Stack Overflow, a site where you can get answers to even the trickiest programming questions, recently released its annual developer survey.

This annual survey of nearly 90,000 developers looks at demographics, what types of work programmers are doing, the technology they're using to do it, and other questions.

This year, Stack Overflow also surveyed developers on who they think will most influence tech in 2019, allowing respondents to write in their answer. It's important to note that the question was phrased as: "What individual person will have the most influence in tech this year?" That phrasing doesn't specify whether the impact is good or bad.

These top 25 results are based on 30,398 responses, and include CEOs and co-founders of tech giants, open source developers, and even politicians. The top response by far is Elon Musk, the bombastic CEO of Tesla — 30.2% of respondents wrote him in, followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Only one woman made it on to the list. Also of note, 91.7% of respondents were men, while only 7.9% were women and 1.2% were non-binary, genderqueer, or gender non-conforming.

Below are the top 25 people who will have the most influence in tech in 2019, according to the Stack Overflow survey.

The Mazda CX-5 is one of the most popular offerings in what is arguably the most competitive segment of the US auto market. Introduced for the 2017 model year, the CX-5 doesn't sell quite as well as the segment-leading Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V, but it's no slouch.

Through April, Toyota has sold just shy of 118,000 RAV4s, while Honda has moved about 116,000 CR-Vs. During the same period, Mazda sold a respectable 47,000 CX-5s.

Last year, Business Insider had the chance to spend a week with a 2018 Mazda CX-5. We were impressed by the CX-5's stylish design, stellar driving dynamics, and a cabin that felt surprisingly luxurious. However, the CX-5 wasn't quite perfect. It is adequately powerful, but its standard naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine lacked the punch of a turbocharged unit. On the inside, the infotainment system was lackluster.

Read more: We drove a $40,000 Mazda CX-5 Turbo to see if it's the perfect compact SUV. Here's the verdict.

This year, Mazda has made several updates to the CX-5, including the addition of the turbocharged engine from the larger CX-9 SUV.

Recently, we spent some time with a 2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature AWD, clad in a gorgeous Deep Crystal Blue Metallic paint job.

"What Mazda has managed to do is deliver, hands down, the best-driving mass-market compact SUV money can buy," We said in our review of the 2019 CX-5. "It's an impressive feat considering it's fighting for sales in arguably the most brutally competitive segment of the market where everyone brings their A-game."

"And for that reason, if I had $40,000 to spend, the 2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature would be the compact SUV for me," we added.

The base 2019 Mazda CX-5 Sport with front-wheel drive starts at $24,350, while the top-of-the-line Signature trim starts at $36,890. All-wheel-drive is a $1,400 option on the Sport, Touring, and Grand Touring trims. It's standard on Grand Touring Reserve and Signature trims.

With options and fees, our Signature trim CX-5 came to an as-tested price of $39,905. It's the most expensive mass-market compact SUV Business Insider has ever tested.

Here's a closer look at its coolest features:

Sandbox VR, a location-based virtual reality startup, landed Andreessen Horowitz as a lead investor in its $68 million Series A in January. A new video shows exactly how the startup convinced the famed investment firm to sign on.

Andrew Chen, the Andreessen Horowitz partner on the deal, shared a video on the firm's YouTube channel that gave a "director's cut" of the team's pitch meeting, including the investors' discussion after Sandbox VR CEO and cofounder Steve Zhao left the room.

In the video, Chen says that one of the primary reasons the firm chose to invest in Zhao's company was the physical experience of the product, which reduces motion sickness and isn't as bulky as other consumer VR headsets.

Read More:This 29-year-old VC helped start Microsoft's investment fund. Now, she's joining the 50-year-old Mayfield Fund to help it invest in 'unhyped' markets.

Chen also explains in the video that he was also impressed with the unit economics data Zhao had included in his deck. He was able to convince the firm's investment team that the math worked, and that the company could turn a profit as it was presented.

The video is possibly the best look yet at what it's like to meet with the storied Silicon Valley investment firm, which famously invested in companies including Facebook, GitHub, and Lyft.

Here's the pitch deck Sandbox VR used to land Andreessen Horowitz as the lead on its $68 million Series A funding:

Two-day shipping was a revolution.

One-day shipping, which, Amazon announced in April, is starting to roll out to all Prime customers nationwide to replace two-day shipping, has the same potential.

"Two-day shipping made e-commerce relevant," said Michael Krakaris, founder of Deliverr, a third-party shipping and logistics firm that works with third-party sellers and merchants on platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Ebay.

Before, e-commerce orders took a long time, and actual arrival times would often vary greatly. With two-day shipping, customers could predict when they would need or want an item by, and the regularity of Amazon Prime's guarantee meant they could order it to fit their schedule.

Read more: A startup is making it easier for Amazon's sellers to fulfill orders, and it's a hint at how one-day shipping could become a reality

But even shaving just 24 hours from the time something arrives could have huge psychological benefits for customers who are mentally preparing for when an item is going to come.

"With one-day, you're changing the game, and now you're changing the framework of how buyers think," Krakaris said.

"The way they're now going to think about it is ... should I go to the Walgreens down the street? Or should I just buy it on Amazon?"

Before, customers could go to drugstores or convenience stores for need-it-now essentials, but a one-day shipping promise changes the calculus.

"With two-day shipping it was: 'I'm going to go to Walgreens down the street. I'm only going to buy something on Amazon if I can't find it at Walgreens,'" Krakaris said. "Now you're asking yourself, should I really even walk there? Should I even really stay and wait in the checkout line? [It's] going after those convenience stores."

