From IBM’s business woes and wins, to the importance of animal poop for the planet, here’s the news you need to know this Thursday.
1. SEC probes IBM’s accounting processes in Ireland, UK and US
Yesterday, IBM saw shares fall 3pc overnight as news emerged that the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is investigating how it filed revenues for deals in the US, the UK and Ireland. IBM said it is co-operating fully with the SEC, which has stepped up financial reporting as a key enforcement priority and is looking closely at how firms record revenues on their books.
2. IBM and Weather Company to navigate stormy oceans of data
In the meantime, it’s business as usual at IBM, which announced its acquisition of The Weather Company’s B2B and cloud properties. This acquisition forms part of IBM’s $3bn march into the internet of things universe, and the company plans to join The Weather Company’s cloud-based data platform with its artificial intelligence, Watson.
3. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop ultra-fast tube transport closer to reality
In other futuristic technology news, Elon Musk’s Hyperloop project aimed at transporting passengers between major US cities at immense speeds is about to take a major step closer to reality, with plans in place to build a test track in the coming weeks.
4. Russia landing crewed spaceship on the moon by 2030
Decades after the end of the space race, Russia is planning to ramp back up its lunar missions with a crewed shuttle headed for the moon by 2030.
5. Bank of Ireland’s Workbench start-up space internationally recognised
From out of this world to something a little more down-to-earth, Bank of Ireland’s drop-in space for start-ups, Workbench, has been awarded second place in the Sustainable Business category at the Efma Accenture Distribution & Marketing Innovation Awards in Amsterdam.
6. Irishman to oversee 500,000-strong ICT organisation
Lero director Professor Mike Hinchey has been selected as president-elect of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), which has more than 500,000 members worldwide.
7. The influential first hires of tech giants – where are they now? (infographic)
Getting your start-up off the ground requires a great idea, a great amount of effort, a great amount of luck and a great team to push it all through. It is the latter, perhaps, that’s often overlooked, but not by this infographic documenting the first key hires at various major tech companies.
8. Bank of America Merrill Lynch to host ‘Meet the Stemettes’ panel
On 7 November, a special ‘Meet the Stemettes’ panel event is being held at the London and Dublin offices of Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of a belated celebration of Ada Lovelace Day.
9. Big animals, big poop and big problems for Earth
Believe it or not, the vast reduction in large animal species is having a dreadful impact on the planet because less of their poop means less circulation of crucial nutrients throughout the planet.
10. Scientists now cosmic scanning the pyramids to reveal secret tombs
A group of international scientists are taking a cosmic approach to investigating the pyramids of Egypt, measuring ‘muons’ to find any hidden chambers within.
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