Sale of Toshiba’s NAND Chip Unit Faces Trouble as Western Digital Threatens Legal Action

Uncertainty over which company will end up with Toshiba’s much-sought-after NAND chip unit — the second-biggest in the world — has deepened today with a report by Reuters, which states that the Japan-based Toshiba is now facing legal actions from its business partner and chip unit bidder Western Digital. The U.S.-based data storage company is claiming that Toshiba has violated a contract by transferring Western Digital’s joint venture rights entirely to the newly formed chip unit, which Toshiba is soon to sell off.

As a result, Western Digital is reportedly asking for exclusive negotiating rights with Toshiba as a means to win the bid and retain its contract with the supplier, and the U.S. company is threatening legal action in the event that it does not. Western Digital currently operates a semiconductor plant in a joint partnership with Toshiba, but it is not seen as a favored bidder in the eyes of Toshiba executives because it has placed a “much lower offer than other suitors.”

The legal process set in motion by Western Digital could not only delay Toshiba’s NAND chip unit sale, which the company needs to be completed to offset a nearly $9 billion loss related to its overseas nuclear division, but could put an end to the auction altogether. Toshiba has rejected any of Western Digital’s claims that it has violated the joint venture contract.

The clash between Toshiba and Western Digital – both its business partner and one of the bidders for the chip unit – risks delaying or even quashing an auction that the Japanese conglomerate is depending on to plug a $9 billion hole in its accounts.

But in a May 3 letter sent by Toshiba’s lawyers, the TVs-to-nuclear conglomerate disputed Western Digital’ s argument and said it would pursue all available remedies if it saw continued interference in the sale process. Western Digital’s “campaign constitutes intentional interference with Toshiba’s prospective economic advantage and current contracts. It is improper, and it must stop,” the letter, which was seen by Reuters on Tuesday, said.

Western Digital now has until May 15 to sign a few agreements related to its joint venture partnership with Toshiba, and if it doesn’t all Western Digital employees will be restricted from facilities, networks and databases related to Toshiba’s NAND chip unit. According to Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, Western Digital has a solid ground for legal action: “From a commonsense standpoint, it’s hard to buy Toshiba’s argument that it doesn’t need approval from its JV partner because it’s almost a 50-50 joint venture.”

Outside of the legal battle, Toshiba executives are said to be prioritizing potential bids from what would amount to a consortium of the New York-based private equity firm KKR & Co LP and a few Japanese government-backed investors representing Japan Innovation Network Corp. The Japanese government is said to be “keeping a close eye on the process,” and would prevent any deal that could potentially transfer sensitive technological information to another country, namely Foxconn and its deep China ties.

Now, KKR and Japan Innovation Network Corp are preferred bidders, and are expected to enter a joint offer in the upcoming second round of bidding in mid-May. If the duo win exclusive rights to Toshiba’s NAND chip unit, the technology would stay in Japan, appeasing the local government, and the new owners of the unit could aim for an IPO down the line.

The two new preferred bidders come after TSMC and Foxconn were originally reported as the main companies interested in Toshiba’s chip unit, but TSMC eventually dropped out and then Foxconn faced troubled waters with the Japanese government. Last month, Apple was rumored as willing to spend several billion dollars to obtain a “substantial stake” in the Toshiba NAND chip unit, with enough of a share ownership to allow Toshiba’s executives to retain partial ownership in Japan.

Other potential buyers include South Korea’s SK Hynix, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and more, who are all looking for a major foothold in the flash memory market that could allow them to compete with the likes of Samsung. The winning bidder is expected to be revealed sometime in June.

Tags: Western Digital, Toshiba
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Apple Music to Share Exclusive Film About ‘Harry Styles’ Album Next Week

Apple today announced that it will be releasing the film “Harry Styles: Behind the Album” exclusively on Apple Music on May 15.

The film chronicles the former One Direction singer’s so-called “musical journey” while creating his debut solo album, set to be released on Friday.

Apple shared a 30-second preview of the film on its YouTube channel today.

Apple’s full description of the video:

Apple Music Presents: Behind the Album, a new film from production company Fulwell 73, chronicles Harry’s musical journey while creating his much anticipated debut solo album. The film features exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage shot in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London during the making of the album and is complemented by Harry and his band performing songs from it for the first time at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

Styles’ debut solo single “Sign of the Times,” to be included on the album, is already available on Apple Music.

