The Trump team is drafting a potential executive order that can be used to revamp and loosen existing AI regulations if Trump is elected. According to the Washington Post, The America First Policy Institute is involved. The GOP platform for the Republican National Convention includes repealing Biden’s AI executive order, which some tech investors argue stifles innovation. The GOP aims to align its AI policies more with Silicon Valley, where some executives have shifted support to Trump. Other tech executives, including Elon Musk and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, have shifted from supporting Biden to supporting Trump. While there’s broad agreement that it is important to U.S. interests to prevent China from gaining an upper hand in military AI applications, we must also ensure that AI development is done safely.

There are about 10 million combined cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s diagnosed annually. Predicting dementia early is important because it affects clinical management and patient outcomes. However, we currently don’t have tools for proper detection, which causes dementia to be either missed entirely or misdiagnosed. Previous AI diagnostic models were hard to interpret, so researchers from Cambridge University developed a new type of predictive prognostic model (PPM) using real-world and non-invasive patient data including cognitive tests and structural MRI. The PPM was trained with cognitive tests and data on gray matter atrophy, which are common across research and clinical settings. That data was validated with other data from memory clinics in the U.K. and Singapore. The PPM predicts whether patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will remain stable or progress to full-blown AD. Overall, the PPM represents a significant advancement in early dementia prediction. It also provides a scalable and generalizable tool for clinical practice. The combination of early PPM testing and newly released Alzheimer’s drugs should provide great societal benefits and lessen the financial burden on families.

The Trump team is drafting a potential executive order that can be used to revamp and loosen existing AI regulations if Trump is elected. According to the Washington Post, The America First Policy Institute is involved. The GOP platform for the Republican National Convention includes repealing Biden’s AI executive order, which some tech investors argue stifles innovation. The GOP aims to align its AI policies more with Silicon Valley, where some executives have shifted support to Trump. Other tech executives, including Elon Musk and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, have shifted from supporting Biden to supporting Trump. While there’s broad agreement that it is important to U.S. interests to prevent China from gaining an upper hand in military AI applications, we must also ensure that AI development is done safely.

There are about 10 million combined cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s diagnosed annually. Predicting dementia early is important because it affects clinical management and patient outcomes. However, we currently don’t have tools for proper detection, which causes dementia to be either missed entirely or misdiagnosed. Previous AI diagnostic models were hard to interpret, so researchers from Cambridge University developed a new type of predictive prognostic model (PPM) using real-world and non-invasive patient data including cognitive tests and structural MRI. The PPM was trained with cognitive tests and data on gray matter atrophy, which are common across research and clinical settings. That data was validated with other data from memory clinics in the U.K. and Singapore. The PPM predicts whether patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will remain stable or progress to full-blown AD. Overall, the PPM represents a significant advancement in early dementia prediction. It also provides a scalable and generalizable tool for clinical practice. The combination of early PPM testing and newly released Alzheimer’s drugs should provide great societal benefits and lessen the financial burden on families.

The Curious Case of AWS App Studio: This week I took some time to build a couple of simple applications using the recently announced (but still in preview) AWS App Studio. A thought that has been in my head is what the real impact of AI will be on developer tools. For instance, an AI assistant to help you write a better code snippet is a very generation-1 idea. How far can it be taken? And will GenAI make some types of development tools obsolete? While AWS does not promise any of that, it does present a case for a deeper involvement from AI in the development process. For example, before you start creating an app, you can simply use a prompt window to detail your vision, and then App Studio brings back a requirements document for you to modify or improve. Also, unlike other coding platforms that include templates or sample apps, App Studio gives you sample prompts. It’s a glimpse of a possible future that is quite revealing. You’ll be able to see more of my research on this next week.

What is developer productivity? We are starting to see a trend with vendors trying to position themselves in terms of how much their new GenAI features enable developer productivity. Until recently, it was all about how much faster one could write code. But as we have seen, not all models and tools are the same, and the results are hard to verify. So now we are hearing different notions about how to measure the impact of AI on developers. AWS has highlighted a measure of how many AI recommendations a developer accepted. While not a strict productivity number, it’s an interesting measure of the effectiveness of the tool. I have been having discussions with other vendors on this topic as well. While none of them are happy with the state of the conversation, there is not any real consensus on what to do. I expect that by the time we get into major trade conferences in the fall and winter, we will see new or updated tools and many different attempts to quantify a relevant productivity metric.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has abandoned its plans to acquire HubSpot. Despite initial talks, the deal was reportedly only partially explored due to potential regulatory hurdles and concerns over Google’s ability to integrate and serve HubSpot’s primarily SMB customer base. Google’s acquisition of HubSpot could have raised concerns among enterprise customers about Google’s commitment to meeting their specific requirements, potentially leading them to seek alternative solutions. While Alphabet has significant financial resources, to say the least, the acquisition might have risked alienating this valuable customer segment and attracting further antitrust scrutiny.

