Senator Kevin Cramer has written a letter to Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida expressing concerns about the company’s exclusionary deals.
Sony is at the heart of the FTC’s efforts to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, with the company crying to everyone who will listen that the deal would hurt competition in the gaming industry. Sony has latched on to Call of Duty availability as a central part of its argument, saying Microsoft would restrict access and make it an Xbox-exclusive if the deal goes through.
The company’s rhetoric has increasingly looked hypocritical, however, especially after emails came to light that shows Sony doesn’t even believe its own claims regarding Call of Duty.
“It is not an exclusivity play at all,” Sony PlayStation chief Jim Ryan wrote in an email to Chris Deering, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “They’re thinking bigger than that and they have the cash to make moves like this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with both Phil [Spencer] Bobby [Kotick] over the past day and I’m pretty sure we will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for many years to come.”
What’s more, Sony engages in exclusive deals of its own in an effort to maintain its dominance in the console market, a point that Senator Cramer noted in his letter:
Given the growing significant of the gaming industry to North Dakota, I am troubled by reports Sony appears to leverage its dominance to exclude competition rather than enabling choice for players and developers. According to published reports, Sony controls over 68% of the global market for gaming consoles and a shocking 98% of the Japanese market. Increasingly, it appears Sony’s dominance is attributable to exclusionary practices, including paying game publishers not to distribute their games on rival platforms.
Sony’s anticompetitive conduct has also included lobbying the FTC and competition regulators abroad to oppose Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision, a transaction many legal and gaming industry experts believe would promote a more competitive gaming market. Even more troubling is the fact Sony’s lobbying of the FTC and other regulators began shortly after Sony itself acquired Bungie, another major gaming competitor. Sony’s efforts to block this transaction apparently include a refusal to accept an agreement that fully addresses its concerns and would expand consumers’ access to games
Sony’s conduct hurts American consumers by leading to higher prices and reduced choice. Importantly, it also constrains economic opportunities for developers, including for small and independent developers.
Senator Cramer asks Sony to provide unredacted copies of all of its exclusivity agreements, as well as all documents pertaining to its reasons for purchasing Bungie and any communication with government agencies about the gaming industry.
The senator clearly isn’t buying Sony’s efforts to cry foul.
According to the documents, in the 12 months prior to June 2022, Azure brought in $34 billion. While an impressive figure, it’s a far cry from the $72 billion AWS generated during the same period.
The revelation is the first real look investors and analysts are getting at Azure’s revenue. Microsoft traditionally includes Azure’s numbers amid its Enterprise Services, SQL Server, and Windows Server earnings, effectively masking any real analysis of Azure’s performance.
While AWS is still the clear leader, in terms of the worldwide cloud market, the gap is close enough that Azure’s revenue should be higher than a mere 47% of AWS.
As TechRadar points out, Microsoft will likely have to start being far more transparent moving forward, now that the cat is out of the bag.
The Federal Trade Commission is going after Amazon again, this time preparing a case that is its most ambitious attempt to reign in the e-commerce giant.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the FTC is preparing to sue Amazon for antitrust concerns regarding how it treats sellers using its platforms. The agency maintains that Amazon rewards sellers that fully buy into its platform and use its logistics services while punishing those that don’t.
The FTC already has already brought three cases against Amazon, but this one could be the most high-stakes yet, with Bloomberg indicating Chair Lina Khan may pursue structural changes to Amazon.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has been in trouble for its dealings with third-party resellers. In late 2022, Amazon reached an agreement with the EU to end investigations stemming from the company’s practices. Amazon was accused of using third-party seller data to improve its own retail offerings and gain an unfair advantage. The EU similarly accused the company of unfairly rewarding sellers that used its logistics services with “Buy Box” placement.
As Bloomberg points out, Khan has signaled in the past that, unlike the EU, she is not open to compromise agreements, telling a Senate subcommittee that she would “strongly disfavor” such an outcome. Given that the EU’s compromise with Amazon only led to changes in the EU, and not worldwide, it’s hard to argue with the belief that such compromises have limited effect, especially when considering that even the EU’s agreement expires after seven years.
Should the FTC move forward with the case, it could ultimately prove as big or bigger than the US antitrust case against Microsoft in 2001.
YouTube is ramping up its efforts to combat ad blockers, testing measures that could see users blocked if they continue to use them.
YouTube has been aggressively expanding ads on the platform, subjecting some users to unskippable 30-second ad segments, as well as experimenting with anti-ad blocking measures. The company appears to be ramping its efforts with the latter, according to BleepingComputer, telling some users they will only be able to watch three videos if they don’t turn their ad blocker off.
What’s more, YouTube says it may even temporarily disable some people’s ability to watch videos if they ignore repeated warnings.
“In extreme cases, where viewers continue their use of ad blockers, playback will be temporarily disabled. We take disabling playback very seriously, and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube,” the company said.
“To prevent disruption as part of this experiment, viewers using ad blockers may disable their ad blocker, allow YouTube ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium.”
The move is sure to anger users and could end up driving some to competing platforms.
The makers of Zorin OS have, at long last, released the Zorin OS Upgrader to help users easily upgrade from one version of the OS to the next.
Zorin OS is a popular Linux distro that is ideal for new users, providing many out-of-the-box conveniences and niceties to ease new users’ transitions from from Windows or Mac to Linux. One thing Zorin has traditionally lacked was an easy way to upgrade from one major release to the next, or from the Core to Pro edition.
The Zorin Group has finally completed working on their Upgrader utility, announcing it in an email to users:
Our most anticipated feature ever. Upgrade directly between major releases and editions of Zorin OS in-place.
After receiving countless requests throughout the years, we’re thrilled to introduce our most anticipated feature ever: the Zorin OS Upgrader. It allows you to upgrade between releases and editions of Zorin OS in-place, easily and seamlessly.
In the past, the only way to upgrade between major releases of Zorin OS (for example, Zorin OS 15 to 16) or between editions (Zorin OS Core to Pro) was to perform a clean install. That meant you needed to back up your files and erase your apps & settings upon each major upgrade, before setting up your work environment from scratch again.
The new Zorin OS Upgrader makes this process easier by allowing you to keep your current installation. Simply follow a few quick steps to select your upgrade option and sit back while it handles the heavy lifting.
Zorin OS was already one of the most highly recommended Linux distros for newcomers. This update should help the distro gain even more ground.
Early reports and reviews are coming in on the Google Pixel Fold, and they show a disturbing number of issues with the display dying.
