10 things in tech you need to know today

Advertisement

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

AP

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.

Advertisement

1. Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has chosen to base its international headquarters in the UK. It is an unusual move for a US company, with firms like Google and Facebook choosing Ireland, where corporation tax is significantly lower.

2. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have poached former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe to be their philanthropic organisation's president of policy and advocacy. Plouffe's hiring is intended to help deepen ties between Washington D.C. and The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

3. Chris Lattner, the inventor of Apple's relatively new programming language called Swift, is leaving Apple to join Tesla. He is set to take up the role of Vice President of Autopilot Software at the car company.

4. The CEO of speaker company Sonos, John MacFarlane, is stepping down. MacFarlane has been the CEO since the company started in 2002.

Advertisement

5. Atomico has backed a barcode scanning startup called Scandit in a $7.5 million (£6.2 million) funding round. The venture capital company was set up by Swedish billionaire Niklas Zennström, the cofounder of Skype.

6. Amazon's carbon footprint is still significantly worse than other global tech giants, according to a report published by Greenpeace. Amazon said it hopes to be using 50% renewables by the end of the year, while Google is aiming to be 100% powered by renewables by the end of the same time frame.

7. Amazon snapped up an AI security startup for around $20 million (£16 million). The company is called Harvest.ai.

8. Salesforce is set to end its startup buying spree, according to a UBS analyst. The enterprise software company spent roughly $5 billion (£4 billion) on acquisitions in 2016.

9. Samsung's leader will be questioned as a suspect in South Korea's presidential scandal. Prosecutors have been checking if Samsung's support for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, was connected to a 2015 decision by the national pension service to back a controversial merger of two group affiliates.

Advertisement

10. Apple is rumoured to be swapping aluminum for stainless steel in the iPhone 8. It would be the first time Apple has used stainless steel since the iPhone 4s.

NOW WATCH: Watch a Tesla predict an accident and react before it even happens