Tag: solution

AI + Satellite Data: The Tech Solution to America’s Aging Grid Problem

CATALYST is revolutionizing one of Electric Utilities’ biggest operational challenges with the launch of INSIGHTS Vegetation Management, a satellite-based monitoring service that helps reduce outages and enhance reliability by identifying where networks are at greatest risk.

Vegetation is a major cause of power outages and contributes to infrastructure damage and wildfires. As extreme weather events become more frequent, Utilities face increasing challenges in maintaining grid stability. Managing vegetation is costly with major U.S. Utilities spending over $100 million annually. However, this spending can be inefficient – without insights into current vegetation conditions, traditional inspection and pruning programs are forced to revisit areas on fixed cycles rather than prioritizing areas at highest risk. 

A Targeted Approach to Vegetation Risk Management

CATALYST’s INSIGHTS Vegetation Management replaces fixed maintenance schedules with condition-based working informed by regular network-wide intelligence. Its insights enable arborists to optimize operations by focusing inspection and maintenance crews on areas where risk is highest. The solution also provides post-work verification to confirm the effectiveness of completed vegetation management activities. Additionally, it can deliver critical insights into the extent and relative intensity of vegetation damage following extreme weather events.

“INSIGHTS Vegetation Management expands CATALYST’s suite of risk monitoring solutions, equipping Utilities with essential intelligence to improve resilience and operational efficiency,” said June McAlarey, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics, “By leveraging advanced satellite technology, Utilities can actively target vegetation risks, reducing outages and ensuring safer, more reliable service for their customers.”

INSIGHTS combines high-resolution satellite imagery with Utilities’ and environmental data to identify high-risk trees and quantify threats. Unlike black-box AI models, it offers transparent, science-based risk assessments that can be customized to utility needs. 

As a data-as-a-service (DaaS) solution, INSIGHTS integrates with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms and field management tools, providing Utilities with accessible actionable intelligence. Developed through CATALYST’s extensive experience in Earth observation analytics and advanced library of processing algorithms, INSIGHTS Vegetation Management delivers reliable and precise risk assessments tailored to Utility operations.

INSIGHTS Vegetation Management is now available as the latest addition to CATALYST’s wide-area monitoring capabilities that also include INSIGHTS Ground Displacement Monitoring, change detection, and terrain modelling. 

Ardanis Technologies Creates 20 New Jobs and has Invested €2m in Aileen, its AI Solution

Irish software and digital consulting company Ardanis Technologies is creating 20 new jobs to support Aileen, the company’s new AI solution.  Aileen is a generative solution developed for call / contact centres.

New jobs will be created over the next 12 months and will include roles in sales, marketing, support, and innovative AI-driven technology.

Aileen was developed by Ardanis and is designed to be intelligent, adaptable and can integrate into all existing systems used by call/contact centres.  A key challenge for call centres/contact centres is managing call volumes and other inbound requests such as email, which need to be routed to the correct agents for processing. Aileen enables contact centres to fully automate this process, which frees up the agents to provide a better and quicker experience to their customers, while allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

“Aileen has resulted in the opening of new opportunities for Ardanis”, explains Ivan Goor, Group CEO at Ardanis.  “Aileen has proven that with the right blend of technology and human expertise, even the most complex problems can be solved, leading to happier customers, more empowered agents, and a brighter future for the contact centre industry”.

Aileen is a generative AI solution and goes beyond traditional rule-based AI by combining advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) with flow-based, agentic workflows to deliver context-aware, adaptive, and emotionally intelligent responses.  While LLMs enable Aileen to understand and generate human-like text by processing vast amounts of training data, the flow-based architecture allows Aileen to execute complex, multi-step tasks in a structured and efficient manner.  This dual approach enables the AI to understand the nuances of human communication while managing interactions dynamically through predefined workflows.

“Aileen has been designed to enhance the customer experience landscape”, concludes Ivan. “Ardanis will support every business in achieving its vision by reducing process lifecycles from hours to seconds”.

Bluewater unveils world’s most advanced coffee brewing solution at World of Coffee trade show in Copenhagen

World-leading water purification and beverage innovator Bluewater will unveil a ground-breaking professional water purification and mineralization system exclusively designed for baristas at the World of Coffee trade show in Copenhagen from June 27 – 29. The Bluewater Café Station™ – designed to help quality-minded baristas enhance the flavors of coffee to new levels of perfection – can be tried on Booth DE-013 at Europe’s most exciting annual specialty coffee show.

