Artificial Intelligence Goes Where Hardware Can’t

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Nov 28, 2018 @ 09:47 AM

Most information humans take in is visual and depth based. Although we do not emit lasers or lights to perceive our environments (as much as we might wish to), we still see everything very accurately with our comparatively low-quality eyes.

This means the brain is the driving factor behind the impressive results of our vision. Now, imagine a world where every device and machine has those capabilities. How well could that serve humanity?

The AI-based software solution from Lucid empowers dual-camera devices, such as mobile phones, robots, and others, to see in three dimensions, providing the depth perception of human eyes.

Lucid wants to be the platform that allows any device or machine to capture depth data in the world. In late 2018, Lucid is on track to bring in 10 times their 2017 revenue. They anticipate adding staff; opening offices around the world; and continuing to foster their culture of inclusion, work ethic, and continuous improvement.

lucidcam-virtual-reality-camera-2

Tech Giants Are Noticing

Lucid was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States, in January 2015. They focused on mimicking human vision in robots because they believed true depth vision should not be emission-based but AI-based. This defied how the entire industry was working at the time.

Han Jin is the cofounder and CEO of Lucid. He details where the company stood technologically before any tech giants entered the now growing space.

“We decided to build the world’s first VR180 camera, LucidCam, because we wanted to prove our AI-based software technology had a market,” says Jin. “There was no similar hardware until iPhone 7 Plus came out with dual cameras.”

After they successfully launched their device into retail spaces and millions of consumer hands, they observed the trend of dual cameras spreading to more than just phones.

This innovation keeps the company on track to recreate human vision through software, and they believe the deeper intermingling of humans and technology when both humans and robots are capable of doing and seeing.

Exploring New Territories

AI provides solutions to many problems caused by hardware limitations. For example, smartphone manufacturers need to ensure the price they charge per device continues to be competitive in order to hit volume benchmarks. However, when trying to incorporate depth-sensing technologies, the process becomes both bulky and costly. In consumer electronics, there’s simply not a lot of room for more hardware.

Space margins are extremely thin, and this is especially true of smartphones, where real estate is dire. Additionally, when you add an expensive sensor to a device, the price, unsurprisingly, goes up.

There’s no way around this other than finding solutions that incorporate depth sensing into consumer devices without the addition of hardware. This is precisely why AI software is leading companies like Lucid into territories that weren’t previously accessible.

Massive Potential

Five billion people have mobile phones, but the latest technological upgrades, such as built-in depth sensors, are currently too expensive for most device makers to incorporate. This disallows facial recognition, VR/AR, and 3D scanning.

At the same time, smartphone makers specifically are feeling increased downward price pressure as they try to come out with newer, more advanced devices that outpace their competitors.

The entire market is trying to find new approaches to solve this problem. As phone makers scramble to conceive new features that convince consumers to upgrade, depth sensing is increasingly on people’s radar.

When Lucid won a Gold Stevie® Award for Entrepreneur of the Year for Computer Software, the community took notice. Lucid is already improving its pure software solutions.

“This year, Lucid partnered with elite camera maker RED to build an H4V camera. The RED camera features two moving high-resolution cameras that adjust dynamically,” says Jin. “Our engine allows you to generate multiple views through AI with only two views being captured. This camera will use the new Hydrogen One phone with a holographic display as a viewfinder.”

Technology and innovation are at the core of what Lucid does, and other entrepreneurs and businesses can learn from Lucid’s alternative AI solution. Their work illustrates that software can implement capabilities much faster (and cheaper) than hardware currently can.

Teaching machines to see like humans could have huge ramifications in the technological world, and we’re just beginning to imagine all the possibilities.

Topics: American business awards, company awards, tech awards

Winners in 15th Annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business Announced

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Nov 19, 2018 @ 09:05 AM

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, winners in the 2018 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business were announced on Friday, November 16.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With more than 500 businesswomen and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced at a gala dinner at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. Nations represented at the event included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland, U.S.A., United Kingdom, and Vietnam, among others.

women in biz 2018The presentations were broadcast live worldwide.

