Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) Presents Findings Related To Cybercrime And Ways To Combat It

The stock of Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) closed at $47.97 losing 0.31% in yesterday’s trading session. Cybercrime has in the recent times escalated to worrying levels and it is for this reason that a large number of consumers and companies alike have shifted their attention to specifically focus on payment card security.

The main reason behind the establishment of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was to facilitate businesses in terms of guarding their payment systems from theft and breaches of cardholder data.

Verizon 2017 Payment Security Report brought forward numerous findings. One of the findings was the one that clearly demonstrated the link that existed between organizations showing compliance with the standard. The other was the ability they possessed for defending themselves from the ever rising cyber attacks.

Verizon delved into an investigation to find out about the various payment card data breaches. It found out that none of the many organizations that it launched investigations into had shown compliance at the actual time of the breach.

The global managing director for security consulting, Rodolphe Simonetti said that there existed a clear link between an organization’s ability to defend itself against cyber attacks and the PCI DSS compliance. He admitted that it was indeed good to see PCI compliance taking an upward trend.

He opined, “The fact remains that over 40 percent of the global organizations we assessed – large and small – are still not meeting PCI DSS compliance standards. Of those that pass validation, nearly half fall out of compliance within a year — and many much sooner.”

IT services industry produced a report that indicated that it had succeeded at getting the highest full compliance of all key industry groups studied.

The 2017 PSR flagged a number of compliance challenges that the various business sectors had been struggling with.

The first one had a lot to do with the encrypted data transmissions, security testing and authentication. The second fell under the financial services. This included secure configuration, security procedures, vulnerability management, protecting data in transit as well as the overall risk management.

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IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) Announces Syniverse’s Adoption Of The IBM Cloud

The stock of IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) closed at $143.14 gaining 0.44% in yesterday’s trading session. This provider has today made an announcement revealing the move by Syniverse to adopt IBM Cloud which will help it expand its flexibility. In line with this will also be the expansion in the provider’s capacity to serve the dynamic mobile service needs for the large number of customers.

Seasonal trends in a major way determine the usage of some popular Syniverse services, such as its Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).Eventually, the fluctuation may culminate into some sudden and severe demands on technology resources. For instance, during holidays, Syniverse has consistently witnessed a steep rise in MMS. This is usually a moment where there are a lot of users sharing photos and graphics.

From 2014 to 2016, Syniverse experienced a 57 percent rise in terms of the compound annual growth rate for the volume of MMS messages per second for Halloween. The others were for Thanksgiving which stood at 34 percent, 53 percent for New Year’s Eve and 30 percent for Christmas.

Syniverse has over the years been operating a hybrid cloud environment that has been employing the various VMware solutions on the IBM Cloud in a bid to help manage the seasonal spikes in traffic. As a result, it has made tremendous steps forward in scaling up its wide array of the VMware solutions on the IBM Cloud.

That has made it possible for Syniverse to connect to IBM’s global cloud infrastructure as well as quickly scale up its existing VMware environments. The IBM Cloud is also known to provide the ideal environment that facilities proper testing as well as the integration of the new services. It thus becomes pretty easy for Syniverse to better meet the ever changing customer needs without necessarily having to set up new test environments.

The Vice President of Private Cloud working at IBM, Zane Adam opined, “This collaboration with Syniverse is a prime example of the benefits our clients can gain by tapping into the IBM Cloud for its global reach and scale.”

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Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) And China Life Insurance Group To Launch $1 Billion Private Equity Fund

Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) and China Life Insurance Group have plans to create a private equity fund worth $1 billion and its main target will be investments in various technologies including the internet.

The announcement was made on Thursday by China Life’s listed division China Life Insurance Co Ltd, revealing that the two have engaged in a partnership through which they plan to launch the $1 billion fund.  A Hong Kong Stock Exchange statement revealed that Baidu will contribute 1.4 billion Yuan while China Life will produce the bigger share at 5.6 billion yuan. This will bring the total contribution to 7 billion yuan which is equivalent to $1 billion.

“The Baidu Fund Partnership will focus on middle to later stage investment, including unlisted companies with “significant association” with China, in the Internet sector, including mobile internet, artificial intelligence, and internet finance,” the statement noted.

The statement also pointed out that the partners will initially be responsible for 30 percent of their contribution. The announcement marks the latest fund that involves Chinese giants. Major Chinese companies have been kicked their investments into high gear this year as they look to bet their money on future developments.

