US Startup Zephyr’s claim that it has solved smartphone GPS positioning problems through a network and software-based solution with sub-60cm accuracy has attracted $3.5 million seed funding.

The Issue 

Even though consumers have been putting growing demands on GPS through their increasing use of mobile devices and wearables, and many more businesses and services have become more reliant on it, GPS hasn’t had any major updates for more than 20 years, meaning that it is prone to errors, inaccuracy, and can sometimes be unreliable.

GPS accuracy on phones has traditionally suffered from various issues which affect the precision of location data. For example, problems like signal blockage from buildings, natural landscape features, or indoor and underground settings can prevent GPS signals from reaching a phone effectively. One key issue highlighted by Zephyr is “multi-path errors,” where a signal from a GPS satellite reaches a receiver more than once, caused by signals bouncing off buildings or other large objects, thereby confusing smartphones with a single antenna.

Also, atmospheric conditions and satellite geometry can play a role as signals can be distorted by the atmosphere, and if satellites are poorly positioned relative to each other, accuracy drops.

Phones can also face hardware limitations, e.g. the quality of the GPS receiver and the processing software can introduce errors. Assisted GPS, which uses network data to enhance location locking, can experience problems if network information is imprecise or outdated and electromagnetic interference from other devices can affect signal clarity.

The integration of additional satellite systems such as GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou with traditional GPS, along with software improvements, have helped the everyday location accuracy of modern smartphones in recent times, nevertheless it’s often still not accurate enough for users.

The Implications 

Inaccurate GPS on phones can be frustrating for users by causing navigation problems, leading to lost time and potential safety concerns when driving or walking. It can also disrupt location-based services such as ridesharing, food delivery, or (more seriously) emergency assistance, where precise location information is crucial.

For those relying on GPS for fitness activities, inaccuracies can spoil exercise tracking and goals. Also, inaccurate GPS can affect social experiences by misplacing geotags on social media and leading to mistakes in personal and professional mapping efforts. While generally reliable, the limitations of phone GPS can, therefore, cause inconveniences in daily life.

Zephr’s CEO Sean Gorman summarises the problems that poor GPS accuracy can cause, saying: “GPS is an essential technology for so many services we now rely on, and yet it is plagued by inaccuracy. This poses many challenges for businesses and consumers, and it will hamper the growth of developing technologies like augmented reality and autonomy.”  

Mr Gorman points out the benefits of a solution that can improve accuracy, saying: “Improved accuracy in GPS can translate into millions of dollars in economic benefit, but for us, it’s about more than just money. A more accurate GPS system can also improve daily routines and personal safety, from preventing navigational errors to creating safer collision-avoidance systems in vehicles and enabling more advanced search-and-rescue efforts.” 

Zephr’s Solution 

Colorado-based Zephr claims that its network-based solution to GPS inaccuracy has achieved sub-60cm GPS accuracy in field trials (a level of accuracy typically not seen in consumer GPS solutions) using nothing more than existing satellites and mobile devices networked together to share correction data. The company says its “breakthrough” networked GPS solution enhances accuracy by 5X-10X (<1m) for mobile devices and wearables.

Zephr also claims that its solution (which is purely software-based and doesn’t require hardware changes to a device or a new chipset or firmware) will be able to increase accuracy in dense urban environments, thereby solving problems caused by building-bounce and blocked line-of-sight.

How? 

In short, Zephr’s system creates a multi-receiver system, i.e. it turns users’ mobile devices into base stations which generate error corrections. Interconnected GNSS (global navigation satellite system) measurements across multiple devices thereby enables Zephr’s system to not only eliminate common errors and inaccuracies, but also to bring a stable and reliable signal with less risk of interference.

The Benefits

The benefits of this software/network-based solution are:

– It’s fast and easy – billions of existing mobile devices can easily upgrade their GPS accuracy directly out of the box, with no need for hardware solutions.

– Easy integration – as a standalone SDK product it will allow any mobile app to easily upgrade GPS accuracy by embedding the feature.

– It’s cheap – it uses existing satellites and software.

– Economic and human value – it could create cost savings, create opportunities in many industries, and unlock new markets in new/emerging ones, e.g. navigation, delivery/logistics, rideshare, agriculture, advertising, search and rescue services, location-based apps, collision avoidance systems, autonomous vehicles (robot/drone delivery systems), augmented reality, location-based gaming, and smart cities.

– It retains privacy – Zephyr says: “User information is always minimised, anonymised, short-lived, never sold or transferred, and protected from third-party access.” 

