Microsoft Links up

If there is one thing that is a guarantee in the vast world of technology, it’s that dominance is fleeting. At any given moment, a company can be considered as a force in the industry, only to be overtaken by a competitor or newcomer shortly afterwards.

Microsoft understands this position all too well. For years, the personal computing juggernaut has wrestled with the competition. Sometimes, it achieved dominance; other times, it was Microsoft who was dominated instead. But the company could be well on its way to domination once again, as it announced a major acquisition recently.

Considered by many experts as its most ambitious move to date, Microsoft announced the acquisition of professional networking service LinkedIn. The price tag: a colossal $26.2 billion. The deal, reports The New York Times, is among the largest in Microsoft’s history, and it seeks to add a second dimension to the company’s offerings. Microsoft is widely known as a purveyor of computers and software, but the addition of LinkedIn will add the world’s largest professional networking site to its portfolio.

LinkedIn, which boasts more than 400 million users worldwide, represents Microsoft’s desire to move away from being solely a traditional software developer. The evolution of cloud computing – an area that Microsoft itself is a leader in, thanks to its Azure platform and related services – is making software development less viable for some corporations. Although it’s highly unlikely that Microsoft will ever stop producing staples like Windows and the Office suite, the future appears to be in the cloud, so to speak.

Read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/business/dealbook/microsoft-to-buy-linkedin-for-26-2-billion.html?_r=0

Face off

Say, do you remember old what’s-his-face? You know, that guy who might have shoplifted from your store a while back? If not, there’s a new technology being developed  that will help many retailers solve that problem.

Los Angeles-based FaceFirst is helping to crack down on crime with an intelligent software system that scans the faces of customers upon entering a store. The software then captures an image of each face and compares their features to those of known shoplifters. A Canadian equivalent, developed by Genetec in Montreal, is also in the works.

In theory, a system like this sounds like a good idea, as it might help the police to nab recurring five-finger discount seekers, but the facial recognition software is not without its detractors. Some top privacy experts are questioning its legality in Canada.

Read more here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/facial-recognition-shopping-1.3561060