Ask LG ThinQ AI TVs, and Google Assistant will answer

LG Electronics (LG) has equipped its OLED and SUPER UHD TVs with the newly-introduced Google Assistant feature. 

Available on all LG ThinQ AI TV models, users are now able to use voice commands to access and search for information as well as check weather forecasts, all while enjoying their favourite TV shows. 

In the past, users would only have been able to execute simple voice commands to switch channels or adjust the volume.

They can search for specific content by making a verbal request through the TV’s remote control, such as “show me romantic comedy movies on Netflix” or “show me yoga videos”. They can also get help to manage daily tasks by scheduling calendar events, or pull out specific photo albums in their Google Drive gallery to share. Users can even request food, retail and hangout recommendations, addresses and contact information. 

“LG continues to improve the TV experience at home with greater offerings like the addition of the Google Assistant feature,” says Hosik Kim, Product Director of LG Home Entertainment. “Beyond entertainment, consumers can now conveniently use LG AI ThinQ TVs to manage content, plan calendar events, access files and search for information from a single platform.”

Speech recognition app will transcribe conversations between multiple people

Source: NVIDIA blog post. The Otter team at AISense.

US-based AISense has launched Otter, a GPU-powered app that records speech and produces both voice files and transcriptions from multiple people. Most of the software available today must be trained to recognise the voice of their owner, and will not recognise speech accurately from multiple people.

Human-to-human interactions are much more difficult to capture than human-to-machine interactions such as simple commands between people and Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant, AISense co-founder and CEO Sam Liang points out in a blog post. While they typically handle short queries or commands from a single speaker, Otter can manage longer conversations involving multiple people. 

AISense’s proprietary Ambient Voice Intelligence technology allows people to store, search, share and analyse voice conversations. Powered by Ambient Voice Intelligence, Otter allows users to scroll through text, labeled as coming from multiple people, and gives the option to listen, as well. The app provides better than 90% accuracy in text dictation, says the company.

Otter has to handle the complicated interactions of people and nuances of conversations, and it can get tripped up by accents in people’s speech, said Liang. “This is a pretty deep technology. It’s extremely difficult,” he said. “We had to do pretty sophisticated supervised learning, and we had to get a lot of labelled data, with hundreds of thousands of hours of recordings.” 

The 15-person team at AISense trained Otter on 50 NVIDIA Tesla GPUs and terabytes of freely-available audio and transcripts from the archives of National Public Radio (NPR) radio programmes and Supreme Court proceedings available at the US Library of Congress. This means that Otter will work best with US accents. 

Said Liang, “It’s a startup and we have to spend money very frugally. But we have to spend some resources on GPUs — it’s just a must.” 

The company is targeting Otter at enterprise customers who might use it in meetings. AISense plans to release a premium version that will require a subscription, and it already licenses some of its technology to enterprise customers.

AISense is also working with partners to deliver similar results. It recently partnered with Zoom Video Communications to handle voice data, which is being automatically transcribed with AISense’s technology.

Details: 

Otter is available free on iOS, Android and the web.

Just smile to pay at this KFC restaurant in China

- A fresh and digitally connected experience for urban professionals

- Brings facial recognition payment solution to consumers for the first time globally

Yum China Holdings has launched a new restaurant concept, KPRO by KFC in Hangzhou, China - home of Alibaba. Designed to offer a fresh, seasonal menu to sophisticated diners, the concept harnesses digital technology to provide a fully immersive dining experience.

"We are excited to launch KPRO – an exciting and fresh new concept for young, tech savvy consumers who are keen to embrace new tastes and innovations," said Joey Wat, President and Chief Operating Officer of Yum China. "Developed to cater to China's burgeoning population of urban professionals, KPRO offers a creative, modern and seasonal menu with a wide range of dishes that are freshly made-to-order. The restaurant is also made for the digitally connected customers and integrates some of the latest technologies from mobile ordering to facial recognition payment."

The KPRO menu features seasonal produce and made-to-order salads, panini and roasted chicken, complemented by freshly squeezed fruit juice, gourmet coffee and premium Cremia ice cream. The store is designed with a "greenhouse" layout and an open kitchen.

