Ford Forms Alliances With Uber, Lyft, Volvo And Google For Autonomous Cars

The tech and autonomous giants unite for a common agenda to promote autonomous cars.

Ford Motor Company has joined forces with Volvo, Lyft, Uber and Google so that they can come up with a coalition for the advocacy of self-driven cars. The group is adamant to get the autonomous cars in the industry at the earliest. These companies are demanding the help of federal action to make this dream a reality. As per a report by Reuters, the group desires to work with the regulatory bodies and lawmakers so that they can acknowledge the masses and generate awareness regarding the safety prospects and benefits of such vehicles.

Lyft and Volvo cars are also part and parcel of the “Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets”. The spokesperson and counsel for this project is Mr. David Strickland who has served at the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Mr. Strickland published a statement that laid emphasis on the need for distinct, clear and unified federal standards.

The NHTSA is providing information on various self-driven cars. Thus, they are likely to have a majority stake in the way these cars surface in the future. Autonomous cars are a big area of concern for both, the renowned automotive giants and tech companies since they are not only collaborating but also competing with one another to come up with self-driven cars. 

The NHTSA has plans to go to the Stanford University and conduct a public forum. This will help them in drawing comments for automotive and tech firms so that the guidelines can be chalked out for self-driven cars.

In a recent statement by Fords Motors, it has been confirmed that the coalition will ensure that a complete autonomous car surfaces at the earliest. According to a statement by Uber, the traffic accidents contribute to around 1.3 million deaths per annum. It is also believed that the self-driven cars can minimize the congestion and save innocent lives.

It is interesting to note that a great chunk of the statements are directly associated to the death caused by human errors. However, the failed to raise awareness on the issues that are aroused because of self-driven cars, this includes the mass cut off in jobs when such cars surface. For Uber, this will be a major change since it will not need human’s drivers to function but it can simply replace them with autonomous cars. to make this a reality, the company will have to make various hefty investments but they will then be able to overcome the controversies associated with human drivers.

Thus it is quite easy to gauge how the roll out of self-driven cars will benefit these companies. NHTSA has plans to surface the guidelines in July which will help set standard for policymakers, states and companies when it comes to autonomous cars. The NHTSA has highlighted that the artificial intelligence based system in the car can be coined as the driver.

Samsung Plans To Start Production Of 10nm LPP Chips This Year

There is no stop for Samsung; it now plans to start producing the 2nd Gen 10nm chips later in 2016.

Samsung has no plans to stop anytime soon when it comes to mass-producing its innovative and entertaining devices. The South Korean tech giant plans to produce 2nd generation 10nm LLP chip later this year and is also mass-producing OLED TV panels, and going head to head with its rival, LG.

The Galaxy maker informed its partners and even journalists of its plans to produce 10nm chips within this year during an event held at Silicon Valley, which was invite only. It has also been seen attempting to convince numerous chip designers to use this chip in their upcoming projects. When it comes to chip making it never ends, the tech company is even working on its 2nd generation 14nm chips. The second generation of the 10nm processor is going to come in two different designs and promise to be 10% faster in terms of performance compared to its predecessors. 

The mobile phone manufacturer claims that the 10-nanometer chips are going to be an improvement of a kind of its 14nm chips. The 10nm Low Power Plus chips are expected to better and faster and consuming the minimum amount of energy. Not just this but it is expected to consist of thinner wiring with better efficiency.

This is not the only thing the tech organization is planning to produce this year. It also plans to mass-produce its OLED TV panels. The company is already at the top of its game when it comes to this market and it seems that it has no plans to come down a notch. Samsung's major competition in this market is LG, which is known for its spectacular OLED screens. Both Korean companies are seeking to rule the TV industry, which might prove to be beneficial for the consumers in the future.

Since both of them would seek for higher sales, they will lower the cost down and attract as many customers as possible beating the other, which will eventually be good for the customers. Public wants low cost and high efficiency television in their homes. 

Samsung has an upper hand when compared to its rival in the TV market because it owns almost 95% of the international market for OLED display screens, which is worth $25 billion this year. Many mobile making companies are now seeking for OLED display instead of LCDs including Apple, which is good for Samsung. 

The tech giant is mass-producing chips and TVs this year it should hope that it gets enough customers to purchase these electronics.

Walmart Reducing Board Members To Improve Efficiency

Four board members of Walmart leave, while its shrink its board down with the hopes of quick decision making and more efficiency.

Walmart announced its plans on Thursday of making changes to its board of members and making itself more compatible with the corporate world of the United States, and improve efficiency to make quicker decisions. The giant retail chain is going to cut down its board number to 12 which were 15 before; it hopes that this change will make it compete in a better manner in the diverse market today. 

