One High-profile Merger Fails; Another Alliance Takes Wing

IN THIS ISSUE: Adobe Will Not Acquire Figma; Intel, DigitalBridge Articulate Partnership; AI Implementation: Can vs. Should; Password Slip Sinks Ship; Rob Enderle's Tech Forecast for 2024; Niklaus Wirth Dies at 89

Adobe, Figma Cancel Plans to Merge

It seemed like a match made in heaven. But late last year, Adobe and Figma announced that they were canceling their plan to merge, citing a failure to convince regulators of adequate differences between the two companies, which both make UI development tools. 

Intel, DigitalBridge Articulate AI Partnership 

When an edgy startup with a unique idea uses a misspelled word like "Flickr" or "Lyft" as a company name, it feels perfectly fine. But an effort by Intel and infrastructure giant DigitalBridge called "Articul8 AI" seems wonky for a generative AI venture two years in the making. 

AI Implementation: Can vs. Should

Since AI became mainstream, everybody and his brother has something with artificial intelligence to offer. What do users think of all the extra "knowledge" being heaped onto products they're already using? Here's an analysis of AI apps and people's attitudes about it. 

Password Slip Sinks Ship

Fortunately, this variation of that old WWII expression did not happen literally, but a "ridiculously weak" password was to blame last week for a major hack that caused as much as a 50 percent drop in network traffic for one of Europe's largest service providers. 

Rob Enderle's Tech Forecast for 2024

When the news cycle dips between at the end of the year, technology reporters often take the opportunity to make vague predictions about what's ahead in the year to come. Are Rob Enderle's predictions ever close? You be the judge. Here are his predictions for 2023. 

Niklaus Wirth, Programming Pioneer, Dies at 89

The computer industry mourned the loss of Swiss computer scientist and pioneer Niklaus Wirth. He passed away on Jan. 1 at age 89. Wirth was instrumental in the development of Modula-2 and Pascal languages, as well as the Oberon OS and programming methods and processes.