Firms such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) have spearheaded various funds particularly focused towards investment in technology as well as the internet as they look to leverage more growth and upcoming opportunities. Such funds particularly target markets that have a lot of potential but are often limited due to lack of funding. The internet has been a major focal point for these firms especially due to the potential for growth in emerging markets.

The Baidu-China Life fund will most likely focus on startups that focus on e-commerce opportunities in the emerging markets. However, the report did not go into details about how the investments will be carried out. They are expected to reveal these details in the future. The $1 billion fund is one of the biggest private equity funds that have been launched recently.

Baidu stock closed the latest trading session on Friday at $225.55 after a 0.31 percent gain from the previous close.

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Samsung Electronics Reveals That It Is Working On Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Home Pod Rival

Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics has announced that it is working on a smart speaker that will compete with the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Home Pod.

Samsung seems completely determined to beat Apple not only in the handset business but also in other smart technologies. The Korean firm announced yesterday that it plans to get into the voice command smart speaker market. Samsung’s plan is to introduce a smart speaker that will rival the Apple HomePod, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Home speaker and the Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) echo devices. The announcement was made yesterday during a launch event in which the firm revealed the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

It makes total sense for Samsung to follow this path especially because it already has the Bixby digital assistant. The one common thing about smart speakers is that they are powered by digital assistants. For Example, Apple’s HomePods are powered by Siri while Amazon has the Alexa digital assistant. The competition has enjoyed a lot of success with their smart speakers, especially Amazon which pioneered the smart speaker technology. The products have been well received in the market and since Samsung already has all the ingredients, it thus makes sense to follow the same path.

“I wanted to provide a fruitful user experience at home with Samsung devices, and I want to be moving quite heavily on it,”stated DJ Koh, the president of Samsung’s mobile division during yesterday’s launch.

The announcement also goes against a previous report made by an anonymous source a few months ago. The report stated that Samsung would not venture into AI speakers because it did not view them as marketable due to the heavy competition from Amazon. It also added that the Korean market was too small to generate significant profit. However, Samsung sells its product on a global scale and has been growing more popular due to its impressive array of products.

Samsung did not release any details about when it’s smart speakers would hit the market. The company however showcased Bixby’s ability to interact with smart devices during the Galaxy Note 8 launch event.

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La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) Eyes Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) To Connect With Young Shoppers

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) is considering teaming up with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) as it looks to win more millennials and Generation X customers. Chief Executive, Kurt Durrow, made the remarks after the furniture maker reported earnings and sales that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

 Disappointing Earnings

The company reported earnings of $11.7 million or 24 cents a share, compared to earnings of $13.8 million reported last year first quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 29 cents a share. Sales rose 5% to 357.1 million but still fell short of analysts’ expectations of $358 million. Shares of the company were down by 20% in response to weak quarterly earnings.

Concerned by the first quarter earnings, the chief executive officer says they have opened discussions with Amazon Marketplace about the possibility of exploring ‘potential opportunities’. While the talks are still in preliminary stages La-Z, hopes to ink a deal that will supplement and complement its existing distribution network.

 Online Push

Pursuing sales opportunities on Amazon Marketplace is part of a strategy that seeks to diversify the company’s current customer base. La-Z Boy believes that a deal with the e-commerce giant will allow it to reach out to more young customers who do most of their shopping online.

“While the La-Z Boy brand is extremely powerful, it has a core demographic and we recognize the brand does not effectively reach all consumers, particularly millennials and Gen X consumers, who are looking for non-traditional brands and experiences,” said Mr. Durrow.

La-Z Boy hopes to provide a best-in-class online omnipresence with the latest online push. The online drive has already resulted in a change in the way the company’s furniture gets displayed in furniture retailer Wayfair.  The company has also upgraded its website, in addition to supplying some of its products to third party e-commerce retailers as it looks to diversify its revenue stream.

The company’s primary goal is to capture customers online before they enter stores as one of the ways of improving upsell opportunity.

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Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) Plans To Launch An iPhone 8 Face Scanner That Will Unlock Devices Instantly

The stock of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed at $159.78 gaining 1.63% in yesterday’s trading session. This provider has simplified matters for its users and this follows earlier reports that it is busy working on a 3-D face sensor on the iPhone 8.This feature might be launched this fall and hopefully it will allow users unlock the device instantly.

As a matter of fact, the iPhone 8 isn’t the first phone to use this particular feature.A lot of users are greatly fascinated by the face scanner associated with the Galaxy S8 because of the remarkable way in which it unlocks the phone. Samsung asserts that the packed iris scanner is secure adding that all users need to take advantage of it. However, it is possible to trick the technology of Samsung using a photo.

