Trixology
Weather => General Weather Discussion => Topic started by: awilltx on October 28, 2015, 05:48:51 PM
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Well, this should be interesting:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/28/ibm-will-acquire-the-weather-companys-digital-business/#.9o35gf:TXBf
This will include everything on WeatherUnderground, I'm presuming.
Alan
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"The deal is not expected to impact The Weather Channel?s current business. ?The Weather Channel will continue to be owned and supported by our existing shareholders ? Bain Capital, Blackstone and NBCUniversal ? and operate as a standalone business,? says CEO Dave Shull."
Most of the tech sites have been running stories about the possibility of IBM becoming Apple's largest corporate customer to the tune of a couple-hundred thousand computers annually. Plus Apple watches for IBM employees are apparently also in the mix. Of course, Tim Cook discussed the maintenance and help-desk savings in yesterday's Earnings Call.
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The rumors are that IBMers have been pleading for the use of Mac hardware for a long time. Management was more or less forced to see the improvements in efficiency from more intuitive and easy to use software and finally relented. Cook contends IBM will save $270 a year in "support costs". With the huge Apple hardware purchase, we might even see more/better support for Macs! [tup] Not only from IBM, but other hardware/software makers.
Or... like too many of Apple's previous forays into "business" usage, just another flop. Here's hoping for a much better outcome!
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The rumors are that IBMers have been pleading for the use of Mac hardware for a long time. Management was more or less forced to see the improvements in efficiency from more intuitive and easy to use software and finally relented. Cook contends IBM will save $270 a year in "support costs". With the huge Apple hardware purchase, we might even see more/better support for Macs! [tup] Not only from IBM, but other hardware/software makers.
Or... like too many of Apple's previous forays into "business" usage, just another flop. Here's hoping for a much better outcome!
We had some out-of-state visitors a few months ago who'd never done the Washington, DC tourist things. So like any good host, we spent quite a bit of time, over the week they stayed with us, riding the light rail in to Union Station and seeing the sights.
Now to the real reason for the post.
We took the family into the Russell Senate Office Building so they could see their senator's office. And I was astounded to find that the U.S. Senate runs on iMacs! The machines boot up into Windows via Boot Camp to access the Senate LAN but they are Macs sure as shoot'n.
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Dear Alan, Felix, X-Air, and WeatherCat fans,
Well, this should be interesting:
IBM acquiring The Weather Company
Huh? . . . .
IBM doesn't seem to be doing very well at finding profitable markets. . . . .
They really think they can make money on forecasting the weather? :o
Edouard
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They really think they can make money on forecasting the weather?
The acquisition has nothing to do with weather forecasting. All businesses know that anything that has a presence on the interweb have "eyeballs" watching it. "Eyeballs" means money to advertisers! "We have a site, now we can sell space to advertisers!" Basic Business 101. [banghead]
Most don't take the follow-up course, 201, that reminds students that those "eyeballs" need something to entice them to revisit the web site... much less actually buy something. [rolleyes2] Obviously, you were not a "business" major! [lol] I suggest you stay with car restoration and El Ni?o forecasting! :P
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I'm guessing IBM wants to release Watson with analytics on all the data that folks like us are supplying to WU. There's money to be made in that somewhere!
Alan
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Well, that's interesting!
[interesting]
Apple and IBM had entered into a Partnership back in July, 2014. (https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/07/15Apple-and-IBM-Forge-Global-Partnership-to-Transform-Enterprise-Mobility.html) From Apple's perspective, it leveraged getting their hardware into more Fortune 500 companies, a huge market expansion for Macs and iPads if it works.
If IBM is going to be owners of WU, then it should get much better! IMO, WU was already improving a lot under The Weather Channel's ownership.
(https://media.giphy.com/media/cXGjsT10rdOpy/giphy.gif)
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I tend to agree that Weather Underground has improve since new ownership. However, I do observe server outages, i.e. iPhone app not updating in a timely fashion or stalling completely. I assume that is a server outage. I do like the new feature set on the iPhone WeatherUnderground app, not to mention that the iPad app allows viewing of Home (inside) temperature data.