Adobe’s $20 billion Figma deal may be in trouble, with EU Commission weighing whether to launch an antitrust probe.
Adobe announced in September that it had struck a deal with Figma to acquire the startup for $20 billion. Figma has been gaining in popularity, providing a web-based competitor to Adobe’s tools at a fraction of the cost. Almost immediately, the deal was met with angst and anger from users, many of whom were using the product specifically because they did not want, or could not afford, to use Adobe’s products.
According to Bloomberg, the European Commission has received a number of requests from member states to probe the deal. The number of requests evidently fell below the threshold that would normally trigger a probe, but the Commission did acknowledge that the deal could “significantly affect competition.”
The Commission will ask Adobe to notify the transaction, meaning the companies will need EU clearance to proceed.
“We look forward to working constructively with the European Commission to address its questions and bring the review to a timely close,” a Figma spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Conversational marketing is a whole new way of thinking about marketing and sales, says Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift. “We go to our jobs in B2B and none of the tools that we use match how we actually buy as real people,” he says. “That’s the most exciting thing to me about conversational marketing. It’s really closing the gap between B2C and B2B. We just call it B2P, marketing to people.”
Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift, was recently interviewed on the B2B Growth podcast by John Rougeux who is VP of Marketing at Skyfii. Gerhardt discusses conversational marketing as a new B2B product category and how it is changing marketing from reaching out to you later to a conversation that is happening now:
Conversational Marketing is About Connecting You Now
Conversational marketing is a whole new way of thinking about marketing and sales. The traditional way of doing marketing and sales is all about later. Come to my website and fill out this form and somebody is going to reach out to you later, when it’s convenient for them. The big shift that is happening in marketing and business over the last five to ten years is customers have all the power today. You can’t make people wait. Information is free now.
I can find anything I want to know about a company without ever having to go to your website. It’s crazy to think that you are going to force people to go to your website, fill out a form, wait three days to hear back from your sales team, and then get a demo. Conversational is all about connecting you now with the people who are ready to buy now while they are live on your website.
B2P – Marketing to People
It’s not about buyers. It’s not about sellers. It’s not about sales. It’s not about marketing. It’s about people. That’s how people all communicate online today. I pressed one button in my car and I got a list. I ordered something from Amazon while I was here this morning to send back to my house and it’s going to be there tomorrow when I get home. There are countless examples of that. That is how we all behave online in our real lives today.
But then something happens weird happens. We go to our jobs in B2B and none of the tools that we use match how we actually buy as real people. That’s the most exciting thing to me about conversational marketing. It’s really closing the gap between B2C and B2B. We just call it B2P, marketing to people.
What Ties Our Products Together is Conversation
We have an email product and we have a landing page product. Black and white versions of those people would say everybody has email, everybody has landing pages. The thing that ties those together is conversation. That forces us to think about what is conversational email? What is conversational landing pages? What is conversational whatever? That one word forces our product team to think about how can we change this? If our fundamental stance as a company is that the internet should be one conversation, then how does that weave into everything that we build?
Ultimately what we care about is that email becomes a conversation. Meaning, the way that marketers have had to use email the last decade is a one-way channel. Email is meant to be a two-way channel. Marketers have been using it as, “John come to my webinar.” What happens if you actually respond to that email? Most of the time you can’t because it’s donotreply@ or it just goes to some inbox where nobody is answering it. That is a terrible experience. Our belief is that if you reply, “Hey actually I can’t make it. Can you reregister my colleague?” That should get handled. We are thinking of that from an evolution standpoint.
The same thing with landing pages. Most landing pages today are static. You go to the landing page, put a bunch of info in and you are gone. What if that was a real-time conversation on the page? That one topic has to weave itself into everything we do from a product perspective.
>> Listen to the complete interview with Drift Marketing VP Dave Gerhardt on the B2B Growth podcast.
“What the pandemic and the current health situation has done is that it has created yet another inflection point for everything being digital,” says Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. “The importance of digital in the marketplace is going to be sustainable for decades. You’re not going to put the genie back in the bottle as it relates to engaging digitally and creating content digitally.”
Digital Transformation Is A $120 Billion Opportunity
It was a good quarter all around. All of our businesses performed exceedingly well. On the Creative Cloud and the Document Cloud, not only did we have a great acquisition. in other words, new customers adopting the platform, but we really focused on engagement and demonstrating the value of our products to our customers. Even our retention levels came back to pre-COVID levels which we believe is a really good sign.
What’s happening in the world is the businesses that we’re in, namely creativity and enabling people to tell their story, what’s happening with documents and accelerating document productivity, and what’s happening associated with every single enterprise needing to engage with their customers digitally, when you add all of this up we think it’s over a $120 billion of an addressable market opportunity for Adobe.
