Archive for March 14, 2019

IKEA & Sonos Team Up To Launch SYMFONISK Speakers Next Month In Milan

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 14, 2019 by itnerd

IKEA have democratised light in the home for years – with the connected smart lighting system TRÅDFRI as the latest addition. Now, setting out to also make high-quality sound available for everyone, IKEA and Sonos will present the first products in the SYMFONISK range – in the FEEL HOME exhibition in Milan.

There’s sound, and there’s light. So why not both? Two hugely important elements for creating the right mood around the home. This was the starting point for making the playful exhibition FEEL HOME in Tortona in Milan. The results? It is best experienced on site, the ambition has been to share knowledge through fun interactive installations based on everyday life activities.

IKEA and Sonos have showed a prototype to the world, a book-shelf speaker that will give customers a great connected speaker that enables a multi-functional usage in the home, at an affordable price. During the week you will for the first time get the chance to hear SYMFONISK and to get a chance to meet the people behind the products, the home furnishing experts from IKEA and the sound experts from Sonos.

For IKEA, heading into sound is a part of the smart home journey with connected products which began with the smart lighting range TRÅDFRI launched in 2016, followed by connected blinds that will be available in stores later this spring, and now sound.

If you happen to be in Milan, you’re welcome to join IKEA in playing around with sound and light at Via Tortona 32 in Milan 9-14 April (and get a sneak peek of the new SYMFONISK range, of course). And if you can’t wait, you can see a teaser video here.

 

 

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Irish Firm iCabbi Scoops Montreal’s Ex-Téo Taxi Team

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 14, 2019 by itnerd

Shortly after Téo Taxi ceased operations at the end of January, Irish company iCabbi made a bold move – quickly securing the talented development team, and opening a new office in Montréal – all part of their vision to put taxi companies at the centre of mobility.

With close ties to Montréal’s vibrant AI and tech mobility scene, this innovative team won over the city of Montréal with the highly rated Téo Taxi (EV) passenger app – rating 4.8/5 – higher than most well-known ride sharing giants on the App Store and Google Play. The team will now bring their local knowledge and expertise to iCabbi’s global customer base, working on best in class user booking experience, data science and accelerating EV and AI integration in the iCabbi Dispatch solution.

iCabbi entered into a strategic partnership with Groupe Renault in June 2018. The investment has already seen iCabbi increase its Product, R&D and customer service teams. The Montréal team now bring the total headcount to over 150, giving iCabbi a commanding presence and resources across Canada, the US and Europe.

Founded in 2010 in Ireland, iCabbi has since expanded to the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada – where iCabbi’s Canadian customers have successfully completed over 23.5M trips in the last year alone, benefiting from more automated bookings through apps, web and integrated voice technology. Over 70,000 taxis and PHV services around the world use iCabbi technology and its platform currently manages over 4 million rides per week. iCabbi’s vision is to provide innovative services to put taxi companies at the centre of Mobility. Find out more about iCabbi by going to www.icabbi.com

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Yesterday Sucked For Facebook…. The Platform Went Down And A Criminal Investigation Popped Up

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 14, 2019 by itnerd

Mark Zuckerberg and company must be wondering what hit them yesterday. First Facebook went down for about 14 hours yesterday taking WhatsApp and Instagram with it. Now that 14 hour figure may not apply to everyone as some people are still reporting issues accessing Facebook related platforms. And of course frustrated users went to Twitter to vent, but that’s not the real story. The real story is the length of the outage. Previous outages were short. Maybe lasting two or three hours. 14 hours is going to tick off users and advertisers. The latter may be ticked enough to take their dollars elsewhere which is not good for Facebook.

However, as bad as that is, The New York Times is reporting that Facebook is under a criminal investigation:

Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world’s largest technology companies, intensifying scrutiny of the social media giant’s business practices as it seeks to rebound from a year of scandal and setbacks.

A grand jury in New York has subpoenaed records from at least two prominent makers of smartphones and other devices, according to two people who were familiar with the requests and who insisted on anonymity to discuss confidential legal matters. Both companies had entered into partnerships with Facebook, gaining broad access to the personal information of hundreds of millions of its users.

The companies were among more than 150, including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Sony, that had cut sharing deals with the world’s dominant social media platform. The agreements, previously reported in The New York Times, let the companies see users’ friends, contact information and other data, sometimes without consent. Facebook has phased out most of the partnerships over the past two years.

Facebook being criminally charged in the US could be an extinction level event for the company as I honestly don’t see how they could survive something like that. You can also bet that other jurisdictions in the US and beyond are likely doing the same thing. Which means that Facebook may finally be getting the beat down that it long deserves.

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