Content recommender Taboola raises $100 million in U.S. roadshow

The company is gearing up for an IPO in the next 12-18 months at a valuation of close to $1 billion
by Simona Weinglass, Geektime


Israeli content recommendation platform Taboola is in the final stages of raising $100 million in a Series E funding round, Geektimehas learned. This figure is higher than anticipated, and will lay the groundwork for a likely IPO in the next 12-18 months. According to Geektime’s sources, $75 million of the sum will be invested in the company and another $25 million will be used for a buyback of stocks and options from shareholders and employees.

Taboola recommends editorial and sponsored content across many of the world’s most highly-trafficked sites.Taboola helps publishers monetize their content and drive higher engagement, enable brands to surface their content to the right audience at-scale. And above all, help people discover content they may like yet never knew existed.

Taboola works by teaming up with publishers, for instance, the Atlantic Monthly. A reader clicks on an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “The Death of the Artist—And the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur,” and at the bottom of the page gets recommendations like “12 Simple Ways to Be More Attractive,” or “10 Millionaires That Went Totally Broke.” These articles are from advertisers. When a reader clicks, Taboola earns money from the advertiser, which it splits with the Atlantic Monthly. If, in turn, the Atlantic wishes to promote its content on other publishers’ sites, it can pay Taboola and its own articles will be recommended elsewhere on the web.

Taboola’s clients include the BBC, Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, Huffington Post, and theBoston Globe. Founded in 2007 by CEO Adam Singolda in Israel, Taboola had raised $40 million in five rounds of funding prior to this recent round. By contrast, its closest competitor, Outbrain, has raised $99 million in six rounds. Both companies are likely to file IPOs in the not-too-distant future at valuations of about $1 billion each. Taboola brought in over $200 million in revenue this year, a figure close to the revenue achieved by Outbrain.

According to Geektime’s analysis, Taboola’s actual profits in 2014 were higher because it runs a significantly leaner ship.

Both Taboola and Outbrain have come under fire for providing “spammy” content. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has described such link providers as “part of the ‘race to the bottom’ pervading Internet content.”

Outbrain claims it pre-filters spammy links while Taboola says it gives users a choice with a feature called Taboola Choice that allows users to indicate what types of content they don’t want to see.



Taboola and Outbrain have been widely touted as an alternative to Google Adsense. Both companies have recently signed multi-year contracts with major publishers. That way, on the off-chance they don’t file an IPO, they will be very attractive candidates for purchase by the likes of Google or Yahoo.

January Newsletter - Driverless Cars

For the past hundred years, innovation within the automotive sector has brought major technological advances, leading to safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles. But, for the most part, since Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, the changes have been incremental, evolutionary. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the industry appears to be on the cusp of revolutionary change—with potential to dramatically reshape not just the competitive landscape but also the way we interact with vehicles and, indeed, the future design of our roads and cities. The revolution, when it comes, will be engendered by the arrival of autonomous or “Driverless” vehicles.

Driverless Cars is Vega’s topic of the month. Read an executive summary of our monthly technical review at page 3. The full article is published at our Blog.

Vega newsletter is published monthly by Vega BI, and distributed to our partners to facilitate pursuit of a common interest in top-notch technologies.

Driverless Cars or Autonomous Vehicles

A driverless car is an automobile that has an autopilot system allowing it to safely move from one place to another without help from a human driver. Ideally, the only role of a human in such a vehicle would be indicating the destination.

The implementation of driverless cars could theoretically lead to many improvements in transportation, including:

ï  Reduction in car accidents, autonomous system's increased reliability and faster reaction time

ï  More efficient transportation, Increased roadway capacity , Higher speed limit

ï  increase in road capacity

ï  Relief of vehicle occupants from driving and navigation chores, Removal of constraints on occupants' under age, over age, unlicensed, blind, distracted, intoxicated, or otherwise impaired.

ï  Alleviation of parking scarcity, Reduction of space required for vehicle parking

ï  No need for traffic police and road signage

ï  Greatly reduced mobility costs through car sharing

ï  Simplify introduction of alternative fuels

There are, however, many obstacles to successfully implementing the driverless car as a common and effective method of transportation. This is especially true in situations in which a driverless car would need to safely navigate alongside normal cars directed by human drivers.

In spite of the various benefits to increased vehicle automation, some foreseeable challenges persist:

ï  Liability for damage

ï  Resistance by individuals to forfeit control of their cars, Drivers being inexperienced if situations arose requiring manual driving

ï  Software reliability, A car's computer could potentially be compromised

ï  Implementation of legal framework and establishment of government regulations for self-driving cars

ï  Loss of driving-related jobs

ï  Autonomous cars may require very high-quality specialized maps to operate properly

To be useful, a driverless car must be able to navigate to a given destination based on passenger-provided instructions, avoid environmental obstacles, and safely avoid other vehicles. Some proposed methods for meeting these goals involve developing entirely new transportation infrastructures or substantially altering the existing infrastructures to accommodate driverless vehicles.

One example involves developing a monorail system to which private vehicles can "dock". Upon connection, the monorail would guide the private vehicles to their destinations.

This type of system would simplify navigation and collision avoidance but would require large-scale changes to the existing transportation infrastructures.

Other ideas for the development of a driverless car only involve the development of a new type of car and do not require any infrastructure changes. Such vehicles would operate like traditional human-directed vehicles and would not require more than minor infrastructure changes. For this type of driverless car to work, it would need to have access to some form of guidance system that would direct it to its destination. It would also need a short-range guidance system that would allow it to safely navigate through traffic without endangering its passengers or other drivers on the road.

There are many potential advantages to using a driverless car instead of a traditional human-controlled vehicle. A driverless car would not be subject to human error, one of the most common causes of car accidents. There would be little need for driver's licenses, highway patrols, extensive traffic laws, and even stop signs or street lights. Such vehicles would not be affected by jerky or erratic human drivers and would, therefore, be able to drive very close together. This could lead to a situation in which high road density would not have a detrimental effect on speed, so many cars could travel close together while maintaining a high average speed.

Conclusion

Autonomous cars will greatly impact on our lives. They will make driving safer, more convenient, less energy-intensive and cheaper. They will greatly reduce our CO2 footprint, enhance our freedom and reduce the risk of dying in a traffic accident. They will force us to confront philosophical issues about us and the machines we have created and they will change patterns of work, life and economic organization. Although the benefits are obvious, the current legal framework is still hindering the further evolution of this technology and may thus be responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths per year which would have been prevented if autonomous cars had reached maturity earlier.

It is time to seriously consider this technology and to put it into service to the benefit of our societies.

For more ...... See Vega's January  Newsletter 

Self-driving (Autonomous) cars: The next revolution

Self-driving cars abstract

For the past hundred years, innovation within the automotive sector has brought major technological advances, leading to safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles. But for the most part, since Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, the changes have been incremental, evolutionary. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the industry appears  to be on the cusp of revolutionary change—with potential to dramatically reshape not just the competitive landscape but also the way we interact with vehicles and, indeed, the future design of our roads and cities. The revolution, when it comes, will be engendered by the advent of autonomous or “self-driving” vehicles.

Market dynamics

Imagine. It’s 6:25 p.m. and you’ve just wrapped up a meeting. You still have several items on your “must-do” list before you can call it a night and a 25-minute commute that used to take as long as 90 minutes in the bad old days of rush-hour traffic.

But no worries today. You flick open an app on your phone and request a pick-up at the office; a text confirmation comes back and a few minutes later a car pulls up. “Home,” you say, as you launch a call to your client in Shanghai. The car slips easily into the self-drive lane, checking road conditions and flashing a message that you will arrive home in 24 minutes. In that time, you will have reviewed a report with your client, answered e-mails, and set your pick-up time for tomorrow morning. You arrive home ready to relax and focus on your family. You step out of the car and it moves off to its next pick-up.

A Self-Driving Car?

Even now that military drones have become a familiar topic, the idea of self-driving cars sounds pretty far-fetched. But is it still just science fiction? Something that gets batted around in robotics labs? Or are self-driving vehicles on the verge of becoming a viable form of personal mobility? Will the market accept them, want them, and pay for them?

We think the answer is a resounding yes: The marketplace will not merely accept self-driving vehicles; it will be the engine pulling the industry forward. Consumers are eager for new mobility alternatives that would allow them to stay connected and recapture the time and psychic energy they squander in traffic jams and defensive driving.

