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Communications

California Net Neutrality Law To Remain Intact After Appeals Court Says It Won't Reconsider Earlier Decision (theverge.com) 1

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
A federal appeals court has denied a request for a rehearing on its January decision that upholds California's net neutrality law. From a report: The 2018 law, widely considered the strongest in the US, was signed into law a year after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed the Open Internet Order. That order had established stringent net neutrality rules that prohibited internet service providers from throttling or blocking legal websites and apps, and banned ISPs from prioritizing paid content. California's law, which finally took effect last year, also prohibits throttling and speed lanes. Wireless trade associations including the NCTA, the CTIA, and ISPs including Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T sued to block California's law from taking effect, saying the FCC decision should preempt the state law. But that challenge was rejected by a district court judge.

The Ninth Circuit voted 3-0 in January to uphold the lower court ruling, saying the FCC "no longer has the authority" to regulate broadband internet services because the agency reclassified them as "information services, instead of telecommunications services. The FCC therefore cannot preempt the state action." FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel praised the decision on Twitter, reiterating her position that she wants to see net neutrality become "the law on the land" again. The FCC can't currently reinstate net neutrality at the federal level however since the panel lacks a majority and the two Democrats and two Republicans remain deadlocked on the issue. President Biden's FCC nominee Gigi Sohn is still awaiting a confirmation vote in the Senate.
United States

Russia Bars Entry To US VP Harris, Meta CEO Zuckerberg and Other US Officials and Figures (techcrunch.com) 67

Posted by msmash from the tussle-continues dept.
Russia on Thursday expanded an entry ban on U.S. officials to include U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and 28 other American officials, businesspeople and journalists. From a report: The sanctions list, published by the Russian foreign ministry, included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, among others. "These individuals are denied entry into the Russian Federation indefinitely," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Youtube

A YouTuber Purposely Crashed His Plane in California, FAA Says (nytimes.com) 54

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
The Federal Aviation Administration has found that Trevor Jacob, a daredevil YouTuber who posted a video of himself last year parachuting out of a plane that he claimed had malfunctioned, purposely abandoned the aircraft and allowed it to crash into the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. From a report: In a letter to Mr. Jacob on April 11, the F.A.A. said he had violated federal aviation regulations and operated his single-engine plane in a "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another." The agency said it would immediately revoke Mr. Jacob's private pilot certificate, effectively ending his permission to operate any aircraft. Reached by email on Wednesday, Mr. Jacob appeared unaware of the F.A.A.'s ruling and replied, "Where'd you get that information?"

In a video posted on his YouTube channel last week, Mr. Jacob, a former snowboarding Olympian turned YouTuber with more than 100,000 subscribers, briefly addressed the airplane controversy, saying, "I can't talk about it, per my attorney." "But the truth of that situation will come out with time," he added, "and I'll leave that at that." The F.A.A. does not have the ability to prosecute; it can only revoke and suspend certificates and issue fines. The agency ordered Mr. Jacob to surrender his private pilot certificate and said he could face "further legal enforcement action" if he did not do so, including a civil penalty of up to $1,644 for each day that he did not return it.
Media

CNN's New Streaming Service, CNN Plus, Is Already Shutting Down (washingtonpost.com) 142

Posted by msmash from the end-of-road dept.
New parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, decided to pull the plug on the streaming service after a slow first month. From a report: On March 29, CNN took a step into the future of media, launching a new streaming service called CNN Plus that aimed to modernize its traditional television business and place a bet on the future of digital news consumption. But after a slow start, new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has already decided to already shut down the service at the end of April, new CNN chief executive Chris Licht announced in a memo to employees on Thursday afternoon that was obtained by The Washington Post.

However, the network found difficulty convincing enough customers to pay the $5.99 monthly cost for the service, which offers a mixture of live and on-demand programming, including a large library of old shows from hosts like the late Anthony Bourdain. The network has not released any data on the number of people who have subscribed, but early media reports suggested that the number was lower than to be expected for a service that has cost more than $100 million to create.
Google

Google To Update Cookie Consent Banner in Europe Following Fine (techcrunch.com) 18

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Google has shared a screenshot of its new cookie consent popup. At first, the new popup will be available on YouTube in France. But the company says it plans to roll out the new design across Google services in Europe. From a report: This updated design comes a few months after the CNIL, France's data watchdog, fined Google $163 million at today's exchange rate) for breaching French law. According to the French authority, Google failed to comply with current regulation when it comes to presenting tracking choices to users -- what people usually call the "cookie banner" or "cookie popup."
Businesses

