China Espionage via GE?

Note use of Steganography, hiding data.  an old but still used method for espionage.   I taught Chinese students at Columbia.

Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets

By Nicholas Yon, in BBC News

It was an innocuous-looking photograph that turned out to be the downfall of Zheng Xiaoqing, a former employee with energy conglomerate General Electric Power.

According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment, the US citizen hid confidential files stolen from his employers in the binary code of a digital photograph of a sunset, which Mr Zheng then mailed to himself.

It was a technique called steganography, a means of hiding a data file within the code of another data file. Mr Zheng utilised it on multiple occasions to take sensitive files from GE.

GE is a multinational conglomerate known for its work in the healthcare, energy and aerospace sectors, making everything from refrigerators to aircraft engines.

The information Zheng stole was related to the design and manufacture of gas and steam turbines, including turbine blades and turbine seals. Considered to be worth millions, it was sent to his accomplice in China. It would ultimately benefit the Chinese government, as well as China-based companies and universities.

Zheng was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this month. It is the latest in a series of similar cases prosecuted by US authorities. In November Chinese national Xu Yanjun, said to be a career spy, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for plotting to steal trade secrets from several US aviation and aerospace companies - including GE.  ... ' 

GE Invents 'Immortal Battery'

Quite the claim ...  Something we can use!

GE Research Developing the IMMORTAL Battery and Self-Healing Metals to Expand Operational Lifetime of Critical Military Systems   From Ge.com

Materials

Awarded two projects totaling $11 million through the Defense Advanced Research Agency’s (DARPA) Morphogenic Interfaces (MINT) program

First project involves designing a material for lithium- ion batteries that allows it to last virtually indefinitely

Second project involves the creation of new barriers to enable robust corrosion protection of aluminum metals

GE Research uniquely bringing together deep expertise in metals, biology, chemistry, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and mathematics to make certain metals virtually impenetrable to corrosion and degradation.

Could lead to unprecedented advancements in extending the lifetime and durability of cars, planes, buildings, and other critical infrastructure

NISKAYUNA, NY – January 11, 2023 -  Can certain types of metals self-heal like the human body does from a cut or broken bone?  Could they be engineered to withstand corrosion and never degrade? GE Research has been awarded two projects through DARPA’s visionary MINT program aiming to develop batteries and certain metal materials that may last virtually forever. These efforts are all part of meeting the Agency’s goal of extending the operational life of critical systems and infrastructure.

Introduced last year, DARPA’s MINT program is funding new material innovations that are patterned after how human cells and tissue form in a process known as morphogenesis. It is believed that new materials can be engineered to mimic key characteristics of human tissue such as self-healing to improve their longevity and durability.  GE Research has put together two strong multidisciplinary technical teams that will bridge the worlds of biology and materials science in the effort to create materials that mimic human nature.

The first project, entitled the InterMetallic MORphogen Tailored Activity Lithium (IMMORTAL) Battery, is a $6 million effort to develop a new intermetallic solid/solid charge transfer interface material to improve the performance of lithium- ion batteries and enable them to last virtually forever.  GE Research and its partners, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara, and Storagenergy, a leader in advanced lithium battery technologies, will employ AI and machine learning models, mathematics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and deep experience in battery technology to develop and demonstrate an IMMORTAL Battery prototype.  ... ' 

Quantum Computing for Risk Aggregation

Looking at this further, in particular the aspect of supply chain risk use. 

Quantum Computing for Risk Aggregation    in BusinessWire

Early results lay the foundation for developing new solutions to manage risk exposure. Takeaways include:

IonQ and GE are able to use a large set of data to model predictability associated with future risk across up to four variables using their quantum computers.

This research can benefit finance, manufacturing, and supply chain management  .... ' 

GE Work on COVID Virus Sensor

Considerable value if this works in practice.

