Weekly News Digest #3

A week in retrospect…

Have you ever dreamt of becoming a bestselling author? Well, get that manuscript ready, because it’s never been easier.

You just need to send a memo to your 48,000 employees encouraging them to buy your book and expense it as business material. At least that’s what Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff did. Hey — At any rate, they donated the profits to charity. Or so they say.

On a way more serious note….

The coronavirus keeps making headlines as fear of a pandemic spreads across the globe. Sadly, the death toll continues to rise, and many countries are activating their lockdown and quarantine protocols. The good news is that scientists around the world are racing to create a vaccine. Their focus? A protein responsible for identifying entry points into a cell. But the tech silver lining to this story is that the Canadian AI firm BlueDot was the first to detect the outbreak. Solid evidence of how AI can help humanity in so many critical ways.

Last but not least. Let’s talk about the UK for a second…

Remember last week’s story about the EU considering a 5-year ban on facial recognition technology? Well, the UK just went and did the opposite. It’s almost February, and Brexit is in the air.

I’d say we’re actually experiencing somewhat of a repeat of the days before the referendum. Trump and Nigel Farage are again teaming up, this time to stop the British government from allowing Huawei to build part of its 5G network. Oh, well. Too late — Or maybe not? Ironically, this is all unfolding at the same time that the UK has announced a very comprehensive set of IoT security regulations to protect connected devices and spur innovation.