Year: 2018

Disney clears DOJ Antitrust factors to take over 21st Century Fox

CompuScoop Staff June 27, 2018 0

Disney has been cleared a major hurdle by the U.S. Department of Justice by approving the merger between Disney and 20th Century Fox - but with conditions.

Specifically Disney will have to shed itself of Fox's various regional sports networks, since the former's ownership of ESPN would give it overwhelming control of U.S. sports broadcasting, Variety reported.

"American consumers have benefitted from head-to-head competition between Disney and Fox's cable sports programming that ultimately has prevented cable television subscription prices from rising even higher," said Makan Delrahim, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. "Today's settlement will ensure that sports programming competition is preserved in the local markets where Disney and Fox compete for cable and satellite distribution."

Last week Disney raised its bid for 21st Century Fox to $71.3 billion in cash and stocks, looking to beat out Comcast, which previously tendered an all-cash bid of $65 billion. Justice Department approval should help make a case to Fox shareholders and board members, though Comcast is likely to propose an even higher bid that the Fox board will be obligated to consider.

Any Disney deal would leave out some signature divisions, namely Fox Broadcasting, Fox News, and Fox Sports.

21st Century Fox, for its part, is thought to favor Disney over Comcast precisely because of antitrust concerns. Comcast already owns NBC and Universal properties, and putting Fox under that wing would likely engender even stiffer opposition than the $85 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner. Comcast could be forced to divest more assets than Disney is preparing to, forcing a lower bid.

Apple and Disney have long had close ties. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was once in charge of Pixar, which after Disney's takeover made Jobs Disney's biggest individual shareholder. Disney CEO Bob Iger is a member of Apple's board of directors, and Apple regularly promotes Disney media on iTunes and the App Store.

Disney access to Fox assets could nevertheless make things tougher for Apple in 2019. The former is planning on launching its own streaming service, which could end up going toe-to-toe with Apple's $1 billion video slate, expected to premiere sometime next year and possibly as soon as March.

Some Google Home and Chromecast users experiencing issues

Dan Uff June 27, 2018 1

Early Wednesday, some Google Home and Chromecast users were experiencing issues accessing the service.

This is possibly due to a software update that was issued within the past couple days.

The company did acknowledge the problem both to TechCrunch and via their Twitter Account but did not issue an approximation of when the issues would be fixed.

MacOS Mojave Public Beta now available

Dan Uff June 26, 2018 0

Mid Tuesday, Apple had made a public beta of the upcoming MacOS Mojave available for users who are interested in checking out the operating system.

For more information, please go to: http://beta.apple.com.

WiFi is Getting a BIG Upgrade

CompuScoop Staff June 26, 2018 1

The next generation of secure Wi-Fi is here. The Wi-Fi Alliance yesterday (June 25) announced WPA3, the latest set of standards for Wi-Fi security.

WPA3 will in the future be mandatory for a device to become certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Currently, WPA2 is required.

That said, the transition will be a years-long process as manufacturers introduce routers, access points, computers, smartphones and other wireless devices that are compatible with WPA3 standards.

Consumer-grade WPA3 devices will use an algorithm called Simultaneous Authentication of Equals that should prevent hackers from accessing your Wi-Fi network by repeatedly guessing its password. As with modern iPhones, several successive failed attempts will temporarily block further guesses.

WPA3 also supports Forward Security, which gives each authorized session its own encryption token. This means that anyone who guesses a W-Fi network password won't be able to see the data streams of other devices on the network. There's also Protected Management Frames, a feature that should prevent anyone trying to kick you off your Wi-Fi network with commands that should come only from your router.

Two other new initiatives are not part of WPA3, but might be even more useful in the short terms.

Wi-Fi Certified Easy Connect, also unveiled yesterday, will make it easier to connect devices with a limited interface or no interface at all, such as a smart bulb or a smart plug. You'll be able connect such devices by scanning a QR code on the device without compromising your connection's security.

Earlier this month, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced Wi-Fi Certified Enhanced Open, a protocol that finally provides protections to users on public Wi-Fi networks without passwords, such as those in parks, airports and other public spaces. The protocol will encrypt communications between the access point and individual users using unique keys, making it difficult for anyone to passively eavesdrop on internet traffic.

This story was originally published on Tom's Guide.

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