Wireless charging and an edge-to-edge OLED display that’s more colorful and brighter than previous screens are part of the new wide range of features that are associated with iPhone 8.It will most probably be unveiled in September in limited quantities.

Just like the rest of the top stocks, Apple Inc has had its fair share of business challenges, some of which almost blew it out of proportion. The company’s spokesperson recently said that research and innovation was part and parcel of their business operations. They were the reasons why the provider also sprung back to life even when everyone thought all was gone.

Business dynamics keep shifting and maintaining Apple’s competitive edge in the market has taken a lot of hard work. The provider has plans underway to ensure that it maintains its relevance in the market and also continues to impress its wide user-base. Coming up with more advanced devices that simplify operations for users has always been the provider’s top secret although the spokesperson agrees that it at times requires the company to channel a large chunk of resources towards that.

A top official working with Apple recently opined, “Apple has been always known for the quality of the hardware they provide in iPhone’s. I don’t think so any other companies can compete in terms of hardware provided in the iPhone 8.”

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Updates Its Home Smart Speaker

The stock of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) closed at $906.66 losing 0.44% in yesterday’s trading session. This company has updated its Home smart speaker in a bid to compete with Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).

The launch of the new product might take place at a hardware event and it will be dedicated to the upcoming Pixel sequel. October may be the actual month and it is exactly the same time the last Pixel and Google Home launch event happened. Google hasn’t yet come out pretty clearly in regards to where or when it will exactly be hosting the event.

The company’s spokesperson opines, “Users around the globe will be in a position to hook up traditional audio systems with voice control, gain access to Google Assistant throughout their houses without necessarily having to spend an extra $129 on a standalone Home speaker or string together a number of Home units.”

Rumors have also been circulating that the new Pixel-branded Chromebook will be unveiled in the upcoming event. To this point it is not yet clear as to whether or not Google will be targeting the top notebook market.

Google assistant has been experiencing immense growth in terms of popularity. Experts attribute the popularity to its wide range of uses that have continued to impress users around the globe.With the device, it is possible to play a song, obtain accurate flight information as well as what is on ones calendar at any given time.

Artificial intelligence is a reality that is taking over the world by storm. It is the main driving force behind Google Assistant and users need to first and foremost concentrate on the getting it to learn everything about them. Getting it to learn the behavior of the user in particular is crucial since it is the only way to have it deliver answers catering to that particular user.

As a matter of fact, Amazon is overwhelmed with its significant lead in getting its Echo into homes. Lately, it has been building up the capabilities of its Alexa voice assistant but on the other hand Google remains vigilant. It hopes to improve its Home Speaker transforming it into the most vibrant product in the market.

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Aldi And Instacart Join Hands To Fend Off Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Aldi, a German-based grocery chain, has revealed that it will be partnering with Instacart with a view to delivering grocery products in three cities in the United States. The pilot project will be launched in Dallas, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia and Los Angeles, California. More cities in the U.S. are likely to be added in the future depending on the success of the pilot.

The partnership between Aldi and Instacart allows the ordering of items from Aldi using the app and website of Instacart. The latter makes its money from the delivery fee. Instacart never holds inventory and picks the orders from the outlet and delivers to the customer in under one hour. Besides Aldi other retailers who have partnered with Instacart include Costco Wholesale, Whole Foods Market and Target.

Expansion mode

Aldi is currently on an expansion mode in the United States. Mid this year Aldi acquired about 1,700 stores and intends to spend approximately $3.4 million to open another 2,500 outlets in the next five years. This is with the aim of becoming America’s third largest grocery outlet behind Kroger and Walmart.

“We pioneered a grocery model built around value, convenience, quality and selection, and now Aldi is one of America’s favorite and fastest growing retailers. We’re growing at a time when other retailers are struggling,” said the chief executive officer of Aldi, Jason Hart.

Discount retailer

Despite the fact that Aldi is primarily a discounter and thus has an appeal to the class of customers who are interested in saving money, the retailer is confident shoppers will pay extra for services offered by Instacart. At the same time Aldi is increasingly targeting high-end customers by moving into higher-end residential areas.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s planned acquisition of Whole Foods has put Instacart in a tricky position since Instacart has a contract with Whole Foods to make deliveries. The partnership is likely to be severed once Amazon completes the acquisition of Instacart. Online grocery spending in the United States is expected to reach a figure of over $100 billion by 2025.

