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The US armed forces have selected the tech-savvy city of Austin to be the new home of its command center that is aimed at innovating and preparing the army for future wars.

With the aim of eliminating dependency on proprietary solutions, smart city, smart energy and IoT network leaders disclosed that they are working on developing an open source, multi-transport wireless networking technology and data model.

A US city has introduced an interactive platform which will use live data to measure the city's metrics in relation to its performance, help demonstrate its transparency and encourage accountability. The city of St. Petersburg in Florida announced the launch of its innovative new platform as part of its overall strategic approach towards becoming a leading smart city in the United States.

US whistleblower Chelsea Manning has called for a regulatory framework to be created with regards to the development of AI and machine learning. According to Manning who is a former US army intelligence analyst, mass surveillance by government agencies is increasing and getting worse.

Pure Storage, the all-flash storage platform that helps innovators build a better world with data, has announced its second AI-Ready Infrastructure offering, AIRI™ Mini, powered by NVIDIA. Architected by Pure Storage and NVIDIA, AIRI is purpose-built to enable data architects, scientists and business leaders to extend the power of the NVIDIAⓇ DGX-1™ system. With AIRI Mini, organizations of all sizes and budgets can implement a simple, powerful solution to build competitive advantage through AI at a price point that’s accessible for virtually any organization in any industry.

Only 1 percent of CIOs indicated any kind of blockchain adoption within their organizations, and only 8 percent of CIOs were in short-term planning or active experimentation with blockchain, according to Gartner's 2018 CIO Survey. Furthermore, 77 percent of CIOs surveyed said their organization has no interest in the technology and/or no action planned to investigate or develop it.

First announced at CES 2018, the Google Assistant is now available on LG's 2018 AI TV line-up. This includes both LG OLED TVs and LG SUPER UHD TVs with ThinQ AI, which will deliver cutting-edge AI features operated directly through the TV's remote control with no additional hardware required.

Within ten years your medical check-up could involve more interaction with sensors, cameras and robotic scanning devices than human doctors and nurses, as healthcare organizations re-build services around the Internet of Things (IoT), according to a new report by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

Toronto has launched an open data portal, one of the key outcomes from the Canadian city's open data master plan and roadmap.

Global business value derived from artificial intelligence (AI) is projected to total $1.2 trillion in 2018, an increase of 70 percent from 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. AI-derived business value is forecast to reach $3.9 trillion in 2022.

A security organisation will present futuristic artificial intelligence camera and sensor technology that sees, smells and listens for potential problems, at the Future Cities Show in Dubai in a push to make Dubai the world's safest smart city.

New York City has taken the decision to appoint its very first CPO (chief privacy officer) who will be tasked with safeguarding the publicly held data of all the city's citizens.

US technology giant Apple has pulled off a major coup by acquiring the services of a high-profile AI expert from rivals Google.

Global ride-hailing colossus Uber is being sued by state authorities in Pennsylvania for failing to report it had been the subject of a cybersecurity attacked which breached the data of its customers.

A number of leading AI experts in the United States have expressed their concern that China is set to overtake them in the race to develop the cutting-edge and revolutionary technology.

US telecommunications incumbent AT&T has responded to speculation regarding the possible sale of its smart data centers. A representative of the operator has confirmed it is currently assessing that option as a possibility in a bid to raise capital to invest in both its wireless and video business units.

The US state of Virginia has announced that it has selected a mobility analytics expert to integrate an intelligent transportation system aimed at alleviating and addressing urban mobility issues that have plagued the state.

Nokia has been selected by Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) to enhance the microwave communications network that supports a range of mission-critical services for the utility's power transmission and distribution grid. The new network, based on packet microwave technology, is intended to support power delivery and reliability for KCP&L's more than 800,000 customers in and around Kansas City, Missouri as well as parts of neighboring state of Kansas.

Digital transformation and disruption is driven by IoT (Internet of Things), increasing cloud IP traffic, artificial intelligence (AI), software-centricity, and pervasive security, according to Josh Goodell, VP, Intelligent Edge, AT&T, speaking at MEF 2017 in Orlando, Florida. Goodell has led the initiative to redefine and deploy AT&T's first SDN capabilities to enable fully automated service delivery to drive down costs.

Yahoo has revealed that up to 3 billion user accounts were hacked in 2013, tripling the number it said were affected by what was already the largest user data breach in history. The company previously said that up to 1 billion accounts were hacked in 2013, in addition to 500 million accounts being hacked in a separate incident in 2014.

The US Territory of Puerto Rico was recently hit by the strongest storm in almost 90 years. Knocking out the island's electricity grid, 90 percent of cell phone sites stopped working, according to the US Federal Communications Commission. The recent string of monster storms in North America has drawn attention to the importance of critical communications and promoting public safety.

Ecuador's Telecommunications Regulation and Control Agency (ARCOTEL) and the GSMA have launched the "We Care Ecuador" campaign to set up local actions by telcos that will help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

WeDo Technologies, a worldwide leader in revenue assurance and fraud management, announced that TPx Communications, a US-based premier provider of unified communications, managed IT and network connectivity, has selected its RAID Fraud Management Solution (FMS) to protect its expanding network and its customers from fraud.

