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[littleredrooster] 31/5/2019 01:14

the UK's freedom to negotiate its own trade deals, including with Washington, is a key positive aspect of seeking a divorce from the EU

Well, the US is the world's biggest economy.



Trump wants deal with UK post-Brexit

29 May, 2019 16:07

US President Donald Trump wants to strike a trade deal with the UK post-Brexit his ambassador to London, Woody Johnson said on Wednesday.

“It’s foremost in the president’s mind and he would get it done as quickly as possible,” Johnson told BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday. “It would be front of the line for the U.K.”

“A comprehensive free-trade deal between our countries would be a huge positive for both the US and the U.K.,” Johnson said.

More information on the subject could come from President Trump’s state visit to the UK next week, just days before Theresa May is set to step down as Prime Minister on 7 June.

The comments come at a time when the UK government is in chaos following the announcement of her resignation last week. Tories are working to appoint a new leader.

It is expected that the new leader will take a harder stance on Brexit. According to those who have defended Brexit, the UK's freedom to negotiate its own trade deals, including with Washington, is a key positive aspect of seeking a divorce from the EU.

[littleredrooster] 23/5/2019 13:12

It brings in to question whether Huawei can survive as a handset maker



Huawei's Android license has been revoked; here's what Huawei has to say about it

tech2 News Staff

May 23, 2019 16:13:10 IST

Google announced that they will be suspending all business interactions with smartphone manufacturer Huawei. This meant Google won’t be conducting any kind of business involving hardware or software with Huawei, apart from the components covered by open source licenses.

While Google already clarified earlier that services like Google Play and Google Play Protect will continue working on existing Huawei devices, it was still unclear how Huawei was handling the situation. As reported by Android Central, Huawei has released a statement on the same.

The company says that it will continue providing security updates and after-sales services to existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products. It will cover all the products that are currently being sold as well. However, whether it will be receiving security patches and updates after Android Q in the future is still unclear.

Huawei also confirmed that the trade blacklist isn’t going to affect the launch of its upcoming Honor 20 Series smartphones, which are scheduled for 21 May (tomorrow).

Here’s Huawei’s full statement:

"Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android's key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.

Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.

We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.

Plus, nothing has changed for HONOR. We will be having our exciting launch event tomorrow in London for HONOR 20 Series."



"Huawei has been working on its own operating system for some time, so it was ready for this eventuality, but by forcing them to use it, the US could well be creating an all-new rival to iOS and Android that could prove more popular in Asian markets.

Meanwhile, the decision will cause havoc for the millions of existing Huawei and Honor handset owners. Google has said that it will continue to supply security updates to these devices, which will continue to work, but are now unlikely to receive updates to Android Q - making them instantly less attractive to potential buyers.

New devices from Huawei/Honor will be required to use only the open source (AOSP) version of Android, which means no Google Play Services, no Play Store, no YouTube, no Google Pay - in fact, most of the killer features of Android will disappear.

It brings in to question whether Huawei can survive as a handset maker, despite threatening to become the biggest in the world in the coming few years, with two best-in-class handset releases last year and the well-received P30 range introduced only last month."

[mw8156] 22/5/2019 16:07

this seems on a cursory glance very expensive and an acquisition driven company operating in competitive markets eg analysing global pharamaceutical developments up against evaluate there, I guess, but Amati has bought in so must see some potential, wonder if anyone can put the bull case eg size and scale to be weighed against the negatives, loads of intangibles, an inevitable LTIP and need to dish out options to keep the staff.

[littleredrooster] 07/5/2019 17:15

NASA fingers the cause of two bungled satellite launches, $700m in losses, years of science crashing and burning...

Aluminium manufacturer accused of running 19-year supply quality scam

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 3 May 2019 at 05:56

Scientists at NASA have accused one of their metal suppliers of lying about the strength of its aluminium in a 19-year scam that caused $700m in satellites and other parts to go up in smoke.

The space agency eggheads pointed the finger of blame at the aluminium manufacturer after probing two failed science missions: the February 24, 2009 fruitless launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, and the March 4, 2011 doomed launch of the Glory satellite, designed for monitoring atmospheric pollutants.