Funding 

The simplicity and accuracy of the solution (plus its many possibilities) have meant that Zephr has been able to attract $3.5 million of funding in a seed round led by Space Capital and First Spark Ventures. It’s been reported that this significant amount of funding will help support Zephr’s GTM strategy as it goes for rapid growth over the next year.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Zephyr’s GPS accuracy solution could represent a significant milestone for businesses across a broad spectrum of industries. With the claim of solving GPS inaccuracies using software, Zephyr’s technology promises to deliver sub-60cm location precision, a game-changer for any business reliant on geolocation data. This could mean enhanced reliability and fewer errors for logistics and delivery services, ensuring packages reach their destinations more efficiently, and with greater customer satisfaction. For the rideshare and transport sectors, improved accuracy will lead to quicker, more reliable pickups and drop-offs, optimising route planning and saving on fuel and time – in short, service improvements and cost substantial savings.

Emerging markets and technologies also stand to gain substantially from Zephyr’s innovation. For example, agricultural businesses can employ more precise GPS for planting, harvesting, and monitoring equipment, which can lead to better resource management and yield prediction. In advertising, location-based marketing could become more targeted and effective, with the potential to engage consumers based on precise location data.

For vital services like search and rescue, the benefits are potentially lifesaving, with the ability to pinpoint locations swiftly and accurately (when every second counts). Autonomous vehicles, including drones and robots for delivery systems could also benefit by being able to navigate more safely and efficiently, reducing the risk of accidents and enabling them to operate in more complex environments. This could help advance this whole new field, e.g. Amazon’s robots and its new delivery drones. The augmented reality and gaming industries could also see an uptick in immersion and gameplay possibilities, as real-world accuracy becomes a stable foundation for virtual experiences, thereby helping to create new products and opportunities and generate more revenue.

There may also be an important knock-on effect of this precision for smart city initiatives. For example, urban planning, infrastructure management, and public safety could all be revolutionised with accurate, reliable geolocation data at their core. The implications for the Internet of Things (IoT) are also vast, with the potential for devices to communicate and operate with a new level of location intelligence.

Zephyr’s commitment to privacy is also likely to be promising for businesses using the technology and for more privacy-conscious consumers.

Zephyr’s fix and what essentially represents the first big (and necessary) change to a GPS system in 20+ years that’s been increasingly in demand could see widespread integration into countless applications. This could inject efficiency and accuracy into current services while catalysing the development of new ones. As a result, businesses that adapt quickly to this technology could see significant ROI, not only through direct economic benefits but also via enhanced customer trust and brand reputation. The $3.5 million in seed funding reflects investor confidence in Zephyr’s solution, suggesting a ripe market ready for businesses harnessing the power of improved GPS technology.

November 10, 2004 : What’s In a Name?

On November 9th 2004, the well-known web-browser ‘Firefox’ was released, although it had earlier been called something entirely different altogether.

Originally created in 2002 by members of the Mozilla community, the browser had the codename “Phoenix”. This was supposed to reflect the project’s aim to “rise from the ashes of Netscape Navigator” after it was defeated in the browser wars by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. However, a software company named Phoenix Technologies meant there were trademark issues, so it was renamed.

The next (brief) iteration was “Firebird”, which is a more literal expression of what a Phoenix is. However, once again this led to conflicts with another software project.

Ultimately,  “Firefox” was selected. However, this animal has nothing to do with foxes, even though the logo suggests otherwise. It is, in fact, the colloquial term for the red panda, which was adopted as the mascot for the project following its renaming. A red panda was chosen because, at the time, relatively few people knew about this animal and was therefore less likely to cause yet more trademark issues! As an aside, a red-panda’s habitat is around China and as a species they are related to skunks, weasels and raccoons and so they are completely unrelated to giant Pandas (which are actually a type of bear).

As far as naming is concerned, the plot thickens because the community called Mozilla was originally so-called because ‘Mozilla’ was originally the code name for the Netscape Navigator web browser, and it was a portmanteau created from the words “Mosaic” and “Godzilla.” The name was chosen to signal Netscape’s goal to be the “Mosaic killer,” as Mosaic was the dominant web browser at the time Netscape was being developed. The addition of “Godzilla” to the mix signified the hope that Netscape would become a powerful and formidable player in the browser space, much like the fictional monster. Phew!

Currently, as of October 2023, the browser share of Firefox is around 3.06% (i.e. about 90% down from its prime in 2009 when it had about 32% browser share). So, it looks like Firefox’s best days are behind it but who knows what’s around the corner?

Threat Detection Technology SlashNext has reported that in the 12 months that ChatGPT’s been publicly available, the number of phishing emails has jumped 1,265 per cent, with credential phishing, a common first step in data breaches, seeing a 967 per cent increase.

