technology2science: November 2015

Monday 30 November 2015

Apple Seeds Fifth OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan Beta to Developers

by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update to developers, two weeks after seeding the fourth beta and more than a month after releasing OS X 10.11.1, the first OS X El Capitan update, to the public.

The fifth beta, build 15C48a, is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center.

10_11_2_beta_5_720

OS X 10.11.2 appears to be an under-the-hood update as the four previous betas have not included any apparent outward-facing changes. OS X 10.11.2 is likely to include bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements to address problems that have popped up since the release of OS X 10.11.1.

Apple's release notes for OS X 10.11.2 have asked developers to focus on Networking, Graphics, Mail, Wi-Fi, Calendar, USB, Notes, Photos, and Spotlight.

U.S. Cyber Monday sales up 14 percent, on track for record: Adobe

CHICAGO

Sales on Cyber Monday, the busiest day of the year for internet shopping, were up 14 percent from a year earlier, totaling $490 million between midnight and 10 a.m. ET, according to estimates by Adobe Digital Index. Adobe tracked 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers and said sales were on track to meet its expectation of a record $3 billion by the end of the day.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

From hoverboards to adult onesies: the gifts we’re searching for this holiday

If your holiday shopping plan this season involves grabbing a spare minute on your phone to hunt for presents while you’re standing in line or on the train to work, you’re not alone. More than half of holiday shoppers say they plan to use their smartphones in free moments throughout the day to get their holiday list done. As we wake up to what has become the day for online deal hunting—Cyber Monday—we took a look at the top gifts trending on Google Search to help you shop smarter in those spare moments. Here’s a look at online shopping search trends across the U.S., to give you ideas of what your loved ones might like to find under the tree.

Source: Google Shopping Data, U.S., Oct 2015 vs. Oct 2014 Drones are now toys: Drones are no longer expensive playthings for the tech-savvy. Search for “toy drone” and you’ll find countless inexpensive, easy-to-use devices available from department stores and toy stores. And they’re popular—nationwide, shopping searches for drones are up 80% over the past year, and they’re highest in

Apple Releases (PRODUCT)RED Leather Cases for iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

by Mitchel Broussard

An official (PRODUCT)RED version of Apple's leather case for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus has been spotted in at least one Apple retail store today, as reported by French tech site iGeneration [Google Translate]. When the new line of iPhones debuted in September, only the silicone case was offered in a (PRODUCT)RED option.

product red 6s

The (PRODUCT)RED leather case for the iPhone 6s hasn't appeared yet on Apple's online store, but will most likely soon follow if the company keeps slowly rolling out the case to its retail locations around the country. When it does, it'll no doubt come in at the same price of the other leather cases sold by Apple, costing $45 for the iPhone 6s version and $49 for

China, U.S. holding high-level cyber crime talks: Xinhua

HONG KONG

China's Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun is in the United States to take part in the first high-level dialogue on cyber crime between the two countries, state media reported.During his visit, which is due to end on Thursday, Guo will meet Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Xinhua state news agency said on Sunday.
Cyber security has long been an irritant in relations between China and the United States, despite robust economic ties worth $590 billion in two-way trade last year.
(Reporting by Meg Shen; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Cyber Monday Sales Now Live for Macs, iPads, Accessories and More

by Joe Rossignol

For those that missed out on Black Friday deals, or remain on the lookout for a few more gift ideas, Cyber Monday offers several online and in-store discounts on a wide range of Apple-related products and accessories. Most deals will remain available through the end of day on Monday, November 30.

Best Buy

Best Buy is offering deals on select Apple products and other electronics online and in stores on Cyber Monday, with free shipping on all orders.

- iPhone 6 (16GB) for $1 with activation and Verizon two-year contract
- Up to $150 off select MacBook Air and Retina MacBook models
- Up to $249 off various original iPad Air models
- $70 off Beats Pill 2.0 Bluetooth speakers in various colors
- $40 off urBeats earphones and $100 off Beats Studio over-ear headphones
- $100 off iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models with activation and two-year contract

Target

Target is offering 15% off site-wide, with some limitations, using promo code CYBER15 at checkout. The offer is valid on most Apple products, including the Apple Watch, iPad, iPod, Beats headphones, Apple TV and

Target website down on Cyber Monday traffic

Discount retailer Target Corp's website was down due to heavy traffic on Cyber Monday.