Consumer-grade robots have much more potential beyond trivial tasks around the home, according to a recent study from the User Experience Strategies (UXS) services at Strategy Analytics.

Large digital security breaches are a common occurrence in the corporate world today. The latest breach, experienced by consumer credit reporting agency Equifax, follows a trend of troubling hacks that have played out across the globe this year. It seems adversaries will stop at nothing to evolve their threats, move with even more speed, and find new ways to widen their operational space.

A US-based security start-up has announced that it has developed a 'mind-reading' AI application in a bid to combat the increasing threat posed by cybersecurity breaches. The number of ransomware attacks has occurred frequently in 2017 - with a number of high-profile enterprises and institutions falling foul of the dark arts performed by hackers.

A New York based that develops wearable display technology has announced it has manufactured an innovative and revolutionary pair of 'smart glasses' that has been specifically designed to restore the vision of US military veterans who lost their sight during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A number of US and European energy companies have been penetrated by a group of sophisticated hackers in a cyber espionage campaign. The cyber-attack successfully infiltrated some of the core systems that control the firms operations according to reports from researchers at security firm Symantec.

Bell Canada recently announced the launch of 'Advanced Messaging', the country's first integrated Rich Communications Services (RCS) messaging experience. Available first on Samsung's latest-generation smartphones, Bell Advanced Messaging offers a suite of mobile messaging features previously available through specialized third-party applications.

Amazon and Microsoft announced that Alexa, Amazon’s AI personal assistant, will soon be able to communicate with Cortana, the personal assistant for Windows 10, and vice versa. Users of Amazon’s Alexa-controlled Echo speaker will be able to turn on their device and say, "Alexa, open Cortana," or turn to their Windows 10 device and say, "Cortana, open Alexa."

Qualcomm has joined AT&T, Nokia, IBM, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec and Trustonic as part of the IoT Cybersecurity Alliance formed earlier this year. The purpose of the group is to collaborate and pool together collective capabilities and resources to tackle emerging security challenges in the Internet of Things (IoT).

Facebook announced that it's taking an additional step to reduce false news and hoaxes on its platform, by disallowing companies to advertize if they repeatedly share stories marked as false. This ads to Facebook's current policy of disallowing advertisers to run ads that link to stories that have been marked as false by third-party fact-checking organizations.

The average monthly cost of mobile services in Central and South American countries dropped approximately 20 percent between 2014 and 2017, according to Strategy Analytics Latin America Emerging Markets report. In addition, the level of data included in mobile plans in Latin America has doubled to an average of 3.4GB.

Social networking colossus Facebook has announced that it is attempting to make a 'technical 'breakthrough in relation to developing and manufacturing futuristic 'smart glasses' specifically designed to allow you see to see virtual objects in the real world.

Satellite communications giant Intelsat said it will provide communications solutions for maritime customers in Latin America under an agreement with Brazil's Mareste, a privately held firm based in Rio de Janeiro.

Motorola was the fastest growing smartphone brand in South America in Q2 2017, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, while Samsung rose to a healthy and highest ever 41 percent marketshare. Smartphone shipments in the region grew 9 percent annually during Q2 (April-June) driven by improved macroeconomic climate, LTE rollout and open channel growth in some markets.

Qualcomm Technologies has laid out its vision for ubiquitous on-device artificial intelligence (AI) complementing cloud AI. In a press release the company said it "envision a world where AI makes devices, machines, automobiles, and things much more intelligent, simplifying and enriching our daily lives."

More than a dozen tech giants in the United States, including Verizon, Facebook, Snap, Twitter and Alphabet's Google, have filed a 44-page brief with the Supreme Court calling for tighter restrictions on government officials having access to private and sensitive cellphone data of individuals.

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and Live Nation Entertainment will broadcast the first live virtual reality concert. Coldplay's "A Head Full of Dreams" will broadcast from Chicago's Soldier Field to fans around the world to experience it in an immersive perspective. The live broadcast will be available on Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus through the Samsung VR service on August 17, starting at 8:30 pm CT.

Francisco Partners, a leading technology investment firm, has completed its investment in iconectiv, an independent subsidiary owned by Ericsson. As part of the investment, Francisco Partners invests US$200 million to acquire a 16.7 percent ownership in iconectiv. The partnership between Ericsson and Francisco Partners will enable iconectiv to accelerate growth and deliver shareholder value.

Facebook had to shut down its chatbot experiment after two AIs (artificial intelligence) developed their own language to communicate. Researchers at the Facebook AI Research Lab (FAIR) were experimenting with teaching two chatbots, Alice and Bob, how to negotiate with one another. The researchers soon found that the chatbots had gone off script and were creating their own unique language without any human input.