A key feature of the new restaurant is the integration of Alipay's new "Smile to Pay" facial recognition payment solution, which enables customers to pay without the need to reach for their wallets. Alipay's payment technology utilises a multistep authentication process, including a facial scan and mobile phone number, to verify the identity of customers and facilitate payment. This is the first commercial application of the facial recognition payment technology globally.

"Yum China has a history of adopting innovative technologies to enhance in-store dining experience and we could think of no better place to pilot this advanced technology. Smile to Pay will bring another level of convenience for customers," said Jidong Chen, Ant Financial's Director of biometric identification technology.

Source: Yum China. 

"Elevating the customer experience through new design, flavours and technologies has always been central to our approach at KFC in China," said Johnson Huang, GM, KFC. "We are excited to partner with Alipay to bring the world's first commercial application of the facial recognition payment solution to our customers. With the adoption of the facial recognition payment solution, KPRO customers can experience this ground breaking technology while enjoying fresh and tasty meals prepared in our open kitchen."

In addition to facial recognition payment, KPRO incorporates other technologies to provide customers with a convenient and connected in-restaurant experience. With no traditional ordering counter, customers are able to 'skip the queue' by ordering at digital kiosks or using their mobile phones to scan QR codes and order at their tables. KPRO staff then deliver the freshly prepared food directly to the tables.

Snap outfits that you like, so this app can tell you where to buy it

ULab has launched HotSpotting World, an intelligent fashion concierge mobile application powered by image recognition technology and the Braintree payment platform.

To shop, users simply scan a picture of the item they are looking for, after which the software will search a product database of more than 18 million entries for the closest match.

“HotSpotting World revolutionises the way we shop. Our crop-and-shop tool enables consumers to buy in an instant what they see and like without wasting any time to search for the item,” said Allen Loh, Co-founder and Managing Partner of ULab.

“As much as our app benefits consumers, HotSpotting World also provides a call-for-action opportunity for merchandisers as well as media outlets turning exposure into immediate sales for advertisers.”

From October, readers of the app’s magazine partners will be able to use HotSpotting World to scan any page of their favourite magazines and be directed to exclusive online content or an online shop. Partners include publishers of popular consumer titles in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Interested?

HotSpotting World is available for download in App Store and Google Play.

OCBC launches fingerprint-secured business banking mobile app

Source; OCBC. A finger is all that is needed to check business
account balances.

OCBC Bank has become the first Singapore bank to launch a business banking mobile app, the bank said. The OCBC Business Mobile Banking app, that uses biometric authentication, enables smartphone users to:

 View balances for business accounts, including current accounts and time deposits 

 Check the status of incoming and outgoing funds 

 View business debit card transactions. 

Business customers have indicated that they would like to perform the above three tasks while on the move, the bank shared, as they want to be in control of their company’s operating cashflow; have the assurance that payments are being made, and funds received; and get quick access to related information. Enquiries relating to the three tasks accounted for more than 15% of calls made to the Bank’s call centre for businesses, the OCBC Business Banking Commercial Service Centre, in 2015. 

The new app, featuring OCBC OneTouch which leverages Apple’s Touch ID technology, will allow Singapore-registered users of the Bank’s business Internet banking portal, Velocity@ocbc, to access their account balances and transactional activities using fingerprint recognition. OCBC estimates that over 120,000 customers will benefit from the app, which can be used anytime and anywhere, even overseas. 

Said Gregory Trotter, Head of Cash Management, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank: “With banking information at their fingertips, this new OCBC app will empower business owners to make decisions on the go. 

"Our studies have shown a 30% increase in the number of calls from customers enquiring about their business account information in the last three years. The need to know their account balances and status of incoming and outgoing funds are clearly critical for business owners to effectively manage their day-to-day operations. Understanding this need, we developed this app to provide control, assurance and accessibility to our customers, which fits their business requirements as well.” 

Velocity@ocbc customer Fanny See, Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of Detrack Systems said: “I like the simplicity and convenience that the new OCBC app offers. I can now check my company’s balances and the status of our payments and receipts – especially business debit card transactions – when I’m on the go. All it takes is the touch of a button and I’m on top of my company’s cashflow.” Detrack Systems developed a mobile app-based tracking system for logistics companies.

Interested?