Should drugstore chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid fear the coming of one-day shipping? It's still unclear how the offering will shake out and how customers will respond.

But in a best-case scenario, where the 100 million items currently available for Amazon Prime's two-day shipping are migrated to one-day, some sales could certainly be captured by the e-commerce giant.

An Amazon spokesperson gave Business Insider this statement in response to a request for comment:

At some point in 2020, a new "Predator" game is expected to arrive — Sony showed it off for the first time on Thursday afternoon, and it's called "Predator: Hunting Grounds."

Instead of following any of the "Predator" films, it appears to be a multiplayer-focused game of kill or be killed (by an invisible alien with superweapons). Here's the game description:

"Play as an elite Fireteam charged to complete paramilitary operations while a Predator mercilessly hunts you. Or, BE the Predator, armed with all the deadly alien weaponry you've grown to love and pursue your prey."

Great! Check out the trailer right here:

Vanguard is building a tech platform to better tap the $6 trillion of assets that financial advisors oversee as it plays catch-up with peers like BlackRock in the digital wealth space.

At a media roundtable at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago on Thursday, Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley highlighted the success of its Personal Advisor Services, which connects individual investors with more than $50,000 to Certified Financial Planners for a 0.3% or lower fee.

Now, the asset manager is building a similar platform for financial advisors, after hearing that professionals wanted to use elements of the service, like technology-driven risk analysis, for their clients.

See more: The man who upended investing by founding $5.1 trillion Vanguard says he admires only 3 rivals and even made some money off one of them

"Expect us to invest more and more in advice," Buckley told reporters. "We're here to help clients, whether they come directly to Vanguard or through advisers, to achieve a better retirement, put their kids through college. If we can help lower the cost of advice, we'll do that. If it's not direct, we'll do it through advisors."

The financial advisor platform will likely be rolled out by 2021, he said, noting it's too early to know if it'll be a revenue stream for the privately-held company. Buckley said early iterations of the program are being piloted with advisors.

BlackRock's similar effort, Aladdin Wealth, is a growing focus for the asset manager. The platform is driving revenue from the fees advisors pay and, in some cases, more assets to BlackRock, Business Insider reported last month. Aladdin Wealth, which was rolled out two years ago, now has 30,000 users, but lots of runway as there are about 300,000 financial advisors in the US alone

In November, BlackRock said it would buy a minority stake in financial technology firm Envestnet for $123 million. About 92,000 financial advisers use Envestnet's wealth management platforms, which include portfolio management, reporting and other capabilities.

Asset managers are increasingly interested in building digital tools to work more directly with financial advisors, who oversee more than $6 trillion in assets in North America alone, according to a report last month from McKinsey. That survey showed the continued growth of fee-based advisors, who are more likely than commission-based stock pickers to embrace digital tools and index funds to lower the cost of portfolio management.

"They can pass those savings onto their clients; they can free their time up to do more for their clients beyond portfolio management," Buckley said at Morningstar. "If we can give them pieces of our engine so they can do that better, we'll be doing that."

Uber disrupted the taxi industry with its mobile ride-hailing platform. And now that it's a public company, it's disrupting financial analysts' mnemonic devices.

Though just hours out of the gate, two analysts have already proposed eventually adding Uber to FAANG— though neither agreed where U belongs in the mix.

FAANG is an acronym for five of the most popular and high-performing large-cap tech stocks: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google.

Before Uber can join FAANG, the company will have to prove that it can continue to add value over time and succeed in the public markets in a way that is yet unconfirmed after its first rocky day of trading.

But Wedbush analyst Dan Ives thinks Uber is well on its way to transforming FAANG into FAAUNG.

Read more: PayPal already lost $37 million on the Uber investment it just made as part of the IPO

"Uber is clearly one of the most transformational companies in the world as the company has essentially single handily changed the nature of transportation worldwide," wrote Ives in a note on May 1. Ives set a price target of $65 for the company.

"While it will take time we ultimately believe the traditional FAANG tech club which is viewed as bellwether for investors worldwide will over the coming years accept a new member into this group and thus broaden into 'FAAUNG' given the barometer of consumer spending that Uber brings to the table on the transportation and mobility front," Ives wrote.

There are 360 ways to add Uber into FAANG. Business Insider's team has discovered all of them. Alyssa Pagano/Business Insider Not everyone agrees.

Like Ives, Naeem Aslam is bullish on Uber. But unlike Ives, Aslam, the chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets, thinks FAANG is about to become FAANGU.

"As expected the Uber IPO wasn't going to sell hot off the shelf, investors were wary about the demand especially after what happened to Lyft," Aslam wrote in an email Friday. "But that doesn't mean it is not a good stock, Uber has the ability to join the FAANG, and for me I see that term changing very soon to 'FAANGU.'"

Altogether, there are 360 possible ways to add Uber into FAANG.

As Business Insider's resident mathematician and Senior Quant Reporter Andy Kiersz explains, the total number of combinations of the six-letter acronym is 720, but you then need to account for the double As (which represent Apple and Amazon). That still leaves a lot of name options to choose from.

Will FAAUNG and FAANGU compete side-by-side in a cash burning, price slashing drag race like Uber and Lyft? Or will one of them come out ahead? Which one is the sauce, and which will leave analysts feeling unpumped?

