Alibaba Valuation Fair (video); Cogent Blasts Comcast

Alibaba's Valuation Is Very Fair: Oberweis' Papp: Video - Bloomberg:
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Oberweis Asset Management's Jeff Papp and Bloomberg's Cory Johnson discuss Alibaba's landmark IPO with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg May 7)

Cogent Blasts Comcast--
Comcast is the one who should pay for network connections, Cogent claims | Ars Technica: "... Internet backbone operator Cogent has long expressed its displeasure with Comcast's demands for payment in exchange for accepting Netflix video and other traffic... Today, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer made a different argument, saying that Comcast is the one who should be paying for connectivity. He did so while testifying in front of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast's planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Schaeffer pointed to the fact that Comcast is not considered to be a so-called "Tier 1" network. There are a dozen or so Tier 1 networks that make up the closest thing the Internet has to a backbone. Tier 1 networks can reach every part of the Internet simply by peering with one another. Other networks buy "transit" in order to access the rest of the Internet. Peering is a point-to-point connection only, which doesn't necessarily guarantee passage of traffic to any networks beyond the two involved in the connection. "Comcast does not operate a global network. In fact, it should be buying connectivity to the global Internet but has used its market scale and scope to extract an unusual concession," Schaeffer told members of Congress. "It wanted free connectivity, peering to the Internet, even though it didn't operate a global network... A larger Comcast will be able to demand even greater payments...." [apparently with the help of former Comcast lobbyist, now FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler - see below]

"Net neutrality advocates...are still underwhelmed by Wheeler's reported plan for creating an "open Internet" that they said falls far short of true net neutrality. And they likely won't be pleased until Wheeler takes a tough political step opposed by those same broadband executives. "A lot of politicians want their cake and to eat it, too," said Marvin Ammori, a lawyer who has been vocal in his support of net neutrality. "He's still trying to back off and trying to explain that he's trying to do the right thing. He fooled some people... broadband companies like Comcast have marshaled intensive lobbying efforts, hiring numerous former FCC employees. "Folks in D.C. are surrounded by their own bubble," Ammori said. "A bubble where there are lots of telecom lobbyists walking around who describe net neutrality as politically toxic."..."

Objections from inside, outside FCC shake net-neutrality proposal
Washington Post
The government's plan to let Internet providers charge Netflix, Google and others for faster access to customers has been thrown into turmoil, as the agency responsible for the rule has been riven by internal dissent and faces mounting opposition from the ...

House intel surprises on NSA surveillance - POLITICO.com: "....The Intelligence committee passage of the USA Freedom Act indicates that it will be the legislative vehicle for further activity in the House on surveillance reform. However, it does not rule out that members, including those on the Intelligence committee, may seek to amend the bill later in the legislative process. In addition, there are no signs at the moment that the Senate has broken a legislative logjam on the issue...."

Yes, we're in a tech bubble. Here's how I know it - Fortune Tech: "... I can also gauge the tech bubble by the flow of dinner, drinks, and other social invitations in my inbox. The PTA at my daughter's school is hosting a really neat fundraiser this week in San Francisco, the kind of event that appeals to an audience far beyond our school community. I personally know of no fewer than four other significant functions happening that night elsewhere in San Francisco, and that's not counting straight-ahead business functions. I could easily dine out four nights a week on the dime of some public relations firm that is hosting a dinner in an attempt to drum up publicity for its client. And I'm not invited to nearly the number of swanky gatherings that my younger, more receptive colleagues are...."

State Senate OKs cellphone 'kill switch' legislation to deter theft
Los Angeles Times
The California Senate passed a bill this week requiring cellphones sold in the state to be equipped with anti-theft technology. The California Senate passed a bill this week requiring cellphones sold in the state to be equipped with anti-theft technology.

Google Talking to Auto Makers About Self-Driving Car
Wall Street Journal (blog)
He and others said Google hasn't decided whether to design its own car, or make its software and operating system available to auto makers. “We're ...

Yahoo buys mobile 'self-destruct' messaging app Blink
Reuters
Blink is a product of Meh Labs, a company founded by ex-Google employees Kevin Stephens and Michelle Norgan. Meh Labs is best known for its ...

Apple to introduce iPad app split-screen feature in iOS 8, report says
Los Angeles Times
A mock image of what the Apple iPad split-screen feature could look like. (9to5Mac) ... IsApple copying Microsoft, Samsung? Maker of the iPad is ...

Microsoft Had No Choice but to Yank Kinect From Xbox One
Wired
This would seem to confirm the widely held assumption that the reason that Microsoft'sconsole cost $500, compared to PlayStation 4 at $400, was the ...

Google gets tougher on suspicious Google Apps logins
CNET
 ... In an effort to block unauthorized use of its Google Apps services, Google plans to ... security significantly, it's arriving at sites including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, ... Google Apps is a $50-per-person-per-year service under which ...

