Google has purchased $1 billion of CME Group’s stock in a deal that will move the financial giant’s core trading systems to the Google Cloud. This 10-year partnership is all but guaranteed to boost Google Cloud’s bottom line, as well as improve its fourth-place market share. Google Finance calls Chicago-based CME “the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange,” trading in asset classes that span agricultural, currencies, energy, stock indexes, cryptocurrencies and more. However, the financial-services sector has lagged behind other industries when it comes to moving to the cloud, partly due to regulatory oversight and security concerns regarding client data. Continue reading Google Cloud Lands Exchange Giant CME in $1B Equity Deal

A report from market research firm ETR revealed Amazon and Microsoft as dominant in the enterprise information-technology market due to their early start in cloud computing. Over 800 chief information officers and high-level corporate executives ranked more than half of the top 30 products and services as those from the two tech giants. Those products included artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and software, data analytics, and robotic process automation as well as “other emerging digital tools.” Continue reading Cloud Pioneers Amazon, Microsoft Dominate Enterprise IT

Shred Video, a startup out of Y Combinator, now offers an easy way to turn hours of GoPro video into a 90-second clip with music. Users simply match GoPro footage with songs from their iTunes library, and Shred Video does the rest. The new app identifies moments of action from any acceleration-based sport (think surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding) and highlights video with the beat-drop of the song. Not to be outdone, GoPro plans to release its own mobile editing software by the end of summer. Continue reading Shred Video Debuts GoPro Editing, GoPro’s Version to Follow

In an effort to shield cloud software and big data developers from certain types of litigation currently affecting the mobile phone industry, Google introduced a “patent pledge” last week. The pledge, which is similar to a non-aggression pact, involves 10 patents related to Google’s MapReduce technology. The company says developers are free to use or sell the technology without concern regarding future lawsuits. Continue reading Patent Pledge by Google to Shield Software from Lawsuits