The Pixel Fold is Google’s first entry into the foldable phone space. The device has a number of features it has won praise for, including a more useful aspect ratio than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, making the phone far more useful in closed mode. The phone is also slimmer than many foldable, thank to a different hinge design and the two inner screens closing nearly flat against each other, with virtually no gap.
Unfortunately, that lack of a gap may very well be killing some Pixel Fold displays. Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo spent a mere four days with his Pixel Fold before the display completely died. Amadeo says the issue started at the bottom of the display before spreading out across the entire OLED screen in a remarkably short hour or so.
After painstakingly examining his device’s screen, he discovered a tiny pinhole puncture in the area between the plastic film and the bezel. Like all foldable phones, the Pixel Fold has a thin layer of plastic that covers the thin foldable glass to help protect it. Unfortunately, foldable makers leave a small border of unprotected glass around the edge. As Amadeo point out, this effectively creates a gutter for lint and debris to collect in, a problem that is exacerbated by the Pixel Fold closing so tightly compared to its rivals.
The Verge has been tracking multiple reports of cases of dents in the same location as Amadeo’s phone was damages, as well as the plastic screen protector peeling.
To make matters worse, Amadeo says he was incredibly easy on his phone in the four days he used it, subjecting it to “the lightest possible usage of a phone.” The fact that the Pixel Fold couldn’t even stand up to that does not bode well for Google’s first entry in the foldable market.
National Geographic magazine has laid off its remaining 19 editorial staff and will rely on freelancers moving forward.
National Geographic is one of the most iconic magazines in the world and has entertained and educated children and adults alike for generations. Unfortunately, in the digital age, the magazine struggled with dwindling readership and reduced budgets, significantly impacting the kind of reporting and photography that made the magazine what it was.
According to The Washington Post, the remaining writers were informed of the decision Wednesday, although they knew it was coming since at least April. The layoffs also impacted the magazine’s audio department. Articles will now be written by freelancers or by the remaining editors.
Nina Strochlic tweeted about the layoffs:
It’s been an epic run, @NatGeo. My colleagues and I were unbelievably lucky to be the last-ever class of staff writers—certainly the coolest job I’ll ever have, and possibly among the coolest to ever exist. Now onto the next thing! Open to all weird/fun/interesting ideas.
Linux Mint is one of the most heavily recommended Linux distros available, especially for users switching from Windows. Does Linux Mint live up to that reputation? Is it an equally good option for Mac users? How does it stack up for more experienced Linux users?
In this entry in our Linux Distro Reviews series, we’re taking a deep dive into Linux Mint and answering those questions.
Beginning in 2012, Mint began using its own Cinnamon as its flagship DE. Like several others in the Linux space, Cinnamon was a fork of Gnome after the latter’s developers abandoned traditional desktop metaphors and UX design in the transition from Gnome 2.x to Gnome 3.x. Cinnamon was a traditional DE, more akin to what users were accustomed to, and Mint has continued to develop and evolve it over the years.
In addition to Cinnamon, Mint also includes Xfce and Mate as DE options while eventually dropping KDE Plama.
In 2010, the Mint team released a version based on Debian called Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). LMDE was created and continues to be maintained as a fallback option should something happen to Ubuntu, or if basing off of Ubuntu ever becomes problematic due to decisions of Canonical, the company behind it.
In addition to the differences between Ubuntu and Debian, LMDE currently only offers Cinnamon out of the box, although a user can certainly install Xfce, Mate, or any other DE if they choose.
Release Schedule
Linux Mint is based on the LTS (long-term support) version of Ubuntu, while LMDE is based on the latest stable Debian release. As a result, both versions generally have major version releases every two years.
In between major releases, however, there are point releases every six months. While the underlying base doesn’t change, the point releases bring improvements and updates to Cinnamon, as well as Mint-specific apps.
Cinnamon
Any discussion or review of Linux Mint would be remiss without a section dedicated to Cinnamon. While the Mint team offers Xfce and Mate and does an outstanding job bringing as much parity as possible to the three DEs, Cinnamon is undoubtedly the flagship offering, providing the most features and polish.
In the years since it was created, Cinnamon has lived up to the teams’ goals of providing a traditional desktop paradigm, including powerful features and the ability to customize it out of the box. This is in direct contrast to Gnome, which has eschewed the traditional desktop metaphor and continually stripped out some of the most basic features, forcing users to rely on third-party extensions for basic features or to customize the DE to meet their needs.
While the current version of Cinnamon continues to use the GTK toolkit for apps — like Gnome and Xfce — it is often described as the ‘KDE of the GTK world.’ This comes from Cinnamon’s wealth of features and customization options, with options for Themes, Icons, Panels, Keyboard Shortcuts, Applets, Extensions, Effects, and much more in the main System Settings app.
Linux Mint System Settings
Extensions are similar to Gnome extensions but supported by Cinnamon out of the box. Similarly, Applets are widgets that can be added to the panel or taskbar and are also supported out of the box.
The end result is easy, out-of-the-box customization that enables users to make Cinnamon truly their own. For example, while Cinnamon looks very similar to Windows 7 by default, I personally come from a 22+ year background on the Mac before switching to Linux. As a result, Cinnamon’s default look holds little appeal for me since I was never a fan of how Windows looked or functioned. Thanks to Cinnamon’s easy customization, I was able to duplicate a Mac look and feel in a few steps, using the native panels and only adding the Transparent Panels extension.
Linux Mint Menu
Most significantly, Cinnamon’s stability has been rock-solid. Early in my switch to Linux, I gravitated toward KDE since I liked how it looked and the plethora of customization options it provided. In my experience, however, KDE proved to be like the 1963 Shelby Cobra: Beautiful to look at and powerful, to be sure, but nothing I want to drive on a daily basis.
In contrast, I have yet to experience a single crash in Cinnamon, while the DE still provides 60-70% of the customization KDE offers.
Similarly, Cinnamon uses much less RAM than Gnome while offering smoother performance on both a powerful Tuxedo Pulse and an aging HP i3 laptop.
Features
Flatpak Support vs Snaps
Another area where Mint differs from Ubuntu is by embracing Flatpak as a packaging format. Both Flatpak and Snap are independent app packaging formats that bundle their required dependencies rather than relying on the system to provide them. As a result, both formats can provide more stability than traditional apps and are distro-independent. As long as Flatpak or Snap is installed on a given distro, all apps made for that format will work on that distro. Flatpaks and Snaps are often more up-to-date than their counterparts in a distro’s repositories.
While Ubuntu has been pushing Snap, outside of the Ubuntu ecosystem Flatpak has emerged as the more popular option. Because of this, despite its flagship version being based on Ubuntu, the Linux Mint team has removed Snap support and added Flatpak support.