Pandemic Was Inflection Point For Everything Being Digital
What the pandemic and the current health situation has done is that it has created yet another inflection point for everything being digital. What we will have to continue to monitor is what happens in the spending environment. But as it relates to the overall need for the kinds of solutions that Adobe provides as well as the importance of digital in the marketplace I think that’s going to be sustainable for decades. You’re not going to put the genie back in the bottle as it relates to engaging digitally and creating content digitally.
We believe that we’re in this third phase of what is happening in the enterprise. Traditionally, businesses first focused on automating the back office, and then they focused on automating the front office for knowledge workers. It’s absolutely clear that the biggest imperative that exists in the enterprise today is how do you engage with customers? This is a category that we call Customer Experience Management.
Customer Insight Is Key To Your Digital Transformation
If you’re an enterprise today and you’re thinking about digital transformation, what’s top of that stack in terms of where you have to invest is to make sure that you have insight into what your customers are doing. How are they engaging with you? What’s the profile? How do you deliver the personalized experience?
We really believe that what you’re seeing in the enterprise spend environment is that the companies that are focused on this next generation of delivering customer engagement, the customer experiences, and the insight associated with how to take the most advantage of that data, they’re going to be the secular winners moving forward.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen: Pandemic Was Inflection Point For Everything Being Digital
Users are up in arms over Adobe’s plans to purchase design startup Figma, fearing the larger company will ruin the startup’s services.
Figma has taken the design world by storm, providing web-based design tools that rival more traditional options, such as Adobe’s. The company’s offerings have even become popular within Microsoft, a long-time Adobe ally.
In the wake of Adobe’s announcement that it is purchasing Figma for $20 billion, users are already worried the deal spells the end of what made Figma special.
“Figma was a tool that gave designers superpowers. And part of the reason they did that is because they listened to what the community was asking them for,” Adam Glynn-Finnegan, a product-design lead at Netflix, told Business Insider. “I don’t think Adobe necessarily has that muscle.”
Adobe has a long history of raising prices and charging near-exorbitant prices for its design software. This has helped contribute to the rise of open source options, as well as startups like Figma that offer comparable services at prices people can afford. Many are now concerned Adobe will take the startup’s services and raise the prices to be more inline with the rest of the larger company’s offerings.
Adobe and Figma have tried to reassure users, saying the latter will remain an independent unit within Adobe. What’s more, Figma’s CEO, Dylan Field, will continue to run the unit and has said they “currently have no plan to change Figma’s pricing.”
The reassurances are not resonating with users, especially freelancers and startups that can’t afford Adobe’s software.
“Saying that people are freaking out too much comes from a place of privilege,” Mia Eltiste, a design researcher at the IBM spinoff Kyndryl, told Insider. “They can afford the subscription-based model, unlike freelancers or smaller companies, where income comes sporadically.”
Only time will tell if designers’ fears are warranted, although Adobe’s history would suggest they are. There’s also the possibility that regulators will block the deal, especially given Adobe’s dominant position within the industry.
Apple’s Evans Hankey, its head of industrial design, is leaving in another blow to the company’s vaunted design team.
Hankey took over the role following the departure of Jony Ive, the designer behind some of Apple’s most iconic products. Ive and Steve Jobs were often credited with having a close collaborative relationship, one that formed the basis of Apple’s revival.
After a mere three years as head of design, Hankey is also resigning, according to Bloomberg. There is no indication where Hankey may go, but Apple gave a statement to the outlet expressing confidence in its ability to move forward:
“Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple,” a spokesman said. “The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience. Evans plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we’d like to thank her for her leadership and contributions.”
Hankey has said she will remain at Apple for six months, giving her a chance to continue working on the various products she oversees.
Please note: Xfce is a desktop environment, not a Linux distribution (distro). However, for those just looking at Linux for the first time, this series is taking a slight detour to review a few of the most popular desktop environments before reviewing some of the actual distros that use them.
Xfce is one of the oldest desktop environments (DE) available for Linux, but it is still going strong as a top contender for modern users.
In the previous entry in this series, we explained the role of DEs in the Linux world. Among those, Xfce is a unique offering that threads the line between functionality, stability, and performance, making it a popular choice in the Linux and Unix world.
Xfce’s History and Philosophy
Xfce was initially released in 1997, making it one of the oldest DEs in existence. Right from the start, Xfce had a focus on modularity, with each component performing its designed task very well.
That design philosophy has carried through to modern times, with Xfce eschewing KDE and Gnome’s approach, which consists of bundling a plethora of apps designed specifically by their respective teams and for their respective DEs. Instead, Xfce focuses on the desktop, leaving it to app developers to build out the majority of applications an individual may want to use.
Xfce’s bundled apps include interface elements, window manager, terminal emulator, file manager, file search utility, basic text editor, image viewer, media player, disk burner, screensaver utility, and not much else. The most basic needs are met, but users must look to third-party apps for anything else, giving Xfce a laser-like approach to the desktop.