Google Search 4.0.0 for iOS adds conversations, embarrasses Siri
ZDNet (blog)
What's astounding is how far the Google Search app has come and how woefully inadequate Apple's built-in Siri has become. I've had the Google ...

Google Search for iOS updated with conversational voice input — Tech News and Analysis - Gigaom
By Kif Leswing
Google pushed out an update to its iOS Google Search app on Tuesday, bringing the version number up to 4.0. The update improves Google's voice ...
Gigaom

iPhone Won't Deliver iMessage Texts To Android - Business Insider: "....Now an Apple customer support employee has admitted to Lifehacker's Adam Pash that, in fact, "a lot" of users have this problem: If you switch from an iPhone to an Android, iMessage won't deliver texts from iPhone users to your new Android phone. There is no fix in sight, Pash says he was told...."

September Apple Retail holiday restrictions make August launch of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 even ...
By Ben Lovejoy
German site ifun is reporting that local Apple Store staff have been banned from taking any leave in September, the usual month for the launch of a ...
9to5Mac

Google Lat Long: Hop on board—and go almost anywhere—with public transit on GoogleMaps
By Lat Long
Millions of people rely on public transit to get around. That's why, since 2007, we've worked to include public transit routes and schedules in Google ...
Google LatLong

Chrome Releases: Stable Channel Update - Google Chrome Releases - Blogger
By Daniel xie
Security Fixes and Rewards This update includes 3 security fixes. Below, we highlight fixes that were either contributed by external researchers or ...
Google Chrome Releases

Real Estate Developer Sues Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg | AOL Real Estate
By The Associated Press
A Northern California real estate developer is suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over a deal involving property behind Zuckerberg's home.
ExcitingAds! AOL Real Estate

Facebook, Google, Yahoo — How Hackers Can Use Everyday Sites for Reflection & Amplification ...
By David Hobbs
Reflection and amplification attacks are used to extend DDoS harm. Recently, I discussed how the most recent unwelcome arrival of HTTP-based ...
Radware Blog

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FCC throttled to slow lane, the 'cable industry hand-picked lobbyist' Chairman Tom Wheeler is called a 'bonehead'

NeoCities creator Kyle Drake is mad as hell about FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's "crap" proposal for a fast lane, slow lane internet:

The Official NeoCities Blog: "...The bonehead responsible for this idiotic and insane proposal is no less than the chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, a cable industry hand-picked lobbyist. The FCC isn't doing their job of protecting American consumers, or producers like Neocities users. Perhaps they got a dump truck full of money from the cable corporation lobby ... it looks like they need some help remembering what their job is. Since the FCC seems to have no problem with this idea, I've ... throttled all connections from the FCC to 28.8kbps modem speeds on the Neocities.org front site, and I'm not removing it until the FCC pays us for the bandwidth they've been wasting instead of doing their jobs protecting us from the "keep America's internet slow and expensive forever" lobby."...If it bothers you that I'm doing this, I want to point out that everyone is going to be doing crap like this after the FCC rips apart Net Neutrality. It's time for the web to organize and stand up against these thugs before they ruin everything that the web stands for..."

AT&T claims common carrier rules would ruin the whole Internet | Ars Technica: "...As usual, AT&T's positions are laughable at best—though disingenuous is more like it," Matt Wood, policy director of consumer advocacy group Free Press, told Ars. "Nothing in Title II says that every last provision has to apply to any Title II service. That's the whole point of forbearance ..."To look at a real-world example instead of an AT&T fantasy: mobile voice is a common carrier service, and yet CMRS [commercial mobile radio service] providers are barred from charging access fees," Wood also said... "Nothing about Title II commands the results that AT&T's straw man argument suggests." Public Knowledge Senior VP Harold Feld agreed. "To a large extent, this is just scary mumbo-jumbo to make Title II look big and complicated," Feld told Ars...Many of the issues raised by AT&T were already hashed out in FCC proceedings in 2010, "which saves a lot of time," Feld said...."

Washington Targets Cupertino by Mark P. Mills, City Journal 9 May 2014: "....Even after Edward Snowden’s leaks of National Security Agency activities, the Obama administration seems less worried about its own spying than about the private sector’s use of private data... Silicon Valley innovators are rolling out Web-based alternatives to brick-and-mortar businesses, and regulators—along with the special interests they protect—are responding in kind....It was only a matter of time before Silicon Valley became a target of federal oversight. Like moths to a bright light, money attracts Washington’s political and regulatory classes. Tech companies are among the biggest holders—or for some, “hoarders”—of $2 trillion in profits sitting in offshore tax havens. (The United States once had the lowest corporate tax rate in the industrial world; it now has the highest.)..."