In fact, Mint even includes a configuration setting that blocks Snap from being installed. This is partly because Canonical solely controls the Snap Store backend, which some feel goes against open source principles. The other reason is more practical, with Ubuntu sometimes remapping traditional apt install commands to install the Snap version without clearly notifying the user, something the configuration setting prevents. For users who want to use Snap, however, changing a single line in the config file is all that’s needed.
Because Snap is not included on Linux Mint, that also means the distro ships with a traditional .deb version of Firefox, whereas Ubuntu and its spins only ship with the Snap version.
Update Manager, Driver Manager, and Software Manager
Mint includes two apps that make life easier for Linux users, especially those just coming to the platform: Update Manager and Driver Manager.
Update Manager is an easy-to-use app that notifies users when updates are available for their system or apps. Unlike some options on other distros, the app includes support not only for native .deb apps but also installed Flatpaks.
Linux Mint Update Manager
The Update Manager also provides an easy way to download, install, and change the Linux kernel.
Linux Mint Kernels
Similarly, the Driver Manager app provides an easy way for users to see if there are any drivers available for their hardware.
Linux Mint Driver Manager
The Linux Mint Software Manager is an extremely capable software center that lists apps in the Ubuntu repositories alongside Flatpaks. This gives users access to tens of thousands of apps. Unlike other distros app centers — looking at you Pop!_OS Pop Shop — Software Manager is very responsive and stable.
Linux Mint Software Manager
XApps
Linux Mint includes a number of apps developed and maintained by the team. Below is a list of some of the most useful XApps, some of which are available on other distros:
Timeshift: Utility to take snapshots of the system and rollback if something goes wrong.
Pix: Photo organization app (think macOS Photos or Google Picasso) based on the excellent gThumb.
Warpinator: App to share files between computers on the same network. There is also an unofficial Android app to enable sharing between computer and phone.
Web Apps: Application that can take virtually any website and turn it into a local web app, complete with menu/panel icon. I personally use this to have an Amazon Music app since the company does not have a Linux-native client.
Xed: Default text editor
Sticky Notes: Think Post-it Notes, but on your desktop.
Community
Another major benefit of using Linux Mint is the outstanding community surrounding it. No doubt because Mint is aimed at new users, the community is particularly welcoming to those users, often answering questions that might be met with more irritation by experienced users of other distros.
The community has their own forums, at forums.linuxmint.com, as well as a healthy subreddit.
My Experience Using Linux Mint
Linux Mint certainly has many outstanding features and unique options. But how does all of this come together in terms of everyday usage?
I have now been using Mint as my daily driver for roughly three months. Prior to moving to Mint, I had used Zorin OS, Kubuntu, Manjaro, KDE Neon, Fedora (Gnome, KDE, and Xfce), Pop!_OS, and openSUSE Tumbleweed (Gnome, KDE, and Xfce).
Of all the distros I have tried, with weeks or months spent in each one, Linux Mint feels like the most comprehensive and complete operating system of any of them. What’s more, the OS has been incredibly stable, with not one single crash on either of my computers after months of heavy use.
Between Cinnamon’s refinements, out-of-the-box Flatpak support, easy updates and software management, a host of XApps that make life easy, and a level of stability and performance that is second to none, Mint is one of those rare distros that is equally well-suited to new users, Linux veterans, and everyone in-between.
That’s not to say Mint is perfect. The distro still does not yet support Wayland, the window display protocol that replaces the older X11, although work has already been done on the distro’s Muffin window manager to lay the groundwork for it.
Mint’s Ubuntu LTS base also means that some of the underlying packages can get a little stale toward the end of a two-year release cycle. The flip side is the LTS base plays a major role in Mint’s overall stability, and users can always rely on Flatpaks for more up-to-date apps.
Conclusion
Despite the lack of Wayland support, Mint stands as one of — if not THE — most well-rounded distros, combining a level of power, simplicity, and elegance rarely seen in any operating system.
In addition, there’s a sense of comfort in the knowledge that Linux Mint is a community distro rather than a corporate-owned or sponsored one. Clem and the team have consistently shown that they respect the community, and they have shown a tremendous amount of forethought in creating and maintaining LMDE as a fallback option.
In fact, after a year and a half of distro-hopping and never quite being satisfied, Linux Mint provides such an outstanding experience that it is THE distro I’ve settled on for both of my computers.
While I will continue to review different distros, those reviews will be conducted on distros running in a virtual machine, not on bare metal. Running on bare metal is now an honor reserved exclusively for Linux Mint.
FedEx is in hot water with the company facing a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of rolling back the odometers on vehicles it is selling.
FedEx operates a fleet of some 200,000 vehicles worldwide. As the company cycles through vehicles, it auctions off the old ones. According to KTNV Las Vegas, FedEx has been rolling back odometers on vehicles without the proper disclosures.
The issue was discovered by Tom Layton, a commercial truck dealer in Henderson, Nevada. Layton first realized there was an issue in 2017 when he sold a former FedEx Freightliner truck to a FedEx contractor.
“About a month after the sale, the FedEx contractor contacted me and said, ‘hey! What are you trying to pull here? And I said, ‘what’s wrong?’ And he said, ‘I took this into Freightliner and had the vehicle hooked up to the computer. And it has over 400,000 miles. And your odometer says 180,000 miles’.”
Layton investigated “…and through our research, found out that the odometer was changed by FedEx, not by any car dealership,” Layton said.
The revelation by Layton and KTNV Las Vegas’ “13 Investigates” led to a class action lawsuit that was filed in New Jersey last week. The lawsuit accuses FedEx of failing to disclose odometer replacements — which is required by federal law — or resetting the new odometers to the vehicles’ actual mileage.
Layton: “They’re replacing the odometer with one, starting it back at zero. And running 100, 150, 180-thousand miles on it and then selling it.” 13 Investigates: “And there’s no disclosure in the paperwork to let you know how to do the math yourself?” Layton: “None.”
The consequences have been disastrous for some buyers of aftermarket FedEx trucks, with new owners shelling out big bucks to fix problems the vehicles should not have had at their stated mileage. KTNV Las Vegas reports at least one instance where a food truck owner had to go out of business after finding out his truck needed an engine replacement.
If the plaintiffs are successful in proving their case, it could be a costly lesson for FedEx and its fleet management company, Holman Fleet Leasing.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has indicated that his company would likely end its efforts to sell to Microsoft if the FTC wins its case.
The FTC is trying to block Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision, citing the damage the company could do to the computer gaming industry, as well as the computer industry in general. The UK has already moved to block the deal, while the EU has signed off on it.
