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On Monday, BlackBerry moved its BBM Enterprise SDK out of beta and is now offering the service to Android and iOS apps, according to VentureBeat.

Developers can use the SDK as a messaging infrastructure, allowing them to focus on building additional parts into their apps. The announcement is in line with BlackBerry’s recent services focus. The company’s turbulent relationship with hardware has forced it to shift focus to software and services over the past 18 months. 

BlackBerry is leveraging its messaging app experience, from BBM, to give it an edge over rival enterprise communications companies, such as Twilio. BBM was once the crown jewel of the BlackBerry ecosystem, supporting a wide range of features including read receipts, file sharing, and message editing, as well as voice and video chat. The chat app has been touted as one of BlackBerry’s stickiest offerings.

Moreover, BBM’s strong ties to security could make it an appealing option for businesses. Encryption and cybersecurity continue to be hot topics in the enterprise, particularly as messaging becomes an increasingly important mode of communication, both between businesses and businesses, and businesses and customers. For example, Tundra Core Studios used the BBM SDK to build a messaging function into its app, something possible only due to BlackBerry’s stringent security features, VentureBeat notes.

Cloud computing — on-demand, internet-based computing services — has been successfully applied to many computing functions in recent years. From consumer-facing, web-based productivity apps like Google Docs to enterprise database management suites, the tools businesses rely on are increasingly moving to the cloud.

But developing a cloud strategy is no easy task. Public cloud solutions will likely come to dominate the market over the next decade, but business constraints, such as security concerns and the limitations of existing infrastructure, make it difficult for companies to fully adopt the public cloud right now.

That means that hybrid clouds, in which multiple cloud implementations (including public and private) are connected, will remain popular for the time being, at least until these constraints are addressed. The tech giants that dominate the IaaS market — Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, and Google — are constantly expanding their offerings to address current business constraints as they compete for market share.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on cloud computing that:

• Explains the different cloud computing strategies and benefits of cloud computing.
• Evaluates key business considerations – security needs, demand predictability, existing infrastructure, and maintenance capabilities – for enterprises choosing between cloud implementations.
• Provides and outlook for trends and major players in the cloud computing market.

To get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

You can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.

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Amazon has released the Dash Wand, a new Alexa-enabled device that can help you scan grocery barcodes, convert measurements, and order household essentials from Amazon just by using your voice. The Wi-Fi-enabled Dash Wand is magnetic, so you can stick it on your fridge, and also offers some of the features of its bigger Echo sibling, allowing you to find recipes and restaurants without using your hands.

At a few inches long, and made out of white and black plastic, the Dash Wand looks like a refreshed version of the company’s original Dash devices. First released in 2014, those Dash also let you scan item barcodes or use voice controls to add products to your shopping cart, but forced you to check out via Amazon’s site. They also had no...

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Amazon is one of several tech companies interested in acquiring the Slack chat platform, according to a Bloomberg report that cites people familiar with the situation.

Slack's business messaging service has been widely adopted by companies worldwide since it launched in 2013 including the likes of Airbnb, Harvard University, Samsung, and BuzzFeed.

Investors have backed the platform with around $540 million (£423 million), with the company raising $200 million (£157 million) of that last April.

An acquisition deal could value Slack at over $9 billion (£7 billion), Bloomberg's sources reportedly said, adding that Slack may not accept any of the offers.

Amazon became famous for its ecommerce platform but the company is expanding into an increasing number of fields, from food delivery to cloud storage.

Of the so-called "big five" tech companies in the US, Amazon is the only one without a messaging platform. Apple has iMessage, Facebook has Messenger, Microsoft has Outlook and Teams, and Google has Hangouts.

Slack is free to download and use but it charges companies per user when they want access to special features, such as access to an unlimited communication history, support, and statistics.

