.....kam gerade per Mail von Roy.....: Visual Search Industry Report- This Month in Mobile
As we near the halfway mark of 2015, reported advances in the technology behind image recognition and artificial intelligence are bringing mobile visual search to the forefront of the retail world. From internet giants like Google, Microsoft and Facebook down to smaller independent players, 2015 has seen visual search become more widely accessible and deployed in countless ways. Our last report spoke of the huge monetary gains to be seen in the coming months and years, while this report will focus on where the technology stands, and how accessibility is helping increase market awareness and usage. Slyce has taken advantage of this increasing market recognition and access, and has continued to form exciting partnerships to solidify its place as the leader for mobile visual search in the retail industry.
Wolfram?s Image Recognition Reflects a Big Shift in AI 05/15/2015 Stephen Wolfram is British computer scientist, physicist and entrepreneur who owns and operates Wolfram Research, a software company that recently unveiled imageidentify.com, a website that automatically identifies digital images. The system employs the neural networking model, a system of image recognition that attempts to mimic the networks of neurons in a human brain. This system, a part of ?deep learning?, dates back as many as 60 years. The technology is working remarkably today not because of particular breakthroughs, but rather because of the availability of computing power needed to run these complicated algorithms. While Wolfram?s site is fun, it gets images right only about 50% of the time, and does so at a very base level (it identified a leafy green vegetable merely as ?ingredient?) but more important is what it represents: mainstream access to the sort of visual search that is becoming a part of daily life in 2015.
Baidu AI Supercomputer Minwa Beats Google, Microsoft, And Humans In Image Recognition 05/16/2015 Image recognition is stirring up heated tech competition around the globe. A company in China has bested Google and Microsoft in a recent image recognition challenge, after developing a supercomputer they call ?Minwa?. Using the same method as Wolfram?s imageidentify.com, Minwa uses deep learning with a neural network to teach the computer to categorize and recognize images, then trains the software to look at high-res versions of the images to understand what characteristics the computer needs to look for. Minwa was able to recognize 95.42% of 1 million images, while Google was able to recognize 95.2%. The 2015 results were a relative 31% improvement over the 2014 winner, proving just how far image recognition is advancing in a short period of time.
5 technologies that will transform shopping 05/01/2015 The CEO of online shopping portal and social network, Clozette, discusses new AI technologies that will completely alter shopping in this article from Marketing Interactive. From virtual reality to indoor positioning systems, he looks at how technology and pervasive use of smartphones will change the way we buy. Visual search, saved for the final place in the list, is particularly interesting as it stands out as the only readily-available technology in use today. While the article mainly discusses experimentation and likely future implementations and uses, visual search is discussed in present-terms, as shoppers are now able to search, discover and find similar merchandise visually without keyword guessing. Visual search is the ?future of shopping? available today, and will surely continue to flourish as the rest of AI advancements catch up.
Slyce inks transformative deal with Photon to provide mobile visual search tech 05/20/2015 Slyce made huge inroads in the world of mobile in May, by signing a contract with the world?s largest and fastest growing provider of omni-channel and digital experiences, Photon. Slyce will provide exclusive mobile visual search technology within applications created by Photon, who boasts an impressive roster of Fortune 500 clients, including over 30% of the Fortune 100 list. With over 120 million daily consumer touch points, the partnership gives Slyce huge access to the retail world. Slyce?s partnership with Photon comes after two successful major retail app integrations worked on by both parties. The early success the two companies have seen has led to much excitement over what the future holds.
Slyce banks another $8.7M for visual search technology 05/14/2015 Proving once again that Slyce is a growing force in the technology and visual search industry, coverage of the latest funding round was impressive. FashInvest picked up the story, as the Series C funding round closed and it was reported that the total funding for Slyce was now an impressive $36 million. As visual search is opened up to a wider audience, Slyce?s CEO Mark Elfenbein is quoted as saying that ?Almost every major retailer is looking to integrate the technology,?. Slyce's technology is currently servicing over 8 million total users- a figure that is growing by the day.
Toys R Us translates inspiration into sales via mobile visual search 05/08/2015 The latest major retailer to join the likes of JC Penney and Neiman Marcus in leveraging 3D image recognition technology was announced as Toys R Us, the leading toy and baby retailer in the world. The inclusion of Slyce as their visual search provider was a ?strategic step to improve its user experience,? and provides a more streamlined shopping experience, particularly for mobile. The Snap-to-Buy feature highlights the way retailers can tap mobile to translate customer inspiration into a sale, eliminating delays that can prevent a successful purchase. A recent study indicated that 67% of consumers use their mobile devices to enhance the retail experience. Proving it is taking the shift to digital commerce seriously, Toys R Us eagerly entered the visual search space, an important step to improve its pain points on mobile.
Please watch for our next newsletter, in the first week of July! We'll be featuring more exciting developments and trends within the realm of visual search and mobile commerce.
Best regards, Roy Roman.
ROY ROMAN, CAPITAL MARKETS P. +1 (647) 464-6200 ROY@SLYCE.IT
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