Ecuador cuts off Assange’s internet access over fears of interference in US elections

Image Credit: WikiLeaks.org

  20 Oct 2016 , 15:48

Ecuador says it has temporarily cut off internet access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over fears he was using it to interfere in the US presidential election. The move comes in the wake of the publication of leaked emails by WikiLeaks, including emails from the account of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign adviser John Podesta.

The Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said WikiLeaks’ documents could interfere in the electoral process. It said Ecuador “respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states” and had cut off the internet access available to Assange because “in recent weeks WikiLeaks has published a wealth of documents, impacting on the US election campaign.

“In that respect, Ecuador, exercising its sovereign right, has temporarily restricted access to part of its communications systems in its UK Embassy,” the statement said. Ecuador clarified the move was not a result of pressure from Washington. The US denied WikiLeaks’ accusations on Sunday that it had asked Ecuador to stop the site publishing documents about Hillary Clinton.

The Ecuador statement also reaffirmed the asylum granted to Assange and reiterated its intention “to safeguard his life and physical integrity until he reaches a safe place”. Assange’s internet access was cut off on Monday morning. Assange has sought asylum at London’s Ecuadorean embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault allegation.

According to the latest leaked emails, Clinton told a Goldman Sachs conference she would like to intervene secretly in Syria. She made the remark in answer to a question from Lloyd Blankfein, the bank’s chief executive, in 2013 — months after she left office as the Secretary of State. “My view was you intervene as covertly as is possible for Americans to intervene,” she told employees of the bank in South Carolina, which had paid her about $225,000 to give a speech.

IANS

Uber now has 40 million monthly riders across the globe

Image Credits: REUTERS

By tech2 News Staff /  20 Oct 2016 , 16:41

At the Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick revealed some global stats and also spoke about the future of the taxi-booking service.

According to Fortune, Kalanick said that the company now has over 40 million riders worldwide. He also revealed that last month, the company paid somewhere between $1.5 – 2 billion to drivers, which is after taking the cut from the amount. Adding further, he said an Uber driver spends an average of $50 on service every month.

Uber was co-founded by Kalanick in 2009, and has launched different types of service ever since. One of the most recent ones, Uberpool, was launched only 2 years ago, but now represents about 20 percent of the total rides globally.

He also spoke about self-driving cars, which are believed to be the future of tech. We’ve seen Google, Apple and others testing the waters in this space. “We’re at the very beginning stages of becoming a robotics company,” he said. If you remember, Uber had acquired self-driving truck startup Otta, and also teamed with Volvo. Uber’s move reflected its eagerness to advance in self-driving technology. If its ambitions are realized, these vehicles could over time reduce its biggest cost, paying drivers. He said that moving forward, autonomy will be critical. However, he also said that the company never intends to own all the Uber cars in the future.

Earlier this year, we also saw reports around Uber Technologies merger with its China business rival Didi Chuxing. The reports had arrived just after Uber decided to invest $500 million in its mapping project. This is an attempt by the company to separate itself from Google Maps and in-turn make a more detailed mapping system for the ride-hailing service.

Gartner predicts that global IT spending will reach $3.5 trillion in 2017

Image Credit: REUTERS

  20 Oct 2016 , 17:06

Driven by growth in software and IT services revenue, worldwide IT spending is forecast to reach $3.5 trillion in 2017 — up 2.9 percent from 2016 estimated spending of $3.4 trillion, market research firm Gartner said on Wednesday. Software spending is projected to grow six percent in 2016. It will grow another 7.2 percent in 2017 to total $357 billion, the report said, adding that IT services spending is on pace to grow 3.9 percent in 2016 to reach $597 billion and increase 4.8 percent in 2017 to reach $943 billion.

While discussing the impact of Brexit on IT investment at the “Gartner Symposium/ITxpo” event here, John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner, said that the immediate impact of Brexit has caused modest growth in IT spending to turn negative for 2016.

“Without the UK, global IT spending growth would have been modestly positive at 0.2 per cent in 2016, but with the UK included, IT spending is expected to decrease 0.3 per cent. The immediate impact of the British pound will also cause the IT spending patterns to shift as prices for IT will increase,” Lovelock added.

While talking about IT spending trends in the wake of the US presidential election, Lovelock said that there is a slight pause in IT spending leading into the election and then a relief in spending, subsequently.

