Walmart teamed up with Microsoft to take on their rival Amazon. The partnership involves a five-year agreement for Walmart to use Microsofts cloud services. Microsoft Chief Satya Nadella told The Wall Street Journal that the companies shared rivalry against Amazon was absolutely core to this new partnership. Walmart won a patent last week for audio surveillance technology capable of listening in on what cashiers and customers are saying while on the premises. The patent application dubbed Listening to the Frontend added, A need exists for ways to capture the sounds resulting from people in the shopping facility and determine performance of employees based on those sounds”]