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The best in tech: what you missed this weekend – May 18th

The best in tech: what you missed this weekend – May 18th
Karen McCandless

Karen McCandless

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Yep, it’s Monday again (how did that happen?) If you are one of those people who doesn’t check your phone as soon as you get up in the morning, or don’t live your life through Twitter/Facebook/other news app/social network of choice, you might have missed some crucial news in the world of tech.

Well not to worry, help is at hand, as this weekly round up brings you some of the most interesting reads in tech from the weekend that should help brighten up your day.

Verizon and Facebook agree: content is king again

Following the news last week that Verizon had bought AOL and with it sites such as The Huffington Post and Engadget, there was much speculation about whether the company’s interest lies in content or merely in AOL’s advertising platform. This article from Business Insider argues that the move from Verizon signifies that the company is interesting in providing content, specifically through mobile devices. This is equally true through Facebook, where content sharing is a big business. To monetize this, the company has created Instant Articles, where Facebook can sell ads alongside content published by major media companies directly within the app.

Inside Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s radical management experiment that prompted 14% of employees to quit

The CEO of Amazon-owned shopping app Zappos recently embarked on a radical new plan to completely change the structure of the company. What did this involve? All layers of management being replaced with a system of equally-privileged employees working together on sets of tasks. Yep, you heard right, no more managers. It has not been smooth sailing, as one in seven employees didn’t want to take part, while some have left on severance packages due to the initiative, but with the company announcing profits in February of $97 million, an increase of 78% from 2014, they are obviously doing something right.

The internet is running out of room – but we can save it

From pictures of Kim Kardashian to photos of Taylor Swift wearing a t-shirt, there is much talk of “events” these days breaking the internet. But we may actually be facing a real problem that could break the internet: running out of space. Don’t panic, while there are concerns about the ever-increasing amount of data being shared, it seems like it’s just a matter of making some changes in engineering.

The all-male panel is horribly outdated and lame

The lack of women in tech has been a long documented problem, but one that has been slow to be addressed, especially when it comes to panel discussions at conferences. In response to this, a Tumblr has been created featuring various photos, posters and announcements from events where there were all male line-ups. Each one features a superimposed image of David Hasselhoff. The huge amount of content already collected for the site makes it depressing reading.

Candy Crush Saga is Coming to Windows 10

Now for something lighter: it’s good news for fans of both Candy Crush and Windows: Microsoft will pre-install the popular match-three game for those who upgrade to Windows 10. You will also be able to sync it with the mobile game, regardless of whether you have a Windows Phone, an iPhone, or an Android device. And Candy Crush will be followed by other games from the developer King.

United Airlines offers rewards for spotting bugs in the system

While many companies have offered jobs to hackers that have found flaws in their systems, companies still have something of a love-hate relationship with these tech experts. United Airlines is looking to change this approach and take advantage of these hackers’ expertise by offering loyalty air-miles to people who find security flaws.

There’s a wild new way to buy stuff on Amazon

If you need another – easier – way to fuel your Amazon shopping addiction, you can now order (or reorder) products via voice through the company’s digital assistant Echo. Users with a Prime membership, simply need to ask Alexa to reorder an item, which will be added to their shopping list. If they haven’t already ordered it, then Echo will search for it and offer a choice of products.

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Karen McCandless

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