Apple continues Asia expansion with its first retail store in Taiwan

Apple has continued to expand its retail footprint in Asia after the iPhone-maker opened its first store in Taiwan this weekend.

The inaugural Apple Store is located in Taipei 101, a landmark skyscraper in Taipei, and it is staffed with an initial workforce of 130 employees, Apple said. Doors in Taiwan opened at 11am local time on Saturday, but eager fans had queued for as long as 68 hours in some cases, Focus Taiwan reports.

Beyond selling products and offering repairs, the Apple Taipei 101 store is aimed at being a place for community and learning. Apple said it will offer visitors access to its €˜Today at Apple’ programs that cover topics like photography and video, art, design, music and coding.

Like in other parts of Asia, Apple customers in Taiwan had until now had to rely on Apple’s website or third-party resellers to buy products and handle repair options. That’s despite the fact that many of Apple’s key manufacturing partners, including Foxconn, are headquartered in Taiwan but operate their factories in China.

Exact numbers aren’t clear, but Apple is consistently among the top five smartphone sellers in Taiwan with upwards of 15 percent marketshare, although that spikes significantly around new device launches.

This Taiwan launch comes hot on the heels of the opening of Apple’s first retail store in Singapore, and the announcement of plans for an Apple Store in Korea. The company is also working to expand its stores to India. Apple, which has already begun assembling some devices in the country, said it recently held “constructive” dialogue with government officials on the topic.

This article originally appeared at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/02/first-apple-store-taiwan/.

How Do You See the Future?

Shelly Palmer has the kind of smart, educated, future forward thinking that never failes to get my brain going

It starts with belief

How Do You See the Future?

Tomorrow will be nothing like today. It may look and feel a lot like today -you’ll get up, have breakfast, exercise, go off to work, etc. But tomorrow will be nothing like today. Tomorrow there will be 600,000 new smartphone activations, 540,000 new computers sold, hundreds of thousands of new cloud computing credentials issued, hundreds more petabytes of data traveling through the Internet, thousands more miles driven by autonomous vehicles, millions of new words interpreted by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) systems, billions of new patterns learned by machines, and billions of new lines of code created. Tomorrow will be nothing like today.

With that in mind, it might be fun to think about how some of things that will make tomorrow different might impact how you spend your day. So let’s play a game about the future called, “What Do You Believe?”

First we will list a set of assumptions. Then we will craft a set of thought experiments to help visualize the future we assume and put some timing around it. Then we will ask two simple questions: (1) Do you believe in the future you’ve envisioned? (2) How will you spend your day in the future you’ve envisioned?

What Do You Believe?

To help you get started, here are a few things I believe. You may (and should) have a different set of theses, but feel free to adopt any of the following:

  • The big will get bigger, the small will survive, and the middle will perish.
  • Consumers of every economic stratum will demand “on demand.”
  • Access is becoming as valuable as ownership -streaming media instead of buying a download, ride-sharing instead of buying a car, etc. You will pay for it with cash, data, or a combination of both.
  • Anything you can talk to will understand and talk back -Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), NLU, and related technologies coupled with Augmented Reality and machine learning will have a radically disruptive impact on the way we live our lives.
  • As a result of ride-sharing, the auto industry will contract by 20 percent.
  • Traffic will increase because ride-sharing service cars will always be in motion.
  • AI will start taking white-collar jobs more quickly than experts predict. If just 20 percent of white-collar jobs evaporate, the economic impact will be profound.
  • New technology will not replace all of the jobs that new technology displaces.
  • Commoditized products that are hard to pronounce or spell (or speak) or hard to search will quickly become unprofitable.
  • The convergence of on demand, machine learning, and autonomy will change the world.
  • Data is more powerful in the presence of other data.
  • Anything that can be connected will be connected.
  • Anything that can be hacked will be hacked.
  • Distribution channel disruption is accelerating.
  • Due to the increasing world population, we cannot train enough doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals.
  • Fresh water is a scarce resource, and natural supplies will diminish quickly over the next 30 years.
  • “Big Food” may go the way of “Big Tobacco” as health care costs rise.
  • The tools used to access the free and open Internet have enabled users to filter out anything that makes them uncomfortable and have exacerbated the negative effects of confirmation bias.
  • The entire education system is too expensive and is not producing qualified candidates for newly created jobs.
  • Climate change will cause sea levels to rise over the next 50 years.

I’m intentionally leaving politics and terrorism off this list -you need to put them back.

I could go on listing my theses and assumptions, but I’m sure you get the idea. Think about the future in a holistic way and try to incorporate as many aspects of your world view as you can. You can categorize them several different ways: personal behavior, consumer behavior (shopping, media, sports, eating, cooking, housing, etc.), industry behavior. Organize your theses in any way that works for you.