NVIDIA’s partnership with Mistral to deploy a Mistral NeMo model for use across the enterprise is a good move. This 12-billion-parameter model, small enough to run on a laptop, was designed for scale and multi-use with data that resides on-prem (and stays on-prem). Many folks look at NVIDIA as this silicon giant that delivers really high-powered platforms to handle the largest training jobs. The Mistral partnership demonstrates how in fact NVIDIA delivers solutions across the spectrum of use cases, deployment scenarios, and market segments. Further, this is another example of building an entire AI solution stack—from silicon to software—that can be deployed in the most frictionless fashion. The two biggest barriers I hear about for AI are complexity and cost. Partnerships like this one are how NVIDIA is tearing down those barriers.

Oracle has launched its AI-powered Clinical Digital Assistant in the U.S., designed to enhance doctor-patient interactions. This mobile offering integrates generative AI, clinical intelligence, and multimodal voice/screen assistance to streamline workflows and improve patient care. By integrating with Oracle Health EHR, the assistant enables providers to quickly access patient information, generate notes, and propose follow-ups during appointments. The AI assistant and integration are expected to reduce administrative burden and free up more time for patient care.

Zoho has launched Zoho Solo, an all-in-one toolkit for solopreneurs and small businesses. It aims to simplify business management by consolidating various functions including client communication, project management, invoicing, expense tracking, and more into a single app. Zoho Solo is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing individuals to streamline their workflows and manage their businesses more efficiently. Zoho has historically catered to small and medium-sized businesses, and while its enterprise software offerings have recently been focused on larger companies, Zoho Solo appears to be a strategic move to attract new users who may grow with the platform and adopt more comprehensive Zoho solutions in the future.

Cisco and the French mobile network operator Orange are teaming up to provide an IP and private standalone 5G network to support the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic games this summer. It is a multi-pronged effort to support broadcasters such as NBC with a wireless and agile network to transmit 4K and 8K video, as well as support unique attendee activations at multiple venues across Paris. The effort is a showcase for the capabilities of both Cisco and Orange, and serves as a model to be replicated to support the connectivity needs for other amateur and professional sporting events.

SAP is focused on simplifying the process of transitioning on-premises ERP clients to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The company has integrated AI into its RISE with SAP packages, giving all customers access to AI tools such as the Joule assistant in SAP S/4HANA Cloud. This integration supports improvements in application development, data analytics, and supplier collaboration. So far, 6,000 out of 25,000 SAP clients have transitioned to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. To assist with this transformation, SAP has implemented updated processes to support customers through their journey.

Recently I sat down with StreamSets Inc. CEO Girish Pancha in Dublin, Ireland, at Software AG’s International User Group Conference to discuss the future of AI, data integration, and Super iPaaS. ERP systems have modernized to include AI, improve data quality, and provide better access to information. In this context, as organizations expand their technology stacks—and create data silos—the need for advanced integration tools is increasing. IBM has recently acquired StreamSets Inc. and webMethods from Software AG to improve real-time integration, API management, and data ingestion with Super iPaaS. Watch this exclusive interview here.

The European Union has concluded its antitrust investigation into Apple Pay after Apple agreed to binding commitments regarding contactless payments. These commitments address concerns about Apple’s refusal to grant rivals access to the near-field communication (NFC) chip on iPhones and Apple Watches, a standard technology used for tap-and-go payments. Specifically, Apple will allow third-party payment service providers access to the NFC technology, enabling them to develop their own mobile wallet apps for iOS devices. This means that European Economic Area (EEA) consumers will have more choices when making contactless payments in stores. The agreed-upon commitments are legally binding, and a trustee will monitor their implementation to ensure compliance. This decision marks a significant step towards greater interoperability and consumer choice in the European mobile payments landscape. In the long run, it will likely lead to increased competition, innovation, and potentially lower fees for businesses and consumers.