Canadian telco TELUS and Nuage Networks from Nokia have joined forces to launch TELUS Network as a Service (NaaS), a new software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solution that enables businesses to virtually build, manage and cloud-optimize their networks quickly, easily and cost-effectively through a flexible self-serve platform.

A number of America's leading technology companies are collaborating through the use of automation and robotics in an effort to prevent the spread of the deadly Zika virus which is caused by mosquitoes.

US President Donald Trump has admitted that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the prospect of forming a cybersecurity unit at the G20 summit which was held last week in Hamburg, Germany. The scrutiny over cybersecurity has intensified following the recent ransomware attack which destabilized hundreds of businesses and institutions like the NHS in the UK.

200 million US citizens have had their sensitive personal data exposed accidently by a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee. The data - which included 1.1 terabytes worth of information such as birth dates, home addresses, telephone numbers, and political views of about 62 percent of the entire US population - was available on a publicly accessible Amazon cloud server.

At Lenovo's TRANSFORM event held in New York on June 20, the company unveiled an end-to-end data center portfolio that enables customers to harness the power of the "intelligence revolution" and create a strong technology foundation that supports transformative capabilities such as data analytics, high-performance computing, hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Today we are standing at the beginning of the Fourth 'Intelligence' Revolution, said Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo at the company's TRANSFORM event held in New York on June 20. Yang said Lenovo will "redefine IT" and encouraged "intelligent transformation" driven by cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Insurance colossus AIG has entered into a collaboration agreement with IBM to develop a 'smart' insurance policy that will use blockchain technology to manage complex international coverage. The companies issued a joint-press release in which they disclosed that they had successfully completed a pilot of what they have termed a 'smart contract' which is a multi-national policy for Standard Chartered Bank PLC.

Each year, Verizon issues its Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), providing a view into the current world of cybercrime. The report discusses what you need to know about the latest threats and tips for how to help protect yourself from becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Smartphones are now in 80 percent of U.S. homes - a six percentage point increase year-over-year (YOY) - and U.S. consumers now own 27 million more smartphones than they did just last year, according to new research from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

With the new Monet submarine cable to the US and the new SAC submarine cable to Africa, the connectivity in Brazil is growing by leaps and bounds. In conjunction with this growth the cloud/data center business is getting stronger. Global provider Equinix has opened a $69m International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in São Paulo, Brazil, the company's largest to date.

The Brazilian government has taken proactive steps in an effort to combat the increasing problem the nation faces in relation to cybercrime - by entering into a collaborative partnership with Europol. Brazil has encountered significant problems with cybercrime from both an international and regional perspective. However, officials have expressed confidence that the partnership agreement with Europol will alleviate and significantly reduce cyber-attacks.

Qualys, a pioneer and leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions, today announced that it has extended its single-pane view of security and compliance posture into Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Users can now scan their GCP workloads along with all other global elastic-cloud and on-premise assets from within the Qualys Cloud Platform.

Telecommunication organizations in Latin America are devising strategies aimed at implementing structures which can enable them to monetize 'Big Data'. Many are currently involved in developing and deploying 'Big Data' solutions. However, monetizing these efforts remains a challenge for telco's in South America.

A US online media corporation that is specifically designed for moviegoers has announced exciting expansion plans for Latin America. Fandango, which is the leading digital network globally for film enthusiasts has decided to switch its focus towards South America - and has unveiled a new global brand strategy for the continent.

The cybersecurity market in Latin America has been projected to almost double in size. Analysts have predicted that the sector which was estimated at $6.19bn will grow to $13.49bn by 2022.

A professor based at a University in the United States has claimed that smartphones are revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses due to features and applications that make their ubiquitous small screens into medical devices.

Apple's strategy in the 'smart home' race is being threatened by the continued success of Amazon. In less than twelve months, Amazon has developed the hugely successful Echo speaker system and the Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant. That has ensured Amazon as a major player in the battle for primacy in the connected household sector.

One of the many exciting announcements made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas from January 5-7, 2017, came from Chinese computer manufacturing company Lenovo, which announced the launch of its new ‘Smart Assistant’ powered by Amazon’s ‘Alexa’. Lenovo is the latest company to join the market for voice-activated devices, and its Smart Assistant comes at a reasonable price.

A US drone delivery company has announced that it has completed 77 autonomous deliveries from a local convenience store to customers’ homes. Australian start-up company Flirtey, which is based in Nevada, made the announcement this week which represents a significant step forward for future drone technology delivery services.

Amazon has announced details about developing a new smart home device aimed at fending off competition from market competitors Google and Apple. The world's largest online retailer is planning to capitalize even further on the surprising success of its voice-controlled home gadgets by introducing a new premium Echo-like speaker to the marketplace.

American global security company Intel, are predicting that 'Drone-jacking' is set to become the next major cyber threat. There has been a significant increase in the use of drones - which security experts have warned that is likely to lead to a new wave of 'Drone-jacking.' A report published by Intel's McAfee Labs indicated that hackers will start targeting drones used for deliveries, law enforcement or camera crews, in addition to hobbyists.