How to Add Albert to Your Website

One of the great things about creating a bot through SICURA QuickStart is the bot you create can be used on various channels. For this particular blog, I wanted to share a quick how-to video on positioning Albert on your website. Check it out:



As you see, the video describes two methods for adding Albert to your website: a JavaScript link and an iframe. With minimal effort and in a matter of minutes, you can provide your audience access to your personal bot online.To download the code used in the video to add Albert to the website, go to the support and resources page. Scroll down until you see "Download the Code to Add Albert to Website." This will give you access to a Word document with the code needed. 

The website is not the only place you can leverage your Albert. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Salesforce, Spark, and more can all be channels for people to interact with your bot. And the best part, you only have to do the work of creating a bot once. Stay tuned for some more "how-to" videos and leave a comment below to let me know if you are interested in learning more about a specific channel.
www.albertai.com
www.nohold.com

How Will the Internet of Everything Impact Your Healthcare?

Greetings! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!

I wanted to start off this week by sharing a video from Cisco's YouTube channel. As the acknowledged leader in the Internet of Everything (IoE), Cisco gives a great practical example of how the IoE can be utilized within the Healthcare space.   

As you can see, the IoE is working to improve the way we view healthcare, but it isn't stopping there. In the past, we have talked a lot about the use of Artificial Intelligence (more specifically Virtual Assistants) in the healthcare industry. As time progresses, there is an increasing amount of automation in the doctor's office. In fact, in a podcast shared earlier in the year, experts in this arena debated whether robots had better bedside manner than a human doctor. In the end, there were quite a few people who preferred the Artificial Intelligence.

People are beginning to warm up to the idea of letting robots and/or Artificial Intelligence play a major role in their lives. Take wearable devices for example. Most wearable devices are designed as a health monitor; tracking exercise, diet, blood pressure, etc. With the IoE, your personal physician can retrieve the data from your health monitor and sync it with your digital file. This way, if you have to see a doctor, he/she will have accurate data and be better equipped to diagnose the problem. 

Do you think the IoE is going to impact healthcare, or is it just an over-the-top fantasy? What do you think about Virtual Assistants becoming nurses? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. 

Cheers!

www.nohold.com 

Google's Top Projects That Are Bound to Change the Way We Live

Do you ever think that Google is trying to dominate the World? Lately, they have been getting their feet wet in many different projects. Here is a video talking about the top 5 futuristic Google projects that might improve your life. 

Video Source: cnet.com

1. Google Fiber- speeding up your home internet
2. Project Ara Modular Phone- being able to completely customize the features on your smartphone. 
3. Project Tango- Phone will be able to map out the area around you in 3D. This means that Google Map will finally be complete with 'inside building' information and always be a step ahead in the navigation market.  
4. Project Loons- Getting high speed internet to remote locations, such as the Himalayas. 
5. Self-Driving Car- This has been a long-term project that has been making its way to the streets recently. With these self-driving cars, Google will have better 3D road data and be able to reduce road congestion. 

Google has also been looking into Artificial Intelligence(A.I.) research. With their acquisition of DeepMinds and launching a Quantum A.I. Lab hosted by NASA's Ames Research Center, it seems like Google has some big plans for the future that will include advanced A.I. (Google Buys Artificial Intelligence Company DeepMind).

Their Virtual Assistant, Google Now, is seeing improvements as well. Recently, Google announced the release of Google Now Launcher, a cleaner, simpler, more customizable way to organize your home screen. "On an Android phone, the launcher is basically the maître d': it's the bit of software that welcomes you onto the phone, is in charge of the home screen, and does the behind-the-scenes launching of any apps. It's in charge of the layout of arguably the most important and frequently seen bits of the operating system, and as such is quite important." (Google Now Launcher Explained: What You Need to Know)

What do you think about leaders (such as Google and Facebook) investing in Artificial Intelligence? Do you see a future where Artificial Intelligence is all around you? 