The Status Quo: The High Cost of Mobility

The desire to go where we want whenever we want has been a powerful market force for centuries. And the automotive industry has been—and continues to be—a critical component of the U.S. economy, employing 1.7 million people (across manufacturers, suppliers, and dealers) and providing $500 billion in annual compensation, as well as accounting for approximately 3 percent of GDP.2 But mobility is increasingly expensive and inefficient.

First, of course, is the total cost of vehicle ownership, which can bring the price of a $21,000 car driven an average of 15,000 miles per year to more than $40,000 over five years—for a machine that sits unused on average, almost 22 hours out of every day.

We also pay heavily to build and maintain our roads. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) estimates that new construction of four-lane highways in an urban area costs between $8 million and $12 million per mile. Even resurfacing that road, at an estimated $1.25 million per mile, can be daunting for cash-strapped governments.

The average American commuter now spends 250 hours a year behind the wheel of a vehicle; whether the value of that time is measured in lost productivity, lost time pursuing other interests, or lost serenity, the cost is high. Today, those commuters inch along during rush hour traffic; they drive in circles around city streets looking for parking spaces; and, according to a report published by the MIT Media Lab, “In congested urban areas, about 40 percent of total gasoline use is in cars looking for parking.”

Snapshot of Big Data Trends in Latin America

As in many parts of the world, Big Data have become increasingly prominent in the business and information technology (IT) environments in Central and South America. In Brazil alone, it is estimated that in 2018 about $1.9 billion will be invested in Big Data (hardware, software, and services) as compared to $600 million in 2013 (Info.abril.com 2013). This big market will very likely offer excellent opportunities to companies not only in Latin America but all over the world.
By Luiz Flavio Autran Monteiro Gomes

The continuous growth in volumes of data flowing in service and communication networks means that many areas—such as exploration of energy sources, earth science, and genetic research, among others—will be significantly impacted by the need for new ways to deal with very large volumes of information. At present only one in five companies in Latin America has immediate plans to invest in technologies oriented toward Big Data. But the rate of new public and private investments to support the mining of very large amounts of data is expected to increase annually at nearly 14 percent (BT Brasil 2012).

In the following sections I review the status of Big Data developments and needs in two of Latin America’s largest economies, Brazil and Mexico, as well as selected other countries in the region. Factors at play include government and private sector involvement, culture (national or organizational), awareness of Big Data, and skill levels and interest. I conclude with suggestions for an agenda to support the development of a Big Data strategy in Latin America.

Brazil

Brazil provides a good example of recent technological growth: the Brazilian market for hardware, software, and services is expected to move from $285 million in 2013 to $1 billion in 2017. According to a forecast by IDC Brazil, investments in software should correspond to one third of that value, whereas the Brazilian market for Big Data has grown 46 percent a year since 2012.² The fact is that the country’s market for Big Data is already much bigger than for security software.

The government is the fifth largest sector when it comes to investments in Big Data (behind finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and commerce), planning for the use of Big Data in education, procurement, and health services management, to name just a few areas. In the state of Minas Geraes, for instance, Big Data analytics has been applied to citizen involvement in setting priorities for public decision making, and this trend toward e-democracy is spreading in other Brazilian states.

Besides government, a number of private companies are using Big Data analytics in Brazil. A global survey conducted by IBM and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford found that 51 percent of 65 companies surveyed in Brazil are planning to use Big Data analytics, and another 24 percent are already implementing pilot projects (Fox et al. 2013). One of the largest private banks in Brazil, Itau Bank, was a pioneer in the use of Big Data analytics in the country; other well-known companies that use Big Data are Buscapé (e-commerce) and Votorantin (cement).

Yet many doubts still exist about the value added of Big Data–related business solutions for companies. Of Brazilian executives interviewed at 65 companies, 22 percent consider that Big Data implies an enrichment of analysis, and 19 percent think of Big Data in terms of real-time information acquisition (Baguete Diário 2013). The same survey also revealed a significant increase in the number of executives in Brazil who perceive the practical benefits of Big Data analytics in terms of enabling competitive advantages for their firms. Finally, the results showed a very important increase in the number of firms in Brazil that have actually achieved a competitive advantage in the last two years by using Big Data analytics.

