PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.
Intel targets esports market with new 18-core processor
Intel has made no secret of its desire to be at the forefront of the ever-growing esports market. Hell, the firm even runs the Extreme Masters (IEM) tour – which it has for over a decade now – and sponsors a whole bunch of teams. The company has been equally as hot on the hardware side and has built on that with its just-announced Core X-series.
At last year’s Computex Intel launched its first 10-core consumer CPU, and now (as if that wasn’t already enough) the new top-end i9-7980XE sports 18-cores and is the first Intel consumer chip to pack in over a teraflop of computing power.
How Walmart’s VR training could revolutionise retail
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and parent company of Asda, has announced that it is to bring in virtual reality to help train employees on topics like management and customer service.
The company will deploy VR instruction at all 200 of its ‘Walmart Academy’ training centres in the US before the end of 2017. These will help educate the 150,000 employees that go through the programme each year. Each centre will be equipped with an Oculus Rift VR headset and gaming PC to showcase a collection of VR training content.
The rise of A.I. will create as many jobs as it displaces
The rise of automated intelligent devices and machine-learning will create as many jobs as it displaces. That is according to Aaron Levie, the co-founder and CEO of Box. After reporting that his software company had recorded better than expected figures, Levie went on to discuss the future of A.I as he saw it.
Discussing many analysts fears that A.I will lead towards ‘the end of work’, as we know it, Levie was positive about the future job market. "It’s a big question in general," he said. "As it relates to our products, specifically, we don’t get it as much. In general I’m an extreme optimist around A.I.
"The things that go away, from a job standpoint, we are going to have a commensurate, or more substantial, development of things that come after that, with A.I. There is going to be a great deal more opportunity. Right now, people see more of what goes away with A.I., and fewer of the things that it creates in the way of new opportunities. But, whether it’s healthcare or banking and financial services, there are so many growth areas where products and services will be delivered more efficiently, which will create brand new opportunities."
Amazon $1,000 share price reflects booming investment in technology market
Shares in online retail giant Amazon have risen above the $1,000 mark for the first time. Amazon has become the second S&P 500 component to hit the $1,000 price mark, with Google parent company Alphabet likely to also reach the milestone in the coming weeks. Priceline became the first company to reach the $1,000 mark in September 2013.
Market analysts have been quick to say that Amazon’s success is reflective of a massive rally in large-cap technology-related stocks. Shares of Amazon have indeed risen 33 per cent so far in 2017 alone, adding roughly $120 billion to its market value. And analysts expect further growth, with stock prices, on average, expected to rise another 10 per cent.
Toshiba increasingly likely to lose listed status as it fails to present audited yearly results
Toshiba’s year keeps going from bad to worse. While the company is now unlikely to go bust (a slim silver lining to some very dark clouds), the Japanese conglomerate is at serious risk of losing its listed status.
Earlier today, the company told shareholders that it would be unable to present them with audited annual business results for the fiscal year ended March, at its general shareholders meeting on June 28. However, the firm is still working around the clock with the independent auditor to file its securities report by the legally specified deadline of June 30. If it fails to meet the end of June deadline without a pre-approved deadline extension then Toshiba’s bourse listing would be put into further jeopardy.
