Home / Blog / Tech Talk Thursday: May Announcements Worth Noting

Tech Talk Thursday: May Announcements Worth Noting

Tech Talk Thursday: May Announcements Worth Noting

New chips, tackling phone addiction, AI and open source issues were the highlights of this month’s announcements. Here are the six announcements in May with the greatest business impact.

Top Tech Announcements for May

7-Nanometer Processor will be in new iPhones

The 7nm processor chip has already started mass production, is smaller, faster and more efficient then Apple’s current 10nm processor.

Business Impact: It is expected this processor will give Apple a leg up on their smartphone competitors who are not mass producing their 7nm chip yet. This processor will allow for longer battery life and better performance of the three new iPhones expected to be announced this fall.

Android P Tackles Phone Addiction and AI

This next version of Android’s OS will show users how often, when and how long they used each application on their phone. In addition, the user can set time limits on each. It will also have a wind-down feature that will remind users when they are nearing their bedtime.

Through their collaboration with DeepMind, the new Android P will have two features:

  • Adaptive Battery which is a smart management system that uses machine learning to anticipate which apps the user needs next, thus providing a more reliable battery experience.
  • Adaptive Brightness, a personalized experience for screen brightness, built on algorithms that learn your brightness preferences in different surroundings.

Business Impact: These new OS features address the growing social concern about phone addiction. By setting time limits, workers can put away their phones after an allotted time. Look for more AI features to be integrated in Android P that will anticipate what the user needs based on their phone use history.

A Line of Surface Tablets Announced

Microsoft is releasing tablets with 10-inch screens, rounded edges and USB-C connectivity. They will be 20% lighter than current Surface Pros.

Business Impact: This line is targeted to schools that are highly integrated with Google Chromebooks. This price-competitive alternative offers schools a touch screen option in a smaller footprint.

OpenShift Comes to Azure

OpenShift on Azure will be jointly engineered, operated, and supported by both Red Hat and Microsoft. As a fully managed service, it will be kept up-to-date, with a single unified bill, integrated support experience, and in all respects a native Azure service.

A developer can build, deploy, and scale in Azure while delivering as a hosted service and support by Red Hat. This allows for an open sourced container application platform.

Business Impact: This announcement reassures IT departments that Red Hat and Microsoft are united as organizations move toward cloud transformation. Having this managed system will free up IT personnel to focus on containerized application development instead of billing and support issues.

Open Source Has its Vulnerabilities

The 2018 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis Report details new concerns about open sourced components. This report was drawn from more than 1,100 commercial code audits. More than 4,800 vulnerabilities were reported in 2017, which was a 134% increase over the year before.

Business Impact: While many organizations enjoy the benefits of using applications developed on open sourced platforms (i.e. Linux, WordPress, Umbraco), there must be cybersecurity procedures and monitoring in place to detect vulnerabilities and address them immediately.

WhiteSource Announces Open Source Security Detector

Launching the next-generation Software Composition Analysis (SCA) technology that prioritizes security alerts, WhiteSource will reduce open source vulnerabilities by 70 percent.

Business Impact: Since many organizations prefer open sourced applications, this announcement allows them to use the platform they desire, all the while feeling confident in the identification and correction of security vulnerabilities on a proactive basis.

Brought to You by Hartford Technology Rental

We maintain a large portfolio of the latest in rental technology, backed by an extraordinary team that is available 24/7. Hartford Technology Rental services every city nationwide with distribution centers in Chicago, Washington DC, NYC and LA.