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Google contract workers accuse Alphabet and Accenture of violating labor laws
The Alphabet Workers Union has filed a complaint against Alphabet and Accenture with the National Labor Relations Board alleging retaliatory layoffs in violation of labor laws,
Some Facebook moderators can work from home following protests
Facebook moderators can work from home after protesting their contractor's demand they return to the office.
HTC's Vive XR Suite is now available for VR collaboration
Following HTC's official announcement of Vive XR Suite in June, today it is finally available to all. Subscription starts at $30 per seat per month, or $250 per seat per year.
Intel is using AI to gather real-time data on coral reef health
Intel and its partners -- Accenture and the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation -- announced CORaiL, an AI-powered project to monitor coral reefs and analyze their resiliency.
51 companies tell Congress it's time to tackle data privacy
The corporate world isn't waiting around for Congress to get started on tougher data privacy laws. A group of 51 CEOs from the Business Roundtable advocacy group, including tech companies like Amazon, AT&T, IBM, Motorola and Qualcomm, have sent an open letter to House and Senate leaders asking them to pass a "comprehensive consumer data privacy law." They claim that state privacy laws vary too widely, leading to confusion for customers and potentially threatening the US' competitiveness. A federal law would reportedly bolster trust and create a "stable policy environment" where companies can craft products knowing exactly where the boundaries are.
Car makers used software to raise spare parts prices
Ever had the nagging suspicion that your car's manufacturer was charging outrageous prices for parts simply because it could? Software might be to blame. Reuters has obtained documents from a lawsuit indicating that Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot, Renault and other automakers have been using Accenture software (Partneo) that recommended price increases for spare parts based on "perceived value." If a brand badge or other component looked expensive, Partneo would suggest raising the price up to a level that drivers would still be willing to pay. It would even distinguish parts based on whether or not there was "pricing supervision" over certain parts (say, from insurance companies or focused publications) to avoid sparking an outcry.
Accenture left four servers of sensitive data completely unprotected
UpGuard has yet again uncovered a trove of corporate data left unprotected, this time from major consulting and management firm Accenture. The data -- contained on four cloud-based storage servers -- were discovered by UpGuard Director of Cyber Risk Research Chris Vickery in mid-September and weren't protected by a password. Anyone with the servers' web addresses could download the stored information, which included decryption keys, passwords and customer info. And Accenture's client list includes a number of large companies. On its website, Accenture says its clients "span the full range of industries around the world and include 94 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500."
Microsoft and the UN to provide digital IDs for undocumented people
It's difficult to live without identification. In many cases, you're shut out of banking, health care, voting rights and other basics. Microsoft and partners might just give those many undocumented people (1.1 billion of them, in fact) a shot at the identity they need, though. It's working with Accenture and Avanade on a United Nations-backed digital ID effort that would offer legal recognition to those who'd otherwise be lost to recordkeepers. The prototype uses blockchain technology to give people a trustworthy ID that can follow them anywhere, but still respects privacy and security.
London police raise privacy hackles with gang violence software
London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has completed a 20-week study in a bid to more accurately predict whether specific gang members are likely to commit violence. The software, developed by Accenture, pulls data together from systems already used by the MPS and runs it through an analytics engine. It's looking at geography, past offenses, associations with other criminal and even social media postings. An MPS spokesman told the BBC that the system would record and analyze threats or negative comments made by gang members on social media, for example.
Nokia passes off Symbian and 2,300 employees to Accenture
After placing all bets on Windows Phone, Stephen Elop announced that Nokia would slowly phase out its OG operating system, Symbian. Today, it's officially passed the torch, handing over all Symbian-related duties to Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing firm. 2,300 former Nokia employees will also be repurposed, getting a new name on their paycheck as they tend to the ill-fated OS. The Finnish mainstay says the arrangement will last until at least 2016, and plans to continually roll out updates during this time. Not everyone is hanging on another five years though, as it seems that at least 500 employees have jumped ship or found new gigs within the company since the original announcement predicting 2,800 reassignments. Head past the break to find the full (and very terse) press release.
Nokia and Accenture seal Symbian handover deal
The Is have been dotted, the Ts have been crossed with a flourish, and pretty soon Nokia will have very little indeed to do with its formerly beloved Symbian OS. Oh sure, the company promises to keep it going with such standout devices as the Oro, but responsibility for developing and supporting Symbian is being wholly handed over to Accenture, along with 2,800 employees. When announced back in April, the deal called for 3,000 Nokia worker bees to make the jump over, so we suspect a few more (hopefully voluntary) redundancies are making up the difference with the new number. Now that everything's been finalized, you can expect the switchover to take place in "the early part of October." Accenture promises to care for its ailing patient through 2016, after which point even the most die-hard of fans will have to make the switch to a mobile OS from the 21st century. Full PR after the break.