Heard on the Street: Alibaba's Magic Fades on SoftBank - WSJ.com: "SoftBank investors have more to keep in mind than just Alibaba's valuation. The company posted a 28% on-year decline in net profit for the three months ended in March, weighed down by costs from serial acquisitions and a telecom price war in Japan. And SoftBank still appears keen for its Sprint unit to make a bid for T-Mobile, despite regulator skepticism. The deal has strategic logic as it would help consolidate Sprint's position in the U.S., but it would also expand SoftBank's net debt, which already is at six times Ebitda, much higher than telecom peers."

Sorry, Wannabe Models: Amazon Now Owns the Patent for ‘Photography Against A White Background’ | TIME.com: "...The specifics listed in Amazon’s filing, however, would appear to render the patent itself unenforceable, as they’re not hard to get around. But that begs the question: Why even file in the first place?"

Apple in Talks to Buy Beats Electronics for $3.2 Billion
Wall Street Journal
A look at how Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics might bolster its retail arsenal. WSJ's Drew Hinshaw on the growing frustration with the search ...

Apple to authorities: 'Show warrant to get data'
MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)—Apple has unveiled updated guidelines for dealing with government requests for customer information, including a ...

Facebook kills Poke and Camera apps
PCWorld
Facebook has removed its standalone Poke app, an early clone of Snapchat, as well as its Camera app, from Apple's iTunes app store. A Facebook ...

Google's Little Box Challenge; A $1 Million Prize For Creating A Better, Smaller, Solar Power Inverter
Forbes
Google Google has announced a $1 million prize in what they're calling the “Little Box Challenge”. The aim is to create a smaller, cheaper, power ...

Google to Facebook Seen as Too Big for EU Nations' Privacy Czars
Bloomberg
With U.S. companies such as Facebook, Apple Inc. (AAPL), and LinkedIn Corp. ...Google's biggest European privacy fine to date was 1 million euros by ... European citizens,” said Sabina Gockel, a spokeswoman for Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft trumpets Internet Explorer 11 for Windows Phone 8.1, but reviews vary
PCWorld
Microsoft crowed about advances in Internet Explorer 11 for Windows Phone 8.1 earlier this week, but so far reviews from users are mixed. Microsoft ...

Apple, Amazon and the uncertain future of the book startup — Tech News and Analysis - Gigaom
By Laura Hazard Owen
When Amazon is the chief disruptor, the odds are stacked against you ... via Google — and then shut down its consumer-facing business this week. ... of book discussion on existing “general” social networks Facebook and Twitter, ...
Gigaom

Apple scoops up one of Nokia's Lumia camera wizards | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Devindra ...
By Devindra Hardawar
Apple scoops up one of Nokia's Lumia camera wizards ... Instead of joining his new colleagues at Microsoft, a former Nokia camera expert is joining ...
VentureBeat

Could Wearable Tech Like Google Glass Play a Role in Connected Education? | memolition
By memolition
We're not quite at the stage of all being cyborgs, but the wearable computing market is growing, and the number and type of devices is also increasing ...
memolition

How to help our beleaguered bees
MiamiHerald.com
Bee populations are declining precipitously. Sadly, that's no longer news. Beginning in fall 2006, beekeepers reported fatalities of 30 to 90 percent of their hives, U.S. Department of Agriculture records show. This phenomenon became known as Colony ...

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FCC Proposal is a Startup Killer

All major US tech companies oppose FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's Plan to Kill the Internet -- see letter to FCC here

Will an Internet Fast Lane Be an Innovation Dead End? | MIT Technology Review: "Some VCs say the FCC’s latest net neutrality proposal will raise costs for startups that need fast connections or use a lot of bandwidth.The cost of delivering content over the Internet may determine which Internet products and services succeed in coming years. Some venture capitalists at the cutting edge of Internet innovation say they will shun startups requiring fast connections for video, audio, or other services, mindful that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission may let ISPs charge extra fees to major content providers. Proposed rules being drafted by the FCC’s chairman, Tom Wheeler, would allow ISPs to charge content providers like Netflix to ensure speedy service, so long as those charges are “commercially reasonable.” The rules are scheduled to be released for public comment May 15..."

Intel Gets Serious About Chromebook | Mobile devices content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: "....Some of these devices won't ship until late in the summer. But that's still in time for back-to-school, and if Microsoft wasn't taking the Chromebook threat seriously before, I assume it's standing upright and paying attention now. With Intel entering the mix in a serious way, and with Google continuing to improve the core OS, the Chromebook value equation is starting to make more and more sense."

Motorola confirms 'Moto X+1' name | MobileSyrup.com: "The Moto X+1 is one of the upcoming devices Motorola is planning to release. This was rumoured in the past, but for some odd reason Motorola has posted this go-to-market name on MotoMaker in the States...."

Amazon's Cheap Ride With Delivery Companies Is Over, No Easy Fix In Sight
Forbes
The fundamental problem Amazon.com Amazon.com has to solve is “What are correct box sizes and distribution center locations for an almost infinite ...