SlashNext’s State of Phishing 2023 report notes that cybercriminals may have been leveraging LLM chatbots like ChatGPT to help write more convincing phishing emails and to launch highly targeted phishing attacks. Generative AI chatbots may also have lowered the barriers for any bad actors wanting to launch such campaigns (i.e. by giving less skilled cyber criminals the tools to run more complex phishing attacks).

Businesses can safeguard against phishing attacks by taking measures such as educating employees to recognise fraudulent communications, enforcing strong password policies, using MFA, keeping software up-to-date and installing anti-phishing tools, and by having an effective incident response plan to mitigate damage from breaches.

A new deep-learning AI algorithm, developed as part of a study by the University of Cambridge, can identify and classify ‘Hard to Decarbonise’ houses (energy-wasting homes) with 90 per cent accuracy.

What Are ‘Hard-to-Decarbonise’ Houses? 

Hard-to-Decarbonise (HtD) houses/buildings are really a subset of residential structures that present unique challenges in reducing carbon emissions due to their design, old age, construction, location, or the behaviours of occupants.

Why Are They Such A Problem? 

These buildings are significant because they account for a sizable portion (roughly a quarter) of all homes and are responsible for over 25 per cent of direct residential sector emissions. As the urban population looks set to swell, ensuring these buildings’ sustainability has, therefore, become critical to meeting the global carbon reduction goals.

Why Hasn’t This Problem Been Tackled Effectively So Far? 

The effort to decarbonise HtD buildings has been marred by several issues. Historically, for example, there’s been a lack of focus on identifying and studying these specific types of buildings, with much of the research skewing towards general energy usage and efficiency. This gap has made it challenging to develop targeted strategies for their upgrade and retrofitting. Also, the identification of HtD buildings has, up until now, been complex and reliant on detailed and varied data that has not been readily accessible or sufficiently prioritised (so far) in energy performance datasets.

Also, technological and economic factors have compounded the difficulty. For example, HtD homes often require more sophisticated and expensive work to make them more energy efficient, which may not be feasible given current technological and economic constraints. This is problematic for not only meeting emissions targets but also for addressing social issues like fuel poverty, where the least efficient homes are often inhabited by those least able to afford their retrofitting.

A New Approach – With The Help Of AI 

The new approach developed by the University of Cambridge, uses deep learning to classify HtD buildings. The research team has reported that their new AI-based method for the classification of HtD buildings can achieve an overall precision of 82 per cent on the building level.

The new method uses publicly available data – a dataset of HtD houses (in Cambridge for the test), organised with criteria derived from the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which results from detailed inspections of houses. Street view images (SVI), aerial view images (AVI), land surface temperature (LST), and building stock data are also used together for the prediction with deep learning.  The AI model at the heart of the new method is also able to reach its classification of buildings by pinpointing the parts of a building which are losing the most heat, e.g. the windows and the roof, and whether a home is old or modern.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

With so many UK homes being energy inefficient and a major source of carbon emissions, plus the pressing need to decarbonise the residential sector by 2050, yet with identification and classification of HtD buildings being too complex and reliant on data that hasn’t been accessible or sufficiently prioritised (so far) in energy performance datasets, a new method that appears to work is very welcome.

The recent breakthrough by the University of Cambridge in utilising AI trained to identify hard-to-decarbonise buildings using open-source data (a first) is a big step forward that could provide policymakers with a fast and effective way to audit and find out just how many houses they have to decarbonise.

As Dr Ronita Bardhan, the head of Cambridge’s Sustainable Design Group and co-author of the study has pointed out, this new and better tool for targeting energy inefficiency within the residential sector could help direct policymakers identify the high-priority houses, thereby saving them precious time and resources. This new method means that AI could, therefore, provide a way to make better decarbonisation policy decisions, and make serious inroads into reducing the stubbornly high emissions of this sector, thereby also providing a better chance of meeting decarbonisation targets.

Additionally, this progress in AI and building analytics could offer a competitive edge by promoting data-driven decision-making in real estate development, urban planning, and energy policy. As tech companies continually seek to leverage their expertise in data handling, the AI model’s adaptability to identify HtD homes based on open-source data streams such as EPC, SVI, AVI, and LST can be integrated into existing and future tech solutions.

The discovery of this new method (model), which the Cambridge researchers appear confident they can significantly increase the detail and accuracy of over time is an advance in corporate social responsibility. However, it’s only just been tested and the imperative now is to harness its potential and translate it into actionable strategies that yield measurable results in decarbonising the residential sector, aligning with global sustainability commitments, and reinforcing the role of innovative technology in societal advancement.