According to Bloomberg, Kotick has testified that his company would likely abandon the deal with Microsoft if the FTC prevails. Kotick also testified that there is absolutely no incentive for Microsoft and Activision to withhold popular games from the PlayStation as Sony has alleged would happen.
“If we were to remove Call of Duty from PlayStation, it would cause serious reputational damage,” Kotick said, via AP News. He also said that making an inferior version for PlayStation users would lead to “vitriol from gamers.”
Minecraft’s developers have announced they will no longer post official news to the platform in response to Reddit’s recent decisions.
Reddit has alienated much of its user base with a decision to charge third-party apps for API access. While few users object to the company charging a fair price, Reddit’s pricing is so exorbitant that it will force many of the most popular apps to shut down before July 1 when the change goes into effect.
To make matters worse, Reddit and CEO Steve Huffman have engaged in hostile behavior toward the creators of third-party apps, lying about them and trying to damage their reputation.
In response, despite having 7.4 million people in their subreddit, Minecraft’s developers have announced they will no longer use Reddit for official news and announcements, nor will they refer users to the platform for support or discussion.
As you have no doubt heard by now, Reddit management introduced changes recently that have led to rule and moderation changes across many subreddits. Because of these changes, we no longer feel that Reddit is an appropriate place to post official content or refer our players to.
We want to thank you for all the feedback and discussion you’ve participated in in past changelog threads. You are of course welcome to post unofficial update threads going forward, and if you want to reach the team with feedback about the game, please visit our feedback site at feedback.minecraft.net or contact us on one of our official social media channels.
The announcement is the latest indication that Reddit’s policies may cost the company far more dearly than Huffman is willing to admit and continues to cast doubt on the viability of a planned IPO.
Canada is making a play for H-1B visa holders in the US who may fear losing their status amid widespread layoffs in the tech industry.
H-1B visas are used by US companies to bring in highly-skilled workers from other countries to fill specific roles. If an H-1B employee loses their job, they must either find another job with an H-1B sponsor company or leave the US within 90 days. Given the current state of the US tech industry, and the hundreds of thousands of people who have been laid off, many H-1B visa holders have had their lives upended.
Canada clearly sees an opportunity to attract disenfranchised H-1B holders with its first-ever Tech Talent Strategy. The strategy is designed to help the country compete in the tech landscape:
This new strategy includes new measures and improvements on existing measures to help businesses in Canada thrive in a competitive landscape. As part of Canada’s first-ever Tech Talent Strategy, Minister Fraser announced the following aggressive attraction measures:
the creation of an open work permit stream for H-1B specialty occupation visa holders in the US to apply for a Canadian work permit, and study or work permit options for their accompanying family members
the development of an Innovation Stream under to the International Mobility Program to attract highly talented individuals, options for which include
employer-specific work permits for up to five years for workers destined to work for a company identified by the Government of Canada as contributing to our industrial innovation goals
open work permits for up to five years for highly skilled workers in select in-demand occupations
Canada is trying to attract 10,000 H-1B visa holders.
The new H1-B specialty occupation visa holder work permit will be available as of July 16, 2023. Approved applicants will receive an open work permit of up to three years in duration, which means they will be able to work for almost any employer anywhere in Canada. Their spouses and dependants will also be eligible to apply for a temporary resident visa, with a work or study permit, as needed.
This measure will remain in effect for one year, or until Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) receives 10,000 applications. Only principal applicants, and not their accompanying family members, will count toward the application cap.
“We’re enthusiastic about the ambitious goals we have set in immigration, because they aren’t just about numbers—they are strategic,” writes the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. “With Canada’s first-ever immigration Tech Talent Strategy, we’re targeting newcomers that can help enshrine Canada as a world leader in a variety of emerging technologies. I’m grateful for the collaboration of the tech, start-up and business communities, who have provided valuable insight to develop this strategy. Having a fast and flexible approach, one that is broadly supported by Canadians, is truly Canada’s immigration advantage.”
Google is cutting roles at Waze, a byproduct of merging the company’s ad business with the same one Google Maps uses.
Waze is the popular mapping and traffic software that Google acquired in 2013. Waze provides hyper-accurate traffic information, including construction, road debris, speed traps, and more.
According to CNBC, Google is merging the ad system Waze uses with the same one Google Maps already uses, leading to an elimination of duplicate roles.
“We have decided to transition Waze’s ads monetization to be managed by the Global Business Organization (GBO), similar to Google Maps,” said Chris Phillips, who oversees Google’s map division. “Unfortunately, this will result in a reduction of Waze Ads monetization-focused roles in sales, marketing, operations and analytics.”
“Decisions like these are incredibly difficult,” Phillips continued. “Each one of these Wazers contributed to Waze’s success and culture, and I want to express my gratitude and respect for what they have achieved.”
There was no information available regarding how many jobs would be eliminated.
Cisco has announced a deal to acquire Accedian and SamKnows in a move to help customers gain more insight into their networks.
Cisco’s Jonathan Davidson says the company already provides insight into more than 400 million endpoints and has the largest dataset in the industry. Acquiring Accedian will build on that capability.
Last week, we announced our intent to acquire Accedian, an industry leader in network performance monitoring. Focused on the needs of CSPs, Accedian advances Cisco’s automated assurance solution with microsecond-level sensors and the powerful Skylight Analytics platform. Now, our customers can see—at a microscopic level—across their IT and network infrastructure to deeply understand every user’s experience at every moment. Real-time applications like video conferencing and industrial IoT require low-latency connectivity where precise data is needed to detect network degradation. Accedian provides unprecedented granularity to bolster Cisco’s capability in addressing highly sensitive services that will proliferate in the 5G era. It also gives us a unique opportunity to further enrich Cisco ThousandEyes with Accedian’s deep service provider domain data. Accedian will become part of the Data Center and Provider Connectivity business led by Kevin Wollenweber, and the dataset will be leveraged by our ThousandEyes end-to-end assurance portfolio.
Similarly, acquiring SamKnows will help Cisco offer better last mile insights.
Cisco’s intent to acquire SamKnows, a privately held broadband network monitoring company headquartered in London, England, will expand ThousandEyes’ industry-leading view of global internet health. Today, ThousandEyes has hundreds of thousands of vantage points across the Internet, in enterprise environments, and on user devices. With the addition of SamKnows’ millions of vantage points into the last mile, customers now have a single source of truth for how the Internet is performing across their entire infrastructure, including home and mobile device networks. Whether for hybrid work or consumer application delivery, optimizing and improving internet performance for everyone is just a click away. The SamKnows team will join the Network Assurance business led by Mohit Lad of ThousandEyes.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is warning that passengers may be in for flight delays as airlines are poised to miss their 5G deadline.