The grocery chain will make this decision effective after its annual shareholders meeting which is going to be held on June 3 this year at the Bud Walton Arena, University of Arkansas. Board members Jim Walton, Aida Alvarez, Roger Corbett and Mike Duke are going to retire but will not be standing for re-elections, thus they will be leaving the organization officially. Chairman Greg Penner said, 'With these retirements, we view this as a time to make our board more nimble, while maintaining its independence and further aligning on Walmart’s strategic priorities.'

Walmart Wholesale has nominated Steuart Walton for election to the board of directors, thus the number in when this is done will be 12, meeting the US corporate standards. Steuart is the son of Jim Walton, who will be retiring after the annual shareholder meeting, making this assignment a leadership transition going to the next generation this time to the Walton family. Steuart Walton has a good amount of experience according to his past, he has worked Allen & Overy, LLP  in London handling non US entities equities and debts, and has even worked at Walmart International handling the acquisitions and merges. Stueart is also the chief executive and founder of Game Composites, Ltd.

Aida Alvarez, who is leaving the retail chain, has been a member of US President Bill Clinton’s cabinet. Mike Duke was the chief executive of Walmart stores at some point from 2009 till 2014. With these departures and reduction in the department of board of directors, the retailer hope to achieve high efficiency and make itself more adaptable to customers’ demands and changes in the corporate world of the US. 

Walmart will be able to remain 67% independent once all these changes have been made for good with five independent board members. The company hopes that this will make the board refreshing with new and best talent possible. The Walton family stays in the board of directors and has had three members so far because they are aware of what the business is really about, since this Walton founded the retail chain. The restructuring will begin in June, once everything is in order the members retire.

Earthquake In Japan Jolts Toyota

Toyota production is embracing a tough time due to the earthquakes in Japan.

Toyota Motor Corp is on the verge of experiencing a massive dent on its bottom line performance in the present quarter. This is due to the production issues that have aroused due to a series of earthquakes in Japan. As per Bloomberg, the largest automotive seller in the world might just experience a drop in operating profits by almost $227 million of 30 billion yen for the present trimester. The earthquakes have had an impact on the southern part of Japan where the auto parts supply chain has suffered.

The company is likely to embrace a financial turmoil since it had to halt production last week at its Kyushu factories. Honda, another Japanese automotive company has also halted operation at Kyushu since various facilities in the region where affected by the Kyushu earthquake that had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale. This is not it but another earthquake of 6.5 magnitude also occurred which had an impact on the local trains and flights.

Out of three of the Toyota Motor Kyushu factories that halted operations, two have redeemed their operation as of yet. Honda on the other hand has stopped the production of its manufacturing plant situated in Ozu, Kumamoto. As per the Japan Times, the company executives stated that the company needs some time before they resume the operations at the facility again.

In the fiscal year of 2016, the automotive giant has stopped its operations for the second time which is not good news. Back in February, TM had to halt operations at its factory due to a fire that aroused at the company’s affiliate, Aichi Steel Corporation.

The automotive and manufacturing companies in Japan have been a victim of constant severe climatic conditions. Earthquakes occur on a frequent pace in Japan affecting the business fraternity in general. The top Japan based companies have come up with their business continuity plan almost five years back when the country embraced a streak of natural disasters. On the other hand, those companies which are operating in rough areas have to cope up with the obstacles in delivery and supply chain networks.

As per the recent business survey report produced by The Bank of Japan, the confidence in the businesses that are operating in rough regions is likely to go down to a great extent in the months to come. As claimed by The Japan Times, the index is going to slump from seven in March, 2016 to a negative one in June. Zero on the index portrays a neutral approach. Moreover, tourism is also going to get affected in the coming months.

As stated by Bloomberg, an analyst belonging to Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley came up with a report which claims that the company might also deal with a decline in production of 56,000 cars of Toyota and Lexus. They also made an acquisition of Daihatsu Motor Co. whose production will go down by 7500 cars. Apart from that, the financial declines will have an impact of almost 30 billion yen till the end of the second trimester.

Conocophillips Signs Contract To Cape

Cape Plc., Archer and many other service providers win contracts from the oil giant, ConocoPhillips.

ConocoPhillips awards a contract for its facility at Teesside, Seal Sands to an industrial service provider, Cape Plc. The million-dollar contract was announced on Thursday and will last for five years between the two parties. This will enable the energy manufacturer to get the services such as mechanical, instrumentation fabrication and much more. 