GE Scientists Developing Technology to Add COVID-19 Virus Detector to Your Mobile Device

Sensing Materials  in GE Research Press Release

Awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop tiny sensors smaller than your fingertip that can detect the presence of COVID-19 virus nano-particles on screens, tables and other surfaces

Multi-disciplinary team from GE Research will draw from years of development and commercial success with physical, environmental, gas and biosensors for industrial  monitoring

The Team’s work has been featured in journals Nature Electronics 2020 and Lab on a Chip 2021

NISKAYUNA, New York, April 8, 2021 – Building on a suite of successful sensing technologies that have resulted in field demonstrations and a commercial launch for industrial monitoring, GE Research has been awarded a 24-month NIH grant (U01AA029324) of the RADx-rad program to develop miniature sensors that can detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus nano-particles on an array of different surfaces.

“One of the first lines of defense against any virus is avoiding exposure, which is easier said than done when you can’t see it,” said Radislav Potyrailo, a principal scientist at GE Research and principal investigator on the NIH project. “Through our project with the NIH, we are developing a sensor small enough to embed in a mobile device that could detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus.”

Potyrailo added, “We all come into contact with different surfaces during any given day, from computer screens and conference tables to kiosks at the airport and of course, credit card machines at stores while running errands.  While everyone does a great job keeping these surfaces clean, we want to add an extra layer of safety by being able to detect the presence of the virus.”...... "  (Continued) 

GE Working on Detecting COVID with a Smartphone

More detail, here from GE on their work on detecting COVID with a smartphone.

GE Scientists Developing Technology to Add COVID-19 Virus Detector to Your Mobile Device

Sensing Materials

Awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop tiny sensors smaller than your fingertip that can detect the presence of COVID-19 virus nano-particles on screens, tables and other surfaces

Multi-disciplinary team from GE Research will draw from years of development and commercial success with physical, environmental, gas and biosensors for industrial  monitoring

The Team’s work has been featured in journals Nature Electronics 2020 and Lab on a Chip 2021

NISKAYUNA, New York, April 8, 2021 – Building on a suite of successful sensing technologies that have resulted in field demonstrations and a commercial launch for industrial monitoring, GE Research has been awarded a 24-month NIH grant (U01AA029324) of the RADx-rad program to develop miniature sensors that can detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus nano-particles on an array of different surfaces.

“One of the first lines of defense against any virus is avoiding exposure, which is easier said than done when you can’t see it,” said Radislav Potyrailo, a principal scientist at GE Research and principal investigator on the NIH project. “Through our project with the NIH, we are developing a sensor small enough to embed in a mobile device that could detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus.”

Potyrailo added, “We all come into contact with different surfaces during any given day, from computer screens and conference tables to kiosks at the airport and of course, credit card machines at stores while running errands.  While everyone does a great job keeping these surfaces clean, we want to add an extra layer of safety by being able to detect the presence of the virus.”  ... '

GE Working on COVID Detection with SmartPhones

Quite interesting idea, accuracy and other details unclear. On surfaces too?   Could be very useful in the current and upcoming pandemics. 

GE is working to put COVID-19 virus-detecting sensors in phones   in Engadget.

The system can identify coronavirus particles on surfaces.

Our phones have been integral in the fight against COVID-19 through test and trace systems that helped to contain the virus in places like South Korea and Taiwan. Now, scientists are harnessing smartphones again to identify coronavirus particles on surfaces as an additional line of defense against the pandemic, alongside more robust treatments such as vaccines and antiviral drugs. Researchers at General Electric have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to develop tiny sensors that can be embedded in mobiles to detect the presence of COVID-19 nano-particle ... '

C by GE Turns to Cync

 Wish that this had happened so strongly when I was connected, nice to see them back connected to IOT Home.  But will this direction survive?

C by GE gets rebranded under new ownership, expands beyond lighting  By Brian Heater@bheater in TechCrunch

There’s a decent chance you missed the news back in May — there was, after all, a lot going on at the time. General Electric sold off its more than 100-year-old GE  Lighting division to smart home company Savant. Today, the division’s new owner is announcing a key rebranding effort, six months after the initial deal.