Tag: Apple Music
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Amazon Reveals $230 Touchscreen ‘Echo Show’ Launching in June

Amazon today debuted an all-new touchscreen Echo device, which it’s calling the “Echo Show,” following a report from yesterday that said the company was gearing up to debut the new Echo as soon as today. As was expected, the Echo Show is a smart home speaker system that has all of the features of the basic Echo system with an additional 7-inch touchscreen.

With the addition of a touchscreen, Amazon said that users will be able to watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, check on security cameras, swipe through photos, view weather forecasts, make to-do and shopping lists, and more. Far-field voice recognition, eight microphones, beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation allow users to be heard from anywhere in the room, as well as over loud music coming from the Echo Show itself.

One of the biggest additions with Echo Show is a new video chat experience that allows users to make hands-free calls to friends who also have an Echo Show, or who use the Alexa smartphone app. A Feature called “Drop In” lets users quickly contact or send messages to other Echo Show devices to do things like let someone know it’s time for dinner, or check in on a child’s nursery.

The Echo Show will connect to smart home products like Hue and Wink, and allow for simple daily tasks like timing food in the kitchen and catching up with the news.

For news and information you can see and hear, just ask Alexa for your video flash briefing from CNN. Curious about the latest movie trailers or a need a how-to video from YouTube? Just ask.

Echo Show helps keep you organized at home. Start a timer in the kitchen and watch as it counts down, or easily see and manage your family’s calendar. Sign in to the Alexa App to take your to-do and shopping lists with you. Just add an item to the list from home, and whoever is out shopping will see it added instantly on their Alexa App.

The Amazon Echo Show is the latest in a long line of Amazon smart home speakers, following the original Echo, Echo Dot, and most recently the Echo Look. While Amazon sits on top of the market for these voice-controlled speakers, more companies are looking to add similar products into their line-ups. This week, Harman Kardon teased the upcoming launch of a speaker with Microsoft’s Cortana built in, with an aesthetic very similar to Echo.

Apple has long been rumored to be getting into the smart home speaker market as well, with plans to launch a device that would be visually similar to Google Home and have deep Siri integration, as well as the usual Apple services like Apple Music and iCloud. Rumors about such a device began around this time last year, and Apple is now believed to debut the Siri smart speaker as soon as WWDC in June.

Although a screen on the Siri device has not been mentioned in rumors, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller recently mentioned that having a screen available suits more user-friendly situations than a device that exclusively uses voice controls. “So there’s many moments where a voice assistant is really beneficial, but that doesn’t mean you’d never want a screen,” Schiller said. “So the idea of not having a screen, I don’t think suits many situations.”

The Amazon Echo Show is available to pre-order right now in black and white for $229.99 and will begin shipping June 28. Those who purchase two Echo Show devices at once can save $100 off of the order with a special promotion that Amazon is debuting for the launch of the new speaker.

Tags: Amazon, Amazon Echo
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Apple’s Retail Chief Angela Ahrendts and Top Lawyer Bruce Sewell Each Sell Over $10 Million in Stock

Apple’s retail chief Angela Ahrendts and top lawyer Bruce Sewell each sold over $10 million in company stock over the past week, according to a pair of disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pursuant to her trading plan adopted in February, Ahrendts sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock between May 4 and May 8, netting nearly $11.1 million based on the weighted average sale price of the five transactions. Ahrendts still owns 103,116 shares in Apple following the sale, worth nearly $16 million.

Sewell sold 67,500 shares of Apple stock in multiple transactions on May 5, netting just over $10 million based on the weighted average sale price. Sewell still owns 141,325 shares in Apple following the sale, worth nearly $22 million.

Ahrendts has served as Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail since 2014, overseeing the company’s physical and online storefronts. Under her leadership, Apple has been renovating several of its stores, partly in an effort to turn them into community gathering places rather than just sales floors.

Sewell has served as Apple’s General Counsel since 2009, overseeing all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation and securities compliance, global security, and privacy. He came into the spotlight last year twice during separate battles with the FBI and Spotify.

Tags: Angela Ahrendts, AAPL, SEC, Bruce Sewell
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OnePlus 5 may have double dual cameras according to leaked sketches

The OnePlus 5 is due to be released later this year, and after having its name confirmed – it’s skipped 4 because the number is seen as unlucky – we can now focus our attention on specs and features.

• OnePlus 4/OnePlus 5: What’s the story so far?

We’ve already heard that there will be a dual camera on the rear to help it compete with the best flagships of 2017, but a new report suggests there will be a second dual camera on the front of the phone as well.

At least, that’s according to sketches that have originated in China and have been obtained by Android Pure. The drawings clearly show a dual camera on the rear, with the OnePlus logo beneath it, and a USB Type-C port on the bottom. So far, so OnePlus 5.

