How Technology Levels the Playing Field for the Blind
Ever since Thomas Panek learned at age 20 that he would lose his eyesight due to a condition called retinal degeneration, he vowed that his disability would not prevent him from living a full life. “I wanted to do everything that sighted people do,” he says. He has not let himself down: In addition to […]
Embedding Intelligence in the Internet of Things
Three years ago when my wife and I were visiting Paris, we happened upon the finish of the Tour de France bicycle race. We were swept up in a huge crowd, and we were thrilled to watch bunches of riders zip around the Champs-Elysees at blazing speed. Amazing! The only problem was, we had no […]
Mobility in the Cognitive Era
More than 90 thousand people will convene at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week to learn about the latest in mobile tech. Besides checking out the hottest new devices, including IoT and wearables, I expect attendees will be talking a lot about how mobility is creating new models for the enterprise, as well as […]
ASEAN Summit & the New Era of Computing
This week, President Obama hosted leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – or ASEAN – in Southern California. The meeting was historic; the first-ever stand-alone summit between a U.S. President and the heads of state from all 10 ASEAN countries. As part of a broader strategic pivot towards Asia, the Obama Administration has focused […]
Watson A.I. XPRIZE, a Cognitive Computing Challenge
The partnership between humans and technology has produced some of society’s most groundbreaking modern achievements. Today as we enter into the next great era of technology driven by advancements in A.I. and Cognitive Computing that can learn, think and understand like humans, we’re seeing firsthand the power these technologies hold when it comes to making […]
Reinventing Securities Trading with Blockchain
Unlike some of my colleagues in our banking and financial markets teams, I’m no securities expert, but I’ve learned more about securities trading in the past six months than I ever would have thought possible. That’s because I spend many hours on the phone each week with leaders from securities exchanges and financial services companies […]
IBM’s Watson: Helping Sports Teams Make Talent Decisions
It is June and the the NBA’s draft looms large. The management and coaching staff of the Toronto Raptors gathers to consider potential draft picks and possible trade scenarios. Their strategy is to select players who will form a cohesive unit. No prima donnas. In the past, the staff would have gathered in a room […]
How Analytics is Helping Utilities Weather Storms
While an aging infrastructure and growing populations makes the electrical grid susceptible to failure, the majority (70 percent) of power outages are caused by the strains of wind, rain, sleet, snow and ice. The negative impact of storm-related outages to the U.S. economy is estimated between $20 billion and $55 billion annually. In a world […]
Making Data Easy for Businesses with Cloud Data Services
Big Data has been called the most hyped tech trend in the world today. It promises to enable people of all stripes to tap into the world’s ocean of structured and unstructured data and to draw insights that help them make better decisions. Too bad it’s not delivering fully on that promise. Or it wasn’t, […]
Video: The Preferred Medium of Communication, Learning, and Engagement
The emergence of video as a primary medium of communication is one of those trends whose impact we may only begin to comprehend after it has already transformed the way we perceive, learn, engage, and transact. Marshall McLuhan in the 1960’s introduced the ideas that the “medium is the message” and that everyone was going […]
Tapping Cognitive to Build a Culture of Heart Health in the Workplace
The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country, yet we are far from achieving optimal health across our population. Prevention is critical to changing this dynamic, particularly by addressing risk factors for chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and American employers can play a crucial role in achieving this. This […]
IBM and The Weather Company: An IoT Platform for Enterprises
When IBM announced last October that we were going to buy The Weather Company’s product and technology businesses, reactions were all over the map—from “IBM’s buying a TV station,” (not true), to “IBM is buying into cloud computing,” (not necessary; already there in a big way), to “Watson is going to predict weather,” (sort of). […]