Adobe data from Amazon Prime Day shows consumers are increasingly turning to flexible buy now pay later (BNPL) payment options to manage their budgets, driving a 17.1% year-over-year increase in BNPL orders and contributing to $540 million in revenue on July 16th alone. Across the two-day event, BNPL orders accounted for 7.6% of online orders. The flexible payment method drove $1.08 billion of online spending—just shy of Adobe’s prediction of $1.09 to $1.11 billion, but still up 16.4% year over year.

The FTC is criticizing Microsoft’s move to create an entry-level Xbox Game Pass tier that doesn’t include day-one game access to new titles, saying that it’s a degraded experience for consumers and that Microsoft’s price increases are also an indication of market power abuse.

Google is open-sourcing Blocks, which was one of the company’s early VR model creation tools. This may actually increase the quality of VR art and games in the future.

While many countries are experimenting with shorter workweeks, labor shortages in Greece have prompted the government to implement a six-day workweek for certain industries. This new law, intended as a temporary measure to address staffing gaps, allows for an optional sixth workday with increased pay. The move has sparked debate, with some experts highlighting potential negative impacts on work-life balance and employee well-being. However, the government maintains that it is an essential step to alleviate the immediate challenges posed by labor shortages in critical sectors.

Carta and Deel have expanded their partnership, introducing automated global equity compliance for U.S.-based companies with employees in Canada. This integration aims to simplify the management of international stock options and equity compensation for companies with globally distributed teams. The enhanced features are expected to streamline equity administration, improve the employee experience, and ensure efficient tax compliance. Companies utilizing both platforms can now activate the integration within their Deel accounts.

Today, NTT DATA unveiled an “Ultralight Edge AI” managed services platform that auto-discovers IoT assets, adapts to diverse devices and systems with its “vast library” of pre-built interfaces, and hosts AI-powered applications for edge analytics. The product operates like a managed gateway but at a higher level—interfacing OT (operational technology) systems with IT backends while performing significant local processing at the edge. Many enterprises desperately need to address “shadow IoT” problems, where business processes depend on opaque, unmanaged OT systems that are invisible to mainstream IT systems. Bringing these devices out of the shadows creates significant business value by discovering, managing, and aggregating OT-generated data streams, analyzing OT data at the edge, and elevating the data for training and inference in enterprise AI systems. And those AI systems create ever-increasing demands for real-world OT data to drive enterprise insights and improve operational efficiencies. I haven’t yet done a deep dive into the technology, but Ultralight Edge AI addresses a set of problems common to many enterprise IoT deployments.

I’ve confirmed that the Android 15 feature set includes a Thread network stack. Phones with 802.15.4 radios can communicate directly with Thread-based smart home devices without going through a border router. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max already have Thread, and I’ll bet the Pixel 9, launching next month, also has it. This is significant because Matter supports both Wi-Fi and Thread, and smartphones are ideal Matter controllers.

Xiaomi’s Mix Flip phone ups the ante on Samsung and Motorola with an extremely clean and well-polished design that features a huge cover screen and colossal 4780 mAh battery.

Google’s Upcoming Made By Google Event will feature the new Pixel 9 Pro and a new Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which it pre-announced through its social channels. I believe that Google is one of the few potential challengers for Samsung’s Fold6 that might actually have a better product.

RingCentral and Vodafone Business have expanded their partnership’s global communications offerings, adding a contact center solution powered by RingCentral’s RingCX technology to their existing suite. This means Vodafone business customers can access everything from unified communications to contact center capabilities, all in the cloud. The partnership between RingCentral and Vodafone Business is expanding to more than 30 markets by early 2025.

Apple appears to be going after Google with a series of ads talking about privacy and how Safari is inherently more secure and private than the competition (i.e., Chrome).

A major Windows BSOD issue is striking businesses across the world due to a faulty CrowdStrike security update and is causing bootloops. It will be interesting to see how CrowdStrike and Microsoft handle this issue.

Riverlane, a maker of quantum error correction (QEC) technology, and Atlantic Quantum, a developer of scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers, have announced a strategic partnership to integrate Riverlane’s QEC stack, Deltaflow, with Atlantic Quantum’s superconducting fluxonium-based qubit architecture. Quantum computer qubits are highly susceptible to errors due to environmental interactions. Implementing quantum error correction is challenging without high-fidelity quantum operations.

Atlantic Quantum’s fault-tolerant quantum computers use a superconducting fluxonium qubit architecture, which has lower error rates than conventional superconducting transmon qubits. Riverlane’s Deltaflow QEC stack is designed to detect and correct quantum computer errors by converting regular qubits into reliable “logical” qubits to enable real-time error decoding and logical operations. It sounds feasible that the partners can combine their technologies to develop unique QEC techniques. If successful, the entire quantum ecosystem will benefit.

