BBVA’s San Francisco based Propel Venture Partners unit has announced it is to support a new round of funding into Ease – an HR software solution for small and medium sized businesses from the U.S.

This software strategy offered by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba, Google e IBM is the preferred way to migrate businesses to the cloud.

More and more initiatives allow SMEs to use artificial intelligence without the need for programmers. Giants like Baidu and Google, as well as smaller companies like Lobe, are presenting their products.

The advantages are many. This doesn’t mean we have to be specialists in computer science. Programming languages are what allow machines to be given instructions, and what makes them, more or less, intelligent. So, the more we know about these processes, the better we understand how the world today functions. We will also be better protected against urban myths and fake news. For example, if we knew how the algorithms that protect our bank accounts work, we would be leery of the urban myth that says if we enter our pin backwards in the ATM, the bank immediately notifies the police.

The new technologies are not an end in themselves but rather a way to improve the customer experience. This was how Ricardo Segoviano, head of BBVA Open Platform Spain, explained it during the presentation event for the ‘World Retail Banking Report 2018‘, which lists BBVA as an example of successful collaboration in the drive to improve the digital banking experience via APIs.

Interactive fairy tales, being in outer space or a radical remake of the classic game Tetris. These are some of the dream plays to take your first steps in this new audiovisual language.

New technologies have transformed the financial sector based on integrating systems that learn for themselves while processing millions of pieces of data. BBVA has pioneered the use of automated systems such as bots to enhance customer experience.

BBVA participated in the Red Hat Summit, the annual event held by the open-source software company in San Francisco, where the Group was awarded for being a model of digital transformation using cloud technologies. During one of the event sessions, the company’s CEO, Jim Whitehurst, talked with José María Ruesta, BBVA’s Global Head of Infrastructure, Service and Open Systems.

The head of the BBVA Data & Analytics’ Edge team, José Antonio Rodríguez-Serrano, who coordinates the innovation area in BBVA’s center of excellence in data science, shares his insights into five key questions to understand the implications of this exponential technology in different economical sectors and spheres of society.

The widespread use of mobile devices on a day-to-day basis brings with it the risk of very personal information such as bank details, photographs, messages, contacts and emails and a long list of private details falling into unwanted hands.

‘Blockchain’ is still at level 0 in the video game industry, but it has a promising future.

As we have seen in previous articles, the intelligent use of data, with the right talent and the pertinent business strategies for applying creative solutions, can provide insights that help solve a whole gamut of problems and take on board new opportunities. Data places within our grasp an enhanced decision-making ability and a deeper understanding of our clients and what they need. But as in the case of any other tool, these new skills can be put to positive or not so positive use, whether intentionally or not.

We inferred as much in the title to the first article of this series: to key to realizing all the opportunities of this new technological era, lies in these three factors: raw material—data—and the other two are human factors—intelligence and innovation.

Concepts such as big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data science are increasingly at the center of the debate about the digital revolution. But why is everyone talking about them? Do we really understand these concepts, or the implications they have on our evolution as a society?

BBVA announced the creation of the Information Security & Engineering Risk (IS&ER) unit, a new area within Engineering, to coordinate the group’s information security, cybersecurity and engineering risk efforts. Álvaro Garrido has been appointed head of IS&ER, reporting directly to BBVA’s Global Head of Engineering, Ricardo Moreno.

BBVA presents Baby Planner, a new functionality within BBVA’s app and website that allows customers and non-customers to understand the expenses associated with having a baby. The monetary expenditure for families with a child under three is 10% higher than for those without, as concluded by estimates from BBVA Research after factoring in other differences between households. This added functionality serves to give new parents the information they need to plan their finances. BBVA Baby Planner also provides the economic effects associated with maternity and paternity-leave and other schemes to offer “work-baby balance.”

The new technologies, and their presence in everyday life, are radically changing the way we look at entertainment, social relationships and work. They have also created new professions that do not yet have a set educational pathway, such as videogame developer.

The number of companies and investors betting on blockchain continues to grow. But how did it come about? What was needed to develop bitcoin, its first practical application? And who were the pioneers of blockchain?

Exhibitionism is one of the defining traits of today’s society. We have access to every imaginable way to take pictures, store them, upload them, share them and comment on them.

The APIfication phenomenon is by no means restricted to the banking sector. At the API Forum held this week in Madrid, insurance and entertainment companies participated, together with BBVA, to discuss the keys to designing APIs capable of attracting developers.

This isn’t an article about magic or a secret trick for using cell phones. It’s simply about using the voice assistants that any mobile device contains: Siri for Apple and the popular “OK Google” for Android. Both allow users to send messages while leaving the smartphone on the table, untouched.

Car sharing and driverless cars are shaking the very foundations of the automobile industry. Will technology make car ownership obsolete?

We live in a digital society. Technology and the Internet are part of the everyday lives of people and organizations. As technologies evolve, risks and threats evolve with them. We need to strengthen cybersecurity, but do we have the resources we need?

Samsung and BBVA today presented the iris scanning feature, which will allow BBVA customers with Samsung-compatible smartphones to log on to the bank’s Spanish mobile banking app just by looking at their displays[1].

Manufacturers are working hard to ensure that their smartphones are bestsellers. It’s a race in which the brands and models remain virtually unchanged. The iPhone 7 was the top-selling smartphone in the third quarter of 2017, with a total of 375.9 million devices sold. This represents a 5.9% increase over the same period last year.

They’re a feature of every computer keyboard, but most people don’t know what they´re used for. However, the “F” keys on any computer actually contain some very useful functions.

What is bitcoin? What do the terms node, mining and hash mean? Following are the 10 key terms from the world of blockchain technology that you need to master.

