Intel Shows Off IoT, Wire-Free Computing Tech at Computex

Today’s topics include new technologies from Intel, the end of Yahoo Maps, updates from Dropbox and new Canadian data centers from Microsoft.

Intel officials went to the Computex 2015 show last week armed with an array of new and improved technologies that touched on everything from collaboration and interconnects to the Internet of things.

A lot of the publicity coming out of the show for Intel centered around processors. Its new Core processors were aimed at such users as gamers and creators, bringing greater media and graphics performance into increasingly smaller systems.

The company also announced that its Thunderbolt technology, which connects Windows PCs and Apple Macs to displays, docks and such peripherals as external storage systems and USB devices, will use the same kind of connector as USB 3.1.

Nearly three years into Yahoo’s reinvention under CEO Marissa Mayer, the company is shuttering some services including Maps. In a second-quarter progress report posted on Tumblr on June 4, chief architect Amotz Maimon announced that Yahoo is closing down its Maps site at the end of June.

Maimon added that Maps will continue to be supported in Yahoo search and on several other Yahoo properties, including Flickr.

Dropbox released a handful of updates to its enterprise cloud file-storage and -sharing platform, allowing businesses to better incorporate the service into their data security and user management environments.

Rob Baesman, head of product for Dropbox for Business, stated that the company is releasing a number of key features across three areas that hit at the heart of IT: security, administrative control and seamless integration.

Microsoft is opening two new Azure data centers in Canada, the company announced last week. The massive cloud computing facilities are set to open in Toronto and Quebec City in 2016.

Quentin Kong, vice president of marketing and business development for IT services provider Softchoice, stated that with the new data centers, one potential obstacle has been removed for his company’s customers, referencing the concerns that security-conscious firms and agencies have over entrusting their sensitive and private data to U.S.-based data centers.

Data privacy concerns aside, the new data centers will help set Microsoft’s Canadian customers “on a path to having a broad global footprint,” Kong said.