Pentagon’s Designer of $10 Billion JEDI Cloud Is Stepping Down

The Pentagon official who developed a controversial $10 billion cloud-computing project is stepping down after four years of efforts to upgrade the Defense Department’s information technology systems.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Workers Criticize Block of GitHub Protest in China

A vocal group of Microsoft Corp. employees is calling on the company to support a rare online protest from Chinese technology workers spawned on GitHub, the software code-sharing site Microsoft owns.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Why Samsung Had to Delay the Galaxy Foldable Phone

Problems with the Fold screen would be a dealbreaker all on their own. But the issues go deeper. As a phone, it’s not good enough.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Samsung to Delay Launch of Galaxy Fold Phone, WSJ Reports

The Galaxy Fold, priced at almost $2,000, was hit by early reviews that showed several problems with test versions of the device.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

IBM Falls Most Since October After Cloud Growth Disappoints

IBM reported a decline in revenue from the cloud-computing, artificial intelligence and cognitive software unit that the company is hanging its future on.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Apple Puts Need for 5G Ahead of Legal Fight in Qualcomm Deal

Apple needs chips that will connect the iPhone to the new, fifth-generation wireless networks being introduced now or risk falling behind its rivals. The company had bet on Intel Corp., but recently decided its would-be 5G supplier wasn’t up to the task.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Backs Carbon Tax With Republican-Backed Climate Group

Microsoft Corp. is joining a climate advocacy group backed by big energy corporations and high-profile Republicans, an effort by the software giant to find middle ground on environmental issues that have polarized U.S. politics.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft-Backed Sales Software Maker Outreach Becomes a Unicorn

Outreach Inc., a software maker that helps to automate essential, but mundane work for salespeople, crossed the billion-dollar valuation threshold. Outreach will use the new investment to make sure it can integrate with all communication channels, bolster its engineering efforts and expand internationally.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Wave of New Tech Firms Targeting Farms as Weather Wars Mount

Investments in agriculture technology companies are growing, hitting $6.7 billion in the last five years, and the number of venture capital deals are increasing, according to Finistere Ventures, a San Diego-based venture capital firm. Through October 2018, there were 28 deals globally for companies making sensors and smart farm equipment, and 19 for imagery companies.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Thousands of Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa

Amazon.com Inc. employs thousands of people around the world to help improve the Alexa digital assistant powering its line of Echo speakers. The team listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices. The recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands. 
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Facebook Expanding Efforts to Block False Information

Facebook Inc. said it’s rolling out a slew of new and expanded ways to rein in the spread of misinformation across its websites and apps, amid heightened global scrutiny of social networks’ actions to reduce false and violent content.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Amazon-Microsoft Face-Off Set for Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud

Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are the last competitors standing in the Pentagon’s winner-take-all competition for a $10 billion cloud services contract, the Defense Department said. The announcement eliminates Oracle Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. from the running.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Google Flips the Switch on Its Next Big Money Maker: Maps

The search business is still immensely profitable and growing, but that can’t last forever. So Google is increasing the ways advertisers can reach Maps users, while raising prices for some businesses that use the underlying technology.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Facebook Found to Host Cybercriminal Groups Trading Stolen Info

Facebook Inc. housed dozens of cybercriminal groups that set up shop on the platform as online marketplaces to sell a variety of illegal services, such as stolen credit card information, account theft and spamming tools, a team of researchers found.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Vows to Focus on Gender Harassment Amid Uproar

Microsoft Corp.’s top executives pledged to discuss diversity and harassment issues at monthly employee meetings after complaints about sexual misconduct and discrimination against women erupted in a 90-page email thread at the software maker.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Google Scraps New AI Ethics Council After Staff, Outside Protest

“It’s become clear that in the current environment, ATEAC can’t function as we wanted,” Google said Thursday in a statement. “So we’re ending the council and going back to the drawing board. We’ll continue to be responsible in our work on the important issues that AI raises, and will find different ways of getting outside opinions on these topics.”
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Amazon Schooled on AI Facial Tech By Turing Award Winner

Amazon.com Inc.’s facial-recognition software is coming under fire again, this time from a group of artificial intelligence researchers that includes one of the field’s most prominent scientists.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Internal Google Panel to Vet AI Projects Packed With Executives

Google has been at the center of a widening public debate over how automated systems might disadvantage vulnerable groups or lead to large-scale job losses, and whether AI should be incorporated into weaponry. 
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Facebook Found to Host Cybercriminal Groups Trading Stolen Info

Facebook Inc. housed dozens of cybercriminal groups that set up shop on the platform as online marketplaces to sell a variety of illegal services, such as stolen credit card information, account theft and spamming tools, a team of researchers found.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Microsoft Vows to Focus on Gender Harassment Amid Uproar

Microsoft Corp.’s top executives pledged to discuss diversity and harassment issues at monthly employee meetings after complaints about sexual misconduct and discrimination against women erupted in a 90-page email thread at the software maker.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools