Menu
Technology
Insurance industry embraces Blockchain, but when? Tomorrow or in 10 years?
December 30, 2017
BusinessInsurance.com reported the comments of Paul Meeusen, head of distributed ledger technology at Swiss Re Ltd. in Zurich...
December 30, 2017
BusinessInsurance.com reported the comments of Paul Meeusen, head of distributed ledger technology at Swiss Re Ltd. in Zurich...
A Summary of the First Conference on Robot Learning
December 23, 2017
Whether in the form of autonomous vehicles, home assistants or disaster rescue units, robotic systems of the future will need to be able to operate safely and effectively in human-centric environments. In contrast to to their industrial counterparts, they will require a very high level of perceptual awareness of the world around them, and to adapt to continuous changes in both their goals and their environment. Machine learning is a natural answer to both the problems of perception and generalization...
December 23, 2017
Whether in the form of autonomous vehicles, home assistants or disaster rescue units, robotic systems of the future will need to be able to operate safely and effectively in human-centric environments. In contrast to to their industrial counterparts, they will require a very high level of perceptual awareness of the world around them, and to adapt to continuous changes in both their goals and their environment. Machine learning is a natural answer to both the problems of perception and generalization...
New Report on Legal Industry Outlook Says “AI” Will Create “Supercharged” Lawyers
December 20, 2017
For several years legal industry commentators like Richard Susskind have been predicting that technology in the form of Artificial Intelligence ("AI") will wind up replacing some lawyers when it comes to many of the routine tasks they now perform thereby further depressing the job market for new graduates. So far, the reality has not been as dire as the predictions. A new report by legal consulting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa says that, at least for the near term, they don't anticipate...
December 20, 2017
For several years legal industry commentators like Richard Susskind have been predicting that technology in the form of Artificial Intelligence ("AI") will wind up replacing some lawyers when it comes to many of the routine tasks they now perform thereby further depressing the job market for new graduates. So far, the reality has not been as dire as the predictions. A new report by legal consulting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa says that, at least for the near term, they don't anticipate...
Improving End-to-End Models For Speech Recognition
December 17, 2017
Traditional automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, used for a variety of voice search applications at Google, are comprised of an acoustic model (AM), a pronunciation model (PM) and a language model (LM), all of which are independently trained, and often manually designed, on different datasets [1]. AMs take acoustic features and predict a set of subword units, typically context-dependent or context-independent phonemes. Next, a hand-designed lexicon (the PM) maps a sequence of phonemes produced...
December 17, 2017
Traditional automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, used for a variety of voice search applications at Google, are comprised of an acoustic model (AM), a pronunciation model (PM) and a language model (LM), all of which are independently trained, and often manually designed, on different datasets [1]. AMs take acoustic features and predict a set of subword units, typically context-dependent or context-independent phonemes. Next, a hand-designed lexicon (the PM) maps a sequence of phonemes produced...
Early Identification of Emerging Technologies: A Machine Learning Approach Using Multiple Patent Indicators
December 15, 2017
Patent citation analysis is considered a useful tool for identifying emerging technologies. However, the outcomes of previous...
December 15, 2017
Patent citation analysis is considered a useful tool for identifying emerging technologies. However, the outcomes of previous...
Breakthrough Test Means Waymo’s Autonomous Cars Can Ditch Backup Drivers
December 9, 2017
For almost a decade, self-driving cars have graced public roads – but always with a person behind the wheel. Now Waymo is yanking the driver. The autonomous car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. said on Tuesday it will soon start chauffeuring people in minivans without “safety drivers,” staffers that man the steering wheel. Waymo is doing so in a limited region of Phoenix, Ariz., where it is running a pilot program with volunteer passengers. The move, a first for any company, is a major...
December 9, 2017
For almost a decade, self-driving cars have graced public roads – but always with a person behind the wheel. Now Waymo is yanking the driver. The autonomous car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. said on Tuesday it will soon start chauffeuring people in minivans without “safety drivers,” staffers that man the steering wheel. Waymo is doing so in a limited region of Phoenix, Ariz., where it is running a pilot program with volunteer passengers. The move, a first for any company, is a major...
California Considers Limiting Liability of Self-Driving Carmakers
December 9, 2017
California regulators are embracing a General Motors recommendation that would help makers of self-driving cars avoid paying for accidents and other trouble, raising concerns that the proposal will put an unfair burden on vehicle owners. If adopted, the regulations drafted by the California Department of Motor Vehicles would protect these carmakers from lawsuits in cases where vehicles haven’t been maintained according to manufacturer specifications. That could open a loophole for automakers...
December 9, 2017
California regulators are embracing a General Motors recommendation that would help makers of self-driving cars avoid paying for accidents and other trouble, raising concerns that the proposal will put an unfair burden on vehicle owners. If adopted, the regulations drafted by the California Department of Motor Vehicles would protect these carmakers from lawsuits in cases where vehicles haven’t been maintained according to manufacturer specifications. That could open a loophole for automakers...
Understanding Medical Conversations
December 2, 2017
Good documentation helps create good clinical care by communicating a doctor's thinking, their concerns, and their plans to the rest of the team. Unfortunately, physicians routinely spend more time doing documentation than doing what they love most — caring for patients. Doctors often spend ~6 hours in an 11-hour workday in the Electronic Health Records (EHR) on documentation.1Consequently, one study found that more than half of surveyed doctors report at least one symptom of burnout.2 In...
December 2, 2017
Good documentation helps create good clinical care by communicating a doctor's thinking, their concerns, and their plans to the rest of the team. Unfortunately, physicians routinely spend more time doing documentation than doing what they love most — caring for patients. Doctors often spend ~6 hours in an 11-hour workday in the Electronic Health Records (EHR) on documentation.1Consequently, one study found that more than half of surveyed doctors report at least one symptom of burnout.2 In...
Mercedes Plans More Drone Deliveries After 100 Perfect Flights
December 2, 2017
Mercedes-Benz, conducting the biggest test using drones to ship everyday items like ground coffee and cellphones, said the mini aircraft completed 100 drop-offs to strategically placed vans in Zurich with a perfect safety record and more deliveries are planned for next year. About 50 individual customers placed orders with Swiss online shopping platform Siroop, choosing “airmail deals” from selected items from retailer Black & Blaze Coffee Roasting Co. for same-day delivery. The drones...
December 2, 2017
Mercedes-Benz, conducting the biggest test using drones to ship everyday items like ground coffee and cellphones, said the mini aircraft completed 100 drop-offs to strategically placed vans in Zurich with a perfect safety record and more deliveries are planned for next year. About 50 individual customers placed orders with Swiss online shopping platform Siroop, choosing “airmail deals” from selected items from retailer Black & Blaze Coffee Roasting Co. for same-day delivery. The drones...
2017 ABA Tech Survey Shows All-Time High iPhone Use by Attorneys
November 25, 2017
New survey results indicate that a record number of attorneys are using an iPhone in their law practice — over 70% of all attorneys in the United States. These numbers come from the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, which conducts a survey every year to gauge the use of legal technology by attorneys in private practice in the United States. The 2017 report (edited by Joshua Poje) was just released, and as always, I was particularly interested in Volume VI, titled Mobile Lawyers. No survey...
November 25, 2017
New survey results indicate that a record number of attorneys are using an iPhone in their law practice — over 70% of all attorneys in the United States. These numbers come from the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, which conducts a survey every year to gauge the use of legal technology by attorneys in private practice in the United States. The 2017 report (edited by Joshua Poje) was just released, and as always, I was particularly interested in Volume VI, titled Mobile Lawyers. No survey...
