Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE will unveil the “UAE 5G Strategy” for the next five years soon.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East on the sidelines of the “UAE 5G Conference” on Sunday, Tariq Al Awadi, Executive Director of Spectrum Affairs at TRA UAE, said the strategy will chalk out the roadmap to accommodate and implement 5G for the next five years.

“We will announce what kind of frequency bands will be assigned to operators every year based on use cases and verticals. By 2025, we will have 100% coverage of the UAE with 5G millimetre wave (24.25GHz to the 86GHz),” he said.

Telecom operators in the UAE, etisalat and du, are offering 5G services in the C-band (3.3GHz-3.8GHz).

When the technology is ready from the vendors, he said that telecom operators will provide the network and TRA will provide a good spectrum.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, said that some verticals will get more priority if they have a 5G application and telco operators need to provide the network infrastructure.

“Dubai Silicon Oasis is testing autonomous cars right now. As it is a remote location and there is no real business use case, we are providing the 5G network,” he said.

Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) has set a dedicated route for carrying the test-runs required in collaboration with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

DSOA and RTA have conducted a Leaders Category of the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport which included a series of placement tests that relate to endurance and authenticity and the ability to drive under traffic conditions simulative to reality such as water sprinklers, different sizes of road humps, sandblasting machines, etc.

According to the Dubai Future Foundation’s ‘Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy’, 25% of the total transportation in Dubai to be in autonomous mode by 2030, involving 5m daily trips, and save AED 22b in annual economic costs.

• GSMA expects cross-border data sharing to take off in Mena from next year
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• GSMA looks into interoperability of 5G equipment from networking  vendors 
• 5G adoption will reach 6.3% of total connections in Mena in 2025

400MHz of C-band to be allocated to telcos in 2020

Al Awadi said that there are some use cases for 5G but “we are still in the early stages. Organisations are still working on developing 5G standards and one of the big challenges for 5G is to develop standards,” he said.

Beginning of 2020, he said that TRA will allocate 400MHz of the C-band to the telecom operators and the 5G committee at TRA will be restructured to focus only on verticals.

Al Awadi said that the UAE had issues with satellite operators such as Thuraya and Yahsat in the C-band but has made some technical arrangements on how to protect their air stations.

“Satellite operators are using the 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz spectrum and we are taking from them 400MHz and giving them 400MHz spectrum. In the 400MHz, satellite operators have Vsat (very small aperture terminal or air stations (Thuraya and Yahsat).

Moreover, he said that the area surrounding the satellite operators’ space will be protected and that space will not have 5G coverage.

“We have told Vsat to move from 3.8GHz to 4.2GHz,” he said.

However, he said that the 5G business model is different from 3G and 4G and the UAE is ready for the fourth industrial revolution and the spectrum is ready.

“The devices for verticals such as manufacturing, utilities, healthcare, retail, agriculture and

Automotive, etc. are not yet ready but the network will be ready. The new use cases are the ones which will make 5G a success,” he said.

Telcos urged to partner with public and private sectors

To make 5G a success, he urged telecom operators to make government entities and private sectors as partners and not as customers.

“If you treat them as ordinary customers, you [telcos] will not succeed. You need to work with them and see their needs and treat them as partners,” he said.

When asked whether UAE will provide a dedicated 5G private network for universities and industries as in Germany, he said that only Germany does it and that is because they have big industries.

“Right now, we are offering only the spectrum to telecom operators and not to private networks. If we do that, then we will not have a very good 5G network in the UAE,” he said.

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Although the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business is still in its infancy and questions remain open about the pace of progress, the lack of adequate skills to support AI projects, immature market ecosystem, lack of clean data and regulatory implications are the key challenges which might slow down the adoption in the Middle East, an industry expert said.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East, Manish Ranjan, Program Manager for software and cloud at research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), said that there are a lot of AI-centric initiatives and mega projects in various stages in the Gulf countries.

