How Heroes of the Storm is evolving its esports scene
We want that for all of our players.
GamesBeat: It seems like all of Blizzard’s esports games have been going through a lot of changes.
GamesBeat: Your game is constantly adding new characters, and each time you do this, does it shake up the game so much that it throws players a bit, trying to learn new characters and the counters for them?
Braithwaite: The ideal situation is that a new character, a new hero on the roster doesn’t actually shake up the competitive scene.
GamesBeat: What are your goals with esports here?
If you follow a favorite team or player, you know every single match they’re playing in.
Braithwaite: That’s one thing that we wanted to not focus on this year, the prize pool.
Do you limit other games they can play competitively or other leagues they can appear in?
We’re investing a lot of money into HGC and into these players.
Those teams compete in a playoff, and the top two teams from the Open Division fight against the bottom two teams in the pro league to find out who’ll be the next two teams in the HGC for the end of the year.
Yahoo reportedly under investigation by SEC over data breaches
Yahoo reportedly under investigation by SEC over data breaches.
Image Credit: Ken Yeung/VentureBeat Yahoo is facing an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to its failure to promptly disclose to investors information about the two massive data breaches the company revealed last year.
The road to closing the acquisition has been anything but smooth for Yahoo.
Just two months after the purchase was announced, Yahoo claimed that “state-sponsored” hackers stole data from 500 million users back in 2014.
That certainly caught everyone off guard and there were rumblings that Verizon would either back out or seek a $1 billion discount on the deal.
And if that wasn’t enough, two months after that, Yahoo revealed another hack, this time as far back as August 2013, where more than 1 billion user accounts were compromised by an “unauthorized third party.” Nearly two months later, now we’re hearing about a probe by the U.S. government.
This may lead some to wager whether this deal will actually go through or not.
While the investigation focuses on what wasn’t disclosed to investors, it also probably includes the soon-to-be parent company Verizon, who has said repeatedly after each incident that it will “evaluate the situation as Yahoo continues its investigation.” The Wall Street Journal says that the investigation is still in its early stages so any penalties or legal action is still some time away.
However, the probe by the SEC is noteworthy as WSJ indicates the federal agency “has never brought a case against a company for failing to disclose a cyberbreach, given the blurriness of when an issue might be ‘material’.” The publication further notes that it’s unusual because of the scope and timing — sure there have been numerous cyberattacks in the past year, including with Ashley Madison, Target, Dow Jones, and others, but none have come quickly and on this scale soon after an acquisition.
However, it will not hold an earnings call citing its continued acquisition by Verizon.
5 things to check before joining a startup
5 things to check before joining a startup.
Employer expectations It’s important to know your job description, key result areas (KRAs) and the role in an organisation before joining it.
“Before joining, speak to the founders, especially the CEO.
The interaction would provide greater clarity on what the employer expects from you,” says Dinesh Goel, Co-founder and CEO, Aasaanjobs, a job portal.
ESOPs pay off once the startup establishes its credentials and draws in investors.
Investor backing In an environment where funding has become the lifeblood of startups, the importance of investor backing cannot be highlighted enough.
Whether it be angel investors who help seed a company or venture capital (VC) firms that help it grow, a startup backed by a strong, reliable set of investors is much more likely to succeed than one without it.
Also, investors, particularly VCs, do a lot of research before putting in money in a venture.
So, if a startup has reptable VCs funding it, it is likely to have sound growth prospects.
Particularly so in a startup, where people join with the expectation of growing with the company.
Valve confirms: More SteamVR Tracking headsets are in development
Valve confirms: More SteamVR Tracking headsets are in development.
The system could be critical to the adoption of VR in 2017, and the comment indicates additional head-mounted displays compatible with the SteamVR Tracking “lighthouse” technology are in the works.
The headsets are among 500 companies which signed up to freely use the innovative tracking system, according to Ludwig.
Below is the full comment in response to the questions “Did you expect more hardware manufacturers to consider interest in releasing their own Lighthouse/Steam VR HMD instead of just HTC?
A few of them have talked about that, but a bunch more will announce when they’re ready.
As part of your initial setup you would still install Steam to get the drivers, but Steam doesn’t need to be running for the Vive to work.
