After less than eight months, Amazon has discontinued the business version of its Astro security robot. GeekWire reported on Wednesday that despite being "fully committed" to its home robotics division, the company has discontinued the higher-end model that doubled as a security guard for spaces as large as 5,000 square feet. Amazon launched Astro for Business in November 2023, pitching it as a workplace security robot. The 2,350 screen-on-wheels had an HD periscope and a tangled web of subscription types and tiers, including Ring Protect Pro, Astro Security and Virtual Security Guard memberships. An Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire that it hasn't laid people off because of Astro for Business' demise, and the company plans to divert resources into its home robotics work.

SAN FRANCISCO – Top executives at Uber Technologies Inc. used the encrypted chat app Wickr to hold secret conversations, current and former workers testified in court this week, setting up what could be the first major legal test of the issues raised by the use of encrypted apps inside companies. The revelations Tuesday and Wednesday about the extensive use of Wickr inside Uber upended the high-stakes legal showdown with Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo unit, which accuses the ride-hailing firm of stealing its self-driving-car secrets. There is nothing inherently unlawful about instructing employees to use disappearing messaging apps, said Timothy Heaphy, a lawyer at Hunton & Williams and a former U.S. attorney in Virginia. However, companies have an obligation to preserve records that may be reasonably seen as relevant to litigation or that fall under data retention rules set by industry regulators. In Uber's situation, chat logs that could help get to the bottom of the trade secrets case are now inaccessible.

As the CEO of one of the companies at the forefront of sales technology, I often get asked this time of year to predict what the future holds for the sales industry. Usually the person asking me is seemingly looking for some new angle or revolutionary technology utilization that will transform the industry. Sadly revolutions, even in technology, tend not to happen from one year to the next. Although I have seen a lot of bold predictions made about 2017, I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that artificial intelligence (AI) is not likely to transform CRM over the next 12 months, and certainly salespeople won't be replaced by robots. Nevertheless, if you dare to open the aperture to the next decade, the question becomes a lot more intriguing.