Hashtag Trending – Boston Dynamics acquired by Hyundai; Airbnb valued at $101.6B; Facebook hit with antitrust probe

Hyundai scoops up Boston Dynamics, Airbnb makes a huge splash after it opens for trading; and Facebook’s in trouble for tying the use of the Oculus to Facebook accounts.

It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, December 11, and I’m your host Alex Coop.

=====

Hyundai spends almost $1B to buy Boston Dynamics, makers of Spot dog robot from technology

Hyundai may be known for its automobiles, but it also has an entire wing dedicated to robotics. So – it only makes sense that they acquired robotics company Boston Dynamics for $921 million. Boston Dynamics rose to fame with its wacky robots performing stunts on YouTube and, more recently, its Spot robot. Spot is a sensing robot designed to scale a variety of terrain. It can be outfitted for healthcare, utilities, and public safety purposes.

=====

Over the last decade, Airbnb spun a picture-perfect narrative to the world about togetherness and welcoming, and on Thursday, Airbnb told its investors that it’s also a pandemic winner. Looks like the messaging worked. Airbnb opened at $146 per share on its first day of trading on Thursday, more than doubling the $68 per share price set for its IPO the day before. Airbnb is the latest in a wave of hotly anticipated tech IPOs, which includes DoorDash. On Wednesday, DoorDash opened for trading at $182/share, a more than 75 per cent jump from its IPO price.

=====

Facebook hit with antitrust probe for tying Oculus use to Facebook accounts from technology

And boy is Facebook having a rough week – after upsetting the virtual reality community this summer by announcing it would be merging users of the latest Oculus kit onto a single Facebook account — and would end support for existing Oculus account users by 2023 – TechCrunch is reporting that Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has instigated abuse proceedings against Facebook to examine the linkage between Oculus VR products and its eponymous social network.

That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Alex Coop
Alex Coophttp://www.itwc.ca
Former Editorial Director for IT World Canada and its sister publications.

Related Tech News

Featured Tech Jobs

 

CDN in your inbox

CDN delivers a critical analysis of the competitive landscape detailing both the challenges and opportunities facing solution providers. CDN's email newsletter details the most important news and commentary from the channel.