Bill Gates Could Become the World’s first Trillionaire
In our lifetimes, we could see the first trillionaire.
And, most likely, that first trillionaire would be Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates .
That’s according to research by Oxfam, an international network of organizations collectively working to alleviate global poverty. Its recently published report finds that eight billionaires from around the globe have as much money as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world’s population.
The report also finds that, given the exponential growth of existing wealth, the world could have its first trillionaire in the next 25 years, when Gates would be 86.
When Gates left Microsoft in 2006, his net worth was $50 billion, according to Oxfam. By 2016, his wealth had increased to $75 billion, “despite his commendable attempts to give it away through his Foundation,” the report says.
In addition to the charitable work Gates does through his personal foundation, he is one of the founding members of The Giving Pledge, a commitment from some of the richest individuals in the world to give away more than half of their worth.
For the hypothetical analysis, Oxfam researchers apply the rate of growth he has been enjoying, 11 percent per year since 2009, to Gates’ current levels of wealth (over $84 billion, according to Forbes). If his investments keep doing as well as they have been, the 61-year-old Gates could indeed become the world’s first trillionaire w

HP Recalls 101,000 more Laptop Batteries for fire Hazard
HP is expanding its recall of laptop batteries with overheating issues that can cause computer damage and even fire.
The company is recalling an additional 101,000 batteries in some laptops sold between March 2013 through October 2016. This is an expansion of the recall initiated in June 2016, which involved HP’s recalling 41,000 batteries.
The batteries are in laptop brands including HP, Compaq, ProBook, Envy, Compaq Presario and Pavilion laptops. Battery packs sold separately are also affected.
Batteries are being recalled in the U.S, Canada and Mexico. Most are in the U.S., while 3,000 are being recalled in Canada, and 4,000 in Mexico. The laptops were sold through big-box retailers and online.
You may need to check that your battery is eligible for recall. The batteries are black and should have the bar codes 6BZLU, 6CGFK, 6CGFQ, 6CZMB, 6DEMA, 6DEMH, 6DGAL or 6EBVA printed on the back of the battery.
Users can also download software from HP’s recall website to check if the battery qualifies for a recall. In the U.S., users can call HP customer service at 1-888-202-4320 to request a replacement battery.
Overall, HP received one report of a laptop catching fire in Canada, and eight reports of the battery overheating, catching fire or melting in the U.S. In one case, HP received a report of the “battery overheating, melting and charring and causing about $1,000 in property damage,” according to a statement issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission w

Microsoft Cuts 700 Employees
As part of its general transition from the Windows company to the “cloud-first, mobile-first,” productivity solutions company, Microsoft has engaged in a number of employee layoffs. The most significant involved the massive reduction in staff related to its write-down of the devices business it acquired from Nokia.
Now, the company is engaging in another round of layoffs, this one quite a bit smaller, that’s likely a part of a reduction of 2,850 employees announced in June 2016. One of the employees being cut is likely a familiar figure to anyone’s who’s watched Microsoft’s product demos, as MSPU reports.
At Microsoft’s product event on October 2015, where the Surface Book and Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones were announced, employee Bryan Roper made a name for himself with his dynamic presentation style. In particular, his presentation of the Windows 10 Continuum feature that transforms a smartphone into a “real” PC caught the attention of Microsoft fans.
Roper became known as “Fedora Guy” in Windows 10 circles, and unfortunately, he let everyone know on Twitter today that he was included in the most recent staff cuts w

Intel Ships First Optane Memory Modules for Testing
Intel’s Optane technology is already shipping in the form of storage, but you’ll have to wait until next year to buy Optane memory modules.
Optane is a new class of nonvolatile memory and storage based on 3D Xpoint, which was developed jointly by Intel and Micron.
Intel’s first Optane products, announced this month at CES, are low-capacity SSDs that fit into the storage slots of PCs.
Optane memory DIMMs are different. They’re intended to replace DRAM in servers and PCs. The DIMMs will fit into DDR4 slots.
Intel has started shipping the first Optane DIMMs for testing and hopes to release final products next year.
In demonstrations by Intel, Optane SSDs have performed 10 times faster than conventional SSDs. PC makers have said that game play, PC bootup and applications are all faster with Optane SSDs.
Less is known about Optane memory DIMMs, but Intel has shipped the units out to enterprise hardware makers for testing. Intel has said Optane memory can be 10 times denser than DRAM.
The base technology of both types of Optane products, 3D Xpoint, is a bridge between memory and storage, said Brian Krzanich, Intel’s CEO, during an earnings call on Thursday.
Optane is “differential technology” that could change PC and server architectures, Krzanich said.
Intel has also floated the idea that Optane could unite storage and memory. For example, one Optane unit could serve as both storage and DRAM. Optane’s ability to move large amounts of data faster inside computers and data centers could help speed up machine-learning tasks, Krzanich said.
Optane also aligns with Intel’s goal to focus more on data-center technologies, Krzanich said. In April, Intel made data-center products a centerpiece of its future strategy as it tried to break a longtime reliance on PCs.
But PC chips took in more than half of Intel’s earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016 w