The company reportedly has around 5 million daily active users, with 1.5 million of those paying for the service.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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NOW WATCH: These size comparisons show the true scale of enormous things

Microsoft unveiled a radical redesign for Skype earlier this month, with a new look that has Snapchat-like features. While the company has overhauled its Skype apps, there’s also a new Skype logo that ditches the fluffy cloud aspects of the past. Brand New has a closer look at the new logo, and a comparison to the old one that everyone knows.

Skype has been using part of this logo for a while, but it appears the broader word mark is now moving to Microsoft’s corporate typeface. It’s much more consistent with Microsoft’s other software and services like Office, and likely reflects the company’s move to position Skype as business communications software.

Microsoft's latest Skype update includes a new Highlights feature that lets users...

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Don't overlook the appeal of a well-designed car key.

Keys have come a long way since the classic turn key I used to unlock my 1997 Subaru Forester.

Some automakers have ditched the classic key altogether for high-tech fobs, while others are giving classic keys an aesthetic upgrade.

Here are some of our favorites:

Business Insider's Aaron Brown wrote a previous version of this article.

SEE ALSO: 17 stunning roads in the US you should drive before you die

The BMW 7-series' key has a full-color touch screen.

It's only suiting that a car as high-tech as the BMW 7-series would come with a key fob to match it.

It comes with four buttons to lock and unlock the car, pop open the trunk, and panic. But it also comes with a full-color 2.2-inch touch screen that lets you swipe to see information like whether all the doors are locked and your current fuel range.

You can also use the key to control the climate in the car and toggle the lights. But by far the coolest part is that you can use it to park the car remotely.

Tesla's Model S key can be used to summon the car.

Tesla's key fob was actually designed to look like a mini Tesla Model S

In addition to locking and unlocking the car doors, the Tesla key can be used to tell the car to pull forward and backward, all from a semi-remote distance and without anyone inside of the car.

Koenigsegg's shield fob looks like something a superhero would carry.

When locking and unlocking the doors of a Koenigsegg, you'll need something that can make as big of a statement as the car itself. 

Koenigsegg's metal shield key doesn't have any hugely crazy special features, but what it can give you is the sense of authority and a firm reminder that you drive an insane Swedish supercar. 

If driving one of these insane supercars doesn't give you the thrill or feel of power you were looking for, holding this awesome shield key fob just might.

Google is turning Drive into a much more robust backup tool. Soon, instead of files having to live inside of the Drive folder, Google will be able to monitor and backup files inside of any folder you point it to. That can include your desktop, your entire documents folder, or other more specific locations.

The backup feature will come out later this month, on June 28th, in the form of a new app called Backup and Sync. It sounds like the Backup and Sync app will replace both the standard Google Drive app and the Google Photos Backup app, at least in some cases. Google is recommending that regular consumers download the new app once it’s out, but it says that business users should stick with the existing Drive app for now.

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Don't let the name fool you — Samuel West's "Museum of Failure" is an act of celebration.

On June 7, West, a collector and self-described innovation researcher, debuted 51 failed products in a museum exhibition in the Swedish city of Helsingborg, all in the name of honoring the creative process.

Visitors will get reacquainted with familiar names like Betamax and Blockbuster, and perhaps meet lesser-known flops — Twitter Peek, anyone? — all of which West has been collecting for the past year.

"Even the biggest baddest most competent companies fail," West tells Business Insider. "The trick is to create an organizational culture that accepts failure so that you can fail small ... rather than failing big."

Here's a taste of the products that are getting a second life on display.

SEE ALSO: 21 objects that are perfectly designed and can't be improved any further

West says it's been difficult trying to secure the items in his collection, given they're all discontinued. The project is a labor of love.

Many of the products lasted only a few years. The smartphone and gaming device Nokia N-Gage, for instance, was on sale from 2003 to 2005.

Nokia released the device as a challenger to the Nintendo Game Boy, but critics quickly took issue with its odd design and button layout.