In both cases, the rocket fairing, which is the nose cone protecting the satellite payload, failed to separate after liftoff. As a result, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) plunged into the ocean off the Antarctic, and Glory swiftly crashed into the Pacific, after their rockets fell back to Earth, the satellites still attached.

The blunders were traced back to the fairing release mechanism, and specifically the aluminium (or aluminum in Freedom Language) used in this component. It was supplied by Sapa Profiles Inc, of Oregon, USA, now renamed Hydro Extrusion Portland, Inc. NASA's boffins said the metals used were not up to specification, and called in the Feds.

Subsequent checks appeared to show that Sapa had been falsifying its materials testing reports for profit. The metal was supposed to have a particular tensile strength, however, company employees fudged the tests to increase profit margins, investigators said.

“NASA relies on the integrity of our industry throughout the supply chain,” said Jim Norman, NASA’s director for Launch Services, earlier this week.

"While we do perform our own testing, NASA is not able to retest every single component. That is why we require and pay for certain components to be tested and certified by the supplier.

"When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail. In our case, the Taurus XLs that failed for the OCO and Glory missions resulted in the loss of more than $700 million, and years of people’s scientific work. It is critical that we are able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify materials in accordance with the standards we require. In this case, our trust was severely violated."

The Feds said they uncovered thousands of falsified records relating to the breaking point of Sapa's metal. And it wasn't just NASA that got stiffed, we're told: the same plant supplied the US military and hundreds of other customers in America and around the world.

The blame was specifically pinned on Dennis Balius, Sapa's testing lab supervisor. Prosecutors said he forced lab technicians to falsify testing results, recertify failed parts, and violate testing standards by speeding up examinations and using incorrect parts. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud in July 2017, and was sentenced to three years in the cooler, and forced to pay over $170,000 in restitution.

In an out-of-court settlement, the company formerly known as Sapa agreed to pay $31.4m in restitution to NASA and the US military, and forfeit $1.8m in "ill-gotten gains," as the Dept of Justice put it. That ended a criminal fraud case against the biz.

To settle a related civil case, in which the manufacturer was accused of breaking the False Claims Act, the company agreed to pay $6m to NASA and $5m to the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency. It is also barred from selling to US government agencies in the future.

“Our partners at NASA and in the military – as well as hundreds of private businesses – put their faith in the integrity of this supplier and the structural integrity of its products,” said Special Agent in Charge Loren ‘Renn’ Cannon of the FBI’s Portland Field Office. “For almost two decades, this company’s greed violated that trust."

158 comments

[littleredrooster] 26/4/2019 16:09

Final dividend paid today (equivalent of 40% of my initial investment).

[littleredrooster] 16/4/2019 15:49

Oops!



SpaceX rocket falls overboard

By Chris Forrester

April 16, 2019

SpaceX lost a core rocket on April 15th. The rocket fell overboard from its floating drone barge in rough Atlantic seas off Florida.

The rocket had formed the central portion of a 3-rocket assembly which launched Arabsat 6A last week, and had landed on the barge in a textbook operation.

The two side boosters, themselves in essence complete Falcon 9 booster stages, were successfully landed just a few minutes after lift-off from Cape Canaveral.

However, the barge was waiting for the main rocket a few hundred miles down range and suffered extremely bad weather in the days following the lift-off.

SpaceX, in a statement said, “Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral. As conditions worsened with eight-to ten-foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright. While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence. We do not expect future missions to be impacted.”

[littleredrooster] 06/3/2019 08:49

Europeans double UK investment since Brexit vote

By Tim Wallace

3 March 2019 • 7:00pm

"European investors are taking major bets on the UK economy, more than doubling investment in Britain over the past three years.

Uncertainty around Brexit has not stopped companies on the continent from embarking on a major deal spree in the UK, indicating faith in the economy’s long-term prospects among foreign money managers.

Buyers in the EU have snapped up 553 UK assets through mergers and acquisitions and private placements in the past year, according to S&P Capital IQ data.

Purchases of companies, property and stakes in fast-growing firms totalled $31.1bn over the past 12 months."

[littleredrooster] 25/2/2019 19:30

Yes, I'm looking forward to the dividend appearing in my bank account.

