In confidential documents seen by the Intercept, Facebook touts its ability to “improve” marketing outcomes with what it calls “loyalty prediction.”Newspeak: The AI software that powers this capability, called “FBLearner Flow,” was first announced in 2016, though it was presented as a technology to make user experience better, not as a marketing tool.How it works: The data it uses is anon...

While M&A deal value continued to decline last year, falling 10% from 2016 and 34% from 2015, shareholder resistance to dealmaking was certainly not the reason. BCG analysis indicates that 2017 was the fifth year in a row that investors rewarded dealmaking, driving positive returns for acquirers. That’s a major departure from the historical pattern. This steady investor support, along with...

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) raised more money in the first three months of 2018 than the whole of 2017, according to data collected by CoinDesk.At $6.3 billion, ICO funding in the first quarter is now 118 percent of the total for 2017, a figure that might go a long way toward undermining a common perception that the controversial fundraising method will soon be extinct.Still, the data perhaps...

New metal-mesh membrane could solve longstanding problems and lead to inexpensive power storage.A type of battery first invented nearly five decades ago could catapult to the forefront of energy storage technologies, thanks to a new finding by researchers at MIT. The battery, based on electrodes made of sodium and nickel chloride and using a new type of metal mesh membrane, could be used for gr...

Companies such as Uber and Lyft have reached billion-dollar valuations based on the promise that shared mobility services will play a major part in the future of transportation. Based on data from Statista’s Global Consumer Survey 2018, the following chart examines how big a role ride-, bike- and car-sharing services play in present-day America. According to our survey of more than 2,000 U.S....

An origami-inspired skyscraper that folds up like an accordion could help provide temporary shelter to hundreds of people left homeless in disaster zones. Designed by a group of Polish architects, the Skyshelter.zip concept could be packed into a box and carried underneath a helicopter to almost any site.The structure of the skyscraper unfolds almost instantaneously thanks to a large load-beari...

Today’s infographic comes to us from NetCents, and it highlights the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency by retailers and a willingness for consumers to consider using it.Importantly, the graphic also highlights the major hindrances preventing crypto from reaching mass payment adoption, as well as how the future may look significantly different than today.In 2017, the amount of brick-and-mort...

An analysis of more than 400 use cases across 19 industries and nine business functions highlights the broad use and significant economic potential of advanced AI techniques.Artificial intelligence (AI) stands out as a transformational technology of our digital age—and its practical application throughout the economy is growing apace. For this briefing, Notes from the AI frontier: Insights fro...

Google has developed an “Augmented Reality Microscope” that allows various deep learning algorithms to be tried on the images that it captures and for the results to be immediately seen in the microscope’s field of view. Applications of deep learning to medical disciplines including ophthalmology, dermatology, radiology, and pathology have recently shown great promise to increase both the ac...