Whatever the case, victory will be short lived. Once Airbnb and WeWork enter the public markets, analysts will have 6720 possible permuatations to sort through before settling on the perfect combination for the new cohort of high-growth tech stocks.

FAANGU, AFANGU, AAFNGU, NAFAGU, ANFAGU, FNAAGU, NFAAGU, AFNAGU, FANAGU, NAAFGU, ANAFGU, AANFGU, GANFAU, AGNFAU, NGAFAU, GNAFAU, ANGFAU, NAGFAU, FAGNAU, AFGNAU, GFANAU, FGANAU, AGFNAU, GAFNAU, GNFAAU, NGFAAU, FGNAAU, GFNAAU, NFGAAU, FNGAAU, FNAGAU, NFAGAU, AFNGAU, FANGAU, NAFGAU, ANFGAU, AFGANU, FAGANU, GAFANU, AGFANU, FGAANU, GFAANU, AFAGNU, FAAGNU, AAFGNU, AGAFNU, GAAFNU, AAGFNU, NGAAFU, GNAAFU, ANGAFU, NAGAFU, GANAFU, AGNAFU, NAAGFU, ANAGFU, AANGFU, AAGNFU, GAANFU, AGANFU, UAANFG, AUANFG, AAUNFG, NAUAFG, ANUAFG, UNAAFG, NUAAFG, AUNAFG, UANAFG, NAAUFG, ANAUFG, AANUFG, FANUAG, AFNUAG, NFAUAG, FNAUAG, ANFUAG, NAFUAG, UAFNAG, AUFNAG, FUANAG, UFANAG, AFUNAG, FAUNAG, FNUAAG, NFUAAG, UFNAAG, FUNAAG, NUFAAG, UNFAAG, UNAFAG, NUAFAG, AUNFAG, UANFAG, NAUFAG, ANUFAG, AUFANG, UAFANG, FAUANG, AFUANG, UFAANG, FUAANG, AUAFNG, UAAFNG, AAUFNG, AFAUNG, FAAUNG, AAFUNG, NFAAUG, FNAAUG, ANFAUG, NAFAUG, FANAUG, AFNAUG, NAAFUG, ANAFUG, AANFUG, AAFNUG, FAANUG, AFANUG, FGANUA, GFANUA, AFGNUA, FAGNUA, GAFNUA, AGFNUA, NGFAUA, GNFAUA, FNGAUA, NFGAUA, GFNAUA, FGNAUA, FANGUA, AFNGUA, NFAGUA, FNAGUA, ANFGUA, NAFGUA, NAGFUA, ANGFUA, GNAFUA, NGAFUA, AGNFUA, GANFUA, UANFGA, AUNFGA, NUAFGA, UNAFGA, ANUFGA, NAUFGA, FAUNGA, AFUNGA, UFANGA, FUANGA, AUFNGA, UAFNGA, UNFAGA, NUFAGA, FUNAGA, UFNAGA, NFUAGA, FNUAGA, FNAUGA, NFAUGA, AFNUGA, FANUGA, NAFUGA, ANFUGA, GNFUAA, NGFUAA, FGNUAA, GFNUAA, NFGUAA, FNGUAA, UNGFAA, NUGFAA, GUNFAA, UGNFAA, NGUFAA, GNUFAA, GFUNAA, FGUNAA, UGFNAA, GUFNAA, FUGNAA, UFGNAA, UFNGAA, FUNGAA, NUFGAA, UNFGAA, FNUGAA, NFUGAA, AFUGNA, FAUGNA, UAFGNA, AUFGNA, FUAGNA, UFAGNA, GFAUNA, FGAUNA, AGFUNA, GAFUNA, FAGUNA, AFGUNA, AUGFNA, UAGFNA, GAUFNA, AGUFNA, UGAFNA, GUAFNA, GUFANA, UGFANA, FGUANA, GFUANA, UFGANA, FUGANA, NUGAFA, UNGAFA, GNUAFA, NGUAFA, UGNAFA, GUNAFA, AUNGFA, UANGFA, NAUGFA, ANUGFA, UNAGFA, NUAGFA, NGAUFA, GNAUFA, ANGUFA, NAGUFA, GANUFA, AGNUFA, AGUNFA, GAUNFA, UAGNFA, AUGNFA, GUANFA, UGANFA, FGAAUN, GFAAUN, AFGAUN, FAGAUN, GAFAUN, AGFAUN, FAAGUN, AFAGUN, AAFGUN, AAGFUN, GAAFUN, AGAFUN, UAAFGN, AUAFGN, AAUFGN, FAUAGN, AFUAGN, UFAAGN, FUAAGN, AUFAGN, UAFAGN, FAAUGN, AFAUGN, AAFUGN, GAFUAN, AGFUAN, FGAUAN, GFAUAN, AFGUAN, FAGUAN, UAGFAN, AUGFAN, GUAFAN, UGAFAN, AGUFAN, GAUFAN, GFUAAN, FGUAAN, UGFAAN, GUFAAN, FUGAAN, UFGAAN, UFAGAN, FUAGAN, AUFGAN, UAFGAN, FAUGAN, AFUGAN, AUGAFN, UAGAFN, GAUAFN, AGUAFN, UGAAFN, GUAAFN, AUAGFN, UAAGFN, AAUGFN, AGAUFN, GAAUFN, AAGUFN, UGAANF, GUAANF, AUGANF, UAGANF, GAUANF, AGUANF, UAAGNF, AUAGNF, AAUGNF, AAGUNF, GAAUNF, AGAUNF, NAAUGF, ANAUGF, AANUGF, UANAGF, AUNAGF, NUAAGF, UNAAGF, ANUAGF, NAUAGF, UAANGF, AUANGF, AAUNGF, GAUNAF, AGUNAF, UGANAF, GUANAF, AUGNAF, UAGNAF, NAGUAF, ANGUAF, GNAUAF, NGAUAF, AGNUAF, GANUAF, GUNAAF, UGNAAF, NGUAAF, GNUAAF, UNGAAF, NUGAAF, NUAGAF, UNAGAF, ANUGAF, NAUGAF, UANGAF, AUNGAF, ANGAUF, NAGAUF, GANAUF, AGNAUF, NGAAUF, GNAAUF, ANAGUF, NAAGUF, AANGUF, AGANUF, GAANUF, AAGNUF