On Friday shares of Amazon.com Inc fell by 0.22% to close the day at $958.47.

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Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgrades Google Home With Free Voice Capabilities

Owners of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s brilliant smart speaker in the U.S and Canada will soon be able to make free voice calls, thanks to a new software update. The free-hands calling feature on Google Home is among a number of new features the tech giant is introducing as it continues to make a push for market share in the smart home business.

 Google Home Free Voice Calls

No set up will be required to make free calls as the new feature uses personal contacts and nearby businesses contacts depending on one’s locations. The smart speaker will make the calls over Wi-Fi connection and will not require intended recipients to have Google home speaker or even a Google account.

Recipients of calls from Google Home will by default not see the caller’s phone number. Instead, the caller will appear as either unknown or No Caller ID. Google is however, working on a new feature that it says will allow recipients to see phone numbers of the people making the calls in future.

 Google Home vs. Echo

Voice call support on Google Home comes months after Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) debuted a similar function on its smart home speaker Echo Dot and Echo Show speakers. However, Google’s support goes a notch higher given that Amazon’s voice calling service is only limited to Echo devices.

The new voice call support should ramp Google Home’s competitive edge against Echo that currently dominates the smart speaker market. People who are yet to buy any smart speaker could be prompted to buy Google Home given its ability to make calls to all kinds of devices, unlike Echo.

To date, most people have perceived smart speakers as novelty gadgets. However, that is set to change as the likes of Google receive new features designed to improve their functionality. Extended functionalities should entice people to buy the devices, in return allow the likes of Google to collect user data that can be used for advertising purposes.

Google stock was down by 1.76% in Thursday’s trading session to end the day at $927.66 a share.

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) And Other Software Companies Grow In A Cloud-Focused World

The stock of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) closed at $73.65 gaining 0.59% in yesterday’s trading session. It has always been a major struggle to deliver positive sales growth for the wide array of companies that depend heavily on hardware and IT services revenue streams. However, a number of their software-focused peers are reportedly faring on much better. This particular split in the performance of enterprise IT giants has been rather outstanding over the past 12 to 18 months.

As a matter of fact, the divide tells a lot about the degree to which IT spending has over time continued shifting. What might prove difficult or impossible for a given firm to handle might just turn out to be pretty easy for another. It goes without saying that the adoption of infrastructure services and the cloud apps has become a major determinant factor. There is a clear demarcation between what certain types of old-guard enterprise IT firms are capable of and what they aren’t.

For an elongated period of time, Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has upheld a sizeable lead in cloud computing. But at the same time, Azure is shocking many with how fast it has lately been gaining ground.

In the fiscal year 2018, Azure might hopefully be experiencing at 70% to 80% business growth. That would of course be two times the rate that Amazon Web Services posted in the recent quarters.

Evercore analyst Kirk Materne opined, “While [Amazon Web Services] remains the clear leader in terms of public cloud computing today, one of the most notable takeaways from our meetings was the improving position of Azure, both as it relates to product maturity and market presence.”

Azure takes great pride in the fact that it has a slate of new features ranging from an app for coding on different phones to the speech recognition tools. This draws it much closer to Amazon Web Services’ rich suite of tools. On the other hand, Microsoft has in the recent times refocused its sales force on the cloud.

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) LinkedIn Ordered To Allow Startup To Scrape Users’ Profile Data

A judge in the United States has ruled that the professional networking site Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) LinkedIn must let the scraping of data from the public profiles by hiQ, an analytics firm. Judge Edward Chen issued an injunction request which had been brought by the startup besides ordering the professional networking site to get rid of any technology that might prevent hiQ from scraping the public profiles.

“This ruling allows us to continue serving our clients while we seek to permanently prevent LinkedIn from monopolizing the aggregation and analysis of publicly available information on the web,” said hiQ in a statement.

Predicting employee behavior

hiQ Labs builds algorithms using the data from LinkedIn which are then used to predict the behavior of employees like when they are likely to leave an organization (turnover risks) as well as skills gaps. Not every user on LinkedIn is monitored by hiQ though as only those working for firms that have engaged the services of the talent management startup are.

The ruling is likely to have implications outside of hiQ and LinkedIn since it could determine the level of control that tech firms possess over the data they hold on their servers. According to hiQ, public data should remain public and such data should not be hoarded by powerful firms.LinkedIn has, however, said it will appeal the ruling of the court since it wants its members to continue to enjoy control of the data they have posted on LinkedIn.