The sign outside the Target store is seen in Arvada, Colorado in this January 10, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/Files

Shoppers looking for bargains on www.target.com/ were greeted with an error message: "So sorry, but high traffic's causing delays. If you wouldn't mind holding, we'll refresh automatically & get things going ASAP."
"Both traffic and order volumes are exceeding Target's Thursday Black Friday event ... To help manage the volume, we have been metering traffic to the site," Target spokeswoman Jamie Bastian said.
The company, the fourth largest U.S. retailer, said it was working to restore Target.com to full functionality.
Website performance monitor Catchpoint Systems said Target's website went down at 10:00 a.m. ET on Monday.
While the site

Apple Teams Up With Supercell for 2015 World AIDS Day Campaign

by Juli Clover

Apple is gearing up for its annual World Aids Day campaign and has partnered with popular iOS app developer Supercell for a (SUPERCELL)RED promotion that will see the developer offering a special in-game decorative item for purchase, with 100 percent of proceeds going towards the Global Fund to fight AIDS.

Supercell is the developer behind some of the most profitable apps in the App Store, with Clash of Clans currently ranked as the number three most profitable app and Boom Beach ranked as number 10. From now until December 4 at 8:00 a.m., players who purchase a (Pile of Gems)RED pack in Clash of Clans, a (Pile of Diamonds)RED in Boom Beach, or a (Bag of Diamonds)RED in Hay Day can contribute to the fight against AIDS.

appleworldaidsday

Apple has a long history of working with (PRODUCT)RED to fund AIDS research and charity work, and the company has run a World AIDS Day campaign for the last several years. Each year, Apple highlights World AIDS day on its website and decorates its retail stores with red Apple logos. With World AIDS day taking place tomorrow, December 1, Apple retail stores are expected to see decorations going up this afternoon and this evening.

Apple has also released an official (PRODUCT)RED leather case for the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, which joins the (PRODUCT)RED silicone case that was released alongside the new iPhones in September.

Friday 27 November 2015

Musk's Tesla faces German battle over battery-powered homes

FRANKFURT | By Vera Eckert and Christoph Steitz

If Elon Musk's vision of millions of households producing all their own power becomes a reality, it will probably happen first in Germany. But he will face a battle for market share against local firms with years of experience in renewable energy.The South African-born entrepreneur's company Tesla, best known for its electric cars, sparked global interest in the idea of self-powered homes in April, when it said it would start selling lithium-ion batteries for households next year.

Blue Origin Rocket Sticks Landing

By Quinten Plummer

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket this week made history when it landed intact in Texas. The unmanned crew capsule returned safely from a test flight that took it 330,000 feet into the air.

The New Shepard could become the first reusable booster -- it's scheduled to return to space in a few months. It's now tucked into a storage facility at a launch site in West Texas.

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, aims to lay the foundation for an enduring human presence in space -- a goal that reusing rocket boosters could help to achieve.
The company's effort to bring back a rocket earlier this year was doomed by a hydraulic failure. This time, the New Shepard succeeded in using its hydraulic thrusters and fins to slow and guide its descent.
This time, the rocket was able to weather crosswinds whirling at speeds of up to 119 mph. It's BE-3 engine powered on to slow the descending rocket from a speed of about 387 mph to 4 mph during the last 100 feet of its landing.

Blue Origin's Big Implications

Commercial spaceflight companies have been engaging in a quietly competitive race, with each careful not to give away too much, while working to gain mindshare despite the public's loss of passion for space exploration following the

MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Leather iPad Pro Bag From Intrepid Bag Co

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with The Intrepid Bag Co to give away one of the company's Zinnia Convertible Leather iPad Pro Bags. The Zinnia is a convertible bag that can transition quickly between a backpack and a crossbody bag.

zinnia

Made from mahogany leather and lined with wool fabric, the Zinnia converts with a quick grab and pull on the straps, which are made from padded leather for comfort. The Zinnia features a design that's wider at the bottom, giving it the stability to stand up on its own.

zinnia2

Inside the Zinnia, there's a padded laptop pocket that's large enough to hold an iPad Pro or a 13-inch laptop, such as a Retina MacBook Pro. There's also two expanding water bottle pockets at the sides, two quick access back pockets, and a front pocket that closes magnetically.

zinnia3

The Zinnia Convertible Leather iPad Pro Bag can be purchased from Intrepid Bag Co for $349, but one lucky MacRumors reader will be able to get one for free through our giveaway. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize.

