The retail industry goes cognitive at SXSW

What a great weekend it was here at SXSW in one of my favorite cities... Austin!
Let me start by saying that I love to shop and what woman doesn’t, right?! Have you ever thought about the reason why you love to shop? Sure, we all appreciate a great bargain, but have you ever thought about what draws you to a particular store, website or brand? Things like product placement and assortment, digital media, customer service, packaging, visual displays, coupons or special events? Even more, have you thought about the experience of shopping that you enjoy, what goes into the process of purchasing your favorite new bag? Well I’m proud to say that cognitive is here to stay in the retail world and its introducing major innovation in retail! All of which is being showcased here at SXSW in the retail innovation lounge.
To give you a bit of background, retailers are spending millions of dollars and collecting astronomical amounts of data to analyze what makes you knock down their doors and remain loyal to their products! Thanks to new technologies and a strong emphasis on employing innovative individuals, companies are becoming more focused than ever before on enhancing the shopper experience.
Today at SXSW I will be leading a panel with some of the latest and greatest retail innovators who are also female founders!
Join IBM and some of our retail partners at the Retail Innovation Lounge  http://ibm.co/1R7o955
   @ SXSW Friday March 11th- Tuesday March 15th for panels discussions, keynotes, and networking sessions. Bring your best handbag!
-Sandy

Anatomy of a cognitive startup - LIVE from SXSW

Every year, SXSW Interactive comes alive. Like a human body, all of these various systems of technology intermingle and create something magical for a few days here in Austin. Today, I had the chance to talk about some anatomy myself: The Anatomy of a Cognitive Startup.

On the outside, the anatomy of a cognitive startup is just like any other in the IBM Ecosystem: focused, innovative, and always forging the future of tech. The true difference comes when you examine the tools of the trade our cognitive startups leverage as they achieve their goals. The IBM Cloud offers a diverse set of software and services dedicated to maximizing developer and startup utilization of the defining tools of the Cognitive Era. When coupled with the laser-focused guidance of the IBM Developer Ecosystem,
Cognitive startups are utilizing IBM Watson visualization, trade-off analytics, personality insight, tone analysis and other cognitive services, with cutting-edge results. Atlanta-based Simple C uses both the IBM Cloud and cognitive systems to provide media-delivered therapies targeting the behavioral symptoms of dementia and related cognitive disorders, providing breakthroughs in the medical industry.
Look at FinTech startup Alpha Modus. By utilizing IBM Bluemix, they’re disrupting the entire investment management industry with tremendous results by using social media to analyze the market sentiment. In fact, their efforts won them the Beacon Award for Best New Application on IBM Cloud from an Entrepreneur at the PartnerWorld Leadership Conference 2016.
Stay tuned for so much more from SXSW Interactive as we dig deeper into the innovations and the people behind them that are truly defining Cloud, Cognitive, and social influences of the future.

Cloud has reached the tipping point as a platform for business, led by developers

IBM InterConnect 2016 is well underway, brimming with developers, entrepreneurs, startups, and a roster of truly revolutionary technologists, speakers and presenters! People from all occupations have gathered here and are focused on the future. Whether it’s the future of their craft or company, or the future of the Cloud, they can all agree that Cloud’s at a tipping point.

Right now, only 1% of developer teams today are utilizing cognitive in their apps. According to the IDC, that number will rise to over 50% by 2018, providing U.S. enterprises $60+ billion in annual savings by 2020! That’s a staggering change in the business landscape in such a short period, but not expected when you see the transformations and disruptions several industries are facing today. This is especially true when you consider the changes in Cloud.

80% of CxOs are thinking about, or experimenting with, different business models and 85% of hybrid leaders report that hybrid cloud is accelerating digital transformation in their organization. Cloud, mobile, and social are revolutionizing the way people deal with data, the way people interact with customers, and the way people go to market with their products. As a result, industries and their leaders realize we’re on the brink of a massive change in HOW we deal with this data.

That’s what InterConnect 2016 is all about, showcasing the latest and greatest in our mission to gather the best offerings and partnerships for you: The developers, startups, and entrepreneurs innovating tomorrow on the Cloud today! Here are just a couple examples of what startups in the IBM Developer Ecosystem are creating:

  • Alpha Modus is challenging the status quo, delivering alpha directly to end-users through a marketplace of investment technologies they call ‘mods.’
  • JKool uses a real-time operational intelligence SaaS with streaming log analytics, metrics and transactions so developers (and folks in DevOps alike) can observe Java transactions as they occur together with a consolidated visualization of all logs and metrics on a single pane of glass in real-time.

Stay tuned for more breaking news and partnerships that will continue IBM’s trend of shaping the future of Cloud developmental success.


Gobble Gobble! Get your Turkey Recipe Here! #cognitive power at play! #ibm

Yes, I am going to cook a Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Stuffing, Yeast Rolls, and to die for chocolate killer brownie cake!

But also I am trying tomorrow the Watson recommended appetizer !!!

Turkey Meatballs with Tomato-Hard Cider Sauce

Tomato-Hard Cider Sauce
Makes sauce for 18 meatballs
5 slices bacon (about 4 oz), finely diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 medium onion (about 6 oz), peeled and diced

14 oz canned chopped tomatoes

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp lemon zest

Minced leaves from 2 sprigs oregano

14 fl. oz hard cider

1 tbsp sugar
In a pan over medium heat, sauté the bacon until brown. Add the garlic and onion, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the canned tomatoes, then season with salt and pepper, and add the lemon zest and oregano. Bring to a boil. Mix in the hard cider and sugar, adjust the seasoning, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Coarsely blend the sauce using a hand blender, and reserve.

