TUI collaborates with Mobi to implement machine learning in cutting-edge digital operations platform

• Machine learning to enhance automated transfer platform

• Upgrade will increase efficiency, help reduce CO2 emissions

• TUI app to provide live vehicle tracking, transfer timing and notifications

• Platform launched this month in Mallorca, with further key destinations to be added throughout 2022

TUI Group, one of the world’s leading tourism groups, is implementing machine learning for its global shared-transfer operations platform in collaboration with Mobi Systems, a Boston based startup using advanced techniques to optimise scheduling. This continues TUI’s investment in digital platform capabilities and is part of a major upgrade to its operations system - increasing efficiency, enhancing service and supporting sustainable development.

In 2019, TUI sold over 31 million transfers, transporting customers between airports, hotels and points of interest in destinations around the world. Shared transfer scheduling is automated through TUI’s global transfer operations platform, but this will now be enhanced through additional machine learning capabilities.

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Sensydia Receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for CPSTM Non-Invasive Cardiac Monitoring Device

Sensydia, an innovator in rapid, non-invasive measurement of critical cardiac function, today announced that its Cardiac Performance System (CPSTM) has been granted Breakthrough Device Designationby the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As part of this Breakthrough Device Designation, the FDA will work closely with Sensydia to expedite the development of CPS and prioritize the review of subsequent regulatory submissions.   

CPS is a non-invasive cardiac monitoring device that reports critical heart performance measurements to physicians for comprehensive evaluation of patients with advanced and persistent heart failure, without requiring an in-hospital catheterization procedure or ultrasound assessment.

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THE METAVERSE IS ALREADY HERE — AND IT’S FULL OF POKEMON, SAYS NIANTIC CEO JOHN HANKE

John Hanke is the CEO of Niantic, a company that makes the wildly popular Pokémon Go mobile game in partnership with Nintendo and the Pokémon Company, but John actually started it as a skunkworks project when he was a Google Maps executive and spun it out.

Pokémon Go and its predecessor Ingress are now the largest and most successful augmented reality games in the industry, which means John has long been at the forefront of what we’ve all started calling the metaverse: digital worlds that interact with the real world.

Lots of companies are chasing metaverse hype. Mark Zuckerberg just renamed all of Facebook “Meta” to underline his shift in focus, and we just had Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth on Decoder to talk about it — but John’s been at it for a while, and I wanted to talk about the reality instead of the hype: is the technology for all this ready? What are the innovations that need to happen to enable some of these dreams? And how do you solve the problem of people walking around in headsets, experiencing wildly different realities from one another?

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Earned Wage Access & the American Overdraft Fee Crisis

You know we have a serious economic justice problem in this country when the poorest Americans are paying $8 billion in overdraft fees in $35 increments to the nation’s largest banks. But that’s exactly what happened in 2020 and as the CFPB found in their recent work on this issue, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, that staggering amount of money was actually a decrease from 2019. Unfortunately, the decrease in Americans paying these overdraft fees is not the trend and overdraft fees are predicted to hit their highest levels ever in 2021.

Despite the best efforts of consumer protection advocates and similarly aligned elected officials, overdraft fees charged in the United States have steadily risen since the FDIC began collecting this data in 2015 from banks that have more than $1 billion in assets. Last year, 2020, was the only exception when banks reported a 24% decrease in revenue from these fees after consumers curbed spending, public assistance reached record highs, and some fees were waived because of the pandemic. The total revenue banks earned from overdraft fees according to the Center for Responsible Lending is especially troubling since approximately 95% of that total is collected from financially vulnerable people each year.

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HData and Alabama Power Announce Business Intelligence Partnership

Alabama Power to deploy HData’s energy regulatory data platform enterprise-wide and partner to develop new regulatory business intelligence solutions.

Birmingham, Alabama, December 8, 2021 — HData, an early-stage RegTech startup delivering automated compliance and instant business intelligence to the U.S. regulated energy industry, has announced a strategic partnership with Alabama Power Company.

The announcement was made at the Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator’s Demo Day 2021. The event celebrated the completion of a three-month startup accelerator program, sponsored by Alabama Power, in which HData was one of nine companies selected to participate from across the U.S. and Canada. HData’s platform uses regulatory data to automate compliance and business intelligence for electric utilities, gas companies, and oil pipelines.

“Alabama Power is committed to deploying technological innovation to better serve our customers and elevate the state,” said Alabama Power Assistant Treasurer Chris Blake. “Our support for the Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator and our partnership with HData exemplify that commitment. HData digitally transforms the way we interact with certain regulatory data, providing better insight and creating a holistic view of our industry.”

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