Tech Bytes to Know this Week: 6.15.2016

June 15th, 2016

Topics: AI & Machine Learning Apps Mobile

DC Appeals Court Upholds FCC Net Neutrality Rules – The DC Circuit Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling that high-speed internet should be treated as a utility and that ISPs must treat all content passing through their infrastructure as equal. The rule has been vigorously opposed by the telecommunications industry and pitted the likes of Verizon, Comcast and others against content producers, such as Google and Netflix.

Apple Expands Siri Availability, Dives into AI and Updates iMessage – Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this week and provided details of their newest ideas. Apple focused mainly on expanding the reach and accessibility of its voice assistant, Siri, by making it available on macOS (formerly OS X) and tvOS (formerly Apple TV). More importantly, Siri will open as a platform to developers, allowing third party app developers to leverage Siri to automate tasks, like hailing an Uber. The only other significant improvement announced related to iMessage and the ability to further edit and customize text and emojis, which are new to the app, but not new to world. Essentially, more of the same for Apple in the Tim Cook era.

Microsoft, Sony Unveil Latest and Greatest at WWDC and E3 Events – Microsoft focused its E3 reveals on hardware improvements to its Xbox platform, including a new console that won’t come out until next fall. The console, codenamed Scorpio, will be capable of playing 4K video and have enough power to support virtual reality programming. Details of the VR provider haven’t yet been announced, but given the expected price point for the console, it could be a significant platform for the nascent VR industry. Sony, which previously had announced its own plans to create a PlayStation VR console, focused its E3 presentations on games, including Resident Evil and Batman VR games and trailers from big-name titles, such as God of War and Spider-Man.

Microsoft Gets a Social Network by Buying LinkedIn – Microsoft is looking forward to pairing its enterprise cloud solutions (mainly Office 365 and Dynamics CRM) with the professional network of LinkedIn after it announced a mega-acquisition of the company for $26.2 billion. CDS cofounder and tech investment guru, Roger McNamee, expressed skepticism of the deal on CNBC Monday, stating, “Big deals don’t work. It’s going to be hard to get the value out of this that I think they plan to get.”

Featured CXOTalk video of the week: Episode 61: Jeanette Horan, CIO, IBM