(Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Here are five things in business tech news that happened this week and how they affect your business.Did you miss them?
Business Tech News #1 – OpenAI launches new AI tool to facilitate research tasks.
OpenAI has launched a new AI tool called Deep Research, designed to conduct multi-step research on the internet for complex tasks. It uses a version of the upcoming OpenAI o3 model optimized for web browsing and data analysis. Users provide a prompt, and ChatGPT finds, analyzes, and synthesizes several online sources (text, images, PDFs) to create a comprehensive report. Deep Research aims to accomplish in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours. The tool is still in its early stages and has some limitations – such as struggling with distinguishing authoritative information from rumors. (Source: Reuters)
Why this is important for your business:
People all over X seem to be loving this. @Deedydas says: “Deep research generates ~10 page reports in ~15mins by scouring 100s of websites. This could replace a lot of human work.” OpenAI says: “Give it a prompt and ChatGPT will find, analyze & synthesize hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report in tens of minutes vs what would take a human many hours.” But the news may not be good for everyone: Sabrina Ortiz at ZDNET says there are at least 20 jobs it will replace.
Business Tech News #2 – Bluevine announces A partnership with Xero to deliver banking solutions for small business.
Bluevine – a banking platform for startups and small businesses – has announced a partnership with small business accounting platform Xero. This collaboration allows Bluevine customers to sync their banking data with Xero, providing greater efficiencies and growth opportunities. (Source: Morningstar)
Why this is important for your business:
According to the two companies, accountants can securely access their clients’ accounts through Bluevine’s dashboard, making financial management easier. Bluevine Plus and Premier customers get a six-month free trial of Xero’s software, while US-based Xero customers get a three-month free trial of Bluevine’s plans. This partnership aims to simplify financial management and provide a comprehensive solution for tracking expenses, analyzing performance, and managing cash flow.
Business Tech News #3 – Square, Cash App and Visa support small businesses with technology.
Square, Cash App, and Visa have partnered with the New Orleans nonprofit organization Propeller to support local food and beverage businesses. The “Feeding NOLA’s Future” event that was held on February 4th, offered to equip local businesses with upgraded technology and resources to help them thrive. The collaboration includes free Square hardware, helping businesses get onboarded quickly with personalized sessions from industry experts to maximize sales potential during peak seasons like Mardi Gras. Square’s director of food and beverage Ming-Thai Huh said, “Our collaboration with our sister brand Cash App and with Visa underscores our collective commitment to supporting the small business community.” (Source: PYMNTS)
Why this is important for your business:
Great stuff but uh-oh, according to a new research report Cash App downloads fell 15 percent year-over-year in the last quarter, and downloads of competitor Venmo were down 13 percent. Are users getting tired of these cash transfer applications? Is the market getting saturated?
Business Tech News #4– Appy Pie unveils AI Generator: The leading AI generation platform.
Tech company Appy Pie has launched a new AI content generation platform called “Appy Pie AI Generator.” This platform allows businesses, marketers, and creators to generate AI-powered images, videos, and text effortlessly. It offers high-resolution visuals for branding, cinematic-quality videos from text, and SEO-optimized text for blogs and social media. The platform also provides APIs for seamless integration into various applications. Appy Pie aims to revolutionize digital content creation by providing fast, efficient, and professional-grade results. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Why this is important for your business:
As I recently reported about the Microsoft AI tour, there are now a proliferation of new AI tools that are now affordable for small businesses deploy, and the Appy Pie AI Generator is a good example. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, in reality, you’ll still need a $200K per year developer to create your AI solutions using these tools.
Business Tech News #5 – Microsoft 365 is losing its free VPN feature.
Microsoft has announced that it will be “removing the VPN (Virtual Private Network) feature” from its Microsoft 365 subscription by the end of February 2025. The VPN – which was part of the Microsoft Defender app – provided privacy protection by encrypting data on public networks. However, Microsoft decided to remove it due to low usage and to reallocate resources to other areas that better align with customer needs. Other Defender features – such as identity theft protection and anti-malware protection – will continue to be available. (Source: The Verge)
Why this is important for your business:
A VPN is critical for encrypting data particularly when using a public WiFi connection. But unfortunately, I’ve been struggling with VPNs when I travel. I’ve tried Express VPN, Pure VPN and Tunnel Bear. They work. They don’t work. They load. They don’t load. They’ve all caused problems with my Windows 11 Dell laptop. It’s gotten so annoying that I’m just leaning more on my mobile hotspot instead of using a public hotel or airport WiFi connection over a VPN. Companies need to incorporate VPNs in their remote networking capabilities for their workers. For individuals, I’m not a fan of any of the ones I’ve tried.
Every week round up five business tech news stories that impact your business and mine. And then I explain why.