ConocoPhillips and Cape both have not yet revealed the finances involved in this agreement between them yet. The contract is effective immediately and the services provider has already started working at the facility. The CEO of Cape showed his satisfaction with this recent deal by saying that this contract is of significant importance and the company is looking forward to making its relationship better with the oil giant even more in the future.

This is not the only contract the oil company has awarded a service provider this month. Archer received a contract that will also last for five years. ConocoPhillips will get services of mechanical wire lines for its shelf in Norway. Archer has provided services of such category to the company since 2009, but the ongoing contract is expected by January 2017. This new contract on the other hand will begin from May 1 this year and is expected to go on for five years just like Cape's contract. 

Bibby was awarded a contract by the oil and gas company for maintenance for its Norpipe Oil pipeline. Similar to the Cape's contract, no finances involved has been revealed by any of the parties yet. Services such as project management, engineering, installation and much more will be given to the oil giant via the contract. The contract will be effective by the third quarter of this year only. 

Many oil companies have been suffering and struggling in the oil industry because of the global low oil and gas prices including ConocoPhillips. It will announce it first quarter earnings report by the 28th of this month, which might end up either shocking investors or surprising them.

These recent contract has to be costly and the company might have given a fair amount of thought before awarding them, but only time will tell how deep under water the business has gone or it has not. It even planned to shut down its Lincolnshire gas pipeline which was the biggest systems in order to cut down costs. Not all is lost since the oil and gas prices are expected to increase at some point which might help the companies turn things around once again for themselves.

Facebook Is On Top Of Its Game

Facebook plan for Messenger monetization will be fruitful in the long run.

Facebook Inc. has come up with various plans for its Messenger platform that were communicated during its annual F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco. The company talked about how it will make use of artificial intelligence for Messenger. The companies talked about numerous strategies that will help them retain and engage users resulting in monetization. The analysts at Deutsche Bank are optimistic about the company’s future prospect and are appalled by the increase in its user base.

The thing that attracted Deutsche Bank a lot during the F8 conference was the company’s demo of the artificial intelligence equipped bots for Messenger. As per the analysts, such features are intriguing for users belonging to the west. Humans are now inclined towards better access to the basic utility services. The bots can be used for numerous purposes like flight check-ins or communicating with businesses with little or no human intervention.

It needs to be noted that Deutsche Bank believes that some apps and websites are actually working on the same phenomenon but the accessibility of Messenger is focused to mobile ecosystem with little need for PCs. The sell side firm initially proclaimed that Messenger monetization ideas are even worse than that of Instagram. However, they are now of a different view altogether.

In the times to come, the social media giant might also render support for cross promotion of bots via the main Facebook News Feed advertisements. The company’s future plans are in correspondence with the revenue projections accumulated to $10 billion from Messenger and WhatsApp.

Another reason why Deutsche Bank is optimistic is the growing user base of Messenger. The tech giant has not revealed about its monthly average users (MAUs) in 2016, but the growth seems to be promising. In 2014, Messenger observed a 50% growth on a year over year basis achieving the 900 million user milestone. The growth has superseded the MAU growth for Instagram and Facebook by 40-50% and 14% on a year over year basis.

Messenger also boasts of a steady rate of user engagement where almost one billion messages are communicate between users and businesses. This means every user does one message each month which denotes a 100% year over year growth. Deutsche Bank also noted about the company’s disclosure at the F8 conference where it has observed all its applications to reach the 2 billion mark denting 54% year over year growth.

The ratio of developers associated with FB is gone up by 40% on a year over year basis resulting in a payout of approximately $9.5 billion. Moreover, they have also come up with Facebook Live video that will improve the performance of the native application which in return will increase the monthly active users of Messenger.

At this point the monetization obtained from Messenger is in its nascent stage and categorized. However, the strong engagement trajectory remains on top of its games in contrast to rivals. As per the sell side firm only Google and Snapchat has the potential to keep pace with Facebook’s growth.

Apple Watch 2 Might Surface In June

Analysts expect the Apple Watch 2 to surface anytime between June and September.

Apple Inc. is going to debut Apple Watch 2 during the second half of the fiscal year of 2016. There have been several rumors and speculations surfacing each day regarding the launch. As per a recent report, the overseas manufacturers like Samsung Electronics have been successful in getting a spot at the company’s supply chain to assist in coming up with the components for the next generation of smart watches.

