The European Union wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor its development and ensure the proper use of this technology. AI can bring many benefits, such as better healthcare or more sustainable energy, but…Why is it advisable to regulate it…?
The Parliament envisions this draft as a statement of general, neutral principles that can be applied to future AI systems.
AI systems used in the EU will be human supervised, safe, secure, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and sustainable.
The newly drafted law sets out a series of guidelines depending on the level of risk of AI:
1st Unacceptable risk –
AI systems that pose a threat to people, which will be banned. They include:
– Manipulation of the behavior of vulnerable individuals or groups.
– Classification of people by status or personal characteristics.
– Biometric identification in real time and remotely (will be allowed a posteriori to prosecute serious crimes, with prior judicial approval).
2º. High risk –
AI systems that threaten security or fundamental rights, with two categories:
– Those used in products subject to European safety legislation (toys, aviation, automobiles, medical devices and elevators).
– AI systems belonging to specific domains to be registered in an EU database, such as Critical Infrastructure, Education and Employment.
These high-risk AI systems will be assessed prior to commercialization and throughout their lifecycle.
Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, will have to meet transparency requirements:
– Identify that the content has been generated by AI.
– Establish guidelines to prevent it from generating illegal content.
– Publish the data protected by intellectual property that is used.
3º. Limited risk –
Systems that comply with the necessary transparency so that users can make informed decisions, being aware of when they are interacting with AI. Includes those that generate or manipulate image, audio or video content (e.g. deepfakes).
Last June 14, 2023, MEPs started negotiations on the AI law. The Council of Europe will try to shape The AI Law before the end of this year, a law that will be a pioneer in the regulation of this booming technology.
Nubeprint, with its first solution in the Cloud in 2010, uses A.I. and Big Data to ensure a secure environment based on two pillars:
1st Security in network and data protection, complying with up to seven security directives. These include HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), the Federal Information Security Management Act and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the EC).
Security against cyber-attacks, avoiding security breaches as Nubeprint is not intrusive and does not leave access ports open unnecessarily.
Telecommuting is slowing down the real estate expansion of companies.
The preference for remote work is affecting the real estate strategies of large companies, even Amazon is not spared. Everything points to the fact that the uncertainty that teleworking generates in many areas is still far from being resolved… Why is this?
Over the last few decades, companies of all sizes have striven to build physical spaces where their employees feel even more comfortable than at home; where employees can find answers to all their needs: gymnasiums, cafeterias and restaurants, pharmacies, napping areas…
We have examples in all sectors: in telecommunications, with Telefónica’s District C in Madrid (Spain); in banking, with Banco Santander’s financial city, which even has a golf course in Boadilla (Madrid, Spain).
But the cases that have undoubtedly attracted the most attention are those of technology companies: The Googleplex is a city in itself. Located in San Francisco (USA), it has its own means of transportation and is a pioneer in generating its own culture. Amazon, Meta and other well-known companies did not want to be left behind and each new project has bid to eclipse those of its competitors.
In the case of Amazon, the construction of its second headquarters in Arlington (Virginia, USA) has been halted. The new headquarters, HQ2, will depend on both the labor market and telecommuting.
Meta Platforms is also limiting its presence in Hudson Yards (New York) and elsewhere to cope with cutbacks and a preference for telecommuting.
Perhaps all this effort, which has involved investments of billions of dollars, could fall on deaf ears if, as seems to be happening, professionals value more of something else that is both beyond the reach of the deepest pockets and within the reach of all pockets: the ability to work from wherever they choose.
Used well, telework can be the element that allows small companies to compete for talented professionals. And if this is the case, every SME should have a strategy to attract the best professionals based precisely on the attractiveness of working remotely.
Nubeprint is firmly committed to telecommuting, with 100% of its workforce connected remotely. With its pioneering and unique mobile app, it can monitor the teleworker’s printer to alert him or her when the consumables are low and replace them before they run out, ensuring that the printer is always at full capacity and the employee does not have to worry about consumables.
Measurement is also influenced by the country you live in.
If we look at North America and Europe, we will find subtle differences in how the same concept is measured in each place. And we are not referring to the unit of measurement (miles or kilometers), but to such everyday facts as measuring car consumption and printer cartridge yield. Do you want to know more…?
