Finding the Vulnerable with Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence: Atlanta’s Trust Stamp to aid in locating those lost to human trafficking

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Artificial intelligence may put an end to a long-running industry: human trafficking.

The average age a minor enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14 years old–many of the victims being runaway girls who were sexually abused. According to dosomething.org, trafficking involves various forms of exploitation, such as forcing victims into prostitution, subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude and compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography. Thankfully, Attorney Generals in the U.S. and Mexico are planning to implement a new system that will help to locate victims of human trafficking.

Trust Stamp, an Atlanta-based startup, will be providing the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the life-saving technology. According to the company website, “[Trust Stamp] creates proprietary artificial intelligence solutions; researching and leveraging facial biometric science and wide-scale data mining to deliver insightful identity & trust predictions while identifying and defending against fraudulent identity attacks.”

“We authenticate … by applying multiple proof-of-liveness/attack detection techniques to a still image of video (“secure selfie”),” the company website said. Artificial intelligence then compares the secure selfie to a photo ID and/or images that were taken from social media (“pattern matching”)—this is to verify an identity. “The secure selfie is then converted to a 3-D mask and a biometric hash that is stored on a server and/or Blockchain. The hash can be used for subsequent authentications or to attach and access relevant data.” Having been implemented within banking platforms to increase security, how does this technology apply to the sex trade?

To summarize, a similar system will use facial recognition data that is pulled from photos that families of missing individuals have submitted to build a shared database network. In return, a probable match will then alert lawmakers if said individual is caught on a security or other public camera. By separating biometric data into 128 individual measures, it can then be converted to a non-reversible identifying sequence, otherwise known as a ‘hash’. The hash is not considered to be personal identifier information and can be shared or stored across public or private databases.

To keep the AI solutions up to par, the company utilizes GPU processing and neural-networks to process data faster than has ever been previously possible. In return, this recognition technology will help to locate missing children and other people in the sex trade by relying on superiorly quick and accurate recognition techniques.

For more information on Trust Stamp, please visit the company website by clicking here. You may also view the video below.

Are you developing a way to save lives with AI? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Going, going, gone: Georgia Tech funds Synapse, an all-natural energy drink startup

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If you’re looking for an energy drink alternative with no caffeine and made with all-natural ingredients, then look no further. Thanks to the CREATE-X program at Georgia Tech, Synapse, an energy drink that relies on nootropics for its energy boosting effects, was able to take off. According to the Synapse website, “[Synapse] is a finely crafted, fast-acting supplement designed to deliver exceptional memory function, increased focus, and improved mental clarity while providing the body with a physical energy boost that doesn’t sacrifice health or performance.”

To give consumers that well-needed boost of afternoon energy, the drink encompases the Krebs cycle, meaning the process by which cells generate energy. To go in-depth, the drink has molecules called acetylcholine in it. These molecules are responsible for maintaining attention and focus, as well as for forming new memories and learning processes. Synapse uses ingredients that work together to increase acetylcholine levels, which is also combined with its proprietary support matrix. In return, the drink primes your brain for attentive, focused work and faster learning.

“The differentiating factor between us and other nootropics companies is that none of our ingredients, including the nootropics and flavors, are synthetic,” said Daniel Porada, one of the creators of Synapse. “All of our ingredients are well-researched and studied for their cognitive and physical effects,” the company website said. The energy drink also promises to contain no high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors/sweeteners or caffeine—quite a feat when compared to what already exists on the energy drink market. Some featured natural ingredients include: huperzia serrata (moss), bacopa monnieri (herb), alpha-GPC (compound found in the brain), agave nectar (natural sweetener), citrulline malate (amino acid), creatine (organic acid), acetyl L-carnitine (nutrient, natural energy producer), alpha lipoic acid (antioxidant), schisandra (berry) and L-theanine (compound). Details about the ingredients used in the supplement can be found by clicking here.

The Synapse company hopes to give university students and Millennials a healthy, energy producing alternative to what already exists on store shelves.

Are you improving a food or beverage product? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Take the Comforts of Home With You: Atlanta-based startup Koridor personalizes your hotel accommodations

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It is important to be comfortable when away from home, especially on a well-deserved vacation. Traditionally, there aren’t many personalized options available when booking a hotel room. That is all about to change, thanks to Koridor, an Atlanta-based startup that wants to empower guests through its MyRoom platform.

By combining consumer behavior principles, innovative merchandising techniques, and valuable analytics, MyRoom helps consumers to have more control over their room choices. “For many years, the hotel industry lagged other elements of the travel experience when it comes to offering a mechanism to select a specific unit of inventory. With the MyRoom platform, the hotel industry finally leads the travel industry by offering guests an immersive, engaging experience that enables a much higher degree of personalization,” said Koridor CEO, Larry Hall.

“So when a guest is browsing a hotel, they can see a virtual tour of that room, they can see three dimensional imagery, they can see 360-degree views of the room or well-done still shots,” Hall continued. The software also provides guests with floor plans, available upgrades and window views. MyRoom is so specific, it allows a user to pick proximity to elevators and ice machines. Depending on the hotel, the software also has the option to include specific amenities, such as fireplaces, oversized closets, or a double-size sink in the room.

