Mastering the art of data: the skills that will get you noticed

It’s almost a decade since a much-shared Harvard Business Review article declared data scientist the sexiest job of the 21st century. But is working with data still as novel or as exciting as it was then?

The rise of digital currencies in the emerging world

As of September 7, 2021, El Salvador will officially recognise Bitcoin as legal currency. This is a remarkable move, and one that will likely stimulate a huge amount of economic growth as Salvadoreans leapfrog from a largely cash-based society straight to a system characterised by the frictionless, finger-snap efficiency of digital currency.

Trump’s plans to ban Chinese app WeChat blocked

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban WeChat over concerns the ban would threaten users’ first amendment rights

Oracle returns to growth

The software maker’s quarterly revenue exceeded analysts’ expectations, as remote working drove greater demand for its cloud-computing services

Top 5: Google’s year in acquisitions

The search engine giant has invested billions of dollars into promising technology companies – We count down Google’s Top 5 acquisitions over the last year

Google has invested billions of dollars in the past year acquiring technology companies including Waze and Nest Labs

Nest

Google kicked off the new year with a $3.2bn splurge on Nest Labs, manufacturers of the Learning Thermostat and pioneers of the “conscious home”. The deal will see the technology giant enter consumers’ day-to-day lives like never before, and gain a foothold in the emerging smart home market.

Waze

At the mid-point of last year, Google acquired the crowdsourced GPS navigation app Waze for $966m, and introduced a social element to its mapping business. Google Maps now integrates its comprehensive mapping network with real-time traffic reports, and has cemented its standing as the market leader in this space.

[T]he partnership has since turned sour, culminating in the app’s removal from the App Store and Google Play in January

Bump

Google shed of $30m for the file-sharing application Bump last September; however, the partnership has since turned sour, culminating in the app’s removal from the App Store and Google Play in January. The app was introduced in 2009 and allowed users to share smartphone data by physically bumping their phones, a feature that has since become somewhat redundant.

Boston Dynamics

Google made a number of acquisitions in the robotics space last year, the most notable being Boston Robotics, a company responsible for the design and construction of US military robots. Given that the Google’s past efforts have focused principally on software, the acquisition marks an unusual step into the world of robotics hardware.

Makani Power

Google’s burgeoning interest in the clean tech space can best be seen in the May acquisition of Makani Power. The green energy start-up, which specialises in building airborne wind turbines, has already received upwards of $15m investment from Google and appears to be closely in keeping with the company’s commitment to clean energy.