In the UAE, there is UAE AI Strategy and various AI research labs by public and private sectors (ADDA, Dewa, Huawei and Smart Dubai), and AI university.

Saudi Arabia recently unveiled a new National Centre for AI, a national AI regulator, a National Data Management Office and is already delivering its first AI college.

“Organisations, especially from government, banking and finance, retail and resource industries are increasingly leveraging AI and ML to automate and optimise their businesses and operations,” Ranjan said.

The use cases around AI is still evolving where organisations are using various sub-sets of the AI technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), image/video analytics, machine learning (ML), and other technologies to answer questions, discover insights, and provide recommendations.

Many believe there may not be a single technology that will shape our world more in the next 50 years than AI, Sam Blatteis, CEO of The MENA Catalysts, a public policy consulting firm for government innovation arms and high tech multinationals, said and added that it has rapidly evolved into the hottest area in legislation in the Gulf.

This is the first time governments around the world are simultaneously releasing national plans to develop the same field, he said.

Being a subset of AI techniques, Ranjan said that ML enables computer systems to learn from past experiences by analysing a huge amount of data and improve their behaviour for a given task.

Many global vendors have started embedding AI, ML, and cognitive applications to provide ultimate business benefits to their users.

• Top five trends that will shape the technology sector in UAE in 2020
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Lack of adequate data

In general, globally or regionally, Ranjan said that organisations are leveraging data and information (both structured and unstructured data/information) to educate their AI platforms to bring automation and improve operational efficiency—this has put data as a focal point.

“Data is instrumental for AI platforms and solutions to help the system become more intelligent by learning fast. If there is a lack of adequate and variety of data, AI would reflect a slow learning curve and the accuracy might also be impacted. The AI systems which can be able to process a vast amount of data in real-time would show greater results,” he said.

According to a survey conducted on CIOs by IDC, over 50% of organisations across the Middle East highlighted their plans to leverage cognitive and AI solutions by 2020.

“Definitely, the year 2020 would highlight some of the AI projects which were in proof of concept or sandboxing phase last year. We will see more commercial AI use cases emerging as the market matures,” Ranjan said.

According to IDC, spending on artificial intelligence systems for the UAE and Saudi Arabia combined is forecast to reach $132.3 million in 2020, witnessing an increase of 23.8% compared to 2019.

The spending in the UAE for next year is forecast to be $73.6m and $58.6m for Saudi Arabia.

  “The AI software applications and AI platforms markets continue to show steady growth in the Middle East and Africa region, and we expect this momentum to continue over the forecast period,” Ranjan said.

The top use cases of AI solutions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are automated threat intelligence and prevention systems, automated customer service agents, IT automation, fraud analysis and investigation, defence, terrorism, investigation and government intelligence systems, and digital assistants for enterprise knowledge workers.

However, Ranjan said that even if AI matures in future, “we can still not think of complete seclusion from human intelligence. We will have bots and machines taking the workloads which would be extremely efficient and at one point almost error-free; however, we would still require human intelligence.”

“How we legislate AI will become one of the defining themes of the next five years,” the CEO of the MENA Catalysts said. “We need to set strategic ‘rules of the road’ from the start — not to over-regulate, but to provide regulatory predictability to attract expertise, ideas, and capital.”

Moreover, if the Gulf is to develop knowledge industries of the future, he said that education here must be reimagined.

“We have to think about how we can ‘hack education’ to reprogram our education system, change course and plot a new education strategy. We should be teaching physics to kindergartners, robotics and computer programming in every school,” Blatteis said.

Machine learning, deep learning and big data are some of the most highly sought-after skills in the industry.

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As Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart spend billions to make a dent in India’s retail market and reel from recent regulatory hurdles, the two companies have stumbled upon a new challenge: Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man.

Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio, two subsidiaries of Ambani’s Reliance Industries, said they have soft launched JioMart, their e-commerce venture, in parts of the state of Maharashtra — Mumbai, Kalyan and Thane.