MyRoom is a first-of-its-kind software platform that was formed by seasoned entrepreneurs with deep industry expertise in hospitality and technology. To create such personalized experiences, Koridor works with hotel clients and manages the process of capturing digital assets and will swiftly configure the platform to highlight the personal qualities of each hotel. Analytics are then hauled into the mix, which can track consumer behavior, patterns and preferences, thus generating information that is used to tailor a guest’s experience, which in return increases revenue.

Are you developing software to improve the hospitality industry? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

“Alexa, schedule a video call with Dr. Smith”: Austin-based startup Medici advances telehealth

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Doctor visits are a pain, and not because of that irritating chest infection or scorching fever. Wait times in the U.S. have increased 30 percent over the past four years, and that percentage is likely to rise over time, according to an article by Medscape. There is good news, though. Medici, a telehealth startup based in Austin, Texas, wants to make your doctor visits more efficient and less stressful by way of your mobile device.

Apart from doctors being overloaded, “they are buried with regulatory requirements, administrative hurdles and downward pressure on their own costs to run their practices. This burden is increasingly taking time away from doctors’ ability to focus on what really matters: providing great care for patients,” a statement from the Medici website said. “We are driven by a singular purpose. To change the doctor-patient relationship. The world is changing and healthcare must come along, too.”

The Medici application, referred to as the “WhatsApp of healthcare”, combines five principles: speed, harmony, ambition, resourcefulness and excellence. The app allows patients to contact doctors, be it physicians, dentists, therapists, even veterinarians, via text message or video call; all from a single platform. A diagnosis can be made over the app, which in return can reduce the number of patients in the waiting room. Patients can ask their doctors to join the app, or doctors can invite their patients to use it. For more context, check out the video below.

“Patients also face a growing burden, carrying more of their own healthcare costs and spending an average of 121 minutes on each medical visit they have,” the Medici website continued. “Our goal is to make global, innovative technology that will transform and truly inspire the world of healthcare.”

Are you developing new technologies to improve healthcare? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

“It’s not easy being green”: Georgia-based AgVoice to foster sustainability, environmental goals

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The world’s population is at 7.6 billion and growing. With more mouths to feed than ever before, agriculture needs to keep up with the demands. Bruce Rasa, CEO of a program development called AgVoice, wants to help with the demands; after all, he has been in agriculture for some time. “I want to bring the power of technology to the farms and ranches to solve simple problems, enabling ag professionals to produce healthy food for the needs of a growing global population,” said Rasa in a statement from the AgVoice website.

To summarize, AgVoice is a mobile voice-interaction service that uses proprietary analytics and processing of raw voice files to capture insights via Bluetooth. The voice data that is collected can later be used for note-taking and analytics purposes. The recordings are also time-stamped and geolocated, which comes in handy when customers want to know about the origin, treatment and quality of their food.

“Agriculture is Georgia’s largest sector by number of workers. However, it is the least digitized sector, according to a recent study,” said Rasa in an interview with Hypepotamus. “We see an amazing global opportunity to serve not only our core customers, but have our data make a positive impact down the food chain. We want to champion the individual and help them get more productive.”

The program aims to optimize the use of resources in crop and animal production, which translates to positive impacts on the environment and helps users to achieve sustainability goals; AgVoice can also improve workflow management and documentation accuracy.

AgVoice is designed for use across the food and agriculture ecosystem, including livestock and crop production, agronomy, animal health and wellness, and machinery repair. The program is set to launch sometime in 2018. More information about AgVoice can be found by clicking here.

Are you developing a program that will help sustainability and environmental efforts in the agriculture sector? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Virtual Spaces to Physical Places: Startup in Atlanta uses VR to interpret, 3D print design plans

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Visualization is critical to the existence of the interior design and architecture industries; both would not exist without some sort of visual element. Vippo, an Atlanta-based startup, wants to bring piece of mind to designers, contractors and their clients when creating the perfect space, and will do so, thanks to its new VR planning technology, VIMaec. It’s good news for those who do not have a design, contracting or engineering background.

“So part of the beauty of our technology is we can incorporate all the engineering files and the architectural files into one, and that can be seen in both in VR or as an executable on any computer that you have. This can help an owner actually experience the space that they want to build as opposed to getting a 2D set of paper plans and trying to imagine it,” Vippo CEO and co-founder, Kirkland Brooks said.

The VIMaec technology will allow multiple paths of information to be combined, which is great since there are, normally, many hands and minds working on a single project at a time. “A major differentiator separating [Vippo] from the competition is being able to incorporate the engineering plans, something most architectural visualization firms aren’t doing,” Brooks said. The combination of information from designers and architects allows for quick error detection, which reduces costs and improves the time efficiency when completing a project. “One thing that you could do is actually save quite a bit of money by being able to see if there are glaring issues and being able to take care of that in the software as opposed to having to do massive change orders later,” Brooks continued.

