Tausi Insider

According to research conducted by Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services increased nearly 19 per cent in 2022. pcess609 Cloud services were originally billed as a more cost-effective way to manage information technology (IT). As a rising number of companies flock to them it’s becoming clearer that, left unchecked, cloud costs can accumulate quickly. According to research conducted by Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services increased nearly 19 per cent in 2022, and it is projected to grow an additional 20.7 per cent in the year ahead. In another recent study from Toronto-based cloud-managed services provider Aptum, 73 per cent of IT decision makers said cloud computing has resulted in higher-than-expected costs, up from 57 per cent last year. Sixty-five per cent admit to having wasted money on cloud-related inefficiencies. “We are beginning to see the kickback, where customers are starting to say ‘wait, this isn’t working the way I thoug...

Text-to-image generators like DALL·E 2 create pictures with as little as a few words of guidance. Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been a recurrent topic in science fiction. These days, AI isn’t just a plot point, it’s an intensely practical tool that is transforming entire industries. Among those upended is the creative sector, with tools such as Midjourney, DALL·E 2 and Movio revolutionizing the way digital content is produced. These tools rely on natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG) technologies to automatically create new content based on user input. A simple prompt can produce an entire article, a new logo design or a compelling product video with minimal effort from users. AI tools stand to change how a range of industries – from advertising and media, to building and architecture design, to automotive and engineering – generate both internal and consumer-facing content. They’re most intuitively deployed for such things as brand images, b...

The decentralized social media platform Mastodon has gained popularity as an alternative to Twitter and other social media platforms. hapabapa Some of the world’s biggest social-media companies have faced a reckoning in the public forum, and in response, many users have been rethinking their engagement and considering alternatives. Decentralized social media – platforms on which users, rather than corporations, are in control of their content – has become an attractive proposition. One option gaining steam is Mastodon. Launched in 2016, Mastodon is a federated network of independently operated servers (or “instances”) that work together to provide a decentralized social-media experience. No single company or entity controls Mastodon – it is run by and for the people who use it, funded through donations and crowdfunding campaigns. Unlike platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Mastodon does not, and claims it never will , accept advertising dollars. That lack of advertiser-specific ...

Social-media management, e-mail marketing tools and text-to-image generators are among those becoming more commonplace in workplaces, all fuelled by AI. shapecharge Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work. New tools and systems are making powerful algorithms that allow machines to learn from experience or human input to streamline processes without a team of programmers. Social-media management, e-mail marketing tools and text-to-image generators are among the functions fuelled by AI, representing new frontiers for companies. “AI is no longer the special purview of PhDs and specialized programmers,” says Stephanie Holko, director of project development at Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), a Hamilton-based non-profit that supports technology adoption in manufacturing. “Those folks have developed interfaces and platforms to allow others without these specific skills to access the power of their work.” ‘Programmer’ was among the hottest jobs in any industry. ...

Though Web 3.0 is years to maturity, one analysis predicts that by 2026, 25 per cent of the population will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse. Just_Super Web 3.0 has been heralded as the next evolution of the Internet – one that will make the web more immersive and democratic, thanks to a foundation of blockchain technology. Recent layoffs at Meta and the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX have raised questions about viability and credibility in an emerging space. But many Canadian businesses and investors are still betting big on the transformational potential of Web 3.0 across multiple sectors, including some of the most traditional, such as finance and manufacturing. “I’m starting to see the beginning of killer apps and easy-to-use user interfaces, the integration of the old world with the new world,” says Avivah Litan, a distinguished VP analyst at Gartner Inc., a U.S.-based management consulting company with coverage that includes artificial intelligence (AI) a...

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have made advances in quantum devices, including a fork-like silicon grating structure that generates twisted neutrons with angular momentum. Dusan Sarenac The University of Waterloo last month announced the creation of a minuscule device – so tiny it can fit more than a million times over on a grain of sugar – that twisted and expanded neutron beams into 10-centimetre-wide doughnut shapes. While most people are unlikely to care about the experimental manipulation of subatomic particles, for those immersed in quantum science the novel device was another step toward one of the ultimate goals in the field: to build a full-fledged, all-purpose quantum computer. These machines would have abilities superior to the world’s best supercomputers, and they would be able to solve problems that are currently unsolvable. The global race to build one has been less of a sprint and more of a series of small but significant steps, combined with a few leaps. “...

Though Web 3.0 is years to maturity, one analysis predicts that by 2026, 25 per cent of the population will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse. Just_Super Web 3.0 has been heralded as the next evolution of the Internet – one that will make the web more immersive and democratic, thanks to a foundation of blockchain technology. Recent layoffs at Meta and the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX have raised questions about viability and credibility in an emerging space. But many Canadian businesses and investors are still betting big on the transformational potential of Web 3.0 across multiple sectors, including some of the most traditional, such as finance and manufacturing. “I’m starting to see the beginning of killer apps and easy-to-use user interfaces, the integration of the old world with the new world,” says Avivah Litan, a distinguished VP analyst at Gartner Inc., a U.S.-based management consulting company with coverage that includes artificial intelligence (AI) a...

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have made advances in quantum devices, including a fork-like silicon grating structure that generates twisted neutrons with angular momentum. Dusan Sarenac The University of Waterloo last month announced the creation of a minuscule device – so tiny it can fit more than a million times over on a grain of sugar – that twisted and expanded neutron beams into 10-centimetre-wide doughnut shapes. While most people are unlikely to care about the experimental manipulation of subatomic particles, for those immersed in quantum science the novel device was another step toward one of the ultimate goals in the field: to build a full-fledged, all-purpose quantum computer. These machines would have abilities superior to the world’s best supercomputers, and they would be able to solve problems that are currently unsolvable. The global race to build one has been less of a sprint and more of a series of small but significant steps, combined with a few leaps. “...