Another way Xfce differs from other DEs, and especially Gnome, is that it doesn’t try to reinvent the user experience with each edition. Instead, it keeps with the tried and true desktop paradigm that made Windows and macOS so popular.
Xfce’s Stability and Performance
At the same time, Xfce development proceeds at a much slower pace than Gnome or KDE Plasma. Because Xfce’s developers aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, much of their focus is on refining what already works or adding support for new Linux technologies.
One major benefit of Xfce’s development pace is rock-solid stability and a bug-free experience. Compared to other DEs, Xfce is one of the most stable and trouble-free options available.
Another major benefit of Xfce is its performance. The DE dispenses with much of the eye candy and animations other desktops use, resulting in one of the best blends of performance and functionality of the various options.
Xfce’s Looks
One thing that turns many off from Xfce is its default looks. To be blunt…it’s very plain.
At the same time, Xfce can easily be customized to accomplish virtually anything the user wants. While it does not have quite the level of customization as KDE Plasma, it’s easily one of the most customizable DEs available and can accommodate a wide array of tastes and preferences.
Enso OS – Credit The Linux Experiment
Rating
Ultimately, Xfce is a solid DE that blends rock-solid stability with outstanding performance. While it may not have all the latest bells and whistles and fancy animations, it’s a solid performer that lets the user focus on work instead of babysitting the desktop.
Please note: Gnome is a desktop environment, not a Linux distribution (distro). However, for those just looking at Linux for the first time, this series is taking a slight detour to review a few of the most popular desktop environments before reviewing some of the actual distros that use them.
Gnome is the most popular desktop environment (DE) available for Linux, but it is easily the most controversial and the hardest to rate.
In the previous entry in this series, we explained the role of DEs in the Linux world. Among those, Gnome is a study in contradictions, simultaneously delighting and angering its user base.
Gnome’s Design Choices
Gnome is easily the most progressive DE among the top three. Gnome developers have never been afraid to reinvent the wheel or introduce sweeping changes to how their DE works.
In the early days of Gnome, the DE was fairly similar to comparable versions of Windows. Beginning with Gnome 3.x, however, the DE started radically changing as the developers tried to challenge the traditional desktop computing paradigm.
In its current incarnation, Gnome 43, the most popular Linux DE looks nothing like Windows and bears only a passing resemblance to macOS. Instead of desktop icons, always visible panels or docks, or anything else familiar to most computer users, Gnome has an “Activities” button in the upper left corner. Click on this, or tapping the Super (Windows) key, will reveal workspaces, the available applications, a search field, and a dock containing favorite applications at the bottom of the screen.
Unfortunately, a user must either activate the upper left corner or tap the Super key to access those common features, adding unnecessary steps to the workflow compared to other operating systems and desktops.
The Gnome developers have made it clear that their goal is for the desktop to get out of the user’s way and let them work. The approach is further emphasized by the inability to put folders, shortcuts, and icons on the desktop. The developers clearly want the DE to fade away, and keep the emphasis on whatever app or task the user is engaged with.
While this approach sounds good in theory, practically, it poses a slew of usability problems for many users. To be clear, and in all fairness, there are many users that acclimate to the default Gnome experience and grow to love it. At the same time, however, the fact that some of the most popular Linux distros include heavily customized versions of Gnome that bring back some of that basic functionality speaks to the many users who don’t agree with Gnome’s approach.
Gnome Developers
And that brings us to the Gnome developers. Any discussion of Gnome as a DE would be lacking without acknowledging that Gnome developers are someone “opinionated” about their views on the desktop computing paradigm. They are known for removing features, such as icons on the desktop, with little to no regard for how much their users may rely on that feature.
This ‘take it or leave it’ approach has also led to conflict with some distro makers who don’t appreciate features their users rely on suddenly disappearing.
Gnome Customization Options
Despite Gnome’s relative simplicity, there are ways to customize Gnome to an incredible degree via third-party extensions. Ubuntu, Pop OS, and Zorin OS are good examples of distros that use extensions to create a very customized Gnome experience.
Zorin OS shows what Gnome can be – Credit: The Linux Experiment
The use of extensions is not without issues, however. Each major Gnome edition breaks many of the available extensions, requiring updates from their developers to fix them.
As long as the extensions are working, however, Gnome can be customized to be one of the most powerful, intuitive, and capable DEs in existence.
Rating
Rating Gnome really requires two ratings: one for unmodified vanilla Gnome and one for a customized version that adds back all the features Gnome’s developers have removed.
Vanilla Gnome: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Modified Gnome, like Ubuntu, Pop OS, or Zorin OS: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Apple has joined the Blender Development Fund, to help support the popular open source 3D graphics software.
Blender is one of the most popular and successful open source 3D tools. The software is used in everything from video games to blockbuster movies. The Blender Foundation has announced that Apple has joined the Blender Development Fund.