The controller production line is still going strong and churning out controllers.
The next line we’re building is for the base stations we talked about at Dev Days.
They’ll start showing up later this year.
Using automation allows us to keep production local, which means our employees can be much more hands-on with the manufacturing process.
Yes, you can actually tweet from the 2017 Nissan Titan
Trucks have not always been the go-to platform for tech.
In most cases, the size of the truck bed, the traction you get from the tires, and the engine torque were the most important tech considerations.
People who drives trucks today are often business owners who need to stay connected or people who drive them on a commute.
Nissan started offering some “connected car” services with the Nissan Altima a few years ago, but the Titan is the first truck I’ve ever used that allows you to do Google online searches by voice and let people know where you are using Facebook check-in (which is admittedly a forgotten feature and rarely used — it dates back to when people used Foursquare).
What impressed me the most is the ability to check a live Twitter feed and tweet directly from the cab of the truck.
I also had to authenticate the Twitter app.
You can scan through a live feed of tweets or compose a new tweet.
In my tests, I tweeted several times when I was driving around an urban area.
However, the live feed was active at all times.
My problem there is that I tend to search for people and check their feed more than anything.
BSE IPO launch today, analysts say valuation reasonable
BSE IPO launch today, analysts say valuation reasonable.
Stock market analysts say the valuation at which BSE is seeking to raise the money is reasonable compared to that of its only listed rival—the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).
“We believe the valuation demanded by the company is justified and hence recommend a subscribe to the issue,” IIFL analyst Saurabh Rathi wrote in the note.
BSE’s IPO comes ahead of a share issue by larger rival NSE, which has also filed its sale prospectus with the regulator.
Existing investors of NSE are looking to dilute a 22.5% stake through the IPO, which could be as large as Rs10,000 crore.
While they do not have a big share in derivatives segment, they have a steady share in cash market, and that may continue,” said Purohit.
“Apart from transaction fees, there are other fees that constitute their income such as listing fees etc.
They have been faring very well on that,” added Purohit.
BSE’s IPO will see existing shareholders selling 15.42 million shares through the offer for sale route, according to information in the IPO prospectus filed by the exchange.
Muthukrishnan said he would rate the IPO a “neutral.” While the valuation looks reasonable compared to that of MCX, the company has not delivered well in the equity cash and derivatives segment.
The Growth of Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce (Infographic)
The Growth of Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce (Infographic).
From creating personalized shopping experiences to offering virtual buying assistants — AI is improving the online shopping experience for consumers and retailers.
Shoppers will be able to easily find the best price for an item and communicate with chatbots for quick customer service.
For retailers, they’ll be able to better analyze consumer data to predict future buying patterns, create autonomous replenishing systems and also save money and time on customer service by utilizing chatbots.
A number of companies already employ AI in their ecommerce processes today.
Netflix uses AI to provide personalized recommendations to subscribers based on their previous streaming habits.
Under Armour, with the help of IBM’s Watson, uses AI to help its customers track their health and fitness activities.
Over the next few years, we’ll likely see other retailers incorporate AI into their ecommerce practices as well.
To learn how AI will shape the future of ecommerce, check out redstagfulfillment.com’s infographic below.
5 Common Writing Problems and How to Fix Them
In short, it is about the product and the business that offers the product.
The problem is that people don’t want to read about the business, service or product.
Unless the writer can transform the features of the product into benefits for the customer, it will not stir people to make a purchase.
This will make your writing more compelling to your audience.
This means that you will wind up writing about your business, product or service without reference to any benefit it offers your target market.
Trying to make everyone happy The temptation for a writer is to try to make the product or service appeal to everyone.
Instead, you want to have a laser-focus when writing.
By simply following a good process in a disciplined way, you can improve your writing and your productivity.
It requires hard work and research to get the right message to your audience.
Then you need to focus your writing so that you appeal directly to those needs rather than writing about what your business offers.
Middle East start-ups still struggling to secure funding
Entrepreneurs in the region are still facing a challenge to get investment for their start-up companies, according to the founder and CEO of online marketplace Mini Exchange.
Speaking to Gulf Business on the back of a $3m investment round at the end of last year, Sarah Jones believes securing funds is still a hurdle for entrepreneurs looking to get their initiative off the ground.
