Samsung announces plans to buy Harman for $8 billion to boost in-car tech

Image: Reuters

By Kunal Khullar /  15 Nov 2016 , 10:53

Samsung has announced that it will be buying US audio company Harman for $8 billion. It will be an all cash transaction making it one of the biggest acquisitions for Samsung. Interestingly the Korean giant wants to make use of this takeover to accelerate the growth in automotive and connected car technologies.

Harman owns a bunch of audio based brands including Harman Kardon, AKG, and JBL. WIth this acquisition, the company is expected to double its revenue in the coming five years. It already has ties with big brands like Fiat Chrysler and General Motors with backlog orders worth approximately $24 billion dated 30 June 2016.

Samsung believes that its expertise in connected mobility, semiconductors, user experience and displays will leverage Harman’s in-vehicle technologies department. It also added that the partnership will be utilised to elevate user experiences across Samsung’s complete portfolio of consumer and professional products and systems.

Dinesh Paliwal, Harman Chairman, President and CEO, stated, “This compelling all-cash transaction will deliver significant and immediate value to our shareholders and provide new opportunities for our employees as part of a larger, more diversified company. Today’s announcement is a testament to what we have achieved and the value that we have created for shareholders. Samsung is an ideal partner for Harman and this transaction will provide tremendous benefits to our automotive customers and consumers around the world.

Combining Samsung’s strengths in leading-edge displays, connectivity and processing solutions with Harman’s technology leadership and long-standing customer relationships will enable OEMs to provide new offerings for their customers. Partnerships and scale are essential to winning over the long term in automotive as demand for robust connected car and autonomous driving solutions increases at a rapid pace.

This transaction will bring Harman and Samsung’s complementary strengths together to accelerate innovation in this space. More broadly, this investment underscores the strength of Harman’s employees, as well as our success and leadership across our markets. We look forward to working together with Samsung to elevate experiences for consumers worldwide.”

This is an interesting move by the Korean giant following one of the biggest recalls in smartphone history. Clearly the company is not shaken by the incident. The connected automotive industry has seen a jump in the recent past as carmakers have focused on embedding high-end infotainment systems for an enhanced user experience. The partnership could actually be a win-win for both the companies.

Internet Companies write a letter to Trump asking support for encryption and immigration reform

Image Credit: REUTERS

  15 Nov 2016 , 10:32

U.S. internet companies including Facebook Inc and Amazon Inc have sent President-elect Donald Trump a detailed list of their policy priorities, which includes promoting strong encryption, immigration reform and maintaining liability protections from content that users share on their platforms.

The letter sent on Monday by the Internet Association, a trade group whose 40 members also include Alphabet’s Google, Uber and Twitter, represents an early effort to repair the relationship between the technology sector and Trump, who was almost universally disliked and at times denounced in Silicon Valley during the presidential campaign. “The internet industry looks forward to engaging in an open and productive dialogue,” reads the letter, signed by Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association, and seen by Reuters.

Some of the policy goals stated in the letter may align with Trump’s priorities, including easing regulation on the sharing economy, lowering taxes on profits made from intellectual property and applying pressure on Europe to not erect too many barriers that restrict U.S. internet companies from growing in that market. Other goals are likely to clash with Trump, who offered numerous broadsides against the tech sector during his campaign.

They include supporting strong encryption in products against efforts by law enforcement agencies to mandate access to data for criminal investigations, upholding recent reforms to U.S. government surveillance programs that ended the bulk collection of call data by the National Security Agency, and maintaining net neutrality rules that require internet service providers to treat web traffic equally.

The association seeks immigration reform to support more high-skilled workers staying in the United States. Though Trump made tougher immigration policies a central theme of his campaign, he has at times shied away from arguing against more H-1B visas for skilled workers, saying in a March debate he was “softening the position because we need to have talented people in this country.”

While urging support for trade agreements, the letter does not mention the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump has repeatedly assailed with claims it was poorly negotiated and would take jobs away from U.S. workers. The technology sector supported the deal, but members of Congress have conceded since the election it is not going to be enacted.

Trump’s often-shifting policy proposals on the campaign trail frequently alarmed tech companies and sometimes elicited public mockery, such as when Trump called for closing off parts of the internet to limit militant Islamist propaganda.

Reuters

Pregnant woman in Sydney suffers second degree burns because of charging iPhone 7

iPhone 7 charging

By tech2 News Staff /  14 Nov 2016 , 19:03

A pregnant woman in western Sydney went to sleep with an iPhone 7 charging on her arm, and woke up to second degree burns on her hand. On visiting the doctor, she was advised a visit to the hospital. Apple has sent the phone for testing by a senior technician in California. Apple has confirmed to News.com.au that it is investigating the matter with Pelaez.

Apple also offered Ms Tan Pelaez a replacement iPhone, but she did not want it as she had lost faith in the company. Pelaez has been a long time Apple user and has not previously faced any problems with products by the company.

On returning the phone, Apple executives had said that the source of the burn injuries could not have been the phone as the phone was designed to cut off power on overcharging. Pelaez has visited the emergency room in the hospital twice because of the burns, and is exploring the option of plastic surgery to fix the scarring.

This is the second such incident from Sydney, Australia in recent memory. A biker had to punch the phone off his leg after the device burst into flames following a fall. An Apple iPhone 7 had reportedly exploded in China three days ago, after a 50 centimetre fall. For those fearing a repeat of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Fiasco, there were reports of over 30 Note 7 devices exploding over a course of a week.

Microsoft has announced that it will be bringing the entire Visual Studio IDE to macOS this month

visual studio microsoft

By tech2 News Staff /  14 Nov 2016 , 18:07

Microsoft has announced Visual Studio for Mac at the Connect(); conference this month.

