Daily Tech Headlines – July 25, 2016
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| Daily Tech Headlines – July 25, 2016 | |
| Number | 33 |
| Broadcast Date | JULY 25, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 7:12 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Verizon buys Yahoo, Nintendo stock falls, and Cyanogen Inc. hits a rough patch.
Headlines
- Verizon Is Buying Yahoo's Core Internet Business for Almost $5 Billion
- Verizon buys Yahoo for $4.83 billion
- The rumors were true. Verizon Communication announced Monday morning that it has agreed to buy Yahoo's core internet operations for $4.83 billion in cash. Yahoo will integrate with AOL, under the supervision of Marni Walden, EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization. Mayer said in a memo to Yahoo staff that she is planning to stay. Yahoo's remaining assets are estimated at $41 billion, including a 15% stake in Alibaba, a 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan, and its non-core patent portfolio. The remaining company will be rebranded as Verizon acquires the Yahoo name.
- In a press release after the close of business Friday, Nintendo said that despite Pokémon Go's success, the financial impact of Nintendo's 32% stake in the Pokémon Company game would be limited. Therefore Nintendo did not change its guidance of an annual net profit of 35 billion yen in the current fiscal year, up from the 16.5 billion yen it earned last year. Nintendo's stock sank 18% on Monday, the maximum allowed by the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the largest for the company since 1990.
- Android Police notes the rollout of two new features to Google Maps for Android. A WiFi Only option will only use downloaded maps when on a cellular data connection. That feature seems to be rolling out slowly based on accounts. A second feature which allows for customizable mass transit delay notifications showed up for one user but then disappeared.
- TechCrunch reports that Indian classified starup Quikr has acquired hiring company Hiree in an undisclosed deal. Quikr, often compared to Craigslist in India, says it has 30 million active users across 1000 locations in the country. The company will merge Hiree with its Quikr jobs platform, expanding the service to four million active job seekers. The move comes in the wake of further expansion by Quikr, earlier this year acquiring real estate platform CommonFloor and beauty-on-demand provider Salosa.
- Android Police reports several sources tell it Cyanogen Inc. is laying off 20% of its workforce and focus on apps rather than the Cyanogen OS. ReCode is confirming the reports as well. While the layoffs seem focused on people working on the OS, that just means Cyanogen Inc. would no longer employ people working on the separate CyanogenMod open source project. CyanogenMod itself is a separate thing and will of course continue.
- Huawei reported a 40% rise in revenues for the first half of 2016. Operating margin fell to 12 percent from 18 percent in the previous half-year. Sales revenue reached 245.5 billion yuan ($36.8 billion) The company earlier this year set a revenue target of $75 billion for 2016.
- Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg stepped down from his position Monday. Ericsson has laid off thousands this year and is still looking to cut costs. Sales have slowed as LTE rollouts reach maturity but 5G rollouts have not yet begun. Vestberg will be replaced in the short term by chief financial officer Jan Frykhammar. Ericsson’s new acting CFO is group treasurer Carl Mellander.
- Researchers at the MIT Computers Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and the Israel’s Weiszmann Institute of Science have developed 3D movie tech for theaters that does not require glasses. A complex set of lenses and mirrors address all viewing angles in a theater. The system is easier than in TVs because theater seats are fixed so the angles are known. That means they don't have to split the signal as much and can maintain higher resolution. Right now its only ready for a very small theater since the prototype is the size of a letter-sized notepad and needs 50 sets of mirrors and lenses but researchers believe they can scale it up.
- The Semiconductor Industry Association has published a roadmap which expects transistors to stop shrinking after 2021. The problem is companies may have a hard time recouping the costs of reducing sizes and may focus on making better use of space, such as 3D chips. Engadget points out that Intel, GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC are the only big players left and Intel has been slowing its paces. However Moore's Law could still survive as the complexity of the chips can increase even if the transistor size stops shrinking.
- Germany's mobile-first banking startup Number26 has created a subsidiary called N26 which has received a banking license to operate across the European Union. Previously Number26 operated in partnership with German financial services company Wirecard. Having its won license will give N26 more flexibility and the ability to improve the underlying structure and technology.
- Europol is teaming up with Intel Security, Kaspersky Labs and the Dutch National Police to create nomoreransom.org. The site will help victims of ransomware connect with police and get advice on and help with data recovery.
- Softbank will roll out about 100 Pepper robots in Taiwan later this year in banks and Carrefour SA shops. Softbank hopes to rent out 60 robots a month by the first half of 2017. Foxconn's Perobot Co. is in charge of sales and maintenenace and says Pepper is available for lease in a two-year contract at T$26,888 ($836.67) per month.
- Evan Blass, aka EVLeaks has tweeted that a new iPhone will be announced the week of Sept. 12 and launch on Friday Sept. 16. Apple has not made any announcement but evleaks has a fairly good track record on such things.
- Microsoft cut the price of the 500 GB Xbox One to $249, the third price cut in two months. The Xbox One S launches August 2.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – July 22, 2016" |
Daily Tech Headlines – July 25, 2016 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – July 26, 2016" |