A joint study by the Brazilian Institute of Market Intelligence and the Brazilian E-business Association yielded the following findings: about 65 percent of the marketing sector in Brazil is definitely looking forward to widespread use of Big Data, and in the IT sector the growth of Big Data analytics has been about 16 percent. The study surveyed 326 companies in different areas of the Brazilian economy. Among the IT professionals interviewed, 58 percent declared that they had knowledge about Big Data, 35 percent had heard about it but had no knowledge, and 7 percent had never heard of it. Among marketing professionals, 42 percent knew about Big Data, 35 percent had heard of it, and 23 percent had never heard of it (Scussel 2013).

There is still a long way to go when it comes to disseminating the use of Big Data in Brazil, although this country is probably ahead of most others in Latin America. National seminars, conferences, and panel discussions are organized for business executives as well as IT experts. And university programs in Brazil have a growing number of research projects on Big Data analytics in fields such as computer science, engineering, and business administration.

Mexico

Big Data analytics has a high potential to take off in Mexico. Like other Latin American countries, it has a well-developed university system, so availability of skilled human resources to work with Big Data will likely not be a problem in this country.

A recent EMC survey of 254 IT decision makers produced the following results: 92 percent of them recognized that Big Data could help them in making better decisions, 69 percent believed that it will be a key factor in determining “winners” and “losers” in industry, and 47 percent declared that they had already achieved competitive advantage as a result of Big Data analytics (EMC 2013). However, 27 percent said they did not have plans to use Big Data in their workplace.

The main inhibitors to adoption of Big Data analytics in Mexico seem to be lack of adequate knowledge in an organization (19 percent), lack of clear evidence of success or proven return on investment (19 percent), and the fact that organizational culture may not be prepared for Big Data (17 percent) (Computerworld Mexico 2013). 

Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru

Argentina has had for decades one of the highest levels of educational development in Latin America, but there is a general lack of knowledge about Big Data at Argentinean companies. A recent survey of firms in Argentina revealed that 80 percent of them had no real data strategy in 2013, and only about 15 percent could be considered as having developed some type of Big Data analytics (Destefanis 2013).

Companies in both Chile and Peru practice data warehousing, but not Big Data analytics. Although expertise in data analysis exists in these countries, most companies seem to be more concerned with producing profit through internal projects of data warehousing and information management than really using Big Data. However, there are important initiatives under way. For example, Teradata implemented its first Big Data projects for analyzing international information in both Chile and Peru at the beginning of 2014, to support solutions in either the retail or banking sector (Rogers 2013).

Other countries in Latin America are still a little behind in their first steps in Big Data. In Colombia, for example, a recent survey of 183 IT managers found that 92 percent of them believe that Big Data can improve organizational decision making, but only 33 percent seem to believe that Big Data analytics can lead to competitive advantages, and 42 percent declared that they had no plans to use Big Data analytics. They stated that, in their view, intuition and experience are the most important factors behind good business decision making. In other words, the country seems not to have a culture that supports the use of Big Data yet. This was in fact confirmed by 73 percent of the managers interviewed. Unfortunately, 80 percent of the decision makers also said that it is difficult for them to keep up with the latest innovations in the field. In general, companies in Colombia are not aware that Big Data can add significant value to their businesses (EMC 2013), although a possible indicator of a shifting trend for Colombian businesses is Aentropico, an international predictive analytics company with offices in Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, and Boston.

Conclusion: An Agenda for Big Data Development in Latin America

The countries of Latin America have a long way to go toward using Big Data analytics. However, because many of them have high-level human resources in IT and business administration as well as at least some managers interested in making use of technological innovations, the countries are ripe for developing a Latin American strategy for Big Data. To that end, it may be helpful to outline an agenda to foster the development of this area in the region. This agenda can build on country-specific initiatives and strengths and should

include the following interrelated steps:

·         National scientific and technological societies in a very broad range of fields—not only computer science, information technology, operations research, and statistics but also medicine, law, public administration, education, agriculture, finance, earth science, and health management, among others—should organize events such as symposia, forums, and conventions on Big Data and Big Data analytics in their fields for researchers, practitioners, educators, students, policymakers, and other interested parties.

·         Big Data companies should be invited to actively participate in these events not only to show their products (e.g., hardware, software, user-centric solutions) but also to present evidence of competitive advantages.

·         University, law, and business school students should learn more about Big Data and Big Data analytics. Their curricula should be adapted to include topics such as user privacy and security as well as the creation and development of business models that provide incentives for data sharing and use.

·         Other categories of incentives to use Big Data should be explored by national societies and professional organizations, emphasizing the creation of startups in Big Data analytics.