Turkey Meatballs
Makes 18 meatballs
1 lb ground turkey

1 egg, beaten

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

2 oz white mushrooms, finely diced

2 oz kale, finely diced

2 oz Swiss cheese, finely diced

0.5 oz panko breadcrumbs

2 oz hard cider

Leaves from 2 sprigs oregano, chopped
½ tsp ground cumin

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Heat the oven to 500 F. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Make sure the mixture is generously seasoned. Scoop out the turkey mixture with a spoon, and form into balls (you should have about 18). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing at least 1” apart. Cook the meatballs in the oven for 12-14 minutes. Add the meatballs to the tomato- hard cider sauce, and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.

 

http://fortune.com/2015/11/25/this-is-ibm-watsons-favorite-turkey-recipe/?xid=yahoo_fortune


A must attend Event -- NextGen Cloud Conference! See you there! #ibm @nextgen @RDelMarzo #cloud

In a time where cloud computing is disrupting organizations more than ever before, now is a good time to learn what your business needs to join in on this exciting movement. That’s why I’m very excited to announce my upcoming “Innovate with The Cloud Built for Cognitive Business,” keynote being held as part of the NexGen Cloud Conference in San Diego December 9-10 with my colleague Nancy Pearson.
The NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo shares in the IBM mission to build leaders and innovators in this fast-moving time of IT innovation and transformation. The conference will bring together you as service-led solution providers and vendor executives for two days of skill development designed to help you succeed.
Because the complexity of solution options available has never been greater for enterprises, decision-makers are seeking out partners like you who have demonstrated that they can build solutions to solve their customer challenges and drive innovation.
In our keynote, we will talk about how your business can unleash the power of cloud-scale to increase cognitive agility, accelerate time to market, and reach new clients faster and with more impact than ever before.
We will also talk about how IBM is aligning with partners like you who combine deep understanding of business challenges with the platforms for delivery that will make clients successful as they scale to the cloud.
Cloud has exploded on the scene and ushered in a tidal wave of disruptive technologies Come learn how you can be one of them in 2016 with IBM and The NextGen Cloud Conference and Expo.
Learn more about IBM and its commitment to entrepreneurs here: www.ibmforentrepreneurs.com.
And use the Promo Code "Carter_guest" at nexencloudcon.com    !!!!

Do you know the TOP Trends? ! Watson does ...

WOW!   Today we've announced a cool new app!   The IBM Watson Trend .   Try it out  ....  Watson Trend app is live  ( https://watsontrend.com/#/  ) and the team is excited to engage consumers to learn where we take this next.

The IBM Watson Trend app forecasts what’s in and what’s not this holiday season. It provides a visual feed of the top 100 trending products and the stories behind those trends across three popular gift categories: consumer electronics, toys, and health and fitness. Insights you can use right now to start crossing off your list!

Try it out and let us know what you think!!!


Chef Watson Releases Her Cookbook!!!!

Yes,  our own Chef Watson will release her cookbook “Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson” in the US on April 14!

I had the pleasure of meeting our chef down at SXSW in her food truck last year where she created a chocolate bacon burrito that I first cringed at and then loved!!!    Since Chef Watson partnered with the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), the recipes are creative and delicious.

sxsw watson

The recipes from the cookbook are generated from the cognitive computer. This machine learning showcases the computer's creativity, and its ability to "understand" flavor profiles and ingredient pairings.  It drives the chefs to think outside the "norm".   The book promises to introduce us to new food and flavor pairings conceived by Watson.

I will be ordering the book of over 65 Watson generated recipes.  How about you?

 


IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge: Top 5 Finalists display powerful cognitive computing capabilities

First there were 25, and now there are just 5. Congratulations to the following teams on becoming the Top 5 finalists of the IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge!

•BrightMinded @BrightMindedLtd
•CrayonData @CrayonBigData
•GenieMD, Inc. @GenieMD
•Majestyk Apps @MajestykApps
•Red Ant @Red_Ant

Selected from hundreds of submissions, these finalists stood out for their ability to tap into the powerful cognitive computing capabilities of Watson to build innovative mobile consumer and business apps that span health & fitness, healthcare, retail, and education.

On Monday, June 2nd, at IBM Innovate in Orlando the Top 5 finalists will present their ideas to judges in a live-streamed event that begins at 5:30 pm ET. If you can't attend IBM Innovate, our live-stream feed is a great opportunity for you to watch the action! Then, on Tuesday, June 3rd, three of the finalists will be named the Grand Prize winners!

To learn more about our Top 5 finalists, go to the IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge website


Fluid at NRF! Check out their Watson Retail Solution!

At NRF, Ginni Rometty discussed the use of cognitive for Retailers.   On the Main Event, she talked about an application that our IBM Partner Fluid has built to take advantage of this use of cognitive in the retail space. I had the great pleasure of meeting with them on Monday!

Fluid, which builds online shopping experiences for retail businesses to drive customer engagement and conversion, is developing the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper(sm) powered by IBM Watson. The app calls upon Watson's ability to understand the nuances of human language and uncover answers from Big Data. Consumers who use Fluid's app will interact with rich media and dialogue with Watson, as their newfound “cognitive, expert personal shopper.” The Fluid app incorporates the information users share and questions they ask to help them make smart, satisfying purchases by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand!

On stage, she mentioned David Jones leveraging this new paradigm!

See how cognitive can assist Retail in this use of data in a cognitive way!