Android Pure

But the interesting thing to note is a dual camera on the front left of the phone. It’s likely that if a reality, the camera setup would work in a similar way to the one on the rear, that is one being a depth sensor and one being a regular image sensor. The only the thing the drawings don’t give away is the resolution or make of the lenses.

• OnePlus 5 confirmed to feature dual rear-camera, possible embedded fingerprint sensor
• It’s official: Next OnePlus flagship will be OnePlus 5, due this summer

The sketches also show a 0.5mm ceramic layer around the rear camera module, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a hardware toggle switch on the side. This could work in a similar way to the switch on the OnePlus X to toggle between notification preferences.

US Marines test glider drones that drop supplies to troops

Since it’s not always possible to deliver supplies to troops in dangerous regions by land or sea, the Pentagon uses steerable parachutes called Joint Precision Airdrop System or JPADS. They’re expensive and difficult to retrieve, though, that’s why the US Marines tested a much cheaper and more practical alternative: disposable glider drones that cost only around $1,500 to $3,000 make. Their creator, Logistics Glider, build them out of plywood, household hardware and off-the-shelf electronics, yet they’re capable of carrying up to 1,600 pounds for up to 74 nautical miles. That’s thrice JPAD’s range for a fraction of what the parachute system costs ($29,700).

Logistics Glider sought help from the University of California to develop the glider’s autonomous brain, which takes over as soon as it’s dropped from its carrier aircraft. Upon accomplishing its mission, the drone’s wings and tail automatically snap off when it lands on the ground, perhaps to prevent enemies from copying the technology like what happened to the RQ-170 drone in Iran.

The Marines tested the gliders for 10 days, but they’re keeping the results a secret. If they work as intended, they can be used not just to drop supplies to troops, but relief goods to disaster zones. Depending on their test results, the company might still change the way they work. It’s even looking at the possibility of having the gliders drop small parachutes if that would make deliveries more accurate.

Source: Wired, IEEE

Korea is building a ‘city’ for self-driving cars

South Korea will soon open an 88 acre facility with everything an autonomous car might encounter, including expressways, parking areas and bus-only lanes, according to the Korea Business Times. First announced last year, it will be the world’s largest, dwarfing Michigan’s 32-acre Mcity facility that it’s reportedly based on. The idea is to let companies test self-driving tech in a repeatable way, without the hard-to-get permits normally required to test vehicles on Korea’s public roads.

South Korea produces some of the world’s most popular cars, but is well behind other nations in allowing self-driving vehicles on its streets. Despite that, it recently announced the ambitious goal to produce Level 3 vehicles (fully autonomous with a driver backup) by 2020.

The nation started issuing permits for testing on public streets last year starting with eight vehicles. Recently, it gave Samsung a new permit, allowing it to test its own self-driving platform, consisting of sensors and computing systems but not a vehicle. South Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai, is also building self-driving tech that requires less computing horsepower than other systems, but so far it has been testing the tech in the US.

A big part of Korea’s self-driving push is K-City, a $17 million project which will feature a mock inner city, suburban roads, expressways and more. Expressway testing will start in October 2017, with the rest of the facility opening by mid-2018. That date is well earlier than originally planned, showing just how crucial self-driving tech has become to companies (and entire nations) just over the last year.

Source: Business Korea

Gig ticket sellers should learn from Dice’s new refund option

Now in its third year, UK gig app Dice has made a name for itself by selling tickets for some of the world’s biggest music acts without additional overheads. There are no booking fees and tickets are tightly linked to an account, meaning all you need to do is pay the listing price and show your phone at the door. The process all but eliminates scalpers, but getting your money back when you can’t make a gig hasn’t been especially easy. With Refund Tickets, however, Dice has introduced a new button for sold out gigs that gives you your money back if someone on the waiting list wants to take it off your hands.

Since launch, Dice has bought back tickets for sold out gigs, but you’d need to send an email and wait to see if the venue would allow tickets to be transferred. The company would then manually notify people in the waiting list, a process that could take days to complete.

Refund Tickets aims to take away most of that pain, offering refunds on the vast majority of tickets bought via the app. As there’s normally a waiting list for most gigs, the app will then alert someone who is eager to snap it up. If they do, the refund is then processed.

Dice says that because it has some more complex arrangements with venues hosting concerts for acts like Adele, it may take a while for the option to roll out to all listings.

With tickets bought via other ticketing websites, owners are encouraged to list their tickets on the secondary market. It’s a practice that encourages scalpers, people or companies that use automated online tools to grab tickets the minute they’re available and sell on at a huge markup. The government is well aware of the issues faced by normal punters, so it introduced new checks in the Digital Economy Act to curb the practice.