The Blender Foundation, the organization behind the popular open source 3D creation tool “Blender”, today announced that Apple has joined the Blender Development Fund as a Patron Member to support continued core development for Blender.
Alongside a contribution to the Development Fund, Apple will provide engineering expertise and additional resources to the Blender HQ and development community to help support Blender artists and developers.
Google’s iOS apps will stop using the company’s Material Design interface elements, in favor of iOS’ native UIKit.
In a thread on Twitter, Jeff Verkoeyen, Google Design Lead for Apple platforms, explained that the company originally used its own Material Design libraries to fill gaps in Apple’s UIKit.
As UIKit has continued to evolve, however, maintaining code using Material Design has taken more time and effort, and led to Google’s apps drawing away from the look and feel of Apple’s iOS. The improvements to UIKit have also made much of Google’s reliance on Material Design unnecessary.
This year my team shifted the open source Material components libraries for iOS into maintenance mode. Why?
Microsoft is planning to implement a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows” in an effort to make the operating system (OS) more relevant than ever.
Once the undisputed champion of the OS market, Windows has increasingly become less important. Recent technological changes, such as mobile computing, cloud computing and virtualization, have almost made the end user’s OS the least important part of the equation.
In many ways, Microsoft has contributed to this trend. Under CEO Satya Nadella, the company is more focused on making its software available on virtually every platform — and ensuring that software provides the best possible experience. While this has helped transform Microsoft into a cloud behemoth, it has further lessened the importance of Windows.
Nonetheless, according to a job posting, Microsoft is looking to revamp Windows, and wants an engineer to help “build the future of Windows Experiences!” The company goes on to say that position will help “deliver experiences that ensure Windows is a great user experience for our customers.”
As The Verge points out, Microsoft has removed some of the original wording that hyped up the role even more, such as its goal of a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows.”
The Verge also quoted another segment of the original post that appears to have been removed as well:
On this team, you’ll work with our key platform, Surface, and OEM partners to orchestrate and deliver a sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows experiences to signal to our customers that Windows is BACK and ensure that Windows is considered the best user OS experience for customers.
Whatever the case, it appears Microsoft has some big plans for Windows in 2021.
Apple announced the release of macOS Big Sur for Thursday, November 12 during its ‘One More Thing‘ event. It’s a huge upgrade that millions of Mac users will want to download ASAP. You will know when it is available in your time zone by clicking the Apple logo in the upper left of your Mac, then clicking ‘About This Mac’ and then clicking ‘Software Update.’ If it still says your Mac is up to date… then macOS Big Sur has not yet been released in your time zone.
So just when will it be available? Mac Rumors provided their best time estimates based on past releases, which is typically 10 AM Pacific Time. We’ve added additional cities:
Using spatial reality to combine the virtual and physical world, Sony’s new Spatial Reality Display creates an incredible 3D optical experience that is viewable to the naked eye.
“It’s unlike any conventional display,” says Sony Product Designer So Morimoto. “It’s like you’re looking at the real thing. The Spatial Reality Display compared to other displays is amazing. Obviously, conventional 3D displays can show things in 3D, but this actually follows your eye movements, making it feel like a real object. I love that the display feels so natural to the human senses.”
For designers, this is a huge breakthrough says Sony Product Designer and Mechanical Engineer Tatsuhito Aono. “If we could share designs that are life-size with this kind of clarity, it would make things much smoother. We could get the planner, the designer, and everyone else on the same page, so I think efficiency would improve and so would the quality. It’s almost like you are looking at the same image side by side.
“I quickly realized that I’m seeing a whole new world here,” says Morimoto. “
https://youtu.be/HY2uI39-r9I
“Every single person I’ve seen observing this display is just like wow… I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Dan Phillips, Executive Producer for Emerging Technology at The Mill, a technology creative partner for agencies, production companies, and brands. “I mean you are literally looking at magic happen on the screen. At The Mill, we always take a brief and try to expand on it, whereas this is no kind of precedent.”
“We’ve all seen holographic effects but this is one that you can see with your own eyes in a very physical sense. It tracks your eyes and it’s just got this depth that is just pretty magical.”
“Seeing it was kind of mesmerizing and kind of mind-blowing,” says The Mill Creative Director Andrew Proctor. “You’re not designing a set frame but you’re giving a window. Look deeper, look further. You find yourself leaning around and seeing something.
https://youtu.be/lBnJ9PV6OMA
Here’s how it works according to Sony:
High-speed Vision Sensor – The SR Display is based on an innovative high-speed vision sensor that follows exact eye position in space, on vertical, horizontal, and depth axes simultaneously. The display monitors eye movement down to the millisecond while rendering the image instantaneously, based on the location and position of the viewer’s eyes. This allows creators to interact with their designs in a highly-realistic virtual, 3D environment, from any angle without glasses.