Verizon and AT&T have been throttling 5G performance around airports after a hard-fought deal in which the carriers made the concession to give airlines time to refit their aircraft. After purchasing billions in mid-band spectrum licenses from the FCC, airlines and the FAA warned that many aircraft altimeters were vulnerable to interference from mid-band 5G.
The two camps agreed to a deal whereby Verizon and AT&T would reduce the strength of their 5G signals around airports, with the understanding they would resume full-strength signal deployment on July 1, 2023.
With that date fast-approaching, it appears that a sizable number of aircraft will not be ready.
“There’s a real risk of delays or cancellations,” Buttigieg said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “This represents one of the biggest—probably the biggest—foreseeable problem affecting performance this summer.”
Buttigieg says 80% of the domestic airline fleet and 65% of the international fleet has been retrofitted, but that leave a lot of planes vulnerable to 5G interference.
The 5G rollout has been problematic in the US, with Congress slamming the FCC and FAA’s handling of the fiasco. Unfortunately for travelers, it appears the troubles are far from over.
Amazon has announced Amazon Hub Delivery, a new service that will tap small businesses for package delivery.
Amazon says it is looking for nimbler solutions that target the unique needs of specific geographies, such as rural areas and dense cities. The company says that partnering with small businesses for package delivery will help it meet those needs.
Amazon Hub Delivery is our newest delivery program that partners with small businesses with a strong understanding of the local neighborhoods to deliver Amazon packages. It is a flexible and new way for partners interested in joining to boost their bottom line, working with their existing staff, when it works best for them. For example, a hair salon owner, with clients in the morning and evening, might find Amazon Hub Delivery is a good way to fill the gaps in their schedule during the day. We have piloted the program in rural areas of the U.S. and now plan to scale it and even bring it to dense large cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Boston, with the goal to recruit 2,500 partners in 23 states by the end of the year, including florists, coffee shops, clothing boutiques, gas stations, plumbers, and hair salons.
Amazon says partner companies can earn an additional $27,000 per year, and the company says it hopes to bring on 2,500 partners.
“Partnering with Amazon has been a real blessing for myself, my family, and my business,” said LaKeisha Palmer, owner of CK Craft Supply. “We have been able to drive additional income that now helps support our business. Delivering is easy and Amazon has a lot of tools to help partners along the way. My husband has been helping me with the deliveries and enjoys every minute of it. We have only been in business for two years and I can see us staying in business for years to come with Amazon by our side.”
IBM has entered a deal to purchase Apptio for $4.6 billion from Vista Equity Partners, a move that will support the company’s hybrid cloud endeavors.
IBM has been working to transform itself into a hybrid could company, even going so far as to devise a plan to split into two companies and sell off parts of its legacy business. Apptio’s cloud-based platform is designed to help companies gain insights into their spending across cloud environments, including hybrid and multi-cloud. Given IBM’s focus on hybrid cloud, the Apptio acquisition makes sense.
“Technology is changing business at a rate and pace we’ve never seen before. To capitalize on these changes, it is essential to optimize investments which drive better business value, and Apptio does just that,” said Arvind Krishna, CEO and chairman, IBM. “Apptio’s offerings combined with IBM’s IT automation software and watsonx AI platform, gives clients the most comprehensive approach to optimize and manage all of their technology investments.”
“Our customers are evolving to a complex digital-first, hybrid world where technology investments are distributed and decentralized but all innovation must be aligned with clear business outcomes,” explained Sunny Gupta, Apptio co-founder and CEO. “We are so excited to be joining IBM and combining our industry leading offerings with IBM’s global presence and strong portfolio across AIOps, automation and hybrid cloud offerings.”
“We are committed to building resilient enterprise software companies, which has proven to be highly attractive to strategic and financial buyers, as well as public markets,” said Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. “Our investment philosophy, value creation strategy, and industry expertise, enables us to identify and partner with companies that have the potential for long-term success. Apptio has transformed how leading organizations optimize their IT spend and performance for better outcomes. We are proud of these shared accomplishments and look forward to seeing Apptio further evolve with IBM.”
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023 and caps a string of hybrid cloud acquisitions IBM has made to bolster its efforts.
A newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Teams allows an external account to deliver malware directly to targets.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most widely used corporate messaging platforms on the market, making it a tempting target for bad actors. According to Max Corbridge and Tom Ellson, researchers at security firm Jumpsec, the app has a major vulnerability that could allow bad actors to deliver malware to a target organization.
The researchers say bad actors are looking for new ways to deliver malware to organizations as security measures are increasingly tightened, limiting traditional delivery methods. Microsoft Teams External Tenants is providing a novel way to do just that. The feature allows users outside an organization to communicate with internal employees. Teams does block users from sending files to users in another company, but Jumpsec’s researchers found a way to circumvent that.
The exploit involves hosting a malware file on a Sharepoint domain before sending it to the target inbox. Because the file is hosting on a Sharepoint domain, it will appear in the target’s inbox as a file not a link, undermining years of training employees not to click on links in messages.
The researchers outline why this is such a major concern:
The true reason I see this to be a potentially lucrative avenue for threat actors to deliver payloads is the fact that this bypasses nearly all modern anti-phishing security controls mentioned in the introduction of this advisory.
Firstly, it is very straightforward to buy a domain similar to your target organisations and register it with M365. It avoids the need to use mature domains, with web servers, landing pages, CAPTCHAs, domain categorisation, and URL filtering. This is a huge time saver, as this can cost several days or more on a red team engagement when setting up the various bits of infrastructure needed for a convincing phishing campaign.
Secondly, it avoids the now-rightfully-dangerous act of clicking on a link in an email, something that staff have been trained to avoid for years now, greatly reducing the likelihood of a typical staff member detecting this as a phishing attack. The payload will now be served by a trusted Sharepoint domain, and will arrive in the form of a file in a target’s Teams inbox. As such, the payload inherits the trust reputation of Sharepoint, not a malicious phishing website.
Finally, when this vulnerability is combined with social engineering via Teams it becomes very easy to start a back-and-forth conversation, jump on a call, share screens, and more. By comparison, it makes social engineering via email feel very stagnant, and stop-start. When using this on a real engagement the pretext of an IT technician was used to ask the target if they could jump on a call to update some critical software. Once on the call this vulnerability was leveraged to deliver a payload and, when combined with a full social engineering attack, was implicitly trusted by the target.
Jumpsec notified Microsoft of the issue, and the company agreed it was a vulnerability, but said it ‘did not meet the bar for immediate servicing.’ Since Microsoft has no plans to address the issue, the security firm recommends that companies change their Teams settings, where possible, to eliminate contact without outside organizations, or to limit contact to a pre-approved list of outside companies.