If you’d like to fortify your passwords to make them exceptionally challenging to crack, incorporating emojis can prove remarkably effective.

It might come as a surprise to many users but, as highlighted recently by Kaspersky, some popular apps and online platforms (e.g. Dropbox and OpenAI) permit the use of emojis to bolster the strength of passwords.

For example, computers treat emojis much like they do numbers and special characters. Whereas traditional passwords consisting of letters, numbers, and punctuation offer less than a hundred permutations for each character, Unicode boasts over 3,600 standardised emojis. Consequently, by simply adding one emoji to your password, you increase the complexity for hackers by almost 4,000 possible variations per symbol. Experts suggest that employing five distinct emoticons is akin to using a typical nine-character password.

Therefore, if you’d like to craft a password that is highly resistant to guessing or brute force attacks and offers an additional, unexpected layer of security against cyber threats, incorporating a couple of easily memorable (and swiftly typable) emojis may be the solution.

As a word of caution, however, some emojis are harder to enter. For example, on desktops, there may in some cases be problems in passing verification when signing in.

Google is testing ‘IP Protection’, a feature for Chrome that sends third-party traffic for a set of domains through proxies to mask their IP addresses, thereby boosting privacy by fighting IP-based covert tracking.

IP Addresses 

An IP address can be explained as being like a home address for your computer or device on a network. It’s a unique numerical identifier that helps in sending and receiving information correctly over the internet or local networks. Each device on a network has a unique IP address, which helps in identifying it among all the other devices. For example, just as the post office needs a physical address to deliver your post to the right house, computers use IP addresses to send and receive information to and from the right devices. Typically, your IP address is the one given to your router and is given by your ISP and although not permanently assigned, it tends to stay the same until you disconnect or turn the router off.

What’s The Problem With IP Addresses? 

As useful as an IP address can be in acting as your identifier on the network, it can also be misused when used as an identifier for anyone who wants to covertly track you across multiple websites. For example, because your IP address is unique to your internet connection at that moment, when you visit a website, it sees your IP address and can remember it. If you go to another website, that site can also see your IP address. If both websites share data (like through ads or tracking services), they can ‘connect the dots’ and realise that the same person visited both sites.

User Profile Built Over Time 

Over time, as you visit more and more websites, a ‘persistent user profile’ gets built up and although those tracking may not know your name, they know what the barcode equivalent of you is – your IP address. By looking at the websites you visit, trackers can figure out your interests, habits, and maybe even your location and by combining this information with other semi-permanent information from your browser, a fairly accurate ‘fingerprint’ of you can be built up.

Who? 

Advertisers and marketers may use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies embedded in websites to track IP address to understand user behaviour, preferences, and demographics for targeted advertising and personalised content.

Other trackers of IP address may include websites and online services (e.g. to analyse traffic, understand user engagement, and improve the user experience) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for network management, troubleshooting, to ensure the security and integrity of their network, plus (perhaps) for law enforcement purposes. Other tracking entities can include government and law enforcement, cybersecurity professionals (monitoring for and respond to security threats), content providers and streaming services, and research and analytics companies tracking IP addresses.

It’s also important to remember that cyber criminals track IP addresses to find vulnerable devices or networks.

No Direct Way To Evade Tracking 

The key point is that although IP addresses are necessary and useful for routing traffic, preventing fraud and abuse, and for performing other important functions for network operators and domains, they can pose privacy concerns but, unlike third-party cookies, users currently don’t have a direct way to avoid being covertly tracked. An effective solution, which Google believes could be its IP Protection, needs to strike the right balance between retaining user privacy and not having too much of a negative impact on the normal running of the Internet and the online economy.

VPNs, Proxy Servers, and Secure Browsers 

Many people must resort to use a proxy server or a VPN to hide their IP address, both of which mask a user’s IP address with one of their own. There are also many private browsers available which use third-party ad blockers, onion routing, and other security features. These include Brave, DuckDuckGo, and the Tor Browser, among others.

Google’s IP Protection 

Google’s IP Protection feature, which it is currently testing with a view to rolling it out in multiple phases, sends third-party traffic for a set of domains through proxies, thereby protecting the user by masking their IP address from those domains.

Test 

The first testing phase is reported to be to ensure that the feature will work without impacting third-party companies, e.g. Google’s own Ad Services.  Google says this test will involve a single Google-owned proxy, will only proxy requests to domains owned by Google, and will allow to test its infrastructure while preventing impact to other companies, and gives it more time to refine the list of domains that will be proxied.