Let’s start with a curiosity of no consequence: the consumption indicator that cars have. Until recently, this data was digested by the driver more as a curiosity than a necessity. But with the advent of electric vehicles (with less autonomy and requiring recharging), they have learned to use it frequently: necessity wins out over curiosity.
However, here, as in so many other things, differences in use are evident. While in Europe the most common indicator is “liters/km traveled” or “kWh per km traveled”, in North America they use “miles/liter” or “miles per kWh”, i.e. the same indicator inverted. But, in the end, they are talking about the same thing: what you are getting out of a tank of gasoline or charged batteries.
In the world of printing, something similar happens. Printer consumption is a critical element for all dealers with MPS (Managed Print Services) contracts.
We would all agree that the cartridge should be shipped before the printer stops, i.e. when the level is low, but that is as far as the consensus goes: in North America, for the most part, the time of shipment is measured by the percentage of charge remaining in the cartridge, while in Europe it is measured by the number of days the consumable is still capable of printing. Which is the most appropriate indicator?
Answering this question requires understanding the consequences of one or the other gauge: with 20% toner level in 2 machines of the same model, you can print for 2 months on one, and 2 days on the other. In other words, how long that 20% lasts depends on the user’s printing patterns, which the distributor will never be able to control.
If in both cases the toner is shipped at the same time, we will have the following:
– In the first printer, in 60% of the cases, the user will install it as soon as he receives it (with a waste of about 20% of the cartridge); in 8% of the cases, the cartridge will be misplaced (the user no longer remembers where he kept it); only in 32% of the cases, the user will wait and install it when the other one is exhausted.
– In the case of the second printer to which the cartridge is shipped 2 days in advance, any deviation from the ideal process will mean that the printer will stop, and as a consequence, the customer will complain.
If cartridge shipments are made on the basis of the days of use remaining on each cartridge, the distributor will be controlling the timing, ensuring that the customer is never left idle without printing. On the other hand, it will be acting preventively against users who install the cartridges as soon as they receive them, as well as against forgetful customers who lose them.
For both reasons, the vast majority of resellers using Nubeprint manage their shipments using Nubeprint’s unique “days remaining” thresholds, a threshold that can be adjusted from the “Status” app.
Smart society 5.0. is dawning in the land of the rising Sun.
The super-smart society is a connected model, where Big Data, IoT, AI and robots are integrated to create a digital and physical infrastructure that improves the quality of life of citizens. How far do you want to go with this new model of society …?
By 2065, people over the age of 65 will account for 38.4% of Japan’s population, reducing the workforce and increasing medical and social costs.
For this reason, the Japanese plan focuses on robotic medical technologies and assisted living care, especially for the elderly, with a focus on mobility and health and social care.
The new society will be hyper-connected and more efficient in integrating the most advanced technologies, necessitating industrial and economic growth based on AI, IoT and robotics, leading to a future smart society.
In rural areas, inhabitants will be able to move around in autonomous cabs and buses: there will also be drones for e-commerce delivery, with efficient services in areas with low labor force and an aging population as well.
To prevent infrastructure deterioration, AI, robots and sensors will be used for the maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, etc. In addition, urban space will be more efficient and accessible as the smart city integrates physical devices, such as sensors, with information and communication technology (ICT), creating a whole interconnected network (IoT).
Monetary transactions will be solved thanks to blockchain technology and open app programming interfaces, without cash payment.
The most significant thing about the 5.0 society as opposed to the information society (4.0) is that the analysis of Big Data leaves it in the hands of the potential of AI. It will be the first time in history that AI will shape the physical-digital ecosystem with the help of human intervention.
In short, the 5.0 society aims to combat Japan’s progressive aging, a problem that is not unique to Japan. Technology will interconnect the digital and the physical to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, accompanied by the economic growth necessary to create technological solutions to social, demographic and economic problems.
Nubeprint has developed the concept of a data collector ecosystem. It is a whole library of DCAs that have the same purpose: to read status and usage data from the printer and transport it in the most convenient way to the place where it needs to be used.