Real-time Rendering Algorithm – Additionally, the SR Display leverages an original processing algorithm to display content in real-time. This allows the stereoscopic image to appear as smooth as real life, even if the viewer moves around.
Micro Optical Lens – The micro optical lens is positioned precisely over the stunning 15.6 inches (diag.) LCD display1. This lens divides the image into the left and right eyes allowing for stereoscopic viewing with just the naked eye.
“The next decade looking ahead is going to be the Software Decade,” says Snowflake board member and Altimeter Capital partner Kevin Wang. “Trends of moving more software to the cloud are just persisting. Cloud has completely changed the way that software is built and run. Software itself is being completely transformed. If what you saw over the past decade was exciting I’m even more excited about the next decade.”
The past decade has been a prolific time for technology companies. When you look at what we are set up for in the next decade it’s good to pause right now to see what has happened during the pandemic. We’ve seen that software is an integral part of the global economy. During the pandemic, we’ve found that we couldn’t go through the pandemic without the tools that we have.
Stanford research shows that just during the month of May over two-thirds of US GDP was created in our homes alone. That’s just incredible. These trends of moving more software to the cloud are just persisting. The next decade looking ahead is going to be the Software Decade.
Software Itself Is Being Completely Transformed
When we take a step back we look at how these companies are set up for the next ten years. It’s easy to get focused on what might happen in the short run. These trends are so powerful that they are going to power these companies and adoption for several years. It’s true that the pandemic has accelerated and pulled forward a lot of that demand. But a lot of the trends and behaviors we see are going to persist. For example, people are talking over Zoom and that’s just changed the way we are going to work. We can give a lot of examples of how that’s going to persist over the long run.
Software itself is being completely transformed. If what you saw over the past decade was exciting I’m even more excited about the next decade. What you have to understand is that cloud has completely changed the way that software is built and run. As we know, as business are digitally transforming they themselves are building and running more software. When you think about how to do that cloud has changed that.
Historically, you always had to decide better, faster, cheaper. You could only pick one or two of them. Now you can do all three. When you look at Snowflake, for example, you used to have to manage a cloud data warehouse, and that was a lot of work for your database experts. You don’t have to do any of that anymore. Snowflake will manage all of that for you.
The Software Decade Is Now – Altimeter Capital partner Kevin Wang
“We have been thrust into remote work without a lot of the preparation and in some cases underlying infrastructure, data security, or underlying cloud platforms,” says Box CEO Aaron Levie. “What we’re finding, and certainly at least for the organizations that have had the ability to adapt successfully to this environment, is that there are better ways to get work done.”
Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, discusses how the pandemic has thrust companies into remote work and this will move enterprises toward a hybrid workplace:
We Have Been Thrust Into Remote Work
We have been thrust into remote work without a lot of the preparation and in some cases underlying infrastructure, data security, or underlying cloud platforms. What we’re finding, and certainly at least for the organizations that have had the ability to adapt successfully to this environment, is that there are better ways to get work done. Now that we’ve moved to this virtual way of working there are a lot of situations where we used to have to do business travel. Being able to quickly hop on a Webex or a Skype call or a Zoom session is actually much more efficient to be able to have that conversation.
We have a lot of situations that Box internally and with our customers where normally you might be collaborating with five or ten people in a meeting inside of a conference room. Now you can move that to a Slack channel and actually communicate with maybe 50 or 100 people on that same project. You’re actually building a much more inclusive organization with way more people that can be engaged and involved in your ultimate vision and what you’re executing on. We’re seeing actually some really positive ways of working in this environment.
The Future Is A Hybrid Workplace
Any tech company and any company globally really wants to get back to some version of normal. We certainly want offices to open up as quickly as possible. We want to make sure that we can see our colleagues in person. But I do think that there’s no going back from this new virtual way of being able to stay productive. The future is one of a hybrid workplace where you go into the office for some experiences and purposes and then you’re also going to be able to have much more flexibility and be able to work remotely. The digital workplace is what’s going to then bridge those two worlds together.
By and large, cost savings is not the main factor of why you’ve seen so much excitement around remote work or more workplace flexibility. If you can be just as productive from your laptop on a Slack channel and over a Zoom call but you could then be in any place that you desire as opposed to being in a 60 or 90-minute commute each way and paying way too much for real estate. For those of us that live in Silicon Valley, this is a very expensive real estate market. So if you could have better flexibility and be able to have a little bit more space and you can stay just as productive, wouldn’t that be a better way of working?
Lot’s Of Reasons Why Offices Will Still Exist
What companies are realizing is as they want to actually give that choice out to their employees. They can still run very productive organizations. We at Box have been able to drive as much innovation in this environment as we have in an office environment. We want to make sure that we’re creating that type of flexibility for employees. That being said, there are a lot of benefits to being able to work in an office with your colleagues.
