Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 126

All the latest Business, Financial & Legal news as it relates to tech, gaming, and science - Page 126.

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Razer acquires a smartphone manufacturer Nexbit

Lana Jelic | Jan 31, 2017 10:27 AM CST

Razer (yes, the Razer) has acquired a smartphone manufacturer, Nexbit. Nexbit was a startup company that gathered around $1.3 million via Kickstarter campaign for, what is marked as, the cloud-first smartphone. Their idea was to make a phone that would allow usage of apps and content that transcended between phone's onboard storage and a complimentary cloud service.

The Kickstarter campaign was a success. Twelve hours after it was launched, the phone reached its funding goal of $500,000 instead of reaching it within a month and completed its $1 million goal within two weeks.

This resulted in a smartphone named the Nextbit Robin, a phone with 32GB of internal storage. However, the phone utilizes the cloud storage of 100 GB offered by the manufacturer which is integrated within the phone's software as additional storage. The phone went on sale in May last year.

Continue reading: Razer acquires a smartphone manufacturer Nexbit (full post)

ZeniMax could secure $4 billion from Oculus in court

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 30, 2017 11:21 PM CST

Oculus has been stuck in real life court for the last few weeks, defending itself against claims that it stolen precious code from ZeniMax, in a lawsuit that could now be worth a hefty $4 billion.

Polygon has reported that the closing arguments have been made, and the case is now in the jury's hands. It will now be decided if Oculus CTO John Carmack stole IP from ZeniMax and had it with him when he joined Oculus in 2013, and in the closing arguments - ZeniMax doubled the damages it was seeking - from $2 billion, to a total of $4 billion.

ZeniMax are the owners of id Software - the creators of DOOM, Quake, and more - the developer John Carmack worked for until he jumped ship for Oculus. It's being argued that Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey didn't have the technical expertise to built the Rift, without needing Carmack's help.

Continue reading: ZeniMax could secure $4 billion from Oculus in court (full post)

iPhone is no longer top-selling smartphone in China

Lana Jelic | Jan 30, 2017 1:17 PM CST

A new report from Counterpoint Research shows that Apple's iPhone is no longer the top-selling smartphone in China. The iPhone held this position for the past five years, but it looks like it's time for a new star.

And in China, that star is Oppo's R9. The report says that a total of 17 million units of the R9 were sold in the country last year, which is around 4% of the market share. Apple managed to sell 12 million units, meaning they captured around 2% of the market.

Apple became top-selling smartphone in China in 2012, and it held that position for five years. The American company is clearly becoming more vulnerable in China with many Chinese phone manufacturers like Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi gaining more fans.

Continue reading: iPhone is no longer top-selling smartphone in China (full post)

Hugo Barra leaves Xiaomi to lead Facebook VR team

Lana Jelic | Jan 26, 2017 12:06 PM CST

Just three days after the announcement that Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi in February to "embark on a new adventure," it has emerged that the face of Xiaomi (soon to be ex-face of Xiaomi) is joining Facebook.

The news was posted by Mark Zuckerberg on his Facebook where he expressed his excitement about the new member of the Facebook family.

Barra will lead Facebook's virtual reality efforts, including the Oculus team.

Continue reading: Hugo Barra leaves Xiaomi to lead Facebook VR team (full post)

China makes The Great Firewall stronger, bans VPNs

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 25, 2017 12:54 AM CST

China has just made The Great Firewall much, much stronger - making the use of VPNs in the country illegal.

The use of VPNs and special cable connections throughout China now need government approval, which will see the use of VPN services illegal. Engadget reports that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the new rules surrounding VPNs, calling them a "clean-up" of China's internet connections.

The Ministry ad ded that the new rules are live immediately, and will be in place until March 31, 2018. It was only in March 2016 that the country had a large-scale crackdown on VPNs, with The Washington Post adding that China's new VPN and cable regulations are "purposefully vague", adding that "experts on China's Internet said the notice seems to take aim at Chinese companies providing VPN services to individuals in China - and not, say, those helping multinational companies connect with their home office".

Continue reading: China makes The Great Firewall stronger, bans VPNs (full post)

Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi next month

Lana Jelic | Jan 23, 2017 7:19 AM CST

Hugo Barra, the face of Xiaomi, has announced that he is leaving the company after three and a half years.

