10 things in tech you need to know today

Masayoshi Son SoftBank

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. Before startup Cohesity won $250 million of investment led by Softbank's Vision Fund, the founder had to pass muster with billionaire Masayoshi Son himself. It was a tense, whirlwind meeting at Son's California mansion, wedged into a six-hour layover.

2. Amazon has poached 30 executives from Microsoft in the past 3 years. Microsoft is known for churning out quality employees, but many made the jump to Amazon with innovation and compensation likely to be among the deciding factors.

3. Almost half of millennials say they would rather give up shampooing for a week than stop using their phones. The statistic brings to mind the conversation surrounding smartphone addiction, with companies including Apple making plans to help customers cut the time they spend with their phones.

4. The rumoured Google smartwatch is said to be coming later this year. There are apparently three Pixel Watches in the works, codenamed Ling, Triton, and Sardine.

5. Amazon's program for underperforming employees includes a courtroom-style video conference with a jury of peers. Amazon introduced its "Pivot" program for underperforming employees last year and some are resentful that the process is unfair.

6. Mark Zuckerberg is a single point of failure at a company that is systemically important to the internet. Investors are worried he keeps making mistakes and 51% believe he should be fired as chairman of the board.

7. Dell nears deal that would make it a public company again. The Wall Street Journal reports the Dell will announce plans to acquire, via a share swap, the DVMT tracking stock, which tracks its fast-growing VMware Inc. virtualization-software unit.

8. There's a place called 'Crypto Valley' and it's Switzerland's picturesque blockchain version of Silicon Valley. The small town of Zug just outside of Zurich is home to a cluster of companies and foundations building a crypto empire.

9. Airbnb aims to be 'ready' to go public from June 30, 2019, according to TechCrunch. The company has created a bonus system aimed at trying to keep 4,000 staff happy in an ultra-competitive market for talent.

10. A photographer captured shots of people texting their most intimate secrets in public. The images by New York-based photographer Jeff Mermelstein offer a compelling insight into human nature, including people's sex lives and cancer treatment.

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