Clearly there’s still value in the GE name, even divorced of its original parent company. In its new home, the C by GE line is getting a rebrand, however. Seems totally reasonable — C by GE was never the most straightforward name. Going forward, the line will be rebranded as “Cync” — which, if not better is, at the very least different.

Along with the change in ownership, the name connotes a broadening of scope — that much was probably an inevitability under Savant. GE Lighting  is becoming a larger smart-home brand in its new home. CES, which kicks off next week, will find the company introducing a new thermostat and a range of outdoor products, including a new smart plug. The brand will also introduce a connected camera and fan speed switch.   ... "

Wellness Blockchain App from GE

Seems an unusual thing coming from GE, but nice idea ... here well described in SiliconAngle.  Will follow.

GE launches blockchain-based ‘Wellness Trace’ app to protect airport visitors from COVID-19    By Kyt Dotson

General Electric Co. and the Albany International Airport announced the launch of the first blockchain-based airport-focused technology today to make air travel safer in the post-COVID-19 pandemic world by tracking cleaning in the public areas as well as passenger and employee screening.

The app will also feature the ability to rate nearby amenities, restaurants, hotels and other attractions according to pandemic safety for travelers using community-sourced information.

GE’s Aviation division launched a distributed ledger blockchain app called Wellness Trace App, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, which the airport has been using to track COVID-19 cleaning protocols.  ... " 

GE Bores Like an Earthworm

Novel kind of robotic task and environment, example of biomimicry.

GE’s soft robot bores holes like a giant earthworm by Brian Heater in TechCrunch

A giant earthworm robot was not on the list of things I expected to see when I logged in this morning. But it’s here, and I’m here for it. Designed by a team at GE Research, the robot in question nabbed a $2.5 million award as part of DARPA’s Underminer. The program was created to foster rapid tunnel digging in military environments.As is all the rage in robotics these days, the GE team turned to biological inspiration to execute the task. What they came up with is a large, segmented and soft ..."

GE Smart Switch Makes a Move

As the article suggests, have seen little from GE oriented toward smart home applications.

GE's wireless smart switch works without a hub in Engadget
No messing around with wiring.

It's been a while since we heard from GE about its smart home arm, but today the company announced several new items designed to make its already straightforward lighting ecosystem even easier to use. Most notable of the bunch; a new smart switch and hubless dimmer model. This is an interesting addition to GE's range -- and an industry first -- because there's no need for any additional tech (such as a hub) to integrate them with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa for voice control. ... " 

Six Sigma Out of Fashion?

We did training using Six Sigma in its early days.    We joined with GE regionally to do advanced training with them.    Though in later connects with GE the term was not mentioned.  Agile was more in fashion.   It had been a very high flying thing for manufacturers.  Now here a fascinating article in Quartz,  tracking the way it seems to be slipping.  Not that it should have been called a fad, but rather a 'fashion' of the late 80s.  See below for more on that.     See also some interesting measures in Google searches and uses in Linkedin Skill Lists, where 'Six Sigma' has been failing.   I am looking forward to seeing push-backs on the article, it still makes lots of sense. just perhaps less in fashion.  I know lots of people that are near religiously devoted to it.

Whatever happened to Six Sigma?
By Oliver Staley In QZ.com

Twenty years ago, no company was flying higher than General Electric. In early 2000, GE passed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable company. The sprawling conglomerate, which sold everything from jet engines to mortgages to advertising on Seinfeld, was directed by a dynamic CEO, Jack Welch, and his unwavering faith in the power of Six Sigma.

Six Sigma, at its core, is a system for eliminating defects in manufacturing. The name refers to a statistical model, based on deviations on a bell curve, that dictates the number of acceptable defects per million manufacturing steps. Achieving Six Sigma means an organization tolerates just 3.4 defects per million steps, insisting that 99.99966% of its products or services are without flaws. Historically, most industrial companies operate between three and four sigma, making them between 93% and 99.3% defect-free (these figures can vary slightly depending on the statistical model).  .... 