Terms of service

The dispute between LinkedIn and hiQ started in May when the professional networking platform sent a directive to the startup ordering it to quit scraping data that was hosted on the LinkedIn service. In response hiQ filed a lawsuit which alleged that LinkedIn was violating antitrust laws.

LinkedIn has argued that the way hiQ uses its data was in breach of the platform’s terms of service. hiQ has, however, dismissed the argument saying that profile information is not private as it can be viewed by anyone without having to log in and should therefore not be closed off to third parties. The talent management startup has also pointed out that it does not scrape information that is contained in LinkedIn’s private sections.

On Monday shares of Microsoft Corporation edged up by 0.03% to close the day at $73.22.

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Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) Files Lawsuit As Toshiba Chip Sale Encounters Obstacles

The stock of Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) closed at $82.83 gaining 3.67% in yesterday’s trading session.A rumor is circulating that Bain Capital recently offered Toshiba $19 billion for the memory chip unit, however, it declined to make the expected payments. It took a strong standpoint that the provider needed to first of all resolve the pending legal issues with SanDisk. Western Digital is the owner of SanDisk.

Over the years, SanDisk has been operating a chip manufacturing plant with Toshiba. It has launched claims outlining that its joint venture agreement gives it all rights to proceed and negotiate exclusively for the business provided Toshiba indicates willingness to sell.

South Korea-based SK Hynix is one of Bain Capital’s financing partners in the deal underway. It intends to eventually convert its investment in the business dealing into equity ownership. As a matter of fact, that would lead to the tie up of the Japanese regulatory approval.

Matters surrounding the Bain Capital deal open the possibility that Western Digital might soon emerge to be the winner of the business. The previous month witnessed Western digital come up with some six separate offers for the business. The provider’s most recent offer was indeed promising to match the highest ever recorded from Bain capital.

Reportedly, it had been indicated that by June Toshiba would have successfully closed the deal. It was confident that it would in a matter of months be able to raise enough cash that would cover billions of dollars of unexpected losses tried to the provider’s nuclear energy unit.

It must do all within its means to ensure that it closes the deal by March. Failure to that that will have the company delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange with immediate effect and there will be no questions asked.

The Western Digital Corp spokesperson while speaking on behalf of the provider acknowledged that the recent times had plunged them in a number of controversies. However, he expressed optimism outlining that the company would triumph and soon be able to get back to its feet.

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Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Secretly Launches App In China

With Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s suite of apps blocked in China the social media giant has now turned to releasing an app in the world’s most populous country that does not bear the Facebook identity. Sources indicate that the photo-sharing app known as Colorful Balloons was released in May. The app, which looks and feels like the Moments app, was unveiled via separate local firm and does not give away any indication that it is affiliated with Facebook.

The anonymous and stealthy release of the app by Facebook in the Chinese market is unprecedented and illustrates the frustration and desperation of giant tech firms in their bid to access the largest online market in the world. It also demonstrates that they have become aware that accessing the Chinese market requires a different set of rules compared to other parts of the world.

Online boom

Internet censorship in China has sidelines big player such as Google and Facebook who have failed to profit from a major boom currently being experience. At the moment there are over 700 million Chinese using the internet and on annual basis their online purchases amount to approximately $750 billion. Most of these revenues go to local firms which have come up with their own modus operandi which is alien to players from Silicon Valley.

Facebook hopes to learn and possibly adapt itself to suit the Chinese market. However it was banned in 2009. Facebook-owned Instagram was also banned three years ago. WhatsApp, another Facebook property, was also partially blocked in July. Facebook is now hoping that the Colorful Balloons app will buck the trend.

“We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways,” said Facebook in a statement.

Third-party firm

So far it is not clear whether the various internet regulators in China are aware of the existence of Colorful Balloons. According to an online post, Youge Internet Technology is the firm that that released Colorful Balloons in China.

On Friday shares of Facebook Inc rose by 0.41% to close the day at $168.08.

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Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Unveils Watch Tab For Its Video Shows

Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) hopes that everything will play out according to plan. Its shows will most probably be running the gamut from the scripted programs to live event coverage.

Recently, a lot of people have been flocking the provider’s platform in an effort to watch videos. Daniel Danker, Facebook’s director of video product spoke in relation to the matter. He said they had put all measures in place to ensure that all persons visiting the platform easily accessed video.