What Will Happen?

Let’s think about each assumption. For example: “We cannot train enough doctors.” What probable futures or opportunities does this thesis suggest? Just keep trying to adapt the current healthcare system until it breaks? Invent some new ways to increase efficiency? Create Dr. McCoy’s Medical Tricorder? (That’s a Star Trek reference. Google it, and look up the Tricorder Xprize while you’re at it.)

Add Timing and Changes

Now imagine a future where you have used technology (of any kind) to create a world you’d want to live in. For example: I envision a world where everyone has access to a device that can do basic medical examinations and increase wellness outcomes by diagnosing the most common, treatable diseases and providing access to the cures at an affordable price. Does this exist? Will it exist? Can it exist? If so, when? You cannot answer, “In the future.” Put a number next to it. Two years, five years, 10 years, etc. What will change when this new technology or system exists? Write it down.

Bonus Points

For bonus points, think about how these various probable futures will interact with each other. For example: If there are fewer cars sold, what will happen to the work force? Not just the auto industry work force. What about parking lots? Gas stations? Convenience stores in gas stations? Auto parts stores? Strip malls? And so on.

Hello “New” World!

If you’ve played the game correctly, you will have created a world with some magical and some horrible attributes. It should not be Utopian, and it should not look like a post-Apocalyptic movie. Neither extreme is realistic.

Once you’ve envisioned this world, we get to the first main question: “What do you believe?” You’ve just crafted your vision for the future. You’ve taken your world view, information from others, and thoughts and opinions from everything you know and projected it onto a blank canvas. Is it your vision of the future? Do you believe it? If you don’t, rework your thought experiments until you have high confidence in your beliefs.

Get Ready

Once you passionately believe in the future you’ve envisioned, the next step is to prepare for it. How will you spend your day? What will it take to get there? What investments need to be made? What will your competitors do in such a world? What if €¦ But wait -this stuff won’t happen until the future. I’m just playing a game about what it will be like.

Surprise Ending

It’s not a game. It’s a test. And your answers are your future. So let’s take it from the top: What do you believe?

About Shelly Palmer

Named one of LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Technology, Shelly Palmer is CEO of The Palmer Group, a strategic advisory, technology solutions and business development practice focused at the nexus of media and marketing with a special emphasis on machine learning and data-driven decision-making. He is Fox 5 New York’s on-air tech and digital media expert, writes a weekly column for AdAge, and is a regular commentator on CNBC and CNN. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com or subscribe to our daily email http://ow.ly/WsHcb

 
This article originally appeared at: https://www.shellypalmer.com/2017/06/how-do-you-see-the-future.

Mad Men’ Director’s New Series ‘Romanoffs’ to Tell Story of Heirs to Russia’s Throne

Over the weekend I finished a binge watch of Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of The United States. 

There were several things where I questioned Mr. Stone’s accuracy, if not sanity, and I can’t recommend listening to his voice for 12 hours.

I do like the idea that we have much to learn by looking at different viewpoints and motivations.

Romanoffs looks to be a more entertaining way to keep thinking about what shapes history.

‘Romanoffs’ will focus on the lives of several descendants of Russia’s ill-fated imperial family. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Mad Men” stars Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery are set to feature in a TV dramatization of the lives of the descendants of Russia’s Romanov dynasty as showrunner Matthew Weiner returns with his long-awaited new project.

Titled simply “Romanoffs,” (the double “ff” reflects the way it was spelled until recently) the serial is being financed by Amazon Studios, which has budgeted in excess of $50 million for the ambitious project after a winning a bidding war. Its partner is The Weinstein Co., an independent movie company with significant foreign distribution reach.

Ever since AMC’s award-winning “Mad Men” went off the air two years ago, the nature of Weiner’s next project has been the subject of excited speculation in the industry. Kept tightly under wraps until recently, the series will be an eight-part anthology, with shooting taking place around the world.

“I didn’t want to talk about the show because I wanted to get the room opened,” Weiner said in a released statement. The “room” is the industry name given to the writers’ room that is set up for a TV project. Weiner currently has as many as a dozen screenwriters working on the show.

“Each of the eight episodes will tell a standalone story with no recurring plot elements or actors,” said Weiner.

The director explained that the only common thread is that each episode will tell the story of people in contemporary times who believe they are descendants of the imperial family that ruled Russia from 1613 until the Bolsheviks seized power.

“I love this idea that these characters believe themselves to be descendants of this autocratic family,” said Weiner.

Russia’s last tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne during the revolutionary upheavals of 1917. In 1918, Nicholas was executed by revolutionaries, alongside his wife, children and his entourage, who had accompanied the family into exile in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. Many relatives escaped to the West.