Canonical Now Hopes To IPO in 2023 (techcrunch.com) 35

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: The saga of Ubuntu-maker Canonical's IPO efforts now stretches back quite a few years. I think the first time I talked to the company's founder Mark Shuttleworth about going public was in 2018, though there had already been some chatter about it in previous years. But the timing never quite worked out for Canonical. In a press briefing ahead of today's launch of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Shuttleworth noted he now expects it to go public next year. "We are on track to float the business. And now I'm pretty confident that we will do that in 2023," said Shuttleworth, who was calling in from an undisclosed island off the coast of West Africa. "And so we're taking active steps at the board level and in our finance operation -- various other parts of the business -- to be prepared for that. We're now effectively on a very clear program to a flotation of the business next year."

He stressed that Canonical is not in a situation where it has to raise outside money and that going public for him is not about fundraising. He noted that Canonical's revenue last year was $175 million and that the company's biggest challenge right now is that demand is bigger that the company's ability to service it, in large part because there isn't enough talent on the market for the company to hire.
Businesses

Musk To Explore Potential Tender Offer for Twitter, Has $46.5B in Committed Financing for Deal (cnbc.com) 196

Posted by msmash from the your-move,-Twitter-board dept.
Elon Musk is exploring whether to commence a tender offer for Twitter, according to a new securities filing. From a report: The updated filing published on Thursday says Musk has received commitments for $46.5 billion to help finance the potential deal. Musk has not yet determined he will make a tender offer for Twitter or whether he will take other steps to further the proposal, the filing states.
Businesses

Amazon Opens Up Prime Delivery Service To Other Retailers (cnbc.com) 25

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Amazon will let other online merchants piggyback on its Prime service to deliver goods quickly to their customers. From a report: The company on Thursday launched a new service, Buy with Prime, that lets third-party merchants use Amazon's vast shipping and logistics network to fulfill orders on their own sites, while also appealing to Amazon's 200 million-plus Prime customers. These web sites will be able to put the Prime badge on their websites next to items that are eligible for free two-day or next-day delivery. Prime members will use the payment and shipping information stored on their Amazon account to place an order. Buy with Prime won't be free for sellers, and pricing will vary depending on payment processing, fulfillment, storage and other fees. To start, the service will only be available by invitation to sellers who use Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA. With that service, merchants pay to have their inventory stored in Amazon's warehouses and to make use of the company's supply chain and shipping operations. Eventually, it will be extended to other merchants, including those not selling on Amazon.
Hardware

Some Chip-Starved Manufacturers Are Scavenging Silicon From Washing Machines (scmp.com) 116

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
A major industrial conglomerate has resorted to buying washing machines and tearing out the semiconductors inside for use in its own chip modules, according to the CEO of a company central to the chipmaking supply chain. From a report: ASML's Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink remarked on the situation, without naming the conglomerate, during his company's earnings call Wednesday. The beleaguered firm relayed its struggle to him only the prior week, he said, signalling that chip shortages are going to persist for the foreseeable future, at least for some sectors. "The demand we are currently seeing comes from so many places in the industry," Wennink said, pointing to the wider adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. "It's so widespread. We have significantly underestimated the width of the demand. That, I don't think, is going to go away." Even major chip equipment makers including US-based Lam Research are struggling to get enough components to fulfil orders, potentially making it more difficult for semiconductor fabs to significantly increase their capacity in the near term.
Youtube

YouTube Blocks Hong Kong's Next Leader John Lee (variety.com) 75

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
YouTube, the Google-owned video streaming platform, has removed the account of John Lee Ka-chiu, the policeman-turned-politician who is poised to take over as Hong Kong's next leader. From a report: All content on Lee's YouTube page has been removed. In its place is a message that reads: "This account has been terminated for violating Google's Terms of Service." Lee's campaign office said on Wednesday that it had been informed by Google that the removal of the account was in accordance with the company's compliance with U.S. sanctions. "We find this very regrettable and completely unreasonable, but we think they can't stop us from spreading our candidate's message -- our campaign's message -- to the public," said Tam Yiu-chung, head of Lee's campaign office.

