Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are nearing agreement on legislation that would create a new consumer protection agency to regulate the tech industry, they confirmed with us.
CARSON, Calif. -- Addressing luxury homeowner and designer cravings for an uncluttered, “quiet” ceiling, lighting company DMF launched on Tuesday the iX Series Small Aperture lights, which it says deliver the performance of traditional in-ceiling fixtures from a 2-inch enclosure. Output of 750-1250 lumens delivers similar light coverage as 3- and 4-inch fixtures, the company said.
Sonos announced Sub Mini Tuesday, after the entry-level subwoofer was delayed due to a slow consumer response to its Sonos Ray sound bar that launched in June. The Sub Mini is due to ship Oct. 6 at $429 vs. $749 for the third-generation flagship Sub, which remains in the line, the company said.
Mastercard's SpendingPulse program is forecasting a 7.1% year-over-year holiday season retail sales increase (18.8% vs. 2019) for Nov. 1-Dec. 24, it said Monday. It predicted electronics sales will grow 3.5% year on year and 25.6% vs. 2019.
5G hype is in danger of outpacing reality, speakers said during an IEEE virtual event Thursday. At the same time, experts warned, no killer app has emerged that is driving consumers to think they need a 5G phone. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., meanwhile voiced optimism during a Thursday Punchbowl News event (see 2209080053) about 5G’s potential role in increasing innovation in telehealth and autonomous vehicles.
The FCC appears increasingly likely to take a deeper dive into the data retention and privacy policies of wireless carriers. In recent days, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel sent follow-up letters of inquiry to major wireless carriers and mobile virtual network operators, asking for documents and including further, highly detailed questions about their policies (see 2209070077).
The smart TV “is basically a computer on the wall,” said Vizio Chief Financial Officer Adam Townsend at an investor conference last week, discussing the growing role of the connected TV in the home.
Facing a growing number of partnerships that would meld satellite and terrestrial mobile coverage, the FCC is likely to continue to take an ad hoc approach with applications rather than instituting a proceeding on satellite use of terrestrial spectrum, satellite and spectrum experts told us. Hughes repeatedly pressed the agency to start such a proceeding and reject pending applications from AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global (see 2206290004). The commission, AST and Lynk didn't comment.
Applied Materials, as a “direct impact” of the newly enacted Chips and Science Act, plans to apply for government grants “that will help us with R&D facilities that we've been desirous of building,” Chief Financial Officer Brice Hill told the Citi Global Technology Conference virtually Wednesday. The company supplies wafer fab production tools to chipmakers, and so is a bellwether of semiconductor industry health.
When Matt Furlong joined GameStop as CEO from Amazon in June 2021, GameStop “was saddled with significant debt, decaying systems, limited employee depth and a host of other issues,” said Furlong on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q2 ended July 30. “We spent the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022 making up for years of underinvestment in modernizing the business.”