Google is adopting a more rigorous worldwide advertisement policy for content uploaded to YouTube, with aims to clean up its video-sharing site and address growing complaints from advertisers that their messages are being attached to inappropriate videos.

YouTube will impose stricter criteria on the types of videos that can earn advertising revenue through the video-sharing site, and will manually review “top-tier” videos with high view counts and viewer engagement before attaching ads to them, Google executives wrote in a blog post this week.

YouTube’s latest policy tightening comes after the video-sharing site has faced criticism for incidents where ads were placed on violent, racist or otherwise inappropriate videos, prompting major advertisers to leave the platform.

“We’re making changes to address the issues that affected our community in 2017 so we can prevent bad actors from harming the inspiring and original creators around the world who make their living on YouTube,” Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer wrote on YouTube’s Creator Blog.

“A big part of that effort will be strengthening our requirements for monetization so spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors can’t hurt our ecosystem or take advantage of you, while continuing to reward those who make our platform great.”

Google plans to strengthen the selection criteria for the YouTube Partner Program, which lets creators monetize their videos by attaching ads to them. Google is now imposing stricter criteria over which video channels are accepted into this program.

Previously, channels had to reach 10,000 total views to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program. But now, channels will have to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months to be eligible for ads.

The new requirements for existing channels will take effect from Feb. 20, Google said. It also pledged to closely take into account factors like community strikes, spam and abuse flags to remove inappropriate accounts and channels from YouTube.

In addition, YouTube said its content management staff will manually screen all videos included in Google Preferred — a premium service that grants advertisers access to YouTube’s top-viewed content. Ads will only run on Google Preferred videos verified to be compliant with YouTube’s ad criteria.

According to the US tech giant, manual review of Google Preferred channels and videos will be completed by mid-February in the US, and by the end of March in all other markets whether it is available, including South Korea.

Google Preferred videos comprise around five percent of all videos that are uploaded on YouTube globally, according to Google.

Nissan North America Inc, the US-based subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co Ltd, announced late last week that it had signed an agreement with the Nasa Ames Research Centre in California’s Silicon Valley to collaborate on research and technology development for future autonomous mobility services.

This collaboration will build on the previous success of their already-existing partnership, in the form of Nissan Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM).

First unveiled at a global stage for innovations last year – CES 2017 – SAM constitutes a new platform for managing fleets of autonomous vehicles. It is developed based on Nasa technology.

The new phase in the joint collaboration between Nissan and Nasa will further develop the technology and test the use of SAM ahead of public implementation.

“Our goal is to deploy SAM to help third-party organisations safely integrate a fleet of autonomous vehicles in unpredictable urban environments,” said Maarten Sierhuis, director of the Nissan Research Centre in Silicon Valley. He sees ride-hailing services, public transportation or logistics and delivery services as key customers segments.

Eugene Tu, director of Nasa’s Ames centre, said one of Nasa’s strategic goals was to transfer the technology developed for Nasa missions and programme objectives to broader commercial and social applications.

Jordan Evan Bloom, 27, of Thornhill earned some Can$247,000 ($198,800 US) by selling the data for a “small fee” via leakedsource.com, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

The information was stolen during massive hacks of websites including LinkedIn and the Ashley Madison online dating service.

Some of the data could also be used to access other popular websites if the hacked user used the same password and username combination, according to police.

Bloom was charged in December as part of a criminal probe dubbed “Project Adoration” focusing on trafficking in personal data, unauthorized use of computers, and possession of illicitly obtained property.

The probe lasted more than a year.

Authorities have shut down Bloom’s website, but another with the same domain name hosted by servers in Russia is still operating.

“The RCMP will continue to work diligently with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to prosecute online criminality,” inspector Rafael Alvarado said in a statement.

Police noted that help from the Dutch National Police and the FBI were “essential” to the investigation.

The introduction of such technology is aimed at complementing students’ varying learning abilities in different subjects. Methods such as online teaching are expected to be used, and will serve to prevent such learning gaps while also reducing the burden on teachers.

