Sometimes we have this fight in our minds between reason and data. Should I trust my gut feeling or should I trust the data? Back when I was running an agency, I would often be the one to present the side of the data and I could observe that mental …

In the summer of 1956, 10 scientists and mathematicians gathered at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College to brainstorm a new concept assistant professor John McCarthy called “artificial intelligence.” According to the original proposal for the research project, McCarthy — along with fellow organizers from Harvard, Bell Labs, and IBM — wanted …

Google isn’t concerned about making ad revenue from Google Assistant and Google Home right now. The company is more focused on gaining market share for the moment. Nonetheless, it’s starting to insert paid-search ads into Assistant results on Android smartphones; it’s also starting to monetize Google Home “traffic” as well – …

Google’s automated smart bidding algorithms can take many signals into account at the time of the each auction — device information, search query, location, etc. Soon, it will add more signals to that list for App and Shopping campaigns, according to a help page. What’s coming? Mobile app ratings will …

Nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of smartphone owners are using digital assistants, according to a new report from Microsoft. The findings are based on two surveys – one from mid-2018 that includes an international sample, and a 2019 follow-up involving 5,000 U.S. consumers. The study also found that 35 percent of …

  SalesWhale, a Singapore-based startup that uses AI to help marketers and salespeople generate leads, has announced a Series A round worth $5.3 million. The investment is led by Monk’s Hill Ventures — the Southeast Asia-focused firm that led SalesWhale’s seed round in 2017 — with participation from existing backers …

  Africa has made its global IPO debut. Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia—a $1 billion-valued company—began trading live on the NYSE last week. The stock offering made Jumia the first upstart operating in Africa to list on a major global exchange. This raises expectations for unicorns and IPOs to create the …

  Roughly a year ago, entrepreneurs Caterina Fake and Jyri Engeström decided to form a traditional venture outfit called Yes VC. Fast forward, and the duo has nearly closed on $50 million for their debut fund, including backing from Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen, former Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson and the …

  If you’re a SaaS business,  you’re likely overwhelmed with data and an ever-growing list of acronyms that purport to unlock secret keys to your success. But like most things,  tracking what you do has very little impact on what you actually do. It’s really important to find one, or …

  Ramotion is a remote branding and product design agency that has worked with Bay Area tech startups since 2014. While they typically do branding for funded, fast-growing startups, Ramotion has helped companies ranging from Bitmoji’s early brand identity to Mozilla’s rebrand. We spoke to Ramotion’s CEO Denis Pakhaliuk about …