Nokia tried to upgrade with the redesigned N-Gage QD in 2004, but ultimately sold only a few million units before discontinuing the device altogether.

Even further back was the Apple Newton, which ran for a bit longer between 1993 and 1998. The poor handwriting software and high cost contributed to its demise.

The Newton first retailed for $699. Adjusting for inflation, the device would cost $1,178 today.

Hospitals made brief use of it in the mid-1990s, but ultimately Apple struggled to capture market share from the Palm Pilot — another digital assistant of the time.

The one saving grace: Steve Jobs later retooled Apple's approach to personal computing to create the iPhone and iPad.

If the Senate agrees, she’ll soon head back to the telecom agency

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 A new comprehensive product could help Atlassian entice the large enterprise customers it covets and possibly expand its market share.

Amazon will give Prime members a bit more spending power if they’re willing to ditch their credit cards. The company introduced a new program today called Prime Reload, which offers Prime members a small bonus of Amazon credit if they’re willing to pay using their debit card instead.

There are some small complications, but for the most part the program seems straightforward enough. First you have to give Amazon your debit card number as well as your bank account and routing info. You then have to transfer cash directly into an Amazon account. And then you can pay for your stuff on Amazon using that balance.

In exchange for the hassle, Amazon will give out a 2 percent bonus on all cash loaded into its...

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Sprint has quietly launched what may be its most aggressive promotion yet.

The carrier said on Tuesday that, for a limited time, it would give select customers who switch from Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile a free year of its “unlimited” LTE data plan.

According to a page for the promotion on Sprint’s website, the deal will last until June 30. Sprint says there’s no requirement to change numbers, and that it’ll let up to five lines switch over at once.

You’ll have to pay a $30 activation fee upfront, but Sprint says it will repay that within two billing cycles. There are a couple other fees required beyond that, but they only amount to a couple bucks a month. You will have to cover the $13 or so it costs to get a Sprint SIM card, though.

From there, you’re on Sprint’s “unlimited” plan, which, like all of its peers, isn’t truly unlimited. Most of what you’d do is left alone, and you can stream video up to a 1080p resolution, but LTE mobile hotspot data is capped at 10 GB a month per line (you’re bumped down to 2G speeds after that), and your speeds may be temporarily slowed in congested areas if you use more than 23 GB in a given month.

Because this is still a mobile carrier we’re talking about, there are a few other caveats to the promotion: 

• It only applies to those who are new to Sprint.
• Only some phones are eligible for the upgrade. You can check Sprint’s promo page for a full list, but it boils down to every iPhone since the iPhone 5C, recent Google Nexus and Pixel phones, a few Moto phones, and “special edition” Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8 phones.
• Sprint says you have to own the phone in the first place. So the promotion is a no-go if you’re in the middle of a monthly installment plan.
• The phone must be unlocked and work on Sprint’s network. A handful of the iPhone options will only be eligible if you’re switching from Verizon because of this.
• If you take up the offer and upgrade to a new phone before October 1, you’ll lose the free service, and will have to pay for Sprint’s unlimited plan like any other customer. After October 1, you can switch to a new phone and keep the discounted plan for the rest of the year.
• You have to enroll in auto-pay billing.
• The deal isn’t eligible to those switching from an MVNO like Cricket Wireless or MetroPCS.

If you can wade through all of that, Sprint says the discounted service will last until July 31, 2018. After that, you’ll have to pay $60 a month for one line, $40 a month for a second, then $30 a month for additional lines. Sprint says there’s no requirement to pay for service once your discounted year is up; its hope is that you’ll be coerced to stick around regardless, in part because its unlimited plan is the most affordable of the big four.

Sprint sits firmly in fourth place among the major US mobile carriers in terms of total subscribers. Verizon and AT&T have faced declining growth as of late, but still have big bases of subscribers to sell to. T-Mobile, meanwhile, has surged in recent years on the back of aggressive discounts and marketing, passing Sprint along the way. Sprint’s network continues to be seen as lagging behind its peers, too.