“Bluewater is empowering baristas – from the smallest bistro to the largest café chain – to take full control over the water they use to make the perfect coffee,” said Maximillian Lundin, a former Swedish chef who heads Bluewater’s coffee division. Noting that water is crucial to brewing great coffee, Maximillian said the Bluewater Café Station uniquely helps transform the bean-to-taste bud journey.

“We have applied Bluewater’s water and mineral science expertise to ensure baristas can consistently brew up a storm to satisfy the most discerning coffee lovers regardless of local water quality,” Maximillian said.

The Bluewater Café Station™ helps coffee brewing professionals deliver a perfect brew every time by adapting to the coffee beans used to bring out their unique flavors. The Bluewater coffee brewing solution ensures that no matter where you drink your coffee, it will always have the same perfect taste.

“Coffee is one of the most popular and social beverages on the planet, with around 2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed daily, yet the quality of water is often overlooked, something Bluewater fixes with our unique Café Station,” Maximillian explains. He said the Bluewater professional coffee brewing station not only ensures water is purified to perfection but also adds uniquely individualized blends of minerals to bring out the best flavors of each bean.

Key benefits of the Bluewater Café Station

• Water purified up to 10x Cleaner than Traditional Carbon Filters: Bluewater proprietary SuperiorOsmosis™ Technology removes contaminants like PFAS, microplastics, and toxic metals for purer water, giving better-tasting coffee.

• Planet friendlier with 3x less water wasted compared to other reverse osmosis systems.

• Liquid Rock™: The world’s only mineral solution that doesn’t cause scaling during water heating, a crucial function when brewing coffee. Harvested from high-quality Swedish mountain rock, Bluewater Liquid Rock™ provides the only TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) needed in the water.

• Customize Your Minerals in Real Time: Using the Bluewater App, you can customize the minerals in your water to suit your beans.

• The Bluewater Café Station is currently being introduced in key markets across Europe, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. Additional launches in key markets are planned after the summer.

PayPal launches its most advanced solution for small and medium-sized enterprises in Ireland

PayPal today announced the launch of PayPal Complete Payments for small and medium enterprises in Ireland. The solution – which has been rolled out across the UK, Canada and more than 20 European markets – enables enterprises in Ireland to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world.

Forrester and PayPal research found that 63 per cent of online shoppers would not purchase from a brand if it had a poor checkout experience – with 43 per cent of customers likely to buy if the checkout offers their preferred payment type.

Businesses across Ireland face a variety of challenges every day, from finding new customers and managing cashflow to driving sales. Expanding the choice of payment methods for shoppers can help turn potential customers into actual customers and help increase sales. A Censuswide survey of enterprises revealed that diverse payment options that cater to customer preferences (27%), fast and reliable processing to minimise transaction delays (26%) and dispute resolution services (25%)—are crucial factors that enable business growth.

“We’re bringing our latest innovation to Ireland with PayPal Complete Payments, that enables small and medium-sized enterprises to offer their customers the same level of service and user experience as large enterprises,” said Jonas Breding, General Manager, Northern Europe, PayPal. “With PayPal Complete Payments businesses are seeing on average 4.2 per cent lift in credit and debit card acceptance for neighbouring markets like the UK. This demonstrates we are delivering greater value for our customers by boosting customer conversions and helping drive revenue.”   

PayPal has integrations with several ecommerce platforms – including BigCommerce and WooCommerce – which make it easier for their customers to quickly take advantage of this new solution.

This new solution enables eligible enterprises to allow their customers to securely store their payment methods in the PayPal vault for future purchases. This provides a seamless shopping experience for consumers, and helps Irish enterprises drive conversions and repeat buyers.

Businesses can sync order and tracking information with a new feature–Package Tracking. For businesses, sharing tracking data with PayPal can mean fewer customer disputes, and a streamlined resolution process that eliminates manual responses, which can reduce costs. Transactions with tracking details often see 80 per cent lower “item not received” dispute claims.

To help keep small businesses secure in an environment where fraud is on the rise, PayPal Complete Payments will continue to offer Fraud Protection, Chargeback Protection and Seller Protection on eligible transactions.

This solution is available at competitive rates for accepting credit cards and other payment methods online. Small businesses can now choose between flat-rate pricing and flexible pricing, which helps them get paid the full amount up-front and gives them a transparent view into processing costs.

Remora Unveil Groundbreaking Wireless Audio Solution, Remora PRO

Remora, a leading audio startup at the forefront of eliminating cables from professional and high-end consumer audio applications, is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural product: Remora PRO. This cutting-edge innovation, based on the acclaimed Headphone 3.0 platform from Sonical Inc, introduces a game-changing Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless connection, delivering an unparalleled loss-less audio experience with imperceptible latency.