Many IT professionals in Latin America are conscious of the importance of developing their own business models (rather than copying those of the United States) as they understand that unique opportunities are available on their continent (Browne 2013). With government as a catalyst, synergy between private sector development and public-private collaboration is a model that has been working in other parts of the world (WEF 2012). It can lead the way to a bright future for Big Data in Latin America. A call to action is in the air.

MyHeritage Brings Genealogy to the Next Level with Instant Discoverie

With their introduction of Instant Discoveries, MyHeritage seeks to secure its position in the family history market by making genealogy more mainstream
by Leilani Rose, Geektime

Many of us may wonder about our ancestry, but for those of who wish to delve into their family’s past; into their heritage, it’s not always as easy as one might like. There are plenty of methods out there for researching genealogy and family history, but they can be overwhelming, unfruitful, or sometimes downright frustrating.

MyHeritage aims to change all of that—to make genealogy more mainstream—by introducing a user-friendly, interactive, and fun method for researching your genealogy, called Instant Discoveries™.

Ideal for first time users who know a little bit about their family history, MyHeritage starts out through the signup process by asking very basic questions about 7 family members: The user, their parents and grandparents. Seconds later, with the magic of Instant Discoveries™, the user is presented with detailed information, records, and photographs of their relatives.

“We’re very excited about Instant Discoveries™”, said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “Indulging first-time users with immediate information about their family fulfills our vision to make family history accessible and enjoyable to the mass market. We are firmly committed to creating disruptive technologies that reinvent the way people explore their family history.”

A moment in time, to go back in time

To demonstrate its mainstream appeal, MyHeritage set up interactive Instant Discoveries™ spots in busy locations throughout New York City, such as Time Square and Grand Central Station. The small hubs caught users attentions and allowed them to instantly discover information about their ancestry. Users who made discoveries with MyHeritage had exciting, and even emotional experiences.

MyHeritage uses powerful research technology to fuel their findings. Though the success rate of Instant Discoveries™ depends on several factors, such as countries of origin and the level of detail of initial information entered, in some countries it has been as high at 35%. MyHeritage estimates that this rate will continue to rise, as they have approximately 1 million new family tree profiles and 5 million historical records added every day. The company saw rapid growth as of late, which they accommodated by opening a new branch at WeWork’s Tel Aviv offices.

“Millions of people want to better understand themselves and their roots, and we’re committed to making that a magical and easy process,” said Mike Mallin, Chief Product Officer at MyHeritage. “Until now, family exploration has been burdensome and time consuming. Through our new Instant Discoveries ™, users can meet the generations who came before them within moments of signing up.”

To see some of the reactions from first time users who tried Instant Discoveries™ check out the video below. To experience MyHeritage and Instant Discoveries™ for yourself, go to www.myheritage.com and sign up for free.

 

10 million Brazilians buy online for the first time in 2014

Summary:E-commerce numbers for last year surpass expectations but 2015 will see a growth slowdown, says research
By Angelica Mari for Brazil Tech


This compares with 9,2 new online consumers in 2013. Last year, e-commerce activity in the country also grew by 24 percent in relation to 2013, with 103,4 million orders processed at an average ticket of R$ 347 ($128).

Marketing efforts such as Black Friday - a novelty in Brazil - have contributed to last year's growth, as well as uncertainty about the economy, which prompted Brazilians to look online for the better prices, according to the report.

"The World Cup also helped boost sales of TV and sports-related goods during the first half of the year," says executive director at E-bit, Pedro Guasti.

However, the predictions for 2015 are a little less upbeat: the Brazilian e-commerce sector will see slower growth this year as inflation grows and credit rates soar, according to the consultancy.

Growth in online sales in 2015 is predicted to be 20 percent. According to E-bit, the coming months will be "challenging" for retailers, but e-commerce will continue to achieve double-digit growth, with an emphasis in mobile sales.