More than 1,500 nominations from organizations and individuals in 33 nations were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. Winners were chosen by more than 200 business professionals working in six specialized judging committees to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to the five organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition.

The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

  • Award Winning Accelerator, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia (#1)
  • Plan International Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada (#2)
  • DP DHL, worldwide (#3)
  • The Female Social Network, Sydney, NSW, Australia (#4)
  • Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (#5)

Notable Gold Stevie Award winners in this year’s competition include:

  • Aflac, Columbus, GA USA — Communications or PR Campaign of the Year — Reputation/Brand Management
  • Bon Choix Couture, Glendale, CA USA — Company of the Year – Business Services – 10 or Less Employees
  • Dee Hutchinson, Founder of Dee Hutchinson Talent Development Ltd, Waterford, Ireland — Mentor or Coach of the Year — Business
  • Laurie LaPat-Polasko, Vice President/National Director of Remediation, Matrix New World Engineering, Florham Park, NJ — Woman of the Year — Technology
  • PotomacWave, Alexandria, VA USA — Fastest Growing Company of the Year
  • Caroline Riseboro, President & CEO, Plan International Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada — Women Helping Women — Government or Non-Profit
  • HK Strategies, Mexico City, Mexico — Communications or PR Campaign of the Year — Public Service
  • Ashley Harris, CEO, LoveBug Probiotics, New York, NY — Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Consumer Products – 10 or Less Employees
  • Anne-Lise Dorry, Senior Director of Corporate Finance Products, Thomson Reuters, New York, NY — Employee of the Year — Business
  • Esther Rovira, CEO, CasaAPP, Barcelona, Spain — Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Europe, the Middle East & Africa
  • Sykes Enterprises, Tampa, FL USA — Achievement in Developing and Promoting Women
  • PharmaLogics Recruiting, Quincy, MA USA — Achievement in Equal Pay

The 2018 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include Dignity Health, iTalent Digital, Jeunesse Global, LoveBug Probiotics, Plan International Canada, Simpson Healthcare Executives, The Cura Foundation, Thomson Reuters, and Tick Tock Boom Digital Agency.

For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Entries for the 2019 edition of the awards will open in May.

Topics: stevie awards for women in business, women awards, Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Women in Business

Hired or Rejected Before You Even Arrive

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Nov 13, 2018 @ 12:19 PM

After spending weeks scanning job listings and showing up as your best-dressed self to job interviews, you’ve finally come across the perfect role. You exceed the requirements, and you have a lot of relevant experience, as well as the soft skills the company is after.

All that’s left is a return phone call saying, “Come on by to discuss your employment with us!”

That call never comes though. Why is that? Could it be because your last name isn’t something like Smith?

The immigrant workforce, visible minorities, women, and historically overlooked groups have demonstrated increased success when a company hires more diverse workers.

career.placeAttracting—and especially retaining—a diverse workforce should be an important focus for employers in all sectors.

Progressive HR and recruiting companies like career.place aim to remove biases one hire at a time.

Formed in 2016, career.place has been diversifying hiring processes and compliance through a SaaS-based solution that put applicants through an anonymous, consistent, and semi-automated hiring funnel. Using the software, employers advance anonymous candidates who meet the company’s needs and remove those who simply don’t qualify. This technology helps applicants demonstrate they are qualified for positions, and the right people can move forward to the final stage in the hiring process.

Career.Place won three Bronze Stevie® Awards including Woman of the Year in Business Services Industries, Startup of the Year in Business Services Industries, and Entrepreneur of the Year in Computer Software in The American Business Awards®.

