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2017-04-08

Tech Review: Tech Unicorn Okta IPO Skyrockets, Friday Close $23.51

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Features •  1) Tech Unicorn Okta IPO, 2) Google Play games services, 3) Tim Berners-Lee, 4) Twitter Lite, 5) Team Obama Surveillance, 6) Apple $AAPL, 7) Amazon Cash, 8) ICYMI 16 Tech News Quick Takes.

1) Tech Unicorn Okta, Inc. [domain: okta.com] backed by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, started trading on the NASDAQ with the symbol OKTA Friday, and the shares immediately advanced more than 35% above its IPO share price of $17, closing Friday's trading at $23.51 per share, up 38.29% for the day.

According to its website, Okta products uniquely use identity information to grant people access to applications on any device at any time, while still enforcing strong security protections, and its platform securely connects companies to their customers and partners.

Okta has over 3,100 clients and over two million people using its services daily. Its product offerings are highly rated. Okta is the only company to be named a leader in Identity Access as a Service (IDaaS) by Gartner for 3 years in a row.

Okta was valued at $1.2B at its most recent round of funding in September 2015 and had raised an aggregate of $230M in VC funding. IPO underwriters included Allen & Co., Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Securities, Canaccord Genuity, JMP Securities, and Pacific Crest Securities. Customers include: Workday, ServiceNow, NetSuite, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Box, Amazon Web Services, 20th Century Fox, Adobe, Engie, Flex, Github, LinkedIn, MassMutual, MGM Resorts, Pitney Bowes and Twilio. Okta is the fourth unicorn to make an IPO debut this year.

More info:

Other Tech News:

2) Google Play games services--Android Developers Blog | googleblog.com 5 Apr 2017: "... In December, we announced the end of support for the creation of new iOS accounts given the low usage of GPGS on iOS. Additionally, our latest Native SDK release (2.3) will no longer support integration with iOS and going forward we will not be supporting or updating the iOS SDK ... These changes allow us to focus our efforts on the services developers value most to build high quality, engaging games."

3) Web’s Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Wins the Nobel Prize of Computing | MIT TechnologyReview.com: "Berners-Lee says Web access is a human right—and the technology he created needs a rethink." See also: Tim Berners-Lee: selling private citizens' browsing data is 'disgusting' | Technology | TheGuardian.com.

4) Introducing Twitter Lite | Twitter Blogs: Twitter Lite available globally at mobile.twitter.com on your smartphone or tablet. More information about Twitter Lite at lite.twitter.com and here.

5) Team Obama Surveillance: What Devin Nunes Knows | WSJ.com: "Team Obama was spying broadly on the incoming administration." See also: Bob Woodward says Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme--WashingtonExaminer.com.

6)  Apple $AAPL: Apple Is A Drama Queen | Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) | SeekingAlpha.com: "The previous strong earnings trend of Apple was not sustainable ... In the end, at its all-time high, Apple is too expensive for the investors who could really benefit from holding it." See also: The Problem Of Being Long Apple And Not Wanting To Hear Anything Bad About It | SeekingAlpha.com.

7) Amazon Cash: Amazon Cash should appeal to those who get paid in cash, don’t have a bank account, debit card, or credit cards. “Cash customers” (a/k/a the "unbanked" or "underbanked") are about 27 percent of consumers, according to a 2015 report from the FDIC. Amazon Cash participating stores: CVS Pharmacy, Speedway, Sheetz, Kum & Go, D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare Supermarkets, and VG’s Grocery, with more to come. Similar to PayPal's My Cash Card which allows you add cash funds to your online PayPal account using a barcode service powered by Green Dot.

8) ICYMI 16 Tech News Quick Takes:
  1. Amazon scores streaming rights for NFL's Thursday Night Football | Reuters.com.
  2. Hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power Inc (PLUG.O) said Wednesday that Amazon.com Inc. acquired the right to buy up to 23 percent of the company that makes powerful batteries used for work in Amazon warehouses.--Reuters.com.
  3. Chinese companies Baidu and Tencent rank low in global accountability index | Hong Kong Free Press | hongkongfp.com.
  4. Imagination Technologies' shares plunge 70 percent after Apple ditches firm | Reuters.com
  5. Oath isn’t just a terrible name — it’s going to be a nightmare ad-tracking machine | TheVerge.com: Verizon is primed to become ad-tracking giant and take full advantage of an impotent FCC, using consumer data without permission, as it's done with supercookies.
  7. Triple your privacy with a Chromebook and two VPNs | Computerworld.com
  8. Digital Ads: Chase Had Ads on 400,000 Sites. Then on Just 5,000. Same Results. | NYTimes.com
  9. As Passive Investing Grows Bloomberg Terminal Takes A Hit | valuewalk.com
  10. Stay Away From Verizon - Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) | SeekingAlpha.com: "The first thing that pops out when looking at Verizon's financials is the revenue growth, or lack of revenue growth"
  11. Microsoft adds new calling features to Skype for Business | ZDNet.com: "Microsoft is adding new features to its high-end Skype for Business service, just as Amazon and Google are trying to get into the enterprise cloud-conferencing game."
  15. Qualcomm wants antitrust case dismissed | TheHill.com: "Qualcomm is asking a federal judge to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission during the last days of the Obama administration."
  16. Whatever you do, don’t say yes when this chatbot asks, 'Can you hear me?' | LATimes.com: a highly sophisticated racket known as the “can you hear me” scam, which involves tricking people into saying yes and using that affirmation to sign people up for stuff they didn’t order.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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