Rumors of a potential T-Mobile-Sprint merger persist, but as it is now, Sprint seems to be feeling the heat to get more subscribers onboard. 

At first blush, it also seems as if Sprint is losing money off the promotion. For what it's worth, a company spokesperson told Business Insider that the deal is only available online, not in retail stores, and that it’s only advertising the promotion through cheaper digital channels to keep the costs of customer acquisition down. 

The company also asserted that its network has the capacity to handle any spike in subscribers the deal might cause. 

Though the deal is technically available to AT&T and T-Mobile users, Sprint's marketing campaign here is aimed squarely at first-place Verizon. "Stop feeling ripped off by Verizon," reads the top of the promo page on Sprint's website.

Verizon, for its part, doesn't seem too happy about that. "They're offering their network for nothing. Because that's what it's worth," Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon's VP of communications, said in an emailed statement. 

Corporate sniping aside, the deal mostly appears to be sound for those looking for a bargain. Just make sure Sprint’s service is acceptable in your area if you decide to take the plunge.

SEE ALSO: Here's how the 'unlimited' plans from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile compare

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NOW WATCH: The iPhone 7 is having connection issues on Verizon — here's how to fix it

As of today, Verizon is officially the owner of Yahoo. Yahoo’s assets are now being mashed up with those of AOL, which Verizon bought in 2015, into a horribly named new division called Oath. Oath will contain sites like HuffPost, Yahoo Sports, TechCrunch, and Engadget, as well as apps and services like Alto and Brightroll. Tumblr will also fall under the Oath umbrella.

With the deal complete, it’s also being announced that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is departing the combined company. Mayer was an incredible hire by Yahoo when it brought her on as CEO five years ago. She came to the company after spending more than a decade at Google spearheading key products like search and Maps.

Yahoo was obviously a...

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When Amazon introduced voice calling for its Echo devices, we criticized the company for seemingly rolling out the feature without really paying any mind to privacy. It was quickly discovered that users had no way of blocking calls and message to Echo products in their home, and Amazon promised to fix the oversight “in the coming weeks. Today it’s starting that effort. A just-released update to the Alexa app for iOS mentions “the ability to block contacts from calling and messaging you.”

The block feature can be added from the contacts list; you just scroll down, choose the person you don’t want to receive calls or messages from, and tap “block contact.”

I don’t yet see the block feature on the Android version of Alexa,...

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Imagine for a moment that you're doodling away with your Apple Pencil on your new iPad Pro. 

But now you need to step away for a moment, and this presents a conundrum: There's nowhere to put your Apple Pencil.

Its round, smooth exterior means it could roll right off the table, and you didn't opt for the $129 leather case that has a slot for your pencil. 

But don't worry, because Apple sells something to solve this particular problem: A Belkin stand for Apple Pencil that costs $29.95 (We first learned about it from Wired's Ashley Feinberg, who tweeted about this product). 

Belkin's Apple Pencil stand comes in silver, gold, and space gray, and Feinberg likened it to an overpriced thimble, which is the perfect way to describe it. It's about 1.5 inches tall and is intended to "prolong the life and productivity of Apple Pencil" and minimize "desktop clutter," per Apple's website. 

Besides the obvious fact that this product isn't really solving a dire problem, there's only one other small catch: It doesn't even charge your Apple Pencil. You still have to charge it through Apple's awkward solution: through the bottom of the iPad Pro.

The stand joins a lineup of other equally absurd Apple products (or third-party products Apple sells) that may solve part of a consumer's problem, but cost a lot of money: 

• Take for instance this leather pencil case: For $29, it's literally just a stylish outfit for you Apple Pencil (though Apple says is meant to protect your pencil).
• Or how about this metal Apple Watch band that costs $549 (Apple Watch not included)?
• And don't forget the array of $30-$50 dongles Apple requires you to buy if you want to perform simple tasks like listen to music and charge your phone at the same time.

