Marketplace Tech

For the past year, we’ve been talking about how to adapt to climate change and how the tech industry can help. But here’s the part, even on a tech show, where we acknowledge that climate change isn’t just about tech solutions or whiz-bang inventions. In fact, like the pandemic, climate change is a problem that reflects and exposes a lot of things about our society. Molly Wood speaks with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson, who co-edited a book called “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.” It features poems, essays and other works of art by women working on climate issues.

For the past year, we’ve been talking about how to adapt to climate change and how the tech industry can help. But here’s the part, even on a tech show, where we acknowledge that climate change isn’t just about tech solutions or whiz-bang inventions. In fact, like the pandemic, climate change is a problem that reflects and exposes a lot of things about our society. Molly Wood speaks with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson, who co-edited a book called “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.” It features poems, essays and other works of art by women working on climate issues.

The startup Luminar makes LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging technology,  which helps autonomous cars see the world around them. Now, Luminar is going public. It plans to enable autonomous driving on highwaysby 2022. It’s kind of like what Tesla promises with Autopilot, except less human intervention required. Molly Wood speaks with Austin Russell, CEO and founder of Luminar.

The startup Luminar makes LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging technology,  which helps autonomous cars see the world around them. Now, Luminar is going public. It plans to enable autonomous driving on highwaysby 2022. It’s kind of like what Tesla promises with Autopilot, except less human intervention required. Molly Wood speaks with Austin Russell, CEO and founder of Luminar.

It’s not only teaching that’s happening remotely for millions of students — it’s testing, too. And many colleges are using software to watch students take those tests. Big providers include Respondus, ProctorU and Proctorio. Some of them use webcams to track how often students move their heads or eyes or touch the keyboard. Anything out of the ordinary is flagged for teachers to review. Amy Scott speaks with Todd Feathers, who recently co-wrote a piece about a “rebellion” against this kind of surveillance for Motherboard. One concern: false positives.

It’s not only teaching that’s happening remotely for millions of students — it’s testing, too. And many colleges are using software to watch students take those tests. Big providers include Respondus, ProctorU and Proctorio. Some of them use webcams to track how often students move their heads or eyes or touch the keyboard. Anything out of the ordinary is flagged for teachers to review. Amy Scott speaks with Todd Feathers, who recently co-wrote a piece about a “rebellion” against this kind of surveillance for Motherboard. One concern: false positives.

Facebook said this week it’s taken down several networks of fake accounts to guard against meddling in the U.S. election, the latest crop tied to Russian intelligence services. The company says those accounts on Facebook and Instagram could have been used to leak hacked documents. It also removed several inauthentic Chinese accounts that in some cases shared material related to President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Amy Scott speaks with Sarah Frier, a reporter for Bloomberg, who’s been following developments.

Facebook said this week it’s taken down several networks of fake accounts to guard against meddling in the U.S. election, the latest crop tied to Russian intelligence services. The company says those accounts on Facebook and Instagram could have been used to leak hacked documents. It also removed several inauthentic Chinese accounts that in some cases shared material related to President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Amy Scott speaks with Sarah Frier, a reporter for Bloomberg, who’s been following developments.

Details of the proposed deal for Walmart and Oracle to take a stake in Chinese company TikTok are still unfolding. But what is clear is that part of what’s in it for Oracle would be a new customer for its cloud computing business. The company has just under 3% of the global cloud computing market, according to research firm Gartner. Compare that with Amazon Web Services, or AWS, at 45%. The next biggest provider is Microsoft, with an 18% share. Amy Scott speaks about cloud competition with Eric Norlin, a venture capitalist with SK Ventures. He says nabbing TikTok is part of a bigger strategy.

Details of the proposed deal for Walmart and Oracle to take a stake in Chinese company TikTok are still unfolding. But what is clear is that part of what’s in it for Oracle would be a new customer for its cloud computing business. The company has just under 3% of the global cloud computing market, according to research firm Gartner. Compare that with Amazon Web Services, or AWS, at 45%. The next biggest provider is Microsoft, with an 18% share. Amy Scott speaks about cloud competition with Eric Norlin, a venture capitalist with SK Ventures. He says nabbing TikTok is part of a bigger strategy.