In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about how Walmart is making the move to compete with Amazon Prime, and with Brexit in the air, how that is proving to be a positive for the only English speaking country remaining in the EU. In closing the show, we are excited to introduce Rumbles in Wind, a new feature to give you a snap shot of some hot snippets from the tech world this week.

Brexit – a positive for Ireland

Brexit has made headlines around the world and the ripple effect from the fallout between the UK and Europe is causing many Canadian businesses a great headache. The UK has been the ideal country to set up shop to reach the entire Europe as part of the EU, but with this vote to leave the EU, many businesses are now looking for another country to work from.

One country that seems to be coming out on top is Ireland. As the only remaining English-speaking country in the EU, Ireland has already made some significant advances by housing Google, Facebook, Twitter, Slack and other notable tech companies. Many already have their European headquarters in Dublin, close to the city’s so-called Silicon Docks, which lies near a neighborhood dubbed “Googletown” because of Google's vast campus there.

In Ireland, Google employs about 6,000 people, Apple about 5,500, Dell about 2,500, and Microsoft another 2,000. Tech companies collectively employ more than 80,000 people in Ireland. So, with the divorce between London and Brussels, Dublin now has the chance to be a winner and stands to benefit from this breakaway.

But what is really attracting tech companies to Ireland is the young, English-speaking, tech-savvy population of 4.6 million people. Added to that is the fact that Ireland offers the lowest corporate tax in Western Europe.

At this time we don’t know what deal the UK will reach with the EU through its exit negotiations. But with immigration being such an important issue with the Leave campaign, it means that tech companies based in the UK may be forced to navigate a work permit system for employees outside of the UK. But this is not an issue for Ireland, which will continue to allow European talent to base itself there, and still being able to access skills from Europe.

The UK has pledged to rewrite all it’s trade and ally agreements that it currently has as a part of the EU, but this will take a great deal of time, perhaps time that tech companies won’t be willing to wait around for.

So is Dublin the right choice? It looks that way. Over the next few months we will get a clearer picture of what this means for North American based businesses in the UK and what their options really are. But one thing that we can point to is that Ireland will weigh heavily in the decision making process.

 

ShippingPass from Walmart

Fast, free shipping is something that we’ve come to expect and Amazon does an incredible job with its Prime service, whereby most items ordered from Amazon arrive within 2 business days.

But it seems that Walmart wants to follow suit by announcing it will begin testing a FREE shipping service within the US. ShippingPass is the new subscription service program by Walmart that offers an unlimited 2-day free shipping for one year with no minimum order.

Walmart.com is offering this service in the US. At this time Walmart is inviting people to sign up for a free, 30-day pilot program for the new service. The retail giant’s new service will compete with the Amazon Prime Service, which costs $99 a year. Walmart says the free shipping might cost only $49 after the free, 30-day trial.

What if you want to return an item? Customers can return or exchange any item by sending it back at no additional cost. They can also take it back to a local Walmart.

According to Walmart.com it does not matter how small the order is or how far it needs to go, with ShippingPass you have unlimited nationwide shipping. More than 1 million products are expected to be available for free delivery in three or fewer days. “Bestselling products” will be the primary items available through the service with categories like baby, clothing, electronics and health and beauty.

Some experts believe that online shoppers may be looking for the cheapest shipping solution — not necessarily the fastest. This was highlighted in a 2013 survey of online shoppers, which was cited by the Wall Street Journal. It showed that 92 per cent of online shoppers were willing to wait four or more days for free delivery.

The survey also found that respondents choose the most economical shipping option 75 per cent of the time, and the fastest option 1 per cent of the time.

With more companies looking to get into a paid premium membership for shipping we can see that with competition the rates will become more affordable. At this time it is not clear if Walmart will bring this service to Canada but one can get a sense that if this is successful in the US, it won’t be long before it is introduced in other countries around the world.

But doesn’t it strike you as odd that there would be such a price difference between Walmart’s version and Amazon’s? Amazon has been around for a long time, and sure they would have figured out exactly how much they would need to charge in order to provide a reliable and consistent service. But I am a little sceptical about how Walmart actually does in its execution as compared to the already established online retail giant Amazon.