ON ANOTHER NOTE...

Be sure to tune into the Peggy Smedley Show next Tuesday (August 12th, 2014) to hear our CEO, Diego Ventura, talk about his thoughts on the market.  

www.nohold.com

The Internet of Everything Improves Cities

Smart phones, smart cars, smart homes, and now, smart trash cans. This video shows how Philadelphia is moving towards becoming a 'smart' city by installing solar-powered trash compactors for the public. 


Video Credit: cnn.com

As they mention in the video, "The big belly solar compactor automatically crushes down it's trash, allowing it to hold 5 times the amount of garbage as a standard waste basket. When it's full, it sends an alert to a website indicating it needs to be emptied. That little alert makes a big difference." With the capability to hold more garbage and send notifications when it is time for a trash bin to be emptied, the city becomes more efficient, while saving money.

Internet connected trash cans are just another example of how smart technology is impacting our lives. As more and more things become 'connected', people will start to interact with Virtual Agents(VA) on a daily basis as their primary source to manage all these devices.

Do you think VA's are going to play a big role in the Internet of Everything? Can you imagine a 'butler-style'  Virtual Agent that can communicate with all your devices and notify you when something needs to be done?
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Virtual Agent in Action: User Navigates to the Correct Solution Quickly

Happy Monday! Not too long ago, noHold created a quick demonstration video. In this example, a user encounters an issue with his account. Instead of contacting the company directly, he opted to use their self-service solution.    

As you can see, a Virtual Agent is a user-friendly way for consumers to find the answers to their questions without having to wait for an agent to become available. Additionally, if users elect to use a Virtual Agent, it reduces the volume of calls to the Call Center, in turn cutting the costs. It is a win-win situation for all parties: the customer gets the answer they need while being immersed in an interactive customer experience, and companies deliver outstanding customer service without over paying. 

Does your company's contact center get the same frequently asked questions multiple times a day? Do you think automation will help achieve that 'win-win' scenario?

For more information on self-service solutions, please check out our website: www.nohold.com   

Self-Driving Cars...The Future is Near

Google Self-Driving Car on City Streets

Since Google's announcement of its self-driving car project (circa 2010), it is continuing to be an ongoing effort from the Google team to perfect this technology. Since noHold is located so close to Mountain View, California, we sometimes see Google's "driverless cars" on the streets. 

The video above shows you the latest progresses being made from the test drivers and engineers at Google. The autonomous car can now account for many unique scenarios. For example, navigating through construction zones, yielding to bicyclists, and passing railroad crossings.

It is still unsure of when these self driving cars will be available for purchase. Experts in the automotive industry suggest that the technology for autonomous cars will not be ready till 2020, but it looks like Google might make it happen sooner than expected (When Can We Buy Google's Self-Driving Car).

Artificial Intelligence in the form of a Virtual Agent increases customer satisfaction, reduces costs, and captures actionable intelligence. When the software in your car gets ‘smarter’, what kinds of benefits do you hope to see? Do you think the smart software will reduce costs related to accidents, traffic violations, etc? 

www.nohold.com

Behind the Scenes: An Exclusive Preview of noHold's Virtual Butler

Augmenting the Internet of Everything     

     

     Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the news about the Internet of Everything (IoE). Just recently we announced the arrival of noHold Connect, the technology used to empower humans to experience the IoE from a single user interface. Diego Ventura, the CEO and founder of noHold, made a short video showing a raw, exclusive preview of the Virtual Butler for wearable devices.        

     According to a recent article published by Computerworld, “Analysts expect not only an explosion of wearable devices in the next three years, but an explosion of mobile apps of all kinds. Research firm Gartner last year predicted that wearable devices will drive half of all app interactions by 2017, a startling prediction, but one that Gartner believes was reinforced by the flurry of wearable devices shown at International CES.” One analyst mentioned that “virtually all vendors are choosing mobile apps to interact with the way we will use a wearable device.”(Computerworld.com)

     The scenario that noHold described in a Press Release about noHold Connect and the IoE, is coming to fruition. noHold connect augmenting the IoE is about focusing on bringing the human element to the future of interconnected living, while making consumers less dependent on multiple apps.     