Google says that IP Protection changes how stable a client’s IP address is but “does not otherwise cause a breaking change for existing sites.” 

Opt-In 

Google says that IP Protection will be opt-in initially to make sure there is “user control over privacy decisions” and that Google can monitor behaviours at lower volumes.

List Based Approach 

It’s understood that a list based approach is to be used by Google and only domains on the list in a third-party context will be impacted, and the focus will be on scripts and domains that are considered to be tracking users so as not to disrupt legitimate use of IP tracking.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

IP addresses play a vital and legitimate role in the functioning of the web and its economy.

However, user privacy is important and despite browser vendors trying to give users additional privacy, covert cross-site IP tracking enabled by IP addresses is a problem and is a threat to privacy. Most web users aren’t happy with the idea that their web activities can be secretly tracked and a profile of them compiled which is stored and used by faceless companies to target them with ads and offers – it feels like an invasion of privacy and a risk to user security.

Until now, users haven’t had a direct way to avoid being covertly tracked and have needed to proactively opt for measures like using VPNs and proxy servers. Google IP Protection (opt-in at first) could therefore provide a much more direct and effective background privacy-protection solution for users that could, along with ecosystem changes, expand over time to be effective at protecting users’ privacy from cross-site tracking. For companies, organisations, marketers, and advertisers that use IP tracking, however, this could represent a real threat to their operations. Indeed, it could represent a threat to Google’s own domains and ad operation if it doesn’t work properly (hence the testing). IP Protection, therefore, looks promising and the hope is that it will be able to strike the right balance between user privacy and the safety and protecting functionality of the web.

After ceasing operations earlier this year when it lost its core funding grant, start-up network Tech Nation has announced it will be relaunching its brand with a £10bn investment.

Tech Nation 

Originally established in 2010 as ‘Tech City UK’, focusing on nurturing the tech ecosystem in East London, the non-profit ‘Tech Nation’ grew to become one of the most prominent start-up networks in the UK, supporting the growth of the digital tech sector across the country. Tech Nation is reported to have supported more than 5,000 companies in their efforts to scale-up as well as 48 growth programmes to help accelerate over 1,200 start-ups.

Core Funding Lost – Ceased Operations

However, back in February, it was announced that Tech Nation would be winding down and operations would cease at the end of March 2023 due to its core grant funding from the UK government being awarded to a programme run by Barclays Bank. At the time, Gerard Grech, founding CEO of Tech Nation, highlighted how important Tech Nation had been to the UK’s tech sector, saying: “Many of Britain’s most successful tech companies, from Monzo to Deliveroo, and from Skyscanner to Darktrace, have passed through one or more of Tech Nation’s growth programmes” and that “we have helped spread digital growth and jobs nation-wide. For every pound invested in Tech Nation, we have returned £15.” 

Some Criticism 

Although Tech Nation was broadly praised for what it had achieved, criticism that came out of a report about its grant funding by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was that it failed to implement some recommendations from a 2019 review (better recording of outcome data), and that, in its last period, around half of the participants in Tech Nation growth programmes were based in London (perhaps not a wide enough scope).

Along Came The Founders Forum Group 

After announcing that it was “actively seeking” interested parties to acquire its portfolio of its assets, Tech Nation was acquired in April by the Founders Forum Group, owned by UK entrepreneur, investor, and founder of LastMinute.com, Brent Hoberman CBE.

On acquiring Tech Nation, Mr Hoberman said: “By recognising and fostering remarkable digital talent and accelerating startup success nation-wide, Tech Nation has positioned the UK as a world-class innovation hub. We’re honoured to be inheriting this important mission and marrying our objectives with those of Tech Nation to preserve and expand the UK tech ecosystem.” 

Relaunch 

Now, with HSBC Innovation Banking as a funding partner, Tech Nation has announced its relaunch (at Birmingham Tech Week – TechWM), saying in a LinkedIn post: “We are returning with a bold pledge to facilitate £10bn investment into the tech ecosystem and a commitment to ensuring half of Tech Nation’s UK startup network is based outside the capital.” 

Tech Nation has also announced that, in partnership with Motability Operations, it will be launching ‘Creo’ which is a community of disabled founders and those building technologies for the disabled community.

Doing What?

Tech Nation describes itself as the “leading platform for tech insights, connections, collaboration and talent.”  The kinds of services that Tech Nation offers to UK startups include:

– Fostering connections among tech entrepreneurs, startups, scale-ups, and established companies (creating a supportive community).

– Offering training, workshops, and resources to entrepreneurs and startups to help them acquire the skills and knowledge to grow.

– Mentorship – providing access to experienced entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and mentors who can offer guidance and advice.

