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The holiday season is upon us. Many tech companies are working at a fast pace to provide new updates and products before the end of the year.<\/p>\n
To keep you posted on some of the last big tech stories of the year, here are some of the main trends and news stories to be on the lookout for in December.<\/p>\n
If you spend much time on social media, you may have seen pleas from your contacts to call your reps about net neutrality. Ever since the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his plans to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules<\/a>, people and businesses have been up in arms imagining the worst-case scenarios that could result. Critics are worried that the repeal of these rules will give too much power to internet companies, allowing them to control what people are able to access online and stifling competition from companies that can\u2019t pay-to-play enough to reach an audience online.<\/p>\n A vote on the repeal is set for later this month and in the meantime, opponents are lodging complaints with the FCC and calling their representatives in the hopes of keeping the rules in place. For now though, the future for net neutrality looks uncertain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even as the country continues to reel from the news of Experian\u2019s data breach earlier this year, we just got news of the next one. Uber announced last month<\/a> that in late 2016, some hackers managed to access some of their user data. At the time, the company chose to pay a ransom and keep the data breach secret, but under new management, they\u2019ve now chosen to alert people to what happened.<\/p>\n If a data breach is normally bad for a brand\u2019s reputation, one that\u2019s accompanied by a cover up is even worse. Uber\u2019s current leadership is hoping late transparency is better than none at all in the eyes of their customers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the biggest tech IPOs in November was the fashion startup Stitch Fix<\/a>. The company\u2019s model of matching online personal stylists with customers wanting to let someone else do the job of picking out their clothes has been popular with customers.<\/p>\n Their initial showing on the stock market suggested they were less popular with investors, but soon that changed as stocks soared 50% in the first two weeks. \u00a0For now, they seem to be going strong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stitch Fix got the most attention, but the email marketing company SendGrid<\/a> also entered the New York Stock Exchange last month. They managed to raise $131 million when they first launched, and saw stock prices go up 13% by the end of the first day.<\/p>\n To any business owners reading this, that\u2019s not much of a surprise. Email marketing is one of the most important parts of business success in the internet age and investors are simply showing they recognize its importance too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Influencers have become a big part of the way that people and brands experience social media. In a bid to try to attract more influencers to Facebook, the company has announced Facebook Creator<\/a>, an app which provides a number of features to make creating and sharing content on the platform easier.<\/p>\n Users can add intros, outros, interactive stickers and custom frames to their videos. They can more easily respond to social media messages on a unified platform. And they can access more analytics on how people interact with their content. \u00a0For businesses doing content marketing and any influencers they work with, these changes are worth being aware of.<\/p>\n Once again, Amazon\u2019s done something to make it into our monthly write-up. This month, they launched a suite of products that bring AI technology to businesses<\/a>. This includes the DeepLens camera, which uses AI technology to fuel features like image recognition for objects, animals, and people. They also released SageMaker, a machine learning service that will help data engineers use AI services better.<\/p>\n In short, they\u2019re throwing their support behind the importance of AI and expecting to make a lot of money with this technology by helping other businesses make more with it too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AirBnb\u2019s popular service has given lots of people more attractive alternatives to hotels when they travel, but until recently its options largely left one population out: the disabled. Last month they made an important move to rectify the situation by acquiring the startup Accomable<\/a>.<\/p>\n The acquisition was a natural fit for the company, since Accomable was essentially offering a version of the same service AirBnb provided, but with a focus on accessibility. AirBnb listings will now provide more specific information on the types of accessibility options available, and a portion of customers previously left out by the service will be able to find options that work for them on the site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the past couple of months, multiple businesses have begun planning 'smart cities.'\u009d Alphabet is working on a smart community<\/a> on the waterfront in Toronto. And Bill Gates is building a smart city<\/a> in Arizona. Both projects aim to test out concepts on how to build a better city that uses less energy, has less traffic, is better equipped to face climate change, and is better able to take advantage of the kinds of tech solutions the companies are working on most notably self-driving cars.<\/p>\n![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Create-Your-Blog-1.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n1. The Fight for Net Neutrality Continues<\/h2>\n
2. Uber Reveals Cyber Attack Cover-up<\/h2>\n
3. Stitch Fix Launches IPO<\/h2>\n
4. SendGrid Also Launches Successful IPO<\/h2>\n
5. Facebook Announces Facebook Creator App<\/h2>\n
![\"facebook](\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/facebook-creator-app-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/p>\n6. Amazon Offers New AI Tool for Businesses<\/strong><\/h2>\n
7. AirBnb Makes Moves Toward Accessibility<\/h2>\n
8. Companies Begin Work on Smart Cities<\/h2>\n