The e-commerce venture, which is being marketed as “Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan” (Hindi for new store for the country), currently offers a catalog of 50,000 grocery items and promises “free and express delivery.”

In an email to employees, accessed by TechCrunch, the two aforementioned subsidiaries that are working together on the e-commerce venture, said they plan to expand the service to many parts of India in coming months. A Reliance spokesperson declined to share more.

The soft launch this week comes months after Ambani, who runs Reliance Industries — India’s largest industrial house — said that he wants to service tens of millions of retailers and store owners across the country.

If there is anyone in India who is positioned to compete with heavily-backed Amazon and Walmart, it’s him. Reliance Retail, which was founded in 2006, is the largest retailer in the country by revenue. It serves more than 3.5 million customers each week through its nearly 10,000 physical stores in more than 6,500 Indian cities and towns.

Reliance Jio is the largest telecom operator in India with more than 350 million subscribers. The 4G-only carrier, which launched commercial operations in the second half of 2016, disrupted the incumbent telecom operation in the country by offering bulk of data and voice calls at little to no charge for an extended period of time.

In a speech in January, Ambani, an ally of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, invoked Mahatama Gandhi and said, like Gandhi, who led a movement against political colonization of India, “we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonization. For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India – in other words, Indian wealth back to every Indian.”

Modi, whose government at the time had just announced regulatory challenges that would impact Amazon and Flipkart, was among the attendees.

E-commerce still accounts for just a fraction of total retail sales in India. India’s retail market is estimated to grow to $188 billion in next four years, up from about $79 billion last year, according to research firm Technopak Advisors.

In an interview earlier this year, Amit Agarwal, manager of Amazon India, said, “one thing to keep in mind is that e-commerce is a very, very small portion of total retail consumption in India, probably less than 3%.”

To make their businesses more appealing to Indians, both Amazon and Flipkart have expanded their offerings and entered new businesses. Both of the platforms are working on food retail, too. Amazon has bought stakes in a number of retailers in India, including in India’s second largest retail chain Future Retail’s Future Coupons, Indian supermarket chain More, and department store chain Shopper’s Stop.

Flipkart has invested in a number of logistic startups including ShadowFax and Ninjacart. Amazon India was also in talks with Ninjacart to acquire some stake in the Bangalore-based startup, people familiar with the matter said.

In recent quarters, Reliance Jio executives have aggressively reached out shop owners in many parts of India to showcase their point-of-sale machines and incentivize them to join JioMart, many merchants who have been approached said.

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Star Wars fans were thrilled about The Mandalorian the second it was announced as the flagship show of Disney Plus, but few could've predicted that Baby Yoda would steal the show. The first live-action TV series to come out of the Star Wars universe features a guy who dresses a lot like Boba Fett with his own interesting background story, but The Child, as he's known, is arguably the real star. 

Since making his debut in The Mandalorian in November, Baby Yoda has been a sensation. A cuter, younger version of the ancient Jedi master, he’s one of the most endearing creatures ever seen in the Star Wars universe, and has since become the talk of the internet – a walking merchandising opportunity, and the source of wholesome memes.

But what is Baby Yoda? How does he fit into the Star Wars universe? And what will we learn about him in The Mandalorian season 2? We unleash the Bothan spies to find out.

• Watch The Mandalorian with a free 7-day Disney Plus trial

What do we know about Baby Yoda?

The creature who’s become known as Baby Yoda is the surprise break-out star of The Mandalorian. Wisely kept hidden from all the pre-release marketing for the most anticipated show on the newly launched Disney Plus, he made his debut at the end of the show’s first episode. This was where we discovered that the lucrative target the eponymous Mandalorian bounty hunter was pursuing was actually a green alien infant with large ears – who looked a lot like a certain diminutive Jedi Master… 

He’s clearly of massive importance to the mythology of The Mandalorian – and Star Wars as a whole. The mysterious Client (played by legendary movie director/actor Werner Herzog) hired numerous bounty hunters (including assassin droid IG-11) to bring back “The Child” – as he’s officially designated in the show – with the successful hunter being handsomely rewarded. 