Electronic blackboards and tablets have been widely distributed to public institutions, including elementary and junior high schools, but whether they are actually used in classrooms depends largely on teachers’ competence.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and relevant bodies are encouraging schools and academic facilities that support active use of cutting-edge technologies such as IT and AI to team up with IT-related companies and come up with ideas for how to utilize the technology. The ministry will subsidize or pay commission fees to forward-thinking teams, allowing them organise classes and other activities on a trial basis. It then plans to disseminate effective programs nationwide.

As part of the measure, external teachers will give online classes to students who have a hard time keeping up in class, while any teacher can share study materials online for students.

In the United States, utilization of IT and AI in education is known as “EdTech.” AI can recognize types of questions and problems that children find difficult and provide an individual teaching program by serving up questions based on a student’s comprehension level, to help them study efficiently.

In Japan, many students attend juku cram schools to catch up on what they have not fully understood in class, and there is a deep-rooted belief that parents should shoulder the educational expenses of their own children. This has led to criticism that parents’ different economic situations have created disparities between children’s academic ability and background. Calls have been heard within the government and ruling parties to use IT to offer detailed guidance for students.

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to approve an alliance between two of Singapore’s largest ride providers – ComfortDelGro and Uber.

It is doing a second round of feedback gathering on the impact of ComfortDelGro’s proposed 51 per cent acquisition of Uber-owned Lion City Holdings. If there are concerns, the commission will go into its second phase of deliberations, which will be more extensive and likely to take longer to complete.

The regulatory watchdog has good reason to be cautious. The deal will create a giant with a fleet of more than 27,000 – 13,500 Comfort and CityCab taxis and 14,000 Lion City private-hire cars.

This is out of a total fleet of 24,400 cabs and 50,000 private-hire cars in Singapore.

Other than directly owning 14,000 private-hire cars through Lion City, it is not known how extensively Uber has tied up with rental firms which supply the remaining 36,000 cars to drivers.

The American group’s hold on the private-hire market, vis-a-vis Grab’s, is thus unclear. But it is clear that a ComfortDelGro-Uber tie-up will tilt the balance in favour of the two groups. It will thus erode competition – something that is potentially undesirable to both drivers and commuters in the long run.

The two are already launching UberFlash, a ride-hailing app offering cabbies potentially higher earnings with dynamic fares. During low-demand hours, fares are likely to be slightly lower than current taxi fares. But when demand is high – say, on rainy days, the morning rush hour or when trains break down – fares can surge three times higher.

Size matters 

As with most industries, size works to the advantage of the dominant player, which can give it an unfair advantage over other players. In competition law, this could be described as abusive dominance if the dominant player, whether tacitly or overtly, prevents rivals from competing.

“If such abuses are not stopped, potential competitors will not be able to enter the market or grow in size, industries will be less competitive and customers will lose out eventually,” the CCS said on its website. It makes it clear that being dominant, by itself, is not anti-competitive. But the potential for abuse exists.

For example, a dominant supermarket chain, upon learning that a rival is eyeing a recently vacant property, could offer the landlord much higher rental to keep competition out. Or a leading motor insurer might cultivate a network of workshops to reject vehicles covered by other insurers.

Even before the proposed alliance with Uber, ComfortDelGro already had a taxi market share of around 60 per cent, according to fleet size. The other taxi operators – in earlier years, essentially only SMRT and a small fragmented fleet of owner-operators – could not compete with Comfort in any effective way. Comfort will dwarf them all again if it joins hands with Uber.

Liberalisation 

In 2001, the Government liberalised the market. Barriers were lowered to allow new entrants. Trans-Cab, Premier and Prime entered the fray in the following years.

That created some competition for drivers and Comfort started dishing out more incentive payments and welfare to its cabbies.

But nothing else changed. Cabby rental rates continued to be revised upwards and commuters still complained about not being able to get a cab when they needed one (despite the overall fleet having grown by a third since liberalisation).

This was because even though there were newcomers, the dominant player continued to call the shots when it came to changes that mattered – such as rental rates and fares. Attempts by the smaller players to introduce differential pricing, or a variation of peak and off-peak fares, failed. Invariably, they would revert to Comfort’s model.

In time, there would be no change unless Comfort changed.

