Walmart Ready To Test Grocery Drones
A report says that Walmart is ready to take on Amazon in the drone-delivery department. Amazon’s been looking at ways to deliver by flying robot for some time, and now Walmart has applied for permission to test drone delivery both in their stores and to customers’ homes.
The drones would also be used used to check inventory in warehouses. Considering that the majority of the people living in the U.S. have a Wal-Mart within 5 miles of their homes, drone delivery isn’t that far-fetched.
After raising wages for hourly workers, the company’s profits took a big hit this year. Much like self-checkouts, this could be a way to have fewer employees do the same amount of work. You may see drones doing price-checks in the not-too-distant future.
Mozilla Backs Open Source Development With Cash
Mozilla, the company behind the development of the Firefox browser, is showing support for other open-source software with a $1 million dollar donation split among several open-source projects. I a blog post, company chair Mitchell Baker said, “We were born out of this movement. We prosper because of the technology and activism which comes from this movement. And we know that open source and free software remains a key part of the Internet and the online life we seek to build.”
The projects receiving the money will be announced in December.
Microsoft Gaining Ground In Customer Satisfaction
When it comes to pleasing its customers, Microsoft is gaining ground on Apple. According to a report by Argus, Microsoft has steadily climbed in customer ratings designed to determine which brands delight their customers.
Apple is still the top delighter – with a legion of loyal fans craving Apple Watches and iPads. But Microsoft’s new Surface tablets and phones are winning consumers over steadily. Amazon customers love the Echo smart home assistant and their Fire tablets.
Google, on the other hand is seeing some unhappy campers. Customers aren’t happy with the Nest smart home products and not that crazy about Nexus tablets.
~ Cynthia