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TOP OF MIND

Google’s big preview of coming attractions. Clearly, Apple isn’t the only company capable of holding a wow-factor developer conference. Among the biggest news Thursday from its huge gathering in San Francisco: the launch of Google’s revamped mobile payments system (it’s already testing “hands-free” transactions at McDonald’s and Papa John’s); significant updates to its mapping software that dramatically improve offline access; a collaboration with GoPro focused on virtual reality applications; and more details about the search giant’s operating system for the Internet of things (aka Brillo).

Plus, in other news, Google+ is not dead—the company is “doubling down” on the features that make sense, according to an interview with Google VP Bradley Horowitz published by Medium.

TRENDING

Why Qualcomm should be concerned. The massive $37 billion union of chipmakers Avago and Broadcom will force the world’s biggest maker of mobile chips to rethink its own strategy. “Qualcomm has aspirations of moving into Intel’s data center processor incumbency that the Avago storage and now enterprise networking (from Broadcom) capability directly overlays,” Drexel Hamilton analyst Richard Whittington told Reuters.

Speaking of which, the New York Post reports this morning that an Intel-Altera deal is imminent. The rumored price is approximately $15 billion.

Here’s what Cisco worries about. The market for software-defined data centers—ones that aren’t beholden to certain proprietary equipment—is projected to top $77 billion by 2020. That compares with slightly less than $22 billion this year, a pretty steep growth curve.

Apple’s augmented reality strategy unfolds. It has acquired Metaio, a software company originally kick-started by Volkswagen.

Need to rent a bulldozer? Check out San Francisco-based Yard Club, which is creating what’s being described as an Airbnb-type marketplace for heavy equipment. Caterpillar is one of the investors, according to this profile in The Wall Street Journal.

Equinix muscles in. The U.S. data center operator is bidding $3.6 billion to buy Telecity, based in the United Kingdom. The deal will create Europe’s biggest data center organization. It supersedes Telecity’s previous arrangement with Interxion.

THE DOWNLOAD

Cloud education tech claims larger role in ‘hire learning’

The explosion last year in venture funding for education technology—more than $1.87 billion invested—wasn’t strictly earmarked for K-12 classrooms, colleges and universities.

A fast-growing portion of ed-tech investments is squarely focused on corporate cyberlearning applications as businesses struggle to fill skills gaps and retain talent. As one vivid illustration, consider the $1.5 billion paid by LinkedIn to acquire Lynda.com, a venerable subscription-based online learning company in business for two decades.

Wrote LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, in a blog post justifying the deal:

“I believe we need to transition from a 20th century approach heavily reliant on rote learning to a 21st century curriculum focused on collaboration, critical reasoning and creative problem solving; provide more opportunities for experiential vs. textbook learning; better equip teachers to cater to multiple forms of intelligence vs. simply focusing on math and verbal skills; ensure compassion is taught in every classroom; and provide today's students with the skills they need to obtain the jobs that are and will be vs. the jobs that once were.”

One investment clearly centered on corporate opportunities as the $135 million raised in August 2014 by Pluralsight, which specializes in “hard core” training for software developers and IT professionals. The same month also brought an $85 million Series B financing round for Desire2Learning (aka D2L), a Canadian ed-tech company allied with both IBM and Microsoft.

“The education industry is undergoing a technology renaissance unlocked by cloud computing, digital content, mobile devices and big data analytics,” said Jon Sakoda, a partner with New Enterprise Associates, one of the investors. “We have seen tremendous adoption of D2L’s cloud-based learning platform in higher education, K-12 and the corporate sector. This round of funding should enable the company to further expand its global presence.”

D2L founder CEO John Baker said many of his company’s large corporate clients are using the D2L platform, called Brightspace, to improve workforce retention by turning employee onboarding into an ongoing process rather than a moment-in-time event. “Research shows that it can take five years to become really successful in your job. We can help people become productive much faster,” he said.

One way to accomplish this is through game-based learning, which encourages employees to visit the platform to progress toward higher levels of competency.

Consulting firm Accenture, a D2L enterprise customer, uses the company’s system to hook employees before they’re actually hired. “For us, onboarding starts before the candidate actually starts. We’re able to create a better profile. At the same time, we’re showing someone exactly how they can advance,” said Rama Siva, human resources lead for Accenture India and Accenture Software.