In addition, since limiting contact may not be possible, companies should expand their training to educate their staff of these new kinds of threats.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, however, it appears Google may be preparing to make another go of it by leveraging its YouTube platform. Google evidently hopes to capitalize on YouTube’s popularity among gamers, with many relying on the platform to watch their favorite games and streamers.
The service is already being tested internally. WSJ says online games could also be a way for Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, to boost revenue at a time when its ad revenue is taking a hit.
“Gaming has long been a focus at YouTube,” a company spokesman told the outlet. “We’re always experimenting with new features, but have nothing to announce right now.”
The biggest challenge Google will likely face is not launching a gaming service, but convincing people to invest in it. Google has a horrible reputation of launching and then killing off services, with a veritable graveyard of abandoned products in its wake. After users invested so heavily in Stadia, they may be wary of trusting yet another of the company’s gaming endeavors.
Debt can be a slippery slope. If you aren’t proactive about repayments, your outstanding debts could keep growing. And the bigger your outstanding debts grow, the harder it will be to tackle them. If you let those debts grow too out of control, you might struggle to keep up with payments and get hit with late fees and other penalties. As things escalate, you could max out accounts, default on loans and go into debt collection.
You don’t have to slide down this slippery slope. The right fintech solutions will help you manage your debt repayments and avoid tumbling down into debt trouble all over again.
Budgeting Apps
Are you living without a budget? Living without a budget will make it much easier for you to spend beyond your means and stumble into debt. With a sensible budget, you can set clear spending guidelines that match your monthly income and your needs.
A sensible budget will also help you execute debt repayment plans more effectively. Say that you applied for a personal loan to cover an emergency expense. You used the loan to resolve the emergency, and now you have to face the next step of the borrowing process: repayment. One of the best tips to manage your loan in this situation is to use a personal budget. Add the new expense category (loan repayment) to your guidelines. If this new category pushes you over your monthly spending limit, adjust other variable expenses so that you can comfortably afford it. Stick with this updated budget and your repayments should go smoothly.
If you’re going to build a budget, you should use a budgeting app to do so. Why? Many budgeting apps can sync with your various financial accounts, including your checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards and loans. Syncing with these accounts will give you a clear view of your income, your savings and your debts. There’s no need for guesswork. You’ll have all of this information streamlined through a single app.
Syncing with your financial accounts also means that you will have real-time updates on your transactions. You will see exactly how much you’re spending and how closely you’re following the guidelines that you’ve set in your budget. If you notice that your transactions don’t match up with your budgeting categories, you’ll know that you need to make some changes — whether those changes are with your budget or your spending habits.
These are some budgeting apps to consider:
YNAB (You Need a Budget)
Mint
Goodbudget
EveryDollar
PocketGuard
Honeydue
Simplifi
Empower
Wallet
Zeta
A Budgeting Category You Shouldn’t Forget
When you’re building your budget, you’ll want to include a category for an emergency fund. This category should prevent you from taking on unnecessary debt in the future.
Without an emergency fund, you might not have the savings to cover an urgent expense out of pocket. In that case, you’ll turn to a credit tool, like a personal loan or credit card to pay the expense off in a hurry. This will give you some relief, but it will also give you a responsibility to add to your to-do list. You will have to pay down this debt that you incurred.
An emergency fund can also help you handle major life upheavals, like being laid off from work. Considering how many economic experts are predicting the possibility of a recession in the next year, there is a possibility that you may be one of the many workers who loses their employment — or at the very least, has their work hours reduced.
A substantial emergency fund can help you compensate for this sudden loss in income and smoothly transition into this different employment status. You don’t have to panic about being able to pay your bills for the upcoming weeks. You don’t have to take on debt that you can’t afford to repay. Your savings will help you recover in this tumultuous time.
Mobile Banking Apps
Your bank’s mobile app will likely come with features that will simplify your routine banking activities. You’ll be able to manage your money without having to travel to an ATM or local bank branch to cross these activities off your to-do list. You can do everything through your smartphone, wherever you’d like.
These are three common features of mobile banking apps that you could help with debt prevention and management:
1. Mobile Banking Alerts
Mobile banking apps allow users to set up alerts to inform them of certain activities with their accounts. One of these alerts is a “low balance alert,” which you can attach to your checking or savings account. If your account balance drops below a minimum threshold, you will automatically receive a text message or email about your low balance.
Most apps will set the alert to trigger once your balance dips below $100. You can customize your account settings to change that to a higher or lower number.
The account alert will warn you when your bank balances are running low and stop you from accidentally draining them. Without this alert, you could put your checking account into overdraft and get charged a series of overdraft fees and NSF fees. Or you could empty your emergency fund without realizing it. Doing this will make you vulnerable to any urgent expenses that come your way — which means you’ll likely take on debt to pay them off.
A “low balance alert” isn’t the only mobile banking alert you should set up. You should also use a “high balance alert” with your credit accounts. A high balance alert will notify you when you’ve exhausted most of your available credit and you’re in close proximity to the account’s limit. So, this will stop you from borrowing more than you can afford to repay by your next billing cycle. Without the alert, you could give yourself a very high debt load to pay down or even max out your account.
2. Automated Payments
With a mobile banking app, you can easily set up automatic transfers between bank accounts. So, you can set up automatic transfers from your checking account into the savings account holding your emergency fund. This simple change will ensure that you’re making contributions and always building up the safety net. Without consistent contributions, your emergency fund might not have much inside of it when disaster strikes — which again, could push you into debt.
Arrange automated payments for your creditors, as well. Doing this will help you send bill payments on time, which means you will avoid late fees and other penalties. And it can make you more consistent with repayments for revolving credit tools like credit cards and lines of credit. Consistency with these types of credit accounts is important for minimizing the effects of compounding interest.
3. Savings Tools
Some mobile banking apps offer customers special features designed to optimize savings. For instance, the online-only bank Ally Bank has a Surprise Savings feature on its mobile app. The feature will analyze the customer’s checking account to see whether there are any opportunities for savings. If the feature finds money to spare, it will automatically transfer that money into a savings account.
Another example is Varo Bank’s Save Your Change feature. This feature will round up transactions from checking accounts to the dollar amount. The round-up’s remainder will be automatically transferred into a connected savings account. The contributions will be small but can make a difference to your savings over time.
You can use these extra savings to pay down your outstanding debts or fill up your emergency fund.
