Time on wire

IBM, which has a market capitalization of $US114 billion ($160.7 billion), will pay $US190 per share in cash for Red Hat, a 62 percent premium to Friday's closing share price. Founded in 1993, Red Hat specializes in Linux operating systems, the most popular type of open-source software, which was developed as an alternative to proprietary software made by Microsoft   Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Red Hat charges fees to its corporate customers for custom features, maintenance, and technical support, offering IBM a lucrative source of subscription revenue. The acquisition illustrates how older technology companies are turning to deal-making to gain scale and fend off competition, especially in cloud computing, where customers using enterprise software are seeking to save money by consolidating their vendor relationships. IBM is hoping the deal will help it catch up with Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft in the rapidly growing cloud business. IBM shares have ...

It takes time, patience, and empathy to get to know a person on a deeper level. It can be difficult to make a real connection with someone when you first meet them. But when you’re able to easily break the ice with someone, you can start to build a meaningful friendship instantly! Check out these tips to get beyond the surface level. 1) Find something in common: Read her bio, check out their Instagram page or see what communities they're part of and look for similarities that you share. When you find something you both have in common, it will make it much easier to connect on a deeper level and build a true friendship based on things you both enjoy. 2) Ask open-ended questions: Instead of just the run-of-the-mill, “how are you?” or “what’s up?” questions, ask questions that go deeper and help you learn more about the person. Some suggestions are to ask about the pet in their profile picture, their cool sense of style, or anything they shared on their profile or in-person th...

The answer can actually be found in Hollywood movies. In the 1957 film Desk Set, the entire audience research department in a company is about to be replaced by a giant calculator. It is a relief to the staff, however, when they find out that the machine makes errors, and so they get to keep their jobs, learning to work alongside the calculator. Fast forward to the 2016 film Hidden Figures. The human ‘computers’ at NASA are about to be replaced by the newly introduced IBM mainframe. The heroine, Dorothy Vaughan, decides to teach herself Fortran, a computer language, in order to stay on top of it. She ends up leading a team to ensure the technology performs according to plan. Fantasies and Facts These are not merely fantasies concocted by film studios. Granted, realistically, many jobs, especially those involving repetitive and routine actions, may succumb to automation for good. But the movies above do encourage us not to overrate computers and underrate humans. Delving deeper...