OCBC OneTouch is available on Touch ID enabled Apple iPhones, such as the iPhone 5s and newer models that run on at least iOS 8 operating system (or later versions). To get started, customers need to download the OCBC Business Mobile Banking app from the Apple App Store. They will need to perform a one-time activation by keying in their Velocity@ocbc organisation ID, user ID and password, followed by a one-time password (OTP) sent via SMS or security token. Thereafter, within the app, customers need only to place their finger on the home button to view their account balances and transactional activities. 

The OCBC Business Mobile Banking app is also available for Android phone users on Google Play. Customers using Android phones will need to perform a two-factor authentication (2FA) using their security token or SMS-OTP to log in. 

Download the OCBC Business Mobile Banking app

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post on Touch ID and OCBC's mobile banking and OCBC Securities apps

Hashtags: : #ocbcbank, #ocbcbusinessmobileapp, #ocbcbusinessbanking

Source; OCBC. A finger is all that is needed to check business account balances.

Solarwinds calls for IT personnel to be recognised on September 15 as IT Professionals Day

SolarWinds, a provider of hybrid IT infrastructure management software, has established the third Tuesday of every September, beginning September 15, 2015, as IT Professionals Day to honour all IT professionals as the unsung heroes of modern business. 

In connection to IT Professionals Day, SolarWinds also released the findings of its IT Pro Value Survey*, which clearly demonstrates the value that Singaporean IT professionals provide. The research outlines the value end users place on the IT department and sheds light on how valued IT professionals themselves feel by their organisations. 

According to the survey, most Singaporean end users agree IT has a greater impact on their daily work lives than the C-suite, with almost two-thirds (60%) agreeing that their company’s IT department going on vacation for a month would have a greater impact on their daily work life than if their company’s C-suite did.

The study also highlights the value Singaporean end users place on technology in the workplace over personnel, with more than four in five (81%) of Singaporean end users placing greater importance on the technology supported by IT professionals in the workplace—such as phones, computers and software—than they do on personnel (35%).

Almost three-quarters of Singaporean end users (72%) indicate work productivity is lost without the technology supported by IT professionals, with a third (36%) saying one day’s work would take an additional business day or longer to complete without said technology and 16% saying it would not at all be possible to carry out their daily work without it.

From an IT professional perspective:

· Three out of five IT professionals (62%) feel at most moderately valued by their employer for their unique contribution to business, with more than one-quarter (27%) feeling only slightly to not at all valued.

· Four out of five IT professionals (83%) feel they are worth more than they are currently compensated, with one-third (35%) saying they feel worth at least 21% more.

· The majority of IT professionals (61%) are concerned about job security, with four in 10 (42%) suggesting company leadership not understanding the importance of IT as a key reason why.

“The survey results demonstrate that business leaders and end users can do a lot more to show IT pros how appreciative they are of the value they provide to business,” said Kevin Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer, SolarWinds. “The technology we rely on to keep business running smoothly is absolutely critical to success, but the level of recognition and reward IT pros receive for the part they play in enabling and supporting it may not match it. IT Professionals Day is a great way to start levelling that.”

IT Professionals Day is designed to annually celebrate all IT professionals regardless of discipline. Whereas holidays such as System Administrator Appreciation Day do well at recognising one category of the profession, IT Professionals Day honours not only system administrators, but also network engineers, database administrators, information security professionals, developers, IT support technicians and all other professionals serving in IT-related roles.

“We’re very excited to be a part of establishing IT Professionals Day as a way to honour all IT pros for the amazing work they do to keep business moving at the lightning speed required for success today,” added Thompson. “When you think about what a typical day would look like for many of today’s workers without IT pros and the technology they support, it’s safe to say work on the whole would slow to a crawl or worse. Considering all they do, IT pros truly are the unsung heroes of modern business. So, on behalf of SolarWinds, thank you to all the IT pros out there. And happy IT Professionals Day 2015 and beyond.”

Interested?

Explore the full survey results, scope and demographics

Hashtag: #ITProDay

*SolarWinds’ IT Pro Value Surveys are twin studies done in connection with IT Professionals Day. One survey explores business end users’ attitudes and opinions about IT professionals and the technology they support to underscore the high value of the profession. The other showcases IT professionals’ general feeling of being undervalued to highlight an opportunity for business leaders and end users to show greater appreciation.