Lighter Capital raises $100 million fund to back tech startups

By Heather Somerville

Lighter Capital, an alternative financing startup, announced on Friday it has raised a $100 million fund that will be invested in emerging tech companies.Seattle-based Lighter Capital, which is part of the growing fintech sector that uses mobile and Web technology to replace traditionally paper- and people-based financial services, uses a Web platform to collect data on tech startups looking for funding and analyzes their growth potential.
To the more promising ones, Lighter Capital offers loans up to $2 million that startups repay over a few years, based on how quickly their own revenue is growing.
The $100 million fund is Lighter Capital's second; it raised $20 million in early 2014.
Lighter Capital also announced on Friday that it has closed a $9 million Series B, its second round of venture capital funding, which will be used to grow its own operations.
It has now raised a total of $16 million from venture capitalists including Voyager Capital and Summit Capital.

Sony Working on App to Stream PS4 Games on Mac and PC

Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida has announced on Twitter that the company is working on an official Remote Play app for Mac and PC, enabling users to stream and play PS4 games on desktops and notebooks, per The Verge.

MacBook-Pro-PS4

Remote Play is currently limited to various Sony devices, including the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV and newer Xperia-branded smartphones and tablets. All new PS4 games must be compatible with Remote Play, except for games that use peripherals such as PlayStation Move.
While owning a PS4 gaming console will still be required to play games like Fallout 4 or Destiny on a Mac or PC, the expanded Remote Play app will move Sony games one step closer to true cross-platform playability.
https://twitter.com/yosphttps://twitter.com/yosp

Walk-Man the humanoid walks tall

In a world designed to accommodate the shape of the human body, anthropomorphic robots could have advantages over wheeled and animal-shaped robots that could help them integrate into society more easily.

Scientists from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) and University of Pisa in Italy have developed a humanoid robot that can operate human tools and interact with its environment in the same way a person would. They hope their Walk-Man robot will prove a more effective design for search and rescue scenarios where it's too dangerous for humans to venture.
Lead researcher Nikos Tsagarakis believes the world won't need to be adapted to accommodate Walk-Man, meaning it could eventually operate in damaged buildings; turning a heavy valve of lifting collapsed masonry, for example.

Remarkable Deal: Colette Offering 50% Off Many Apple Watch Models

by Joe Rossignol

French boutique retailer Colette has launched an online sale offering many stainless steel Apple Watch and 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition models for around 50% off, by far the lowest prices available for those Apple Watch models this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Due to the significant savings, stock will likely be depleted very quickly.

Apple-Watch-Edition-Ad

A total of thirteen Apple Watch and six Apple Watch Edition models have been listed for half price, although some models appear to have already sold out. Colette is also selling individual stainless steel Link Bracelets and Milanese Loops for half price during the limited time promotion.

Black Friday Deals: Apple Accessories, Cases, Docks, Home Automation and More

by Joe Rossignol

In addition to Black Friday deals from Best Buy, MacMall and other major retailers, many smaller companies are offering discounts on Apple products, accessories and apps for U.S. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

A number of those deals are highlighted below, with most beginning to go live, and more can be found in our Black Friday roundup. Please note that product availability may be limited, and prices are subject to change.

Intrepid Bag Co.

The Intrepid Bag Co., a site that makes high-quality leather bags, has an exclusive discount code for MacRumors readers. Between now and December 2nd, use the code WeLoveMacRumors10 to get a discount on any of the site's products.

intrepidjourneyman

Casetify

UK police make fifth arrest in TalkTalk hack inquiry

An 18-year-old youth from Wales who was detained on Tuesday in the fifth arrest connected to a cyber attack on telecoms company TalkTalk was bailed on Wednesday pending further investigations, police said in a statement.