Elvis & Kresse is a UK-based sustainable business and Certified B Corporation that turns disused fire hoses into luxury bags and accessories.

The company was founded in 2005 in Brixton, London, by James Henrit (Elvis) and Kresse Wesling, and it is now based in the Kent countryside, inside a rescued 19th-century flour mill.

In 2005, the couple had a chance encounter with the London Fire Brigade, where they discovered that every year between 3 and 4 tons of damaged or old fire hoses were sent to landfill.

The couple set up Elvis & Kresse to save all this waste and promised they would donate 50% of their profits to the Firefighters Charity.

Since then, 175 tons of material has been reclaimed and recycled, and the company started working with 15 other waste materials as well. One of them is leather.

In 2017, Elvis & Kresse started a partnership with the Burberry Foundation with the aim to save the leather waste Burberry produces every year, and recraft those cutoffs into new luxury fashion items.

To learn more about Elvis & Kresse, check out the video above.

Three Amazon workers have filed a federal complaint against the retail giant, alleging that they faced racial and religious discrimination while working at warehouses in Minnesota.

The three women, of Muslim Somali descent, said they feared taking time off to pray, fast, or take bathroom breaks in case they were fired, according to a letter from civil rights group Muslim Advocates which formed the backbone of a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Lost time would reduce a worker's 'rate' or how many items a worker packs per hour," the letter said. "Employees who regularly fell short of the rate — simply because they attempted to observe their religious obligations to pray —faced repercussions such as 'write-ups' that could lead to termination."

The letter, first reported by The New York Times, added that a lack of air conditioning in the warehouses contributed to making it "almost impossible for Amazon's Muslim employees to keep fasting during Ramadan while maintaining the high rate demanded by Amazon."

An Amazon spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the complaint, but said diversity and inclusion are "central to our business and company culture," and workers can "pray whenever they choose." He added: "Prayer breaks less than 20 minutes are paid, and associates are welcome to request an unpaid prayer break for over 20 minutes for which productivity expectations would be adjusted."

The three workers also alleged in the letter that Muslim Somali and East African workers are "regularly passed over" for promotions over white workers. White workers receive better assignments and work, they said. Amazon did not address this specific complaint in its statement.

Read more: Amazon warehouse employees speak out about the 'brutal' reality of working during the holidays, when 60-hour weeks are mandatory and ambulance calls are common

Working conditions in Amazon's warehouses have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as horror stories of workers resorting to peeing in bottles in order to save time so that they are able to meet targets have surfaced.

These controversial working conditions have provoked a string of protests across the US and Europe from disgruntled workers who said they are treated like robots. Some of these protests took place during some of Amazon's busiest shopping times, such as Black Friday.

The three Muslim women were among other Amazon workers to rally in protest of the Minnesota warehouse working conditions in December 2018. They had an active role in this protest, sharing their story with the press, and rallying other workers to join. Because of this, they have experienced retaliatory harassment, they say.

All three women have had pretextual write-ups, which are a step toward termination and one woman has had her everyday conversations repeatedly video recorded by her supervisors, the letter said.

"The charges show that Amazon's message to Somali workers has been clear: since they protested Amazon's discriminatory actions, Amazon management would now create an environment so harassing and hostile that they would be forced to quit," the Muslim Advocates letter said.

Muslim Advocates wants the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to open an investigation into the allegations. The commission is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against employees because of their race, religion, sex, age, and disability among other things.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has taken aim at both China and the UK as he ratcheted up the Trump administration's ongoing war on Huawei, the Chinese tech giant.

Pompeo was in the UK on Wednesday, during which he took the opportunity to scold the expected decision of Theresa May's government to involve Huawei in the building of Britain's 5G mobile network — a decision that was dramatically leaked from a National Security Council meeting last month but has not been confirmed officially by the government.

The trip was partly designed to underline the US and UK's special relationship, which is of increasing importance to Britain as it prepares to leave the EU. But Pompeo cast doubt on the close ties by openly questioning the wisdom of the UK's plan to work with a company that the US suspects is an agent for Chinese surveillance. Huawei strenuously denies this.

"Why would anyone grant such power to a regime that has already grossly violated cyberspace?" Pompeo said, referring to Huawei, during a speech at London's Lancaster House. "What can Her Majesty's government do to make sure sensitive technologies don't become open doors for Beijing's spymasters?"

Read more: The Trump administration is warning allies to stay away from a powerful Chinese company — but not everyone's listening

He went on to suggest that inviting Huawei into Britain's 5G network would deal a blow to how the US and UK trade intelligence. It's a point the US has repeatedly made to allies as part of efforts to lobby them against getting into bed with the Chinese firm, now the second largest smartphone maker in the world.