Currently, Nubeprint has DCAs for LAN, WIFI and USB connected printers; laser and inkjet printers and multifunctional equipment; Ribbon, thermal, large format and 3D printers; also DCAs for scanners PCs, servers, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs and Raspberry.
In the printing industry, not all customers want an MPS contract, many are satisfied with receiving the consumables on time and paying directly for the consumed cartridges or toners. It is for this reason that Nubeprint has just launched its Console 23 product on the market, a panel to manage automatic consumable replenishment only. Do you want to increase your sales and reach the end customer…?
When you have a monitoring system, it is common practice to include in the control panel all printers with an MPS contract and, for the most part, those customers who do not have a contract, and have a significant number of machines as well as those with one or very few printers, are usually left out of the monitoring.
This means that consumable replenishment is not automated and management is old-fashioned: either the customer claims the consumable when he thinks he is low on supplies (or, worse, when he has run out); or the distributor is waiting to contact his customer to see how many consumables he needs, it being common practice to send several extra at a time so that his customer has a small local stock (this is often fatal because consumables are lost).
Nubeprint’s new Console 23 provides a definitive and competitive solution for managing non-contract customers who require consumable replenishment, automating the entire process and avoiding headaches. This new product consists of a control panel that includes the necessary apps for ASR:
– App Inventory, with all the information of the monitored printers (manufacturer, model, serial no., etc.).
– Consumable Alerts App, which shows all the cartridges whose level has reached the defined threshold and will soon have to be replaced in the printer.
– Settings App, which allows you to easily enable or disable alerts, change the recipient of notifications and rename or delete a project.
– OpenDCA App, which allows you to manage the multiple data collectors (DCA) you use to monitor your customers’ printers. A state-of-the-art configuration console to remotely modify the DCA’s configuration used to read the network.
The new Console 23 allows ASR management of up to 1,000 printers, with a fixed annual price well below what you are thinking, which also includes the first 30 consumables alerts. Once these have been consumed, successive alert packages can be purchased, with a minimum of 30.
In addition, thanks to the new Nubeprint App (with more than 1,000 downloads per month), the end customer can register and link directly to the service of the Nubeprint-licensed reseller who has given them their promotional code (in less than 3 minutes, the customer’s printer/s are monitored through the Nubeprint DCA for smartphone).
We think that the Console 23 is the ideal product for any distributor who wants to increase their ASR sales and reach all types of end customers (home, teleworker, dentist, agency, law firm, real estate, etc.). If you already have a Nubeprint license with your usual panel, the Console 23 can be a perfect complement for automatic consumable replenishment. If you are not yet working with us…what are you waiting for not to miss this great opportunity…?
A smart city needs Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and an intelligent network of connected objects that transmit data in real time (IoT). This data is analyzed to make decisions that improve the quality of life and sustainability. How does this network really work…?
Smart City citizens interact daily with their city’s ecosystems through the use of smartphones and mobile devices. This interconnectedness reduces costs and improves sustainability, from efficient energy distribution to optimizing air quality.
Environmental, social and economic sustainability is vital to keep pace with the population growth of cities that are challenging available resources. Nearly 200 countries have agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and smart city technology is paramount to their fulfillment.
There are four essentials for the success of Smart Cities:
1. pervasive wireless connectivity – In addition to low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies, 5G technology will be critical to the expansion of smart cities.
2. Open data -The ecosystem will allow information to be shared and combined with data that is analyzed in real time for decision making. However, the openness of the Data vault increases the possibility of cyber-attacks.
Security – All players in the ecosystem (governments, companies, software providers, etc.) must integrate authentication solutions that guarantee data sharing.
4. Flexible monetization schemes – Subscription-based models enable sustainable commerce by providing a way to monetize the hardware and software used to build smart infrastructures and spread the costs.
In short, Smart Cities technology is expanding to improve sustainability. With pervasive connectivity, open data, security and software monetization solutions, the varying needs of smart cities are being addressed, improving the experience for all players in the ecosystem.
Cloudprint complies with the most stringent security and data protection regulations, as well as not being intrusive or leaving access ports open unnecessarily, preventing cyber-attacks. It has also adopted a combination of usage-based and subscription-based models, known as usage-based subscriptions. Customers pay a fixed monthly fee with no commitment of permanence for a minimum configuration (for an additional charge, more apps can be flexibly added ). In terms of sustainability, Nubeprint promotes the circular economy, with A.I. applied to optimizing resources and reducing waste, complying with the SDGs.