IANS

Samsung Electronics in talks with LG Chem for smartphone battery supply says Nikkei

  21 Oct 2016 , 10:42

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is in talks with LG Chem Ltd to supply batteries for its new smartphones, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing sources.

Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, scrapped production of the fire-prone Note 7 and said it would take a hit to its operating profit of about $3 billion over the next two quarters as a result.

The company had blamed faulty batteries for the original problem in its flagship device, but has given no indication about the cause of the overheating seen in the replacements.

The companies are discussing ways to supply batteries to Samsung’s new smartphones starting next year, the report said. (s.nikkei.com/2ew8B9f)

Samsung’s subsidiary, Samsung SDI Co Ltd, is the dominant battery supplier for the Note 7, supplying around 70 percent of the batteries globally, according to analyst estimates.

Samsung and LG Chem were not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours.

Reuters

After irregular storage speeds, Apple iPhone 7 variants show varying levels of network performance

By tech2 News Staff /  21 Oct 2016 , 10:16

Similar to last year’s Apple iPhone 6s, where Apple’s choice of going ahead with Samsung and TSMC chipsets resulted in a difference in performance and battery life, more discoveries about performance irregularities have begun to surface with this year’s iPhone 7 as well.

After GSMArena pointed out how the 32GB version of the iPhone 7 uses a much slower storage module, there is now another report by Cellular Insights that points to varying levels of network reception in places where the network signal could be a bit weak.

Apple this year, with its iPhone 7 models used Qualcomm modems on some and Intel modems on others devices. While the consumer thinks that both in reality should perform identically in the same conditions, testing by Cellular Insights in a report by Apple Insider show irregularities.

While both Qualcomm and Intel-based units performed the same in areas with good coverage, in areas with a fainter signal, Qualcomm units outperformed the Intel ones. By how much? Well, that performance gap would be roughly 30 percent.

To give better insight (rather making things worse) following tests also included other smartphones for comparison like the iPhone 6s, LG G5, Nexus 5X and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. From the report, its clear that Intel-based iPhone 7 got left in the dust while the Galaxy S7 edge was the winner.

For now it isn’t clear how much of a difference this has made to users of the iPhone 7 (or whether they have even noticed the reception problem). Moreover, Apple recently pushed out an update that addressed earlier reception issues, and customers don’t seem to be reporting too many problems with reception as well (for now).

Apple iPhone 7 hits South Korean stores in Note 7’s absence

  21 Oct 2016 , 14:24

The Apple iPhone 7 went on sale in South Korea, seeking to fill a void left by arch-rival Samsung on its home turf following a damaging recall fiasco over the Note 7 smartphone.

The South Korean electronics giant discontinued the Note 7 — one of its key iPhone challengers — on October 11 following reports that replacements for combustible models were also catching fire.

The decision is set to cost Samsung billions in lost profits, and there are already signs that Apple is reaping some of the benefits.

An official at mobile carrier Korea Telecom (KT) said the first batch of 50,000 iPhone 7s they put up for pre-order a week ago sold out in 15 minutes. “I would attribute part of that to the Note 7 effect,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Customer defection is one of Samsung’s biggest concerns, especially as the Note 7 was specifically aimed at taking on the iPhone in the premium handset market. In the hope of retaining customer loyalty, Samsung had offered Note 7 users a 70,000 won ($60) phone bill credit if they swapped their faulty phones with another Samsung handset.

The half-dozen customers buying the new iPhone at a KT store in central Seoul on Friday were all long-time Apple users who had pre-ordered their handsets. Office worker Lee Kyung-Hee, 34, said she had moved fast when the pre-order service opened, fearing a surge of interest from unhappy Note 7 owners.

“I set an alarm and was very quick,” Lee said. In South Korea, retail prices for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus start from 869,000 won and 1.02 million won respectively, for their basic 32GB models.

AFP

Nissan agrees to takeover Mitsubishi with a $2.29 billion investment; Masuka to stay

Image Credit: REUTERS

  20 Oct 2016 , 17:22

Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Thursday it had completed a deal to take a controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp, and would be retaining the embattled automaker’s chief executive to ensure its recovery from a mileage cheating scandal. Japan’s No. 2 automaker has agreed to make a 237 billion yen ($2.29 billion) investment to acquire a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors, making it the single largest shareholder in its smaller peer.

The deal will make Mitsubishi Motors a member of an alliance between Nissan and French automaker Renault. The two companies said that the partnership would generate significant synergies in areas including purchasing and