A computer screen shows details of TalkTalk's login page on its web site in London, Britain, October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Police searched an address in the town of Llanelli on Tuesday and took the youth into custody on suspicion of blackmail. They did not name him or provide any further details.
He was bailed to a date in March 2016 while police inquiries continue.
TalkTalk said on Oct. 23 it had received a ransom demand from an unidentified party claiming responsibility for the attack. It said the demand for payment came by email into the corporate email account of Chief Executive Dido Harding.
The four others who have been arrested as part of the investigation into the TalkTalk hack

Sony's PlayStation 4 sales top 30 million consoles

Sony Corp on Wednesday said sales of its PlayStation 4 video game console exceeded 30.2 million units as of Nov. 22, as global price cuts ahead of the year-end holiday season bolstered demand.The PlayStation 4, which went on sale in late 2013, has been Sony's fastest-selling game console, the Japanese electronics manufacturer said. It hit sales of 20 million consoles in March.
The console helped Sony book its highest second-quarter operating profit in eight years.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

Toshiba to brief on Westinghouse impairment charges on FridayToshiba to brief on Westinghouse impairment charges on Friday

Toshiba Corp will brief analysts on Friday on impairment changes at its U.S. nuclear power unit Westinghouse.Chief Executive Masashi Muromachi and Westinghouse chief Danny Roderick will both attend the briefing, Toshiba said.
The conglomerate this month reported that Westinghouse had booked charges of $930 million in fiscal 2012 and $390 million in fiscal 2013 as the Fukushima disaster reduced demand for new nuclear power plants. [nL3N1372RN]
That increased speculation long held by analysts that the value of assets and goodwill related to Toshiba's 87 percent stake in the nuclear unit has been overstated.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; editing by Jason Neely)

T-Mobile Offers Sprint Customers $200 Credit Per Line to Switch

by Joe Rossignol

T-Mobile has announced a second "Un-carrier Unwrapped" promotion that offers Sprint customers a $200 bill credit for each line switched to a T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid plan starting Thursday, November 26.

The offer is valid for Sprint, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile postpaid and prepaid customers, with no device trade-in required for the bill credit.

Sprint customers can still take advantage of T-Mobile's Carrier Freedom offer, which provides up to $650 towards a balance owing or to pay off early termination fees (ETFs) with an eligible device trade-in.

Black Friday App Deals Include Pixelmator, Linky, Lost Within and More

by Joe Rossignol

Just ahead of Thanksgiving and the busy Black Friday shopping holiday in the U.S., some app developers have discounted their iOS and Mac apps for a limited time.

Black Friday App Store

We have been tracking App Store price drops on our sister website AppShopper and found early deals on popular apps Pixelmator, Linky, Lost Within and more.

Pixelmator-icon

Pixelmator for iOS [Direct Link] has been discounted from $4.99 to $1.99, which is 60% off and the image editing app's lowest price since it went on sale for 99 cents in July 2015.

Pixelmator is a powerful, full-featured, layer-based image editor that lets you touch up and enhance images, sketch and paint, as well as create advanced image compositions on iPad and iPhone alike.

Pixelmator for Mac [Direct Link] is also on sale for $14.99, which is 50% off its regular price of $29.99. The OS X image editing app last went on sale for $14.99 in April 2015.

Pixelmator takes full advantage of the latest Mac technologies, giving you speedy, powerful tools that let you touch up and enhance images, draw or paint, apply dazzling effects, or create advanced compositions amazingly simple. Once your images are ready, access them anywhere with iCloud, send them to iPhoto or Aperture, email, print, share, or save them to popular image formats–all right from Pixelmator.

Mocking, faking, and stubbing C++

René Damm,

Here’s a look at a new approach we’re trying for doing unit testing in a huge C++ legacy codebase that is largely hostile to testing.

We think a lot about testing. Both because we want to feel more comfortable changing things, and because we realize that many, many developers depend on Unity being stable and reliable. And that’s something we want to continuously get better at.
We have previously blogged about how we do high-level testing from C#, but over time we have come to realize that we also need much more low-level, much faster, and much more fine-grained tests. The thing is, though, that our C++ codebase is rather hostile to any such test. Testing a huge C++ codebase with lots of legacy code is tough.
But… we’ve now made it a little easier.
Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 11.03.03

After looking around and realizing that no-one quite solves the problem the way we need to (what TypeMock does comes closest but it’s Windows-only so not of much use to us), we sat down and pondered what we could do. Obviously, we can’t rewrite our whole codebase for the sake of tests. Whatever we were to come up with would have to work with where we are and with how we write C++ code.