“I think there’s probably less risk appetite here than there is in other parts of the world, with people wanting to invest more in a proven business model than in a start-up.” Mini Exchange’s latest investment will go towards expanding into new countries including Kuwait and Qatar, launching an English and Arabic app, and growing the team which has already gone from four to 24 people in 12 months.
Jones believes the company’s track record and existing foreign investors made it easier to secure the funds.
“I think that this round was easier because we’ve done a good job over the past year, so we had the follow-on funding from our original investors.
“But I do think that raising solely from this region is a challenge when you’re starting up because there isn’t really a lot of seed capital money here.” Launched in 2014, Mini Exchange started life as a platform for parents and brands to sell high-end kids wear items.
But following a $1.1m funding round in 2015, the company diversified and grew into a marketplace of around 850 brands and 44,000 products catered to mothers and children including fashion, beauty, house and home items and toys.
And while Jones acknowledges that various start-up challenges persist, the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has developed enormously since the company was born.
“There’s a lot of red tape in terms of starting a business and the capital that’s needed – whether that’s setting up a company, getting visas, getting an office, and so on.
“The angel networks, the accelerators that are available, the events, and so on.
These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week
These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week.
This week, Tech.eu tracked 15 technology M&A transactions and 78 tech funding deals totalling €455.7 million (about $488 million) in Europe, Turkey and Israel.
2) Chinese chemical firm Zhejiang Jinke Entertainment Culture has acquired Slovenia-based Talking Tom developer Outfit7 for €1 billion, according to reports.
4) SuperAwesome, a London tech startup specialising in helping brands such as Lego and Mattel comply with rules on advertising to kids online, is considering an IPO.
5) Belgian-founded data governance software company Collibra has announced a new funding round of $50 million.
ICONIQ Capital led the round with participation from new and previous investors in Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, and Newion Investments.
9) Irish digital health company SilverCloud Health has raised $8.1 million in a Series A round led by B Capital Group, the VC firm founded by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly.
This and more in our latest report!
This post originally appeared on Tech.eu.
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Nike has found a novel use for AR for marketing shoes
Augmented and virtual reality are slowly but surely being integrated into shopping experiences worldwide.
Now, a Nike store in Paris is letting customers get a look at different shoe colors using augmented reality.
While the GAP application allows customers to get a look at clothing on mannequins that hopefully reflect their own shape, this AR experience from Nike lets you take an actual white shoe and switch between different color styles on the fly.
SmartPixels, a French company specifically specializing in augmented retail programs, is responsible for this new development and their work interfaces with Nike’s existing online NikeID customization service.
You have to use an in store tablet as opposed to being able to use your own smart device because the display actually projects a hologram onto an actual shoe.
Despite the limited shoe options, this along with our previously reported retail AR and VR initiatives will hopefully serve as gateways into the technology and inspire developers and major retailers to invest more time and money into their work so that options are expanded upon.
NikeID has an expansive database already, so it shouldn’t be very long before the AR options grow if people show genuine interest in using it.
It’s a cool idea in its current form and hopefully, in the future, there will be some way for consumers to use an app at home to project the entire shoe onto their foot through a phone or glasses display and get an idea of what they’d like to purchase.
This story originally appeared on Uploadvr.com.
Copyright 2017
5 Alexa skills to try this week
5 Alexa skills to try this week.
Today, there are more than 7,000, and new skills are being added fast.
Last November, Amazon launched the Alexa Skills Marketplace to allow the owners of devices that speak to Alexa to share, shop, and enable skills on Amazon.com.
That may sound like a parody, and it is a bit choppy, but a service for late night poems seems like the sort of thing that could be pretty entertaining and is somehow fitting for a voice interface.
Civics Practice Test helps you get ready for the U.S. citizenship and naturalization test.
Roughly nine in 10 applicants pass the text, whereas only one in three U.S. citizens who take the test pass, according to U.S. News.
There are currently about half a dozen Alexa skills in the marketplace for people who want to practice for the U.S. citizenship and naturalization test.
It is accompanied by an iOS or Android app.
Instead of calling on various flash briefings, you can add the news you want to hear into a list and then listen to it with your smartphone or Alexa.
