Right-to-repair advocates were caught unaware by a June 29 letter we stumbled on Tuesday in which 15 tech groups urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to veto the nation’s first digital electronics repair legislation (S-4104/A-7006), after it cleared the New York Assembly on a 145-1 vote more than a month ago (see 2206030034). Hochul’s office largely has been silent about her bill-signing intentions. "The Governor is reviewing the bill," emailed a Hochul spokesperson Wednesday.
Amid an industry-wide retail promotional atmosphere reminiscent of Black Friday, Amazon got a jump on itself before Prime Days, announcing Wednesday exclusive “offers and experiences” for Prime members, including a free, one-year membership to the food delivery service Grubhub+ ($9.99 per month) with no delivery fees on eligible orders at “hundreds of thousands of restaurants” in over 4,000 cities.
Gearing up for Prime Day July 12-13, Amazon touted its operations network Tuesday, blogging it spent two decades building and investing in a network that’s “nimble and prepared for shopping events like Prime Day and the holiday rush.” This year, it's “as prepared as ever,” Amazon said, after two years of retail impact from COVID-19-based disruption.
The FCC found no agreement between Microsoft and NAB on how often narrowband devices should have to check a database to operate in the TV white spaces (TVWS). In January, commissioners approved 4-0 an order requiring other devices to check the database at least once hourly. After NAB and Microsoft clashed as the order was before commissioners, the FCC decided to further explore the rules for narrowband IoT devices in a Further NPRM (see 2201270034). Wireless mic companies supported NAB.
The FTC is seeking comment on a proposal to update its 1974 amplifier rule by requiring sellers that make power claims in marketing amplifiers for home entertainment products “to calculate power output using uniform testing methods to allow consumers to easily compare amplifier sound quality,” said an NPRM released Tuesday. Comments will be due 60 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.
Micron Technology achieved “revenue records” for fiscal Q3 ended June 2 in most of its end-market enterprise segments, “despite supply chain challenges and COVID-19 control measures in China, which impacted our business on both the demand side and the supply side,” said CEO Sanjay Mehrotra on a quarterly earnings call Thursday. Micron’s expectations for calendar 2022 industry “bit demand” growth have “moderated since our last earnings call,” he said.
Harnessing usage data is essential to home energy management solutions, but there’s a disconnect between utilities' data and homeowners looking to control energy costs, said panelists on Parks Associates’ Smart Energy Summit Thursday.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington’s calls last week for the agency to take a deep dive on potential rules requiring OEMs to provide security updates for wireless devices authorized by the agency for sale in the U.S. (see 2206280072) appears likely to be picked up, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, industry executives and agency officials.
With inflation at a 40-year high, “there are concerns for the potential of a recession in the near future,” said Paychex CEO Martin Mucci on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q4 ended May 31. “We continue to monitor key leading indicators for any signs of a change in the macroeconomic environment, but have not seen any signs of deterioration at this time,” he said.
The “extremely volatile” virtual MVPD market “never really took off” in the way its proponents thought it would, said Horowitz Research analyst Adriana Waterston on a Wednesday Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing webinar on the state of the pay-TV, over-the-top video and subscription VOD markets.