Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
Webex partners with Voiceitt to enhance workplace accessibility
Cisco’s collaboration tool, Webex, has announced a partnership with Voiceitt, a speech recognition technology, to enhance accessibility for people with non-standard speech.
The new integration uses AI captioning and transcription from Voiceitt to ensure that people with speech impairments are able to speak and are understood in virtual meetings.
Voiceitt’s technology is based on machine learning algorithms that are learning constantly from the growing database of individual users’ speech.
“The integration with Webex is game-changing because it creates more independence for users with disabilities, while increasing the potential for more collaborative, inclusive work environments,” said Sara Smolley, Voiceitt co-founder and vice president, strategic partnerships at Cisco. “True collaboration means everyone at the table has a voice.”
Voiceitt for Webex is available now in the Webex Hub. Later this year, it will include closed captioning capabilities for transcription accuracy.
Users spending less time on apps with poor connectivity: Opensignal
According to a new Opensignal report, app retention rates are nearly 50 per cent lower for users who have seen consistently poor connectivity, undermining the mobile app business.
“Almost all apps are monetized either through in-app purchases or ads, and both business models require people to continue using the app,” the report reads.
But with poor mobile connectivity, users spend 20 per cent less time on apps and with poor Wi-Fi, it’s an even greater – 38 per cent less time.
Accordingly, video players, lifestyle and navigation apps tend to see the largest drops in app session length, the report shows.
App developers and publishers should look to improve users’ experience during time spent with poor connectivity so that they can boost ad, in-app and subscription revenue, the report says.
CIQ launches tool it says erases limits of HPC architecture
CIQ, the company behind Rocky Linux, recently launched Fuzzball, a tool that it said for the first time “unifies the power of infrastructure optimized for all performance intensive computing (PIC) workloads like sophisticated research, scientific modeling, AI/ML and compute and data analytics with the agility and choice that enterprises have come to expect with hyperscale cloud computing.”
High-performance computing (HPC), it added, “has been limited by an antiquated and rigid 30-year-old architecture. Until the advent of Performance-Intensive Computing as a Service (PICaaS), users were restricted to expensive, on-premises, monolithic deployments requiring dedicated administration and maintenance.
“PICaaS brought HPC to the cloud, but until Fuzzball there was no way to unify these two worlds and allow workloads to run in the place that makes the most sense for researchers and the organizations that empower them.”
Gregory Kurtzer, CEO of CIQ and founder of open-source projects Rocky Linux, Apptainer (formerly Singularity) and Warewulf, said the tool “reimagines the foundations of performance-intensive computing, drawing from innovations in both HPC and modern cloud-scale computing.”
SoftwareOne acquires Calgary-based Beniva Consulting Group
SoftwareOne Holding AG, a global provider of end-to-end software and cloud technology offerings, has acquired Calgary-based Beniva Consulting Group Inc., a firm founded in 2016 that specializes in ServiceNow, Configuration Management Database (CMDB), IT and operations management (ITOM), cloud advisory, and application services.
The acquisition adds deep process automation and service management specialization to SoftwareOne’s existing IT Asset Management (ITAM) services.
Plans call for Beniva’s team of 75+ cloud technology experts and its company directors to join the Swiss-based company.
Apple strikes multibillion-dollar agreement with Broadcom
This week, Apple announced that it has struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Broadcom for the development of 5G radio frequency (RF) components, as part of its commitment to pump US$430 billion into the U.S. economy.
Apple said it already helps support more than 1,100 jobs in a Broadcom manufacturing facility in Colorado, and noted, “the partnership will enable Broadcom to continue to invest in critical automation projects and upskilling with technicians and engineers.”
Time to sign up for the 39th edition of the CCCGC
The Canadian Computer Charity Golf Classic (CCCGC) taking place Sept. 7 is a premier golf tournament that brings the computer industry together to help raise funds for two worthy causes: Easter Seals Ontario and Princess Margaret Hospital.
Celebrating its 39th anniversary this year, the event is a perennial sellout, hosting an estimated 300 golfers who represent more than 100 corporations from the Canadian and the U.S. technology sectors.
It is taking place at Lionhead Golf and Conference Centre, and sponsorships and foursomes are still available. Move quickly to get your place before they sell out. Further information is available at computergolf.ca.