For younger employees that are just integrating into the workplace for the first time you want to get to know your colleagues and you want to be able to be a part of maybe a more than just a business community. You may actually want to be able to build your business network through that experience. Also important is mentorship and being able to make sure that you’ve got more camaraderie. There are a lot of reasons why offices are still going to exist in the future. But digital technology is going to afford companies to have way greater flexibility no matter which route they choose.
“There are huge benefits to collaboration,” says Proofpoint CEO Gary Steele. “However, I do believe fundamentally that this work from home economy that we’re living in is going to change the face of work. You’re going to see a blend. Security leaders and organizations are going to need to figure out how do you defend people when they are sitting at home working from their couch just doing their job and doing it well?”
New AI/ML Innovations Block Bogus Emails
One of the big investments for us in this people-centric framework is to help organizations protect the data that people create. We’re giving companies more visibility and more controls to ensure that when you’re sitting in front of your couch and working from home that you’re not treating data in a way that’s going to ultimately hurt the company. For those individuals that are doing something malicious, we’re going to help companies find those malicious individuals.
We need to block (bogus emails that are supposedly from a trusted source) so that an individual doesn’t actually receive that message (in the first place). That is an impersonation. That’s how we’re applying new innovations in the AI/ML (artificial intelligence & machine learning) space to be able to identify those very sophisticated attacks and block them so that a poor user is not trying to figure out (if it is really) the CEO that asked me to do something that they shouldn’t do.
Proofpoint CEO Gary Steele: Working From Home Changes Face Of Work
Intel launched their 10nm Tiger Lake CPU today increasing product performance by 20 percent. “Our 10-nanometer process that our Tiger Lake product will run on today is a step function improvement from the 10-nanometer process we launched just last year,” says Intel CEO Bob Swan. “Its process will deliver 15 to 20 percent more performance in the products that we are launching. At the end of the day, product performance is what matters most to our customers.”
Bob Swan, CEO of Intel, discusses the launch of their 10nm Tiger Lake CPU which provides a significant improvement in product performance:
Product Performance Is What Matters
The PC is a more and more an essential ingredient of our everyday lives. Whether you are studying from home, working from home, and trying to stay connected from home, it’s just more important. The Tiger Lake product that we are launching today, in essence, addresses those activities that we are doing. Whether it’s content creation, inherent productivity, or connectivity, it addresses those key things that are becoming more relevant in terms of how we engage with our PC and how we engage with each other.
At the end of the day, product performance is what matters most to our customers. Under that umbrella, there are multiple things that have evolved over time. Process continues to be very important. Packaging becomes more relevant as we pull different technologies together. Software plays an increasingly important role. The technologies required to build a computer today are much different than they used to be. With Tiger Lake, it’s not just about the CPU or the microprocessor, it’s about the WiFi. Connectivity is so important, upgrading WiFi, and upgrading graphics capabilities, The nature of the PC today and how it’s evolved incorporates more technology. Where process continues to be important, it’s not relatively as important as it once was.
Tiger Lake Will Deliver 20 Percent More Performance
The naming convention over time has lost its relevance. It’s become less of a technical articulation of capabilities and a little bit more of a marketing articulation. Our 10-nanometer process that our Tiger Lake product will run on today is a step function improvement from the 10-nanometer process we launched just last year. Its process will deliver 15 to 20 percent more performance in the products that we are launching. It’s a very exciting time not just because of the Tiger Lake product (the CPU) but how we’ve coupled it with other technologies to address the most top of mind experiences with advanced processing technology that we refer to as SuperFin.
The relative importance of graphics and the role that it plays, not just in gaming but in communications today is so much higher. That’s why with this product launch the enhanced capabilities of our integrated graphics is a real big bump in overall performance. It’s also an increasingly relevant technology and capability in today’s PC. In essence, the use of the PC and what the graphics technology we’ve built into this product does is rising the role that the PC will play as it become more and more an essential ingredient in our everyday lives.
There Will Be Significant Demand For Tiger Lake
Over the last several years we’ve added $20 billion in revenue to the size of the company. From our PC, our internet of things, our communication, and from our cloud businesses, we’ve experienced dramatic growth. It was critical for us to keep pace in ensuring that we have the capacity and the supply to deal with that growth. We’ve made tremendous progress at the end of last year and through the first six months of this year getting that capacity in place.
For both 14-nanometer, which today is the lion’s share of the products we are shipping, but increasingly we are adding capacity. We expect there will be significant demand for the new product that we announced today but also the new products that we have coming in the second half of this year, particularly in the server Xeon chip.
https://youtu.be/PMAi5lXMkXA
Intel CEO Bob Swan: Tiger Lake Will Deliver 20% More Performance
Google’s open-source user interface (UI) framework (Flutter) has already hit the 2 million user milestone, just 16 months after release.