So, a $30 stand that does next-to-nothing isn't exactly surprising coming from the Apple store, but it's serves as a reminder that many accessories made for Apple products are often pricey and/or unnecessary. 

SEE ALSO: REVIEW: Apple's new iPad Pro is the best tablet

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NOW WATCH: Here's everything Apple is rumored to be launching in 2017

Uber’s board of directors met Sunday to mull over how to reverse the ride-hail company’s slow-motion implosion. Board members voted to unanimously adopt all the recommendations from a recent investigation into Uber’s culture of pervasive sexism and harassment. They also discussed the fate of two of the company’s top executives, CEO Travis Kalanick and senior vice president of business Emil Michael, in light of recent reports about the handling of the medical records of a woman in India who was raped by an Uber driver. (Michael is now leaving the company, while Kalanick is reportedly taking a leave of absence.)

By all accounts, Uber is in turmoil. No major investments have been announced since 2016, when Saudi Arabia said it would...

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The Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend, Roambee co-founder Vidya Subramanian got to work at 7AM to find his company’s office in Santa Clara, California, ransacked. The burglars had made such a mess that it was hard to tell at first what was missing. There were monitors and other computer equipment gone, and the entire operations room had been tossed for anything that might fetch a good resale price.

“They’d jimmied the lock on just this one room,” Subramanian says. “It’s the room where we charge our devices, and needless to say there’s computer equipment everywhere, so they thought it was a good place to steal stuff.”

It seemed like a routine burglary, a midnight heist that left no obvious...

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It takes a lot to surprise me these days, but Logitech has done it. The PC gear company has just revealed a new Powerplay technology that builds wireless charging directly into its mouse pad, allowing compatible wireless mice to charge constantly while on the pad. As someone with bitter memories of being let down by the feeble batteries of wireless gaming peripherals, I've developed something of a phobia for anything untethered, but this Powerplay action sounds like exactly the thing I've been waiting for.

The wireless charging tech built inside the Powerplay mouse mat is proprietary to Logitech, and the company claims it took more than four years of research and development to make it a reality. I asked Logitech why it didn't go with...

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From Microsoft’s perspective, the Xbox One X, the new console built to take advantage of the rapid growth of 4K televisions, is a luxury item. Its diminutive shell contains an abundance of RAM, teraflops, and other expensive bits. For that reason, $499 is a logical price for Microsoft to go with, but it isn’t a competitive one.

As my colleague Tom Warren noted in our original story, the Xbox One will cost $100 more than its direct 4K console competitor, the PlayStation 4 Pro. Technically, the Xbox One X delivers native 4K, while the Pro mostly offers something approaching that resolution. But in both cases, it depends on the game. And some PS4 Pro games are in native 4K, though they tend to be smaller indie titles and see what I mean!...

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India is the biggest market that Apple's iPhone hasn't fully cracked. In the first quarter, Apple only made about 3% of the smartphones sold in the country. 

Still, it's a huge market and investors think Apple could turn India into a nation of iPhone owners, at least among the country's growing middle and upper classes, like it did with China over the past 10 years. But there are a lot of reasons why Apple might not be able to replicate its China story in India, Mizuho analysts wrote in a note distributed to clients on Monday.

One of the biggest challenges is that an iPhone is simply expensive compared to other goods. Instead of buying an iPhone 6S, the analysts found, an average Indian could pay a month of rent, or buy five roundtrip cross-country tickets. 

In addition to the affordability issue, the analysts write that:

Other key takeaways with respect to potential adoption of the iPhone in the region include: 1) a lag of about 7-10 years when comparing India’s smartphone penetration journey relative to China; 2) idiosyncratic factors that led to China’s extremely rapid adoption of large-screen iPhones that may not be applicable to India; and, 3) limited near-term contribution to Apple’s top-line from the region.

