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Today’s topics include Microsoft’s debut of Outlook for HoloLens, IBM’s launch of its Data Science Experience application, Verizon’s latest bid for Yahoo’s Web business and T-Mobile’s commencement of its customer thanks initiatives.
Microsoft has released its first “holographic” email and calendar apps for HoloLens, the company’s Windows 10-powered augmented-reality headset. The device, currently available to developers with $3,000 to spare, can run applications that overlay 3D objects on a user’s physical environment. Now, with the new Outlook Mail and Calendar apps for HoloLens, users can splash their inboxes and event calendars on a wall or other surface.
IBM has launched a new application for Apache Spark called the Data Science Experience, which the company is referring to as the first enterprise application for Apache Spark.
In an interview with eWEEK, Ritika Gunnar, vice president of Offering Management for IBM Analytics, described the new IBM Data Science Experience as a cloud-based development environment for real-time, high-performance analytics that gives data scientists and developers the ability to access and ingest vast amounts of data and deliver new business insights. IBM made the announcement at Spark Summit 2016 in San Francisco.
Verizon’s pursuit of Yahoo’s 1 billion Internet users continues with a $3 billion bid for Yahoo’s Web business in a second round of bidding as the search company looks to sell off some of its assets to streamline its operations. The latest Verizon bid, disclosed by an unnamed person who is familiar with the bidding, was reported June 6 by The Wall Street Journal.
“Yahoo is expected to hold at least one more cycle of bidding, and the offers could change by the final round,” the story continued.
In April, Verizon was named as a very interested bidder for Yahoo, as other potential bidders, including AT&T and Comcast, dropped out of the competition, according to an earlier eWEEK story.
T-Mobile has launched its latest Un-carrier event, which it calls “Stock Up,” to offer a free full share of the carrier’s common stock to all existing and new customers to thank them for their business. Customers also have the potential to earn up to 100 free stock shares a year by recommending the company to friends and family members.
T-Mobile unveiled the Stock-Up Un-carrier event on June 6 in a nationwide online simulcast, along with several other Un-carrier 11 benefits. The company’s Un-carrier initiatives, which it has been unveiling for several years, are designed to show customers that T-Mobile is not a stodgy mobile carrier, which is how the company identifies its key competitors—AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.