The past 12 months have been significant in the world of open source software. Some of the world’s biggest tech companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, dived headfirst into the field. However, as Wired notes, Linux creator Linus Torvalds apology for years of alleged unprofessional conduct underlined that “open source still has some growing up to do” as well.

“It’s not that these companies are new to open source. AT&T, for example, released an open source AI platformlast year. But it’s still a big deal to see Microsoft, which pioneered the modern software industry, and IBM, tech’s most venerable company, go all in on open source. This year’s acquisitions are significant risks for the two companies. If Microsoft alienates GitHub users, it could lose the goodwill it has built in the developer community in recent years. And $34 billion is a lot of money even for a behemoth like IBM. The companies’ willingness to take on these risks signals that they see open source not as a fad or an adjunct but as a core part of how companies will make software in the future.

Apple made a number of interesting acquisitions during 2018. 9to5Mac put together a useful round-up of all the deals that were made public. The purchases of song-identification service Shazam and media-aggregation app Texture stood out for me. However, deals in the areas of data, analytics, and AI were also highly significant and hinted at Apple’s future direction.

Over the course of a year, it’s easy to forget about the numerous deals a company the size of Apple makes – and there are likely more deals that have already been made behind the scenes but haven’t yet become public. Apple’s landmark deals of 2018 include its acquisitions of Texture and Shazam, as well as its $600 million deal with Dialog. The smaller acquisitions, however, indicate Apple’s evolving interest in data, analytics, AI, and much more.

At the Intego Security Blog, Kirk McElhearn writes: “The New York Times published an article this week about how apps are recording your location and selling the data to companies that “sell, use or analyze the data to cater to advertisers, retail outlets and even hedge funds seeking insights into consumer behavior.” Kirk walks us through iOS Settings and how to restrict which apps can track our location. Good stuff.