Microsoft acquires LinkedIn

Several days ago, the startling announcement was made that Microsoft has closed a deal to acquire LinkedIn for a crisp $26.2 billion. For many years Microsoft has expressed a keen interest in Social Media. Nonetheless, the acquisition of LinkedIn still came as a huge surprise to many of us. Not only does the LinkedIn acquisition represent the largest acquisition in Microsoft's purchasing history, it also constitutes a significant foray into the digital spectrum on Microsoft's part. For many years now, Microsoft has been rebranding itself as something other than a traditional software company. Acquiring LinkedIn will enable Microsoft to make an aggressive move into Social Media. The consequences from this move will be colossal. Just how will LinkedIn rebrand itself now? Will job search as we know it change significantly now? Or will it remain the same? Will Microsoft offer new LinkedIn certifications in the same vein as Microsoft Office certifications? Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not. Perhaps Microsoft understands the cardinal rule "If it's not broke, don't fix it." Perhaps Microsoft may allow LinkedIn to continue unchanged with perhaps only a subtle rebranding of its corporate image. Only time will tell. Either way, we can be guaranteed of one thing. This acquisition will have massive consequences for all digital media companies. Microsoft could once again become the number one player within this domain. This article on the Wall Street journal is worth reading to glean insights on the subject.

IoT security challenges

As we progress day by day into the Internet of Things, our greatest challenge is protection of confidential data. Recently, data security breaches like the one at parenting retailer Kiddicare have sent waves of panic through the market. No security infrastructure yet devised is infallible and hackers are becoming exceptionally good at infiltrating high-security online databases. As the volume of data going online increases, the battle over privacy and security will intensify. So far, there doesn't appear to be a win-win solution to this huge challenge of consumer data protection. However, one potential ray of hope is the trend towards using open source and companies understanding that they need pool their security burden by inviting in third parties to assist. By inviting in others to help, we could potentially create a neighbourhood watch type of system that would add greater protection to system vulnerabilities. Whatever the future holds, encryption systems will need to become much more sophisticated to keep confidential data secure. The video below is worth watching to get an understanding of the future development of security and privacy. One of the ideas bounced around in this discussion is that tech is the problem and human beings are the solution, rather than the other way around! Any effective solutions we come up with will be the product of human ingenuity rather than technological reliability.

Is Apple in trouble?

It was bound to happen, but now it’s official. Apple shares opened at $96, down 8 percent compared to yesterday’s closing price of $104.35. Some investors are saying Apple is in serious trouble. Others think that this merely constitutes a minor ripple in the pond. Let's be clear about one thing, Apple is a highly lucrative company, currently valued at approximately $539 billion. However, it's unclear what is next for the colossal technology firm. The short video below raises some interesting questions about where Apple is at right now. The next year will prove critically important in terms of how Apple directs its future research and focus. Apple could continue to dominate the market or it could rapidly lose market share to competitors. Time will tell.

Satellite photography

One area of technology that has made extraordinary advances in recent years is satellite imaging. Satellite technology has received enormous investment from governments all over the world over the years. Like other aspects of space exploration technology, satellite imaging technology has not been without its critics. However, the sheer power of satellite imaging has awed millions of people all over the world to such an extent that few have stopped to question where the technology will lead to. In recent years, detectives have made good use of satellite photography to solve crimes and apprehend criminals, as this article on the BBC illustrates. Satellite photography has been used by the CIA and other intelligence services organisations for decades to keep tabs on subversive activity. There is no question about the fact that satellite photography has reaped extraordinary dividends in fighting crime and terrorism. But it raises a very important question about privacy. 

Don't we all deserve the right to privacy and data protection? How will we possibly have any privacy in the future if satellites can photograph us wherever we happen to be in the world, every minute of every day? Could satellite technology bring about an Orwellian superstate in which we are monitored by Big Brother constantly? The notion of having an all-seeing god-like satellite in outer space monitoring our every move is unsettling to say the least. Yet few of us would ever wish to go back to living in a world in which satellite technology did not exist. Technology must march forward and harness every single opportunity. But it is critically important that we continue to think long and hard about privacy protection as we develop satellite technology. Privacy and data protection and fundamental human rights that nobody has any right to breach. This is not an easy problem to resolve, but it is one that must be treated with due diligence. The short video gives a brief outline of the kinds of images that NASA satellites can obtain.

Is the term 'online' obsolete?

We continue to use the terms 'online' and 'offline' on a daily basis, but perhaps the time has come to consider that such terms may be antiquated. Asking whether you have spent much time online today makes about as much sense as asking whether you have used much electricity today. We are immersed and entrenched in the web from the minute we wake until the minute we go to sleep. Few of us today remain offline for any significant length of time. Even switching off our Smartphones for any length of time is becoming unbearable for many people. We don't really 'logon' any more. We are practically logged on all day long. Whether you realize it or not, a significant amount of information about you is now available online, including your credit score. This is unsettling to many people, but that's just how it is. As we continue to embrace the Internet of Things, we may need to redefine some of our digital terminology. We are always connected, always on. In the year 2016, the term 'online' is meaningless for most of us.

Bionic limbs

Within AI, one of the most exciting and promising fields right now is bionics. With millions of amputees worldwide, the prospect of creating bionic limbs would revolutionize contemporary medicine. For years, many people were deeply skeptical about the prospect of such a thing actually happening. Now it seems, this may actually become a reality. Of course, considerable research and testing still needs to be done before this can become mainstream. But extraordinary steps are being made right now in bionics research that could radically change the lives of millions of people for the better. The video below about a bionic fingertip gives an inkling of what we can expect to witness in the future.

Quantum computing

Lately there has been huge media interest in the dispute between Apple and the FBI in regard to encryption technology. If the FBI or NSA could break strong encryption, then they would do so, copy the data and run it through a cloud of government computers to read the files. But they cannot do this because encryption works. In spite of this increasing tension between Apple and the authorities in regard to encryption, technology marches on. What is utterly indisputable is that technology will one day break today's approach to data encryption. A new field of technology is emerging from the lab called quantum computing. Quantum computing is completely different from today's digital computers but it is still in its incipient stages. Instead of using 1s and 0s like digital technology does, quantum computing uses something called a qubit, which can represent many values simultaneously. Quantum computing today is roughly as advanced as digital computing was in 1971 when Intel created the first microprocessor. But technology evolves much faster in 2016 than it did back in 1971. Quantum technology will be expensive to begin with but will get progressively cheaper and simpler, just like all technology. On top of quantum computing, quantum cryptography will revolutionize encryption as we understand it. We have a lot of ground to cover before this becomes mainstream but we are getting closer every single day. THe video by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss below gives a brief but informative explanation of what quantum computing is. Technology marches on.