Enter Uber, Grab 

Things took a dramatic turn when Uber and Grab entered the scene in 2013. For the first time, taxi drivers and commuters had a viable alternative. And ComfortDelGro started to face competition – for real.

When Grab partnered all the other smaller operators to offer commuters alternative ways to get a ride, creating a combined fleet size which almost equalled ComfortDelGro’s, the giant had met its equal for the first time.

So, what the 2001 liberalisation failed to do in more than 10 years, the disruptors did in under four. While Grab partnering the smaller cab firms had resized the market, it left Uber with a weakened position. The United States company had no choice but to knock on Comfort’s doors. Being equally weakened, ComfortDelGro had no choice but to sleep with the enemy.

David and Goliath

If the ComfortDelGro-Uber deal is allowed, the market will revert to its David-Goliath imbalance. But unlike the biblical outcome, Goliath almost always wins in any marketplace.

The current situation offers a level of competition never seen before in the rides market here. It should be preserved as it is, even if regulatory measures to enhance safety and policies to ensure fair tax treatment for all players can be improved.

Artificial intelligence can drive for us, but Nissan said its goal in inventing a driverless vehicle is not to replace drivers but rather to perpetuate driving pleasure.

With that aspiration, Nissan’s Brain-to-Vehicle (B2V) inventions, once commercialised over the next five to 10 years or so, promise not to take away the control from drivers.

“I have always thought the driving pleasure is a valuable human asset we have to perpetuate,” said Nissan’s senior innovation researcher, Lucian Gheorghe.

The technology was unveiled to the public earlier this month at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, the world’s gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. This year, the annual event ran from Tuesday to Saturday with Nissan joining the forum to showcase several interesting inventions. Among the big highlights was B2V, the latest development in Nissan’s “Intelligent Mobility” programme.

Gheorghe, the lead of B2V research at the Nissan Research Centre in Japan, said the system catches signs that the driver’s brain is about to, say, press the throttle, step on the brakes, or turn the steering wheel. Knowing what’s coming next from the driver, the car could help in subtle ways – necessarily by turning the wheel or tromping the accelerator. Instead, if the driver intended to slow down, the car’s AI could ease off on the throttle to settle the suspension, or pre-charge the brakes or move the brake pads closer to the brake rotors.

Or if it’s raining, the AI could lightly apply the brakes to dry them off. If the driver intends to change lanes, it might increase the size or brightness of the blind spot detection lights. If the car has haptic feedback, it could vibrate the seat or steering wheel before the driver starts the lane change to warn of a car in the way.

For the research, the test driver wears a device that looks like a skullcap or headset, with wiring leads coming off the back.

The cap measures brain wave activity. It can pick up waves that repeat themselves each time the driver encounters a given situation. In this way, it can both detect and predict.

The system could also detect driver discomfort or fatigue. If the car is autonomous or semi-autonomous, Gheorghe says, AI could “change the driving configuration or driving style”.

The B2V system interprets brain activities to assist with driving. For example, it helps speed up reactions and facilitates systems that maximise driving pleasure. According to Nissan, the system learns from the driver. With this information they could then help take action, such as turning the steering wheel or slowing the car – 0.2 to 0.5 seconds faster than the driver – while remaining largely imperceptible.

“There is no need to fear that the brain-monitoring devices will decipher and steal their users’ thoughts, said Gheorghe. “Just to make things clear, this technology is not reading thoughts. It’s not mind-reading technology”.

The B2V demonstration provided this year’s CES-goers a cool glimpse into what future holds for the world of mobility, a future with more autonomy, more electrification and more connectivity.

“When most people think about autonomous driving,” said Nissan executive VP Daniele Schillaci, “they have a very impersonal vision of the future, where humans relinquish control to the machines. Yet B2V technology does the opposite, by using signals from their own brain to make the drive even more exciting and enjoyable.”

Aside from B2V, Nissan showcased an IMx concept car to thrill those who love autonomous driving. Unveiled first in Japan, the car joined the new electric car LEAF on display at CES. IMx came with advanced technologies including ProPILOT, e-Pedal and enhanced connectivity.

Equipped with ProPILOT that offers fully autonomous operation, the IMx can stow the steering wheel inside the dashboard and recline all seats, giving the driver more space and allowing the vehicle’s occupants to relax and enjoy their commute.