The Client – who, going on his choice of Stormtrooper bodyguards and Imperial insignia around his neck – is working for the remnants of the Empire (eventually, it turns out, on behalf of Moff Gideon, introduced in The Mandalorian episode 7), and clearly wanted something from The Child. “I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it,” he tells underling scientist Dr Pershing, but we have no idea what that material might be. 

We’d be very surprised, however, if it didn’t have something to do with the Force – and rebuilding the Empire into what will become the First Order in Episodes 7, 8 and 9. Maybe they’re planning on removing the Midi-chlorians (Force-carrying particles) from his blood – that would explain why they were so keen on capturing Baby Yoda alive. 

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 Is Baby Yoda a clone? 

The Baby Yoda clone theory suggests that Dr Pershing is actually a cloning scientist, based on the symbols on his uniform. That hints that the little alien was created on Kamino at the same facility where the Clone troopers were made, and that there's a strong connection between Baby Yoda's origins and that part of the Star Wars universe. 

Cloning is a big part of the Star Wars universe – indeed, clones fought an entire war – so the theory went that Baby Yoda could be a young copy of the original model. However, in Chapter 7 of the show, Kuiil (Nick Nolte) comments that the character doesn't look like he's been engineered, based on his experience on gene farms. So many mysteries still remain around Baby Yoda. Kuiil even dares to call him too ugly! Outrageous. 

This being Star Wars, however, there are plenty of other theories flying around the internet. One suggests he’s the child of Yoda and Yaddle, and in terms of timelines, that’s not preposterous. If Baby Yoda is 50 years old, he’d have been born about 10 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, and presumably both Yoda and Yaddle would have been on the Jedi Council at that point. It’s also unlikely, however, because Jedi have strict rules preventing romantic relationships – and Yoda’s never given us any indication he’d be the kind of guy to break them. 

Some say he could be a reincarnation of the Jedi master. That would be new territory for Star Wars, but the post-Disney buyout Star Wars universe has frequently played around with the rules of the Force, so it’s not impossible. That said, the fact that Yoda died only five years earlier makes it too late for him to have been reborn as a kid who’s now 50, so this is probably one to file in the “pinch of salt” column.

Intriguingly, the date of Baby Yoda’s birth is very close to Anakin Skywalker’s – within a year, in fact. The Phantom Menace hints very strongly that the future Darth Vader had no father and was conceived by the Midi-chlorians. Perhaps the similarly Force-sensitive Baby Yoda came into existence at the same time in the same way, as part of the Midi-chlorians’ efforts to bring balance to the force.

Finally comes the option that he’s simply some random member of Yoda’s species, with no connection to him beyond that. But hey, this is Star Wars where everyone’s destiny is interlinked, so does anyone really believe that?

What will we learn about Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 2?

The end of The Mandalorian season 2 suggests that its titular protagonist will be searching for Baby Yoda's homeworld. This is an enduring mystery in the Star Wars universe, and it's an exciting prospect for expanding the character's story in the second season. 

Is Baby Yoda in The Rise of Skywalker?

Sorry, but Baby Yoda does not appear in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He remains The Mandalorian's special little guy. It's probably for the best. 

What is the name of Yoda's species?

Nobody knows – which is odd in itself. 

The Star Wars franchise has a long history of creating names for almost every character, species or planet that’s ever appeared in a movie, TV show or book – even if they’ve had mere seconds of screentime. For example, the Death Star trash compactor monster in Star Wars: A New Hope was subsequently designated a dianoga, while the space slug that tries to eat the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back is an exogorth. 

Yoda is a special case, however. Before George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, the Star Wars creator had a strict rule that specific information about Yoda and his past was out of bounds for writers. That means we have no idea where he originated or what species he belongs to. The closest Lucas came to giving anything away was describing Yoda as “the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy”, though we suspect that’s not official Star Wars canon… 

It’ll be interesting to see if, now Disney is in charge, they continue to follow Lucas’s directive to keep all things Yoda classified, or use Baby Yoda as an excuse tell us more about Yoda Sr’s mysterious past.