Lee is one of a dozen officials who were sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020 and had been deemed responsible for the implementation of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in July that year. Lee is now the only candidate in next month's small circle election for Chief Executive. The election, which is not open to the public and instead involves just 1,500 carefully-selected voters, will go ahead on May 8. Lee's five-year term of office will begin from July 1, 2022. "Google complies with applicable U.S. sanctions laws and enforces related policies under its Terms of Service. After review and consistent with these policies, we terminated the Johnlee2022 YouTube channel," told the South China Morning Post.
Communications

Delta Confirms It Worked With SpaceX To Trial Starlink's Satellite Internet (engadget.com) 23

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian has revealed in an interview that the airline held talks with SpaceX and conducted "exploratory tests" of Starlink's internet technology for its planes. Engadget: According to The Wall Street Journal, Bastian declined to divulge specifics about the test, but SpaceX exec Jonathan Hofeller talked about the company's discussion with several airlines back in mid-2021. Hofeller said back then that the company was developing a product for aviation and that it's already done some demonstrations for interested parties. SpaceX chief Elon Musk tweeted in the same period last year that Starlink antennae for planes would have to be certified for each aircraft type first. He added that the company is focusing on dishes for 737 and A320 planes, because they serve the most number of people. Hofeller reiterated SpaceX's quest to put Starlink on planes at the Satellite 2022 conference last month, saying that the company believes "[c]onnectivity on airplanes is something [that's] ripe for an overhaul." He said SpaceX is developing a service that would allow every single passenger on a plane to stream content like they're able to do in their homes.
Businesses

Apple Store Workers in Atlanta Are the First To Formally Seek a Union (nytimes.com) 114

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Employees at an Apple store in Atlanta filed a petition on Wednesday to hold a union election. If successful, the workers could form the first union at an Apple retail store in the United States. From a report: The move continues a recent trend of service-sector unionization in which unions have won elections at Starbucks, Amazon and REI locations. The workers are hoping to join the Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at companies like AT&T Mobility and Verizon, and has made a concerted push into the tech sector in recent years. The union says that about 100 workers at the store -- at Cumberland Mall, in northwest Atlanta -- are eligible to vote, including salespeople and repair technicians, and that over 70 percent of them have signed authorization cards indicating their support. In a statement, the union said Apple, like other tech employers, had effectively created a tiered work force that denied retail workers the pay, benefits and respect that workers earned at its corporate offices.
Businesses

Amazon Europe Unit Paid No Taxes on $55 Billion Sales in 2021 (bloomberg.com) 166

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Amazon's main European retail business reported 1.16 billion euros ($1.26 billion) of losses in 2021, which allowed the company to pay no income tax and receive 1 billion euros in tax credits, corporate filings seen by Bloomberg show. From the report: The Luxembourg-based business recorded sales of 51.3 billion euros last year, up 17% from 43.8 billion euros in 2020. The unit, called Amazon EU Sarl, includes revenue generated by its e-commerce activities in the U.K, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Amazon has been a target of European regulators over its tax arrangements. The Seattle-based company won an appeal on a 250 million-euro ($280 million) tax bill imposed after regulators said agreements with Luxembourg dating back to 2003 amounted to illegal state aid. Last year, the European Commission appealed in the European Court of Justice.
HP

HP is Working on a 17-inch Foldable PC, Report Says (arstechnica.com) 26

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
While smartphones are having fun with the trend, PCs with foldable screens have yet to become mainstream, partially because there's only one option readily available. But with HP expected to enter the scene, it's possible 'foldable OLED' could become more common laptop lingo. From a report: Lenovo made the bold first step into foldable laptops with its 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold. According to South Korean electronics website TheElec, HP's take on foldable OLED will be bigger, with a 17-inch panel from LG Display that measures 11 inches when folded up. HP hasn't publicly announced or commented on the rumored PC, but a couple of details make the machine seem at least somewhat plausible. For one, LG Display confirmed work on a 17-inch foldable OLED laptop design in January. Most recently, TheElec on Monday reported that South Korean company SK IE Technology will make transparent polyimide films to cover the bendy 4K OLED panels. The publication also claimed that LG Display currently has plans to make up to "around 10,000" foldable OLED panels for HP, starting in Q3.
EU

EU Consumer Protection Committee Votes To Expand Scope of Common Charger Rules (techcrunch.com) 117

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
European Union lawmakers have taken a step closer to agreeing rules to standardize how a range of mobile gadgetry is charged. From a report: Today MEPs in the European Parliament's internal market and consumer protection (IMCO) committee adopted their position on a Commission proposal announced last fall, ahead of a full vote by the parliament next month to confirm how it will negotiate with Member State governments on the detail of the legislation. The Council adopted its position on the common charger proposal back in January. The IMCO committee voted 43:2 in favor of a negotiation position that will push to standardize charger ports for a range of mobile devices on USB Type-C, including smartphones, tablets, handheld games consoles, e-readers, digital cameras, electronic toys and more -- with MEPs voting to expand the original proposal to cover laptops, among other additional products.

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