KRAKOW, POLAND - 2019/01/23: In this photo illustration, the Google Hangouts logo is seen displayed ... [ ] on an Android mobile phone. Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. According to a report released this week, Google is in the process of creating its newest messaging app and the company's development team is looking to combine the capabilities of multiple apps that the tech giant already provides into one. The report detailed that the new messaging app would combine the features from Hangouts Meet, Hangouts Chat, and Drive, but also include Gmail features. This would be Google's tenth app.

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Yelp--one of the most prominent review sites--recently rolled out several new ad products. This roll-out gives small business owners the opportunity to manage and control the way they present their business to customers through the site. Using thousands of listings from across the country, Yelp took the data and created tools that allow businesses the best chance at growth, and is offering business owners $300 in Ads to begin engaging their customers through Yelp. With all due respect to Yelp, please don't automatically expect your sales to increase 38 percent just because "customer engagement" has increased that much. In fact, who even knows if customer engagement will increase that much for your specific business?

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Google Glass is back – but now it's called Lens. The company is making the device more feature-friendly and adding functionality that can help your business. For example, if your customers use Google Lens on an iOS or ARCore-compatible Android phone, they'll soon be able to order at your restaurant. Or your salespeople can use it to translate foreign languages on-the-go. Lens will be accessible in the Google Assistant, Google Photos, and main Google search apps as well as directly in the camera app on Pixel phones.

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. The CEO of Deutsche Bank says technology will lead to significant layoffs at his organization in the not-too-distant future. To date, 4,000 jobs have been cut of the 9,000 the bank announced in late 2015 were threatened as part of a 5-year plan. According to its CEO, technology will allow Deutsche to cut thousands more jobs, and he believes entire industries will be able to replace workers with robots. When big company CEOs are openly talking about robots replacing their employees then the writing is on the wall.

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Alexa, can you order me some room service? Marriott is currently testing Amazon's assistant as well as Apple's Siri to see who works best for its customers. Amazon has already had success in the hospitality market with Wynn hotels installing 5,000 Echos last December. Big brands are taking virtual assistants seriously and building apps to improve customer service.

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. The chatbot that made a splash last summer by overturning 160,000 parking tickets is back again, but now it is helping provide free legal aid to refugees. Through a simple-to-use chat interface on Facebook Messenger, "DoNotPay" can "help refugees fill in an immigration application in the US and Canada." First, this is a pretty good service to use in your business if you employ immigrants that need inexpensive help with immigration paperwork. Secondly, here's another example of artificial intelligence technology that's automating process and creating new opportunities – which may have an impact on your future business.

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. The delivery of a Fire TV stick and a bag of popcorn was made from a fulfillment center in Cambridge, England. Amazon hopes that "one day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road." My Kindle still isn't working right, and they expect a drone to deliver packages? It's unlikely that drone delivery will be as ubiquitous as Amazon predicts, but you can expect this form of delivery to be an option to get your products to certain far-flung places of the world (where there are no kids with slingshots) within the next few years.