"the Board is pleased to announce a final dividend of 7.5 pence per share (2017: 5.0 pence)"

[anusol] 25/2/2019 12:35

This share continues to be one of the most reliable and steady in my portfolio. Nice results and great Divi increase.

[mattjos] 06/2/2019 16:19

just had these guys call me try to sell me their services.
Ran through an online screen-share for their mining sector data .. looks pretty impressive.
Sadly no use to me/us .. wish it could have been

Made me have a quick look at the company .. nice chart

[littleredrooster] 17/11/2018 10:44

Google remains a relatively tiny player in a market dominated by Amazon



Head of Google's Cloud-Computing Effort to Step Down -- WSJ

17/11/2018 8:02am
Dow Jones News

By Douglas MacMillan and Jay Greene

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (November 17, 2018).

Google's top cloud-computing executive and one of tech's highest-ranking women is departing the company after three years and will be succeeded by a former executive of business-software rival Oracle Corp.

Diane Greene will relinquish her role as CEO of Google Cloud in January, she said in a blog post Friday. Thomas Kurian, a former president of product development at Oracle, will then step in. Ms. Greene will retain her seat on the board of Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Ms. Greene, a Silicon Valley veteran who co-founded corporate-software pioneer VMware Inc., joined Google in 2015 to help it take on Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in the growing market for cloud computing software and services. Ms. Greene expanded Google's sales force and struck deals with corporate clients such as Target Corp. and HSBC Holdings but failed to gain market share at the same rate as Microsoft.

"They haven't performed as well as the expectation was when Diane was brought on," said Holger Mueller, principal analyst at Constellation Research, Inc.

Google remains a relatively tiny player in a market dominated by Amazon, which generated 51.8% of revenue in the global cloud-software market in 2017, according to Gartner. Microsoft outpaced other players, increasing its share to 13.3% last year, from 8.7% the year earlier. Google nudged its share up to 3.3%, from 2.7% in 2016.

Inside Google, where the core business of online ads is showing signs of slowing, cloud computing is seen as a key driver of growth. Google said earlier this year cloud sales generated more than $1 billion quarterly, but it hasn't disclosed any further specifics. Analysts at Credit Suisse expect the division to generate $6.9 billion, or about 6% of Alphabet's total revenue this year -- up from an estimated 3% last year. In the third quarter alone, Amazon's cloud division generated $6.68 billion.

Ms. Greene's investment in artificial intelligence tools has given Google advantages over competitors but also put her at the center of a debate about the ethical use of AI. Her team's work helping the U.S. Defense Department with drone targeting, an effort called Project Maven, sparked internal backlash from Google employees earlier this year, ultimately leading the company to say it would stop renewing the contract.

Mr. Kurian led Oracle's transformation from a vendor of legacy software applications that companies run in their own data centers to one that belatedly embraced cloud computing. His title was president of product development, but he reported directly to Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, not the company's co-chiefs, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd.

Mr. Ellison is driving Oracle's investment in developing a rival cloud-infrastructure service that competes directly with Amazon, Microsoft and Google, and has routinely criticized market leader Amazon as having inferior technology. At Oracle's OpenWorld conference two years ago, Mr. Ellison predicted "Amazon's lead is over" -- but since then Amazon's cloud-infrastructure business has grown faster than Oracle's much-smaller one.

As Oracle continued to lose ground in that market, Mr. Ellison reorganized the engineering teams that develop the company's cloud-computing services this summer, according to a person familiar with the internal discussions. Those changes left Mr. Kurian with a smaller remit, the person said. Oracle announced that Mr. Kurian would take "extended time off" in early September, and said later that month that he wouldn't return.

Mr. Kurian's focus on building Oracle's cloud business, as well as working with its large, corporate customers, should help Google, said Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Brad Reback. The company has been slow to develop the sales and support organization that big corporate customers require.

"He understands the challenge," Mr. Reback said of Mr. Kurian.

Google's hiring of Mr. Kurian could suggest the company will consider making a bid for Red Hat Inc., the software-and-services company that International Business Machines agreed to acquire last month for $33 billion, Mr. Reback said. Red Hat would provide Google with the sales and support muscle, as well as credibility with corporate tech buyers, that it lacks, Mr. Reback said.

"Either you're playing to win or you're not," Mr. Reback said.