Designed to cater to the millions of professional users and premium audio listeners who refuse to compromise on quality or latency, Remora PRO is set to empower audiophiles, music producers, live performers and DJs with a cable-free audio experience. The product’s groundbreaking design connects seamlessly with all existing audio sources via analogue and USB interfaces, and is adaptable to all headphone models. Moreover, the Remora PRO offers full Bluetooth support, ensuring backward compatibility with billions of existing wireless audio devices.

The Remora PRO fulfills the unmet performance needs of audio professionals and music enthusiasts that Bluetooth has been unable to support.  Mark Wade, Head of Products at Remora explains “By using CosmOS, the operating system for the ear from Sonical, running on their high performance ear computer platform, Remora PRO provides a complete solution for a personalized experience through downloadable plugins.”

Grammy award-winning mix engineer Wez Clarke expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I love the fact that I can use the professional headphones I already own, which I’ve had for years and understand the sound profile of.” Clarke further emphasized, “This level of audio performance goes beyond regular Bluetooth wireless headphones and is truly a cable replacement.  More than that, it means I don’t have to throw away my headphones just to get access to the latest technology”

The Remora will include THX AAA, the patented THX linear amplifier technology for headphones. THX AAA on the Remora will ensure the ultimate no-compromise headphone audio experience by delivering the world’s highest fidelity audio with infinitesimally low levels of noise, distortion, and power consumption for a quality and fatigue-free listening experience.
Anticipating a high demand for this revolutionary product, Remora PRO are scheduled for shipping by the end of September with a suggested retail pricing of GBP £759 USD $949 EUR €890. Pre-orders are now open on the company’s website: www.remora.pro

Key Features of Remora PRO:

  • Ultra Wide Band (UWB) wireless connection for an uncompressed lossless audio experience with imperceptible latency at 24bit / 96kHz
  • End to End latency of sub 5ms in UWB mode
  • Compatibility with all existing audio sources via analogue and USB interfaces.
  • User configurable through Sonical’s CosmOS with downloadable plugins for a personalised audio experience
  • Full Bluetooth support for backward compatibility with existing wireless audio devices
  • XMOS USB input and an ESS Powered DAC output
  • THX AAA certified headphone amplifier for an unparalleled headphone audio experience

Remora will be at the Sonical booth in Hall 1, C12 at HIGH END Munich 2024.

 

 

Innit Audio, A New Audio Solution to Enhance your PC Gameplay

Innit Audio is proud to have officially launched its groundbreaking experience, currently for PC users. Launched on Wednesday 14th February, following a successful open beta in Q4 2023, Innit Audio promises to redefine how gamers and media enthusiasts hear, feel, and experience sound through headphones and earphones.


Innit launch video

Built on years of experience and innovation from state-of-the-art digital audio specialists Böhmer Audio, the Innit algorithm generates a virtual 3-dimensional 360×360 spatial sound field that can locate sound anywhere in 3D space around the listener. For the very first time, it’s possible to game wearing headphones without feeling that sounds are stuck inside your head, being able instead to feel that you are actually inside the game.

Mark Nichols, CEO of Innit Audio, explains “Soundwaves surround us, arriving from all directions in an infinite variety of patterns. Many are altered by their journey, bouncing off surfaces and acquiring unique distortions between the sound source and our ears. With their hyper-sensitive drums, our ears hear and translate sounds for our brains to interpret into what they understand and know to be real life. This is what we call Aural Reality.”

Nichols continues: “When using headphones, or earphones, we are pulled out of aural reality by the unnatural feeling of having these sound sources coming from right next to our ears, giving the effect of a much-reduced soundscape being heard inside your head, or maybe just a tiny bit outside. Innit solves this completely.”

All sounds played through Innit – be they from a competitive or immersive game such as Counter Strike 2 or Star Citizen, or a streamed music video – go through sophisticated audio processing by the Innit algorithm creating time domain coded sound vectors, adding missing time domain information not present in the sound stream which allows the sounds to be positioned anywhere in the 360×360 3D spatial sound field.

This achieves world-leading directional sound placement, your mind using the added information making the sound appear to be originating from a genuine, real-life environment rather than confined to two small locations on the sides of your head. In this groundbreaking move, Innit achieves for gaming audio what virtual reality headsets do for visuals — it enables you to lose yourself in the experience, seamlessly blurring the line between virtual and reality, making it feel entirely natural and fully immersive.