Various groups of descendants abroad claim to be true successors to the throne. Among the better known descendants are the UK’s Prince Philip, King Constantine II of Greece and Russian Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Are they likely to “star” in “Romanoffs”?

Weiner is playing his cards close to his chest for now, but hinted that the series might feature Grand Duchess Anastasia, who many insist escaped the firing squad, despite forensic evidence indicating otherwise.

Weiner said that Anastasia’s whereabouts had “long served as a mystery, with lore suggesting she’d survived the tragedy and taken on a new identity.”

The showrunner says that the series will be contemporary, featuring “a different cast, a different story and a different location.” The current game plan calls for four episodes to be shot in the U.S. and the other four in soon-to-be-determined European countries.

Unlike “Mad Men,” “Romanoffs” will go directly to streaming, which represents a revolutionary marketing approach for a big-budget show -and a huge gamble. The project also represents the first time this team of writers, including Weiner, will be writing for streaming.

For now, the specifics of the casting process remain vague, but “Mad Men” veterans Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery are expected to be involved in separate episodes, adding box office power to the project.

Hollywood has always had a fascination with the Russian royals, with efforts by various would-be Romanovs over the years to draw attention to themselves adding color to the myth.

Perhaps the best known bogus “Romanoff” (yes, he spelled it this way) was a restaurateur whose establishment, the now-defunct Romanoff’s, was Hollywood’s most famous dining spot during the movie colony’s heyday. The restaurant catered to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan, before he was elected president. Eventually, however, this “Romanoff” was exposed as a Lithuanian-born commoner.

A concrete date for the streaming of “Romanoffs” is yet to be announced, but the show is expected to be released in late 2017 or early 2018.

 
This article originally appeared at: https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/mad-men-directors-new-series-romanoffs-to-tell-story-of-heirs-to-russias-throne-58304.

Apple Will Teach You How to Code Apps for Free

Apple has released a free app development curriculum in the iBooks Store. Designed for high school and college students, you can learn to code whenever, wherever you want in Swift, Apple’s programming language. Companies like Airbnb, Yelp, Kayak and TripAdvisor all have apps created with Swift. 

According to Apple, Swift Playgrounds has been downloaded more than one million times, and the add-on “Everyone Can Code” has been downloaded nearly half a million times.

Read more at Inc.com. 

Snake Venom Holds Cures For Cancer And Diabetes – Diabetes Reverse Revealed

Want to know how one of our biggest fears can turn in our best friend? A British-Australian study recently showed that snake venom holds cures for cancer and diabetes. Who knew that something so harmful and threatening can help us get better?

This British-Australian study unveiled one of the biggest secrets of nature. We all knew that snake venom was essential for anti-venom serum but now those scientists came to blow our minds. It seems that snakes are able to convert their venom back into harmless molecules that scientists say could help find a cancer cure.

This study showed that snake venom evolved from perfectly harmless proteins and these clever scientists found the way to turn it back into these proteins. How could this help us you may ask yourself? Well, snake venom typically targets the same physiological pathways as many human diseases. And by modifying these structures in the venom they can make it to target specific areas with problems.

“Our work highlights a fascinating relationship between molecules that make up reptile venom and normal cellular proteins,”. Gavin Huttley, part of the Australian researchers team said, the journal Nature Communications reports.

Some snake venoms, for example, cause the cells that line blood vessels to separate and die, including the kinds that feed cancerous tumors. Huttley said mapping how that worked could lead to more effective cancer treatments.

“Many snake venom toxins target the same physiological pathways that doctors would like to target to treat a variety of medical conditions,” said Wolfgang Wuster from Bangor University and study co-author.

The snake venom, once considered deadly, is now seen by the scientists as “a small drug company, running huge numbers of experiments on evolutionary timescales with new molecules and seeing what works”. That meaning that with time and money, these people are able to find cures to diseases like cancer, diabetes or cardio-vascular problems such as high blood pressure.

Hopefully, they will continue on studying this marvelous substance and map the snake’s amino acid changes so new drugs will be out on the market soon to treat our most feared diseases.Filed under: Reverse Diabetes; Tagged as: Diabetes News

How Travel Can Increase Productivity and Creativity

Apparently, travel isn’t just about long days, fish tacos, killer tans and no alarm clocks. For 94% of business leaders and entrepreneurs, travel is the deterrent from burnout and poor mental health. Even further, travel has now been proven to improve creativity and productivity. 

Benefits such as improved communication skills, insights when you travel with a group, overall health improvement, creativity boosts, time to sit and reflect and increasing your network can all improve your productivity when you’re back at the office. 

So don’t forego your summer vacation. It just might make you a better worker.

Read more at the Huffington Post.