For example, the platform helps recruits in the company’s Asia Pacific region improve their English language communications skills. “We’ve seen a much higher level of stickiness, a drop in early attrition rates,” Siva said.

The market for corporate e-learning is expected to grow 13% annually through 2017, according to research by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. “The labor force in many countries is getting older, retirement age is rising,” the advisory firm wrote in a 2014 report. “With knowledge increasing exponentially and requirements in the workplace constantly changing, employees have to always improve their skills to maintain their ‘employability.’ With only a small fraction of employees able to afford the time and money to periodically go back to school full-time, professional development is taking on a bigger and bigger role.”

On the flip side, cyberlearning platforms could help untried, entry-level candidates develop real-world experience. That explains the $6.2 million early-money infusion for Knod, a company that connects undergraduate students with potential employers. The platform’s customers are would-be recruits seeking to gain real-world experience that complements the courses they’re taking for a specific degree. It’s used by the likes of GE Healthcare, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson.

“It’s clear that many of today’s universities aren’t adequately preparing students with the skills they need to enter the modern workforce, creating a severe gap for employers who can’t find qualified employees to fill open positions,” said Kent Madsen, managing director at Epic Ventures, one of Knod’s investors.

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ALSO WORTH SHARING

Another chip deal we should mention. NXP is selling off its radio frequency components business for $1.8 billion. The move is meant mainly to remove potential objections to its pending $11.8 billion acquisition of Freescale.

Marketing via text message may get harder. The FCC thinks it should be simpler for consumers to opt out of marketing communications. Plus, the agency thinks carriers should offer a way to block automated “robocalls.”

Can you predict? IBM has created 20 industry-specific versions of its analytics services focused on everything from assessing retail inventory data to predictive maintenance for oil and gas exploration equipment.

Here’s what you can expect in the next version of Apple’s operating system for smartphones and tablet computers.

MY FORTUNE BOOKMARKS

Should ad blockers be legal? by Jeff John Roberts

A solar farm in the shape of Mickey Mouse is coming to Florida, seriously by Katie Fehrenbacher

Here’s Uber’s plan for a new sci-fi headquarters by Benjamin Snyder

Why Ford’s patent announcement is overhyped by Kirsten Korosec

Here’s where Apple’s antitrust monitor crossed the line by Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Google’s best app just got better by Victor Luckerson/Time

ONE MORE THING

Here’s an unusual 3D printing application: producing human skin. That’s what cosmetics company L’Oreal is doing, for more accurate testing without actually using animals or people.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

MongoDB World: Scale the universe. (June 1 - 2; New York)

HP Discover: Trends and technologies. (June 2 - 4; Las Vegas)

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference: Future of iOS and OS X. (June 8 - 12; San Francisco)

Hadoop Summit San Jose: Mainstreaming adoption. (June 9 - 11; San Jose, California)

Red Hat Summit: Energize your enterprise. (June 23 - 26; Boston)

Brainstorm Tech: Fortune’s invite-only gathering of thinkers, influencers and entrepreneurs. (July 13 - 15; Aspen, Colorado)

LinuxCon North America: All about open source. (Aug. 17 - 19; Seattle)

VMworld: The virtualization ecosystem. (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, 2015; San Francisco)

Dreamforce: The Salesforce community. (Sept. 15 - 18; San Francisco)

Cassandra Summit: Largest gathering of Cassandra database developers. (Sept. 22 - 24; San Francisco)

BoxWorks 2015: Cloud collaboration solutions. (Sept. 28 - 30; San Francisco)

Workday Rising: Meet and share. (Sept. 28 - Oct. 1; Las Vegas)

HP Engage: Big data, big engagement. (Oct. 4 - 6; San Diego)

Gartner Symposium ITxpo: CIOs and senior IT executives. (Oct. 4 - 8; Orlando, Florida)

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing: World's largest gather of women technologists. (Oct. 14 - 16; Houston)

Oracle OpenWorld: Customer and partner conference. (Oct. 25 - 29; San Francisco)

QuickBooks Connect: SMBs, entrepreneurs, accountants and developers. (Nov. 2 - 4; San Jose, California)