The technology sector is having quite the week. While there has been a considerable amount of negative in the industry this week (looking at you, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)), there has also been some positives. Today, we are going to be looking at Amazon & Google, two companies that announced game-changing news both yesterday and today.
Amazon and Google: What Happened This Week?
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
On Monday, March 19, Amazon held its annual robotics conference. However, this year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took things to a whole other level: the founder of the online retail giant introduced his robotic dog. Yes, you heard that right! The Amazon CEO posted a picture of himself walking this robotic dog, deemed the ‘SpotMini’, at the annual-invite only MARS conference.
It makes sense that Bezos introduced the SpotMini at the conference. After all, the conference is committed to home automation, machine learning, space exploration, and, last but not least, robotics exploration. This 55-pound robotic dog is definitely a favorite of the conference, with Boston Dynamics announcing that it is the “quietest” robot the company has ever manufactured.
It appears the market is excited about Bezos’ new friend. As of this writing, Amazon is up $26.84, or 1.77% on the Nasdaq Exchange.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
This news might be more monumental than Bezos walking a robotic dog. On Tuesday, Google announced a brand new multi-pronged News Initiative. Why? Because, according to Philip Schindler, Chief Business Officer, this News Initiative will act as a way of connecting the California-based company’s attempts to work with the journalism sector.
According to the multinational tech company, the News Initiative has three specific goals in mind. First, Google wants to further the quality of journalism. Second, Google is looking to support various business models and newsrooms through technological innovation. Finally, Google announced Tuesday that it will spend $300 million over the course of the next three years. On what, you may ask? Well, according to Google, the $300 million will go towards supporting a number of different projects, all of which are related to journalism.
>>Dropbox Files For IPO, Valuation At $7 Billion
Google went on to discuss that the demand for journalism has skyrocketed, and yet, journalism itself has come under a tremendous amount of pressure as the industry transitions into digital. As a result, the company went forward with the Google News Initiative (GNI) in order “to help journalism thrive in the digital age.”
Despite the news, Google is currently trading down 0.38% on the Nasdaq Exchange.
Featured Image: Twitter