When the “manual” drive mode is selected, the vehicle returns the steering wheel and seats to their original position, seamlessly transferring control back to the driver. It also comes with an automated parking function, able to find its way to a vacant spot on its own even without a driver inside.

In its first year, the fund expects to invest up to $200 million in start-ups and open innovation partnerships with technology entrepreneurs focused on new mobility, including vehicle electrification, autonomous systems, connectivity and artificial intelligence.

With further annual investments, Alliance Ventures is set to become the largest corporate venture capital fund in the automotive industry over the period of Alliance 2022, the strategic midterm plan launched last year by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.

Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, said that the new fund is unique because it offers potential partners access to the global scale and scope of the automotive Alliance, which sold more than 10 million vehicles in 2017 through 10 separate brands and with a presence in all major automotive markets.

Alliance Ventures will invest in start-ups to bring new technologies and businesses to the Alliance while ensuring a fair financial return. The fund will make strategic investments at all start-up stages and will incubate both new automotive entrepreneurs and forge new partnerships.

“Our open innovation approach will allow us to invest and collaborate with start-up companies and technology entrepreneurs, who will benefit from the global scale of the Alliance,” said Ghosn. “This new fund reflects the collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial mind-set at the heart of the Alliance.”

The first deal by Alliance Ventures will be a strategic investment in Ionic Materials, a promising US-based company that is developing solid-state cobalt-free battery materials. The equity acquisition coincides with the execution of a joint-development agreement with the Alliance for the purpose of R&D cooperation.

Ionic, based in Massachusetts, is the developer of a pioneering solid polymer electrolyte that enables improved performance and cost effectiveness of high-energy density batteries for automotive and multiple other applications.

By making such investments, Alliance Ventures will help identify and support the development of new technologies for potential use by Alliance members. Such initiatives are aligned with the objectives of Alliance 2022, which aims to strengthen cooperation and to double the annualised synergies generated by Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to more than 10 billion pounds (Bt439.4 billion) by the end of 2022. The $200 million (Bt6.4 billion) initial venture capital investment comes in addition to more than 8.5 billion pounds in total annual research and development investments by the Alliance members.

Alliance Ventures will be led by Francois Dossa, who has over 20 years of experience in investment banking, plus six years of experience within the Alliance itself, most recently as CEO of Nissan Brazil. The Alliance Ventures team will also draw on the expertise and business opportunities identified by a cross-functional team of experts from Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi.

This initiative complements the Alliance strategy to seek incremental revenues, cost savings and cost-avoidance in areas including electrification, autonomous drive systems and vehicle connectivity. By the end of its strategic plan, the Alliance will launch 12 purely electric models, utilising common EV platforms and components, while also bringing to market 40 vehicles with autonomous drive technology and developing robo-vehicle ride-hailing services.

Alliance Ventures will define innovation areas and geographic markets for investment, working with existing research and advanced engineering teams, and will recruit venture capital experts to develop the platform. It is expected to be co-located in Silicon Valley, Paris, Yokohama and Beijing, close to the technology and research centres of the Alliance member companies, as well as to areas with strong innovation ecosystems.

Renault (at 40 per cent), Nissan (40 per cent) and Mitsubishi Motors (20 per cent) will jointly fund the entity, which will have a dedicated investment committee to make investment decisions and monitor their performance.

“This investment initiative is designed to attract the world’s most promising automotive-technology start-ups to the Alliance,” said Ghosn.

As part of the Alliance 2022 strategic plan, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi is forecasting that the combined revenues of its member companies will reach $240 billion and that annual unit sales will exceed 14 million by the end of 2022.

Rattled by the government’s series of measures seeking to curb cryptocurrency speculation, South Korea now finds itself sharply divided over the legitimacy of the high-stakes transactions.

In a hurried move to pacify the bewildered market, the government vowed Monday to fully review feedback before making a final policy decision, suggesting that the recently mentioned shutdown of operators is unlikely under current circumstances.

“The shutting down of exchanges as proposed by the justice minister is one of the measures seeking to curb speculation. A government-wide plan will be announced later after sufficient consultation and coordination of opinions,” the Office for Government Policy Coordination said in a statement.

