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The Morning Download: IT Spending Helps Boost U.S. Economy
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Good morning, CIOs. Enterprise software is helping juice the U.S. economy. The spillover impact of ramped up spending on enterprise software last year added an estimated $1.6 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product, according to a report by technology research and lobby group Software.org: the BSA Foundation.
Most of the economic gains tracked by the group resulted from the spread of high-paying IT jobs. As CIO Journal's Angus Loten reports, many of the hires are happening in industries or regions not traditionally considered advanced technology hubs.
“We’ve gone from an industry that was analogue to a complete transformation” says Carl Ceresoli, chief technology officer of Pacers Sports and Entertainment, the management company of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association. His own IT team has roughly doubled in size within the past two years.
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Workers prepared vegetables inside a Sweetgreen restaurant in Boston in 2017. Sweetgreen’s co-founder and chief executive, Jonathan Neman, said most purchases at its 97 restaurants are made through its smartphone app. PHOTO: ADAM GLANZMAN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Every salad place is a tech company. Sweetgreen Inc. took in $150 million in a recent funding round, putting valuation at $1.6 billion. Not bad for a salad place. “We don’t consider ourselves just a salad place,” Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO, tells The Wall Street Journal’s Katie Roof. Sweetgreen taps digital products to forecast sales, deploy labor and order food, he said.
Every pig farm is a tech company. Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and JD.com, are providing tech services, including AI and facial recognition, and other investments to pig farmers as the country faces a swine shortage. (WSJ)
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Adam Neumann’s eccentric behavior that was detailed in a WSJ article last week, including a party-heavy lifestyle, undercut his position. PHOTO: MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES FOR WEWORK
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WeGone. Adam Neumann, co-founder and chief executive of shared-office startup WeWork, was forced to step down and cede majority control Tuesday. His position at the company became tenuous after We postponed an IPO earlier this month amid concerns about its governance. His eccentric behavior, as reported last week, didn't help matters. (WSJ)
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Uber has been granted a two-month license to operate in London. The short regulatory leash is a setback for the company. PHOTO: HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS
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London short-terms Uber. London's main transportation regulator granted Uber a two-month license, among the shortest it ever granted, saying more review needs to be done before considering any longer-term license. (WSJ)
PayPal fined by U.K. regulator. PayPal was fined £250,000 by U.K. regulator Competition and Markets Authority after breaching terms set for its purchase of Swiss payments firm iZettle. PayPal last year bought iZettle, which sells credit card readers and point-of-sale software, for $2.2 billion. An investigation found PayPal was cross-selling across brands in the U.K., which broke CMA conditions to keep the brands separate. (Business Insider)
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he University of Georgia was among the U.S. schools allegedly targeted in the recruitment scheme. The graduation ceremony at the University of Georgia in May. PHOTO: JOSHUA L. JONES/ATHENS BANNER-HERALD/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Oh the places you'll go. A Chinese government official and his allies allegedly tried to convince at least seven U.S. universities to sponsor visas for purported Chinese research scholars who in reality aimed to recruit American science talent, according to a recently unsealed criminal complaint filed by the Justice Department. (WSJ)
AI startup raises $10 million. Why? Let me explain. Mountain View, Calif.-based Fiddler has developed an engine aimed at explaining the decision-making behind algorithms. As executives in regulated industries have told CIO Journal, that kind of knowledge has far-reaching impacts in guarding against potential ethical and regulatory breaches as AI algorithms become widespread. (VentureBeat)
New messaging from Facebook. The social-media giant is taking steps to merge messaging services across its social media platforms. The goal is for Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp users to exchange messages easily. The company hopes to show results from the effort next year. (MarketWatch)
Patch Windows now. Microsoft is urging customers to install a security update to patch a vulnerability in Windows. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also issued an advisory about the patch. (TechCrunch)
For sale: World's scariest robot. Robotics maker Boston Dynamics said it will make available its Spot robotic dog to those businesses that can offer an interesting application of the technology. (Gizmodo)
TikTok (you don't stop). TikTok, the social video app the teens use, "seems remarkably attuned to a person’s unarticulated interests," the New Yorker's Jia Tolentino says. "Some social algorithms are like bossy waiters: they solicit your preferences and then recommend a menu. TikTok orders you dinner by watching you look at food."
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Everything Else You Need to Know
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The White House is set to release a transcript of a July phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s leader on Wednesday and is preparing to turn over a whistleblower complaint to Congress by the end of the week. (WSJ)
Global stocks fell amid signs that President Trump will be confronted with increased domestic political pressure even as he continues to pursue a trade war with China. (WSJ)
A scientific panel under the auspices of the United Nations has concluded after reviewing thousands of research studies that oceans are warming and ice sheets are shrinking because of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. (WSJ)
The latest class of firefighters to graduate from the Fire Department of New York’s academy includes 19 children of FDNY members who were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or from 9/11-related illnesses. (WSJ)
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