Walmart is starting a new same-day delivery service where customers can place orders using a text message, another step in its effort to scale up its e-commerce offerings and compete with rival Amazon.com. The service, called Jetblack, allows shoppers to order items from Walmart.com and even websites of rival retailers. It is a part of Walmart’s internal start-up incubator, Store No. 8. Jetblack has been launched in parts of New York City, with plans to roll it out to the rest of the United States over time. “The goal is to think about game-changing technologies that will change the way people shop,”…
Author: Loknath Das
Social media sites’ responses to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal and new European privacy regulations have given users much more control over who can access their data, and for what purposes. To me, as a social media user, these are positive developments: It’s scary to think what these platforms could do with the troves of data available about me. But as a researcher, increased restrictions on data sharing worry me. I am among the many scholars who depend on data from social media to gain insights into people’s actions. In a rush to protect individuals’ privacy, I worry that an unintended casualty could be knowledge about human nature. My…
The next entry in the massively popular Assassin’s Creedfranchise has been revealed by Ubisoft: it’s called Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The announcement was made via the game’s official Twitter account, as part of a five-second clip that ended with the logo and the words: “See you at E3.” The reveal video for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey shows one character kicking someone off the edge of a cliff, which is most likely a reference to the famous scene from Zack Snyder’s historical fantasy war film 300, where the Spartans kicked the Persian messengers into a well when they demanded a token of submission to a new…
India’s central bank is standing firm on a directive to compel global payment firms to store customer data in India, resisting calls from U.S. companies to dilute an order they say would cost them millions of dollars, people familiar with the matter said. The payment companies are worried India’s data onshoring move could set a precedent and nudge other major governments to implement similar rules at a time when there is heightened scrutiny on how companies globally handle their customers’ data. The industry’s tussle with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aggressively pushes digital…
Snapchat has rolled out its first Lens that reacts to sound. “It’s a cute animal mask overlay for your face, with ears that pulse and glow, and eyes that move based on the sounds it hears. Snapchat says it’s just the first of many,” Engadget reported late Monday, citing the company. The report says Snapchat is planning to launch more Lenses that will react to sounds over the coming weeks. Snapchat’s Lenses are filters that come in two options, Face Lenses and World Lenses. Face Lenses allows the users to turn into something different along with voice changes. On the other hand, World…
Most social media users know that bot accounts are among us, whether as fake voters with loud opinions or obsessive re-tweeters of a single corporation’s content. When it comes to telling many ‘fake’ accounts from real ones, however—or just knowing how many non-individuals are active online—even savvy users are mostly in the dark. Tallies suggest there are over three billion social media users in the world, many of whom maintain accounts on multiple platforms. The total number of social media accounts may be several times that, making the task of sorting out people (and their braver/sassier/sexier online alter-egos) from commercial, political, and general trolling…
When thinking about developing software, usually the programmers are immediately the people who come to mind. However, it takes more than programmers to get a piece of software to market. In fact, a marketing team is an essential part of the process. However, they’re often either kept in the dark or brought in a little bit too late. There is a way to fix that. It’s important that marketing professionals and programmers work on a project together to ensure success. We asked members of the Forbes Technology Council how to handle two different teams working together on the same project. The advice given offers a few different ways…
Ever had the nagging suspicion that your car’s manufacturer was charging outrageous prices for parts simply because it could? Software might be to blame. Reuters has obtained documents from a lawsuit indicating that Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot, Renault and other automakers have been using Accenture software (Partneo) that recommended price increases for spare parts based on “perceived value.” If a brand badge or other component looked expensive, Partneo would suggest raising the price up to a level that drivers would still be willing to pay. It would even distinguish parts based on whether or not there was “pricing supervision” over certain parts (say, from insurance companies or focused…
Microsoft has confirmed reports that it is acquiring software development platform GitHub. The firm is paying $7.5B in stock … Today, we announced an agreement to acquire GitHub, the world’s leading software development platform […] More than 28 million developers already collaborate on GitHub, and it is home to more than 85 million code repositories used by people in nearly every country. From the largest corporations to the smallest startups, GitHub is the destination for developers to learn, share and work together to create software. It’s a destination for Microsoft too. We are the most active organization on GitHub, with more than…
ASMS 2018 – Scientists working in metabolomics, pharmaceuticals, food safety, and environmental and forensic science can now use a fully integrated software toolkit to transform complex, unknown mass spectra generated from small molecule analysis into actionable data. The new Thermo Scientific Compound Discoverer 3.0 software is an integrated set of libraries, databases and statistical analysis tools linked in customizable workflows. The software processes the information-rich data generated from high-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) Orbitrap mass spectrometers and transforms it into meaningful results. The software is easy to use and designed to require minimal training or expertise. Thermo Fisher Scientific is showcasing the new software during…