From Trump’s latest drama to Augmented Reality beer; Team Exasol brings you the latest stories and hottest trends in our weekly Tech Thursday round-up.
Tech Giants Take on Trump
This week the likes of Apple, Amazon, Paypal, Uber and ebay wrote an open letter to Trump expressing their concerns regarding recent plans to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Also known as “The Dreamers Program”. According to Wikipedia, DACA is an “American immigration policy established by the Obama administration in June 2012. DACA allows certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit.” Apple CEO, Tim Cook, says he stands with the 250 Apple employees who are Dreamers and Zuckerburg said that he believes Dreamers represent “the future of our country and our economy”. Exasol CEO’s Aaron Auld agrees, stating that “It would be good for everyone to see hope and aspiration put before politics.”
Peggy Whitson Breaks an Out-Of-This-World Record
One of the most inspiring women (just back) on the planet, Astronaut, Peggy Whitson, landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sunday. She, along with other American and Russian crew members, returned from the ISS. Peggy has now spent more days in space than any other American in history, just one of her many records. When asked what she missed most she offered a quick and candid response; “Flushing toilets. Trust me, you don’t want to know the details. Pizza has been on my mind for a month or two.” Want to hear about more inspiring women? The BBC is starting their 100 Women Season which will feature a number of accomplished women, including inventors such as Grace Hopper, one of the pioneers of computer programming. Well done, ladies!
Back to Reality
From Navy training to having a drink, virtual and augmented realities are making headlines. The U.S. Navy is now successfully using virtual simulators to allow “crews to make their mistakes in the classroom and the simulator” before being deployed. Better yet, officers can now enjoy an augmented reality beer where the graphic design comes to life. Those of you are short on entertainment can play a VR game celebrating the 80’s with a dash of horror thrown in.
Startups: The Ups and Downs
Silicon Valley, known for new, disruptive technologies has lost its monopoly, largely due to the fact that collaboration via telecommuting is allowing top tech talent to spread out geographically.
Amazon + coffee = the next startup venture?
And could the next startup prove that money can really buy happiness? If so, can we pay with data?
Loading...Big Data and Building Better Cities
With Hurricane Irma wreaking havoc right after Hurricane Harvey caused severe damage in Houston, TX, the climate control discussion is in full-swing. We circled back to our CEO, Aaron Auld who added to his comments from last week. “In times of increasingly frequent weather catastrophes, it is more important than ever to make decisions based not on beliefs but on available data.”
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(Photo courtesy The BBC)