"Insufficient security will impede the United States' ability to share certain information within trusted networks. This is just what China wants — to divide Western alliances through bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs," Pompeo explained.

He also evoked the memory of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the event, asking: "Would the Iron Lady be silent when China violates the sovereignty of nations through corruption or coercion?"

Pompeo was speaking after talks with May and Jeremy Hunt, the UK's foreign secretary. In a press conference following the meeting, Hunt said the government had not made a final decision on Huawei, adding: "We would never take a decision that compromised our intelligence sharing."

On the same day that Pompeo made his remarks, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was in court in Canada for a pre-hearing on her extradition to the US. According to reports, her lawyers argued that the case against her is flawed and politically motivated.

The electric-truck company Workhorse is talking to General Motors about buying its assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

President Donald Trump apparently preempted an official announcement about the deal on Wednesday, after a conversation with GM CEO Mary Barra. The two companies are still in the negotiation phase, according to GM.

The automaker swooped in after Trump celebrated the pending deal on Twitter, saying the "discussions" with Workhorse were ongoing, and that Workhorse founder Steve Burns would buy the plant "upon final agreement."

Markets had a strong reaction to the news, sending the Workhorse stock up nearly 215% to $2.65 per share. The stock climbed even higher in after hours trading, where it landed at $3.47.

Read more: It looks like Trump just announced GM's plan to sell its Ohio car factory to an electric-truck company — before GM could

"We remain committed to growing manufacturing jobs in the US, including in Ohio," Barra said in a statement, "and we see this development as a potential win-win for everyone."

"Workhorse has innovative technologies that could help preserve Lordstown's more than 50-year tradition of vehicle assembly work."

That would be welcome news for the Midwest manufacturing sector hit hard by auto-plant closures — which themselves are due in part to shifts in demand for certain types of vehicles.

Trump has also interpreted the pending deal between GM and Workhorse as a victory for his policy agenda, and a potential boost to his 2020 reelection campaign in Ohio. He won the generally purple state in 2016, taking 51.3% of the vote, after President Barack Obama won the state in 2012.

As technology evolves from the smartphones in our pockets into a realm of scattered devices that listen, watch and interact with us, Google expects privacy to go through a big change.

For one thing, says Google hardware executive Rishi Chandra, a world of ubiquitous smart devices located in homes, offices and streets means a different relationship between a user and a product.

"We're trying to clarify, whether you're the owner or a friend or a guest — what our products do from a privacy standpoint. How do they work? Why do we have sensors in them? What do the sensors do?" Chandra said in an interview with Business Insider. "It's not like you can sign a TOS (Terms Of Service) when you enter someone's house. So we have to be very upfront about how our products work."

Chandra is the VP of Product at Nest, Google's line of home appliances such as smart thermostats, video cameras and the Nest Hub Max that was unveiled at the Google I/O developers conference this week. His products exist in the world of "ambient computing" — a term coined by tech journalist Walt Mossberg to describe the growing array of technology that exists outside our personal devices.

Read more: Google's new $229 'smart hub' device has a built-in Nest camera that can recognize your face

With ambient computing, much of the decision making power that users have today on their computers or smartphones will be stripped, Chandra says. For instance, when someone walks into a friend's home who has a smart speaker, that person doesn't have control over what information is collected from the conversation — the power lies with the company making the speaker.

"Because it's a communal experience, the bar is very different," Chandra said. "Now all of a sudden, the commitment to privacy isn't just to me, but to anybody that actually walks into my house."

Chandra told us that Google recognized this paradigm shift and the problems it could introduce. In response, the company released a set of privacy commitments on Tuesday for its smart home devices and services that it says it will follow moving forward, starting with the Nest Hub Max.

Consistency will be key

To gain users' trust in a world of ambient computing, Chandra said consistency in product design will be key.

With the Nest Hub Max, for example, anytime the camera is recording, a green status light will shine. That same green light should illuminate on all Nest products when the camera is on so users can make the association, according to Chandra.

But today, that's not the case.

On current Nest cam products, users can turn the status light off — even if it's recording — so that the camera becomes less noticeable. In the future, those kinds of product tweaks will not be allowed.

Nest Hub Max Google

"Part of this is making us rethink decisions we've made in the past," Chandra said. "[Moving forward] we're not going to allow the owner dictate how our products work or how people understand how our products work."

Gaining consumer trust will be essential for Google's efforts to spread its lineup of smart home devices, but could be an uphill battle given the company's recent track record. In February, Business Insider was the first to report that Google admitted to making an "error" in not disclosing an embedded microphone in its home security and alarm system, Nest Secure.

"It was a strong reminder that if we screw up, it erodes trust," Chandra said of the incident. "It forced us to double down on how we are going to institute these [privacy] commitments."

'It's one team now'

Beyond its new commitment to privacy, the Nest Hub Max also signifies a meaningful internal development for Google's home hardware division. The company said on Tuesday that moving forward, all of its new and updated products will be branded with the "Nest" name.

The cohesion of brands is a long time coming for Google, which acquired Nest for $3.2 billion in 2014. When Google reorganized into Alphabet in 2015, Nest became a standalone company and wasn't folded back into Google until 2017.

Google's head of hardware, Rick Osterloh AP

"It's one team now. One roadmap across the entire organization," Chandra told us. "A lot of it was breaking the silos — that's the work we've been doing over the past year."

