BIZTECHBUZZ in the world of social, cognitive, IoT and startups

Tag: mobile (Page 2 of 7)

Are you the next CitiMobile Challenge Champion? Registration is open now!

Can you help to transform banking as we know it?  The answer is YES and here’s how…

IBM is proud to be a strategic sponsor of the Citi® Mobile Challenge – a quest to find developers and designers to create new and innovative FinTech solutions with Citi’s digital platforms.  After successful events in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Citi® Mobile Challenge is now starting in Asia Pacific and is hosting Demo Days in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangalore and Sydney – and registration is open now!

Using Bluemix, you can apply your skills to develop, design and impress in two categories:
Consumer solutions:  create innovations which give consumers personalized, intuitive products and services that transform how they think about banking.
Business solutions:  develop new financial technology tools and services to meet the needs of small businesses, large corporations, institutions, organizations or governments.

Developers using Bluemix will be ahead of the game with a platform as a service (PaaS) that gives them simplicity, speed, agility and critical tools – all without the overhead of setting up the underlying architecture.  And, as strategic sponsor, IBM is there each step of the way, giving Challenge participants a wide spectrum of face-to-face and virtual product education, consulting and coding assistance by top experts – throughout the competition.

Finalists will compete for an opportunity to take their technologies into production with Citi’s support, plus a share of USD $100,000 in cash awards and a suite of services from Citi Mobile Challenge sponsors.  Selected participants will showcase their concepts at live Demo Day events.

So, be a part of the banking transformation!  Go to http://www.citimobilechallenge.com/ to register for the Citi Mobile Challenge (registration closes September 2, 2015).  Rally your team and get everyone registered to use Bluemix here:  https://ibm.biz/IBMCMCAP15
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Internet of Things The Foundation of Success!

This blog is my third on Internet of Things.

I began by discussing how the IOT is both like, and unlike, the Internet. It is critical that you focus on that which differentiates the IoT from the Internet and refineyour expertise, skills and partnerships to capitalize on those differences.

Then we discussed the innovators and the operators.  There are two basic groups of IoT use cases. One is centered around enterprises and entrepreneurs looking to invent new IoT products or services, and the other focused on those looking to optimize their operations

The third concept I’d like to share is one that starts to create some level of relationship and hierarchy around technology. But really, this point is less about prioritization and more about understanding how the pieces of your infrastructure puzzle fit together to bring you the best big picture the IoT has to offer.

foundation

The IoT is the next concentric circle around the cloud. And of course, it is populated by things. But it’s also populated with people.

All the work we are doing now in the cloud, analytics and mobile is significant, and there is immediate business impact for all of it. And we typically have a very clear perspective on why we do it, how we justify the investment. And until now, the reason for why we have done it hasn’t been immediately focused on the IoT.

But the truth is, whether we know it or not, when we make those investments in cloud, analytics and mobile infrastructure, we’re laying the foundation for the IoT.

And that foundation work is vital, if often under appreciated, because everything else depends on the stability of that layer. Ask any architect, and she’ll tell you how important a solid foundation is to the overall integrity of the structure, to the whole. Everything else depends on it.

And we have evidence all around us that poorly established foundations will ultimately unsettle even the most beautifully designed architecture.

So when we build our Internet of Things, we must build it on a robust and highly secure foundation. In other words, we need to balance our focus on “things” with an equal focus on the people who use those things.

And if we don’t, we can expect the structure to ultimately crumble.

Without the right foundation, the right infrastructure, our Internet of Things is a house of cards waiting for a puff of wind to come along and rip it apart. But with a strong, stable foundation, we give our IoT structure the opportunity to stand straight and tall as a beacon for those that follow in our tracks.

Now where does all of this leave us today?

We must have the courage to undertake the journey, to be bold in our actions.  (Yes, I did write a book called “Get Bold”)  There’s no question that we’ll need to adjust course, optimize, iterate. We also know that we’ll need to have the right partners with the right level of expertise and experience and broad level of capabilities.

And we’ll need to keep moving down this path. And when there is no path, we must be willing and able to forge the way and blaze our own.

Because while the IoT is arguably defined, at least in part, by the new treasure troves of data now being generated and made available to us…

… it’s also certainly defined by a constant, unforgiving and irrefutable demand for innovation.

And the key today is that, as your competitors arrive at your milestone of innovation, you’ve already moved again. Because you never stopped innovating. You are, and must be, absolutely relentless in your pursuit of innovation.

We must all learn to translate this ever-growing global network of data and ideas and “things” into something that makes your business more profitable—and then make sure we’re in a position to accommodate it. Something that helps your city run more smoothly. Helps you save more lives. Helps us all answer that question, “why bother listening?”

So let me know your approach to IoT!!!

Easier mobile app development tools take over SmartCamp Europe Regionals

Our final SmartCamp Regional event for the year was held last week in London. We had 9 startup finalists; that’s the largest SmartCamp Regional we’ve ever had! Eight countries across Europe, including Israel, were represented. It was a truly amazing event!

Watch this short video about the SmartCamp Europe Regional!

The results produced two winners who will be going on to the SmartCamp Global Finals: Kinetise and WakingApp. Congratulations to these two startups for winning what proved to be one of the most competitive SmartCamps ever!

There is a common thread between these two startups. Both are native digital app companies with mobile solutions that allow anyone to create a mobile app, even if they don’t have hardcore programming skills. Drag and drop features are evident in both solutions, making it much easier and faster to deploy the features you want and need into your mobile app.

But why make mobile app development easier for non-developers? According to Piotr Pawlak, CEO of Kinetise, it is “because of the developer shortage. There is simply not enough engineers in the market” to keep up with demand.

Kinetise and WakingApp have tapped into the future of mobile app development, and I couldn’t be more excited to have them compete at our Global Finals! You can follow them on Twitter @Kinetise and @WakingApp.

The People’s Choice Award went to Magick, winner of SmartCamp Nordics. It’s clear to see why they are so popular since their mobile, browser-based financial trading solution makes it so much easier to perform financial trades, especially in the foreign currency exchange trade. Something tells me you’ll be hearing more about Magick, like in financial magazines! You can follow them on Twitter @MAGICKnu.

And I’m so thrilled that Andiamo, one of my favorite startups, received a Special Mention during the event. Andiamo, our SmartCamp London winner, has a solution that uses 3D scanning and printing technology to create orthotics for children in a fraction of the time it took with previous methods… and cheaper, too! They are literally improving the lives of so many children and their families with this innovative solution. Congratulations to Andiamo and continued success! Follow them on Twitter @AndiamoHQ.

Follow my blog post for more on the upcoming SmartCamp Global Finals for 2014!

The 3-D Ultrasound Medical Scanner That Runs On Your Smartphone

Imagine that every doctor’s office – perhaps even every pharmacy – had a low cost imaging device running on a smartphone.  The scanner would be able to provide instant, real-time pictures inside damaged limbs and inside other parts of the body, significantly reducing the time taken for diagnosis.

No referrals, no hospital visits and faster treatments.
Several low-cost medical imaging devices driven by smartphones are now arriving. One of the most interesting approaches is from the Butterfly Network which proposes to make a small ultrasound scanner able to run on a variety of smartphones.
One issue with low-cost portable scanners is that family doctors and pharmacists will need training to interpret scan results.  But scanner makers are also likely to offer a real-time on-line interpretation service to assist.  And for a fee.  Compliments of Ray Hammond — a true futrologist!

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