The relative expense of an iPhone on the subcontinent has led many Indians to opt for the iPhone 5S, which was first launched in 2013 in the United States. 

Apple has already started to produce low-cost iPhone SE models in a factory in Bangalore, India, which reduces the amount of taxes that contribute to the device's total price. And Apple is reportedly hiring "affordability managers" in the country to negotiate with banks to make loans more affordable to potential Apple customers. 

The Apple brand remains strong in India, possibly due to its high prices. Bloomberg reports on one 34-year-old business professor who recently bought an iPhone 5S: "It’s a good feeling to own an Apple phone."

SEE ALSO: REVIEW: Apple's new iPad Pro is the best tablet

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As GE CIO Jim Fowler recently noted, Immelt was key to driving digital initiatives, inside the company and commercially.

Google’s Gboard is already one of the best and smartest ways to communicate on a phone, given its direct link to Google search and all the company’s artificial intelligence-powered predictive and natural language capabilities. Now, with an update rolling out to the Android version of the app today, Gboard is getting even smarter. Google’s keyboard now recognizes hand-drawn emoji and will now predict full phrases instead of just the next possible word. The changes are expected to come to the iOS version at a later date.

This is all the work of Google’s ongoing AI research, which at a high level helps improve the company’s software by churning through mounds of data and learning over time using training techniques like deep learning and...

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Science fiction has been around for a long time, and has been around since the earliest days of television with "The Twilight Zone" and the original "Star Trek" series. And it's not going away. In fact, it's only getting more popular.

With network shows like "The X-Files," "Lost," and Netflix's "Stranger Things" tackling the genre over the past few decades, sci-fi shows are reaching a broader audience than ever before. "Orphan Black" has found critical acclaim and premieres its final season June 10.

If you're new to sci-fi or a die-hard fan looking for more, here are the best sci-fi shows according to critics, based on scores from Metacritic, which aggregates reviews of TV shows:

Note: superhero shows based on comic books were left out, along with older shows that don't have Metacritic scores ("The Twlight Zone," the original "Star Trek," the original "Doctor Who").

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

19. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994)

Average Metacritic Score: 51

"Re-visiting Star Trek on television holds the same nostalgic, socko appeal that the boffo-box-office movies do. I didn't miss Kirk, Spock and friends." -Miami Herald

18. "Dollhouse," 2009-2010

Average Metacritic Score: 57

17. "Quantum Leap" (1989-1993), five seasons

Average Metacritic Score: 61

"A canny and clever series that makes hardware take a back seat to humanity." -USA Today

Instant messaging at work is fast replacing face-to-face chats around the water cooler and the trend is due, in part, to the rise of telecommuting. 

Google-owner Alphabet Inc. has agreed to sell robotics firm Boston Dynamics to SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications and technology company. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but news of Alphabet’s intentions to sell Boston Dynamics first surfaced back in March 2016. That was roughly two years after Android co-founder Andy Rubin left Google, where he spearheaded a series of prominent robotics acquisitions, most prominently Boston Dynamics. That division, known internally as Replicant, was disbanded after Rubin’s departure, leaving the future of Boston Dynamics and the other robot companies in flux.

“We at Boston Dynamics are excited to be part of SoftBank’s bold vision and...

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There you were, living in a reality where laptops had a single screen. And then Razer introduced this monstrosity, and suddenly a paradigm shifted. 

Behold:

That's right, folks: Razer is taking the bold step of not just doubling, but outright tripling the number of laptop screens. This is Project Valerie, a super bizarre concept from a company known for making very nice, very expensive gaming hardware. 

SEE ALSO: This massive $9,000 laptop with a curved screen is the most absurd computer I've ever used

The first thing you'll notice, of course, is the three-screen concept. In total, the screens create a massive 11520 x 2160 display.

Razer's calling it "12K," which isn't exactly accurate. These are three 17.3-inch discreet displays, each offering 4K visuals.