– Helping startups to connect with potential investors and navigate the funding landscape.

– Publishing reports and insights on the state of the tech industry in the UK, which can help inform policy and investment decisions.

– Advocacy. Representing the interests of the UK’s digital tech sector to policymakers and government bodies, thereby (hopefully) helping to shape a more favourable regulatory environment.

– Helping companies to scale their operations internationally.

– Organising events, meetups, and networking sessions that provide opportunities for startups and tech entrepreneurs to connect.

Challenging Environment 

Although the UK government wants to turn the UK into a science and technology superpower, and the return (re-launch) of Tech Nation will be seen by many as one important contribution towards achieving that, recent economic conditions have proven to be challenging for tech companies. For example, a tech skills gap, very high interest rates, the UK on the verge of a recession, a slow recovery from the pandemic, Brexit complications, tech firm layoffs, and a drying up of venture capital last year, and more have all created a less than favourable environment for tech startup growth.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

In the previous year of Tech Nation, prior to losing its funding earlier this year, it had proved to be instrumental in the growth of the UK’s tech landscape, bringing it to a valuation of $1 trillion today, compared to $60 billion in 2013, and helping create 4.8 million jobs and 135 ‘tech unicorns’ (privately held startups with a value of over $1 billion).

The return of Tech Nation, therefore, backed by investment and the support of the Founders Forum Group, could be a pivotal moment for the UK tech sector and startups in terms of providing much needed support in challenging economic times, offering resources, connectivity, and a wealth of opportunities to rejuvenate the startup ecosystem.

Tech Nation and its many services (such as mentorship, training, and networking) being back up to full speed could bring faster growth and smoother scaling. Additionally, if its network really does extend far enough beyond London, Tech Nation could democratise access to its resources, ensuring businesses across the UK can benefit. This approach could foster a balanced and (hopefully) resilient tech ecosystem nationwide.

The hope now is that Tech Nation’s impactful return could also stimulate job creation, skill development, and economic growth in the UK, aligning with the goal of establishing the UK as a science and technology superpower.

In these times of venture capital uncertainty, Tech Nation’s role in connecting startups with potential investors could become even more crucial, and Tech Nation could help provide UK tech businesses with expect guidance through the funding landscape, opening up new opportunities for growth.

It’s also good to see that Tech Nation’s relaunch includes ‘Creo’ which signals a dedication to building a more inclusive tech community, ensuring that opportunities for innovation and impact are accessible to all.

Tech Nation’s relaunch, therefore, could be a significant boon for the UK tech sector, promising renewed support, nationwide opportunities, and a bolstered economy. For businesses, this could equate to a supportive environment, increased funding access, and a commitment to inclusive growth, setting the stage for a brighter, more innovative future.

Following trials, Microsoft’s AI assistant ‘Copilot’, which can even attend meetings for you, will be generally available to all Microsoft 365 Enterprise customers from 1 November.

Copilot

First introduced in March 2023 and rolled out as part free update to Windows 11, Copilot is an AI assistant that’s embedded within Microsoft 365 apps and services to help users save time, increase productivity, increase creativity, and essentially upskill themselves.

Everyday Companion

Created using ChatGPT version 4 and Microsoft Graph (an API developer platform that connects multiple services and devices), Copilot is natural language conversational (generative AI) chatbot that’s designed to give human-like responses (like ChatGPT) to questions and link aspects of all the 365 apps together in a new and more productive way. Microsoft summarises the purpose and benefits of this “everyday companion” as something that “Combs across your entire universe of data at work, including emails, meetings, chats, documents and more, plus the web” and “like an assistant, it has a deep understanding of you, your job, your priorities and your organisation.” Microsoft say it “goes far beyond simple questions and answers to give you a head start on some of your most complex or tedious tasks” and that you can “ask for what you want in natural language and the technology is smart enough to answer, create it or take action”.

Attends Meetings For You?

One of the features of Copilot that has been widely reported in the media is that it can essentially attend meetings for you by summarising meetings held in Teams for anyone who’s unable to attend. Microsoft says that using Copilot, you can “Follow a Teams meeting that you could not attend live, directly from Outlook on your own time”.

Copilot can make a summary of key discussion points of meetings, including who said what, where people are aligned and also where they disagree. It can suggest action items as well, all in real-time during a meeting. It can also recap meetings for you and send you the notes afterwards.

Many Other Capabilities

With Copilot embedded in all the 365 popular apps, some of its many other capabilities include summarising email threads, drafting emails, drafting documents (e.g. contracts and letters), creating presentations, and generating reports using data from different apps and sources, scheduling meetings, and managing project timelines, analysing, and sorting through data in excel (with Python), and much more. In short, it can both take away the donkey work of some tasks and save time, but it has the capacity to dramatically improve productivity and creativity, plus provide valuable new business insights, and improve competitiveness.