Barra said in a social media post that he will return to Silicon Valley, where he was formerly Google's Vice President of Android Product Management until he joined Xiaomi, to "embark on a new adventure."

Continue reading: Hugo Barra is leaving Xiaomi next month (full post)

Trump drives TSMC, Foxconn to consider US manufacturing

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 15, 2017 12:35 PM CST

President elect Donald Trump was serious when he discussed manufacturing goods in the US, pushing Apple to make the new iPhone into the US - this stirred Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn to think about the prospects of moving its manufacturing to the United States.

Apple suppliers could be in for a big shift, with the Chairman of Softbank group, Masayoshi Son, recently meeting with Trump in New York. Masayoshi Son, whose group has an alliance with Foxconn, promised Trump that they would consider investing in manufacturing goods in the US, to create jobs. There's even been a Sharp executive who spoke with Nikkei Asian review who said that the idea is Mr Son's idea.

Foxconn is thinking of building a manufacturing plant in the US, as the country has a large market for TVs and other consumer electronics - with Foxconn rumored to be considering a huge $8.6 billion investment in US manufacturing.

Continue reading: Trump drives TSMC, Foxconn to consider US manufacturing (full post)

Chinese giant spending $70 billion on 3 new wafer plants

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 13, 2017 1:21 AM CST

It looks like there is going to be a massive injection of wafer plants in China's near future, with Tsinghua Unigroup to reportedly build IC manufacturing sites in three locations in China: Wuhan, Chengdu and Nanjing.

Tsinghua Unigroup's total investment will hit $70 billion, according to Zhao Weiguo, chairman for the state-backed technology conglomerate, reports DigiTimes. The site continues: "Tsinghua Unigroup is assisting subsidiary Yangtze River Storage Technology to establish a new memory plant in Wuhan (Hebei province). Construction of the plant, which will cover an area of about 13 hectares, kicked off recently".

Yangtze River Storage Tech's new plant has an investment of $24 billion or so, and will be dedicated to making 3D NAND flash products, where it is hoped to hit volume production in 2018. Tsinghua Unigroup is currently breaking ground on two new plants, "one located in Chengu (Sichuan province) and the other in Nanjing (Jiangsu province) - in 2017, Zhao disclosed. Total investment in the two sites is estimated at US$46 billion", said Zhao.

Continue reading: Chinese giant spending $70 billion on 3 new wafer plants (full post)

Samsung's new smart fridge rocks a 21.5-inch screen

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 3, 2017 1:11 PM CST

CES 2017 - Samsung has a full frontal assault for your kitchen at CES this year, and while it has dabbled in Wi-Fi-connected smart fridges before, it is launching 6 new ones in 2017 - bringing Samsung up to a total of 10 smart fridges.

This includes a new three-door, four-door, and a four-door "flex" model that has dual freezers. Samsung has updated the fridge's OS to Family Hub 2.0, which provides your family with a new UI, allowing everyone to have a profile - and even lets you set individual avatars, just cause.

There's a massive 21.5-inch LED touchscreen built into the front of it, where you can play around with photos, calendars, and even leave handwritten memos. Tizen is the OS powering the fridge, which takes pictures of the contents of your fridge every time you open the door - letting you know when you need to buy more "Groceries by MasterCard".

Continue reading: Samsung's new smart fridge rocks a 21.5-inch screen (full post)

Your fridge could be a witness in a murder trial

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 2, 2017 9:30 PM CST

I like my fridge, I really do... but when I get to the point of having a fridge with a camera, and a microphone - I feel like we've stepped over a line. What next... our toilet roll holders will have built-in microphones? Our showers will have 360-degree cameras for the next level of Big Brother voyeurism?

According to Mark Stokes, the head of the digital, cyber and communications forensics unit at the Metropolitan Police: "Wireless cameras within a device, such as fridge, may record the movement of owners and suspects. Doorbells that connect directly to apps on a user's phone can show who has rung the door and the owner or others may then remotely,m if they choose, to give controlled access to the premises while away from the property".

Stokes added: "All these leave a log and a trace of activity. The crime scene of tomorrow is going to be the internet of things".

Continue reading: Your fridge could be a witness in a murder trial (full post)