To start, the Google Home Hub (the original hub product without a camera) will change its name to "Nest Home Hub." In the future, when hardware products like Google Wifi come out with new versions, their names will change as well.

"I'm super excited about the roadmap that we have now," Chandra said. "But it took us some time to get there because we are changing the vision of where we want to go."

Don't call it a 'smart home'

That change of vision, Chandra said, comes from the team's decision to focus its product efforts to build a "helpful home," not simply, a "smart home."

To Chandra and his team, that means making products that are simple — anyone from five to ninety-five years old should be able to understand how to use their products. It also means, that when Nest products are used in conjunction with one another, they should deliver a better experience. "Better together" is the feel-good phrase Chandra likes to use.

The mantra of building a more helpful Google was echoed on stage by Google's CEO Sundar Pichai during his keynote speech at I/O on Tuesday, and seems to be how the company hopes to evolve its product offering across the board.

"In the end, our mission [at Google] is about help," Chandra said. "If we focus on the tech, I think, if we follow that path, we'll fail as an industry. If we focus on help and the benefits we give to our users, then I think we have opportunity and upside."

I just played a power-hungry AAA video game on a laptop that's absolutely not designed to play video games.

And I had a great time.

I was playing "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" through Google's recently revealed game-streaming service, Stadia. Stadia isn't publicly available yet, but Google allowed lucky visitors to its I/O developers conference this week to get some hands-on time with the new service.

The game I was playing was running on servers in San Jose, California, about 15 miles away from the Shoreline Amphitheatre where Google I/O takes place. Typically, when I play a game, it's on my Xbox or gaming PC, about five feet in front of me.

And this game was being streamed to a Chromebook laptop.

If you're not already familiar with Chromebooks, suffice it to say that these machines are 100% not designed to play video games with heavy-duty, demanding graphics. They're bare-bones laptops meant for browsing the web, streaming Netflix movies, and writing your history term paper.

Obviously, Google wanted to prove something.

I'll admit, I was slightly distracted at times. The novelty of the experience made it impossible for me not to be on the lookout for inconsistencies like lag or drops in visual quality that I wouldn't typically experience on my console or PC. I suspect anyone else who enjoys gaming would also be looking for ways that Stadia differs from their typical gaming setup. It's only natural to be wary of something new, especially when some of the benefits aren't entirely clear yet.

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

It's also tough to draw a definite conclusion from a demo of something that hasn't been released yet. And consider that I tried Stadia at a Google event, where the company has control over the internet infrastructure that's all-important for Stadia's streaming performance.

But, at least in this context, I can report that it felt just like playing on my Xbox at home.

There was no perceivable lag or latency during my short time playing the demo. The graphics looked great, and the game ran smoothly. There were no stutters or jitters.

The game's character moved the moment I'd push the Stadia controller's joystick, and she would swing her sword instantaneously the moment I'd press the button. The game's scenery and details looked no different to what I'd see on my Xbox, too.

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

Google still hasn't answered important questions about Stadia, like pricing and the selection of games that will be available to play. A lot of Stadia's success and value will depend on those answers.

But if Google gets it right, Stadia will bring some big benefits. For one, it'll let people play big power-hungry games with beautiful graphics on almost any device, whether it's a smartphone, tablet, TV, or even a $200 laptop. You wouldn't need to buy a games console or a PC with powerful specs.

Secondly, it'll let you play a game on any device almost anywhere there's an internet connection — just as long as the internet connection is good enough.

For anyone interested in games but not quite ready to invest in a dedicated gaming console or PC, Stadia could be an easy way to become a gamer.

And for gamers like me, who log hours of action on consoles and high-end gaming rigs at home, Stadia could be the perfect traveling companion — a lifesaver for work trips like the one I'm on right now. Indeed, I'd love to have the option to boot up "Battlefield V" after a day at Google I/O.

Google will reveal more details about the Stadia service this summer. And based on my first taste of it, I can't wait to hear what Google will have to say.

A week after Bob Muglia's surprising exit as CEO of Snowflake, two top execs leading the company's legal and HR teams are leaving the $3.5 billion data-storage startup. Snowflake has also brought in two new execs from ServiceNow, the cloud computing company that was previously led by new CEO Frank Slootman.

Margo Smith, Snowflake's chief legal officer, and Kathy O'Driscoll, the chief people officer, are "transitioning out," a company spokeswoman told Business Insider.

Rob Specker, who just left his position as general counsel at ServiceNow, is joining Snowflake in the same role. Shelly Begun, who had been senior vice president for human resources at ServiceNow, has joined Snowflake as vice president of HR.

Read more: Famous exec Bob Muglia is out as CEO of $3.5 billion Snowflake, just weeks after saying an IPO isn't imminent

"We have made some leadership changes- these include a new leader for HR and general counsel," Alisa MacDonnell, Snowflake's vice president for corporate marketing, told Business Insider. She also said Snowflake co-founder and chief technology officer Benoit Dageville is taking on a bigger role as president of products.

"This will all be reflected externally in the near future," she said.

Muglia's sudden departure sparked speculation that he was forced out — just weeks prior to the announcement, Muglia had told an interviewer that Snowflake had enough funding and was not planning to go public for at least another year or two.

Constellation Research analyst Ray Wang speculates that this may have been the case, and that Slootman was brought on by Snowflake's board of directors specifically to accelerate the IPO timetable. He also theorized that the hiring of former ServiceNow execs shows Slootman trying to consolidate his power at Snowflake.