Google is eyeing a purchase of Wiz to enhance its cybersecurity and cloud service offerings. This move could better position Google against competitors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Google previously acquired security company Mandiant to enhance its security offerings. Wiz can support Google by offering advanced threat detection, multi-cloud functionality, agentless architecture, deployment, analytics, and more.

In the first half of 2024, data breaches have compromised over a billion records. Key incidents include:

• AT&T — Hackers stole call and text records for nearly all AT&T customers, affecting around 110 million people.
• United Health Care and Ascension — On May 8, 2024, Ascension was hit by a ransomware attack, affecting its 140 hospitals in 19 states and Washington, D.C.
• Rite Aid — A recent data breach impacted 2.2 million people. Although the incident was detected within 12 hours after hackers impersonated an employee, the hackers are now threatening to leak the information.
• Disney and Ticketmaster also experienced significant breaches, adding to the growing list of affected companies in 2024.

The blast radius created by a flubbed CrowdStrike EDR endpoint security update tied to Microsoft recently halted airlines and airports, port operations, stock exchanges, credit card processing, and many other critical transaction systems globally. The IT outage could become the largest in history and result in opportunity cost and reputation damage for thousands of organizations. CrowdStrike has a stellar reputation, and my guess is that its customers simply accepted the update in good faith. The economic toll could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, resulting in lawsuits that seek restitution. CrowdStrike will need to overhaul its software release process, but the damage to its reputation could exceed what SolarWinds experienced with its supply chain fiasco in 2020 tied to Russian government cyberattack sponsorship.

Verizon has unveiled a prototype of a portable private network solution aimed at enhancing connectivity for large-scale sports and entertainment events. The “Network in a Box” offers secure, reliable, private connectivity for critical communications needed for event operations, security, production, and fan experience, particularly in venues where a permanent private network is not feasible. This scalable solution supports up to 50 cellular radios and can utilize shared or licensed spectrum along with in-venue or on-premise fiber connections.

Verizon recently deployed the Network in a Box prototype at the United Football League Championship Game at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. It powered sideline tablets, broadcast cameras, social media activities, on-field cameras, wearables, and coach-to-coach communications. The successful deployment demonstrates the potential of this solution to transform connectivity at large-scale events.

NBC Sports has chosen Cisco to provide the networking infrastructure for its production of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. Cisco has extensive experience delivering secure and reliable connectivity for large-scale international sporting events. That, combined with its established partnership with NBC Sports, makes it a natural partner for this year’s Olympics. Cisco’s technology will support NBC’s multi-platform coverage of the games for the delivery of live video, audio, and data across various channels and platforms. The network infrastructure will be critical for transmitting content from venues to the International Broadcast Center at the Paris-Le Bourget exhibition center and then to worldwide viewers. This makes Cisco’s role essential in ensuring a high-quality game viewing experience.

SAP is actively addressing the issue of sustainability in plastics and packaging through a multi-faceted approach. The company has developed the SAP Responsible Design and Production application to help companies design more sustainable packaging, comply with extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies, and improve transparency in packaging sourcing. SAP collaborates with industry groups to promote global design rules and is building EPR capabilities to support regulations in various regions. Additionally, the company is developing solutions to enhance transparency and traceability in packaging data. By working with industry groups to advocate for data standards, SAP aims to simplify sustainability reporting and compliance to contribute to a more sustainable future for the plastics and packaging industry.

Dell added an Environmental Impact Report feature to its Asset Recovery Services to provide businesses with personalized, real-time data on the environmental impact of their IT asset disposition activities. The report includes metrics such as carbon emissions avoided, energy saved, and landfill waste diverted. This information should help businesses track their progress toward sustainability goals and make data-driven decisions about their asset management strategies.

Dell reports that it is the first OEM in the industry to provide personalized, real-time reporting on the environmental impact of asset disposition based on ISO 14000 standards. Enabling customers to see the specific positive environmental impacts resulting from their responsible disposition of technology assets is a valuable resource that Dell is providing to its customers.

Ericsson recently took a second impairment charge against its $6.2 billion acquisition of Vonage that writes off the entire transaction. From my perspective, it signals that the Swedish cellular infrastructure provider bet too early on an opportunity to introduce higher degrees of programmability to mobile networks through APIs. I believe the strategy could pay off in the long term given the work Ericsson is doing with AT&T, but the financial breakeven point could take years, if not a decade, to realize.