Flutter is an open-source framework designed to help developers create applications for a variety of platforms, including Android, Google Fuchsia, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows and the web. As a result, Flutter makes it easier for developers to create cross-platform apps. Frameworks like Flutter are becoming more and more popular as developers look to target a wider range of users without completely rewriting their code for each target platform.
According to Tim Sneath, Project Manager for Flutter and Dart, Google continues “to see fast growth in Flutter usage, with over two million developers having used Flutter in the sixteen months since we released. Despite these unprecedented circumstances, in March we saw 10% month-over-month growth, with nearly half a million developers now using Flutter each month.”
While 35% of users are in startups, some 26% are enterprise, 19% self-employed and 7% work in design agencies. Sneath says there are already 50,000 Flutter apps in the Play Store.
Creating a programming framework is never easy and many good ideas have fallen by the wayside. In contrast, it seems Google definitely has a hit on its hands.
Apple has just announced that its biggest event of the year, WWDC, will be online-only as a result of the coronavirus.
WWDC is Apple’s developers conference where the latest changes to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS are previewed, giving developers insight into what to expect in the coming year. It’s not uncommon for major hardware releases to make an appearance as well. In view of the coronavirus, however, this year’s event will be an online-only event.
“We are delivering WWDC 2020 this June in an innovative way to millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world. We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead.”
“With all of the new products and technologies we’ve been working on, WWDC 2020 is going to be big,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “I look forward to our developers getting their hands on the new code and interacting in entirely new ways with the Apple engineers building the technologies and frameworks that will shape the future across all Apple platforms.”
Apple is also committing $1 million to San Jose organizations to help compensate for revenue they would normally earn as a result of the venue bringing additional business to town.
“When people look at what’s happening with Amazon trying to get into their businesses, the need to transform is also front and center for every c-level executive,” says Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. “Given that Adobe’s been through our own transformation and has software they want to hear from us and they want to experience that same benefit that we have been able to see.”
When we talk about helping businesses transform we do every aspect of it. We help them create that experience and help them understand how to attract customers. That last mile of transacting with customers is so critical. Adobe was a company that actually innovated tremendously but we had a two-tier distribution channel. We have two businesses. We have the creative business and we have the enterprise business. If you look at what we’ve been able to accomplish in the long run and the two tailwinds that we have, we continue to be really optimistic about Adobe’s prospects.
When we completely moved to the cloud we recognized that every other company would go through what we did. Namely, how do you engage with your customers digitally? Do you understand how to acquire them and how do they use your software? I think sharing our learnings with other people gives us incredible credibility in the enterprise and we learn from these customers.
Creating a Real-Time Customer Profile is So Critical
In enterprise software, this third generation, which is all about customer experience management, I think it’s the companies who recognize that you have to partner with an entire ecosystem to create this real-time customer profile that’s absolutely so critical. That’s why our partnerships, whether they be with ServiceNow or Microsoft or the other cloud kings is so critical in enabling our customers to completely transform themselves.
What we have been able to do is create this real-time customer profile. People are really within an enterprise saying how do I create native applications? ServiceNow is clearly the leader in IT Service Management. What John (Donahoe) has done is truly special. I think partnering with them to enable IT professionals within an enterprise to use Adobe’s Customer Experience Management with ServiceNow’s IT Service Management, that was a natural.
The Need to Transform is Front and Center for Every C-Level Executive
Design and creativity have never been more important. Everything has a screen. So people are creating content, whether that’s a car, whether that’s a retail experience, whether it’s a basketball stadium. Adobe is the content provider that enables all of these screens to be delivered with incredible content. Given design is more important and given mobile devices are in every single place, that’s a tremendous tailwind.
Secondly, when people look at what’s happening with Amazon trying to get into their businesses, the need to transform is also front and center for every c-level executive. Given that Adobe’s been through our own transformation and has software they want to hear from us and they want to experience that same benefit that we have been able to see.
I’ve talked about how video is explosive. II think what Disney is doing both with their own service as well as with more control of Hulu is really saying people are consuming more and more content digitally. So providing the analytics for that, providing the digital rights management for that, the right ability to audience segment in terms of who you are attracting, a lot of that is what Adobe powers. This is not just for Disney but for frankly all the major media companies in the world.
Adobe Powering Big CPG Companies Through a Digital Transformation
The big CPG companies are going through the following question. They have sometimes hundreds of millions or billions of people using their products and they just don’t necessarily know who they are. Giving them that insight into how they create this incredible customer database, how they understand usage patterns, and how they understand what these people want. If we can provide that insight to companies then all the CPG companies can recognize that this direct relationship will enable them to innovate at a faster pace.
For example, what Unilever is trying to do is really say we have this tremendous distribution network but what they’ve tried to do even with Dollar Shave Club is really say, “How do we create an incredible customer database?” But the same thing is happening across Colgate or Procter & Gamble. We are partnering very heavily with Unilever as they embark on this digital transformation and understanding customer patterns and customer sentiments across the world.
