A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week, beginning with the news that nearly one in five bitcoin owners lost money on the currency.
16pc of bitcoin owners lost money on crypto-currency – only 11pc of owners are female
Independent research into international use of crypto-currency bitcoin has found that 16pc of people who have used it have lost money on it.
The research, compiled by games industry expert Jamie McCormick, now editor of BitcoinsinIreland.com and operator of the BitcoininMarketingTeam.com website, has revealed that 16pc of bitcoin owners actually lost their bitcoin because they lost their keys.
The first report of the #BitcoinSurvey – a three-month open research project – received 150 responses from bitcoin users in 51 countries.
Typical owners of bitcoin are generally in their late 20s to early 40s and 89pc are male.
LinkedIn buys online learning platform lynda.com for US$1.5bn
LinkedIn has acquired online learning company lynda.com for US$1.5bn. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said the combination of lynda.com’s content with LinkedIn will change the way people grasp opportunities.
The transaction is valued at approximately US$1.5 billion in a combination of 52pc cash and 48pc stock.
The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2015.
Amazon doesn’t find sites’ fake reviews so funny after issuing lawsuit
With the average Amazon customer looking to a seller’s reviews for advice on whether to purchase something or not, the company is issuing a lawsuit to the alleged operators of sites offering fake reviews for cash.
This marks the first time that Amazon has taken the issue of fake reviews to the courts, specifically regarding the people behind a string of websites that sell four-and-five star reviews, including buyazonreviews.com, buyamazonreviews.com, bayreviews.net and buyreviewsnow.com.
According to Geekwire, California man Jay Gentile is the key defendant in the lawsuit, along with a number of other unnamed individuals behind the illegal reviews.
Singtel spends $810m on 98pc share in security expert trustwave
Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel has bought out 98pc of Trustwave in a US$810m deal, as it continues its acquisition drive, strengthening its cybersecurity portfolio.
Trustwave is a US-based cybersecurity firm, offering cloud and managed security services, and adds another string to Singtel’s bow. It bought digital advertising firm Amobee back in 2012 and late last year came to an agreement with FireEye to set up security-monitoring bases in Sydney and its home market of Singapore.
It has also teamed up with Microsoft, thus providing a different suite of cloud services to its customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Queues may become a thing of the past at Apple Stores
Those long lines of people who would queue outside Apple Stores, some of whom would camp overnight just to get their hands on the next Apple device, may soon be a thing of the past.
Apple Store chief Angela Ahrendts is understood to have sent a memo to employees telling them that she no longer wished to see queues forming outside the stores every time a new device launched.
The strategy appears to have already come into play, with the new Apple Watch becoming available for ordering online only on Friday (10 April).
Ahrendts joined Apple last year as senior vice-president of Retail and Online Sales. Prior to that she was CEO of Burberry from 2006 to 2014.
Samsung forecasts 30pc year-on-year drop in operating profits
Consumer electronics giant Samsung expects the trend of operating profit declines to continue into the first quarter, forecasting an operating profit of US$5.3bn, which is down 30pc year-on-year.
Samsung expects revenues of US$43.3bn for the first quarter, down 12pc on last year.
The news comes as Samsung’s rivals in China such as Huawei, Xiaomi and OnePlus are in the ascendency.
The company is betting its recovery with the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices, which went on sale in Ireland and the UK on Friday (April 10).
Bitcoin image, via Shutterstock
