Each new year brings immense change for the tech industry. While new projects take off, established ventures gain popularity and present trends diverge towards new, innovative paths. At Hark, we’re constantly on our toes, eagerly anticipating fresh narratives in the tech community.
As we brainstormed what we look forward to most for software and tooling in 2019, we came to an incredible conclusion: the most exciting trends focus on collaboration.
Slack Acquisition of Astro Email
As long-time Slack users, we’re really excited about Slack’s recent acquisition of Astro Email.
We’re already pretty big fans of Slack. When working on complex projects and communicating with our team, Slack is an incredible way of keeping organised and in-touch. Its ability to integrate with personal calendars, Trello and Google Drive (while issuing relevant notifications) is invaluable.
But with the exciting acquisition comes the possibility of an integrated Astro Email function, or an entirely new email app with Slack’s convenient features. We already can’t wait.
Microsoft Edge and Chromium Hybrid
Very recently, Microsoft announced a big change for their Edge browser. The newest iteration is set to be based in the Chromium platform – this means that Chrome Extensions will soon be supported by the Microsoft Edge browser.
Our team believes firmly that more variety leads to more innovation – a vast number of browser engines and variants in the wild likely increases surrounding innovation. Despite this, we’re excited about this collaborative project and we’re tentatively waiting to see how each platform can benefit the other. It will be interesting to see:
• If Microsoft Edge can improve its compatibility with standing websites
• If the Edge platform will work on mobile devices like Android or iOS, or older versions of Windows including Windows 7 and Windows 8
• If the collaboration will benefit the core Chromium code base by providing better battery life, better support for ARM or less resource-hogging on Windows
Databricks
Databricks is an analytics platform that allows companies to store their data in the cloud and build artificial intelligence on top of these building blocks using relevant tools. Their clientele includes Apple, who use Databricks for cybersecurity threat detection and Capital One, who use the platform to determine the “credit worthiness” of their customers.
What’s most exciting about Databricks is their plan to displace modern statistics and influence the way tech is used by companies: in coming years, Databricks seeks to raise the 1% of companies using AI to its full capacity to 99% of companies. Their platform itself is collaborative by nature, but in their endeavour to increase AI usage in companies, Databricks will open the flood gates for waves of collaborative innovation to wash up to our shores.
Hark is always looking to converse with fellow industry leaders about the new horizons of tech. Be sure to get in touch with our team to be part of our conversation.
