Welcome to Friday everyone. Earlier this morning, BlackBerry reported a larger loss than anticipated. On a brighter note: revenue from software licensing, a linchpin of its turnaround, was up 33% for the quarter.
Something to ponder: streaming video is all the rage, thanks to apps such as Meerkat and Periscope, which built enormous user bases in a matter of weeks. But have you stopped think about how quickly this technology eats up data plans? Video could account for 60% of all mobile traffic by 2020. A consumer backlash is inevitable unless carriers rethink their pricing.
The thought I’ll leave you with: the cloud is the computer, but in 2015 we’re dealing with many clouds. A great place to evaluate this sometimes confusing scenario is the Structure 2015 conference. Yes, one of Gigaom’s most anticipated annual confabs is back, from Nov. 18 – 19 in San Francisco. Details are in the calendar section below. Have a terrific weekend!
TRENDING
Google's mobile strategy scrutinized by FTC. Antitrust officials are concerned the search giant prioritizes its own services within Android, at the expense of competitive alternatives, according to sources familiar with the matter. (BloombergBusiness)
China pledges support in fighting cybercrimes. The country's leader Xi Jinping condemned both commercial theft of intellectual property and government network break-ins. “China is ready to set up a high-level joint dialogue mechanism with the United States on fighting cybercrimes,” he said during a speech earlier this week. (New York Times)
Jack Ma defends Alibaba's growth metrics. He told an audience at Stanford University that the Chinese e-commerce giant will overtake Walmart in sales volume before the end of the year. (Fortune)
Mark Zuckerberg addresses Internet.org backlash. Facebook's founder was caught off-guard by criticism of his initiative to offer free connectivity in emerging economies, especially fierce in India. So, he rebranded the program. (Wired)
India's prime minister heads for Silicon Valley. Nardendra Modi will meet this weekend with high-profile tech execs including Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai just days after a similar gathering with Chinese leaders. He was in New York last night, where he spoke at a special dinner hosted by Fortune. (Wall Street Journal)
We're officially out of "old school" Internet addresses. This time, that declaration is for real, even though many have been crying wolf for years. Basically, it means Internet service providers need to speed up support of the next generation or you might have to delay your Internet of things project. (Wired)
How's the security on your data center cooling systems? Many companies are spending so much time obsessing over firewalls and software patches that they've overlooked the potential risks to power supplies, air-conditioning systems, and other supporting equipment. (Journal)
THE DOWNLOAD
Five sci-fi robots that could revolutionize business
Robots still have a long way to go before becoming life-like. Yet there is still some impressive robotic technology being built for everything from manufacturing to the military. Here are five interesting examples from the RoboBusiness conference in San Jose, Calif. Plus, a bonus: this robot can assemble electronics and bake a cake.
BITS AND BYTES
If shopping for a work wardrobe isn't your thing, these online sites make it easier. (Fortune)
Samsung's new $300 million HQ in Silicon Valley looks kind of like a Rubik's Cube. (Verge)
Even ad blockers can be bought. For a price, they'll let certain ads slip through their filters. (Fortune)
Excited about downloading Microsoft Office on the iPad Pro? A catch: It won't be free. (Verge)
Design software giant Autodesk bought netfabb, a German specialist in additive manufacturing. (ZDNet)
Minecraft, meet Oculus. The popular game is getting a 3D twist. (Verge)
MY FORTUNE BOOKMARKS
Could this ex-NSA hotshot protect your email from hacking? by Luke O'Brien
No, e-book sales are not falling despite what publishers say by Mathew Ingram
Apple, Microsoft, others, slammed for supporting cybersecurity bill by Barb Darrow
ONE MORE THING
Now hear this. Google's voice search feature just got better, especially in noisy settings. (Fortune)
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
BoxWorks: Cloud collaboration solutions. (Sept. 28 - 30; San Francisco)
Workday Rising: Meet and share. (Sept. 28 - Oct. 1; Las Vegas)
Minds+Machines: GE's annual industrial Internet event. (Sept. 29 - Oct. 1; San Francisco)
GitHub Universe: Build great software. (Oct. 1 - 2; San Francisco)
HP Engage: Big data, big engagement. (Oct. 4 - 6; San Diego)
Gartner Symposium ITxpo: CIOs and senior IT executives. (Oct. 4 - 8; Orlando, Florida)
AWS re:Invent: The global Amazon Web services community. (Oct. 6 - 9; Las Vegas)
Relate by Zendesk: Improve your customer engagement. (Oct. 7 - 8; New York)
I Love APIs: Apigee's annual conference. (Oct. 12 - 14; San Jose, California)
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing: World's largest gather of women technologists. (Oct. 14 - 16; Houston)
DevOps Enterprise Summit: Lean principles meet technology management. (Oct. 19 - 21; San Francisco)
Tableau Conference 2015: Tableau’s annual customer conference. (Oct 19 -23; Las Vegas)
Dell World: Global conference for customers and partners. (Oct. 20 - 22; Austin, Texas)
Virtuous Circle Conference: Internet policy in the round (Oct. 12-13, Menlo Park, California)
CX San Francisco: Forrester's forum for customer experience professionals. (Oct. 22 - 23)
TBM Conference: Manage IT like a business. (Oct. 26 - 29; Chicago)
eBusiness Chicago: eBusiness and channel strategy. (Oct. 29 - 30)
QuickBooks Connect: SMBs, entrepreneurs, accountants and developers. (Nov. 2 - 4; San Jose, California)
Oktane: Identity management trends. (Nov. 2 - 4; Las Vegas)
FutureStack: Define your future with New Relic. (Nov. 11 - 13; San Francisco)
Structure: Many choices, many clouds. (Nov. 18 - 19; San Francisco)
