As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the global economy, some companies are taking advantage and making acquisitions as other organizations are announcing expense cuts. IBM is backing out of their relationship with WeWork in NYC and Google is rescinding offers to 2,000 consultants.
Meanwhile, Google’s legal issues in the United States are expanding as Arizona is suing the company due a lack of privacy controls.
Acquisitions/Investments
- Cisco acquires ThousandEyes for around $1 billion to make deeper push into software
ThousandEyes will be part of Cisco’s new Networking Services business unit, which is run by Todd Nightingale, the company said in the release. The purchase follow’s Cisco’s 2017 acquisition of AppDynamics for $3.7 billion, which brought in software that helps companies spot bugs in their apps and quickly fix them.
In addition to AppDynamics, Cisco’s prior software deals include the $2.35 billion purchase of Duo Security in 2018, to bulk up in the authentication space, and the $1.9 billion acquisition of Broadsoft in 2017, to add technology for contact centers.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/cisco-acquires-thousandeyes-to-make-deeper-push-into-software.html
- Apple just bought another AI startup to help Siri catch up to rivals Amazon and Google
Inductiv Inc.’s technology automates the process of correcting flaws in data through the use of artificial intelligence. It’s one of several acquisitions Apple has made recently, following its purchase of the popular weather app DarkSky and virtual reality entertainment platform NextVR.
Although Apple doesn’t disclose the purpose behind its acquisitions, Bloomberg reports that Inductiv’s engineering team is working on Siri, data science, and machine learning. Apple launched Siri back in 2011 on the iPhone 4S, long before Amazon introduced Alexa and Google launched the Google Assistant.
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-buys-ai-startup-inductiv-siri-catch-up-amazon-google-2020-5
- What Hertz Had Under the Hood Wasn’t Pretty
The proximate cause of Hertz’s demise was of course the sudden collapse in bookings caused by coronavirus travel restrictions. The company’s monthly revenue fell 73% year-on-year in April, a shortfall that even the most resilient companies would struggle to withstand for long.
But Hertz’s complicated financial plumbing contributed to it becoming one of the most high-profile companies to seek protection from creditors during the corona crisis. In the decade preceding its collapse, Hertz took on too much debt, participated in overpriced M&A and was accused of playing accounting games to pad its earnings.
So when disaster struck and a request for a government bailout was rejected (rightly in my view considering top shareholder Carl Icahn is worth some $18 billion), Hertz was already standing far too close to the precipice. Regrettably Covid-19 will probably expose more of this type of corporate frailty, both in America and around the world.
Hertz’s debt binge began when it was acquired by private equity firms from Ford Motor Co. in 2005; the new owners quickly took out a $1 billion dividend. Piling on debt juiced the potential returns for the owners and helped pay the inflated $2.3 billion price tag for the Dollar and Thrifty brands in 2012, which Hertz struggled to integrate.
Artificial Intelligence/Robotics
- A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans
In contrast, Dr. Shneiderman has sketched out a two-dimensional alternative that allows for both high levels of machine automation and human control. With certain exceptions such as automobile airbags and nuclear power plant control rods, he asserts that the goal of computing designers should be systems in which computing is used to extend the abilities of human users.
This approach has already been popularized by both roboticists and Pentagon officials. Gill Pratt, the head of the Toyota Research Institute, is a longtime advocate of keeping humans “in the loop.” His institute has been working to develop Guardian, a system that the researchers have described as “super advanced driver assistance.”
“There is so much that automation can do to help people that is not about replacing them,” Dr. Pratt said. He has focused the laboratory not just on car safety but also on the challenge of developing robotic technology designed to support older drivers as well.
Similarly, Robert O. Work, a deputy secretary of defense under Presidents Trump and Barack Obama, backed the idea of so-called centaur weapons systems, which would require human control, instead of A.I.-based robot killers, now called lethal autonomous weapons.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/technology/ben-shneiderman-automation-humans.html
- Microsoft sacks journalists to replace them with robots
The team working on the Microsoft site did not report original stories but still exercised editorial control, selecting stories produced by other news organisations – including the Guardian – and editing content and headlines where appropriate to fit the format. The articles were then hosted on Microsoft’s website, with the tech company sharing advertising revenue with the original publishers.
Manual curation of news stories also ensured that headlines were clear and appropriate for the format, while encouraging a spread of political opinions and avoiding untrustworthy stories, while highlighting interesting articles from smaller outlets.
Some of the journalists now facing redundancy had longstanding experience in the industry, while for others it offered a foot in the door and a job in an industry which has seen wave after wave of cuts. They now face a tough challenge to get jobs elsewhere when the whole industry is looking to cut costs. Other teams around the world are expected to be affected by Microsoft’s decision to automate the curation of its news sites.
Security/Privacy
- Arizona sues Google claiming it illegally tracked Android users
The state argued that Google made it too complicated to completely disable tracking, forcing users to dig into granular Android system settings. “When consumers try to opt out of Google’s collection of location data, the company is continuing to find misleading ways to obtain information and use it for profit,” Brnovich told The Post. The state is asking the court to force Google to pay back Arizona profits earned through ads that monetized the data, as well as potential fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
“The Attorney General and the contingency fee lawyers filing this lawsuit appear to have mischaracterized our services,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. “We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We look forward to setting the record straight.”
https://www.engadget.com/arizona-google-lawsuit-android-smartphone-tracking-080511589.html
- Chrome: 70% of all security bugs are memory safety issues
Half of the 70% are use-after-free vulnerabilities, a type of security issue that arises from incorrect management of memory pointers (addresses), leaving doors open for attackers to attack Chrome’s inner components.
The percentage was compiled after Google engineers analyzed 912 security bugs fixed in the Chrome stable branch since 2015, bugs that had a “high” or “critical” severity rating.
The number is identical to stats shared by Microsoft. Speaking at a security conference in February 2019, Microsoft engineers said that for the past 12 years, around 70% of all security updates for Microsoft products addressed memory safety vulnerabilities.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/chrome-70-of-all-security-bugs-are-memory-safety-issues/
Other
- IBM Leaving 70K SF WeWork Outpost in Union Square
IBM will ditch its office at 88 University Place — which it has occupied for three years for its marketing division — after Labor Day and already gave notice to WeWork it was leaving, Business Insider reported.
“The company continually looks at our real estate to ensure it services the needs of IBMers and how we serve our clients,” Doug Shelton, a spokesman for IBM, said in a statement. “WeWork was a terrific partner and we’re very grateful for the WeWork staff at 88 University, who served us during our tenure at that site.”
A spokesman for WeWork did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
https://commercialobserver.com/2020/05/ibm-leaving-70k-sf-wework-outpost-in-union-square/
- Google reportedly rescinds 2,000 contract worker jobs
The 2,000 contract positions would have been located across the globe, according to the Times, and they represent a small fraction of Google’s workforce. The company reportedly has more than 130,000 contractors on top of 123,000 employees.
Still, it speaks to the significant hiring slowdown that Porat telegraphed last month. The pandemic has caused a slowdown in the advertising market, which is where Google makes the vast majority of its money. Revenue from advertising was still up year over year for Google’s first quarter, but growth was slowing.
These rescinded offers pose bigger problems for the people who are now out of work. The Times reports that some people left full-time positions to accept the contract jobs with Google. Because they left their positions voluntarily, they may not be eligible for unemployment benefits.