     We are not stopping at wearable devices, though. Soon, multiple vendors from a variety of industries will connect to the Virtual Butler, encompassing all aspects of the IoE. These include companies in the telecommunications space, automobile industry, smart appliance manufacturers (i.e. coffee machines, refrigerators,etc.), and much, much more.

     As you can see from the preview above, the goal of the Virtual Butler is to simplify our lives. There are so many apps on our smartphones that control devices/services that are connected to the Internet. For example, mobile banking apps, apps that control your DVR, home security apps, etc. Having an individual app for each of these connected items can become a bit chaotic, but imagine a life with a Virtual Butler that can help you manage and get the most out of your devices, all through a single user interface (UI). It creates an enhanced interactive experience that users are demanding.      

     The best is yet to come for the Virtual Butler! For more information on the IoE and the Virtual Butler check out this slideshare presentation, Connecting the Internet of Everything to the Human Element. 

Advancing From Virtual Worlds to Virtual Realities: A Completely Interactive Experience

     The high tech industries involved in creating virtual realities are gaining momentum in a big way. The latest progress in virtual realities comes from Sony's announcement of their initiative "Project Morpheus", a gaming headset for the Playstation™ 4. This fully immersive virtual reality takes gamers on an interactive experience where they actually feel apart of the video game. Check out the clip below for more information on the prototype of Project Morpheus. Although virtual realities are becoming popular in the gaming community, they are not only for video games. Dr. Richard Marks, of Sony's Research and Development department stated, "Virtual Reality will becoming the 'preferred medium' and will even extend beyond games to other industries."  

     Similar to the blog I wrote about virtual worlds, Throwback Thursday: Then and Now: Lenovo's eLounge vs. Disney's "Avatar Land", Lenovo created an interactive experience for online shoppers circa 2009. This eLounge was created to give customer a unique "trip" when shopping online. Consumers can get information on the products they are interested in  buying or they can share their experiences with other avatars (online shoppers from all over the world). 

     We have come a long way since 2009. Instead of just interacting with a virtual world, we are able to totally immerse ourselves in a virtual reality, not just for gaming, but also for eCommerce, customer service, and more. What do you think the about virtual realities? Will immersive experiences become the norm for all Internet/Online related interaction?

Robots Learn to Express Human Emotions

This is a short clip from technologynewsvideos entitled "Robot Baby Learns How to Express Human Emotions." It is an interesting video showing the advances the robotics community is making with Artificial Intelligence in relation to cognitive functioning. Robots (as well as Virtual Agents) are incorporating more of a human element to their user interface to augment the friendly feel and personable connection between man and machine.

Developing "humanoid" robots that are able to, in a sense, feel emotions, is a controversial topic. Are robots created to enhance our lives? Are we venturing into uncharted territory? Where do we draw the line? To learn more about the future of humanoid robots check out this 2014 documentary, Future Humanoid Robots- From Fiction to Reality.

Cheers!
www.nohold.com

Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and More are Validating the Artificial Intelligence Market

Here is a short clip from "What's the Big Deal?" talking about Google's plan to move toward Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Google is not the only one interested in A.I., though. Big name companies including IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Nuance, and Facebook are also making an investment into A.I. business units. With this sudden spike of interest in A.I., the future is looking bright for intelligent super computers! 

What do you think about these major companies investing in A.I.? 

A Real-Life Example of the Internet of Everything

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is having a great start to their week. 

I came across this video that might bring a smile to your Monday morning. Cisco explains how the Internet of Everything can augment your life. 

If your life was connected to the Internet of Everything, what kinds of things would you want to happen automatically? How could the IoE simplify your life?