EU files claims alleging Qualcomm engaged in anti-trust activities
The European Commission has formally filed charges, “Statements of Objections,” alleging chipmaker Qualcomm has violated EU rules designed to prevent anti-competitive activity. The claims allege Qualcomm paid a major customer to exclusively use its chipsets in their smartphones and that Qualcomm sold chipsets below cost for the express purpose of forcing a competitor out of the market.
The EU Commissioner heading up the action, Margrethe Vestager, issued the following statement regarding Qualcomm:
“Many consumers enjoy high-speed internet on smartphones and other devices – baseband chipsets are key components that make this happen. I am concerned that Qualcomm’s actions may have pushed out competitors or prevented them from competing. We need to make sure that European consumers continue to benefit from competition and innovation in an area which is at the heart of today’s economy.”
The European Commission alleges that payments to a smartphone manufacturer to use its chips exclusively started in 2011. This action harmed competition in the market for UMTS and LTE baseband chipsets. The European Commission says the exclusivity clause is still in effect although they do not name which smartphone manufacturer is involved.
The second allegation concerns moves by Qualcomm to source its chips at below cost in order to head off Icera. The illegal pricing is alleged to have occurred between 2009 and 2011 when Icera is believed to have developed some better technology impacting data rate performance that would have harmed Qualcomm’s market share.
The European Commission notes in their press release that Qualcomm is the world’s largest supplier of baseband chipsets. Despite that position, Qualcomm has recently been buffeted by changes in the market, going so far as to plan a reduction in the number of employees. Qualcomm is also starting to face pressure from smartphone manufacturers like LG and Sony moving chip production in-house.
Qualcomm has 90 days to respond to the allegations regarding the exclusivity agreement and 120 days to respond to the predatory pricing claims. The investigations commenced this past July.
source: European Commission
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Bose QuietComfort 25 Headphones added to the Google Store
Although they are not newly released headphones, the Bose QuietComfort 25 Headphones are some of the best around and now they can be purchased directly from Google in the Google Store. Pricing for the noise-cancelling units is consistent with other sources, running $299.99.
Google is offering the headphones in either black or white versions and you get free shipping for investing in the headphones. Bose includes their own Noise Cancelling Technology to help make sure your enjoyment is not marred by outside sounds leaking in.
The package includes a cable with inline remote capabilities and a microphone. This means users can make phone calls using the headphones, although the remote’s ability to tap into a variety of functions may vary.
The headphones are powered by a single AAA battery. Bose built-in capabilities so that even if the battery, which has a projected life of 35 hours of use, dies on you, the headphones will still work to some extent.
If you want to order the Bose QuietComfort 25 Headphones, hit the source link below to check them out in the Google Store.
source: Google Store
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Wired thinks it knows who founded Bitcoin
The person responsible for creating Bitcoin remains a mystery, though Wired is convinced it’s a 44-year-old Australian man named Craig Steven Wright. The founder is commonly referred to as Satoshi Nakamoto, though that name appears to be a pseudonym. Wired‘s assertion comes after it sifted through a trove of emails, transcripts and since-deleted blog posts largely provided to the site by dark-web analyst Gwern Branwen.
The leaked emails and transcripts purport to show Wright saying things such as, “I did my best to try and hide the fact that I’ve been running Bitcoin since 2009,” and, “People love my secret identity and hate me.” Wright also supposedly published a blog post just before Bitcoin’s launch that read, “The Beta of Bitcoin is live tomorrow. This is decentralized… We try until it works.” In addition to the documents, Wright apparently owned at least $23 million in Bitcoins back in 2013, a suspiciously large amount that would equal $60 million today.
However, there are caveat’s to Wired‘s findings. Senior writer Andy Greenberg writes, “Most inexplicably of all, comparisons of different archived versions of the three smoking-gun posts from Wright’s blog show that he did edit all three — to insert evidence of his Bitcoin history.” If Wright is staging an elaborate hoax, the article contends, it’s an absurdly intricate, patient one — however, Wright apparently “once accepted a challenge to create a pencil from scratch and spent years on the problem, going so far as to make his own bricks to build his own kiln in which to mix the pencil’s graphite,” Greenberg writes. If that’s true, Wright indeed possesses tenacity and patience, traits that would make for a top-notch prankster or a successful cryptocurrency founder.
