Author: Connected World

#Factoftheweek 1 out of 3 travelers … Are you planning a summer trip? How are you planning it? Would you consider using AI to help? The 2025 Travel Industry Outlook by Deloitte suggests more travelers confess say plan to raise their holiday travel budgets vs the prior year. And among those, 40% say they would do so because “travel has become more important to me since the pandemic.” Deloitte suggests there are four trends shifting travel to watch. The first is, naturally, AI (artificial intelligence). A 2024 survey suggests more than 1 out of 3 travelers already rely on AI-generated…

Battery companies are at the forefront of innovation—and it could drive more sustainable manufacturing in the future. In fact, a 2019 World Economic Forum report suggests advanced manufacturing research for sustainable battery life cycles could reduce CO2 emissions 30% and create 10 million jobs. Approximately $150 billion of economic value could be realized in 2030 by lowering battery costs, leading to 35% higher battery demand versus the 2030 base case and faster deployment of batteries, hence multiplying their benefits. Ongoing research continues for this from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), with a report released last fall about the…

#Factoftheweek 30% The robots are here. And they are coming faster than we originally expected. In fact, new data suggests the global AI robotics market is expected to hit a $94 billion value by 2031, or 30% above the previous expectations, adding $30 billion in value by the end of the decade. Why? Good question. We know the AI robotics market has been bumpy. A boom during the pandemic led to a drop in 2022, then stagnation in 2024—but recovery and growth is coming. Now, we are seeing rising demand in: Consumer applications Industrial Applications Leading regions include: United States…

Securing our vulnerable cyber systems is becoming a greater priority for many—and nine universities in Virginia are uniting together to advance research on how AI (artificial intelligence) can make networks more secure. The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative brings together nine Virginia public universities to explore cybersecurity issues, and it has been awarded 18 seed grants for a total of $1.61 million. Together, the researchers are using generative AI to increase the security of iris biometrics, leveraging LLMs (large language models). Here is how this can help: Analyze security vulnerabilities in software. Employ privacy-preserving learning for public health surveillance. Advance AI to…

When a challenge presents itself, researchers and students at universities step up to find a solution. Such was the case at Stanford when wildfire researchers ran into the challenge of deploying sensors to monitor smoke from prescribed burns. Students and researchers began working together to develop customized sensors for controlled fire monitoring and sustainability research. The fact is we will see more states fast track wildfire prevention efforts. California is one such state. These efforts could include more controlled burns, but the agencies need better data to understand how these controlled burns impact air quality. As the threat of wildfires…

#Factoftheweek Cellular POS (point-of-sale) terminals. NFC-ready POS terminals. mPOS terminals. Let’s review. Wireless technology has a very big role in electronic payments. It helps bring POS terminals to many markets where fixed line telecommunications infrastructure is not available. In 2024, the installed base of cellular POS terminals reached 164.8 million. By 2028, it will surpass 229 million. That is a growth rate of roughly 8.6%. In contrast, let’s consider the global installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals. In 2024, this was 284.8 million units. In 2028, it will be 380 million units. This is a growth rate of roughly 7.5%.…

For decades, AI (artificial intelligence) has offered the promise of new opportunities, but now with LLMs (large language models) we have an opportunity to take AI to the next level. Stanford University suggests chatbots are now turning into action bots—but the challenge persists: if systems are trained with unknown or bad data, will it still be helpful? Researchers at Stanford aim to address this challenge, having developed NNetNav, which is an AI agent that learns through its interactions with websites, which is open source and uses fewer parameters. Professor Chris Manning says NNetNav could become a lighter weight, faster, privacy-preserving…

#Factoftheweek 18% We are seeing the rise of video telematics, which is the integration of cameras to enable various video-based solutions in commercial vehicles. Let’s review the numbers of the installed base of active video telematics systems. North America 2024: 6.1 million units 2029: 13.8 million units Growth rate: 18% Europe 2024: 1.6 million units 2029: 3.3 million units Growth rate: 15.2% Video telematics can help in a number of different ways. It can track data to optimize routes, improve operations, and reduce costs with fuel or maintenance, ultimately improving efficiency for businesses. Video telematics can also investigate speeding, distracted…

#Factoftheweek $655.9 billion Semiconductor revenue soared to $655.9 billion in 2024, according to Gartner, which is up 21% from $542.1 billion in 2023. Gartner attributes this to the large demand for AI infrastructure buildout and an increase in memory revenue. This spells opportunities for business in the days ahead. As we build out AI infrastructure, businesses will have new ways to improve business processes. The dollars to build our AI infrastructure are at record numbers. What are your thoughts? With all the economic indicators, will we continue to see double digit growth in the days ahead? How long before we…

New university research is set to completely transform deep brain stimulation, enabling doctors to move away from manual adjustments and to automatic adjustments based on the patient’s symptoms using new technologies. First approved in 1998, deep brain stimulation is the placement of electrodes in the brain connected to a battery-operated generator in the chest. A small impulse of electricity moves from the generator to the electrodes to stimulate a specific area of the brain, relieving some symptoms and side effects for those with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, epilepsy, and tremors. It is similar to a cardiac pacemaker. The challenge is in…