portfolio-cond – Page 45

Comcast subscriber spinoff could create a new cable company

Comcast’s plan to divest itself of 3 million subscribers, which it hopes will help it win approval of a merger with Time Warner Cable, could result in the creation of a new cable company. Rather than selling off territories to existing cable companies, Comcast is considering an option to “[spin] them off in a new publicly traded company,” Bloomberg reported , citing anonymous sources.”Regulators may push for the spin-out because it would create a new competitor,” Bloomberg wrote. “A new company formed in such a way would be the fourth-largest US cable company by subscribers, trailing the merged Comcast-Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications Inc,. and Charter Communications Inc.” Creating a new company with those customers wouldn’t result in more choices for consumers in individual markets. Despite being the two largest cable companies in the US, Comcast and Time Warner Cable don’t compete against each other in any regional territory. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast subscriber spinoff could create a new cable company

Two new Windows 8.1 SKUs coming: Standalone Enterprise and low-cost Bing edition

Microsoft is expected to expand the lineup of Windows 8.1 versions with at least one, and probably two, new editions of the operating system. The first is a straightforward affair. At the moment, Windows Enterprise is only available to organizations buying Software Assurance agreements. Microsoft has confirmed to ZDNet that from March 1, Windows Enterprise will be sold to any company with an Open, Select, or Select Plus plan. This will enable companies that don’t want to pay for Software Assurance’s features such as the automatic upgrade entitlements and extras such as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to have a way to get their hands on the Enterprise edition. Microsoft is also making changes to the interactions between Software Assurance and Windows Pro; you can read the full, complicated story at Directions on Microsoft , written by perhaps the only people on earth with a solid understanding of how Microsoft’s licensing works. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Two new Windows 8.1 SKUs coming: Standalone Enterprise and low-cost Bing edition

Black holes cheat on the Eddington limit to export extra energy

The shocked gasses of the micro quasar are structured in the same way as those of this actual quasar. NASA, ESA, S. Baum and C. O’Dea (RIT), R. Perley and W. Cotton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Black holes got their name because they have such intense gravity that, once inside their event horizons, not even light can escape. Somewhat ironically, they’re also some of the brightest objects in the Universe. That’s entirely because of things that happen outside of the event horizon. There, the hole’s intense gravity draws matter into a disk and raises it to very high energies. The disk emits lots of light on its own and sends out jets of high energy particles that emit even more as they interact with the surrounding interstellar material. But this process has a limit—literally called the Eddington limit. At some point, the radiation emitted by the black hole starts driving off the surrounding matter, effectively cutting off its own food supply. You can view the Eddington limit as the point where matter intake is optimal; below it, the hole can swallow more than the environment’s feeding it, while above, matter is being driven off before it can be eaten. Now, thanks to new observations of a black hole in the Southern Pinwheel galaxy (Messier 83), researchers have found that the Eddington limit isn’t an absolute cap on the amount of energy a black hole can emit out into its surroundings. Their observations suggest that this particular black hole sends out almost as much energy in the form of accelerated particles. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

ESA’s Gaia mission set to survey the galaxy with biggest camera in space

An artist’s rendering of what Gaia will look like when deployed in space. ESA After its successful launch in December, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia has now taken up its position in orbit and is ready to survey the skies. With the help of two onboard telescopes focused onto the largest-ever camera sent to space, the space observatory is expected to catalog nearly one billion stars throughout its 5-year mission. ESA’s Gaia will map stars in the Milky Way. It will do this by measuring the brightest billion objects and determining their three-dimensional distribution and velocities. It also has the ability to measure the temperature, mass, and chemical composition of each of the objects. The brightest objects won’t necessarily need to be very bright in order to be included in the catalog. Gaia will be able to discern objects up to 400,000 times dimmer than those visible to the naked eye. And the positional accuracy of its measurements are akin to measuring the width of a human hair at a distance of 500 km. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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ESA’s Gaia mission set to survey the galaxy with biggest camera in space

World of Warcraft’s $60 level-boosts reflect important economic reality

That’s only 67 cents per level. ORDER NOW! WoW Insider In games, as in life, the only truly nonrenewable resource is time. Thus, anything that saves a player time in getting something they want will have some important real-world value. World of Warcraft seems to finally be acknowledging this basic economic fact of life, letting players pay $60 to instantly level any character all the way up to level 90 in its upcoming expansion. Blizzard announced back at Blizzcon 2013 in November that players who purchased the upcoming Warlords of Draenor expansion would be able to instantly level a single character up to level 90 as a free bonus, thereby gaining the ability to take part in new content that’s balanced for characters from level 90 to the new level cap of 100. Then, in January, the company said it was also “testing out a feature that gives you the option to purchase a character upgrade directly,” allowing players with multiple characters to get the instant boost without, say, buying multiple copies of the expansion (which isn’t yet available for preorder). Last week, WoW Insider noticed a “Level 90 character boost” item briefly listed in the in-game shop during server maintenance before being quickly removed. The asking price on the listing: $60. Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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World of Warcraft’s $60 level-boosts reflect important economic reality

