Singapore online platform YuuZoo is buying 33.3 percent of movie studio/entertainment group Relativity Media, with an option to buy a majority over the next 24 months, YuuZoo said in a news release Sunday. The deal marries its distribution platform -- which covers 69 nations and includes such partners as Alibaba subsidiary Alisports and African TV network NTA -- to Relativity Media's library of content, it said.
The U.S. and other nations with high internet connectivity would lose at least 1.9 percent of their gross domestic product each day that internet services are disconnected, the Global Network Initiative reported Thursday. It was based on a Facebook-funded study conducted by Deloitte, GNI said. The Deloitte study said countries with medium-level connectivity would lose about 1 percent of their daily gross domestic product in an internet shutdown, and a low-connectivity country would lose 0.4 percent of its daily GDP, GNI said. The report noted an earlier Brookings Institution study saying that 81 government-led internet shutdowns between July 2015 and June 2016 cost the affected countries a total of about $2.4 billion. Countries affected in those shutdowns included Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, GNI said. “Shutting down the internet undermines economic activity and chills free expression,” said GNI Executive Director Judith Lichtenberg in a news release. “The economic and human rights harms of network shutdowns reinforce each other, and are of particular concern in developing countries, emerging and fragile democracies, and jurisdictions with weak rule of law.”
Sony will split out its digital imaging businesses into a separate subsidiary when the next fiscal year starts April 1, the company said in a Wednesday SEC filing. Sony Imaging Products & Solutions will handle the camera businesses for the consumer, broadcast and professional and medical markets and is expected to name Shigeki Ishizuka, the corporate executive officer currently in charge of those businesses, as president of the subsidiary, Sony said. The move is part of Sony’s long-term strategy to sequentially split out the business units within Sony to form new subsidiary companies to promote “clearly attributable accountability and responsibility” to shareholders and to speed “decision-making processes and reinforcement of business competitiveness,” Sony said.
Thirty mostly European civil society groups and individuals are urging EU officials to reject clauses in trade agreements, including the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), that the groups say would infringe on the "fundamental rights to data protection and privacy." In a letter released Monday and dated Friday, the groups, including Access Now, European Digital Rights and Privacy International and U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said "trade negotiations are not suitable for shaping rules affecting fundamental rights and the rule of law in a democratic society." They said the rules will be interpreted by trade dispute settlement bodies whose aim is to liberalize trade, not protect human rights. But negotiating parties could use a "general exception clause" instead, the groups wrote. Such a clause could: ensure parties to the agreement "can condition the transfer and processing of personal data" on its protection; allow the EU or another party to suspend personal data flows if fundamental rights aren't respected; make sure privacy and data protection rights aren't subject to challenge in a trade agreement; and guarantee parties to the agreement shouldn't apply or adopt the "least restrictive privacy or data protection measures," the letter said. EFF blogged about the issue, calling TiSA a "secretive" trade agreement that uses many provisions of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Smartwatch sales in Western Europe will pass 8.8 million units this year, growing to 41 million by 2021, said Parks Associates in a Tuesday news release. As the connected home market continues to grow, “consumers will seek out products that interact with their home,” including smartwatches, said President Stuart Sikes. “Currently, consumers are buying individual devices and testing them rather than purchasing entire systems."
T-Mobile customers can now use their wireless devices in Cuba, the carrier said Friday. “Customers can now talk for $2.00 a minute, send text and multimedia messages for $0.50 per message and receive them for free, and use data for $2.00 per MB while roaming in Cuba.” Calling back to the U.S. and Wi-Fi calling are free. “The opening of Cuba has been historic -- and we’re excited to do our part to help people connect,” said CEO John Legere in a news release. Earlier in the week, AT&T said subscribers can roam in Cuba. “Our customers want uninterrupted connectivity and a continuous mobile experience. This is especially true as more visit Cuba,” said Bill Hague, executive vice president-AT&T Global Connection Management. The AT&T rates are $3 a minute for voice calls, 50 cents per simple text, $1.30 per multimedia text and $2.05 per MB of data.
Qualcomm filed a complaint Oct. 14 asking the International Trade Commission to begin a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that imports of mobile devices, including smartphones, infringe its patents. Qualcomm says Meizu, Dest Technologies, LGYD and Overseas Electronics are manufacturing and importing Meizu smartphones that copy its patented designs, including the Meizu m1 note, m1 metal, m2, m2 note, M3S, MX4, MX5, MX6, me note and PRO 6. Qualcomm seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing Meizu devices. The ITC is seeking comments by Oct. 31, it said in Friday's Federal Register. Meizu didn't comment.
Adoption of the iPhone 7, 7 Plus and iOS 10 is “strong” -- 1.3 percentage points higher than two weeks ago -- but was higher for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus two years ago, said a Localytics study Tuesday. IPhone 7 models have 5.1 percent of total iPhone market share, said Localytics, with 3.6 percent for iPhone 7s and 1.5 percent for the iPhone 7 Plus. The digital analytics/marketing firm attributed a lower share in China to resellers trying to smuggle phones outside of the country to sell them at a higher price. Adoption of iOS 10 has continued to increase since its Sept. 13 release, reaching 60 percent of eligible devices, it said.
Amblin Partners will get access to Alibaba's online streaming platform Youku Tudou, its over-the-top provider Tmall and its e-commerce marketplaces, as part of a deal the two announced in a news release Sunday. It said Amblin and Alibaba agreed to co-produce and finance films for global and Chinese audiences and to work jointly on marketing, distribution and merchandising of Amblin Partners films in China. Alibaba also is acquiring a minority stake in Amblin, with an Alibaba representative joining the Amblin board, they said.
Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry’s (LACNIC) Doctor IPv6 program aims to spread awareness and adoption of the IPv6 transition within Latin American and Caribbean nations, said LACNIC Research and Development Director Alejandro Acosta in an ICANN Q&A. The Doctor IPv6 program answers community members’ questions about IPv6 via a podcast, Acosta said. Internet penetration in Latin America and the Caribbean is 50-55 percent, so the “right way to reach the other 45-50% is to do it with IPv6,” Acosta said: ISPs "that do not implement IPv6 are in danger of losing customers. Countries that do not implement IPv6 are in risk of getting isolated.”