Oracle Corporation (ORCL) Co-Founder Bashes Amazon Web Services

AWS is so far ahead, it would take a miracle for ORCL to beat AMZN

Larry Ellison founded Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in 1977 and served as the company’s CEO until September 2014. He’s currently ORCL’s chief technology officer, and ranks as the seventh wealthiest billionaire in the world, according to Forbes. Clearly, Ellison has immeasurable experience in the IT field, not to mention a boatload of respect and influence. Simply put, when he speaks people listen.

Ellison isn’t shy about touting his company’s advantages, nor does he shy away from competition. Earlier this week, he took to the stage for a second keynote address at this year’s Oracle OpenWorld event and “spent an hour trashing Amazon’s $10 billion cloud.”

For the past decade, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has grown Amazon Web Services into its most profitable division. This past June, AWS CEO Andy Jassy described what’s been drawing customers away from longtime tech big dogs such as Oracle and Cisco Systems, Inc.(NASDAQ:CSCO). According to Business Insider, those three factors are: customer focus, innovation and long-term perspectives.

However, Ellison stood fast and defended ORCL, citing a number of benchmarks and other instances that apparently demonstrate Oracle’s cloud computing superiority over AWS.

Facebook Inc Messenger Rooms Will Be the Next Big Thing (FB)

Facebook Rooms could mark the return of the chat room

Earlier today, TechCrunch reported that a developer discovered a hidden feature buried in the source code of Facebook Inc’s (NASDAQ:FB) Messenger program. Apparently, the code for Facebook Messenger describes “rooms” that will be used for “public conversations about topics and interests.” FB management, unsurprisingly, declined to comment on the discovery.

Facebook Messenger has received some serious upgrades over the last few years, including the ability to serve as a money transferring service and put you in touch with virtual robots that can make dinner suggestions based on what’s in your pantry.

That being said, the notion of Facebook Rooms — which appear to be nothing more than a modernized version of those old AOL chat rooms we pretend we never used — is surprisingly intriguing.

All things considered, I think the idea has some solid potential. The prevalence of chat rooms has all but disappeared and given way to the forum platform. But, the ability to have a conversation in real-time with a perfect stranger who shares a common interest is definitely something that plenty of Facebook’s user base will surely find attractive.

Pandora Media Inc (P) Is Rockin’, But Don’t Come A-Knockin’!

Pandora stock is up on more optimism concerning a premium plan, but the proof will be in the pudding

For more than a month now, rumors of a $5 per month premium music service from Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) have been circulating, ever since The Wall Street Journal first broke the news last month. Yesterday, the New York Times speculated that Pandora might unveil this new pricing structure as early as this week.

And today, Pandora stock is up a few percent on news that the streaming music company has signed several licensing agreements with major labels and big-name independents, including Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE).

Pandora has some things going for it. For instance, P pulled in more than $343 million in revenue last quarter — a 20% increase year-over-year.

Interestingly, more than $265 million came from ads served up to Pandora’s 76 million free listeners — a 15% year-over-year increase — and only $55 million was generated from paid subscribers — a 1% year-over-year increase.

That’s why Pandora is gunning after a paid plan. But …

Sony Corp (ADR): Why PS4 Pro Gives SNE Stock a HUGE Advantage

The PS4 Pro will hit shelves a full year earlier than Scorpio

Last week, Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) held its PlayStation Meeting and announced that its updated PlayStation 4 gaming console will be officially dubbed the PS4 Pro. Since the console was first reported early this year, gamers and tech enthusiasts alike have referred to it by Sony’s internal codename, Neo.

It has been roughly three years since PlayStation 4 hit the market, and during that time it has gained significant ground over its fiercest rival, Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox One. The PS4 Pro isn’t intended to replace the base model PlayStation 4, but rather, it will be presented as an optional, enhanced version for hardcore gamers.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL): Why Does the World Hate Google?

Believe it or not, Google is NOT the next Big Brother

Since before its existence as a publicly traded company, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL, GOOG) has had to fend off waves of antitrust accusations and charges of intellectual property violations, invasion of privacy and a myriad of other issues. GOOGL’s legal department expanded to nearly 100 lawyers in its first five years, and by 2014 had around 400 lawyers.

The question, though, is why does the world seem to hunt Google?

Obviously, a company as large as Google, which has a hand in countless aspects of the technology arena across the globe, is more likely to be the target of lawsuits simply because of its involvement there. That’s the easy explanation, but is there something more?

GoPro Inc: GPS News Is Helping Investors Find GPRO Stock

Sports enthusiasts are excited about the possibility of GPS in the Hero5

In case you haven’t noticed, GoPro Inc (GPRO) is on a tear. The undisputed leader in the action sports camera arena was up more than 7% by lunchtime Monday, as GPRO stock reached heights not seen since January. It’s up 2% so far today.

That is the second trading day in the past two weeks that’s sent GoPro through the proverbial roof, the other being July 28, with GPRO stock finishing that day up more than 12.5%. The difference, however, is that the latter was the result of a better-than-expected Q2 earnings report.

AMZN Stock: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) Isn’t Even on Amazon.com, Inc.’s Radar

Walmart can't compete with Amazon in the e-commerce arena

By now you’ve surely heard about Prime Day, which is Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) one-day annual worldwide summer sales event. If you don’t know what it is, I’d bet that’s because you’re not an Amazon Prime member (the deals are exclusively for Prime members).

Simply put, Prime Day — which is today, by the way — is little more than an excuse for AMZN to offer great deals on thousands of products.

And since those deals are only available to members, the benefits for Amazon stock are two-fold: outrageously impressive sales revenue and a sizable bump in new Prime signups.

Traditional retailers, most notably Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), have been struggling to compete with Amazon’s ever-growing e-commerce dominance, but none can even come close to AMZN’s market share. According to Statista.com, at the end of 2015, Amazon’s e-commerce market share was greater than 68.4%. Walmart held the No. 2 spot with 10.1%.