Microsoft is partnering with Albertsons, the second largest grocery store chain in the United States, to create a "frictionless" customer experience inside their stores. As part of the deal, Microsoft will use their Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure services to apply data science, AI, and cognitive technologies to transform the shopping experience both in store and online. The partnership comes as Amazon is becoming increasingly more focused on the physical retail business with reports that it is planning to open several thousand Amazon Go stores in the United States by 2021. 

According to Microsoft, the two companies will work together to create this frictionless customer experience by helping employees track store inventory and restocking needs while also reducing waiting times and making it easier to find items. They will also work together to improve Albertsons' logistics and supply chain using data science. 

The two companies have already had two successful results from their partnership - Albertsons' eCommence platform and gas station app that allows customers to pay for gas using their phones both run on Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft also partnered with retail giant Walmart, last July, and and Kroger this January. Microsoft will be helping Kroger build high-tech grocery stores and bringing Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure to Walmart over the next 5 years. 

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Apple and Goldman Sachs will partner to help iPhone users manage their money by providing them with a credit card that will pair with their iPhones, according to the Wall Street Journal. The credit card will be able to track spending and rewards as well as set spending goals through the iPhone's Wallet application. The card will also offer cash back on most purchases of about 2 percent, with potentially even more from purchases on Apple services and products. According to the report, the card will undergo a testing period with employees soon and will launch officially later in 2019. The partnership will benefit both companies as they look to tap into new revenue sources. 

Apple already gets a small portion of the purchases made through Apple Pay and use of this credit card will undoubtedly increase that amount. Apple is looking to increase its revenue from services as its iPhone sales dipped recently. The iPhone is Apple's largest contributor to company profits. 

Goldman Sachs is looking to offset decreases in its trading business by increasing consumer loans and has recently been making significant pushes into digital payments. The bank could also potentially offer more of its services to Apple customers in the future. 

The credit card will use Mastercard's payment network, according to the report.

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Audi is launching a new feature to its Traffic Light Information System (TLI), currently functioning with 4,600 intersections across 13 metropolitan areas, called the Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA). Audi's TLI was already able to give drivers an indication of how long they can expect a red light to last, but with GLOSA drivers will now be given information to help them avoid stopping at red lights altogether. GLOSA uses traffic light data and your car's position to calculate and recommend which speed you should travel at to avoid stopping at a red light ahead. Future applications could include see TLI being combined with the car's navigation system to recommend routes that minimize red lights or with the car's stop/start system to automatically turn the car on as the light is about to turn green. 

TLI is currently available on all Audi models except the A3 and TT. Audi is currently the only automaker that provides a traffic light information system in its vehicles, and the system only works with traffic signals that are wired for the service. Experts expect that cities will begin to install more smart traffic signals as more automakers begin to add the technology to their vehicles. 

TLI currently works in the following cities: 

• Dallas
• Denver
• Gainesville
• Houston
• Kansas City
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles 
• New York
• Orlando
• Phoenix 
• Portland
• San Francisco 
• Washington D.C

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LinkedIn will launch live video capabilities this week, only 18 months after the platform first started supporting video. The product, branded LinkedIn Live, will begin in the United States as an invite - only beta but is expected to eventually begin accepting sign ups through contact forms on LinkedIn. Pete Davis, Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, told TechCrunch that "Video is the fastest growing format on our platform right now, and the most likely to get people talking." LinkedIn Live is expected to focus on earnings calls, conferences, product announcements, Q&As and other professional subjects in line with what is already available on the platform today. LinkedIn reportedly has around 600 million users globally. 

Microsoft reported during its last quarterly earnings report that LinkedIn revenues were up 29 percent and LinkedIn sessions grew 30 percent to hit record levels of engagement. Much of this growth is attributed to LinkedIn's recent foray into video. At the moment LinkedIn's only form of monetization around video is video advertising, but there is a clear opportunity for LinkedIn Live to provide other ways of monetizing content. 

LinkedIn will partner with several third-party live streaming developers (Wirecast, Wowza, Media Systems, Socialive, Switcher Studio, Brandlive) to help creators put out more polished live videos and Microsoft, through its Azure Media Services, will provide the encoding needed. 

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