Quickplay bought Roundbox, which will enable it to monetize viewing experiences on any device or network by using multicast or unicast technologies that leverage 4G LTE Broadcast, said the acquirer in a news release Wednesday. It said Roundbox’s cloud-enabled software makes it possible for Quickplay to deliver a range of new capabilities and mobile media experiences, as well as optimized video and data delivery and spectrum utilization.
SAP joined the Industrial Internet Consortium, which aims to accelerate and promote the business use of the Internet of Things, the company said in a news release at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Wednesday.
Zero-rated offerings could help kick-start Internet adoption in some of the poorest parts of the world, the Progressive Policy Institute argued in a paper released Tuesday. Zero rating offers limited Internet access at lower rates and was one of the most sensitive issues before the FCC as it finalized net neutrality rules last week (see 1502250064). PPI cited the example of Africa, where fewer than 30 percent of its 1.1 billion population used the Internet in 2014. “The power of zero-rating to nourish an Internet ecosystem in poor and developing countries comes from its potential to increase connectivity by both people and businesses quickly and at low-cost,” PPI said. Free access to popular sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia “encourages more people to sign up for data plans, and enables greater data freedom to explore local content,” the group said. The resulting increase in demand encourages local entrepreneurs “to create new online products and services -- for example, information on Ebola outbreaks, typhoon warnings, or even wait times at local stores and government offices.”
Toshiba America Electronic Components will start sampling two new Internet of Things application processors this month, the TZ1011MBG and TZ1031MBG, to help developers “meet the fast-growing demand for wearable IoT devices such as activity monitors, smart watches, bracelets and glasses,” it said Monday. The new application processors further expand sensing functionality to two IoT devices Toshiba launched last year, adding a 3-axis gyroscope to the TZ1031MBG and a 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer to the TZ1011MBG, the company said. “There has been an explosion of interest in services that monitor duration and level of physical activity, help improve nutrition and help prevent diseases related to lifestyle, all of which drives demand for wearable devices," it said. The new application processors "make it possible to realize wearable devices” without the need for any other components, “enabling a smaller form factor and, in turn, smaller, lighter wearables," it said.
Consumers with Lenovo tablets need to remove Superfish software, change their passwords, use caution when using public Wi-Fi networks and check their personal banking information, Aditi Jhaveri, FTC consumer education specialist, said in a blog post Friday. Lenovo shipped products that included Superfish software between September and December, but the software has been disabled since January, the company said in a statement last week (see 1502190046). Lenovo was hit with a lawsuit seeking class-action status by a blogger last week for alleged privacy violations stemming from its use of Superfish software (see 1502230061). “Although Lenovo has announced that they have discontinued pre-installing Superfish on its notebooks, some Lenovo notebooks sold today may still have Superfish pre-installed,” Jhaveri said.
“To best serve our valued users,” Hulu updated its terms of use, including clarifying the company’s mutual arbitration clause, the company said in an email to customers Wednesday. “Hulu has grown exponentially in its user base and its service offerings in the past few years,” the company said, so it’s time for an update. Other updates include expanding the description of Hulu service to “include all technology” Hulu and Hulu Plus have available, incorporating current options on customers’ account pages and updating Hulu’s physical address.
Altair Semiconductor said it's sampling FourGee-1160 and FourGee-1150 Category-1 and Category-0 chipsets for Internet of Things applications with plans to deploy commercially later this year. The company said carriers, device makers and module vendors have “shifted gears” in recent months to prepare for an “aggressive introduction” of smart IoT applications when LTE CAT-1 and CAT-0 chipsets become available. CAT-1 and CAT-0 are lower speed/lower power versions of the LTE standard that expand the addressable market for carriers and chip makers, enabling targeted IoT features, extended battery life and a lower cost entry point for LTE connectivity, said Altair Wednesday.
The FCC’s expected approval Thursday of petitions seeking pre-emption of anti-municipal broadband laws in North Carolina and Tennessee is likely to unleash a spate of additional pre-emption petitions from other municipalities seeking to build or expand networks, said Michael Santorelli, director of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School, during a webinar Wednesday. Multiple petitions “have probably already been drafted” by municipalities that are waiting for the FCC to vote on the existing petitions, Santorelli said during the Digital Policy Institute event. The FCC has made clear that its draft order applies only to the specific petitions from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga and the city of Wilson, North Carolina, but it's likely to set a precedent for future petitions, he said. The FCC’s draft pre-emption order stands on very shaky legal ground and contains logic that also would allow state public utility regulators to pre-empt laws created by their own state legislatures, said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak. The order is nearly certain to face challenges in federal courts and the Supreme Court, which could send the commission’s entire legal view of its Telecom Act Section 706 authority “crashing down,” he said. FCC pre-emption can sometimes be legally justifiable, particularly if it clears barriers to private sector entry into state markets, Spiwak said.
The Digital Advertising Alliance released AppChoices and a consumer choice page for the mobile Web -- new tools for consumers to provide ad transparency to those not using desktop browsers, DAA said in a Wednesday news release. The change adapts consumer-friendly, independently enforceable privacy controls to the fast-growing mobile medium, it said. The apps will let consumers choose between individually named companies or all companies at once. It gives the user access to control mechanisms for mobile browsers and in-mobile apps. AppChoices is available as a free download from the Amazon Store, Apple App Store and Google Play, DAA said. "These new tools for transparency and choice will lead to greater trust and engagement between brands and consumers no matter which screen is being used to interact," said DAA General Counsel Stu Ingis.
Civis Analytics and Discovery Communications are forming a partnership to explore the implications of big data and predictive analytics to optimize performance in the current data-driven culture, Discovery said Wednesday in a news release. The partnership will focus on issues including predictive targeting and data infrastructure to ratings forecasting and marketing spending optimization using the Civis Media Optimizer platform, it said.