Hijacking…

Apple and China UnionPay have reportedly reached a deal to bring Apple's NFC payment service, Apple Pay, to the country. The preliminary agreement between the two companies would see Apple introduce Apple Pay through UnionPay's point-of-sales network, according to "people familiar with the matter" who spoke with Bloomberg.

Details of the agreement are yet to be finalized, pending feedback from banks that issue cards, said the people, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Shanghai-based UnionPay, the nation’s largest payment and clearing network, aims to introduce Apple Pay as soon as next year, one of the people said.

UHD TV - What's the Damage?

By Peter Suciu

TV manufacturers could have a very good holiday season, and the good times likely will continue through 2019.Sales of 4K or Ultra High Definition TV sets will exceed 330 million units by the end of 2019 -- a sharp increase from the 2 million sold in 2013, according to data released last month by Parks Associates.

However, while the price of those sets has fallen sharply and likely will continue to fall, a report released this month by the Natural Resources Defense Council contended that new UHD models use on average 30 percent more energy than their HD predecessors.
The group, which was founded in 1970, suggested that this increased energy use could add a total of US$1 billion to U.S. viewers' annual utility bills.

Apple Shares 'Someday At Christmas' Ad With Stevie Wonder and Andra Daye

by Mitchel Broussard

A day before Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States, Apple this morning shared a new Christmas-themed ad for 2015, featuring a handful of Apple products and starring artists Stevie Wonder and Andra Daye. The 90-second ad centers on Stevie Wonder and his family preparing for the upcoming holiday season with the help of a few Apple devices.

FAA task force to submit drone recommendations Saturday

WASHINGTON

Best Buy Now Offering Apple Pencil, Orders Arrive as Early as Next Week

Best Buy has the in-demand Apple Pencil in stock and is accepting orders for the device as of today. Supplies may go quickly, but for the time being, Best Buy's site says orders will arrive as early as Tuesday, November 24 with express shipping, or Thursday, December 3 with standard shipping. Best Buy's stock may already be low as the site sometimes lists the Apple Pencil as unavailable before listing it as purchasable upon refresh.

applepencilinstock

Best Buy appears to be one of the only stores with actual stock of the Apple Pencil. At Staples, the Apple Pencil is listed as "Coming Soon" with stock arriving on November 25, which is the only other upcoming

Apple Pencil Teardown Reveals Antenna, Battery and Tiny Folded Logic Board

PST by Joe Rossignol

iFixit has completed an Apple Pencil teardown, removing the outer plastic casing to reveal the pencil's inner metal cylinder. The teardown provides a closer look at several Apple Pencil components, including the antenna, battery, pencil nib, Lightning connector and miniature folded logic board.

Apple-Pencil-Teardown

At the core of the Apple Pencil is a tiny 0.329 Wh lithium-ion rechargeable battery that holds just 5% of the charge of an iPhone 6s battery, next to a small cylindrical black and gold antenna. There is also a small ribbon cable that connects the Apple Pencil's battery with its Lightning connector for charging.

Intel warns that U.S. regulation could drive drone R&D overseas

WASHINGTON

Intel Corp could relocate its drone research and development operations overseas if the federal government adopts an "overly prescriptive" approach to unmanned aerial systems technology, an Intel executive told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday.

Open sourcing the high level multiplayer networking layer

Lárus Ólafsson,

What has been open sourced exactly?

The multiplayer feature can be split into a lower and higher layer. The lower one is the transport layer, mostly residing in the NetworkTransport class. This layer exists inside the Unity engine and is written in C++. Its main purpose is to provide a thin layer above socket access and we optimized it for performance. Above this, we have the high level API, which is written in C# and exists in a modular extension DLL. This extension DLL has been open sourced and you can modify/extend it and replace the one shipped with Unity. It’s released under the MIT/X11 license, which means you can use it as you like and there are no restrictions or requirements for contributing back any changes.

Dorsey's Square jumps in market debut, offering hope to startups

By Rachel Chitra

Jack Dorsey (L), CEO of Square and CEO of Twitter, Jim McKelvey co-founder of Square (2nd R) and NYSE President Tom Farley (R) watch as Mac Riley rings a ceremonial opening bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the IPO of Square Inc., in New York November 19,...

