This is an interesting debate that I found.  The question is “will artificial intelligence kill the smartphone?”  According to half of the smartphone users that were surveyed by Ericsson, which is a Sweedish multinational provider of communication technology and services, they believe the smartphone will disappear within the next 5 years.  This is staggering as it seems that smartphones are at an all time high in popularity.

These same people that say the smartphone will disappear also said that an AI of some sort will be the main way that people interact with the internet and other wireless devices.  This AI is not yet known, but artificial intelligence has slowly been gaining popularity in the tech field over the past couple of years.  This technology can be a very interesting debate over the next few years as to how this potential artificial technology could replace something as commonplace as the smartphone.

URL: http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/09/technology/ericsson-survey-predicts-smartphone-death/index.html

In a blog post earlier this week, one of our classmates discussed the fact that Uber is currently having trouble in New York because the state wants to try to place its “taxi laws” and enforce them on Uber drivers.  However, there is another thorn in Uber’s side currently and its becoming a bigger problem for the transportation giants.

Four of the next leading transportation companies have announced that they have all partnered together in potentially the next transportation conglomerate.  Lyft, DiDi, Ola and GrabTaxi have announced they will all partner together.  These four companies together have equalled Ubers gross product since its introduction so it will be interesting to see how Uber handles this newfound competition.

The company also has ideas of expanding beyond the United States, as many of these companies have an international background as DiDi is the leading Chinese taxi service and Ola has a similar presence in India.

These four taxi services will be joining forces hoping to take on Uber in the near future

Link to story: http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/03/technology/uber-rivals-lyft-didi-kuadi/index.html

Recently, New York’s attorney general ruled that Daily Fantasy Sport websites such as FanDuel and DraftKings are required to “seize and desist” their operations in New York.  This ban states that the DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports) giants are required to no longer accept deposits in New York and to remove their operations from the state.  This is extremely problematic for both companies as DraftKings is based out of New York and FanDuel recently rented a thousand dollar suite in Manhattan.  As well, 12.8% of all players for these websites are based in New York.

This relates to our class in that it can be attributed to an earlier blog post regarding the use and popularity of E-Sports.  Fanduel and DraftKings have both begun an initiative to represent popular E-Sports in their “fantasy sports lineup.”  This could be huge for the budding business of E-Sports as FanDuel and DraftKings are extremely popular platforms in which people can follow sports (or in this case E-Sports) with a whole new interest.

However, now that the New York Attorney General has rules these fantasy websites to be “an example of an online sports-gambling site, which is illegal in New York.”  This ruling runs the risk of being a problem for the implementation of these E-sports into DFS websites.  Not only will the ruling be alienating the entire state of New York from taking part in these “fantasy E-sports” but many of the E-sports events are held in New York, which could potentially increase the popularity of the fast rising sports.

Links:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/draftkings-fanduel-file-suits-to-prevent-shuttering-new-york-operations-1447434894

http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/24/fanduel-acquires-alphadraft-to-get-into-esports/

Supporters of Daily Fantasy Sports rally in New York to reverse the decision by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.