We do know, however, that Yoda’s species is naturally strong with the Force – and not just because Yoda himself had an incredibly successful career as a Jedi master. Even as an infant, Baby Yoda has the power to levitate a giant (and angry) Mudhorn, while the only other member of the species to feature on screen, as mentioned earlier, was Yaddle, a female member of the Jedi Council. She briefly appears in The Phantom Menace. 

Why is Baby Yoda such a big deal? 

Begun, the merchandising has. 

Basically, the internet loves him – forget Porgs, this kid is arguably the cutest thing ever to come out of that galaxy far, far away. As soon as he made his debut in The Mandalorian’s first chapter, Baby Yoda became a meme generator of awe-inspiring power, and the most talked about thing in the show. Everything he does is guaranteed to make you go “Aww”, whether he’s sleeping, drinking soup, or even eating a frog creature alive – Baby Yoda can get away with pretty much anything.

Baby Yoda toys are real, and coming in 2020

It’s unlikely the merchandising bosses at Disney were complaining when the production team introduced Baby Yoda to the The Mandalorian’s story. Indeed, characters as cute as him are a dream come true for anyone who wants to sell lots of toys and clothing – unsurprisingly, there’s already some merch available (including the inevitable Funko Pop! Vinyl figure), with more to follow in 2020. 

Here's a short list of the highlights, if you need any of them in your life:

• Baby Yoda Funko! Vinyl figure
• Baby Yoda Talking Plush
• Baby Yoda Black Series figure

Still, while you might find Baby Yoda a bit cynical, the fact that showrunner Jon Favreau and Chapter One director Dave Filoni were able to hold the character reveal until the show aired – keeping Baby Yoda’s existence a secret until The Mandalorian made its debut – suggests that in this case, keeping the storytelling sacred was the priority. After all, keeping Baby Yoda a secret arguably denied The Mandalorian and Disney Plus the biggest pre-launch marketing opportunity their hot new show was ever going to get.

Baby Yoda memes: there are so many

Cementing his status as 2019's icon, Baby Yoda memes are all over the internet right now. Instead of listing them all here, we've embedded one of the highlights above, and clicking on this link will unleash more than one person can ever reasonably happen. Good luck. 

• When is the next episode of The Mandalorian?

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Postmates and Uber have filed a complaint in California federal district court, alleging that a bill limiting how companies can label workers as independent contractors is unconstitutional. The complaint, which includes two gig workers as co-plaintiffs, was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, days before Assembly Bill 5 (AB-5) is due to go into effect on Jan. 1. It asks for a preliminary injunction against AB-5 while the lawsuit is under consideration.

The complaint argues that AB-5 violates several clauses in the U.S. and California constitutions, including equal protection because of how it classifies gig workers for ride-sharing and on-demand delivery companies compared to the exemptions it grants to workers who do “substantively identical work” in more than twenty other industries.

AB-5 was authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat representing the 80th Assembly District in southern California and signed into law in September by Governor Gavin Newsom. It is intended to uphold the ruling in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v Superior Court of Los Angeles, a landmark 2018 decision by the California Supreme Court about how employees and independent contractors should be classified, and ensure that gig economy workers are entitled to benefits like minimum wage, health insurance and workers’ compensation.

But the suit’s opponents, which includes tech companies whose business models rely on the gig economy, as well as groups of gig workers and freelance journalists, argue that it restricts their work opportunities and ability to earn money.

In addition to Uber and Postmates, the complaints’ plaintiffs also include Lydia Olson and Miguel Perez, drivers for on-demand companies. In a post on Postmates’ blog, Perez wrote that he joined the suit because AB5 “is threatening the freedom and flexibility I have relied on in recent years to support my family.”

A statement from Postmates said “AB5 is a blunt instrument, which is why lawmakers exempted 24 industries, seemingly at random, from its requirements.”