Most of them will be hoping to connect with the various publishers and creators that they adore. The management will see to it that they get exactly what they want and that of course will include watching the latest episodes from one of the creators. However, the longer-form scripted comedies and dramas that a lot of people are fond of are missing. Instead, there are plenty of reality shows, mini-documentaries and sports coverage.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook opines, “We believe it’s possible to rethink a lot of experiences through the lens of building community –including watching video it doesn’t necessarily have to be passive.”

By opening Watch, one will be able to quickly scroll through a listing of shows and they just need to choose the one that interest them. Upon opening a given episode, will be able to read the associated details. There is also a tab where you can go ahead ands leave a comment after watching the show of your choice.

As a matter of fact, one won’t be coming across any specific content restrictions .The standards set are reasonable and Facebook has assured all its users that it will be looking out for all those shows that get flagged.

The various publishers will be entitled to doing what they prefer. For instance earning money off their shows might require inserting ad breaks. There might be that instance where the publisher wishing to give away their content. In such a scenario, there won’t be any need to show ads.

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Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) Joins The Self-Driving Car Race

The stock of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) closed at $36.59 gaining 0.49% in yesterday’s trading session. On Wednesday, the provider revealed that it had plans underway to build a fleet of 100 cars to test self-driving technology. It is doing all within its means to leapfrog fierce competitors such as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and QUALCOMM, Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM).

These cars are expected to be highly automated “level 4” vehicles and the initial tests will be carried in the U.S, Europe and Israel. Intel affirms that the project won’t in anyway be replacing Intel’s new autonomous driving lab. The most recent version of the lab is said to be coming up with the self-driving car systems for a number of companies including Ericsson, BMW and Delphi.

The fleet will be highlighting Intel’s $15 billion acquisition of Mobileye which reportedly closed in the course of this particular week. Israel-based Mobileye is behind the top-end technology that is responsible for the manufacture of a wide array of cars. This provider purchased about 84 percent of Mobileye’s shares and is also looking forward to see cars bearing the Intel-Mobileye technology on the various roads by 2018.

Qualcomm is believed to have gained much of its popularity on the advent of mobile phones. On the other hand, Nvidia has over the years been riding in the glory of being one of the most trusted manufacturers of a wide range of gaming devices. The two are said to have channeled much of their resources into the self-driving vehicles.

During the last fall, Qualcomm went ahead to make an announcement stating that is was intending to purchase NXP Semiconductors in an $47 billion deal.

Jensen Huang , an Nvidia CEO provided an ambitious self-driving car demonstration  during the early periods of this particular year. This of course took place at the technology tradeshow CES. The chip provider which many at times corners this particular market is expected to gain immensely.

Chips happen to be critical aspects in a wide array of vehicles and this is what has powered the ever rising suite of electronic devices in different cars.

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Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) Recognized as IDC MarketScape Leader For Enterprise Mobility Management

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) has proudly announced that it has received the honor of being recognized as an industry leader in Enterprise Mobility Management, specifically in IDC MarketScape.

The company revealed that it was named as one of the leading firms in the IDC MarketScape in an assessment revolving around Worldwide Enterprise Mobility Management Software in 2017. The IDC MarketScape used major factors such as security of mobile traffic, strong remote access control, and XenMobile integration capabilities to determine the market leaders. The report stated that XenMobile is the best suited EMM platform from Citrix when it comes to integration with desktop delivery architectures as well as other larger Xen-based applications from the company.

“Citrix has been relentlessly focused on making XenMobile deliver more than traditional EMM solutions as we recognize that customers need a complete digital workspace. This recognition from IDC illustrates the value of this investment and our commitment to making XenMobile help our customers embrace the future of work,” stated Calvin Hsu, the Vice President of Product Marketing, Desktop and Apps at Citrix.

The report also pointed out that combining the company’s services offers significant advantages in terms of costs as well as management. This applies even to customers that do not subscribe completely to the Citrix Workspace concept.

The IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is intended to offer a synopsis or summary of the competitive strength of ICT suppliers in any particular market. It relies on a research method that involves a thorough scoring criterion that is based on quantitative and qualitative techniques. This methodology provides a single graphical representation of the position of every vendor in the market.

The IDC MarketScape also offers a meaningful and clear comparison framework for its products and services including strategies, capabilities, current and future market success factors of IT. This makes it significantly easier to compare the vendors. The framework thus provides a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses, a system that allows technology buyers to make informed decisions.