Everything you wanted to know about the security-focused Blackphone

BARCELONA, SPAIN—Here at Mobile World Congress, Silent Circle and Geeksphone have just announced more details on the Blackphone , a phone focused on security and privacy. “Blackphone” seems to be both a product and a company, as in the company Blackphone will provide updates and support for the product Blackphone. Having been cofounded by Phil Zimmerman, the creator of PGP e-mail encryption, the company has tons of security talent. Blackphone was announced about a month ago, but this is the first time we’re getting details on just what the Blackphone is and how it works. First to be announced were the specs of the Blackphone. The hardware is being built by Geeksphone , and the current specs are a 2GHz quad-core SoC, a 4.7-inch “HD” IPS screen, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 8MP rear and 1.3MP front cameras, and HSPA+ and LTE connectivity. Blackphone notes that “certain specifications are subject to change” but the Geeksphone CEO said that any change would be “better,” and that the goal is to offer a premium phone. At $629 for a contract-free, unlocked phone, the cost is certainly in line with that goal. Blackphone notes that it “does not use proprietary hardware in any way,” which will allow it to release source code for “as much of the Blackphone code base as possible.” While Geeksphone is handling the hardware, Silent Circle is handling the software. The Blackphone runs a Google-less version of Android called “PrivatOS.” Besides removing the user-tracking Google parts, most of the Blackphone’s security and privacy advantages seem to come from the integration of Silent Circle apps. The suite of apps mentioned at the event were the existing Silent Phone and Silent Text apps, and a new product called “Silent Contacts.” Silent Phone and Silent Text encrypt your phone calls, text messages, and file transfers to other users of the apps. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Everything you wanted to know about the security-focused Blackphone

Next-generation Broadwell NUCs coming late 2014, says leaked roadmap

Ivy Bridge NUC on top, Haswell NUC on the bottom. What will the next one look like? Andrew Cunningham Intel’s “Next Unit of Computing” (NUC) mini desktops are apparently one of the few segments in the PC industry actually seeing some growth, and a new roadmap leaked by FanlessTech shows that Intel is already planning the next versions. According to the roadmap, Intel is planning three new NUC models based on next-generation Broadwell chips, all scheduled to launch toward the end of 2014. FanlessTech [ars_story_side post_id=”397297″][/ars_story_sidebar]Two of the new NUC models are targeted at consumers, and will use next-generation Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs codenamed “Rock Canyon.” Like the current Haswell NUCs, they will include USB 3.0, mini HDMI, and mini DisplayPort outputs. The mini DisplayPort outlets can power either a 4K display or three lower-resolution displays simultaneously. The mSATA slot that current NUCs use for their SSDs will be replaced by an M.2 slot , which can provide faster storage speeds via the PCI Express bus. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an IR sensor will both be built in, as will a bay for a standard 2.5-inch hard drive. The most interesting departure from current NUCs will be swappable lids, which can add either NFC or wireless charging capabilities to the NUCs. The idea of using a desktop as a wireless charging pad isn’t entirely new—we saw a desktop or two that offered this capability at this year’s CES—but a NUC-sized box could serve as a nice wireless charging pad for smartphones and tablets. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Netflix packets being dropped every day because Verizon wants more money

Anthony Fine The battle over who should pay to carry Netflix traffic is heating up again, and one of the main players blames Verizon’s greed for the poor performance that many consumers see when trying to watch streaming video. Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer made his case in an interview with Ars yesterday, saying Verizon is refusing to upgrade the infrastructure that carries Internet traffic from one network to another unless outrageous demands for payment are met. The network connections between Cogent and Verizon, crucial for carrying streaming video and other content to Verizon’s home Internet customers, “are full,” Schaeffer said. “They are more than full. They are so full that today a significant amount of packets are being dropped between the networks.” Read 39 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Netflix packets being dropped every day because Verizon wants more money

Apple releases iOS 7.0.6 and 6.1.6 to patch an SSL problem

Andrew Cunningham Apple has just released iOS 7.0.6, the sixth minor update to iOS 7 . Both it and the new iOS 6.1.6 update “provide a fix for SSL connection verification,” their only documented addition. Unlike iOS 7.0.5 , which applied only to a few international iPhone 5S and 5C models, the version 7.0.6 update applies to all devices that can run iOS 7. iOS 6.1.6 applies to the iPhone 3GS and fourth-generation iPod touch. The update to iOS 6 is marginally more interesting than the iOS 7 update, just because Apple has so rarely patched old iOS versions after they’ve been replaced. The company also released version 6.1.5 for the fourth-generation iPod touch to correct a FaceTime connectivity issue. It’s possible that Apple is trying to provide critical security updates to older devices dropped by newer iOS updates, something it also does for older OS X versions for a while after they’re superseded by newer software. The next major iOS 7 update is iOS 7.1, currently in its fifth developer beta. Current rumors suggest it will be released to the public in early or mid-March, and it should include more significant fixes than the six minor updates we’ve seen since September. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Apple releases iOS 7.0.6 and 6.1.6 to patch an SSL problem

Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 billion

According to an early report from Bloomberg News reporter Sarah Frier, Facebook is set to buy WhatsApp for $16 billion. An SEC filing confirms the acquisition for $4 billion in cash to WhatsApp’s security holders, along with $12 billion in Facebook stock and an additional $3 billion in Facebook stock that will vest over four years. WhatsApp has been one of a handful of booming messaging apps that has grown especially large in the last year (GroupMe, WeChat, Kik, and Line are others). In December, the app was reported to have over 400 million monthly users, and Facebook now reports that the service has 450 million. Meanwhile, Facebook maintains roughly 1.2 billion as of last October. Facebook has yet to release usage numbers for either its messaging feature on the whole or its dedicated Messenger app. The Verge noted in December that it was “telling” that few other messaging apps release their usage numbers like WhatsApp does, which suggests its user base dwarfs its competitors. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Ken May

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