The site reached out to Wright and received a series of encrypted, cryptic messages from an email address that references William Gibson’s Sprawl series. Wright appeared on a panel at Bitcoin’s Investor’s Conference in Las Vegas in October, where he introduced himself as someone who’s “been involved with all this for a long time.” Gizmodo also claims that Wright is the elusive Nakamoto in a story published today.
Newsweek got into hot water last year when it ran a story claiming a man named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was truly the founder of Bitcoin. Nakamoto denied the claim and in October 2014 announced plans to sue the publication.
Source: Wired
Uber is looking into launching two new ridesharing services
Uber announced on Tuesday that it will trial a pair of new ridesharing services in the Seattle and Chicago metro areas. The first, called UberHOP, functions very much like conventional bus transports. It debuts on Thursday December 10th and will match groups of passengers with an Uber driver who is heading in the same direction. However, unlike Uber’s normal door-to-door services, this one requires riders and driver to meet at a predetermined location and time (like a bus stop) as well as be dropped off at single location and walk the rest of the way to their final destination.
Additionally, the ridesharing company is also testing out another pilot program (though only in Chicago) called UberCOMMUTE. This will allow drivers who are commuting into the city center share their trip with a passenger and recoup a portion of the driving expense. And since it’s an extension of the company’s existing UberPOOL program, two or more commuters can share the ride in and defer the cost between themselves. The service will be available Monday through Friday, 6am to 10pm. Uber reportedly chose Chicago as the site for these pilot programs in an effort to help reduce the vicious gridlock that defines I-90.
Source: Uber
HTC will launch its Vive VR headsets in April 2016
It doesn’t sound like HTC will be able to make a limited number of Vive VR headsets available for purchase by the end of 2015, as it once told Engadget. But at least it now has a set date for the device’s commercial release: April 2016. In a blog/social media post detailing the device’s timeline, HTC said that it’s hosting a developer conference in Beijing on December 18th and launching a second-gen dev kit before the masses can start buying the headset. It also plans to distribute 7,000 units to developers in early 2016 and taking the product of its partnership with Valve on a demo tour at a number of key events, such as The Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, GDC and MWC. Bottom line is that the headset will finally come out next year, likely a bit after the consumer version of Oculus Rift becomes available — good luck to your poor, poor wallets.
Source: HTC Vive (Twitter), HTC, HTC Vive (Facebook)
CBS CEO: Apple’s ‘Pressed the Hold Button’ on Streaming TV Service
Speaking today at the Business Insider Ignition Conference in New York City, CBS CEO Les Moonves made some statements suggesting Apple may have put the development of its rumored television streaming service on hold.
“They’ve had conversations on it and I think they pressed the hold button,” Moonves said, referencing prior talks CBS has had with Apple about joining its subscription service. Apple and CBS were reportedly negotiating prices before Apple paused the discussions.
Today, Moonves said that Apple and CBS were close to settling on a price point of between $30 and $40 per month for these bundles — Moonves specifically mentioned the price point of $35 multiple times — before Apple decided to pause and reconsider.
Apple’s streaming television service was originally rumored to be launching alongside the new Apple TV, but Apple has had ongoing trouble establishing deals with content providers. Difficulty securing content deals has delayed and shifted Apple’s television plans for years, but in 2015, it looked like a things were coming together for a subscription service.
In May, Moonves, who has been very open with his comments on CBS’ negotiations with Apple, said Apple and CBS were still in talks and that CBS would “probably” ink a deal with the Cupertino company. At the time, he had recently met with Eddy Cue and said he was “very excited” about Apple’s service. In October, he made similar statements, suggesting discussions between the two companies had not progressed further towards a deal.
Rumors have suggested Apple is aiming for a web-based streaming service that would bundle approximately 25 channels for $30 to $40 per month. Earlier this year, Apple was said to be in discussions with several content providers in addition to CBS, including ABC, Fox, Disney, Viacom, and Discovery.
Given Moonves’ comments and the general lack of recent rumors, it is not clear when Apple will launch its streaming television service. An August report from Bloomberg suggested negotiation troubles had delayed its release until 2016, but there’s been no word on Apple’s plans beyond that. There are a lot of factors involved in the launch of the streaming service, as Apple needs to secure deals with dozens of content providers, including local affiliates.
Moonves believes Apple’s streaming television service, or something like it, will launch in the near future. “This will happen,” he told Business Insider. “People will not be spending money on channels they don’t want to watch.”