Citrix Systems closed the latest trading session on Tuesday at 76.38 after a 0.44 percent decline compared to the value of the stock during the previous close.

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Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) A Threat To Movie Theaters

The rise of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has caused speculation that the streaming giant will cause the death of movie theaters. In the most recent quarter for instance, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) missed earnings estimates by a big margin while Netflix beat estimates.

However, movie theaters are unlikely to disappear entirely as a result of Netflix. One reason for this is because of the studio payment system which big Hollywood stars are used to. In this system big stars take a low salary in exchange for a cut of the profits that the movie will generate. While Netflix is already achieving success in the making of films, the streaming provider isn’t making huge revenues from each film while big Hollywood studios are still successful in this aspect.

Cord cutting

The rise of Netflix and other video streaming services has, however, lead to the ‘cord-cutting’ phenomenon which has seen cable television operators suffer as they lose subscribers. Instead of fighting some companies have chosen to partner with Netflix. This includes Charter Communications which will make the video streaming giant available on set top boxes in a strategy that was first tried in Europe by the likes of Altice NV in France.

RCN Telecom Services is also another distributor which has embraced set-top integration. Customers of RCN who possess TiVo boxes are also allowed to access Netflix at the touch of a button. Britain’s Virgin Media is also involved in similar partnerships.

“We’re now looking at proposals for including Netflix in some services and beginning to learn the bundling part of the business. We’re interested in expanding that,” the chief executive officer of Netflix, Reed Hastings, said in a conference call after the release of financial results in July.

Mutually beneficial

The partnerships will not only be beneficial to cable operators but to Netflix as well as the video streaming firm will be able to increase its subscriber numbers especially in the U.S. Analysts have already said that the market has reached saturation levels in the U.S. while there is growth being recorded in foreign markets.

In its most recent earnings report Netflix indicated that the number of streaming customers in the U.S. was 51.92 million while the number of customers in other parts of the world was 52.03 million. When Netflix first started offering a streaming service in 2007, television providers saw it as a challenger and it is only now they are viewing it as a partner who could benefit them as well.

On Friday shares of Netflix rose by 0.58% to close at $180.27.

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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) Currently Averaging About 1,800 Net Reservations On A Daily Basis

The stock of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) closed at $347.09 after gaining 6.51% in yesterday’s trading session. Its waiting list is reportedly growing pretty fast. On Wednesday, the provider outlined that it was averaging about 1,800 net reservations every passing day for its cheaper electric car. In the previous week, an event occurred where the company was expected to hand over keys to the first 30 Model 3 vehicles.

One of the company’s executive stated, “With no advertising, paid endorsements or guerilla [sic] marketing campaigns, Model 3 net reservations have still steadily climbed every month, and have even accelerated further in recent weeks.”

As a matter of fact, the provider declined to give an update regarding the new figure of its waiting list. It was during last week’s event that Elon Musk opined that the reservation figure stood at about 500,000.

The company observes the strong demand as some sort of mixed blessing on its part as it struggles with scaling up production. These are efforts it expects to make good on deliveries for its enormous market car.

Tesla takes the strong stand of remaining on track towards hitting its production goals. It hopes to succeed at producing about 1,500 Model 3 vehicles in the upcoming third quarter thus hitting the 5,000 mark.

The provider hopes that it will be able to move faster in its efforts to get everyone’s Model 3 to them with immediate effect. Also, it has outlined that in its production ramp will be following an S-Curve. That implies that it will kick start in a slow manner and then grow exponentially after which it will tail off once full production is achieved.

It goes without saying that even without Model 3 the company’s car production seems to be growing pretty fast. The second quarter saw the provider produce about 25,708 vehicles. Reportedly, this was by 40% higher as compared to what was achieved during the same period last year.

Tesla says that it has witnessed a major boost in orders for its luxury Model S vehicles in spite of the unveiling of the cheaper model. Wallstreet had predicted a great loss. But the company posted $2.79 billion in sales for the quarter.

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Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) To Plan A Job Fair That Will See It Make A Large Number Of Full Time Hires

The stock of Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) closed at $995.89 declining 0.03% in yesterday’s trading session. The provider’s enormous facility located in Kentucky happens to be one of the several that are expected to hold a job fair Wednesday. Reportedly, the provider has plans underway to hire a large number of employees ahead of the holidays.

This company is confident that it will succeed at bringing the new employees aboard right before the other retailers take them up for the upcoming holiday shopping season. This was revealed recently by an equity analyst with CFRA Research in New York, Tuna Amobi.

