This look at recent tech highlights includes Microsoft agreeing to buy LinkedIn, Apple upgrading operating systems and Tesla’s Model 3 being profitable even before it’s manufactured.
This blog features a round-up of the latest news, announcements, opinions and insights. We take a close look at software development, self-service business intelligence and the tools used to implement them.
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Microsoft plans to buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in a cash transaction. The social media platform’s revenue of $3 billion certainly brings more than Google+ has done for Microsoft.
What attracted LinkedIn’s CEO to the deal was Cortana, and the direction Satya Nadella is taking Microsoft.
Nadella plans to accelerate the growth of LinkedIn and Office 365. LinkedIn CEO Michael Weiner said in a post that both companies target the same group of professionals with LinkedIn’s network and Microsoft’s professional cloud. Collaboration could come through scaling LinkedIn to integrate it into Outlook or Skype, or even LinkedIn’s online education offering, Lynda.
Technology Helps Find Cities Lost, But Not Your Car Keys
Indiana Jones used maps and legends to find lost cities and treasures in the movies. Archaeologists today use the same laser technology to map these lost civilizations that police use to track speeding cars.
Topological mapping the dense jungle in Cambodia on foot would have taken a long time. But today’s LIDAR technology helped archaeologists map from the air temple complexes and even an entire medieval city that they decided didn’t exist after years of fruitless search.
Australian archaeologist Damian Evans told The Washington Post that human beings have diverted rivers and cut down forests for thousands of years, long before written records – effectively terraforming the Earth.
Apple Updates, Renames Operating Systems, Opens Up APIs
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference opened with a keynote that touted improvements to its four operating systems: iOS, tvOS, watchOS and macOS. Yes, you read that right: macOS. The OS X name is dead; long live macOS Sierra.
Analysts pointed to what might be a bigger change in that Apple opened some of the company’s APIs (application programming interfaces) to third-party developers. Siri, Maps and Messengers previously were only available to Apple’s engineers.
Tesla Model 3 Profitable Even Before Production
Not a single Tesla 3 has been built for customers, but it can easily be termed a success. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that $10 billion worth of preorders has been received.
The electric car’s price has been estimated at $35,000. It’s also supposed to become available in 2017, but don’t hold your breath – the Model X was released three years later than intended.
However, the company has plans to accelerate production. By selling 6.8 million shares of common stock, Tesla wants to raise $1.4 billion after underwriting fees to start delivering the Model 3 in 2017 and hit its goal of building 500,000 in 2018.
Programmer Automates Job, Gets Fired, Can’t Code Anymore
A Reddit user identifying himself as a San Francisco Bay area programmer did so well at automating his job six years ago that now he can’t remember how to code. That’s too bad, because now that his (former) employers know he’s been coasting for years they fire him.
Reddit user identified as FiletOfFish1066 (and who has since deleted his account) claims after eight months on the job, he’d managed to get the autobot do his software testing quality assurance job for six years. Then he spent more than five years surfing the Internet, playing games and not making any friends at work.
World’s First Passenger Drone to Begin Testing
Nevada agreed to let a Chinese company test its autonomous car-sized passenger drone at the state’s FAA unmanned aircraft systems test site.
The electric drone can carry a 220-pound load under 650 feet in the air at about 62 mph. But it can only stay aloft for a little more than 20 minutes. Then, assuming it reached its destination, it takes two to four hours to recharge.
At this point, an app handles takeoff and landing. Destinations would be programmed in. Would Google “Air” be needed in place of Maps?
The biggest use for this drone would seem to be for emergency services. But accident victims couldn’t really be sent alone without an EMT or paramedic, so a single-passenger drone wouldn’t work. An “AirUber’ might be interesting, but I wouldn’t expect these drones to get landing rights near an airport. I’ll bet they’d compete with helicopters for landing rights on downtown office buildings already zoned for that use.
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