Rumours that Salesforce might buy Twitter are revived. The founder of WikiLeaks has a bad toothache. And Google looks to enter the local news space.
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It’s all the tech news that’s trending this week. Welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Monday, January 30th. I’m your host Brian Jackson.
Could Salesforce be planning to buy Twitter? No, we haven’t gone back in time to October of 2016. That’s the last time that we heard rumours of the cloud software firm considering a takeover of the micro-blogging platform. (Wait, does anyone still call it that?) Anyway, Bloomberg reports that a new deal might be in the works. Twitter’s stock jumped six per cent on Friday. When Salesforce walked away from making a deal last time, many speculated it was as a result of the problem Twitter faces in moderating abuse on the platform. If that’s true, then you wonder if it continues to be a problem for making a sale.
Everyone should visit the dentist regularly – including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He’s spent the last five years living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and he’s got a toothache. If he leaves the building, British police say they’ll arrest him. But his lawyers argues that the warrant for his arrest in Sweden is no longer valid. Three doctors are also advocating for Assange’s release from detention. A London court will decide if it will drop its arrest warrant on February 6. If he does need a dental dam, let’s hope it’s more resilient than the secrecy of the classified documents he’s posted online.
Google wants to crowdsource local news. It’s developed a new online tool called Bulletin. It allows anyone to publish local news stories and events. An early access mode has been running the communities of Nashville and Oakland. “If you’re comfortable taking photos or sending messages, you can create a Bulletin story!” Google states on the website. All you need is your smartphone. Just when I thought Google couldn’t devalue my journalism degree any further, it’s found a way. I’m Impressed.
That’s what’s trending this week. Hashtag Trending is produced by IT World Canada. Today’s episode is brought to you by SAS, the world leader in advanced analytics and Official Analytics Partner of the Canadian Olympic Team.
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