Model Airplanes

It’s only been a few years since IBM’s Watson technology beat Jeopardy! champions on US national TV.

Now Big Blue’s supercomputer is taking on an even tougher challenge: coming up with trip-planning advice that travelers find relevant.

IBM is licensing its Watson natural language-based cognitive service to new startup WayBlazer, a B2B service that will power the consumer applications of third parties such as direct marketing organizations (DMOs), hotel chains, airlines, and travel publishers.

The Austin-based WayBlazer claims to digest unstructured textual information and then provide advice and transactional recommendations to travelers.

WayBlazer says it can, with the help of Watson, use natural-language information to answer difficult questions like, “I’d like to go to a four-star beach resort in January with my wife and two kids, and I’d like activities for two kids plus recommendations for good restaurants.”

Impressive pedigree

WayBlazer, currently in beta, has an acting CEO in Manoj Saxena, who is also managing director of The Entrepreneurs’ Fund, an early stage venture investor whose IV fund is backing the project.

WayBlazer is partly the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Terry Jones, who was the founder of online travel agency Travelocity.com and the founding chairman of metasearch giant Kayak.

They have huge help on the sales front.

IBM’s Watson sales representatives tasked to travel and transportation companies have already begun selling WayBlazer products to third-parties. The reason: IBM stands to gain from increased licensing fees of Watson technology.

WayBlazer created

Article source: http://www.tnooz.com/article/startup-pitch-wayblazer-aims-travel-insights-service/

About a year ago, I found myself sitting in the least desirable seat on the plane – the middle of the middle on a massive airliner directly in front of the restroom. On my left was a man in a grey undershirt, understated in appearance. Meanwhile his posture was one of dignity and pride. As I took in the scene, other travelers on the airplane walked down the aisle, pausing to stare at the man next to me, continuing on their walk, and then turning around to stare again. After two or three passengers stopped to stare, I couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you?”

It turns out my neighbor was Raffi Hovannisian, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and founding leader of the national liberal Heritage party, founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, Armenia’s first independent research center. So what did Raffi and I have in common besides both ordering the lasagna dinner?

Raffi and I had a highly enriching conversation about a topic we both care about: social entrepreneurship. Our dialogue ultimately led to my visit in Armenia a year later to soak in the social entrepreneurship scene and develop strategic partnerships for The Global Good Fund, the social enterprise I work for.

During my visit, I explored a variety of mediums and key societal leverage points that reinforce social entrepreneurship – from Junior Achievement to the

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carrie-rich/igniting-entrepreneurship_b_5942728.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

When you’re trying to compete in the phone-making game, there are certain challenges. On the one hand, you want to dazzle customers with innovative features. On the other hand, you want to keep the suit-wearing shareholders happy with growth and strong, continued sales. The bottleneck in this equation is often technology. You can’t force it to progress. So once you’ve more or less caught up, you’re left with a choice: Innovate with software/hardware design, or take a risk with gimmicky features. Any of the above will do in lieu of the (unspeakable) alternative — not releasing a new model this year.

We’re not trying to preload this review of Sony’s new Z3 flagship, which arrives barely six months after its predecessor. Or maybe we are. What we’re definitely doing is spelling it out right here in the intro: The Z3 looks a lot like the Z2, and after a quick glance at the spec sheet, you might argue it sounds a lot like it too. This is pertinent because, by its own admission, Sony isn’t doing very well at competing in the phone-making game. Given the above, is the Z3 going to tempt existing customers to upgrade? Or perhaps lure those over from other brands? T-Mobile will be stocking it this fall, though the price isn’t yet known. Currently it’s £550 in the UK — a touch above the HTC One and Galaxy S5. Let’s have a look, shall we?

Sony Xperia

Article source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/06/sony-xperia-z3-review/

Boeing said Monday it will build major composite parts of the wing and tail of the forthcoming 777X jet in St. Louis, generating about 700 jobs there at peak production.

On the current 777 model, most of that work is done by outside suppliers and none is done in Washington state.