The FCC signed off on Amazon's purchase of Globalstar on Tuesday. The Space Bureau found no public-interest harms, waved away the single objection (a contract fight that's already in arbitration) and said the deal puts a well-financed operator behind phone-to-satellite service. Amazon agreed to pay $90 a share back in April, about $11.6 billion, and still expects to close in … [Read more...] about Amazon Wins FCC Approval for Globalstar, an 11.6 Billion Dollar Bet on Satellite Spectrum
What an Acquisition Price Really Tells You About a Data Business
A buyer paying a large sum for a data company may be buying more than a collection of records. The valuable asset can be the process that keeps those records current, the contracts that allow them to be used, and the place the information occupies in a customer’s daily decisions. The headline price tells you very little until those pieces are separated.Start with the rights. … [Read more...] about What an Acquisition Price Really Tells You About a Data Business
LSEG Pays $3.5 Billion for Octus as October 22 Deals Bet on Data, Fiber and Talent
Four deals closed or cleared a vote on October 22. They sit in very different markets: credit data, metro fiber, Medicare advice and Italian grocery delivery. Line them up and you see what buyers paid for. In three of the four it was something hard to rebuild from scratch, whether a dataset, a duct in the ground or a team that has already shipped agents at scale. The fourth is … [Read more...] about LSEG Pays $3.5 Billion for Octus as October 22 Deals Bet on Data, Fiber and Talent
Yandex Traffic Remains 89 Percent Lower Six Days After Ukrainian Drone Strikes
Six days after the first Ukrainian drone strike on Yandex data centers, the disruption still shows up in internet traffic measurements. Cloudflare Radar reported on October 13 that traffic remained approximately 89 percent below the previous week’s level. That is a striking decline, especially because it has persisted beyond the immediate aftermath of the first attack. Whatever … [Read more...] about Yandex Traffic Remains 89 Percent Lower Six Days After Ukrainian Drone Strikes
Ebola in Congo Is Testing an International Response System Under Strain
An outbreak does not have to cross many national borders to expose an international failure. It can do so by spreading through communities where health workers cannot travel safely, patients cannot reach treatment and families have little reason to trust the authorities asking them to change their behaviour. In northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola is unfolding amid … [Read more...] about Ebola in Congo Is Testing an International Response System Under Strain
The Space Force’s Data Network Challenge Is Connecting Different Vendors’ Satellites
The operational value of a satellite network depends on whether its components can exchange information when needed. York Space Systems’ October 12 update on two previously awarded Space Force task orders puts that integration problem at the center of the story. The work supports the Space Data Network, an effort aimed at high-capacity, low-latency transport using commercially … [Read more...] about The Space Force’s Data Network Challenge Is Connecting Different Vendors’ Satellites
Amazon Raises Its Minimum Wage To 20 Dollars An Hour As Prediction Markets Go Mainstream
Amazon is raising its minimum hourly pay for eligible full-time US operations workers by a dollar, taking it to 20 dollars an hour, and adding new banking tools for employees. A fairly straightforward move in a tight labor market for warehouse work. Elsewhere, OpenAI is testing something it calls Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers, letting ChatGPT users chat directly … [Read more...] about Amazon Raises Its Minimum Wage To 20 Dollars An Hour As Prediction Markets Go Mainstream
China’s Hackers Are Using AI To Read Stolen Data Faster Than Its Students Are Learning English
Internal documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal describe a Chinese hacker-for-hire firm called ZRON that sells stolen foreign intelligence and uses AI systems to make the raw data easier for police to actually use. Not just faster collection. Faster comprehension of what was collected. At the same time, a viral post from a Chinese math teacher has reopened a real debate … [Read more...] about China’s Hackers Are Using AI To Read Stolen Data Faster Than Its Students Are Learning English
The iPhone 18 Pro Review Is In, And Apple Is Building Its Own AI Servers Too
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max reviews are out, and the verdict is fairly consistent: real gains in manual camera exposure control and image quality, at a hundred dollars more than the 17 Pro, with storage tiers that push the price further still. Apple also published a technical breakdown of how its new Reference Image camera mode establishes a chain of trust, starting at the … [Read more...] about The iPhone 18 Pro Review Is In, And Apple Is Building Its Own AI Servers Too
Snap, Meta And Google Are All Racing To Put An AI Assistant On Your Face Or In Your House
Snap's Specs got a proper hands-on review this week, and by most accounts they're more capable than Meta's top-end glasses, fully untethered and mostly comfortable to wear, even if the design still has real compromises. Snap paired the hardware launch with something called Specs Intelligence, an assistant it's calling "anticipatory," built to work across iPhone, Mac and the … [Read more...] about Snap, Meta And Google Are All Racing To Put An AI Assistant On Your Face Or In Your House