Amazon makes over a dozen announcements at product showcase, Jeff Bezos sending people to space and Adobe acquisition could fuel Salesforce rivalry.
 |  |  |
First up from Twitter: Alexa is everywhere…Amazon held a product showcase in Seattle yesterday and made a number of product announcements. Most of them about Alexa and integrating it with various products including a microwave, wall clock and pretty much anything else you can think of. Thanks to the newly introduced Alexa Smart Plug you can control almost any home appliance with your voice. The tech giant says Alexa has more than 20,000 compatible devices from more than 3,500 brands. Echo products also got updates with an Input cable to connect with non-smart speakers, an Echo Sub woofer, and Echo Wall Clock that can set timers, alarms and reminders. And that’s just to name a few of the announcements made at the event, to find out what’s available in Canada and about other products like Alexa Guard, Lighting and Auto, check out our site IT World Canada dot com.
Next up from LinkedIn: In other Amazon-related news Jeff Bezos thinks he will soon send tourists to space. He said his aerospace and spaceflight company Blue Orgin will be able to take people to space next year and he’s also planning to invest $1 billion into its satellite-launch program. Apparently there has already been a number of system tests done and the rocket’s BE-4 engine testing is going very well. Blue Origin expects to generate revenue through space tourism with its new launch vehicle and crew capsule. However pricing for these space flights have not yet been announced. And while all this talk of space tourism sounds exciting I think I’d rather keep my vacations here on earth.
Finally from LinkedIn: Adobe is in final stage talks to buy Marketo for around $5 billion dollars U.S. Marketo is a software company focused on marketing services and based out of California. This acquisition could help Adobe better compete with Salesforce in marketing automation software. This is Adobe’s second time trying to buy the company, it lost out two years ago when Vista Equity Partners bought Marketo for $1.8 billion. A bit of a jump to that current $5 billion price tag. Adobe has been on the acquisition hunt lately, also purchasing Magento earlier this year.