The Need to Transform is Front and Center for Every C-Level Executive, Says Adobe CEO
“We’re going to reach a point where you won’t be able to tell the difference between what’s created in the computer and what’s real,” says Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. “That doesn’t mean we’ll do it for all of our games. This promise of taking certain titles, like basketball, and making it truly look like live-action is pretty close now. Squint a little bit and it looks like live-action (even now). That’s really exciting and that gives our creative folks a new canvas on which to paint.”
Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, the company behind such games as Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, and NBA 2K, discusses the future of gaming in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:
Eventually, You Won’t Know What’s Real or Not in Computer Games
We have a new console generation coming and that’s going to allow us to do some things that we haven’t been able to do before creatively. That’s exciting. But as I’ve said before, we’re going to reach a point where you won’t be able to tell the difference between what’s created in the computer and what’s real. That doesn’t mean we’ll do it for all of our games. Borderlands, for example, is an animated universe and it’s always going to be an animated universe.
But this promise of taking certain titles, like basketball and making it truly look like live-action is pretty close now. Squint a little bit and it looks like live-action. That’s really exciting and that gives our creative folks a new canvas on which to paint.
Our Strategy Is To Make the Best Entertainment
We’re incredibly grateful to our creative teams and they keep delivering. The reason they deliver is that our strategy is to make the best entertainment. We are focused on being the most creative, the most efficient, and the most innovative company in the entertainment business. We don’t always succeed but that’s what we aim to do every day. We’re really happy with how NBA 2K is doing and by the way, we’re happy with how (our competitor) Fortnite is doing. Hits are good for the marketplace.
NBA 2K19 has now sold 12 million units and recurrent consumer spending was up 140 percent in the quarter. It is extraordinary. It used to be about a three-month experience. It’s now a nine or ten-month experience. Our goal is to make that a 12-month experience. It never ends, it just gets better and better. In China, we have our online games. So NBA 2K online in China we launched the second iteration and that title is up 75 percent year-over-year. We have 46 million registered users. It remains the number one PC Sports title in China.
We’re still saying there are 110 million users for Grand Theft Auto. But you should know, in the past six months, five out of those six months it’s been a top ten title. And Grand Theft Auto Online set a new record in the first quarter. That’s before the launch of Casino Pack which is huge. Rockstar Games has done an amazing job and Social Casino is a big part of the interactive entertainment business. It’s great to be in the social casino business now through Red Ded Online and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Give An Audience Something That’s Fantastic And They Show Up
The conventional wisdom before the launch of the first Red Dead Redemption was westerns don’t work in interactive entertainment. Truth is if you give an audience something that’s unexpected and fantastic they show up for it. Red Dead Redemption 2 has now sold 25 million units. Very few titles can rise to the level of Rockstar Games titles. and if Borderlands 3 became close to Red Dead Redemption 2, we’d be just thrilled.
The truth is that Borderlands 3, coming out in September, is shaping up to be a massive title. The catalog has been selling great. The margins are high and consumers are really loving it. A concern that we had is that it’s been almost eight years since Borderlands 2 and you wonder whether you know consumers see that as a fresh title. The buzz is saying absolutely yes.
It’s Disrespectful To Point the Finger At Entertainment
This is a terrible and tragedy a senseless tragedy. It’s fun to talk about entertainment but lives were we’re lost. The truth is it’s disrespectful to the victims and the families to point the finger at entertainment. Entertainment is part of people’s daily joy. It’s consumed worldwide and it’s the same worldwide. However, gun violence is uniquely American. That has to change and that will only change if we address the real issues.
Eventually, You Won’t Know What’s Real or Not in Computer Games – Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two
He made a name for himself as THE Apple design guru, bringing to life such iconic designs as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad yet, as with all good things, Jony Ive’s time at Apple has drawn to a close.
Ive had been with Apple since 1992 and began leading the design team in 1996. Upon Steve Jobs’ return to the company in 1997, the two began what would be one of the most creative partnerships in tech history.
“If I had a spiritual partner at Apple, it’s Jony. Jony and I think up most of the products together and then pull others in and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ He gets the picture as well as the most infinitesimal details about each product. And he understands that Apple is a product company. He’s not just a designer. That’s why he works directly for me. He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me.”
After Jobs died in 2011, Ive continued to be the dominant force behind Apple’s designs for several years. In June 2019, however, it was announced that Ive would be leaving the company to start his own design firm, LoveForm. The firm would continue to work with Apple, with Ive’s former employer being his new company’s primary client.
In an indication that his departure is now complete, Ive has been removed from Apple’s leadership page, marking an end to an incredible era at Apple. Here’s to hoping the company continues to build on Ive’s brilliance long after he’s gone.
