Microsoft and OpenAI extend partnership
Microsoft and OpenAI have formed different levels of partnerships since 2020, but it appears like things are going to the next level.
This week, Microsoft announced the third phase of its long-term partnership with OpenAI through a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world.
This agreement follows Microsoft’s previous investments in 2019 and 2021. It extends the ongoing collaboration across AI supercomputing and research and enables independently commercializing the resulting advanced AI technologies.
According to Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Microsoft formed their partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform. He also pointed out that the last three years of partnership has been great, but this next phase of the partnership is more about developers and organizations across industries gaining access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.
In another Microsoft news this week, Microsoft users were hit with a global cloud outage that impacted products like Teams and Outlook. Although this is not an unusual occurrence, the software giant let users across the world know that until the issue is permanently solved, users may not be able to use multiple Microsoft 365 services concurrently.
US accuses Google of digital ad dominance
One rather interesting piece of news coming our way this week is that the US Justice Department and eight US states have filed a case against Google, alleging it has too much power over the online ad market.
For many, that may appear far-reaching, but according to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the multinational tech giant’s anti-competitive actions have “weakened if not destroyed the competition in the ad tech industry.”
Google, on the other hand, accused the DOJ of “doubling down on a flawed argument.” Google is indeed the market leader, but its slice of total US digital ad income has fallen from 36.7% in 2016 to 28.8% in 2022, according to market research firm Insider Intelligence.
The US states of Connecticut, California, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia are also joining the legal action, and it could lead to the break-up of the firm’s advertising business if the courts side with the US government.
Intuit’s Mailchimp set to launch Campaign Manager Tool
Mailchimp is planning to introduce a Campaign Manager, a powerful end-to-end marketing tool with advanced scheduling capabilities. Accordingly, Campaign Manager is a first-of-its-kind planning tool that gives marketers a holistic view of their campaigns in Mailchimp.
Campaign Manager helps marketers plan, execute and analyze marketing campaigns across multiple channels like email, text messaging, social media advertisements, and direct mail and view their campaign performances in one calendar view.
The solution enables Mailchimp customers to conduct all marketing activities from a specific period in the same space so that they can keep track of what’s happening around them and plan accordingly for the future.
The solution will be available to Mailchimp customers with Standard and Premium plans from this week.
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Elliott takes stake in Salesforce’s Slack
This week, the US activist investor firm Elliott Investment Management has taken a multibillion-dollar stake in Salesforce, the business software company that owns the Slack messaging platform.
Elliott, which typically buys stakes in underperforming companies and seeks changes to the way they are run, said it was looking forward to working “constructively” with the San Francisco-based company without revealing any strategic proposals.
Salesforce is valued at $151bn, but its share price has fallen 32% over the past year. The size of the stake taken by Elliott has not been disclosed, although the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the move, described it as a “multibillion-dollar” investment.
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AWS announces general availability of Amazon OpenSearch Serverless
AWS this week announced the general availability of Amazon OpenSearch Serverless, the serverless option for Amazon OpenSearch Service that makes it easier to run search and analytics workloads without even having to think about infrastructure management.
Self-managed OpenSearch and managed OpenSearch Services are widely used to search and analyze petabytes of data. Both options give customers full control over the configuration of compute, memory, and storage resources in clusters, which allows them to optimize cost and performance for their applications.
AWS now offers users a simpler and more secure service option.
Google and Zoom Rooms are compatible now
Great news for Google Meet and Zoom Room users. In a Zoom Room or a Google Meet, you no longer need to switch applications to join the other people at the meeting. They’re compatible now.
According to Google, this update is going to provide its users with the most enjoyable meeting experience possible. You don’t need to change programs to find your friends. Despite the fact that Google has had this plan in the works since October 2022, we anticipate that the integration will be completed by February 9.
Interestingly, Google and Zoom Video Communications will not charge extra for this compatibility feature. This novelty is, therefore, a useful addition for those with professional contacts who just happen to use the other platform for their meetings.
An exciting one to look out for!
Oracle introduces new logistics capabilities
One thing that logistics leaders can agree on is how overwhelmed they have become with a recent buildup of port and shipping delays, fluctuating fuel costs, and evolving trade regulations.
Well, it appears Oracle is coming to help fix that up.
Cloud major Oracle is introducing new logistics capabilities within its Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing (SCM) offerings that will help customers cut costs, improve accuracy and automate regulatory compliance.
Organizations that do not have flexible and responsive logistics processes in place often end up passing these delays and costs onto their customers. However, Oracle now gives space for global logistics operations and supply chain systems to reduce drudgery in that regard.
Foundry512 joins Adobe Partner Program
Finally for this week, Foundry512, a full-service advertising and marketing agency, announced that it joined the Adobe Solution Partner Program.
This milestone creates another stepping stone in Foundry512’s goal of reaching a larger audience by offering their expertise in Adobe Experience Cloud.
As a popular Austin ad agency, Foundry512 has partnered with the Adobe Program to continue unifying brand experiences on an enterprise-level platform across the Adobe Experience Manager and advertising suite. Foundry512 is confident that the Adobe system will allow greater personalization and pragmatic advertising through a desktop system for customers.