Apple announces some new gadgets, Microsoft’s underwater data centers turn heads, and Amazon announces a hiring spree
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, Sept. 16, and I’m your host Baneet Braich.
Apple released a few new gadgets yesterday morning at its flagship product event, showing off two new watches and two new iPads. The new high-end Apple Watch 6 comes with a bigger display single-loop watch bands, and can measure your blood oxygen level. Alongside the Watch Series 6, Apple also released the more affordable Watch SE that starts at just $280 with most of the features of its more expensive counterpart. Users looking to a budget iPad should check out the new 8th generation iPad with an updated processor for US$330. Lastly, Apple’s biggest reveal is the new iPad Air, which is the first Apple product to feature the brand new Apple A14 Bionic processor built using 5nm transistors.
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When it comes to underwater data centres, Microsoft is finding them reliable and very energy-efficient. It was earlier this summer when marine specialists put a shipping container size data centre, covered in algae and barnacles, off Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Now they understand that these data centers are quite feasible. This entire project started in 2018 where the team hypothesized that a sealed container on the ocean floor could improve the reliability of data centres that land just can’t offer. On land, corrosion from oxygen and humidity, temperature fluctuations, and human error while configuring nearby systems, contribute to equipment failure. Looks like the under-water experiment was a success. Microsoft says it has even prompted discussions with its Azure teams about deploying critical data centers globally in a similar fashion.
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Amazon is back on another hiring spree. The tech giant is looking to hire 100,000 people in the U.S and Canada with starting wages of $15. Covid-19 has amplified Amazon with huge profits as shoppers have resorted to online shopping services. Just in the first half of 2020, Amazon has increased its number of employees by 10 per cent. That’s not all. Amazon is also planning to open 100 new operations this month. [LinkedIn thread]
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