Challenges

However, the fact that Copilot can carry out so many tasks (so well) on behalf of human users does present some challenges and has led to criticism from some commentators. For example:

– Businesses could become dangerously reliant on AI-powered assistance. For instance, what if there are disruptive technical problems with it or what if it’s hacked? Also, businesses may lose touch with some aspects of business and may put too much trust in a technology that is in its early stages and is known to make things up / get things wrong (e.g. AI ‘hallucinations’).

– Security and privacy concerns. Questions are being asked such as whether any data shared with it is secure/stored securely and/or used to train the AI model (Microsoft says it won’t be used to train). Microsoft says, however, that Copilot “includes enterprise-grade security, privacy, compliance, and responsible AI to ensure all data processing happens inside your Microsoft 365 tenant”.

– Its capabilities and widescale use could disrupt admin-based jobs.

– Its potential to lead to legal issues for business users, e.g. copyright infringement issues (even though AI companies have said they’ll cover the risk). For Microsoft, for example, it could fall foul of aspects of new AI laws (the EU AI Act) if it’s not compliant, such as if it’s not obvious or clear whether content has been created by humans or AI.

– If Copilot can attend meetings and provide a summary for users, this could affect company discipline and communication, e.g. people may simply not bother to attend when they should.

How Much?

Copilot for Enterprise customers will be priced at $30 / £25 per month.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Microsoft’s going ‘all out’ with their AI and Copilot. After many announcements, it will be finally available to Microsoft 365 Enterprise customers from 1 November.

Those who have already used AI natural language chatbots (like ChatGPT) will know their value in saving time and boosting productivity in a user-friendly way so with Copilot embedded in 365’s apps, businesses will have an instant, flexible, and effective way to boost productivity, upskill staff in IT and get much more out the most popular apps in Microsoft 365. For those worried about how to get the best out of it (and with the time and inclination to learn about prompts), Microsoft will soon be integrating Copilot Lab, which teaches users how to make good prompts, into Copilot.

Although Copilot can carry out all manner of tasks for businesses, some critics have pointed out that an over-reliance on it could be risky and that the widescale use of AI like tools like Copilot could disrupt admin-based jobs. For Microsoft (which has invested heavily in in the development of AI), Copilot is a way to compete, stay ahead in the market, and provide a way to link all its apps together in an innovative and value-adding way. Microsoft’s 365 Copilot could be a potentially valuable tool for any business but as with any tool, if it’s not used effectively, businesses won’t get the value from it, therefore it’s going to be a case of experimenting to learn.

For Microsoft and other AI companies, new regulations for their AI tools lie ahead with the hope that Copilot and other AI tools provide adequate protection for users and businesses as well as delivering productivity benefits.

Amazon has announced that it will be expanding its ultra-fast Prime Air drone delivery operations to the UK, Italy and also to an as yet unnamed US city by the end of 2024.

Prime Air Drone Delivery

Amazon Prime Air is a service is intended to (safely) deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial drones. The unmanned (UAV) delivery drones, which fly at altitudes below 400 feet, use advanced sense-and-avoid technology to safely navigate the airspace and deliver the package to the intended location. As well as being convenient and fast, particularly in areas of road congestion, using these electric drones is also one way that Amazon hopes to reduce the carbon footprint of its package delivery and contribute to its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Using Drones For More Than A Year 

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos first revealed his plans for a drone delivery service back in 2013 and Amazon Prime Air completed its first fully autonomous drone delivery as far back as December 2016. In 2020, Amazon received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones, and Amazon says that it’s been using drones in the US to safely deliver customer packages weighing up to five pounds in one hour or less, for almost a year.

The company says the new locations (i.e. the UK, Italy, and a third city in the US) will add to its existing opt-in drone delivery operations, and that Amazon’s goal is to deliver 500 million packages on autonomous aircraft by 2030.

Regulators 

However, in order to expand its drone network, Amazon will need to satisfy the European regulator which it has found a challenge in the US, such as satisfying the FAA that the drones can operate an autonomous safety-critical system over densely populated environments within the busy US national airspace. As such, and with several test crashes, it was reported that by May this year, Amazon had only completed 100 deliveries in two small U.S. markets compared to Walmart backed DroneUp which reportedly made more than 110,000 deliveries in the US. Therefore, Amazon will need hundreds of incident-free flights to satisfy regulators and expand its services. Also, in the US, there have been some reports of low signups to drone delivery services.