The Paradox of Hiring: Anonymity Brings Back Humanity

Melissa Dobbins, founder and CEO of career.place, built the company on the simple premise – bias has no place in hiring. Job seekers and employers are noticing her company’s unique approach; which starts by defining the needs of the job, and anonymously evaluating candidates against those needs, thereby focusing on what matters without the distractions of what is not.

Of course, diversity and compliance are in the news a lot, and this has perfectly positioned companies like career.place to solve the diversity-related problems companies are having now or will potentially have.

Career.Place has created a software solution where applicants are evaluated based on the employer’s criteria, including criteria such as requirements, soft skills (measured by integrated assessments), and responses to job-scenario and situational questions. All unrelated information about the applicants are hidden including name, education, titles, and other biasing information typically found on a resume – think “The Voice” but for applicants. The process is efficient, fair, and eliminates the need for time consuming resume and phone screens.

“Ironically by removing applicant identities, including their gender, age, ethnicity, favorite sports team, and other biasing and irrelevant information, we are giving applicants their voices back.” says Dobbins. “Imagine the great talent overlooked because of details like not knowing the right keywords to get through an automatic filter or having a gap in work history. By removing that information, and replacing it with information like qualifications, soft-skill assessments, and responses to job scenario questions, great talent will stand out because they are great.”

Change agents driving for a better tomorrow

Organizations gain valuable perspectives from diverse talent. There are many reports and studies that show diversity is good for business, but fundamentally, it just makes sense – companies will more effectively sell, support, and engage with a market if they reflect the full diversity of that market. Unfortunately, conscious and unconscious biases get in our way, constantly nudging us to hire others like us, rather than those who are best for the role, the company, and the mission. Dobbins details her experiences dealing with this before starting her company.

“When applying for jobs, I have been asked some very odd questions that I suspect my male counterparts have not had to deal with. For example, probing questions about if I would leave work to pick up my child if she were sick– indecently, that line of questioning is illegal. I have been asked if I could fire people because it is emotionally difficult, if I could handle difficult personalities, and if I would be interested in a single contributor role (i.e. a demotion) before being evaluated for the position at hand. What do you think my experiences would be like if those who interviewed me didn’t know I was a woman? What would your experiences be like if in your next job application the company doesn’t know what you are – just what value you bring?”

“These stories are universal. I have never met anyone who hasn’t experienced bias in one form or another,” continues Dobbins. “For me, I became obsessed with becoming part of the solution – a way for people to be evaluated fairly and consistently based on their skills and qualifications, and not assumptions made based on what they look like or what’s on a resume. And so career.place was born.”

A diverse workforce is good for business, good for communities, and good for the employees. There is no silver bullet for creating a diverse, engaged workforce. It is a future that will take many change agents – from entrepreneurs, like Dobbins, who are creating solutions to support unbiased hiring to those who are engaging and cultivating talent across every demographic group. Together we will succeed and the impact will be profound.

For more information about Melissa Dobbins or career.place, go to www.career.place.

https://www.career.place/single-post/2018/03/19/Do-Not-Hinder-Diversity-with-Bias-in-your-Hiring-Process-Have-a-Plan

Topics: American business awards, women awards, entrepreneur awards

Who's Coming to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business This Friday?

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Nov 12, 2018 @ 02:09 PM

38463795476_ff5f4f4cf1_zThe 2018 (15th annual) Stevie® Awards for Women in Business - the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run - will be presented this Friday, November 16 at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York City.  More than 540 nominees and their guests from more than 20 nations will attend for the announcement of the Grand, Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Download the official program book of the awards presentations.

The presentations will be broadcast live, beginning at 7:30 pm ET.

Here are the organizations that as of this writing will be represented at the event on Friday.

