Big tech companies wants to run your life.
The world’s biggest tech firms are always out to make more money, and they’re always looking for a new hook into your habits that can be turned into revenue.
1. GOOGLE :-
Google’s recent US$3.2bn purchase of Nest Labs, creators of the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Protect smoke detector, will give the search engine giant a foothold in hundreds of thousands of homes.
Nest’s thermostat distinguished itself at CES 2012 by demonstrating it could learn a family’s air conditioning habits, automatically adjusting the heating and cooling of a house based on a constantly-adapting smart schedule.
Buying Nest means Google will have opt-in access to even more data about your whereabouts than it does now; with an array of sensors inside your house.
Two other recent Google acquisitions: artificial intelligence pioneer DeepMind and robotics developer Boston Dynamics.
2. APPLE:-
In late November last year, Apple acquired PrimeSense, the Israeli company behind the 3D-motion-tracking Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
PrimeSense’s 3D tracking sensors are the smallest in the world, have low power requirements, and are excellent at close-range depth perception.
Apple doesn’t quite have the same ubiquity as Google, but it’s getting there; in December it bought social analytics company Topsy, ostensibly to use its expertise in recommending new experiences to customers based on their past preferences.
In 2013, Apple also acquired half a dozen mapping companies, either to improve its mediocre Apple Maps app for iOS or for another as-yet-unannounced purpose.
3. AMAZON :-
In the past few years, Amazon has acquired digital media companies like IMDb, Audible.com, and most recently GoodReads in March 2013.
Major stakes in popular services for movies, TV shows, music, audiobooks, and ebooks all form the backbone of Amazon’s push to be a one-stop shop for anyone wanting to watch a video or read a story on their computing device.
Digital media is only a relatively recent interest for Amazon; billionaire Jeff Bezos’ enterprise started out as an online store for books, then branched out into other consumer goods, absorbing companies like Zappos and Diapers.com along the way.
4. FACEBOOK :-
Facebook’s high-profile purchase of Instagram last year means it’s in control of two of the largest and most influential Web properties and social networks; as you’d expect, it’s using them to make money.
Facebook’s biggest recent acquisitions have been in new fields the social network doesn’t have a strong foothold in; for example, the December purchase of SportStream captures real-time sporting data to give Facebook a hook in sports discussion, an area where Twitter’s immediacy currently makes it king.
And now whats app.
5. MICROSOFT :-
Microsoft’s US$7.2bn acquisition of Nokia’s mobile devices and services unit in September last year gave it an easy entry into the world of smartphone and tablet development that it sorely needed.
Earlier in the year, a bold foray into tablets with their Surface device, trying to convince customers to use a cut-down version of Windows on their large-screened mobile devices, ended up costing Microsoft US$900m.
Source
1. GOOGLE :-
Google’s recent US$3.2bn purchase of Nest Labs, creators of the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Protect smoke detector, will give the search engine giant a foothold in hundreds of thousands of homes.
Nest’s thermostat distinguished itself at CES 2012 by demonstrating it could learn a family’s air conditioning habits, automatically adjusting the heating and cooling of a house based on a constantly-adapting smart schedule.
Buying Nest means Google will have opt-in access to even more data about your whereabouts than it does now; with an array of sensors inside your house.
Two other recent Google acquisitions: artificial intelligence pioneer DeepMind and robotics developer Boston Dynamics.
2. APPLE:-
In late November last year, Apple acquired PrimeSense, the Israeli company behind the 3D-motion-tracking Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
PrimeSense’s 3D tracking sensors are the smallest in the world, have low power requirements, and are excellent at close-range depth perception.
Apple doesn’t quite have the same ubiquity as Google, but it’s getting there; in December it bought social analytics company Topsy, ostensibly to use its expertise in recommending new experiences to customers based on their past preferences.
In 2013, Apple also acquired half a dozen mapping companies, either to improve its mediocre Apple Maps app for iOS or for another as-yet-unannounced purpose.
3. AMAZON :-
In the past few years, Amazon has acquired digital media companies like IMDb, Audible.com, and most recently GoodReads in March 2013.
Major stakes in popular services for movies, TV shows, music, audiobooks, and ebooks all form the backbone of Amazon’s push to be a one-stop shop for anyone wanting to watch a video or read a story on their computing device.
Digital media is only a relatively recent interest for Amazon; billionaire Jeff Bezos’ enterprise started out as an online store for books, then branched out into other consumer goods, absorbing companies like Zappos and Diapers.com along the way.
4. FACEBOOK :-
Facebook’s high-profile purchase of Instagram last year means it’s in control of two of the largest and most influential Web properties and social networks; as you’d expect, it’s using them to make money.
Facebook’s biggest recent acquisitions have been in new fields the social network doesn’t have a strong foothold in; for example, the December purchase of SportStream captures real-time sporting data to give Facebook a hook in sports discussion, an area where Twitter’s immediacy currently makes it king.
And now whats app.
5. MICROSOFT :-
Microsoft’s US$7.2bn acquisition of Nokia’s mobile devices and services unit in September last year gave it an easy entry into the world of smartphone and tablet development that it sorely needed.
Earlier in the year, a bold foray into tablets with their Surface device, trying to convince customers to use a cut-down version of Windows on their large-screened mobile devices, ended up costing Microsoft US$900m.
Source
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