4 March 2016
At SparkOptimus, we try to highlight the most important news and background stories in digital, e-commerce and retail. Here is our selection of last week’s news:
Time and again we see that technology blurs the boundaries between public and private realms. This week’s “Super Tuesday” in America underlined how technology is able to forecast the opinion of the voting public: Google was able to predict the outcome quite precisely. Not only did Google Trend reveal the striking interest of the public in Donald Trump but also for his John-Oliver-inspired alter ego “Donald Drumpf”.
Sometimes this blurring of boundaries can lead to serious friction between tech companies and authorities. While Apple won against the FBI in a ground-breaking court ruling stating that Apple cannot be forced to reveal private information for a crime-related investigation, Facebook had to see one of its executives being locked away in Brazilian prison for refusing to give out user data. Nonetheless, Facebook also managed to achieve a court ruling in its favour – a German court approved blocking of user pseudonyms.
To draw a rosier picture, some businesses and authorities recognized their mutual interests and found synergies. US military decided this week to make a bold move and invite hackers to hack the Pentagon. Amazon, which generally doesn’t have the best reputation of being a caring employer, made a political statement by announcing to build a “women only” delivery hub in India. Also NASA’s most active Twitter user – the astronaut Scott Kelly who landed back on earth this week – shared incredible views of earth with us. And that does not only allow us mortals to enjoy stunning pictures on Instagram, but also sparks presidential awe.