Microsoft could be adding a dedicated Office key to Windows keyboards in the future. Screenshots of a survey sent out regarding the key have surfaced and leave us wondering why Microsoft would want to add such a key?
Source: Digital trends
After five months of use, we take a look back at the HP Spectre Folio, a laptop with leather construction and unique take on the 2-in-1. What did we find? It really is far more than just a gimmick.
Source: Digital trends
Google Calendar is down, and that means that instead of a day packed with back-to-back meetings and timely reminders, users are instead being treated to an error message. Here’s the latest on the worldwide outage.
Source: Digital trends
“It’s just hair, but it’s more than that. Every culture has held meaning in hair.”
Source: Wired
Microsoft’s new A.I. tools for Office 365 users make mastering PowerPoint presentations easier than ever. The tools help you create stunning layouts, deliver data with impact, and brush up your delivery skills with smart coaching.
Source: Digital trends
Facebook has already secured tens of millions in investments for its new cryptocurrency for Facebook known as Libra. The platform is still being developed, but has already brought in backing from Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
Source: Digital trends
The US is quietly ramping up its plutonium experiments even as Washington raises concerns about Russian testing.
Source: Wired
A number of incumbent backs are known to be developing new digital-first products in a bid to keep the new wave of challenger banks at bay and now it appears that the latest to make that move is J.P. Morgan.
According to sources, the investment bank has begun recruiting for a secretive skunkworks project within London’s booming fintech industry. Very few details are known about what exactly J.P. Morgan plans to build, although TechCrunch understands the bank is busy hiring high level developers with full-stack and cloud-based dev skills for the new project, along with other personnel.
One source tells me that interested candidates are being asked to sign an NDA, and that the project is still in its formative stages. They say the plan is to essentially build a startup within a corporation that will be run independently and entirely separately from J.P. Morgan’s existing technology and businesses. The bank is only hiring for permanent positions rather than contractors in order to keep it “secret,” another source tells me. J.P. Morgan declined to comment.
Meanwhile, for the few people I’ve spoken to who have heard about the project there’s speculation that J.P. Morgan is developing a competitor to “Marcus,” the digital bank launched by Goldman Sachs that focuses on savings and offers a competitive interest rate. That would also put it up against challenger banks such as Atom, Tandem and savings marketplace Raisin.
However, one source tells me they’ve heard that J.P. Morgan’s skunkworks project could in fact be a much more ambitious cloud-based banking platform on which numerous products can be launched. That would be more akin to a core banking SaaS platform or “AWS for Banking,” along the lines of Starling’s core banking product or Germany’s solarisBank or London’s 11:FS Foundry.
Source: TechCrunch
Optimizely, a platform that offers tools for A/B testing and personalization on the web and in mobile apps, today announced that it has raised a total of $105 million. This includes a $50 million Series D round led by Goldman Sachs Private Captial, with the participation of Accenture Ventures, as well as $55 million line of credit from Bridge Bank.
Goldman Sachs’s Michael Kondoleon will join Optimizely’s Board of Directors as a board member.
“We’re excited to reach this milestone because these investments cement our leadership position in the market,” Optimizely CEO Jay Larson told me. “We can invest more in products to put an even bigger gap between Optimizely and our competition. We can expand geographically. And we will continue to grow our team of world-class digital optimization experts. This is a big day for Optimizely and a big day for the experimentation and personalization industry.”
The company notes that about a quarter of the Fortune 100 currently uses its services. the company says it now handles over 6 billion events a day and that its customers have tripled their investments in digital experience optimization in the last two years. Current customers include the likes of Gap, Visa, IBM, StubHub, Metromile, Lending Club and Sonos.
In total, Optimizely has now raised more than $200 million, excluding the line of credit. The additional $55 million from Bridge Bank are a bit unusual, but not completely out of the ordinary for companies at this stage. “Bridge Bank is proud to continue working with Optimizely, a global leader at the forefront of the digital experience optimization market,” said Mike Lederman, senior vice president and western region director of Bridge Bank’s technology banking group. “Optimizely is on a path of substantial growth and the additional capital will help them continue to build market-leading products that are used by an increasing number of top global brands.”
As is pretty much standard for companies at this stage, Optimizely will use the new funding to drive growth.
Source: TechCrunch
Today’s major tech stories include predictions about Apple’s 2020 iPhones, Huawei’s revenue forecasting taking a hit and Instagram rolling out new security features that target hacked accounts.
Source: CNET