In the near future, using computerised tools to secure tickets could be made a criminal offence, which would be punishable via a fine. The government is already pushing sellers and resellers to crack down on abuse and now requires them to detail exactly where a seat is located before a ticket is resold and inform potential buyers of any conditions attached to it.

The Refund Tickets option is available in the iOS and Android apps from today.

Source: Dice.fm

This mocap suit records Hollywood-quality animation at indie film prices

Conventional motion capture rigs — the ones that use visual markers and arrays of infrared cameras — cost tens of thousands of dollars, making them prohibitively expensive for everyone but major studios. But a new, cameraless system from Dutch startup Rokoko, called the Smartsuit Pro, aims to make Hollywood-quality motion capture affordable for everybody.

The Smartsuit Pro is a form-fitting jumpsuit equipped with 19 gyroscopic sensors. These detect the angle, momentum and position of your head, arms, legs and torso, then feed that information into a central hub on your lower back. The data can either be recorded locally on the hub’s hard drive or streamed directly to a computer using WiFi. You’ll get about 6 hours of use out of the suit before it needs to be recharged, though its batteries can easily be hot-swapped.

Given its $2500 price point, the Smartsuit Pro is geared primarily towards independent filmmakers and game developers. I was recently afforded a chance to don the suit and transform myself into a digital anthropomorphic frog. It went about as well as you’d expect.

The Smartsuit is essentially a snug jumpsuit with a headband and spandex hand and foot cuffs. Getting into the suit is easy enough (even if the one I tried was a size too small): just slide your feet in and pull the suit up around you. I would not recommend wearing street clothes underneath because, even though the suit itself is breathable, using it over multiple layers and jumping around still means you’re going to get sweaty, and fast. Well not actually jumping — that’s one of two motions that the system doesn’t handle yet. The other is laying flat on your back as that blocks the hub’s WiFi signal, though that’s not an issue if you’re recording locally.

Once you’ve squeezed into the suit, you’ll need to calibrate it to your personal measurements and the heights of various body parts, then stand at attention with your arms flat at your sides so that the system can sync your movements with those of your onscreen avatar. From there, you’re free to do your thing. The system continually records the signals generated from each of its sensors as you move.

Interestingly, it doesn’t actually generate that much data compared to traditional MoCap systems since its all telemetry information rather than video from a huge camera array. Plus it can all be easily exported directly to a variety of animation platforms, like Unity, Blender or Maya.

Rokoko announced on Tuesday that it is shipping its initial batch of 300 suits to its pre-order customers and will begin retailing the devices on its website. The company also working on motion-capture gloves, which it hopes to have ready by the end of the year, as well as an even more affordable motion capture suit for hobbyists and amateuers some time in 2018.

Peripheral maker Roccat is developing its own game

My dad always used to say that if you can put your mind to it, you can do anything. It looks like someone at Roccat had an equally encouraging parent, as the gaming peripheral manufacturer has revealed that it’s now attempting to develop its very own game. The undertaking in question is Sick City, a real-time tactical combat game that takes inspiration from classic squad-based strategy titles like Commandos and Company of Heroes. While gameplay details are still pretty vague, Roccat promises that Sick City will intertwine ‘exciting espionage’ with a cast of heroes that wield powerful abilities.

Speaking to Engadget, Roccat’s marketing manager Tuan Mai revealed that Sick City will come to Steam Early Access, with the company currently aiming to get it on the program for August. Keen to involve its community in the game’s development, the studio will also be releasing a closed alpha for Sick City as early as next month.

In terms of who’s actually making the game, Roccat is keeping its cards close to its chest. “We can’t go into specifics on who at the time,” states Mai “but I can tell you that the team is composed of experienced developers that have worked at other game studios in Hamburg before.” With Hamburg’s development scene still fairly small, Roccat Games Studio could well consist of developers from Bigpoint and Goodgame. With the former developer known for strategy title Goodgame Empire and the latter behind Battlestar Galactica Online, their experience lends itself well to Sick City.

Surprisingly, this isn’t actually the first time a peripheral manufacturer has attempted to get involved with making games. With accessory sales on the decline, MadCatz entered into a publishing deal with Harmonix, funding and distributing Rock Band 4. Unfortunately for Madcatz, the game bombed – bankrupting the company. Without the burden of shipping and building thousands of expensive plastic instruments, let’s hope that Sick City goes a little better for Roccat.

Source: Roccat