"He wants his own team," he told Business Insider. "They want Slootman to take the company public, and he doesn't want someone else coming in to replace him after he takes the company public."

Former Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia Snowflake

Wang isn't alone in this belief: At the time of the CEO change, Business Insider reported that an analyst who knows both Muglia and Slootman believes that it was a change designed to get the company more ready to go public. Slootman, of note, led ServiceNow and other previous employers to big exits, both via IPO and acquisition.

MacDonnell of Snowflake disputed the view that Slootman was brought on specifically to take the company public.

"I have heard nothing of the sort," she said. "It is my understanding that Frank has been brought onboard because he has the perfect experience and knowledge to successfully lead the company through its next phase."

A Slack director who said the company will be "one of the most important tech companies in the world" is in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission for making "unauthorized statements" ahead of the company's IPO.

Slack, which filed to go public last month, disclosed in an SEC filing on Monday that director Chamath Palihapitiya's remarks in a television interview with CNBC were not endorsed by the company.

His comments appeared to violate "quiet period" rules that govern companies that have filed to go public.

Slack announced that it plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "SK" through a direct listing, in which private shareholders, including investors and employees, will be able to sell shares directly to the public.

In an April 30 interview, Palihapitiya shared his insights into Slack's IPO, heaped praise on Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and declared that the office-messaging company is on track to becoming a major player in tech.

"You know, one of our biggest investments is a company called Slack, and I still think to myself, why did we not just lead every single round and write the entirety of the fund into that company," he said. "It was obvious from day one that Stewart Butterfield is an iconic CEO, and that Slack is going to be one of the most important tech companies in the world."

CNBC host Scot Wapner also asked: "You brought up Slack, so let's go there. You own 10% of the company? You're on the board. I know you're limited about what you can say as a result of all of that, but when can we expect it, and why the direct listing, and do you agree with that decision?"

"I love it," Palihapitiya said. "I mean, I think that the decision making that Stewart has taken is incredible, both in the way that he's built the company."

"He is transforming the culture," he added. "He understands the product to a level of sophistication that I have not seen since Facebook."

Palihapitiya then elaborated on the strengths of Facebook and of another startup that just went public, Zoom.

"You know, when I was in the bowels of Facebook building that machinery, what I saw was a team that really understood product market fit, and the power of network effects, and why that created an incredibly subsidized business, a thing that could expand all over the world at marginally zero cost," he said.

"The only company in the world that looks like that today that is not yet public is called Slack, and it will be soon. And so, from that perspective I think it is the most incredible business that we have seen probably the next closest thing to it is a company that just went public recently, which is Zoom."

In April, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had harsh words for the sensor technology that most self-driving cars companies rely on, but on Wednesday executives at Alphabet's Waymo,who pioneered that tech defended their approach.

Musk's attack was centered on the honeycomb-looking sensors — known as lidar — that Waymo and other companies like Uber, Ford, and GM Cruise use in conjunction with cameras to give their self-driving cars an understanding of the road and what's on it.

Musk said Tesla's autonomous approach will solely rely on built-in cameras. "lidar is a fool's errand," Musk said. "Anyone relying on lidar is doomed."

Read more: Elon Musk says Tesla will have 1 million robo-taxis on the road next year, and some people think the claim is so unrealistic that he's being compared to PT Barnum

On Wednesday at an event for Google's developer's conference conference, I/O, Waymo's Principal Scientist Drago Anguelov said that Musk's decision to use only cameras and leave out lidar was "very risky." Lidar continuously bounces light waves around to help the car measure distances and "see" what's around it.

"You can imagine doing [autonomous] driving just with cameras, but you would need the best camera systems to really handle it," Anguelov said. "So that's a very big bet that you can achieve it. And it's very, very risky, and it's not necessary."

Anguelov said lidar sensors help Waymo create a safer experience for the passenger.

"We have much richer data and much more accurate. It's easier to build the right simulation environments," he said. Llidar also helps cars determine how other vehicles and objects in the road are interacting with each other and "all of this is considerably harder if you just use cameras, and more limiting," he said.

Dmitri Dolgov, Waymo's CTO and VP of engineering, echoed the message of safety that its sensors, alongside its cameras, bring to its autonomous approach.

"It's not one or the other — it's both," Dolgov said. "So it's all about taking the best of both worlds and combining them in an intelligible way to have the most capable and the safest system that you can have."

These engineers also tried putting to rest Musk's accusations that the high-price for lidars was one of its major downsides. Dolgov admitted that early versions of the lidar were "hugely expensive," but that the high costs were no different to most new technology when it's first developed.

"There's nothing fundamentally expensive about lidars," Dolgov said. "We've reduced the price from the first generation to [the current] generation of lidars by a huge margin. And you can imagine what the savings will be like as we scale."

In March, Waymo announced that it would start selling its lidar sensors to customers who don't compete with the company's autonomous ride-sharing services. The additional channel could help Waymo increase economies of scale through greater production, eventually bringing down the price of making the component for its own cars even further.

In terms of when the company will expand its autonomous ride-sharing service — Waymo One — outside of its initial testing market in the Phoenix area, Waymo execs were tight-lipped on a timeline.

"We have a roadmap and some plans to expand to locations beyond Phoenix," Dolgov said. "But as always, our deployments will be gated by safety."

On the flip side, Musk — who's ride-hailing plan lacked many important details — said Tesla would have 1 million autonomous taxis on the road "next year."