On the seabed of the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, the first CO2 reservoir has been established that will store this unwanted gas produced from the manufacturing process. The process is simple and efficient: in the factory itself that generates it, the CO2 is converted to liquid form for transport, via heating, then compressing and finally cooling the CO2. Is it a complete process or is something missing…?
The result is CO2 in liquid form: easy to transport and store. It is transported by gas tankers from the coast to the platform of a former oil well, now exhausted. It is then injected into the subsoil to occupy the place where, until not so long ago, the black gold lay.
We said that everything is in place to make this practice commonplace in order to neutralize CO2 emissions. We correct: the sensors are missing. In a process of this scale, which involves different industries, countries and legislations, it is critical to have information on each phase (how much CO2 an industry emits, how much is captured, etc.).
In the printing industry, we were part of the revolution that involved creating the first sensor capable of capturing data on the use and status of printers installed remotely. This sensor, later baptized DCA (Data Collection Agent), gave rise to a new business: the MPS (Nubeprint has a lot to say because its engineers and founders were the ones who dreamed of this technology and made it a reality with the first patent in 2000).
But, as with CO2 capture and storage, in printing a single sensor is not enough, quite the contrary. As the sensor is the secure connection between the source of the data (which is located next to the printer user) and the place where the data is to be used (the supplier of the printing products), it is very unlikely that a single sensor can be adapted to the requirements of each and every one of the printing customers (the requirements of a bank with thousands of printers are not the same as those of a dentist’s practice with a single printer).
For all these reasons, Nubeprint has developed the concept of a data collector ecosystem. This is a whole library of DCAs that have the same purpose: to read the printer status and usage data and transport it in the most convenient way to the place where it needs to be used.
Currently, Nubeprint has DCAs for LAN, WIFI and USB connected printers; laser and inkjet printers and multifunctional equipment; Ribbon, thermal, large format and 3D printers; even DCAs for scanners; also DCAs for PCs, servers, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs and Raspberry.
We are aware that our developments position our customers competitively and that they are also their gateway and the basis for the expansion of new business. For this reason, Nubeprint never stops researching, dedicating year after year 30% of its turnover to R+D+I activities.
The SETI Institute has been searching for intelligent life beyond Earth since the 1960s. Recently, it has implemented a series of machine learning algorithms to filter the Big Data generated from telescope observations. Is there life in “a Galaxy far, far away…”?
AI is all the rage: from Chat GPT to the recent petition by 1,000 scientists calling for a 6-month waiting period for AI, which is going too fast. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and is capable of solving in seconds what would take a human being days, months or even years of effort and dedication.
The SETI Institute has developed a system of machine learning algorithms, based on AI, that filters out interference from terrestrial signals and is able to detect unknown space signals. This AI system also aids in the analysis of Big Data obtained from telescope searches and, perhaps, in finding extraterrestrial life.
Since 2015, SETI has been searching for signs of intelligent life in a million stars through observations from telescopes installed in Virginia (USA), Australia and South Africa. The project aims to capture radio emissions coming from the direction of a star and constantly changing frequency (just as would happen if an extraterrestrial transmitter were on a planet moving relative to Earth).
Machine learning software was built to analyze the data from observations of 820 stars. Nearly three million signals were captured, but the vast majority were discarded as terrestrial interference. Then, about 20,000 others were manually reviewed and the hope was reduced to 8 signals of unknown origin.
Ultimately, the search was unsuccessful: all 8 signals disappeared the second time the team searched for them. However, this method could be used to analyze more Big Data (such as observations from the MeerKAT array of 64 radio telescopes in South Africa), plus the algorithms could also filter archived data to look for signals that might have been missed.
Nubeprint has a managed MPS solution with dynamic algorithms and filters.
In 2013, it developed the first A.I. engine for MPS and, since 2017, it has a Machine Learning (ML) developed specifically for MPS: through this machine learning, the system develops pattern recognition and the ability to learn continuously, with predictions based on Big Data, after which it makes the necessary adjustments without having been specifically programmed to do so.