Write to Douglas MacMillan at [e-mail] and Jay Greene at [e-mail]

[littleredrooster] 21/9/2018 12:13

Cloud Video Streaming Market Worth USD 16.6 Bn by 2023 at 18.9% CAGR | Cloud Video Streaming Market Advancing Swiftly Due To Scalability and Cost Effectiveness

The global cloud video streaming market is set to witness rapid growth due to high adoption of live streaming and widespread use of cloud video streaming to deliver over the top content (OTT).

September 18, 2018 07:06 ET | Source: Market Research Future

Pune, India, Sept. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Research Future’s in-depth analysis of the Global Cloud Video Streaming Market, By Components (By Streaming Cloud Content), By Streaming Type (Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Video Hosting), By Cloud Deployment (Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud), By Vertical (Media & Entertainment, Education, Government) - Forecast 2023

Market Insights

Cloud video streaming is a rapidly advancing market which is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 18.9% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2023. This projection, among others, has been made in Market Research Future's latest report on the global cloud video streaming market. The market is becoming increasingly competitive due to the cloud platform being easy to embrace for enterprises of all sizes, particularly SMEs. The growth of the market is anticipated to result in a market value of approximately USD 16.6 Bn by the end of 2023.

The introduction and widespread adoption of over the top content (OTT) has created considerable opportunity for the global cloud video streaming market. The popularity of on-demand videos and streamed content is based on the delivery of this content in real-time. Increasing network speeds across the globe and consumer demand for higher speeds in the age of technology and the internet are highly conducive to the growth of the cloud video streaming market. Consumption patterns have changed drastically due to urbanization and increasingly busy schedules which have turned consumers toward live streaming as it offers the ability to stream content at any given time. Expansion of the market has been the result of novel applications being employed for the technology. Sports, news, TV shows and many other forms of entertainment are easily viewable. Moreover, it has also found application in the education industry by allowing live streaming of lessons for remote learning. The proliferation of personal smart devices which carry the capability to stream live content is another key factor affecting the global cloud video streaming market. Cloud video streaming offers competitive costing and scalable growth which allows small businesses to participate in the market.

The increasingly competitive market carries a high potential for growth, as applications for cloud video streaming are consistently being developed. Opportunities for growth will arise as OTT content providers prepare to offer increased original content and tap into consumer consumptions trends.

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Market Segmentation

MRFR's segmental analysis is performed on the basis of components, streaming type, service, deployment, vertical and region. By components, the market is divided into media players and service. The media player segment consists of JW Players, iOS media player and adobe flash players & Adobe AIR. The service segment is sub-segmented to include managed services and professional services.

By streaming type, the market is segmented into video on demand streaming, live streaming, and video hosting. By cloud deployment, the market is categorized into hybrid cloud, private cloud, and public cloud. By vertical, the market includes healthcare, government, media & entertainment, education, and others.

Regional segmentation of the market divides the market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Rest of the World.

Concentration of Market Players Establishes North America as Top Regional Market

North America has a high concentration of market-leading players who lead growth for the global and regional market, thus catapulting the region into top position with the largest share. The U.S leads the market due to high adoption of cloud-based services in the region across small and medium enterprises. Moreover, largescale investments towards outsourcing of video streaming solutions are driving growth for the global Cloud Video Streaming Market. Europe has a similar growth pattern which has contributed considerably to the market size of the region. The growing number of content providers leveraging cloud video streaming as a method to deliver high-quality OTT content is a significant driver of the market. Additionally, these regions have high internet speeds which drive the consumption of live streaming and other OTT content services.

Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a rapid pace due to the high potential available in the region. The presence of a massive consumer population which is witnessing dramatic changes due to urbanization and changing lifestyles is highly conducive to the adoption of cloud video streaming solutions. The presence of a significant IT sector and the fact that several international players are moving to establish themselves in the region due to the recognized potential is expected to encourage market growth.

Key Players

Encoding.Com, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Akamai Technologies Inc., Forbidden Technologies, Haivision Hyperstream, Sorenson Media, and A-frame are some of the leading market players participating in the global cloud video streaming market. MRFR has profiled and recorded the market strategies employed by these players and their role in expanding the market. Product innovation, expansion of capabilities, acquisitions, and mergers are among the most employed market strategies with the highest impact.

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