Intel CEO Bob Swan kicked off his first shareholder meeting as the chip giant's new boss with a display of humility after a downbeat earnings report that sparked doubts about the company's direction.

"We let you down," Swan told investors at the company's headquarters in Santa Clara on Wednesday. "And we let ourselves down."

Swan, who had served as Intel CFO, was named permanent CEO in January after serving on an interim basis following the resignation of Brian Krzanich. In late April, Intel reported disappointing earnings, highlighted by weak data center business revenues.

Despite Swan's comments, Intel shares slipped after hours on Wednesday. Wedbush analyst Joel Kulina pointed to Intel's projection of low-single digit percentage growth in the next three years as a possible reason why.

"Still lingering concerns over Swan as CEO vs bringing in tech/turnaround type of guy," he said in a note to clients following the meeting.

Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy said the Intel CEO's show of humility was not surprising, given Swan's past role as the chipmaker's chief financial officer.

"I think this is classic Bob Swan," he told Business Insider. "If anyone understands Intel investors, it's him."

Martinwolf Analyst Marty Wolf said Intel is clearly still struggling to bounce back after missing recent opportunities. For example, Intel stunned the business world by announcing that it was exiting the 5G modem business. Swan reaffirmed that decision at the investor meeting, saying, "we didn't see a path to make money."

The company's data center business, which was supposed to lead Intel to a new growth period, turned out to be a disappointment, posting its first revenue decline in at least five years.

"They have long development lead times, and they missed not one but multiple cycle entry points," Wolf told Business Insider.

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined SAP CEO Bill McDermott on stage at SAP's annual tech conference for a mutual love-fest between the two executives.

They were there to explain how they've expanded their years-long partnership, which included bringing some of SAP's business apps to Apple's iOS operating system and helping enterprises build custom iOS apps. Next up, the executives announced, SAP will be bringing more apps to the Mac, too.

The two showered each other with compliments, with Cook saying that SAP's finance software helped Apple get out of its malaise during the company's darkest days in the '90s. McDermott, ever the charming salesman, called Cook a friend, and praised everything from Apple devices to Cook's strong stance on user privacy.

Yet the gist of the news is this: SAP and Apple will be helping enterprises build augmented reality apps for iPhone or iPad, using Apple's on-device CoreML and ARkit tools, as well as SAP's machine learning tech Leonardo. With these apps, you don't need a Microsoft HoloLens, or any other kind of augmented reality goggles that project digital imagery over the real world; just point the iPad's camera around, as with "Pokémon Go."

McDermott also highlighted that SAP had brought several of its big enterprise apps to iOS, including the HR app SuccessFactors, expense-report tool Concur, and a system for the IT department called Asset Manager. He said that SAP is in the process of building an iOS version of Ariba, its enterprise procurement app, and says that more iOS SAP apps are coming.

That's a considerable promise. While SAP is best known for its enterprise-planning resource (ERP) financial software, as the world's largest maker of enterprise software, SAP actually has hundreds of applications, similar to its rival Oracle and its frenemy Microsoft.

The real point of the partnership

For the most part, though, SAP's partnership with Apple — which began in 2010 — hasn't really been about bringing SAP's own software to iOS. It's been about helping SAP's 437,000 customers worldwide build custom iOS apps to use in their own companies.

In fact, SAP is one of Apple's largest enterprise customers, and has built handfuls of custom apps for its own employees.

"We have 100,000-plus Apple devices running around SAP. We love 'em," McDermott told Cook on stage.

And, in a similar approach to that of IBM, another Apple partner, SAP has focused on building industry-specific apps for its customers such as retail, aviation and the like. It offers enterprises a development kit so they can write their own iOS software. This kit will be upgraded to include the CoreML machine learning tool and ARkit augmented reality tool.

Cook offered two examples of the kind of apps that could be built.

One is a retail app for managing inventory on shelves. Such "planograms" are often pieces of paper today, as Cook showed in this picture:

Apple

But once SAP helps retailers builds their fancy new machine learning/AR app, the iPad will be able to identify the inventory, discover which items are missing or need to be restocked, which ones are in the wrong spot, and so on.

Cook showed this photo:

Apple

He also showed photos of using the iPad with AR in the field to replace repair manuals.

Apple

Of note here is that Microsoft has been pitching similar uses for its HoloLens 2 goggles — so Apple and SAP working on AR tools for the iPad or iPhone might take some of the shine off of that pitch.

SAP coming to the Mac

And, in another blow to Microsoft Windows PCs, SAP said it plans to bring more enterprise apps to the Mac.

SAP was vague as to its commitment as to which apps it would be particularly bringing to the Mac, though. It didn't promise to bring any of its core apps to the Mac. It discussed new apps, similar to the ones it has brought to iOS, though it remains to be seen what, exactly, this push will entail. Like all other vendors, SAP is working like mad to get customers to buy cloud versions of its software. These would run on any device through a browser, and not need to be installed onto each server and PC.

However, the idea here is to beef up the Mac in the enterprise with new apps that make it more useful to workers.

It's another sign at how many employees at enterprises are choosing Macs over Windows when they are given a choice. As Cook pointed out on stage, that according his research, when companies give their employees a chance to choose their own computers: "Three out of four will pick a Mac," Cook said, joking, "I don't know what the other one is doing."

Most companies still run a lot of their business on Windows apps, and there are far more enterprise apps for Windows than for Macs. Enterprises remain a Microsoft Windows PC stronghold.

But looks like Apple is trying to change that, and its grabbed a powerful industry partner in SAP to help.