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Butterscotch Shenanigans finally drops release date for Crashlands, coming on Jan 21st
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We’re not going to lie – we’re properly hyped for the release of Crashlands, Butterscotch Shenanigans‘ latest title. We’ve known about the game since January 2014, but crazy schedules and cancer have hampered development efforts of the three brother team. Thankfully, they’ve conquered all these obstacles and have announced that Crashlands is going to be released on January 21st 2016 on Android, iOS and Steam. To celebrate this announcement, the team have released the following poster, which might just be the best announcement poster for any mobile game yet:
In case you haven’t heard about Crashlands before now, here are some reasons provided by the Butterscotch Shenanigans team as to why you be paying attention to Crashlands:
Why you should maybe give a damn.
- Huge, openworld crafting RPG with 60+ hours of story content.
- No inventory management – a crafting game with an infinite, self-managing inventory. FINALLY.
- True crossplatforminess – It’s the same game on PC and Mobile, and you can move your save between the two, meaning you can pop it in your pocket for that morning commute and then come back home and bury your face in the big screen via Steam. And it plays beautifully either way. It’ll be $5 on mobile platforms and $15 on Steam.
- Indie as F*** – 3 brothers taking 2 years to make the game that gets 1 of them through cancer treatment.
All I know is that I’ll be busy on Jan 21st next year. What do you think about Crashlands?
To find out more about Crashlands or Butterscotch Shenanigans themselves, you can hit up their website here.
The post Butterscotch Shenanigans finally drops release date for Crashlands, coming on Jan 21st appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
FBI: yes, we exploit unpatched security holes
It’s no secret that the FBI uses tech tools like Stingray phone trackers to investigate suspects, but it’s now clear that the bureau is willing to go even further than that. Operational Technology Division lead Amy Hess (above) tells the Washington Post that the FBI uses zero-day (that is, unknown by vendors) security software exploits for investigations — the first time any official has admitted this on the record. The outfit doesn’t prefer to use these hacks given how short-lived they are, Hess says, but they’re still on the table.
She also elaborates on the FBI’s policy around revealing Stingray use. The bureau doesn’t ask police to deny using Stingrays in the first place, Hess claims… it just doesn’t want them explaining the exact functionality in public. Investigators can detail things to judges in private sessions if there are any questions, although this isn’t going to be very reassuring if you’re caught by one of these surveillance sites.
Hess is quick to admit that the zero-day attacks are problematic: the FBI has to strike a balance between catching possible criminals and responsible disclosures that protect the public. However, there are concerns about whether or not it’s making the best choices. After all, this is the same outfit pushing for backdoor access that, in practice, would likely leave everyone vulnerable. While the FBI may be thinking carefully before compromising someone’s device, it may not end up making the right call.
[Image credit: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images]
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Washington Post
Google uses Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ to teach girls programming
If you’ve ever toyed with the idea of learning to code, the process can be a little daunting: there a dozens of languages, thousands of variables and few newbie-friendly places to get started. Google’s Made with Code project is one of many organizations dedicated to changing that — and the group’s latest effort to make programming fun leans heavily on the appeal of Disney magic: specifically, Pixar’s Inside Out.
The coding tutorial challenges users to animate scenes from the Pixar film using Blocky, a visually illustrated mini-game that requires players to drag and drop code snippets together to solve simple problems. “Inside HQ” puts players in the place of Riley’s emotions from the film Inside Out to help the teen slide down a handrail and play a game of hockey.
The experience lasts for only three short levels, but its mostly just meant to be a primer — something to entice kids into exploring Made with Code’s larger library of tutorials. It’s a good start for Pixar fans who want to get started in programming — and could help them move on to bigger, more challenging projects.
Source: Made With Code
Playdate: Breaching and clearing with ‘Rainbow Six: Siege’
Rainbow Six: Siege hit a few bumps on the road to release, but now it’s out in the wild and folks are breaching doors and clearing rooms with a righteous fury. Not us. We’re going into the game pretty blind, and that’s not because someone tossed a flashbang into the room. How will Sean take to the multiplayer-only tactical shooter? Considering his disdain for tutorials, probably not too well! However, you can find out for yourself starting at 6 PM ET / 3 PM Pacific as we broadcast live on Twitch. Check us out here on this very post, the Engadget Gaming homepage, or, if you want to join us in chat, Twitch.tv/Joystiq.
http://player.twitch.tv/?channel=joystiqWatch live video from Joystiq on www.twitch.tv[We’re streaming Rainbow Six: Siege on PC through OBS at 720p, so rest assured your hostage rescues will look dramatically better on your home setup.]
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