Artificial Intelligence

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM said Tuesday that its Watson unit has invested in Fluid, a digital commerce firm, to develop personalized shopping applications using IBM’s cognitive computing tools.

New York – Nine basic attack patterns that vary from industry to industry are the source of 92% of the 100,000 security incidents analyzed by Verizon since 2004.

Back in October, I commemorated my six-month anniversary as technology editor of Chain Store Age with a column looking at how retail IT has been disrupted in recent years. Now that I have a full year under my belt, I thought it would be interesting to look at how customer expectations of retail IT have been disrupted in recent years (and don’t worry, there will be no 18-month anniversary piece). Three paradigm-shifting changes in how retailers must now engage with customers using technology stand out.

Every Man is an Island

Whole Foods is experimenting with transforming food waste generated at stores into organic fertilizer by using a piece of equipment called the WISErg Harvester.

The Harvester is a piece of equipment with a footprint about the size of a typical pallet that promises to change the way retailers dispose of food waste. The Harvester unit ingests food scraps from overripe produce and unsold prepared foods and converts them into a liquid that can be made into an organic fertilizer.

There is no one type of cyber criminal, just like there is no one kind of thief. Hacktivists tend to aspire to damage the reputations of organizations with which they personally disagree. State-sponsored hackers hunt for national security intelligence, insider information, and trade secrets. Malicious insiders — whether they’re commercial spies or simply disgruntled employees — steal, broadcast and sell employer secrets to disadvantage the business, make money, and empower competitors.

Amazon this week announced that Hulu Plus, Crackle, and Showtime Anytime are joining VEVO in integrating their full catalogs into Fire TV’s unified voice search.

By Mark Bower, Voltage Security

Luxury brand Burberry has opened a new, tech-savvy flagship in Shanghai, its largest in China to date. Inspired by Burberry’s Regent Street flagship in London, the three-level store seamlessly blends digital and physical displays, immersing customers in the Burberry brand.