2020 Mom
9th Gear Technologies
ACV Auctions
AdvancedMD
Allscripts
American Global Logistics
Ampla Education
Apple Growth Partners
ArcPoint Strategy
Aspire
AT&T
Avasant Foundation
Award Winning Accelerator
Belatrix Software
BiggerPockets
Braven
Brighton Health Plan Solutions
BrightSpring Health Services
Camp Broadway LLC
Care2
Caring Safely
Carolin Soldo Coaching & Events, LLC
Century 21 Real Estate
Chargebacks911
Choice Delights Inc.
Cisco
Coast Professional, Inc.
Compeat
Convergys
Copart
Covance
Creative Nature
D3 NYC
Dana's Bakery
DarcMatter
DDB Worldwide
DeFacto
DentalX
Deutsche Bank
DHL Express Mexico
Dignity Health
Editor World LLC
ELE Internacional
engage2learn
Eventerprise AG
Events DC
Extreme Reach, Inc.
FG Holding Group
Financial Voyages LLC
First Advantage
First Tennessee Bank
FIS
Fogo de Chão
FPI Fair Pay Innovation Lab
FULL Creative
Garden Light LED
Gendel Girls
Global Upside
GloveStix LLC
Goodwin Group PR
Gracyfy.com
Greenworks Lending
GroundLink
Hawke Media
HCL Technologies
Health4theworld
Hill + Knowlton Strategies
Home Heart Beats, LLC
Humanity For The World
Hundred Stories
IBM
IGEL
Improving
Income Access (a Paysafe Company)
InfoMart
Instructional Design and Educational Consulting LLC
Intellis
Interior Marketing Group
ISG
iTalent Digital
JP Morgan Chase
KATT Communications
LBR Insight
LoveBug Probiotics
Matrix New World Engineering
Mattress Firm
Maximum Games
Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)
Mekky Media Relations Inc.
Meli Studio
Merck
Meritor Inc.
Montana State Fund
Mortgage Bankers Association
My City Gives
National Association of Women Business Owners
NCR Corporation
New Orleans Business Alliance
Newday Media JSC
Nic + Zoe
Nonda
Olin Corporation
Orange
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc.
Papa John’s International
Pearson
Phaidon International
PharmaLogics Recruiting
Pipeline Entrepreneurs
Plan International Canada
Pocket Learning Spanish
PotomacWave
Procter & Gamble
Proforma Inspired Promotions
Purpose DRVN
Rachel Engler Andalaft
Red Hat
Revamp Interior Design
ReviveMed
RewardJet
Rimini Street, Inc.
Ritchie Bros.
Rocket Software
Savvy Marketers, LLC
Securing Water for Food Technical Assistance Facility
SEEN Connects
Sempra energy
ShieldX
SHIFT HR Compliance Training, LLC
Smarty Social Media
Snelleman Tom
Social Media Link
Southern California Edison
Southwest Michigan First
SPLICE Software
Squelch
Stay In The Game
Stericycle Environmental Solutions
Strategati LLC
Stripe Communications
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
Susan Davis International
Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated
T and T Consulting Services, Inc.
Tata Consultancy Services
T.D. Jakes Ministries
Tangible Words
Tata Consultancy Services
TBWA Istanbul
Tempaper
TetraVX
Tezgahçilar
The Ace Class
The Alpha Enterprise
The Ambit Group
The Female Social Network
The Financial Literacy Youth Initiative
The GREEN Program
The Inclusive Foundation
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)
The Malvern School
The Mane Choice
The Roundtable
The Welsh Air Ambulance Charitable Trust
The White Company
ThermoBrush
Third Team Media
Thomson Reuters
Thought Bubble
TIAA
UBM Americas
UCSF
UK Power Reserve
Unique Wedding Cars
United Franchise Group
UnitedHealthcare
UpWell Health
USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore
Vested
WalkMe
WeUsThem Inc.
WorkForce Software
WorkWave
Xandr
YouEarnedIt
Ziegler
Zingbox, Inc.

The 2019 edition of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open for entries in May.  Join the mailing list and the 2019 entry kit will be emailed to you as soon as it is available.

Request the Entry Kit

Topics: stevie awards for women in business, women in busines, womens awards