So, how does this work? The screens are automated — you push a button and they extend out:

As you may or may not be aware, the British people are heading to polling stations today to vote on who will govern them for the next few years. It’s an important day for me, as a European living and working in a country that’s decided to decouple itself from the European Union, but it’s also deeply fascinating from a professional perspective because of what it illustrates about the internet’s growing influence on everyday life. The way British people vote today will be influenced, in large or in small part, by the actions and decisions of people many miles outside of the UK: those Silicon Valley executives in charge of Google and Facebook’s massive online empires.

On the surface, neither Facebook nor Google has been politically active...

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Verizon is planning to slash around 2,100 jobs from AOL and Yahoo — 15% of the combined entity "Oath" — after the Yahoo deal closes, according to TechCrunch.

Verizon announced in July that it would acquire Yahoo's core internet business for about $4.5 billion in cash. There have been a few snafus along the way, notably Yahoo's data-breach scandals, but the deal is supposed to close this month. TechCrunch's sources said it will close within a week.

Verizon plans to merge Yahoo and AOL under the brand "Oath," which will be headed up by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

Verizon will have to pay a price for laying off Yahoo employees. As Business Insider has reported, a so-called double trigger provision clause would grant all Yahoo employees a special payout should they lose their jobs quickly after this deal.

Besides the layoffs, there will also be an executive shuffle after the deal closes. Many of Yahoo's top brass, including CEO Marissa Mayer, are expected to leave. But a few current Yahoo execs have been tapped to take on big roles at the new company.

AOL gave this statement to TechCrunch:

“Oath’s strategy is to lead the global brand space. With access to over 1B consumers upon close, we will be positioned to drive one of the most important platforms in the consumer brand space. Consistent with what we have said since the deal was announced, we will be aligning our global organization to the strategy.”

SEE ALSO: There will be an exec shuffle when the Yahoo-Verizon deal closes — here are the details

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NOW WATCH: Look inside the Arctic 'doomsday' seed vault built to protect millions of crops from any disaster

Serverless technology allows enterprises to use modular components to provide multiple services at the same time.

Kaspersky Lab filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft stating the software giant prevents other makers of security software from competing fairly against it. 

Walmart is trying to make it easier to pick up online grocery orders.

The retailer is testing a giant self-service kiosk in the parking lot of a supercenter in Warr Acres, Oklahoma, where customers can pick up online grocery orders without interacting with any employees. 

Here's how it works: customers purchase and pay for groceries online, then Walmart employees pick and pack their orders and store them in bins in the 20-foot-by-80-foot kiosk.

The kiosk has refrigerators and freezers inside that keep the groceries fresh.

When customers arrive to pick up their orders, they walk up to the kiosk and type in a code and their groceries appear in 60 seconds or less.

There is no cost for picking up groceries, but customers must spend at least $30 per order to use the service.

The kiosk is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it's able to fulfill hundreds of customer orders in a single day, according to Walmart spokesman Scott Markley.

More than 30,000 grocery items, including fresh produce, meats, and dairy products, are available for online ordering and pickup. 

"Especially for busy families with kids, grocery shopping used to take a couple of hours on the weekend," Markley said. "You can now pickup your groceries in just a few minutes and have more time back in your day."

Walmart is testing a similar, though smaller, structure in some of its stores for picking up non-grocery online orders. 

The pickup kiosks are part of a broader effort by Walmart to more seamlessly integrate its online and offline services, and leverage the power of its vast network of stores to better compete with Amazon.

Another recent example of this is effort is Walmart's new discount for customers who ship purchases to one of its stores instead of to a home or elsewhere. The discount gives customers as much as $50 off purchases of large items like televisions.

SEE ALSO: Walmart is making an unprecedented move in its latest bid to undercut Amazon

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NOW WATCH: People are trolling Dove on Twitter for releasing new soap bottles for different body types