According to the expert of supply chain inside report, DigiTimes, the Taiwanese Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) based in Taiwan has got most of the orders for coming up with a system-on-a-chip processor for the watch.  This is not the first time that SiP (system-in-package) module provider has been part and parcel of the supply chain for Apple Watch but was also a part of the supply chain during the debut of the wearable device. On the other hand, STATS ChipPAC, a wing of Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology as well as Amkor Technology will get the remaining chunk of the SiP module supply.

 On the other hand, Kinsus Interconnect Technology another Taiwan based company has succeeded in getting the substrate order for the Apple Watch whereas Samsung has got the responsibility to come up with the processors equipped with DRAM, NAND flash and other chips. Initially Samsung and Kinsus supplied the parts for the Apple Watch powered by the S1 chips by AAPL.

As per the previous reports, Quanta Computer was expected to be the core manufacturer of the Apple Watch. Back in January, the company talked about the start of the trial production of the wearable gear. The watch was destined to surface in the markets by June where shipments and mass production was carved for the third trimester

So far the tech giant has not unveiled the launch date or pricing of Apple Watch 2 but it can surface at any time in 2016. The company launched Apple Watch in March, 2015 whereas they unveiled the iPhone SE this annual. It is speculated that the variant of the apple Watch might surface in June during the Worldwide Developers Conference or in September, during the annual iPhone event.

Back in time, the first Apple Watch was launched in September 2014 and was launched next year in April, hence; the company might just repeat the pattern all over again or use the June and September gap. Ming Chi Kuo, the renowned KGI Securities analysts is of the view that the company will initiate the mass production of Apple Watch 2 in the third trimester parallel with the iPhone 7 launch.

At this point of time, we do not really know the specifications of Apple Watch 2 would be like. One thing is for sure that the video camera for FaceTime and better Wi-Fi connectivity will be surfacing in this device. As per the assumption of Mr Kuo, the device will basically flaunt internal changes rather than changes in appearance and design. Whatever the changes are, we will have to wait for the official news to surface.

Google Wishes To Secure Its Users

Google wishes to ensure the safety of its users via “Safe Browsing” initiative.

According to Alphabet Inc. t is pushing efforts to protect the privacy of customers.  The company wishes to protect users from deceptive content that is present online via an update known as the “Safe Browsing” initiative.

The search engine giant will now warn and flag users when they come in contact with such websites which they term as “social engineering” advertisements. These are  basically advertisements that try to cheat on users by portraying themselves as a message observed from a trusted platform such as a software update, notification from a web browser, through the website, or an error message from the PC.

A step ahead in this, the tech giant will flag all those websites that perpetuate such advertisements or host them. The Google users will now be warned so that they do not proceed.

Most of us have encountered such a message while browsing so it actually points out that the company is devoted to ensure the safety of its users. The tech giant does not directly navigate users directly to the site but a red page pops up. Users are then asked if they wish to continue or the session is added there and then.  Thus the final decision is on the user. The company can only warn while users have the choice of deciding what they wish to do.

Over the past it has been observed that the company is making use of warning messages so that traffic gets cut off from sites that are involved in malware or phishing attacks along with other things.

Previously, the company made an announcement claiming that they wanted to expand the reach of its Safe Browsing program so that social engineering attacks can be protected. This means that the search giant started to acknowledge users in case wrong means were used to trick the masses. It also stops users from providing personal data to wrong sites. So now the recent update will also cater to advertisements.

Most of us are well aware of the type of advertisements. Where a few make baseless claims that the software we use is out of date or needs an upgrade. They then trick the user forcing them to install unwanted and futile content.

Some of them also pretend to be Play or Download buttons posing an image that once a user clicks on them they will be able to stream or download the content they desire.  This issue is mostly faced by the online video streaming platforms that are illegal in nature and immensely popular for free content. Users do not really know that they are being tricked and thus make the wrong move.

At times, it gets really hard to identify such embeds and advertisements even by the most tech savvy individuals of the lot. This is merely because they are designed in a manner which is extremely hard to distinguish. Thus it seems like they are part and parcel of the website which they aren’t.

 The tech giant will now show warning on those websites that make use of such malicious tactics. These are usually working close with advertisers. It will flag that the content seems “to act, or look and feel, like a trusted entity” and thus looks like social engineering content. This will ensure safety of users in the long run.

Alphabet To Invest In Artificial Intelligence

Alphabet to deploy its resources in artificial intelligence.

Alphabet Inc. the parent company of Google is all keen to expand in cloud machine learning generally known as artificial intelligence (AI) suite to certain handpicked developers. The platform at this point of time is in “limited review” but it is a big step to expand the services beyond storage. Some of the company’s core applications are already using "cloud machine learning," such as “Photos (image search), the Google app (voice search), Translate, and Inbox (Smart Reply)." However, now this platform will be accessible by business.

