Weekly#255

2017 Retrospective: A Monumental Year for the App Economy
Facebook bought a startup that specializes in verifying government IDs
Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today
Netflix now has nearly 118 million streaming subscribers globally
Amazon Go, a high-tech version of a 7-Eleven, will finally open on Monday — with no checkout lines and no cashiers
Photos: Here’s what the new Amazon Go cashierless convenience store looks like
Facebook appoints a new AI research head
Apple will release its HomePod on February 9
Alexa’s cousins have plans to infiltrate the financial industry
Google is working on bringing AR to Chrome with downloadable 3D objects
Stripe will end bitcoin support because customers aren’t interested
Google Assistant can now match voices to specific Netflix profiles
DJI is taking over every inch of the drone market
First Look at Nintendo Labo
Airbnb reached full-year profitability for 2017, and it’s adding a former Amex CEO to its board
Davos World Economic Forum 2018 Videos
Annual smartphone shipments in China declined for the first time in 2017
Research into full-body tracking at Facebook hints at broader AR/VR ambitions
Meg Whitman to Lead Mobile-Video Startup New TV
WEF 2018: AI is more profound than electricity or fire, says Sundar Pichai
UK teenagers are to be taught about artificial intelligence with the launch of a new deep learning teaching kit
5 ways voice assistance is shaping consumer behaviour
the new AI-related company has been created in the UK every week for the last three years.
Netflix is five times cheaper than Pay TV on an hourly basis:
Pay TV: $0.73/hour
Netflix: $0.15/hour

Weekly#254

Now Open – Third AWS Availability Zone in London
Amazon brings voice control to its Alexa app for Android, with iOS coming soon
Apple has hired tech team from data science startup SVDS
…Foursquare’s data, with over 3 billion visits/month around the globe, 105 million global venues, and 25 million people globally…
a new TV series with MSNBC about tech, jobs and the future
Facebook wants more people watching videos together at the same time…a new feature called “Watch Party” to try and make that happen…
Tech Nation 2018 UK Survey
Microsoft execs say in 20 years we’ll all have digital assistants that will be our alter egos — and we need to set ground rules while we still can
Google’s mysterious new operating system looks completely different from Android
Amazon raises price of its Prime membership

Weekly#253

Nissan Demonstrates Brain-to-Vehicle Device (Goal is to enhance driver performance for manual driving and improve passenger experience during autonomous mode)
Germany has gone live with one of the most onerous laws aimed at forcing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to police content on their platforms.
Verizon to sharpen content strategy with OTT video service, IoT platform
Facebook’s Sandberg and Twitter’s Dorsey to quit Disney board
The Tech Trends From CES 2018 That Will Actually Matter
Amazon’s ad revenue could reach $4.5 billion in 2018, according to an analyst note by JPMorgan.
AI Could Diagnose Your Heart Attack on the Phone—Even If You’re Not the Caller
Here’s how Amazon’s and Apple’s new smart speakers stack up with consumers
Microsoft is touting “Always Connected PCs,” a new initiative with its partners for super-thin LTE-enabled laptops with as much as 20 hours of battery life.
Larry Page-backed asteroid mining company launches CubeSat with experimental water detection tech
Amazon has quietly released a game changer for its cloud: Linux software that runs on corporate servers
Facebook’s Oculus boss thinks standalone headsets are the key to getting a billion people into VR & Facebook’s Oculus is launching a new VR headset in China
Dropbox IPO
Domino’s Pizza’s stock price grew faster than Amazon’s, Apple’s or Google
Will VR be the future of reading?
Robo-Advisers Are Coming to Consulting and Corporate Strategy
Google just acquired a startup that transforms screens into speakers
More than half of UK businesses still unaware of GDPR

Weekly#252

Didi, the ride-hail company, is buying Brazilian app 99.
Roku is rolling out its version of Alexa for home speakers and TV soundbars
Three million people are staying in Airbnbs over New Years. Eight years ago, only 1,400 were.
GoPro cuts 200-300 jobs, largely impacting its drone division
Spotify hits 70 million subscribers
Salesforce wants to reach $60 billion revenue goal by 2034
Tesla launches a web-based version of its in-car trip planning tool
Amazon has big plans for Alexa ads in 2018; it’s discussing options with P&G, Clorox and others
China’s president had 2 books about artificial intelligence on his shelf in his New Year speech
What You Need to Do Because of Flaws in Computer Chips
HBO officially confirms ‘Game of Thrones’ won’t return for its final season until next year
Alar Kolk – Prototyping & Experiments
Brazil may write new laws with data stored on the ethereum blockchain
Uber powered four billion rides in 2017
Visual network map of MegaTrends to 2050
App revenue climbed 35 percent to $60 billion in 2017