For the first time in its history, Microsoft is bringing its Visual Studio development tool to the Mac. As Microsoft explains in its blog, “At its heart, Visual Studio for Mac is a macOS counterpart of the Windows version of Visual Studio.” The IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is designed to feel familiar to a macOS user, while still offering the cross-platform and cloud-based development capabilities of its Windows counterpart.

This IDE will reside alongside Visual Studio Code for macOS, which is a stand-alone, cross-platform text editor for developers.

Microsoft’s sudden interest in cross-platform development seems to stem from a deeper desire to connect with developers, regardless of their OS of choice, and offer them a common, connected platform to work on.

Microsoft has shown tremendous interest in cross-platform development this year, notably with their acquisition of Xamarin. Xamarin started out as a cross-platform development tool for developing iOS, Android, Windows and Mac apps. With its acquisition, Microsoft integrated its workflows into Visual Studio itself.

As TechCrunch suggests, Microsoft has realised that the future depends on cloud-based tools and services like Azure and that’s also where the company is making its money. If more developers start using Visual Studio, more developers will inevitably start using Microsoft’s Azure cloud services.

For developers, this is a win-win anyway.

Microsoft pays hackers $120,000 for compromising the Edge browser

the Microsoft Edge browser

By tech2 News Staff /  14 Nov 2016 , 18:05

Teams from Beijing security firm, Qihoo and South Korean Hacker Lokihardt both managed to compromise the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, and bagged bounties of $120,000 each. Each team or contenstant is given three attempts to compromise the target, with each attempt having a time limit of four minutes. Lokihardt managed to gain system level access in as little as 18 seconds.

The hacks were showcased at PwnFest, an event related to the ongoing Power of the Community information security conference in Seoul, Korea, according to a report in The Register. It was the first time that a VMware Workstation was successfully attacked with only remote code execution, and no interaction by the end user.

The PwnFest is a yearly event where major tech companies offer rewards to hackers for owning certain products. Targets for the hackers this year included Microsoft Edge, Google Pixel, Microsoft Hyper-V, Google Chrome, iOS, the Safari browser,  Adobe Flash and VMWare Workstation. The event also has a Lord of Pwn trophy given to the team with the most successful attacks, and if there is a tie, the award is decided based on technical merit of the hacks.

The prize money ranges from $80,000 for the Safari hack, to $150,000 for the VMWare and the Hyper-V attacks. The exploits are not publicly disclosed, and the companies usually take measures to plug these security holes.

Volkswagen enters talks with SAIC over Audi collaboration, making existing partners uneasy

The logo of German car maker Audi is seen outside a garage in Vienna, Austria, September 29, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

By Aditya Madanapalle /  14 Nov 2016 , 17:50

Volkswagen’s Audi AG said on Monday that it was in talks with China’s SAIC Motor Corp Ltd for a long-term collaboration, which dealers for its existing joint venture say would cause them “potentially fatal damage.” Reuters reported on Saturday, citing a source familiar with the matter, that the two sides had signed an agreement that could pave the way for Volkswagen’s joint venture with SAIC, China’s largest automaker, to make Audi brand cars.

Audi cars are now made in China through a joint venture with China FAW Group Corp, providing a lifeline to the state-owned company whose own brands have struggled with falling sales. An early entrant to China, the world’s largest car market, Audi is the best-selling premium car brand although it is rapidly losing ground to newer car models from Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and non-German automakers such as Toyota’s Lexus and General Motor’s Cadillac.

Audi has been slow to introduce new products, hurting sales growth, so Audi dealers are generally losing money, existing Audi dealers said in a letter to the automaker in response to the talks. “The interests of Audi dealers will be further damaged if your company sets up a new sales company in China,” they said. The dealers, in the letter seen by Reuters, requested Audi to collect their opinions and guarantee their rights before making a final decision.

Volkswagen gets a larger proportion of its proceeds from the 50-50 tie-up with SAIC than from its 40 percent stake in the venture with FAW. Audi reaffirmed its commitment to FAW in the statement announcing the talks with SAIC, saying it had outlined growth plans with FAW for the next 10 years that include making green energy sport utility vehicles and sedans in every major segment. “With this 10-year plan, everything is set for future growth together with FAW, including the dealership investors,” an Audi spokesman said.

Audi will also form a new joint venture company with FAW that will be based in Beijing to focus on mobility and digital services, according to the statement.

Reuters

Dell EMC announces range of big data, cloud, storage and security products

Dell logos are seen at its headquarters in Cyberjaya, outside Kuala Lumpur in this September 4, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/Files

14 Nov 2016 , 17:38

To help customers scale technology availability with IT demand, Dell EMC on Monday announced a range of products, solutions and consumption models that address cloud, big data analytics, converged infrastructure, storage, data protection and security. “Today’s organisations must embark on a digital transformation. To truly realise their digital future, we believe the vast majority of organisations will transform their IT through a hybrid cloud strategy,” David Goulden, president, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell EMC, said in a statement.

Dell EMC announced the expansion of its leading converged infrastructure portfolio through integration with PowerEdge servers into VxRail Appliances and VxRack System 1000 hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). The company also announced the new Analytic Insights Module delivering all of the software, hardware and services necessary to stand up an environment for both big data analytics and cloud native application development in days rather than weeks.

Dell unveiled its Endpoint Data Security and Management portfolio encompassing technologies from Dell, Mozy by Dell, RSA and VMware AirWatch, offering data protection, backup and recovery, identity assurance, threat prevention and advanced response, and endpoint device and application management capabilities. The company rolled out updates to the Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) platform, with new support for Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers.

IANS