Designs can also be brought to life via 3D printing. “Physical models have been used throughout time to show architectural design. At Vippo, we continue that tradition with our own style of physical modeling capabilities. These models can be produced quickly and cost-effectively, using 3D printed processes,” a quotation from the Vippo website said.

According to Brooks, VR modeling technology is going to be the future of designing.

Are you advancing VR to bridge learning gaps or to make a job more efficient? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Georgia. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Georgia, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Preventing School Shootings in Texas: App encourages youth to collaborate with officials

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In a world dominated by smartphone usage, a developer has created a solution for bridging the gap between an unlikely duo: law enforcement officials and students. How so? By way of an app, of course.

Developed by Microassist, a primary training vendor for the State of Texas, the DPS (Department of Public Safety) application, iWatch Texas, will allow teachers, students and parents to report anything deemed suspicious, which in return could save numerous lives.

“It’s the first statewide mobile app of its kind in the U.S. that helps citizens track, identify and report on potential criminal activity. With the rise of the mobile generation, organizations with mission critical content – like DPS – greatly benefit from expanding their reach to a wider and technologically oriented audience,” said Microassist’s CEO, Sanjay Nasta in an official press release on the company’s website.

“Making sure the information is forwarded to the correct agency is a big part of this. Before, the information might now go to the right people, might not go in a timely manner, might not be there when the information is needed,” said Lieutenant Nick Bristow of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office. “[The application] gives law enforcement and school administrators a chance to intervene before it’s too late.”

The app already encompasses useful features, such as information on most wanted fugitives, sex offenders and human trafficking. Reports are transmitted to the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (North Texas Fusion Center in McKinney for the Dallas/Fort Worth area) where the information is then vetted and passed along to analysts from local, state and federal agencies. The information is used to gather intelligence and vet security threats, and is then passed on to local law enforcement agencies and school districts, respectively.

The suspicious activity reporting feature mentioned in this article will have a separate application in the future, according to an article by NBCDFW. The iWatch Texas application, along with an official overview, can be found by clicking here.

Are you developing an application that can save lives? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Uber With the Next Big Thing? Flying Cars May Be More Near in the Future Than We Think Thanks to R&D

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At the end of September the idea of flying cars came about at The Rotorcraft Business and Technology Summit in Fort Worth (FW). The last time we saw flying cars was in Harry Potter, and today it is something that is set to take off in the future. Uber and Airbus’ Voom are working together to develop this product and plan on utilizing the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit as much as they can.

Uber and Airbus have a vision to launch a flying vehicle to prevent gridlock in large cities, FW included due to its size. This is an innovation that we have not seen before, and unlike anything that is on the market. Making this project eligible for R&D tax credits.

The summit that was held at the end of September gave the public a chance to hear firsthand from the vertical-flight manufacturers. These are the professionals who are pushing the norms of todays technology with flying vehicles. Voom believes that they are “building an experimental bridge to tomorrow.”

If your company is experimenting with new technologies that are unlike anything on the market contact a Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisor today.

 

Famous “Drumstick” Ice Cream Has Been Around Since 1926- Parker Products Taking Part in Research and Development to Deliver for Customers

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I think we can all agree and say that ice cream is a part of childhood. Having it all over your face as well as your clothes, and maybe even the floor was just part of it. The famous Drumstick ice cream cones have been around since 1928, created by Parker Products. Parker is taking part in research and development (R&D) to better their products.

Parker is known for it’s Drumstick novelty ice cream and consumers can count on the taste. The company has done such a good job that in 2016 the business did a refresh and substituted more natural and organic ingredients, with consumers not tasting a difference. This process is R&D activity as Parker was testing methods to keep the same taste, but improve ingredients to customer standards.

Parker Products Fort Worth (FW) has partnered up with The Riverside Co. Parker is a developer and manufacturer for not only ice cream but many ingredients used by food and beverage companies. Riverside is a private equity firm focused on making investments. The growth of Parker is apparent due to the research and development (R&D) department and the willingness to quickly adapt to meet market demands.

The food industry is constantly changing, and consumers are demanding more unique products. With the help of Riverside, Parker will deliver these needs more than ever. If your company is engaging in R&D to enhance flavors or better your manufacturing systems contact a Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisor today.

Fort Worth in Bidding War to Win Next Spot for $5 Billion Investment in New Amazon Headquarters

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Amazon is always coming up with something new, whether it is Amazon Prime, Amazon TV, or now a flying airship warehouse to deliver products to customers. This new invention is like something we have never seen before and is completely new technology. Amazon is able to claim research and development (R&D) tax credits due to the highly technological nature of this product. Companies who are experimenting and testing new products, procedures etc., are eligible for R&D tax credits.

Amazon will be investing $5 billion dollars into a new headquarter building that they are looking to build in the U.S., Fort Worth (FW) is on their list of top contenders. Brendan Gengelbach, the executive president at the FW Chamber of Commerce says he has already spoken with state officials and real estate reps about the possibility of Amazon opening up their new headquarters.

Amazon will bring billions of dollars in investments for FW if this is to happen. Amazon has already said that they are looking into the possibility of tax incentives for this project. If your company is experimenting with new products or technologies, contact a Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisor today to check your eligibility.