The company added that does not want to be exempted from AB-5 or reverse the Dynamex standard, but “call for industry and labor talks with the California legislature to modernize a robust safety net designed specifically for the needs of on-demand workers, that establishes a new portable benefits model, creates earnings guarantees higher than minimum age, and gives all workers both the strong voice they need and flexibility they demand—a framework not currently contemplated under state and federal law.”

As proof that AB-5 violates the equal protection clause, the complaint argues that “the vast majority of the statute is a list of exemptions that carve out of the statutory scope dozens of occupations, including direct salespeople, travel agents, grant writers, construction truck drivers, commercial fisherman, and many more. There is no rhyme or reason to these nonsensical exemptions, and some are so ill-defined or entirely undefined that it is impossible to discern what they include or exclude.”

The complaint also alleges that AB-5 violates due process by preventing people from choosing to work for gig companies, and the contracts clause because mandating companies like Uber and Postmates to reclassify contractors as employees will either invalidate or substantially change their existing contracts.

In statement about the lawsuit, Gonzalez said “the one clear thing we know about Uber is they will do anything to try to exempt themselves from state regulations that make us all safer and their driver employees self-sufficient. In the meantime, Uber chief executives will continue to become billionaires while too many of their drivers are forced to sleep in their cars.”

The lawsuit follows several efforts to stop or limit AB-5. In October, a group of drivers for Lyft, Uber and DoorDash announced they had submitted a California ballet initiative for the November 2020 ballot in response to AB-5. The measure which received substantial financial support from those companies, seeks to enable drivers and couriers can continue to be independent contractors while guaranteeing benefits like a minimum wage, expenses, healthcare and insurances.

Earlier this month, several organizations representing freelancer writers filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles alleging AB5 places unconstitutional restrictions on free speech, the day after Vox Media announced it will cut hundreds of freelance positions in California as it prepares for the bill.

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Huawei reported resilient revenue for 2019 on Tuesday as the embattled Chinese technology group continues to grow despite prolonged American campaign against its business, but cautioned that growth next year could prove more challenging.

Eric Xu, Huawei’s rotating chairman, wrote in a New Year’s message to employees that the company’s revenue has topped 850 billion Chinese yuan ($122 billion) this year, a new record high for the Chinese group and an 18% increase over the previous year.

Xu said Huawei, the second largest smartphone maker globally, sold 240 million handsets this year, up from 206 million last year.

“These figures are lower than our initial projections, yet business remains solid and we stand strong in the face of adversity,” he wrote.

He acknowledged that Huawei is confronting a “strategic and long-term” campaign against its business by the U.S. government. If the campaign persists for long, it would create even more “difficult” environment for the 32-year-old firm to “survive and thrive,” he said.

Survival would be the company’s first priority in 2020, he said.

The U.S. added Huawei to the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist this year, and placed new restrictions on its ability to sell to — and maintain commercial relations with — American companies. The U.S. government has also urged its allies to not use Huawei products in building the next generation of their telecom network infrastructure, alleging that the Chinese company poses a threat to national security.

In October, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a conference in New Delhi that he hopes that India, the world’s second largest telecom market, “does not inadvertently subject itself to untoward security risk” by using 5G equipment from Huawei.

But not all U.S. allies have heeded its advice. On Monday, Huawei secured a major victory in India, which approved Huawei’s request to participate in trials of its 5G spectrum.

“We thank the Indian government for their continued faith in Huawei,” Jay Chen, the company’s India CEO said in a statement. “We firmly believe that only technology innovations and high quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry,” he added.

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Funding for tech startups has been on an inevitable upswing for years, a result of a virtuous circle where wildly successful tech companies on the public markets whet the appetites of investors and investors’ backers to find more diamonds, a push met by a pull from the rush of talent with entrepreneurial aspirations out to put that money to work. 2019 has felt a bumper year in that longer trend, with 9-figure rounds ($100 million or more) and “unicorn” statuses so prevalent that the numbers have started to cease to be news items in themselves.