According to Google, searches for “Six Sigma” peaked in 2004, and have fallen steadily since. LinkedIn data reveal a similar story, with fewer and fewer of its 630 million users adding Six Sigma as a skill to their online résumés. It’s since been surpassed by Agile, a management process that emerged from the world of software development.  .... "

GE and IOT Security

Another indication that companies are serious about blockchain for some uses.   Click through for the motivation in the IOT.

126-Year-Old General Electric (GE) Invests in Blockchain Cybersecurity Startup

The venture capital arm of industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) is one of the participants in a $12 million Series A fundraising round for Xage, a cybersecurity startup. The firm uses blockchain technology in securely linking industrial Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Other investors in the fundraising round, which is being led by March Capital Partners, are City Light Capital and NexStar Partners.

Prior to the ongoing fundraising round, the valuation of Xage stood at around $35 million. The fundraising round comes at a time when there is an increasing frequency of cyber-attacks.

“For industries to benefit from the IoT revolution, organizations need to fully connect and protect their operations. Xage is enabling the adoption of these cutting edge technologies across energy, transportation, telecom, and other global industries. We are excited to support Xage’s innovative approach,” said GE Ventures’ managing director of investing, Abhishek Shukla, in a statement ..... "

GE Lighting, Google Home and Smart Homes

Lighting is the most obvious, simplest and obvious application in the smart home.  So this partnership could make for some real  infrastructure wins for Google,  easy of use is key.

GE and Google make using your smart bulbs as easy as saying, ‘Hey, Google’  in Digitaltrends

oogle has made a name for itself in the smart home market through Google Home, its smart artificial intelligence assistant. Now, Google plans to seize control of part of the smart lighting market through a partnership with GE. C by GE has introduced a new line of light bulbs that connect seamlessly to any of Google’s smart assistants without the need for a hub. Rather than go through a sometimes-complicated setup process, just screw in the light bulb and load up your Google Assistant app. It will automatically detect the bulb and let you pair it. From there, turning the bulb on or off, and adjusting the light level is as easy as saying, “Hey, Google.” ... " 

GE and BP with Machine Learning

Deep Machine Learning: GE And BP Will Connect Thousands Of Subsea Oil Wells To The Industrial Internet ... 

That magic is also the idea behind a new partnership between BP and GE’s Intelligent Platforms unit. Next year, BP will use GE’s Predix software platform to connect 650 wells to the Industrial Internet. If all goes according to plan, the companies will expand the scope to 4,000 BP subsea wells around the world. “We will help them to get connected, get insights and get optimized,” says Kate Johnson, CEO of GE Intelligent Platforms Software. ... " 

Was there a GE Model, and What Killed it?

I was impressed by what I saw at GE in a number of interactions, they have been mentioned in this blog from a tech perspective a number of times.  Is it just because the tech has not yet clicked?  This piece was enlightening to me.  Sharing capabilities in tech requires setting good standards.  Saw this, but not universally.   In the newer still emergent tech they are doing very well to provide goals and paths to achieve them.

Who Killed the GE Model?
By Benjamin Gomes-Casseres in the HBR

Who killed GE?

Of course, GE is not dead, and it may well revive and flourish as a company. After all, IBM came back from the dead in the 1990s. But the GE model is dead — and there’s a long list of possible suspects.

The GE conglomerate combined a wide range of industrial businesses under one roof. Unlike a pure holding company or a modern hedge fund, the GE model intended to create value by actively sharing capabilities among its disparate businesses, which, with one important exception, were all rooted in manufacturing. .... " 

How GE is Introducing Blockchain

Podcast.   Of late I have heard a number of people suggesting Blockchain is pure hype.  Well here is an a look at how a rather traditional technical company is using it.

Many of the POC examples use a 'smart contract' architecture ....
Lots of useful statements of learning and usage ....
They have nothing in production as of April ....
Links to architectural examples in Github ....

