Tag: street-journal

Takata expected to settle deadly airbag scandal for $1 billion

For their part in the largest US auto recall ever , the Takata Corporation is expected to pay up to a $1 billion financial penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct, the Wall Street Journal reports today . The National Highway Highway Traffic Safety Administration recalled some 42 million vehicles in the US alone after discovering Takata’s faulty airbag systems could deteriorate over time and risk causing an explosion of hot metal shrapnel upon inflation. The Takata systems were responsible for 11 deaths and over 100 injuries worldwide. In addition to the criminal misconduct charges, prosecutors at the US Justice Department may also try to hit the company with wire fraud, claiming Takata faked test information and intentionally hid information about the dangerous airbags. While the settlement is not finalized yet, the Journal notes that Takata will like be allowed to pay part of the penalty up front and spread the rest out over time. The final cost could range anywhere from the “high hundreds of millions” up to a billion and the Justice Department is eager to wrap up the case in January before the new administration takes over.

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Takata expected to settle deadly airbag scandal for $1 billion

America’s fourth-largest cable co. will offer 10Gbps fiber

Altice USA may not be the most recognized ISP name out there, but the country’s fourth-largest provider is about to get a big upgrade over the next five years or so. According to the company’s roadmap , Altice plans to bring high-speed, 10 Gbps fiber lines directly to its 8.3 million customers starting in 2017. Made up of the former Cablevision and Suddenlink networks, Altice plans to accelerate their rollout by skipping the DOCSIS 3.1 system that bigger providers like Comcast have been installing for cities where they provide a gigabit connection . Rather than building another hybrid fiber and cable network, Altice is going straight to a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) system — something even Google Fiber failed to follow through on when Alphabet paused its rollout earlier this year. While Google Fiber has decided to explore wireless 5G options for getting high-speed connections to customers’ homes, Altice CEO Dexter Goei told the Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t believe those standards will ever match the speeds of a full fiber network. Verizon, meanwhile, gave up plans to roll out FiOS fiber-to-the-home service beyond the East Coast early last year. While those two internet giants stumbled, Altice has the advantage of building on top of its existing footprint without the need to build a new network completely from scratch.

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America’s fourth-largest cable co. will offer 10Gbps fiber

Report: Google is turning Waze into a ride-sharing platform

According to the Wall Street Journal , Google is planning to launch a carpool-based ride-sharing service using Waze in the Bay Area. The new feature would connect drivers and potential passengers going along the same route via the navigation app. The new Waze Commute will launch this fall and unlike Lyft and Uber, won’t act like an on-demand hailing platform for trips around town. Instead it’ll be similar to the ad-hoc casual carpool system where someone gets a ride from another person based on their commute route. The service is already available in Israel. In the Bay Area, the pilot is currently limited to select employers that have signed up for the service. While drivers would use the same app they currently employ to get directions, potential passengers would use the Waze Rider app. According to the WSJ, the drivers will only make about $.54 a mile. Not exactly the kind of money you would make driving for Uber or Lyft. Instead, Google is hoping to commuters a way to make giving strangers a ride a bit more formal. Source: Wall Street Journal

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Report: Google is turning Waze into a ride-sharing platform

Pandora’s new streaming service could launch as soon as September

We’ve know about Pandora’s plan to turn the remaining pieces of Rdio into its own subscription service for some time now, but thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we know that the launch could be imminent. WSJ reports that the company is close to securing the necessary licensing deals for the new paid service in both the US and abroad. The media outlet’s sources indicate that in addition to a free tier, there will also be two paid options — a detail we’ve heard the company’s CEO discuss in the past. We surmise that listening for free means that you’ll have to suffer through some ads, but that’s something Pandora will likely confirm at launch. While Pandora’s version of streaming has focused on internet radio stations based on an artist, this new service will be on-demand like Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. The company hasn’t offered an update on the launch of the “expanded listening experience” it touted after nabbing what was left of Rdio last year. At that time, the vague “late 2016” estimate was offered. According to WSJ though, the new paid tiers could arrive as soon as next month. Pandora One currently offers ad-free listening with the ability to skip more often and other features for $5 a month or via a day pass for 99 cents. In terms of pricing, Pandora CEO Tim Westergren discussed the two paid tiers in an interview back in June. He explained that in addition to a $10 monthly plan, the company also aims to offer a cheaper option with “mid-level” features. Of course, timing to the official announcement is dependent on these pending licensing deals, but from the details of this latest report, it sounds like Pandora will have some news for us in the near future. Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Pandora’s new streaming service could launch as soon as September

44% Of All Twitter Accounts Have Yet To Send A Tweet

A new report from Twopcharts has found that 44% of the world’s Twitter accounts have yet to send a Tweet . With approximately 974 million Twitter accounts, that’s an awful lot of dead air. As the Wall Street Journal points out, however, this could mean that people, scammers, or bots simply signed up for an account and never came back—or that there are hordes of shy people out there waiting for the moment to strike. Do you have a Twitter account you have never used? If not, why not? [ Wall Street Journal ] Read more…

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44% Of All Twitter Accounts Have Yet To Send A Tweet