Amit Walia, AI smarts, and Snapchat becomes useful again – VB Engage

This week, Travis and Stewart discuss the perils of unlocking your phone with your face. Let’s just say that Stewart isn’t a fan. It’s a bit creepy. They then talk about Snapchat’s newfound usefulness, location-based marketing, and a big raise for a geographical data company.

Another topic of discussion is how certain sites are using your browser to mine for cryptocurrencies in the background.  How can you tell if it’s happening to you?  How can you stop it?

The duo then interview Amit Walia, chief product officer at Informatica, about AI, where it is making a real difference now, and what is going to happen next. Don’t miss one of the smartest interviews of the year!

Resources mentioned in the episode

 Facial recognition technology will replace IDs, credit cards, and passwords | VentureBeat

 Snapchat launches context cards to display reviews, maps, and other information on top of snaps | VentureBeat

 Mapbox raises $164 million investment from SoftBank, others to grow its location platform for developers | VentureBeat

 Malware That Hijacks Your Computer to Mine Cryptocurrency Is Swarming Across the Internet

 minerBlock – Chrome Web Store

Next week on VB Engage

Tune in next week when we interview Playbuzz CEO Shaul Olmert and discuss interactive content, how to use it, why it works, and how Playbuzz has become so successful.

If you missed last week’s episode

Last week, we interviewed LAToken‘s Valentin Preobrazhenskiy, who gave us a complete rundown of how to build a blockchain business, what it takes to gain and maintain a community of 11,000 people, and why ICOs are more about marketing than finance.

Listen to episode 71.

Thanks for tuning in!

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As always, thanks for tuning in. Maybe one day Stewart will become useful again, like Snapchat. Until then, a great review on your favorite podcast platform will lift his spirits.