Nubeprint has its own history and its reason for being.
In June 2010 we created Nubeprint with a clear vocation to serve the business society through the intelligent use of monitoring technology. Our mission is to use this technology as a way to automate processes and optimize resources and costs derived from the remote management of equipment.
Nubeprint has been a pioneer in the development of intelligent monitoring technology. It invests more than 30% of its turnover (revenue or profits) in R&D&I. The result is a new patent every 2 years and dozens of unique developments with recognized intellectual property. Our unique technology has helped us to expand. Today, Nubeprint is not limited to the enterprise environment, but its monitoring tools are available to anyone with a cell phone or even a Smart TV.
Collaboration is very important to Nubeprint. We cooperate with our customers to identify their problems and help solve them. We work hard to ensure that Nubeprint remains, year after year, the best monitoring tool on the market, but we know that the benefits for our customers are multiplied when they can use our tools in combination with others, such as ERP or their incident management system. For this reason, Nubeprint remains the most open monitoring tool on the market, connectable with any other tool that brings added value to the industry.
We have been talking about the universality of monitoring since 2010, and time has proven us right. More and more equipment is connected to the cloud and more and more users are demanding a more robust experience of the use and enjoyment of the equipment. Cloudprint technology has removed the barriers that small businesses had to providing customer experience services, such as subscriptions to automatic consumables replenishment. And by the same token, now any customer, even a home consumer or teleworker, can enjoy these types of services, reserved until 2020 for businesses.
We are proud of what we have achieved, but we still have a long way to go. If you are a customer, know that Nubeprint is committed to providing you with the best and most advanced tools today, as well as 10 years from now. If you are someone with ideas or a technologically advanced product, we will be happy to collaborate to build a value proposition that benefits mutual customers, and therefore all of us.
Antonio Sánchez Navarro and Juan José San Martín Mazzucconi – Founders.
The quantum computer is the new space trip to the moon.
The EU aims to lead manufacturing and innovation in the industry and is paying special attention to an emerging sector that could be vital in the new world order: quantum computing has become the new trip to the Moon. Who will win this space race…?
In the 1960s, J. F. Kennedy made a plea to defend the money the U.S. was pouring into the space race. Today, no one doubts how NASA’s advances drive progress, but Kennedy’s speech struck a deeper chord and also demonstrated that innovation comes from the state.
That national impulse consists of having an ambitious vision of the future that promotes innovation together with the necessary investments to achieve it. It was thanks to this that man landed on the moon.
According to the OECD, while the EU27 investment in R&D&I was 2.19% of its GDP in 2020 (1.4% in Spain), China’s was as high as 2.4% and the US 3.45%.
In the USA, Joe Biden, has taken a new national impulse measure: the Inflation Reduction Act, with significant subsidies to green technologies and protectionism to its domestic products, which will encourage strong competition with Europe.
For its part, the European Commission has presented bills for the Zero Net Emissions Industry and for Critical Raw Materials, in addition to the Green New Deal and the European Chip Act. These measures could lay the foundation for the new European drive, similar to the US Apollo program.
Regarding the emerging quantum computing industry, we can say that it has a great potential that requires a large ecosystem in which all the technology is integrated. If the EU wants to be a leader in this new field, the whole supply chain should be European.
Although China and the U.S. are the main investors and have the most powerful machines, the European Union has been leading scientific production in quantum computing since 2010, although policies have been limited to the laboratory and not to industry.
It is now that, thanks to European Next Generation funds, we have the example of Spain, which will have two quantum computers at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (which leads the European quantum computing network), in addition to a third from IBM in the Basque Country.
In short, Europe must bet big in the race for quantum computing if it wants to be a leader in innovation. Only in this way will it come closer to an inspiring future like the one promoted by J.F. Kennedy.
Nubeprint has been a pioneer in the development of intelligent monitoring technology. It invests more than 30% of its turnover in R&D&I. The result is a new patent every 2 years and dozens of unique developments with recognized intellectual property. Our unique technology has helped us to expand. Today, Nubeprint is not limited to the corporate environment, but its monitoring tools are available to anyone with a cell phone or even a Smart TV.