Bill-Cutting Apps
The smaller your repayments are, the longer it will take to tackle your debts. For instance, if you’re only covering the “minimum payment” on your credit card bill, you’re only avoiding being charged a late fee from the credit card company. You’re not doing much to whittle down your balance. Your payment might not even counter your account’s compounding interest.
If you want to whittle down these debts faster, you’ll need to make bigger repayments. And one thing that can help you afford bigger repayments is a bill-cutting app. Bill-cutting apps are convenient tools that will analyze your financial accounts and find recurring subscriptions that you can cancel for the sake of savings, like online streaming services that you don’t use anymore.
Some apps will do more than find subscriptions to wipe from your future credit card bills. They will also contact your providers and negotiate lower rates so that you collect some savings. They can do this with providers for internet, cellphones and cable TV services.
Once you get these extra savings, you put them toward your outstanding debts. The bigger your contributions, the faster you will be able to pay them down and make them much more manageable.
These are some bill-cutting apps to consider:
Rocket Money
Trim
BillCutterz
Billshark
Hiatus
A few smartphone apps could be the ultimate solution for your debt problems. With their clever features, you can chip away at your current debts and take steps to make sure that you don’t slide down that slippery slope all over again. So, pull out your smartphone and start downloading!
WhatsApp Business is growing at a rapid pace, topping 200 million monthly active users.
WhatsApp launched a business version of its messaging app in early 2018 as then-Facebook sough to monetize the app it had paid $19 billion to acquire. The service experience rapid growth, with the company saying it had already crossed 50 million MAUs by mid-2020.
According to TechCrunch, the company has quadrupled that number, hitting 200 million MAUs. The outlet also says WhatsApp is introducing a “paid feature that lets merchants automate the process of sending personalized messages to their customers. The company didn’t share the pricing details as WhatsApp said it will start testing the feature ‘soon.'”
Google appears to be cancelling an alarming number of Pixel Fold preorders, leaving many potential buyers with more questions than answers.
According to Android Central, Google appears to be cancelling orders made through the Google Store. The Pixel Fold became available for preorder on June 20, with the devices initially expected to ship on June 27.
Unfortunately, many users’ preorders are being cancelled and it’s not clear why. The two most likely theories are a server error with the Google Store, or an issue with payment verification.
Whatever the cause, the issue is an unfortunate complication for the release of the Pixel Fold. The device is Google’s first foray into foldable devices, with many Android users excited to experience Google’s vision of what a foldable should be.
Microsoft has announced that its Microsoft Edge for Business has entered private preview, giving businesses an opportunity to put it through its paces.
Edge for Business is a specifically designed version of Microsoft’s web browser that gives admins the ability to maintain control and keep their organizations secure. The browser is also designed to help users segregate their personal and work browsing.
Microsoft Edge for Business aims to address the needs of both end users and IT Pros as the browser that automatically separates work and personal browsing into dedicated browser windows with their own favorites, separate caches and storage locations. This separation ensures that work related content doesn’t get intermingled with personal browsing, preventing cognitive overload or end users from accidentally sharing sensitive information with unintended audiences. Microsoft Edge for Business is going to be the standard browser experience for organizations, activated by an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) login, upon general availability.
Microsoft has designed Edge for Business to make the transition between profiles as smooth and seamless as possible.
The Enterprise personal browser is designed to keep work and personal browsing separate for the end users via the new Automatic Switching mechanism. When the device has an existing MSA profile or creates a new one, it enables automatic switching to enforce the browsing context separation. We continue to update our automatic switching logic to support more sites.
Another thing to note, when Microsoft Edge for Business is available, the personal browser profile is lightly managed, without requiring additional configuration. The personal browser profile will automatically inherit only the following policy categories:
Security Policies (e.g., Application Guard, Enhanced Security Mode, and others)
Data Compliance Policies (e.g., Microsoft Purview DLP, Microsoft Insider Risk Management)
Microsoft Edge Update Policies (e.g., Enforcing Edge Update Rules)
Cloudflare announced it has crossed a major milestone, expanding its global network to 300 cities, and connecting to 12,000 networks.
Cloudflare is one of the leading content delivery networks (CDN), used by companies of all sizes. The company has been steadily expanding its network, bringing better performance, reduced latency, and improved reliability to users.
We make no secret about how passionate we are about building a world-class global network to deliver the best possible experience for our customers. This means an unwavering and continual dedication to always improving the breadth (number of cities) and depth (number of interconnects) of our network.
This is why we are pleased to announce that Cloudflare is now connected to over 12,000 Internet networks in over 300 cities around the world!
The Cloudflare global network runs every service in every data center so your users have a consistent experience everywhere—whether you are in ReykjavÃk, Guam or in the vicinity of any of the 300 cities where Cloudflare lives. This means all customer traffic is processed at the data center closest to its source, with no backhauling or performance tradeoffs.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its latest American Time Use Survey (ATUS), and it’s good news for remote work.
According to the Bureau, more than a third of workers are doing their jobs at least partially from home.
In 2022, 34 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home on days they worked, and 69 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
The Bureau broke down the amount of time workers spent working at home vs at work, as well as the percentage of men vs women working from home.
On days they worked, 34 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home and 69 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace. On average, those who worked at home did so for 5.4 hours on days they worked, and those who worked at their workplace did so for 7.9 hours.
On days they worked, employed women were more likely than employed men to do some or all of their work at home–41 percent of women, compared with 28 percent of men. On days they worked at home, employed women and men spent the same amount of time doing so (5.4 hours).
There was also a correlation between education and remote work.
Workers with higher levels of education were more likely to work at home than were those who had less education. Among workers age 25 and over, 54 percent of employed persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher performed some work at home on days worked, compared with 18 percent of those with a high school diploma and no college. Workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher were equally likely to work on an average day as were those with a high school diploma and no college (68 percent).
While it may have waned post-pandemic, the Bureau’s report is a strong indication that remote work has gone mainstream and is here to stay.
In our post pandemic world, job transitions are continuously up 80% year after year. This has proven to have significant impacts on both recruitment professionals and their new hires. Whether we like it or not, Gen Z is becoming a major force in the modern workplace. They are entering by storm, sharing new ideas, communication styles, and methods with their colleagues. In fact, studies show that by 2030, Generation Z will compose 30% of the workforce. This is largely due to the fact that a whopping 33% of Gen Z ages 16 to 19 currently work. As young people continue to take over the workplace, it is vital that organizations everywhere learn to engage and maintain this new breed of employees.
Why is Recruiting Gen Z So Different?