Amazon expands Sunday delivery to 15 more cities
USA TODAY
Don't let the weekend get in the way of your next online package delivery. Amazon.com's Sunday delivery program is now available in 15 additional ...

Apple reveals US government data request guidelines
ZDNet
The guidelines are specifically for law enforcement or other government entities in the US to use when seeking data concerning Apple device users.

Microsoft's Smartwatch Patent: Fitness Focus
InformationWeek
Microsoft's long-rumored smartwatch concept finally appears in a patent, ... A Microsoftsmartwatch patent surfaced this week that suggests the ... Google recently unveiled Android Wear, a smartwatch-optimized version of the ... Apple is widely assumed to be planning a smartwatch, and it has reportedly ...

Despite Yahoo's Core Business Being Valued At Less Than Nothing Marissa Mayer Insists It's Very ...
Forbes
To which the correct response might well be “Well, she would wouldn't she?”. For that core business is the part of Yahoo Yahoo that Marissa Mayer is ...

Google, Amazon and other online giants warn FCC on net neutrality
PCWorld
More than 100 online firms including Google, Amazon and Facebook have signed a joint letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ...

Microsoft's Bing now searches, finds Xbox Music
PCWorld (blog)
Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that users can once again search for music ... (On Android, Google will pull up the song if you have it stored in your ...

Yahoo Eyes Big Bucks As Alibaba Files For IPO
Forbes
Yahoo! core business has failed to gain traction despite numerous website ... Alibaba's net income is more than the combined earnings of $2.4 billion posted during the same April-December period by eBay and Amazon last year.

Apple's North American Sales Head Leaving
Wall Street Journal (blog)
“Doug Beck has done a great job helping to grow Apple's business in Japan and Korea. His role is expanding to include North America sales as well,” ...

Google Ventures Leads $130M Round For Big Data Medical Software Company Flatiron Health
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Google Ventures has made its largest medical software investment yet, providing the bulk of a $130 million financing for Flatiron Health Inc., which ...

Google Play services 4.4 | Android Developers Blog
By Android Developers
... Mobile Ads, and Wallet API. Here are the highlights of Google Play services release 4.4: ... Coming up in June is Google I/O, no need to say more…
Android Developers Blog

Chrome Releases: Chrome Beta for Android Update - Google Chrome Releases
By Jason Kersey
Chrome Beta for Android has been updated to 35.0.1916.99 and will be available in GooglePlay over the next few hours. This release contains ...
Google Chrome Releases

Google Blocks Demonoid for Spreading Malicious Software | TorrentFreak
By Andy
Google Blocks Demonoid for Spreading Malicious Software. By Andy ... Google'sadvisory reports that after checking 59 pages on the site during the past 90 days, 7 pages resulted in “malicious software being ...
TorrentFreak

Can Google Chromebooks Go Mainstream? | Technology | Minyanville's Wall Street
By Michael Comeau
It only shows that Amazon tech shoppers are early adopters. ... I see Chromebooks as a deadly threat to Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows juggernaut. ... It would be ideal if Google flat-out said things like "you can use Facebook ...

Drones Overhead, Seeing Everything, Always: Inside Google and Facebook's Latest Acquisitions ...
By Peter Diamandis
Imagine a fleet of drones, overhead, out of sight, tens of thousands of feet in the sky. Imagine those drones being powered by sunlight — effectively ...
Singularity Hub

Yahoo News Digest has gone global - iDownloadBlog
By Christian Zibreg
Yahoo's News Digest iOS app isn't just gorgeous, it's a great time saver, too. For those unfamiliar with Digest, it uses Yahoo-owned Summly ...
iDownloadBlog.com

Apple's Official Weekly Top Games Chart: 4/28 - 5/4 - 'Blek', 'Piano Tiles', 'Minecraft' and '2048 ...
By Eli Hodapp
For whatever reason, Apple sent these top cumulative downloads charts a little late to us this week, so if you were looking for them on Tuesday, sorry ...
Touch Arcade

Buying Attribution: Google, AOL Acquisitions Raise Flags On Media Neutrality - AdExchanger
By Kelly Liyakasa
Facebook Ad Network To Support Native Ads, First-Party Data Targeting ... FollowingGoogle and AOL's acquisitions of multitouch attribution vendors Adometry and ... “That will still be a hard sell to [prospective] Google clients.” ... Google To Buy Marketing Attribution Pure Play Adometry · Yahoo!
AdExchanger: News and Views on...

Delhi's air among dirtiest in the world, reveals WHO report
India Today
Air pollution in India is attributed to the high dependence on fossil fuels, and industrial and vehicular emissions. Delhi's notoriously dirty air has breached critical levels of pollution and is unfit for breathing. A latest World Health Organisation (WHO) study on ...

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