Amazon is looking forward to generate thousands of job offers in only one day. It thinks of the giant job fair as a pretty transformational moment in its long business history. The warehouse in Hebron will be among the dozen warehouses that will be a part of this across the U.S.As a matter of fact, the new employees will be working on a full time basis.

In making his statement, Amobi opined, “You know usually we don’t see that many full-time employees get hired by any one company so I think it also speaks to Amazon’s strategic vision as to its underlying confidence that its business is going to continue to grow.”

Another company executive said that this would serve as the most perfect explanation as to why the provider is keeping most of the hires as full time employees. A lot of the concerned parties see it as pretty remarkable.

Amobi has had a lot to say in regards to the matter. In another instance, he outlined that the company was experiencing a shortage of workers. This added to Amazon’s rapid growth compelled the company to come up with an initiative that will see it boost its number of workers. The new workers will be quite instrumental towards helping the provider build out its capability, infrastructure and logistics.

About 40,000 of the 50,000 jobs will be on a full-time basis. Most of them are expected to count towards the provider’s recently announced objective of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year.

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Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) undecided On Whether Or Not To Stop AI Communicating In Unfamiliar Languages

The stock of Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ:FB) closed at $169. 86 gaining 0.36% in yesterday’s trading session. Some two AI agents developed inside Facebook started off addressing each other in plain old English. However, it dawned on the researchers that they had made a few errors in the programming. But the most intriguing development lately is the fact that the two held a discussion which seemed to a lot of people as well as experts to be nonsense.

Surprisingly, it is this same discussion that was at the center-stage of a recent debate between experts. Most probably, the debate could in future ‘give birth’ to what might turn out to be the most sophisticated negotiation software on the planet

As a matter of fact, the negotiation software according to experts had learned and developed over time. What is hoped to come out of the experiment might be boosted speeds, efficiency and the kind of nuance that neither me nor you would most probably reach.

The visiting research scientist from Georgia Tech at Facebook AI Research, Dhruv Batra opines, “There was no reward to sticking to English language.”There are high expectations that the various agents will be drifting off the understandable language.They will instead come up with new code-words for themselves.”

Take for instance when someone says ‘five times.’ Eventually, you will consider it to mean that the person needs some five copies of a similar item. It goes without saying that this has a major similarity to the general way in which humans invent short-hands.

Over the ages, humans have continued to develop unique dialects for everything ranging from hunting down terrorists as Seal Team Six to trading pork bellies on the floor of the Mercantile Exchange. Most probably, a good explanation would be that humans happen to perform much better when they aren’t under pressure to conform to the normal language conventions.

Experts believe that it is high time that humans let the software do what it does without posing any form of interference. Humans might of course train bots to talk. However, learning their language might turn out to be a pretty tricky affair.

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Will Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) And Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Emulate Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) In Announcing Cloud Sales?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has proved to be a strong contender in cloud services and perhaps this might influence competitors such as Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to release their cloud sales data.

Amazon reported its quarterly earnings on Thursday, including the results of its cloud services. The company is the first among the major cloud players to announce its quarterly cloud results. This has raised questions as to whether Microsoft and Alphabet will soon join in the trend and in revealing the performance numbers of their cloud services. The two are the biggest competitors for Amazon but they did not reveal specific details about the performance details of their cloud services during their quarterly reports.

Amazon reports attractive cloud performance numbers

Amazon revealed in its quarterly report that it managed to secure $1.4 billion from its cloud computing service, Amazon Web Services. It marked a 42 percent improvement compared to the AWS sales achieved in the second quarter of 2016.

“That puts the division, Amazon Web Services, on track for $16 billion in revenue for this year,” stated Amazon CFO, Brian Olsavsky.

AWS operating income for the quarter was surprisingly higher than the operating income from the rest of the company’s businesses. This proves just how significant AWS has been and the massive scale that it has amassed. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told investors that his company’s cloud service Microsoft Azure registered 97 percent growth in the fourth quarter. However, he did not go into details about how the 97 percent was achieved. This is vital considering that the company has numerous products and services operating within the cloud domain.

The same applies for Alphabet which did not reveal details about the performance of its cloud services. Cloud is already a huge market and it has a huge impact on the overall performance of the participating companies. Revealing cloud performance data would thus be significant for investors. Alphabet and Microsoft are thus facing a lot of pressure to reveal the data.

Amazon stock closed the latest trading session on Friday at $987.78 after a 3.16 percent drop from the value of the stock during the previous close.

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