With 2020 now just days away, a look at the 50 biggest funding rounds for start-ups in the past year draw out some trends. We’re pulling out the top five below for a closer look, but it’s interesting too to see some of the other trends emerging across the rest of the pack.

Automotive remains a huge pull when it comes to raising big bucks: part of the reason is because the space is capital intensive, as it straddles both software and hardware (that is, not just equipment but cars). Capex is another reason for some of the other big investment rounds of the year, such as the biggest of them all, for an internet data center startup.

Asian companies figure massive in the list, and account for 7 of the 10 biggest rounds in the list.

Small players: there were only three companies in health tech in the top 50, only one in education technology, and only three in the areas of AI and robotics. I don’t know if that means these areas simply don’t require as much capital investment, or if these challenges are simply not as interesting right now for investors as those more squarely focused on revenue generation and business needs. Hopefully the former, as the wider tech world faces a lot of cynicism and skepticism from the public, and could use a better profile from solving actual problems.

Note: for this piece we have focused on investments made in pre-IPO technology companies, and on new equity investments rather than secondary or debt rounds.

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The Chinese internet giant Tencent has launched an app for video conferencing in China, after the popular US Zoom service was blocked by the Chinese government.

Tencent is already huge in social media, gaming, and venture capital, and the launch of its video conferencing service is seen as part of a move away from reliance on B2C markets and a push into B2B enterprise markets.

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Market vacuum

The changes comes as the trade war between the US and China continues to simmer, with Zoom apparently blocked during September, in retaliation for US sanctions. The result left a vacuum in the local market that Chinese companies are now rushing to fill.

While Tencent already offered WeChat Work for video messaging, the new Tencent Meeting app apps to cater specifically for enterprise customers. A free version allows up to 25 participants to meet for up to 45 minutes, with the professional version allowing for up to 100 participants.

The app also integrates with existing Tencent apps such as WeChat Work and the massive QQ social media platform.

The move comes while the Chinese video-conferencing market remains underdeveloped but growing, with other companies such as Alibaba also competing for market position.

However, Tencent’s move isn’t just a one-off, but part of a multi-billion dollar re-orientation to serve China with business-specific services, such as cloud computing.

Via TechNode.

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The NFL Playoffs are finally here with the Wild Card Round about to begin, everyone's questioning who will make it to the Super Bowl LIV in February. 

And it's not looking great for the Patriots who made history last year but will be opening the postseason play for the first time in ten years, following their recent loss to the Dolphins.

Either way, you’ll be able to catch all of the exciting action as it's really easy to get a Super Bowl 2020 live stream - no matter where in the world you are. And with our help, you can even watch without having to sit through the commercials.

Many are hedging their bets on the Baltimore Ravens,  making it to the Super Bowl - as they are after all the current favorite with a 12-game winning streak. 

Other teams that people also have a really good chance at making it are the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers won the Super Bowl 24 years ago at Miami Gardens - the same venue as this time around.

Although its held in the Miami Dolphins home city, unfortunately they will not be participating in the spectacular sporting event this year.

And if you're equally looking forward to the entertainment part of this event (we don't blame you) with incredible performances by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez set, you definitely should be! All we can say is this is an event you won't want to miss.

Either way, no one knows yet for sure who will be in the ultimate game - with a month to go all we can say is that all bets are off. Keep reading to find out all the information you need to know for the Super Bowl 2020 and where to live stream the event from anywhere in the world.

• Watch every regular season game with our NFL live stream guide

How to watch a Super Bowl 2020 live stream for free in the US:

Fox will be broadcasting the event live this time around with Joe Buck commentating alongside the legendary Troy Aikman - former Dallas Cowboys quarterback. 

Note that you will need a US IP address in order to access the Fox coverage otherwise you won't be able to access the content from abroad - if you want to do so, you'll have to follow our VPN guidelines above and log in with a VPN, choosing a US server location. 