The remarks were seen as downplaying Justice Minister Park Sang-ki’s remarks that they were aiming to close down virtual currency operators here.

While recognizing investor autonomy until further policy decisions, the office also called for prudence and responsibility and reiterated its plan to push for real-name transactions and to deal sternly with illegal actions involving cryptocurrency trading.

“Virtual currency is not legal tender. Its prices may fluctuate by large margins and cause big losses,” it said.

Amid mixed messages from the government that had confused investors over the weekend, the Korean public also appeared split on how to approach the cryptocurrency craze.

Local pollster Realmeter said Monday that a 78.2 percent majority of respondents called for appropriate government measures on the unbridled cryptocurrency market, in a survey conducted last Friday on 504 people with a confidence level of plus minus 4.4 percent.

But on the matter of closing down local exchanges, 47.7 percent of the respondents objected, while 42.6 percent supported the measure.

Investors, particularly the technology-friendly young generation, also voiced their concerns or support toward the measures.

“I mostly support the Moon Jae-in government’s dedication to minimize social disparity and to promote economic equity but I must say that its recent set of indecisive moves over the cryptocurrency issue has been disappointing,” said a 36-year-old financial office worker, who wished to be identified only by his surname Lim.

“Of course, the cryptocurrency investment rush is a free market trend and cannot be fully stopped but the government’s role is to suggest predictable legal guidelines upon which investors may make their decisions.”

Lee Hye-jeong, another office worker in her 30s, on the other hand, backed the recent moves for further regulations.

“One cannot but feel deprived from the rampant rumors that someone made a fortune from cryptocurrency investments and is about to quit work,” she said.

“When a certain market sector is overheated and prone to speculations, relevant government intervention is needed.”

Meanwhile, a post “No to virtual currency regulations — Has the government ever allowed the people to dream?” on the Cheong Wa Dae bulletin board had gained more than 190,000 signees as of 3 p.m. Monday.

Petitions that obtain 200,000 or more online signatures within 30 day are directly answered by senior officials and delivered to the president.

The initiative is a global innovation programme that challenges start-ups to build the next big thing in payments and accelerate the future of commerce, leveraging the Visa worldwide network. The 2018 global programme kicks off with the Thailand competition.

The competition is open for entries from today to February 9 via https://visa.co.th/everywhere. To enter, start-ups must submit a solution for one of the three challenge briefs incorporating Visa APIs, a suite of Application Program Interface available through Visa Developer Platform.

Suripong Tantiyanon, Visa Thailand country manager, said that the goal of the initiative is to accelerate the digital economy by providing Visa capabilities to enterprising innovators in Thailand. “Using the Visa Developer Platform, Visa wants to enable co-creations among many of our banking and technology partners. We look forward to seeing many creative solutions in this year’s competition,” Suripong said.

The program’s challenges are: how can start-ups innovate to create relevant and rewarding digital payment experiences for international tourists visiting Thailand?; how can start-ups leverage social media platforms to accelerate commerce and scale access to financial services?; and how can start-ups innovate to make digital payments easy to access and capable of adding value for merchants?

The finalists will be invited to pitch their solutions to a panel of industry leaders, including Visa executives, on March 9 in Bangkok. The grand prize includes Bt1 million in funding, mentorship, exposure to Visa partners and access to facilities and experts at Visa’s Innovation Centre in Singapore.

Jessada Sookdhis, president of Thai Fintech Association, said the initiative will help enrich the burgeoning fintech ecosystem in Thailand, bringing solutions to the greater population by solving real needs, and driving wider adoption of electronic payments.

The Visa initiative was created in 2015 to harness the creativity and talent within the start-up community worldwide. To date, nearly 2,100 start-ups have participated, and have collectively raised over US$2 billion (Bt66 billion) in funding. The programme has selected more than 131 finalists and 36 overall winners. More than 40 countries and regions have hosted “Visa’s Everywhere Initiative” including the US, China, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.

As the processing and distribution centre for the Southeast Asian region, the country’s food product exports reached US$24 billion (Bt768.4 billion) in 2016 and is forecast to reach $26.6 billion (Bt851.6 billion) this year. This growth can be attributed to an abundant supply of food materials and the competitive prices of major agricultural products.