They’re always popular with users of Android mobiles and they’re a fixture on any smartphone. Weather applications allow you to be always informed, in real time, about the meteorological conditions at a given place. Some of these apps are free, others have a cost; some are well known and others are just making a name for themselves in the market.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman is convinced that technological advances will be accompanied by greater progress and well-being, but he is also calling for policies and structural reforms that are capable of mitigating the costs of the transition to the new digital society. Supporting research and education, promoting competition and transparency in the markets and developing new employment policies and social protection systems were among the recommendations Francisco González shared at an event organized by El Periódico de Catalunya and BBVA in Barcelona.

These new technological tools have the potential to improve all kinds of economic exchanges and open the door to new ways of doing business that today are unimaginable.

In a few years, we may not be paying with cash, cards or even with smartphones, but rather, by car. Vehicle connectivity will change the way we manage time and money, but a number of problems still need to be addressed.

Madrid hosted last week the Service Design Global Conference (SDGC17), a leading event in the world of service design that pays special attention to how this discipline is changing the world of banking. BBVA took part in one of the sessions to explain how design is, without a doubt, a key element in the success of its financial products and in satisfying customer needs at a time of great challenges for banking.

Is your smartphone’s performance sluggish? Storage full? Battery dead in just a few hours? Always running out of data? If you can’t find the answer to these, or similar, questions, this article will shed some light and help you improve the performance of your Android handset. Security software firm Avast recently released its quarterly report, which ranks the top battery-draining, storage-hogging, and mobile-data-eating apps.

Year 2049. Three decades have passed since Richard Deckard began hunting down and retiring Nexus 6 models. The Wallace Corporation has built an empire on the ruins of Tyrell Corp, designing a new generation of replicants, more obliging and integrated in society.  Through the implementation of memories, the new models have an emotional foundation that makes them more stable than their predecessors, much more similar to humans.

Facebook continues to take steps to reach the widest possible public and as it does so, minimize the competition. As part of its constant tug-of-war with Snapchat, Facebook has acquired an app that is very popular among adolescents: the polling startup “tbh,” which allows users to send messages anonymously, in response to survey questions about their friends. The acronym tbh” means “to be honest.”

WhatsApp continues to add new functions in its effort to become a “total” application. The Facebook-owned company is currently developing a new feature that will allow users to make group voice and video calls. The project is currently in a development phase and is expected to see the light in 2018.

Exercising and staying in shape are now easier than ever, thanks to technology. Smartphones, tablets and wearables have burst onto the exercise scene, offering numerous fitness benefits. And millennials and athletes in general have taken note.

WhatsApp has announced on its blog that it has begun introducing, in stages, live location sharing with contacts on iOS and Android. This function, which the messaging application company had been developing for some time, allows a users’ contacts to see where he or she is, in real time. But will users like it or not?

At 35 years of age, with a world cup under his belt, Cristian Zaccardo can brag about becoming an unusual pioneer in the world of soccer. After terminating his contract with Vicenza, the Italian center back found a new destination thanks to the professional social network. He will now be defending the colors of Malta’s Hamrun Spartans.

One billion people experiencing firsthand all that virtual reality has to offer that’s Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious goal. Soon, he will launch a unique new tool to help achieve it: a pair of virtual reality glasses called Oculus Go, which will sell at a relatively affordable price and work without a computer or smartphone.

This year’s event, which will be held in Toronto, will be attended by Alicia Pertusa, BBVA’s Head of Digital Transformation, CIB, and BBVA’s Head of Securities Services Alexis Thomson, who will share insights into the integration of blockchain in financial services and the challenges and opportunities brought on by this exponential technology.

The upgrade of the mobile phone: some people anticipate it, and others try to put it off. However, updating to a new device doesn’t imply having to discard the older one. There are various features that can give a second life to your former smartphone, which are much better than letting it gather dust on a shelf or occupy space in a drawer.

Managing internal data appropriately can be the key to optimizing a company’s human resources – from predicting whether a candidate will be successful to combating brain drain.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman said that developing the best banking application in the world (according to Forrester) has been a work that “has taken many years.” To get to this point, Francisco González underscored that “the most important thing was when we adopted ‘agile’ work methodologies that allow us to deliver upgrades every three months.” The application helps customers make better financial decisions and manage their financial lives better. Ultimately, he stated, we “want to be the best adviser of our customers.”

It’s always new times for innovation. It has always been and it will always be. It’s in our nature to challenge the model to stress the rules. Even our own model.

BBVA launches Urban Discovery, an interactive tool open to everyone that analyzes the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico City through the prism of their commercial activity. The analysis led to the creation of new maps that redraw urban borders and identify the most touristic and residential areas or those where young people go shopping.

Madrid tourists spend more near monuments and museums than those in Barcelona. People living in Vila de Gràcia in Barcelona have the same lifestyle as those in the Madrid neighborhood of Malasaña. Sant Antoni and Poble Sec are places that are popular to go out to dinner and then for a drink, and in Madrid, the Lavapies neighborhood is undergoing a transformation toward more cultural activity.

For months now, ‘blockchain’ has been a core topic of interest for online media outlets and social networks, sparking endless debates. This list of eleven Twitter accounts offering high-quality blockchain-related content will help you wade through the clutter.

Kevin Mitnick, the top cybersecurity keynote speaker, is back for another round of Bright Perspective events this coming fall in tandem with BBVA Compass, and his first stop took him to the Magic City.

Under 30, entrepreneurs and digital. This are the common traits that define the young Europeans chosen by Forbes magazine in its ’30 Under 30′ list. A mobile navigation aide for the visually impaired, a meal kit delivery platform, a t-shirt that allows users to peek inside the human body, a nightlife finder in London… Many tech-related projects that deserve special attention.  Here we take a look at a few of them.