Google Scrapped Cloud Initiative in China, ‘Sensitive Markets’

Google abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over geopolitical tensions and the pandemic, Blloomberg reported Wednesday, citing two employees familiar with the matter, revealing the challenges for U.S. tech giants to secure business in those markets. From a report: In May, the search giant shut down…

Universities and Tech Giants Back National Cloud Computing Project

Leading universities and major technology companies agreed on Tuesday to back a new project intended to give academics and other scientists access to the computing resources now available mainly to a few tech giants. From a report: The initiative, the National Research Cloud, has received bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. Lawmakers in both houses have proposed bills…

Amazon Pauses Police Use of Facial Recognition Tech For a Year

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Amazon on Wednesday said it was implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software, reversing its long-time support of selling the technology to law enforcement. Civil liberties activists have voiced concern that facial recognition could lead to unjust arrests during demonstrations against police brutality, racial injustice and the death…

Capgemini Partners with Coursera to Upskill Employees and Promote a Culture of Lifelong Learning

By Anthony Tattersall, Senior Director of Enterprise, EMEA at Coursera We are excited to announce that Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology, and engineering services, has partnered with Coursera to offer high-quality learning to its employees. Starting today, Capgemini’s employees in nearly 50 countries will have access to 4,000 courses on Coursera […]
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What Happens When Software Development Environments Move to the Cloud?

An anonymous reader quotes IEEE Spectrum:
If you’re a newly hired software engineer, setting up your development environment can be tedious. If you’re lucky, your company will have a documented, step-by-step process to follow. But this still doesn’t guarantee you’ll be up and running in no time. When you’re tasked with updating your environment, you’ll go through the same time-consuming process. With…

FedEx, Microsoft Are Teaming Up To Deliver Packages, Widening Gap with Amazon

Microsoft and FedEx announced a joint, multi-year partnership on Monday that the pair believe could help “transform commerce” through FedEx’s logistics network and Microsoft’s cloud. From a report: The two said their first service, called FedEx Surround, will give real-time analytics into supply chain and delivery, so companies could potentially better ship goods. The companies did not disclose the full nature…

Gartner Predicts $300 Billion Less IT Spending, More Spending on Cloud Services and Automation

An anonymous reader quotes Forbes:
In a new report, research firm Gartner says it thinks global tech spending will drop 8% in 2020 based on what it is hearing from tech suppliers and other sources. It’s forecasting that $3.46 trillion will be spent on IT products and services this year by businesses and consumers, down from $3.76 trillion in 2019. Gartner’s estimate…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – April 2020

By Adam Lewis, Skills Transformation Consultant As we continue to adapt to the new norm, here are 114 new courses and projects to pick out what’s important to you.  You can try out Yale’s latest insights on why your Facebook friend is wrong about the stats they’re sharing. Or find your purpose with Michigan’s course […]
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Are We on the Cusp of a Metaverse, the Next Version of the Internet?

The Washington Post describes it as “the next internet.” Wikipedia defines it as “a collective virtual shared space…including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet.” But it was Neal Stephenson who named it “the metaverse” in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. Are we closer to seeing it happen? The Washington Post reports:
In the past month,…

Latest online courses in data science, tech, and health in 2020

With new courses launching every week, there’s always something to explore. These new courses cover everything from using TensorFlow to deploy machine learning models to the tools public health experts use to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. What will you learn next?  Data Science TensorFlow: Data and Deployment Specialization by deeplearning.ai  Industries all around […]
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