A growing population and changing consumer food preferences, such as increasing demand for various cuisines globally, have also spurred the Thai food production industry over the past five years. As consumer demand rises and diversifies, food manufacturers are looking at automation to boost production and offer consumers more food choices, placing Thailand’s food industry at the forefront of Industry 4.0.

While there are different automation technologies available, certain options are gaining traction as they greatly simplify the automation process while offering enhanced benefits. Collaborative robots (cobots) – robots designed to work sidebyside with people – is one such technology.

Offering a Helping Hand

With multiple benefits on offer, cobots are a valuable automation tool. As Thailand looks to strengthen its position as a world leader in the food industry, manufacturers can turn to cobots to reduce production cost, increase productivity through optimisation of processes to stay competitive, all while maintaining worldclass quality standards.

Compared to traditional robots, cobots have enhanced inbuilt safety features, making it perfectly safe for people to work in close proximity with the cobots. These safety features eliminate the need for fencing and bulky barriers (subject to risk assessments). Their ergonomic design also makes them lightweight and compact, and enable cobots to operate even within small and confined spaces.

Cobots are userfriendly, easy to program and easy to use. This allows them to be integrated into any existing application, regardless of the production type or size, creating endless possibilities for robotic automation across industries.

Automating the Industry

While automation adoption is generally associated with high investments, cobots allow for modular implementation – automating selected processes – to achieve progressive automation leading to increased profits. Through this approach the company can incrementally reinvest the additional profits to further automate and maximise profits.

Cobots have found their way into food manufacturing industries around the world. Their precision, flexibility and safety make them capable of handling different tasks, ranging from simple pickandplace and palletising applications, to aiding in testing and development.

Time is of the essence for manufacturers of perishable produce who aim to seal in the freshness and prolong the lifespan of their products.

This reduces food wastage while allowing the products to be shipped over longer distances to more customers, increasing the manufacturers’ revenue stream.

At Atria, a Northern European manufacturer of gourmet food products for convenience markets and retail chains, Universal Robots’ UR5 and UR10 cobots are used to label, pack and palletise fresh food products.

By automating their production lines with cobots, Atria achieved higher quality output and was able to prepare an average of 228 items per hour for delivery.

The ability to easily redeploy the cobots back and forth between packaging food and labelling packages also reduced downtime significantly – from six hours to 20 minutes – allowing Atria to supply fresh goods to customers at a competitive price.

Using cobots in packaging also enabled the manufacturer to reduce carton waste by 25 per cent. Overall the company achieved considerable cost savings, reaping a substantial return on investment (ROI).

Cobots have also been proven useful in freeing employees from mundane or potentially dangerous tasks.

In one of the largest sugar factories in Europe, cobots have been deployed in the sugar analysis process to inspect and analyse 80,000 sugar beet samples during production.

The cobots scan barcodes and pick up around 45,000 containers with sugar beet samples for analysis, from scales to filters and back again.

This process is performed by a gripper and a barcode scanner attached to the end of the cobot |arm.

Offering precision and accuracy, the cobots helped employees reduce mistakes by ensuring consistency while reducing the amount of physical effort required to carry out certain tasks. With cobots performing the repetitive tasks, employees can be redeployed to take on more stimulating and higherlevel responsibilities such as process optimisation.

The application of cobots has proved useful in ensuring hygienic food processing environments which require sterile conditions. This minimises the likelihood of food contamination that can result in costly product recalls and leave a lasting negative impact on a brand’s reputation.

Cobots can also perform a particular task around the clock when required, allowing businesses to maximise operational efficiencies and reduce production downtime. In the manufacturing sector, the deployment of cobots has shown an increase of as much as 30 per cent in output per employee.

The Way Forward

Cobots are a viable investment for longterm business sustainability and growth. Be it packaging, labelling or scanning, cobots play an integral role in transforming the food and beverage industry.

They can offer Thai food manufacturers a helping hand in automating production processes, delivering increased efficiency and productivity to help the country maintain its status as the Kitchen of The World, and to become the world’s food innovation hub.