This is a flash briefing — a short news brief from the international news agency.
![Indonesia Weekly Review: 4 Startup Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [16 January – 21 January]](http://briofinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/indonesia-weekly-review-4-startup-stories-you-dont-want-to-miss-this-week-16-january-21-january-400x250.jpg)
Indonesia Weekly Review: 4 Startup Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [16 January – 21 January]
With investment pouring in and new services launching, here are the most important developments of the Indonesian startup ecosystem, this week.
New Zealand Based AdTech Startup Postr Secures Funding – Looks To Expand To Southeast Asia Advertisement startup based out of New Zealand Postr has secured $2.1 Mn in the latest round of funding, from a group of undisclosed investors, reported e27.
As per the report, its existing investors including Gunung Sewu Group, K1W1, New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF), undisclosed angel investors from Singapore and New Zealand, and senior officials from PayPal also took part in the round.
The funding will be used to facilitate Postr’s expansion in Australia and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.
The startup has already launched Optus Xtra in collaboration with Australian major Optus and plans to launch similar apps in Southeast Asia as well.
HRtech Startup Ekrut Bags Seed Funding From East Ventures Indonesia-based early-stage VC firm East Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount of money in human resource technology startup Ekrut in its Seed round of funding.
Founded in 2016 by Steven Suliawan, the startup aids recruiters with their hiring process and speeds up the process of headhunting.
Online Beauty Management Platform Sociolla Raises Series B From Istyle, Others Ecommerce-based portal for makeup and beauty products, Sociolla has secured an undisclosed amount in its Series B round of funding from Japanese fashion company Istyle and VC firm East Ventures.
Uber Launches Uber XL For People Travelling In Groups Cab aggregator Uber launched its Uber XL service in Indonesia earlier this week.
According to an official statement by Uber, UberXL is a cost-effective alternative for people travelling in groups, because it allows them to complete their journey in one vehicle, instead of booking two UberX vehicles.
How TE2 is helping Carnival manage a fleet of wearables on 100 cruise ships
How TE2 is helping Carnival manage a fleet of wearables on 100 cruise ships.
One of key players behind that plan to install interactive systems and wearables on 100 cruise ships is The Experience Engine (TE2), a San Diego, Calif.-based company that creates experience platforms-as-a-service.
“Consumers want this,” said Sahadi.
“They want a better experience.
There’s a lot of complexity in making that happen in real-time.” TE2 is about three years old and it was founded to bring personalization that connects the physical world and the digital world.
With Carnival, the idea is to connect the products and services that a brand has to offer consumers.
Each Carnival ship will each have more than 4,000 sensors that provide data to the xIOS, or the Experience Innovation Operating System.
“The culmination is what you saw at CES,” said Sahadi, who went on stage to talk about the software with Carnival CEO Arnold Donald during a CES keynote.
The company is working with a quick-service chain now.
Image Credit: Carnival “Everybody wants an elevated guest experience in the physical world,” Sahadi said.
Xbox One smashes aside PlayStation 4, Blizzard on TV
The console crushed all it’s competitors in terms of digital attention GamesBeat has partnered with attention analytics company iSpot.tv, which measures TV advertising in real-time, to bring you a monthly report on how gaming brands are spending their TV ad dollars and which commercials are generating the most digital response (iSpot measures actions across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all major search engines).
Overall, during the period measured, 31 brands spent an estimated $65 million running 98 commercials over 21,200 times on national TV, generating over 3.7 billion TV ad impressions.
The most popular spot was the humorous “Madden NFL 17: Karaoke,” featuring Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown with music from The Weeknd.
During the period measured it spent an estimated $19.2 million on 8 ads that aired 2,950 times and generated over 851 million TV ad impressions.
The PlayStation ad with the largest digital share of voice (45.1 percent) was “You Won’t Believe What’s In Store.” In total, the brand’s spots generated 7,148,321 online views, 37,538 social actions and 49,968 searches.
Blizzard Entertainment takes third place with 16.1 percent of the industry’s digital share of voice, solely advertising for its game Hearthstone.
Overall, Blizzard spent $1.1 million on 4 ads that aired 1,626 times and had 111.5 million TV ad impressions.