The challenges that companies are currently facing in Gen Z recruitment are threefold. First, changing workplaces in a post-COVID world disproportionately pushed young workers aside. In fact, because of this, Gen Z saw a 79% increase in layoffs. Another issue is unnecessary friction in the workplace. Negative headlines from research companies and news outlets often lead to unfavorable responses from both sides of the equation. Finally, there is misalignment between the career expectations of employees and their employers. Studies have shown that nearly 70% of Gen Z quits within a year of employment, which is substantially less time than the average turnover for their working elders.
Affecting our time, money, and even the future of business, experts have released recommendations for those wishing to successfully keep Gen Z on payroll. First, companies need to establish clear expectations. This will create a more controlled environment for the worker, ensuring that there are no questions left unanswered during or after the onboarding period. Next, employers must foster genuine transparency with their Gen Z hires. Transparency relieves stress for Gen Z because it takes away any worry for what the future holds. In fact, studies have even showed that salary transparency has the #1 influence on job decisions. Another way to foster connections with Gen Z is to offer workplace respect at every level. This will promote better mental health and will help everyone to achieve a greater work-life balance. When respect is present, everyone involved will feel more valued and taken care of at work.
Connection is Important
Nurturing meaningful connections is also big, making up for lost time from the pandemic and fostering better cooperation. Nearly 50% of Gen Z admit that they would like to know their coworkers outside of work. When starting a new position, it is paramount that those newly hired have the chance to make meaningful relationships with those around them. Finally, intentional communication is vital to Gen Z success in the workplace. This generation more than any other faces an information overload on a daily basis. Taking the stress out of communicating and being as concise as possible will only alleviate this stress that so many are feeling in the digital age.
Conclusion
It is clear that companies need to work to engage and retain Gen Z’ers. It is not only a need, but also a responsibility, which falls on each and every one of us to adapt to a new type of worker. No business or organization is going to be able to reach the next level without the help of the newest working generation, and the time is now to ensure that these people feel welcomed into the workplace.
Startup Ample has an innovative solution to EV range anxiety and lengthy charging with plans to deploy battery swapping stations.
Range anxiety is one of the biggest challenges to EV adoption. Many drivers, especially on long trips, simply don’t want to wait 30 minutes to an hour to charge their vehicle before resuming their journey.
According to CNET, Ample’s solution is to create robotic stations that can change a vehicle’s batteries in five minutes, roughly the time it takes to fill up a tank of gas.
The outlet reports that Ample already has 12 of its first-gen stations in the San Francisco area, with plans to roll out its second-gen stations in the US, Japan, and Spain latter this year.
“This will very much be my second act,” Berry said during a Bloomberg Technology conference in San Francisco. She did, however, indicate she has no interest in going into venture capitalism. “No … At 56 years old, I really realized that I’m kind of done being the dancing bear. So, I really want to have a second act that’s as meaningful as my first act.”
Reddit is promising accessibility improvements in its official app the day after third-party apps are set to shut down.
Reddit will begin charging third-party apps for API access on July 1. As a result, many apps are set to shut down on June 30, including the popular Apollo app. Unfortunately, the official Reddit app has been notoriously lacking in accessibility features, which is one of the reasons the third-party apps have been so popular.
According to a post on the mod subreddit, the company says it will introduce new accessibility features on July 1.
Hi mods,
I’m u/joyventure, Director of Product at Reddit focused on accessibility and the performance, stability and quality of our web, iOS and Android platforms. Today, I’m here to talk about improving the accessibility of our mod tools.
We are committed to making it easy for mods using assistive technology to moderate using Reddit’s iOS and Android apps. We’ve been talking with moderators who use assistive tech and/or moderate accessibility communities to hear their feedback and concerns about the tooling needs of mods and users.
Given what’s at stake, hopefully the company will deliver on its promise this time.
AlmaLinux has weighed in on Red Hat’s controversial decision to restrict access to its source code, saying the community distro will need to come up with “a new solution.”
Red Hat riled the Linux community with news that it would restrict access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code to paying customers. The news immediately cast doubt on Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, two community enterprise distros that offer 1:1 compatibility with RHEL.
Rocky Linux quickly posted a message reassuring users that everything would continue on and that customers would not be impacted by Red Hat’s change. AlmaLinux has similarly weighed in, although the organization is taking a measured approach. Writing for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, Board Chair benny Vasquez highlighted what many others have noted, namely that the RHEL license appears to prohibit “re-publishing sources acquired through the customer portal,” likely eliminating the possibility of simply acquiring an RHEL license and using it to maintain AlmaLinux.
The short- and long-term solutions to this change are something we will be discussing over the coming weeks. We spent much of our time today diving deep to ensure we understood the depth of the problem, and discussing our potential options.
In the short term, we will be working with other members of the RHEL ecosystem to ensure that we continue to deliver security updates with the speed and stability that we have become known for.
In the long-term, we’ll be working with those same partners and with our community to identify the best path forward for AlmaLinux as part of the enterprise Linux ecosystem.
As the above illustrates, there is still much about Red Hat’s decision and the long-term fallout that is still unknown.
Microsoft may have just destroyed Sony’s case against its Activision Blizzard purchase, and it has Sony’s own emails to thank.
Sony has maintained that its main objection to Microsoft’s Activision deal is that the Redmond company could decide to make popular Activision titles, such as Call of Duty, Xbox exclusives. The company has shouted that objection to the heavens, despite Microsoft’s promises to the contrary, sounding like a broken record in the process.
In the first day of the FTC v Microsoft hearing, Microsoft blew Sony’s arguments out of the water using Sony PlayStation chief Jim Ryan’s own emails, according to The Verge.
“It is not an exclusivity play at all,” Ryan wrote in an email to Chris Deering, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “They’re thinking bigger than that and they have the cash to make moves like this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with both Phil [Spencer] Bobby [Kotick] over the past day and I’m pretty sure we will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for many years to come.”
The email is a particularly damning revelation for Sony, one that undermines nearly all of its objections. While the hearing is about the FTC’s attempts to block the deal, much of the agency’s concerns mirror those of Sony. To hear that Sony’s own executives don’t even believe their own objections will make it that much harder for the FTC to make its case.
To make matters even worse for the FTC, according to Windows Central, Microsoft openly admitted that its Xbox is in distant third place in the console wars.
“Xbox’s console has consistently ranked third (of three) behind PlayStation and Nintendo in sales. In 2021, Xbox had a share of 16%, while Nintendo and PlayStation had shares of [redacted] and [redacted], respectively. Likewise for console revenues and share of consoles currently in use by gamers (‘installed base’), Xbox trails with 21% while PlayStation and Nintendo have shares of [redacted] and [redacted], respectively.”
These two revelations drastically undercut the FTC’s case and should go a long way toward muzzling Sony’s disingenuous objections.
