tech:

taffy

Happy 50th Birthday, Cassette!

casette_50Remember the cassette? Perhaps you have heard about it? The cassette is celebrating its 50-year anniversary. 

You can read more about the cassette and how it managed to change the world, here.

In the meanwhile, here are some fun facts:

  • The Rolling Stones’ song “Satisfaction” (the band’s signature track) and Nirvana‘s Nevermind may never have been heard without Philips compact cassette technology.
  • The romance, impact and nostalgia of the compact cassette can be seen in many popular movies and books, including High Fidelity (both the book and film), Wayne’s World, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Clockwork Orange, Electrick Children and Say Anything.
  • The 1979 Iran revolution was fueled by the audio cassette tape. Recorded tapes of Ayatollah Khomeini’s sermons in Najaf were distributed through the underground, to undermine the brutal and secular regime of the Shah. 
  • In addition, The Cassette Scandal of 2000 was one of the main political events in Ukraine’s post-independence history. 

[Image courtesy: Philips]

Just in

Vercel raises $250M

San Francisco-based Vercel, a frontend cloud platform provider, has secured $250 million in Series E funding, bringing the company's valuation to $3.25 billion.

Worky raises $6M (Mexico)

Mexico City-based Worky, a provider of HR and payroll software solutions for Mexican companies, has closed a $6 million Series A financing round.

Amazon announces $1.31B investment in France

Amazon has announced a new investment of about $1.31 billion (€1.2 billion) in France, which the company says will lead to the creation of over 3,000 permanent jobs in the country.

Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky to step down — CNBC

Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon’s cloud computing business, will step down from his role next month. Matt Garman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Amazon Web Services, will succeed Mr. Selipsky after he exits the company June 3, writes Annie Palmer. 

Palo Alto Networks, Accenture expand alliance to offer generative AI services

Palo Alto Networks and Accenture have announced the expansion of their strategic alliance to provide new offerings that combine Palo Alto Networks' Precision AI technology with Accenture's secure generative AI services.