The brand spent an estimated $5.5 million on 2 spots that aired 3,363 times, generating 564 million TV ad impressions.
As a whole, the brand’s ads were viewed online 84,795 times, mentioned on social media 4,603 times, and searched for 168,788 times.
Create Anywhere.” In total, Nintendo ran seven commercials 692 times, which resulted in 97.4 million TV ad impressions thanks to an estimated spend of nearly $1.9 million.
Sexism in esports deserves more than the Band-Aid of segregation
Sexism in esports deserves more than the Band-Aid of segregation.
With 85 percent of professional gamers male and the number of cases of online harassment and abuse that have left many female players feeling disenfranchised, esports is in trouble of being associated as a “boys club.” One of the industry’s answers has been to create segregated girls-only teams, leagues, and tournaments, a proposition that doesn’t make sense in a sport where there are none of the physical disadvantages to mixing genders as there are in traditional sports.
Segregation isn’t the right answer and it only perpetuates the underlying issues, particularly when it’s clear that the industry will need to sooner or later consolidate itself by reintegrating the genders back together.
Quite a few women feel disenfranchised, and that’s just bad business because you’re alienating half of your potential market of gamers and potentially also the wider community of female spectators.
It falls under what the industry refers to as toxic chat and behavior.
But while that’s the carrot, I think the stick is more important at the moment.
The ill-conceived idea that it’s OK to discriminate must be weeded out and the rules can’t be lax.
Instead, it has to be built into the system that those that partake in poor behavior are affected by becoming less relevant.
Either way, esports needs to avoid alienating the female population at this early stage, both as players and spectators.
Otherwise it’ll harm its long-run prospects and fall short on its potential.
Blackstone’s Jay Leek joins Florida VC firm to manage $300 million security fund
Blackstone’s Jay Leek joins Florida VC firm to manage $300 million security fund.
Rumors have been spreading lately about where Jay Leek, former managing director and chief information security officer (CISO) at Blackstone, will be heading next.
His pick?
After stepping down earlier this month from the venerable private equity shop, Leek may raise a few eyebrows with his choice of new home.
“ClearSky has been investing in security for a number of years,” said Leek in an interview with VentureBeat.
“Blackstone and ClearSky have done multiple security deals together, so our approach to investing is well aligned.” Co-investments include Verodin, and both firms are represented on the board of directors of Cylance and CyberGRX.
Leek hasn’t completely shut the door on Blackstone, though.
“I am going to continue to work with some of their security investments and participate in and help to coordinate the Blackstone CISO Community across their portfolio companies, along with the Blackstone security team,” he said.
This is unclear at this point in time, however, and hasn’t been confirmed.
He also participated (independently from Blackstone) in ProtectWise’s latest funding round of $25 million, which was announced last week.
A quick tour of Eastern Europe’s startup hubs
Startups in Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Tallinn, Riga, or Vilnius don’t attract as much capital as the ones located in the top hubs in Europe — London, Amsterdam, or Berlin — but these Eastern European tech hubs are on the rise, and early stage investment in the region has surged from $10 million to $283 million in just five years.
Krakow is a hub for beacon solutions, Prague cybersecurity, while Warsaw is doing a lot in marketing automation.
Of the top 50 European tech hubs, according to The European Digital City Index, 12 Eastern European cities rank as having the best ecosystems for startups.
And 10 Eastern European cities rank as having the best European ecosystems for scaleups: Let’s take a closer look at each one of them.
Strong entrepreneurial culture, low taxes, great infrastructure, and business friendly law and policies are the main advantages they offer.
The ecosystem is home to successful scaleups such as Vinted, a fashion marketplace app provider, which has raised €56.97 million ($60.6 million).
Cities like Budapest, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, and Krakow are big markets with good access to clients and investors and are the most attractive for scaleups.
It has raised over $72 million in four rounds of funding.
The most recognizable success stories from Sofia include mobile marketing platform Leanplum, which has offices in San Francisco and has raised $46 million, and TV projector app Flipps, which raised €4.5 million ($4.8 million) and has offices in Sofia, Silicon Valley, and New York.
Business and tech know-how is spreading throughout the cities with every new success of a local startup.