Nokia transfers Symbian development and 3,000 employees to Accenture, will downsize workforce by further 4,000
Nokia's already done quite a bit to cut ties with last year's big push for Symbian and Qt development, though this is perhaps the biggest step yet. The Finnish company has announced it's transferring responsibility for Symbian development to consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, which sounds odd given the latter outfit's inexperience in delivering mobile OS updates, but the good news is that the 3,000 devs Nokia had working on Symbian will continue their jobs under the new employer. That basically means that Nokia will live up to its unhappy promise that there'll be "substantial reductions in employment" within its own ranks, while still keeping the men and women responsible for updating Symbian employed. Unfortunately, there will still be a further 4,000 job cuts in the company's global workforce, primarily in Finland, Denmark and the UK, which will "occur in phases" between the beginning and end of next year. Nokia's agreement with Accenture also involves continued collaboration on delivering mobility software and services on the Windows Phone platform. You can read more about that in the PR after the break.
95 percent of all returned gadgets still work, Americans don't read manuals
Blame it on poor usability or just not reading the frickin' manual, but it turns out that 95 percent of all returned gadgets actually work despite what customers may say or think. That's right -- of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were truly broken. According to Accenture, 68 percent of all returns work but aren't meeting customer expectations -- or they are simply too confusing to use. The other 26 percent are returned due to straight-up buyer's remorse (AKA significant other budgetary freak-outs). Accenture executive Terry Steger believes that the complexity of gadgets is to blame here, and not the fickle nature of American consumers who tend to give up on product setup within a few minutes. We believe this is all actually due to the implicit nature of -- ooh, look at that shiny thing over there!
Virtual worlds without interoperability are dead worlds, Swaminathan
Kishore Swaminathan, chief scientist for IT consulting firm Accenture is skeptical about the long-term success of non-game virtual worlds that lack interoperability. Swaminathan believes that interoperability of accounts, assets and a common currency are key to the success of virtual worlds. Swaminathan draws parallels between closed virtual worlds like Habbo Hotel and Second Life with closed services such as Compuserve -- although seems to neglect that services such as Compuserve were established in a time where interoperability pre-existed. Nevertheless, despite something of a heady rush of corporations towards closed worlds, Swaminathan sees them outgrowing those worlds very quickly, and looking towards more open and interoperable systems. 'I don't think, two years from now, there will be a Second Life...', he said. [via Virtual Worlds News]
Accenture developing virtual meal technology, brings videoconferencing to the dinner table
If you're just finishing up what was likely a delicious and fulfilling Christmas dinner with your friends and family, connecting with loved ones probably isn't a problem at the moment, but for elderly and single folks who live alone and far away from old friends and relatives, Accenture is looking to expand their dinner tables as far as the webcam can see. The "virtual meal technology" seeks to aggrandize the dining room beyond a single home, allowing folks to enjoy separate meals while conversing together in real-time. Utilizing the basic premise found in videoconferencing, the plans are to unveil an (almost) automatic system that doesn't require a great deal of know-how in order to operate, with prototypes "automatically detecting" when someone is about to eat supper, and then searching for available family members that would also be interested in scarfing down some grub while chatting it up over the system. The firm is also pushing the medical aspects of such an invention, as it reports that "elderly people who eat alone often don't eat enough or eat the wrong kinds of food," which would allow younger family members to correct those eating habits before more serious health issues develop from malnutrition. While the company hasn't released any draft equipment just yet, it's hoping to have a prototype system available "in around two years," and while it's aiming for the "$500 to $1,000 range" per household, things could get a lot cheaper if your insurance company ends up footing the bill.
Accenture Technology finalizing persuasive mirror, behavior monitoring systems
Pretty soon our homes will not only be staffed entirely by robots of all varieties catering to our every need, but we'll have mirrors that pull triple duty as surveillance cameras and best friends. Accenture Technology, the folks behind the elusive "persuasive mirror," is edging closer to a finalized product that can survey your facial features, love handles, and overall girth in order to communicate the honest truth about what you should (or could) do to improve your deteriorating image. The mirror operates by inspecting your body via cameras on each side of the panel, and displays "after" portraits on a monitor to give you a futuristic glimpse of what you'd look like should you shave, trim your bangs, hit the weight room, or start a DDR exercise routine. No longer will you have to doubt the integrity of your "close friends" when it comes to making personal hygiene decisions, as the persuasive mirror apparently feels that honesty is the best policy, even if it rattles your self-esteem. Moreover, the firm has crafted a prototype monitoring system that utilizes memory sensors to determine if subjects are deviating from "normal patterns of behavior." Current implementation ideas are to watch for meandering thieves in a parking lot, straying employees, and mischievous baggage handlers at airports. While the company is currently testing the technology out in France, you might want to think twice before venturing too far from the daily norm, although we aren't exact certain of the consequences should your lack of conformity set off any "abnormal" alerts.