Rumbles in the Wind

Rumbles in the Wind is concise digest of hot news that popped up this past week, that we feel is either notable, or would be interesting to you, the listener.

This will include rumours out of Silicon Valley, future technology, along with fun facts, figures, and statistics from our tech world.

We are also looking to engage with you the listener more through this part of our show. We want to recruit you to submit story ideas and suggestions for Rumbles In the Wind.

So today on “Rumbles in the Wind” we have 5 hot stories to share with you.
No. 5
Turtle Beach announced that they made a breakthrough with speakers - get this - glass-based speakers. The speakers, which are called HyperSound Glass, are comprised of many layers of transparent materials and film allowing it to "generate a beam of ultrasound".
Ultrasound beams are mostly soundless, unless you're one of the targeted listeners, making the HyperSound Glass a highly directional and very thin speaker. Right now these speakers are still in the early prototype phase, which means it'll be some time before you'll be able to replace your Bose speakers. But imagine replacing your windows with glass-based speakers in your office or throughout your home. Well now, that’s, something I can’t wait to get.

No. 4
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is writing a book, titled Hit Refresh. This is not a typical book from a business leader. Hit Refresh, according to Satya, "is not a 'how to succeed' book, nor is it a memoir." So what will be about? Are you ready for this? According to the publishing company it is going to be on transformation and this is what Satya is doing at Microsoft – transforming the company to focus on the future. Hit Refresh, is scheduled for a fall 2017 release through Harper Business. So that’s certainly something to look forward to.

No. 3
BMW is set to announce an alliance to develop self-driving cars. This is not really new, news but what is cool about this is that the partnership with Mobileye and Intel is to give computer-driven vehicles better reflexes without driver input that is expected to be in place by the early 2020s.
Mobileye supplies camera-based sensor systems that are used for changing lanes and to detect other cars or pedestrians. This technology is expected to evolve to include mapping and automated decision-making features in the near future.

No. 2

Do you use Norton Antivirus? Well listen up, this one’s for you! Google has called security flaws in the Symantec application “as bad as it gets” and that it left users of Norton Antivirus and 360 vulnerable to “devastating consequences”. This apparently has now been fixed according to Symantec.

The flaws would have allowed infection of computers via the simple sending of an email. While many infections start with a clink on a link, a Norton user could suffer an attack from a computer worm without clicking anything. Just emailing a file to a victim or sending them a link is enough to trigger it – the victim does not need to open the file or interact with it in any way. Because no interaction is necessary to exploit it, this had potentially “devastating consequences” to Norton and Symantec customers.

For users of Symantec computer-security products you can now breathe a lot easier as this was apparently fixed last Wednesday.

No. 1

What if in the future you can have a jet in your backyard that takes off vertically? It would make travelling so much easier even though there may not be any room for the pool anymore.

Is this possible? Well, according to the company XTI Aircraft, their TriFan 600
is a personal jet that could change the way people travel by taking off and landing vertically. Remember the Jetsons?

This jet is equipped with three ducted fans that allow it to lift off and land vertically. Once it's in the air, the jet's ducted fans rotate forward so it can cruise just like any other plane.
What is neat is that it takes only 11 minutes to reach its maximum altitude of 35,000 feet and once airborne, it can cruise at a top speed of 390 miles per hour.
This idea is to save hundreds of hours a year that a person would otherwise spend traveling to airports or on the ground according to David Brody, founder and chairman of XTI Aircraft.
Unfortunately, sorry, I got your hopes up so quickly; the TriFan 600 isn't a reality just yet. The first prototype will fly in two years, with the aim to release its production model five years after that test flight.
So if you are interested in buying one of these, now is a good time to start your TriFan fund because it is going to cost you about $10 to $12 million dollars to fly like the Jetsons. On second thought, it might just be cheaper to put in that pool in instead.

Well we hope you’ve enjoyed this first instalment of Rumbles in the Wind, and we’d like to get your feedback and suggestions. Send us a tweet @WRLWND, or include the #RumblesInTheWindWND in your tweet. We look forward to what you come up with.

Thanks for listening.