Software development and IT operations, two parts of the systems development life cycle that are the pillards of said life cycle. For many years, each of this activity was separated from the other: we needed one team to build the product (the software) and one team to operate and maintain it. Below, we can take a look at the traditionnal methods before the DevOps Theory.

It's not a bad thing to say that, by the time the developers (let's call them devs) came with a new software update, the operators (let's call them ops) barely finished to make the original product up and running. Now, whose fault is that ? The devs for delivering products without giving a single thought on how the software could operate on the technical stack ? Or the ops for creating technical stacks without giving a single thought on how the software could be developped ? The answers are: none, both and dropthesuspense.

Let's review these answers and we will see that we are pointing to the same direction: None, because no one will take the blame and (most probably) will shift it to the other team and Both, because it is obviously their fault each for taking decisions inside their own scope without looking at the bigger picture. This is where the problem lies, why these two teams working on the same product and needing each other for the product life cycle are separated ? Because management said so.

I'm not going to address the "dropthesuspense" answer, for suspens purpose.

Just imagine there is a team of let's say, DevOps, that is made of devs and ops working on the product life cycle alltogether, wouldn't it be great ? Might be exciting to say it like that, while the idea is indeed interesting, we should take a look at what makes it appealing for productivity and what makes it a huge challenge for some people.

While the press refers to 2023 as "the year of AI", bids are running high on technology startups involving artificial intelligence, and almost all governments are capitalizing on their most promising colts by knowingly ignoring all consumer protection laws, or timidly and superficially addressing any prospect of serious regulation of the subject.

In June 2023 European Parliament introduced the AI Act policy draft , after a two years processing, totally rewrote after public release by the end of 2022 of OpenAI GPT3 revealing the gamechanging power of Generative AI. European lawmakers are expecting to be the first group of nations in the world to offer a regulatory canvas to build on, and thus hoping to trigger industrial adaptations towards a common "manageable" standard. Now early 2024 internal dissensions already slowed down the process and some voices already claims it may be too late to harness the beast. What does it mean ?

It may sound contradictory but the challenge here is to be the first to - metaphorically - "build brakes" to negociate a seat in the A-train. Even if there is high level engineers and wealth in western europe to support the research in Generative AI and Multimodal Large Language Models, which are the core of future B2C applications, the business lanscape and linguistic patchwork of Europe compress it so it stays deeply entangled with internal competition between countries such as France, Germany, Spain, etc.

These struggles blocks any option for the emergence of a real "European Champion" able to compete with the GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook (-Meta), Microsoft and their asian challengers from Alibaba, Tencent and so on.

It also means that while shy European experiments and natio-centric university laboratories are trying to catch up, the front-runners are widening the gap in relative impunity, where the boundary between "finished" commercial products and "full-scale experimentation" is becoming increasingly blurred.

Almost all Generative AI actors in 2023-2024 market opted for the TokenStock/Rental model. As half the planet wants to experiment with AI - and basically can do without needing an extra hardware investment - the Generative AI subscriptions skyrocketted with a limited need for marketing budget. Everything you need is a basic app, a couple of instagram or tiktok influencers, a youtube video and you're in. 

Since nobody really understands how it works, and there is no regulation for products stamped "AI something" you could basically sell your old dishwasher by branding it AI and nobody will really raise an eyebrow. The US Federal Trade Commission is trying to warn consumers about AI Fraud in software applications only using good old algorithms and there is no doubt Europe will capitalize on the AI Act to, at least, establish a vocabulary for fraudulent AI marketing even if the range of its applications is not fully discovered.

Everybody knows the main actors built their supremacy on massively nurturing their initial LLMs with some copyrighted data and possibly by training them to replicate authors and artists styles which will never really be able to claim proportional financial retribution for it. The Generative AI rocket went so far so quick that it is almost impossible to sue them for unauthorized derivative works seriously, so the only way to reduce the gap with more ethical alternatives is by boosting the influx of combined efforts both from financial and editorial asset owners joint-forces.