Bernt Böhmer, the visionary inventor behind Böhmer Audio and Innit Audio, recalls: “I first realized how important this development would be for gamers when I added Innit to my sim racing setup. Before that, my chair vibrates, the steering wheel does its thing and so on, but the audio experience didn’t pull my senses into the game in the same way, it felt artificial. But with Innit enabled, it’s on a different level – you feel the masses moving in a real car, you get the G force, and you lose any awareness that what you’re hearing, what you’re experiencing, isn’t real. You’re really there, in the car, and the first time I felt that I knew we had something special. Innit completes the experience.”

Upon launch there will be two subscription options, priced at $9.99 / €8.99 / £8.49 per quarter or $29.99 / €26.99 / £24.99 for twelve months, with the annual option being a 25% discount.

They are also offering the option to instead purchase a one-time license, which as a special launch offer costs only $69.99 / €64.99 / £59.99, providing years of audio excellence for less than the price of three years subscribing.

Innit Audio invites gamers and audio enthusiasts to embark on a new era of sound immersion. Join us on this beautiful-sounding journey, where each moment is a revelation in aural reality.

Gamers, and film, tv, and music lovers, can sign-up and download Innit directly from https://innit.audio

Mobile App Protection Solution “DexProtector” Achieves EMVCo Certification for Landmark Fourth Consecutive Year

Licel has announced that DexProtector, its industry-leading mobile app security solution that safeguards over 12 billion downloaded apps, has once again achieved EMVCo SBMP SPT certification. This is its fourth consecutive year of EMVCo certification, underscoring Licel’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge security solutions for mobile apps in an increasingly complex digital payments landscape.

Ivan Kinash, CEO of Licel said, “Being the first software protection tool to be certified by EMVCo for both Android and iOS is a real source of pride for us. And so it’s a great feeling to know that EMVCo has certified DexProtector again. As well as the peace of mind it gives our customers, regular independent testing and verification is also a huge part of our mobile security philosophy. We know the threat landscape is constantly changing and that our solutions need to stay ahead of the curve. As a case in point, last month we released DexProtector 14.1, which comes with a completely refreshed core architecture in response to the increasingly sophisticated nature of attacks, to deliver true multi-layered defence.”

EMVCo, collectively owned by industry giants like American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay, and Visa, is a global technical body responsible for the secure integration of card-based payment products worldwide. As software-based mobile payments (SBMP) quickly become the norm around the world, EMVCo is playing a pivotal role to keep these payments safe.

For Licel, with customers in 85 countries, this achievement is not just a significant milestone to celebrate but a beacon of assurance for businesses relying on mobile applications for their continued growth. It’s also a statement of intent to continue offering innovative and reliable security solutions that businesses around the world can trust.

For more information about DexProtector, please visit Licel’s website at www.licelus.com

Evolve IP Launch Powerful Card Payment Solution To Combat Radical Compliance Changes

Global collaboration provider, Evolve IP (EMEA), has launched a seamless end-to-end secure solution to address major payment card information (PCI) changes happening in March. 

Significant reforms are about to come into force that require businesses to have an evidence-based process for card payments, particularly over the phone. Ignoring the impending rule changes could expose businesses to sanctions, fines and irreversible reputational damage.

To help address this major market shake-up, Evolve IP has launched Anywhere Secure Call, the latest addition to its Anywhere Product Suite. This new innovation is powered by technology partner BroadSource who work to drive collaboration in the cloud by helping the globe’s most sophisticated service providers automate, integrate and differentiate their cloud collaboration solutions.

Evolve IP UK Solutions Director, Scott Rixon.

Simplifying business practices

Anywhere Secure Call has been designed to simplify PCI compliance and redefine the card payment landscape. It’s cost-effective, simple to set up, flexible and has been built from the ground up, ensuring proof of active adherence. The critical differentiation lies in ensuring customer payment card details are not stored within recorded voice communications.

Anywhere Secure Call, intelligently directs all transactional voice calls to a designated, PCI-compliant segment of its network automatically. In the event of a PCI audit, businesses need only prove the compliance of this specific component, simplifying the overall process. This innovative approach allows businesses to demonstrate that the relevant voice traffic is isolated from their intricate network infrastructure, effectively ‘de-scoping’ the compliance challenge.

Many organisations are still unaware and unprepared for the radical changes they need to introduce, according to Evolve IP’s UK Solutions Director, Scott Rixon.

He revealed: “From Spring, businesses will need to prove their innocence by providing real-life data and proof of their compliancy, rather than simply verbally defending any guilt that has been implied.”

