Tech Bytes to Know this Week: 12.9.2016

December 9th, 2016

Topics: eCommerce Future of Work Global Products / Services Social Supply Chain Value Chain Virtual Reality XaaS

Tech Bytes

Virtual and Augmented Reality Continue to Be a Hot Topic – Everywhere you look in the tech sector, VR/AR are THE topics of conversation. It’s been a huge year for the sector, with Samsung, Microsoft, Google, and Magic Leap all pushing the tech forward as fast as possible to stake their claim as the dominant player in the market. This week saw Google push out significant amounts of content onto its Daydream platform, including HBO, NextVR, Lego and several games. Netflix content is also on its way to Daydream, meaning Google is rapidly building a significant content library.

Content is the big fish and future of where VR/AR is headed. The addition of Netflix to Daydream is a big deal. Microsoft, Oculus, Google, and others are all looking to dramatically change the way we create and engage with content through VR/AR platforms, putting viewers into the middle of the action and allowing for an entirely new experience. It will be exciting to see how creative storytellers and content creators can get on the platforms, as well as how enterprises will make use of the technology.

Apple Invests in Clean, Renewable Energy for its Supply Chain – The importance of managing your supply chain is of growing concern to many companies around the world. Apple has faced criticism for the practices of its supply chain in the past and made a move this week to support its brand by investing in wind power that will not only directly support the company’s operation in China, but will also help its supply chain. The move shows the power of customer perceptions of a company and how expectations are changing. Companies are no longer only judged on their own actions, but that of their suppliers. The topic of digital technology’s impact on supply chains was the topic of a recent Roundtable on Digital Strategies session on global supply chain management.

Amazon Pushes Retail Frontiers with Cashierless Grocery Store – Always looking to remove friction, Amazon opened a concept store in Seattle (for Amazon employees only) that eliminates the need for a cashier. Users simply shop and items are automatically added to a virtual cart that charges their account upon leaving the store. Amazon has long wanted to push into grocery and convenience store markets for perishable goods to complement its business supplying non-perishable goods to Amazon customers, and the Amazon Go concept store appears designed specifically to fill that gap in the value chain. However, the store is not a harbinger of coming attractions and Amazon denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that it was planning 2,000 Amazon Go stores in the future. Only time will tell what Amazon plans to do with the technology and whether it will be an internal-only platform or will be an innovation that it monetizes by licensing it out to other retailers.

President Obama Order Review of Russian Hacking of 2016 Presidential Election – President Obama ordered a full review of evidence that Russia orchestrated hacks that interfered with the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The review actually goes back three elections, starting in 2008 when Obama was first elected and hacking impacted both the Obama and McCain campaigns. At least one senior lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committtee points to the Sony hack as inspiration for the Russian election hacks. Adam Schiff of California argued in a letter several Democratic lawmakers sent to the White House that U.S. failure to respond to North Korea’s orchestration of the Sony hack emboldened Russia to interfere with the election. Lawmakers from both parties have been highly critical of Russia’s hacking operations and criticized the Obama Administration for its failure to take the threat of Russian cyber attacks seriously.

Featured CXOTalk Video of the Week: Digital Privacy with Michelle Dennedy, Chief Privacy Officer, Cisco