Yes... and no. For those who missed the train and now dream of regulations as levers to put on hold an already thriving international market to catch up, it sure is a candid dream. Even if earlier in 2023 Italy managed to put AI wave on hold for a while by using consumer protection existing guardrails, they couldn't hold the blocus for long considering the industrial and competitive pressure. On another hand, by agitating a regulatory sandbox and framework under the nose of the actual leaders such as Google, Microsoft/OpenAI, Adobe, Amazon etc. the European Politics certainly hope to put this as a deal : "If you don't comply with our guidelines you will force us to turn to local or eastern providers to fulfill our future uses of AI in critical industries such as healthcare, intelligence, automotive, defense, etc." Thus inducing a huge loss of markets and benefits for western providers, and challenging the (already) weakening grasp on the "old continent".

From this perspective, we can see a glitch of the highly strategic and political challenge opened by the quick spreading of Generative AI. Rarely an innovation went so quickly on the front stage of international balance of powers and the players of this game began almost 60 years ago is only beginning to reveal its challengers. From our point of view Madrid 2023 was not a gamechanger, at least it allowed some of the european countries to showcase some of their contestants. But from a global sight, the cautious but democratic stances taken by Europeans are a good barometer of the game ahead.

Automotive Digitization Automation 

European automotive market differs from north american, and in France in particular limitations to online payments, credit card authorizations and legal details before being able to put a vehicle on the road restrain fully automated car vending machine or online second hand vehicle retailers such as the famous CARVANA. 

That being said, the digital era requirements to bring the customer to your shop instead of another are equally challenging : in less than ten years, the amount of prospects went from at least 3 to 4 visits before buying a used car to less than 1. Long story shot : the prospect has chosen it's vehicle online before going to the retailer. This is where user experience and product description exhaustivity make the whole difference.

At the core of the concept the idea is to bring the 360° experience that many customers already know in product such as Google Street View (Navigation) and Matterport (Real Estate) to any vehicle online product sheet. This should be performed without the costly and time-consuming need for a video production or digital marketing agency, but instead the workflow would be enabled in-house or via 3rd party on-the-go contractors using affordable and reliable devices to execute the digitization process, and a smooth and scalable Digital Assets Management Software to manage the quality assessment and publishing.

First proof-of-concept took 6 months to deliver, consisting of an improved version of Ajaris Orkis System DAM software with ability to handle complex assets composed by a multitude of picture assets in addition to state of the art web-friendly player easy to embed in customers websites. This went with plans and guidelines for building or improving remote controlled vehicule photobooths easily embeddable in a processing factory or a warehouse, using the opensource APIs for Canon Cameras and cinema lighting techniques. To speed up the process we included some heavy duty robotic platforms able to lift and rotate vehicle up to 3.5t, All wrapped in a user friendly interface with automatic correction of lighting, white balance and focus for easy maintenance. 

After the succesful delivery of the 1st main iterations, levers of improvement emerged that allowed to split the concept into a scalable solution, which eventually has been forked into a Mobile App Based Solution and a Heavy Duty Improved Photobooth, available in two sizes for motorbikes up to minivans.

A full digitization workflow takes 8 minutes and can be performed both locally inside dedicated studios or "on-the-field" with a pocket camera and a mobile device, allowing high productivity in every context. 

No extra knowledge of photography technique is required : the agent is driven by the app along the full process which is designed to remain simple and friendly.

Concept has succesfully been extended to a various range of industrial customers, from STVA (Automotive Railway Logistics Network) to Aramis Auto (one French leader of 2nd Hand automotive processing) and Dubreuil Group (the very 1st french fully automated digitization photobooth proof of concept).

If visuals are engaging, three-dimensional representations are powerful. Combine this with an enthralling story, and the recipe for superpower is complete. Precisely how technology is producing a groundbreaking effect on the world of art exhibition and research. Museums and universities are tapping into this boundless pool of possibilities, although loud whispers of concern are audible.

Video Interview of David McCandles, founder of informationisbeautiful community explains concepts of dataviz ©informationisbeautiful.com

Source : CC BY NC SA Creative Commons on RSA Channel

A picture doesn’t speak a thousand words, it speaks sixty-thousand of them! Human brain understands visuals 60,000 times faster compared to text. And stories captivate the inner, emotional being by transporting us into a different, three-dimensional world where pictures come to life. How many words is that?

“Make students gasp,” is how Stephan Murray, Columbia University’s specialist on Medieval Art History, describes the impact of high resolution (HR) artwork images. Technology is transforming the way art is studied and admired. Museums and universities are not lagging behind. 

Technological upgrades create a compelling spectacle for real and virtual museum audience, establish parity between students who can afford to travel to faraway museums and those who cannot, and allow better and non-destructive specimen study, restore damaged artefacts. 

Besides, they enable the artist and museum personnel to be virtually present to narrate the art-piece’s story and empower smaller museums to capture a larger audience without going big. Most importantly, these open the field for multiple artistic interpretations, making art history more prosperous.

Such developments are not going unnoticed. In 2019, the Knight Foundation granted $75,000 collectively to five museums utilizing emerging media, particularly immersive technology viz. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), to better engage audiences. 

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) allow people to visit museums from afar. Real or remote, visitors can virtually handle the artwork, visually understand artwork-related data, and even interact with the artist or narrator. 

Knight Foundation grantees include:

3D Scans capture more details, making better research matter for university students than a 2D picture ever can. With 3D Printing, 3D Scanning can restore damaged artwork. 3D Scanning technology generates near-identical artwork replicas by capturing artwork brushstrokes and textures. 

Tim Zaman, a Dutch researcher, partnered with camera company Canon’s department OCE to “print” high fidelity 3D reproductions of Van Gogh and Rembrandt with a polymer similar to oil paint. If analyzing 3D scans is precious, recreating three-dimensional art pieces is invaluable!

With 13.5 million users in 2015, Smarthistory is replacing art history textbooks. The free tool offers 5-10 minute discussion videos by art historians Stephen Zucker and Beth Harris who visit museums around the world. Plus, they provide high-resolution images of individual artworks and link them to inputs and articles from 200+ specialists. 

What makes Smarthistory a runaway hit is the informal yet eloquent discussions. Besides, they leave the door open for self-thinking, multiple interpretations, and disagreements. 

Wolff is a free mobile app by Greg Bryda of Yale University. Its touchscreen zoom-in feature facilitates in-depth analysis of high-resolution photos. Artstor offers paid images with additional material and essays. 

Google Art & Culture provides free online access to artworks from 2000+ top global museums. Through Google Streetview, audiences can visit museums virtually and get an idea of the scale, placing the artwork in the wider context. 

Beacon Technology transmits messages and data when visitors with Bluetooth-enabled devices reach near the artwork. ART BEEKN in Germany first used beacons in 2014. Telepresence Robots are mobile screens that facilitate digital tours of museums. Alaska’s Anchorage Museum experimented with the same.

Photogrammetry 3D reconstruction from high resolution photography of a vintage digital camera body through RealityCapture Software ©vandanjon-consulting 2020

Metropolitan Museum of Art employed the technology to virtually recreate the original look of painted scenes from the Dendur Temple walls. 

Not all is hunky dory. There are voices of opposition, as they should be in the interest of a wholesome discussion. Number one in the list is that reproductions diminish the effect of the original art work and affects their scarcity premium, the very basis of their aura!

But then, reproductions often push students and others into visiting the museum. This reality also rides over the argument that reproductions make museums lose visitors and revenues.

Students in Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton, Bridget Alsdorf’s Self and Society in 19^th-Century French Painting course find real-life paintings as far better study material compared to their images in books. Alsdorf also notes how the paintings galvanize students into knowledgeable discussions.  

With reproductions fast approaching the original, some museums are apprehensive of losing their “cultural patrimony.” However, originals have a special place in the hearts and minds of people, an antique value that reproductions can never replace – come what may!