Time is running out

Anywhere Secure Call is priced on a per-user basis rather than a per-transaction percentage, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes. Whether a small business with just one seat or an enterprise call centre with hundreds, the solution caters to diverse organisational needs.

Rixon emphasised: “At Evolve IP, we believe solutions should work for everyone but currently, that’s not always the case. Some PCI solutions require a minimum deployment of say 50 users which simply isn’t viable for a small business. Equally, other options need to have the ability to scale up to larger enterprises. Also, we even know of some models based on a low cost of entry but then charge higher transaction fees.

“Now any business that needs to take card payments can just enable Secure Call, from a small florist to a gardening company. It can be as simple or sophisticated as required and can even be plugged into a CRM database to automate the whole process. We are covering all angles. But time is running out. Don’t wait any longer.”

Continuing to partner with leading technologies

Haydn Faltyn, CEO and Co-founder at BroadSource, shares the same enthusiasm. He highlighted: “Anywhere Secure Call represents a revolutionary step forward in telecommunications, offering a secure, cost-effective, and customer-friendly solution for payment transactions over the phone. We are thrilled to be working closely with the team at Evolve IP to further solidify our commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions that address the needs of businesses and their customers. Anywhere Secure Call is poised to redefine the landscape of payment processing over the phone.”

Tech Review – PowerCube, the ultimate 4-in-1 EDC charging solution

There is many charging solutions on the market today in all shapes and size which is welcome and there is something to suit everyone’s needs and we all have different needs and there is no denying that one, over the years I have tried and tested many of these in all shapes and size and they all do the same thing but over the years things have have changed with more options being built into one unit and with the tech changing you can implement several products into on now and this is what this product does.

Small and portable which is what we want for at home and mostly for travel purposes the PowerCube is the ultimate 4-in-1 charging solution according to the company, this is in short a hybrid charging device that features a 5,000mAh battery pack, a 20W charger, a built-in charging cable and a foldable phone stand.

This little palm sized gadget is versatile and can do more than charge your phone and we have been testing in out for the last few weeks so let’s take a look at what we are getting here and check the video review below.

 

What does PowerCube do then.

Doubles as A 20W Wall Charger

It also has a built-in AC wall plug (US plug) to give you flexibility when outside without having to bring additional cables and an adapter. If your smartphone needs more than a quick top-up, or the battery itself is dead, simply fold out the AC pins, and plug them into any standard outlet to begin charging. You will not need to face the wall or be tied by the wall socket when chilling at home or travelling with your phone. With pass-through charging you can charge PowerCube and your devices at the same time. It will automatically prioritize powering your devices from a power outlet before charging itself.

 

The integrated Lightning cable supports up to 20W Power Delivery fast charging. Your iPhone battery can be recharged from 0-50% in only 30 minutes.

The built-in USB-C cable delivers a maximum power output of 22.5W for Samsung, Google, and other compatible Android smartphones and tablets. It can even provide emergency power for low-powered laptops like MacBook Air 13″, Surface Go, Chromebook, Samsung Galaxy Book 2 etc.

Foldable Kickstand to Securely Hold Your Phone

Another interesting feature that sets it aside from other power banks, is its foldable kickstand, which allows for hands-free viewing while charging.

Charge Two Devices Simultaneously

PowerCube is also equipped with a USB-C port on the bottom with a rating of 5V / 2.1A that can be used as input and output. It is a capable mobile companion in its own right — both its USB-C port and  integrated cable are capable of delivering 20W of battery power to your device, or 23W total if both ports are used simultaneously. It means you can charge two devices at the same time and share power with your friend.

Safe & Reliable Charging

The product is built with superior safety features, including battery overcharge protection, overcurrent protection, output overvoltage protection, temperature control, short circuit protection, etc.

 

Smallest，Lightest but Most Powerful

Combining wall charger, power bank, kickstand together, PowerCube is still one of the lightest and most compact power banks that you can buy. Having such fast charging speeds is quite unusual for such compact power banks.

PowerCube is remarkably portable – measuring up at a minuscule 4.2 inches(106mm) on its longest side and 1.5 inches (38mm) in width, making it perfect for stashing in your purse, pocket or makeup bag.

It weighs just 173g (6.1 ounces), about 30% lighter than a similar conventional 5000mAh power bank.  This is the type of power bank you’ll even forget you have until the moment you actually need it.

Travel-friendly Pin Converters For Any Country

We provide this travel adapter bundle (including EU plug, UK plug and AU plug) as an add on. They are easy to carry with you in your luggage without issue. Easily convert UK/EU/AU plug to the US plug of PowerCube, you can get juiced up across borders.

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Video Review