does it impact the psychology of labor? How might platforms like Uber and Lyft be negatively impacting their workers? How do gig economy apps control the lives of those who use them for work?

With all of the spectacle of an Apple event and droid-like gadgetry of the Disney Star War series The Mandalorian, the Amazon Devices & Services Showcase on September 24 dazzled with more than a dozen new products to help consumers adapt to pandemic life and better integrate work, school and entertainment into their smart homes. Here are highlights from the show along with my interview of Alexa's Head Scientist Rohit Prasad. Ring Always Home Cam is sure to become a family favorite as it zips around the house playing with your dog, spying on the nanny, searching for your phone, checking the oven, and spooking intruders. Echo Dot Kids Edition, which comes in animal-themed tiger and panda prints, switches to Alexa kid mode with a child-friendly tone when answering a youngster's questions, helping with homework, reading bedtime stories, calling friends, and playing games. One year subscription to Amazon Kids with Audible books included.

These and other insights are from LinkedIn's Top Startups 2020: The 50 U.S. companies on the rise published today. This is the 4th annual LinkedIn list of the hottest startups to work for. The list is determined by the billions of actions taken by LinkedIn's 706 million members. The annual list is a reflection of how business and work is evolving through the pandemic, what industries are emerging and growing and where people want to work now, reflecting the current state of the economy and the world. Even in the face of Covid-19, the startups on this year's list are all still innovating and experiencing growth and the majority of the companies on the list are currently hiring, with 3,000 jobs now open on LinkedIn. To be eligible for the list, a company must be independent and privately held, have at least 50 employees, be seven years old or younger, be headquartered in the country on the list which they appear and have a minimum of 15% employee growth over the time period. The top 50 U.S. startups include the following: Full-time headcount: 4,000 Headquarters: New York City Year founded: 2016 What you should know: While the U.S. economy quickly sank into a recession at the start of the pandemic, one of its engines has been roaring: housing.

A survey of upcoming tech trends carried out for our new Shipping in 2030 magazine, published in association with MacGregor, has a strong focus on ship performance. The maritime technology outlook for the coming years is very much about vessel optimisation according to a survey of owners, operators and managers carried out by this title. The fragmented nature of the tech providers and the naturally conservative, cost-conscious shipowning set will put the brakes on any huge technology changes. We're seeing the creation of the integrated digital ship "The obvious first driver this year is technology that can deliver genuine fuel savings, lower emissions and better vessel performance," says Tore Morten Olsen, president of maritime at Marlink. In support of that, Olsen says simplified data collection for efficiency and compliance is increasingly vital.

Hostile and hateful remarks are thick on the ground on social networks in spite of persistent efforts by Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube to tone them down. Now researchers at the OpenWeb platform have turned to artificial intelligence to moderate Internet users' comments before they are even posted. The method appears to be effective because one third of users modified the text of their comments when they received a nudge from the new system, which warned that what they had written might be perceived as offensive. The study conducted by OpenWeb and Perspective API analysed 400,000 comments that some 50,000 users were preparing to post on sites like AOL, Salon, Newsweek, RT and Sky Sports. Some of these users received a feedback message or nudge from a machine learning algorithm to the effect that the text they were preparing to post might be insulting, or against the rules for the forum they were using.

Infer Genetic Disease From Your Face - DeepGestalt can accurately identify some rare genetic disorders using a photograph of a patient's face. This could lead to payers and employers potentially analyzing facial images and discriminating against individuals who have pre-existing conditions or developing medical complications.

Before Covid-19 financial institutions saw a 10:1 ratio of bot-based malicious to legitimate login attempts, according to Aite Group's Fraud & AML practice. Malicious login attempts are setting new records every month. Between 2018 and 2019, there was an 84% increase in the number of breached data reports, reaching 15.1B accounts last year. Fraud operations funded by organized crime run much like legitimate businesses, complete with ongoing recruiting campaigns for AI, bot and machine learning expertise and office locations focused on developing breach strategies. As of June 2020, login credentials for online banking averaged about $35 on the dark web while payment card details averaged between $12 and $20 apiece, according to analysis again by Help Net Security.