Reuters/Lucas Jackson

Shares of Square Inc, the mobile payments company co-founded and still run by Twitter Inc Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, rose as much as 64 percent in their market debut, offering hope to tech startups hoping to go public.Square's shares touched a high of $14.78 in early trading on Thursday, valuing the company at $4.77 billion.
While the stock popped at the opening, the IPO price of $9 per share was well below the expected range of $11-$13.

Investors 'swipe right' in Tinder-owner Match's market debut

Shares of media mogul Barry Diller's Match Group Inc (MTCH.O), the owner of popular dating site Match.com and mobile app Tinder, jumped as much 16 percent in their market debut on Thursday, valuing the company at $3.34 billion.

ON Semiconductor to buy Fairchild in $2.4 billion deal

ON Semiconductor Corp (ON.O) said it would buy Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc (FCS.O) in a $2.4 billion deal, the latest in a rapidly consolidating semiconductor industry.Shares of Fairchild were trading at $19.33 before the bell on Wednesday, slightly below the offer price of $20 per share.
The deal will help ON Semiconductor diversify its semiconductor business, which makes chips to improve power efficiency in products ranging from home appliances to automobiles.

There is little product and revenue overlap between the two companies, Chief Executive Keith Jackson said on a conference call.
The combined company will have annual revenue of $5 billion, and the revenue overlap is expected to be less than $100 million, Jackson said.
Fairchild, one of the pioneers of the semiconductor industry, has been struggling to boost growth in the face of slowing demand from the industrial, appliance and consumer markets in recent quarters.
The semiconductor industry is seeing a wave of deals this year as companies seek to cut costs, meet demand for cheaper chips and diversify portfolios as Internet-connected devices gain popularity.

Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz launches $200 million Bio Fund

SAN FRANCISCO | By Sarah McBride

Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz put itself on the map with software investing. Now, it plans to take its software-heavy approach to biology and medicine, with a new $200 million fund for the hybrid sector and a former Stanford professor to run it.Vijay Pande, who previously taught chemistry, structural biology and computer science at Stanford University, is taking the helm of the new Bio Fund.
While much smaller than the venture firm’s last $1.5 billion general fund, $200 million amounts to a substantial sum for a fund focused on relatively niche areas such as digital therapeutics, cloud technology in biology, and computational medicine.
In an interview Wednesday, Pande said he was eager to avoid the term “biotech,” because of the image it evokes.

Microsemi hikes offer for PMC-Sierra, which prefers Skyworks' bid

Chipmaker Microsemi Corp (MSCC.O) on Wednesday raised its offer to buy PMC-Sierra Inc (PMCS.O) again, two days after PMC-Sierra said it deemed Skyworks Solutions Inc's (SWKS.O) proposal superior to Microsemi's previous bid.Microsemi's new offer values PMC-Sierra at $12.05 per share – $9.22 in cash and 0.0771 in stock – and has an implied enterprise value of $2.3 billion, net of PMC's cash balance, the company said.
Microsemi had on Oct. 30 hiked its offer to buy PMC-Sierra, topping a bid from Skyworks, as the bidding war to buy the chip-equipment maker escalated.
(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

Apple Launches Magnetic Apple Watch Dock for $79

by Mitchel Broussard

Following a handful of leaked images yesterday, TechCrunch has confirmed that Apple has launched an official Apple Watch magnetic charging dock today for $79.

Apple-Watch-Magnetic-Charging-Dock

German blogger Benjamin Scholtysik managed to get his hands on the official dock from the Apple Store in Berlin, but the accessory does not appear to be on the Apple Online Store or stocked at Apple Retail Stores in the United States yet.

Privately held chipmaker Montage Technology Group Ltd raised its offer for Pericom Semiconductor Corp (PSEM.O) to about $442 million, trumping Diodes Inc's (DIOD.O) $413 million bid.Montage said on Wednesday it would now offer $19 per share in cash for Pericom, higher than the $18.50 it had initially offered on Sept. 30.
Pericom shares rose about 3 percent to $18.22 in light premarket trading.
The semiconductor industry has seen rapid consolidation in the recent months as companies look to meet demand for cheaper chips and new

Monday 30 November 2015

Best Buy

Target

Friday 27 November 2015

Blue Origin's Big Implications

Thursday 26 November 2015

Intrepid Bag Co.

Casetify

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Hijacking…

Friday 20 November 2015

Thursday 19 November 2015

Wednesday 18 November 2015