For its new UK, Italian, and expanded US drone service, Amazon says it’s been working closely with national regulators and international regulators, has committed the right resources and has the right technology and infrastructure in place to make its service scalable, convenient, and safe.

Better Drones 

Amazon has announced that its UK and Italy Prime Air delivery service will be undertaken using its new MK30 drone design, which it says is “quieter, smaller, and lighter, than previous models” and can fly twice as far as previous Prime Air drone models, thereby reaching customers further from fulfilment networks. The MK30 drone features ‘best of both worlds’ design as its tiltrotor system means it can take off like a helicopter and transition into horizontal wing-borne flight once in the air.

Other Improvements 

Crucially, for UK flights, Amazon says the MK30 can “fly in more diverse weather conditions” with the package held inside the drone to protect it. Also key to this operation is that the MK30 is equipped with “sense and avoid technology” so it can avoid obstacles in the delivery area. Some of the problems with Amazon’s previous drone models were that they required site surveys to find landing spots with trimmed grass, requiring people, pets and objects needing to be 5 metres away. The hope is that the new MK30 drone (regulations allowing) will be able to operate more safely in tighter and more varied spaces.

Humanoid Robot Announcement 

In addition to announcing its new drone services, Amazon has also announced that it will be testing Agility’s bipedal robot ‘Digit’ (a humanoid robot with arms, legs, and a head) in its warehouse facilities. This marks a substantial change from its many wheeled and robot-arm style robots. Amazon already has a staggering 750,000 autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) deployed across the company’s warehouse network, but a walking humanoid design is a first. It is thought that humanoid-style robots will be well suited to workspaces built for humans (shelves and stairs), and that it could have wider scope than just being used for parcel-picking, thereby expanding future possibilities.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Amazon’s wealth, power, scale, and scope as a business has allowed (and perhaps required) it to experiment more with automation that improves both its productivity and efficiency (i.e. robots) and its delivery service (the drones). In addition to improving these aspects of its business, its drones and robots have been a way for Amazon to put more pressure on the competition, open up new future opportunities, offer more choice to customers (opt-in drone deliveries), learn and build alliances and partnerships, move further towards meeting its green targets (zero emission technology), and continue to grow and expand.

In the UK, parcel delivery drones flying overhead would be a new and novel development but would offer potential opportunities for businesses trying to offer customers speedy (at least same-day), secure deliveries even to difficult-to-reach locations at a time when our roads are often congested, particularly in urban areas (if the price were right).

There are regulatory hurdles to overcome, nevertheless Amazon has made the effort to create a safer and more suitable drone to meet specifications and match environmental conditions. The advantages of drones (speed, directness, cleanliness) could be appreciated and used as way to add value and provide a competitive edge to all kinds of businesses and organisations in the UK that need to deliver goods and other items very quickly.

November 2, 1936 : BBC Basics

“Gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest time-waster of all time. Use it well.”, said Isaac Shoenberg, head of the EMI research team that developed the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting.

On the second of November 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) transmitted the first-ever scheduled television programmes. They were in “High Definition” (at the time) and started airing at 3pm and finishing at 4pm. Then again with more content at 9pm until 10pm.

Programming featured brief impromptu performances by musicians. The duration was restricted because early viewers (referred to as “lookers in”) reported eye strain from watching the small screens of the time.

The BBC (namely the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation, established in 1922), is unusual in that they don’t broadcast adverts on their (domestic) channels because it’s primarily funded by the TV licence fee paid by UK households. This means that it remains independent of commercial interests (as far as we know) and they’re unbiased (supposedly) and a beacon of free-world hope, recognised for its independent reporting throughout the world. In fact, although the primary audience speaks English, the BBC broadcasts in dozens of languages worldwide, from major ones like Arabic, Chinese, and Russian to regional languages like Hausa, Kyrgyz, and Tok Pisin.

In the 1980s, the BBC was involved in a project to promote computer literacy. This led to the creation of the BBC Micro, a series of microcomputers co-developed with Acorn Computers. It was widely used in schools across the UK and was part of a wave of pioneering home-computers originating at the time that kicked-off the careers of many computer programmers and entire industries related to home-computing. Later on in 2015, in a bid to help foster a new generation of computer users, the BBC, in partnership with other organisations, released the Micro Bit, a tiny programmable computer for kids.

As an institution you can either Love it or hate it, nevertheless there’s no denying that the BBC in no small part helped shape the current IT landscape in the UK via an entire generation of people that started their IT career from those early BBC computers and who watched inspiring BBC programmes such as “Tomorrow’s World”.