In a blog post, Fausto Ibarra, the Google Cloud Platform director of product management stated, "We're on a journey to create applications that can see, hear and understand the world around them.” The Cloud Machine Learning is an easy way for the masses to come up with large scale, sophisticated machine learning model in a relatively short span of time. the platform is fully regulated, portable and can be scaled as per choice.

The search engine giant has come up with a massive breakthrough by giving its cloud based infrastructure the ability to get customized. This will add to its present functionality and can eventually turn out to be a game changer. This will not just enable consumers to move resources and data offsite to the cloud but will also offer diversified artificial intelligence functionalities. This is similar to the one stop solution provided by Microsoft and IBM. However, the question is what took the company so long to implement this change?

Alphabet is very well acquainted to artificial intelligence. This can be governed by the fact that the company has tweaked its search algorithm to make use of RankBrain. With no to little fanfare, the company came up with search results last annum. However, studies claim that the results are not really profitable. RankBrain is just one service by GOOG that has been deployed featuring AI to enrich user experience. So now, the tech giant has adopted a different path where it will deploy its Artificial Intelligence technology in its products.

IBM is spending almost $5 billion on its analytics solutions which runs via cloud computing powered by cognitive computing breakthrough, Watson. On the other hand, the CEO of Microsoft, Mr. Satya Nadella emphasizes on the cloud pillar for the company’s "mobile-first, cloud-first" initiatives. Both the initiatives are doing quite well and have garnered popularity. Through cloud services, IBM is already generating an yearly run rate of $4.5 billion. On the other hand, Microsoft is acing in this domain with annual run rate of $9.5 billion.

Alpahbet presently does not share the revenues from cloud computing. But considering the performance last year or last quarter, then it is nowhere close to IBM or Microsoft.  In the fourth quart of FY14, Alphabet generated $2.1 billion through its "other revenues," which is 10% of the company’s overall total sale of $21.18 billion. Other revenues are made up of Fiber, Google Play and cloud computing sales whose 10% revenue are almost negligible. Thus, there is a lot of potential for them to tick out of it.

Google Nest Exodus Continues

An anonymous employee of Nest shares about the worst working conditions at Nest.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google Nest has been in the limelight since quite some time now where two major employees have bid farewell to the company which highlights the chances of an exodus. The tech giant made the acquisition of Nest in 2014 for an amount of $3.2 billion but the company has not monitored much growth since then.

The working conditions are extremely tough and the company also lacks innovation in terms of product developments has ignited employee dissatisfaction under the leadership of Mr. Tony Fadell. The Chief Executive Officer of the company was initially associated to Apple Inc. as the design head for the iPods. The issue with him is that he demands perfection in the products which is a good thing. However, he constantly demands changes in the prototypes which burdens the engineers.

A user on Reddit whose chose to be anonymous on the sub-Reddit /r/Nest talked about how difficult it is to work in Nest due to its present working conditions. As per the engineer, the venture is experiencing a “deathwatch” where revenues and profits are heating up. As per the user, “throwawaynest,” has revenue worth $340 million but its budget is $500 million. So since its acquisition, the company has not come up with any new products and the sales digits are a miss.

News has been circulating in the industry where engineers are willing to switch as soon as their budget deals get over. The company is not providing them the monetary incentives to motivate them to work any further. On the other hand a few aren’t bothered about their withheld money and have already quitted.

The user referred to the CEO and his teammates as “Tony and his goons” who have prescribed deadlines that are unrealistic. Even if engineers come up with good products, the executives then intervene and completely change the course for the product. Right after the change, Mr. Fadell and his mates reprimand the engineers for not getting the specifications correct and label them as incompetent.

As per the engineers, he/she has to be a part of meetings that are absurd and then he has to defend them. The work environment is actually bad where workers overcome their sleeps in corners and cry in washrooms. This has also has an impact on their family life and health. The news regarding the company’s working conditions have spread far and wide which has forced Nest to recruit below par talent to compensate for the employees they’ve lost. It is quite clear that good engineers are not willing to work at Nest whatsoever.

As per the user, the only way Nest has succeeded in making some revenue is via the acquisition of Dropcam. The post was ended with a conclusion that “Now off to the other 4 meetings I have today.”

At this point the search engine giant needs to take charge, if things continue the way they are then Mr. Fadell would also be jobless in the times to come. Alphabet has plans to sell Boston Dynamics (its robotics arm) out since it was not useful for them. They might just repeat this with Nest if required.