How Does Blockchain Fit into a 125 Years Old Conglomerate   by Atul Kshirsagar in Infoq

Atul Kshirsagar discusses how blockchain can be used in an enterprise, detailing how GE works to introduce blockchain, the various pilot programs they are running and the apps the tech is good for. ... " 

 ... Atul Kshirsagar is Principal Software Architect at GE Digital. He is leading the efforts within GE Digital to bring blockchain technology based solutions to address various use cases including but not limited to IoT. At GE Digital he was also heavily involved in development of open source platform as a service - Cloud Foundry and was responsible for bringing support for IoT protocols to PCF. .... " 

GE Intelligent Systems and Wise.io

Standards make sense iif you plan to replicate new technologies.

GE’s intelligent systems: Creating an AI, machine learning standard

By Kylie Anderson in SiliconAngle

 The business potential in artificial intelligence technologies has enterprises across industries prioritizing the discovery of machine learning opportunities to leverage their next big innovation. In the surge toward modernization, some companies run the risk of overlooking the fundamentals of operational success, specifically the teams that must work with each other and the technology itself, as traditional production processes rapidly change.

“Even if you have really good data science teams, it’s incredibly hard to go from white board into production,” said Jeff Erhardt, vice president of intelligent systems at General Electric Co. “How do you take concepts and make them work reliably, repeatably, scalably over time?”

Following GE’s acquisition of machine learning company Wise.io, where Erhardt served as chief executive officer, Erhardt has been working to implement his former company’s processes at scale within the multinational conglomerate. .... " 

GE Pushes Lighting in the Smart Home

GE pushes for more involvement in the Smart Home.   Working with all the major assistants in play today. Looking forward to diving deeper into this.   See also my continually updated look at assistants.

GE doubles down on Alexa, other voice assistants in new smart home push   By Maria Deutscher   in SiliconAngle.

The past year saw Amazon.com Inc. extend the reach of Alexa to a variety of new areas ranging from home security to the enterprise. In 2018, the voice assistant will take on an even bigger role if General Electric Co. has its way.

The manufacturing giant, which has been offering Alexa-enabled devices for a while now, today announced plans to bolster the lineup with two new connected lighting products. The main highlight is a disk-shaped ceiling light (pictured) that is designed to serve as a smart home automation hub. According to GE, the fixture removes the need for customers to set up an extra device such as an Echo speaker if they wish to control their connected appliances.

The fixture works not only with Alexa but also Google Assistant and Siri. The latter integration is accompanied by support for Apple Inc.’s HomeKit framework, which makes it possible to manage smart accessories from an iPhone or iPad. .... " 

GE to Roll Out Predix Asset Management

Have been following Predix, was a beta user.   Managing Assets in the IoT is important

GE to roll out its Predix Asset Performance Management software at its monitoring, diagnostic center  .... By rolling out APM to its monitoring and diagnostic center, it will be able to tap into utility sensor data around the world for more predictive abilities. .... "    By Larry Dignan in ZDNet

SAS Blog on the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things is happening now    By Randy Guard 

If you’ve been waiting for the buzz to settle around the Internet of Things before deciding how to invest in this new technology space, now’s the time to stop waiting. I’ve been working in the technology sector for a few decades, and the innovation and excitement I’m seeing around IoT is unlike anything else I’ve seen.

The nature of the market around IoT is in an exciting state of frenzy. There’s so much potential across so many industries – and so many players bringing truly innovative ideas to the market. And it was all on display at the recent IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona.

Randy Guard on stage at IoT World Congress

My presentation featured a discussion with Garret Fitzgerald of GE Transportation, who explained how his company is using the power of IoT analytics to completely reshape its business.
Attending the presentations and walking through the showcase floor (including the testbed displays), it’s clear that we’re not in a silly gadget phase of IoT anymore but well into a productive phase of practical ideas for commercial use. IoT use cases on display included:

- Predictive maintenance for connected elevators.
- Condition based monitoring for high value assets in the field, like locomotives, delivery trucks, and even the cargo/parcels being shipped.
- Hacker detection and prevention for digital substations.
- Early detection of crop-damaging weather events.
- Augmented reality for maintenance and service of sensitive assets.
- Smart city applications all around the world.  .... "