Fox isn't you're only option though, with all of the top US-based streaming services all providing an alternative. Each one offers a free trial to get you started and has masses of other content and channels for you to enjoy if you subscribe:

• Hulu with Live TV $54.99 per month - Hulu with Live TV includes CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN.
• PlayStation Vue From $49.99 per month and the ideal choice for PS4 owners thanks to its access to the likes of ESPN, NBC, Fox, Disney and other essential networks. Crank up the price and you can add the likes of Showtime and HBO, too.
• YouTubeTV $49.99 per month - YouTubeTV gives you access to CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN.
• DirecTV Now $50 per month - DirecTV Now includes CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and for $5 extra you can add the NFL Network.
• FuboTV $55 for the first month - FuboTV includes CBS, Fox, NBC and the NFL Network but does not come with ESPN.

How to watch Super Bowl online in the UK for FREE:

How to watch the Super Bowl 2020: live stream in Canada

How to live stream Super Bowl action in Australia

Super Bowl live stream: worldwide coverage where you are

Super Bowl 53 was available live in seven languages and 170 countries and territories around the world.

We don't yet know exactly who will be showing the 2020 event, but we can tell you a few options from last year in some of the most popular territories for watching NFL: Mexico - ESPN, Fox, TV Azteca; Brazil - ESPN; South Korea - MBC Sports; Germany - ProSieben, DAZN; France - TF1, BeIN Sport; Argentina - ESPN, Fox; China - Fox Sports, BesTV.

How to watch Super Bowl online - our favorite live stream choice:

If, like us, you'd like to watch a live stream online without any commercial breaks, then following these three simple steps will help:

1. Download and install a VPN

2. Connect to a UK server location

3. Go to TVPlayer.com

Want to record the Super Bowl and watch it later? TVPlayer will also allow you to do that too. You'll need to sign up for a paid account, but the good news there is that the site offers a 14-day free trial so no payments required!

• Read more: the best VPN services 2019

Want to watch the Super Bowl in Miami instead?

If you’d rather catch the action live in the arena instead, you can always buy tickets. Just be aware that they are quite expensive, the cheapest tickets you can get are priced at $4,799 each, and that’s for the very back of the stadium. Premium seats which are pretty close to the action are going at $12,999 each.

The good news is that both tickets and others include access to the three hour all-inclusive 3-hour pre-game party at Gulfstream Park, meet and greet opportunities with NFL stars and Hall of Famers including Joe DeLamiellure, Floyd Little & Jan Stenerud and more! 

Super Bowl 2020 FAQ: your questions answered

If you want to know more about how to watch your favorite TV and live stream sport then click the link to see our dedicated guide

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A Chinese hacking group has been able to successfully target Western government entities by bypassing Two-Factor Authentication protections.

According to Dutch cybersecurity company, Fox-IT, the hackers were able to remain undetected in compromised systems precisely because they were able to exploit existing security tools already present.

• Abundance of cybersecurity tools puts enterprises at risk
• Stay safe and anonymous online with the best VPN
• The need for open source audits in cybersecurity M&As

Exploited software

The claims were made by Fox-IT after a two year investigation into compromised systems, which they released in a whitepaper in which they identified the hackers’ activities and methods.

The key actor was identified as the APT20 hacking group, which is claimed to have worked under the authority of the Chinese government for nearly ten years. The group targets government agencies and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) by exploiting vulnerabilities in web servers to access networks.

From there, they can install web shells to facilitate moving through the IT networks, focusing on enterprise application platforms. The hackers also targeted user workstations with administrator privileges, as well as password vaults.

The most surprising finding was that Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) protocols could be bypassed in vulnerable systems, with the hackers able to generate their own software tokens for access within exploited software.

Fox-IT reports that the easiest way to defend against such attacks is by robust use of segmentation, as well as leveraging Microsoft’s Enhanced Security Administrative Environment (ESAE) for greater security.

Via ZDnet

• Check out the best network monitoring tools.

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