CES 2015: The Best Of Israeli Tech

Whether it is the winning Zuta robotic pocket printer, or the 30-second phone charger from StoreDot, the Israeli companies showcasing this week at CES 2015 are wowing the crowds with their cool products and gadgets.
by Einat Paz-Frankel, NoCamels.com

For the first time in the show’s 40-year history, Israel has brought an official delegation to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) taking place in Las Vegas this week. Drawing in 160,000 attendees globally, CES is the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. The International CES has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies, considered the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. This much hyped conference is produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the technology trade association representing the $211 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry.  Israel has roughly 500 consumer electronics and digital media companies whose offerings span a range of innovative solutions. They are active in the mobile device industry, smart home and smart TV, video and gaming, wearables, automotive, Internet of Things (IoT) field, and many other arenas.   Proving Israelis are on everyone’s lips at the conference, Zuta Labs, the Israeli developer of  the smallest mobile printer in the world, has just been announced as the winner of the ‘Best of Innovation Award’ in the computer accessories category.

Take a look at some of the coolest Israeli products and gadgets at the conference:

MUV Interactive

MUV Interactive‘s Bird transforms any surface into a touchscreen through its wearable fingertip sensor, which uses light projection on a range of surfaces. The interactive display of smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc., can be brought to life simply by connecting these devices to a projector, turning anything from a table to a blank wall into an active touchscreen.

ZUtA Labs

Thought your printer would never fit in your pocket? Think again. ZUtA‘s pocket printer is a teardrop-shaped robot printer that can be placed on any page and scurries back-and-forth, printing as it goes along. Instead of having the paper feed through the printer in order to print, the small robot runs on the paper and prints while doing so.

The printer, designed by Israeli firm Nekuda, works on Bluetooth and wireless networks, which means it can interact with smartphones, tablets and laptops. The company claims it’s the first mobile printer – the smallest printer in the world that can print on any size of paper, anywhere you are. That’s probably why Zuta Labs won the Best of Innovation Award in the computer accessories category at this year’s CES.

   StoreDot 

Charging your smartphone shouldn’t take a whole hour. StoreDot‘s FlashBattery is a Smartphone battery that charges in 30 seconds. The product frees millions of people from worrying about not having enough battery life. This device’s colorful display is also eco-friendly, compared with technologies that use toxic and polluting substances, such as cadmium selenide.

   Humavox

Another Israeli charging gizmo is that of Humavox. With the growing number of devices, charging has become a daily hassle. Now, Humavox provides a simple charging solution called ETERNA. Its wireless charging solution is elastic enough so it can take on many shapes and forms, while fitting into endless types of devices and products. Humavox’s charging station, designed by another Israeli company named Nekuda, looks like an elegant vase – no cords whatsoever.

 Green Ride

As more and more cities limit the movement of cars within their boundaries, more and more urbanites are

switching to alternative means of transport. Green Ride’s INU, a portable electric vehicle, may be the solution for them. INU is lightweight, portable and folds on command, plus, you can actually give it a voice command or a hand gesture and it’ll fold. You can even take this eco-friendly bike on your train ride to the office.

Sensibo

Sensibo’s system turns every ‘dumb’ air conditioner into a smart air conditioner. It works with every air conditioner that can be remote controlled and makes it smarter and more efficient. Sensibo’s pod is attached to your AC unit, which can then be controlled by your smartphone – or a number of additional devices. Sensibo can also cut your electricity bill because it senses whether or not you’re home.

Silentium

Traditional noise reduction methods use foams and barriers. But they suffer from a major drawback: when implemented as sealing material, they block the airflow. Silentium’s Active Noise Control solution, on the other hand, allows for airflow. The company’s Quiet Bubble is a spatial noise reduction solution that provides a personal quiet zone around the user’s head. The technology allows significant noise reduction in a specific area around a person’s head, so that noise can be reduced without the use of headphones. In addition, unwanted sounds such as known audio and video signals can be reduced, thus creating an individual audio zone. The system can be integrated within the headrest on a pillow.

     SEE ALSO: Lightbox, The World’s Smallest Social Camera, Is Giving GoPro A Run For Its Money

HumanEyes

HumanEyes is a panoramic video camera, which can record 3D movies of 360 degrees by means of several video cameras, whose output is combined into one video. The system comprises a small, portable video recorder with independent power source for recording simultaneous, synchronized video streams from multiple, integral camera sensors.

The video data are recorded on a small memory device, from which the data is subsequently transferred to a personal computer, on which the data is processed in order to generate a 3D, stereophonic video file. The generated file is intended for viewing by a helmet with an integral HD screen that senses the viewer’s movements and adjusts the viewed area accordingly, thereby recreating the experience of a person viewing the original scene.