Sources: FCC plans to scrap and replace the Electronic Comment Filing System, used for public feedback, after the fake comments controversy — After years of so-called “upgrades” that have failed to allay oversight lawmakers' concerns about the integrity of its public comment system …
UK's Labour party pledges free broadband for all by 2030, by nationalizing part of BT and introducing a tax on tech giants, if it wins the general election — Labour has promised to give every home and business in the UK free full-fibre broadband by 2030, if it wins the general election.
Surely just about everyone was surprised when the Department of Defense named Microsoft as the winner of the decade long, $10 billion JEDI cloud contract last month, none more so than Amazon, the company everyone assumed all along would be the winner. Today the company confirmed earlier reports that it was challenging the contract award in the Court of Federal Claims.
The Federal Times broke this story.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson suggested that there was possible bias and issues in the selection process. “AWS is uniquely experienced and qualified to provide the critical technology the U.S. military needs, and remains committed to supporting the DoD’s modernization efforts. We also believe it’s critical for our country that the government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in a manner that is free from political influence.
“Numerous aspects of the JEDI evaluation process contained clear deficiencies, errors, and unmistakable bias — and it’s important that these matters be examined and rectified,” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch.
It’s certainly worth noting that the president has not hidden his disdain for Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, who also is owner of the Washington Post newspaper. As I wrote in Even after Microsoft wins, JEDI saga could drag on:
Amazon, for instance, could point to Jim Mattis’ book where he wrote that the president told the then Defense Secretary to “screw Bezos out of that $10 billion contract.” Mattis says he refused, saying he would go by the book, but it certainly leaves the door open to a conflict question.
Oracle also filed a number of protests throughout the process including one with the Government Accountability Office that was later rejected. It also went to court and the case was dismissed. All of the protests claimed that the process favored Amazon. The end result proved it didn’t.
The president interjected himself in the decision process in August, asking the Defense secretary, Mark T. Esper to investigate once again if the procurement process somehow favored Amazon, and the week the contract was awarded, the White House canceled its subscription to the Washington Post.
In October, the decision finally came and the DOD chose Microsoft. Now Amazon is filing a challenge in federal Court, and the JEDI saga really ain’t over until it’s over.
Homeis, a startup building networking tools for immigrant communities, officially launched its community for Mexican immigrants this week.
Co-founder and CEO Ran Harnevo (pictured above) previously founded video syndication company 5min, which was acquired by AOL, where he served as the global president of the company’s video division. (AOL also bought TechCrunch and then was acquired, in turn, by Verizon.)
The company’s goal is to create networks that are focused on the needs of specific immigrant communities — starting with Israeli, French and Indian Communities — helping them find things like new friends and job opportunities.
In the launch announcement, the startup says that its Mexican community will “address specific pain points for Mexican immigrants,” for example by helping them find trusted immigration lawyers.
And if building tools for immigrants seems like a political act in 2019, that’s something Harnevo (an Israeli immigrant himself) seems to be embracing.
“It’s our personal mission to empower immigrants, and that has never been more critical,” he said in a statement. “The increased tension and hostility towards immigration has made it clear that tech companies must step up. With the launch of our Mexican community, we are able to share our technology and resources with the largest immigrant community in the U.S. As immigrants ourselves, that means a lot to us.”
Homeis raised a $12 million Series A led by Canaan Partners and Spark Capital earlier this year.
Nvidia reports Q3 revenues of $3.01B, down 5% YoY, compared to $2.91B expected, with gaming revenue down 6% YoY at $1.66B and data center revenue of $726M — Nvidia has dealt with numerous issues, including the disappearance in revenue from selling cards for mining cryptocurrencies and a pause …
Automated crypto lending platform Compound raises $25M Series A from a16z, says it now has over $150M worth of assets on its platform — At a time when high interest savings accounts are languishing at an anemic 2%, Craig Hammell found a way to earn more than 8% this past summer.
Putting an end to several months of rumours and speculations, Apple has taken the wraps off its new 16-inch MacBook Pro. The refreshed MackBook Pro offers new components that are claimed to deliver up to 80 percent better performance. The company claims to have fixed the butterfly mechanism keyboard issues with the new Magic Keyboard. The 16-inch MacBook Pro is Apple’s largest Retina display on a MacBook till date with a 3072x1920p resolution and 226PPI pixel density.
The new 16-inch MacBook Pro comes equipped with Intel's 9th Gen octa-core CPUs that are stated to clock speeds of up to 5.0GHz when configured. It comes with up to 64GB RAM, up to 8TB of storage, AMD Radeon Pro 5000M graphics with up to 8GB of dedicated VRAM, and a 100Wh battery. Apple says it has implemented a new thermal design, revamped six-speaker sound system, 'high-performance' microphone array and supposedly improved battery life. Like the 15-inch model, the new 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro sports a Touch Bar, Touch ID sensor, Force Touch trackpad, and Apple T2 security chip.
According to Apple, the new Magic Keyboard features 1mm key travel and a "refined" scissor mechanism. Coming to connectivity options, the 16-inch MacBook Pro sports four Thunderbolt 3 ports that support USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) and DisplayPort video output. There's a 3.5mm audio jack as well, along with Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, and a 720p FaceTime camera. The new MacBook Pro measures 16.2mm thick and weighs 2kg.
The 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro is said to feature additional vents, a larger heatsink, and more powerful fans, which allows for better-sustained performance under heavy load. Photoshop edits can be up to 1.5x faster, Xcode code compilation up to 1.7x faster, DaVinci Resolve can render effects up to 1.8x faster, and MATLAB simulations can run up to 2.1x faster on the new 6-inch MacBook Pro, claims Apple.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro will be available in Silver and Space Gray colour options and is labelled “coming soon.” The new notebook is priced at Rs 1,99,900 for the base model that features a 2.6GHz six-core Intel Core i7 CPU, 512GB SSD, 16GB of 2666MHz DDR4 RAM, and AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU.
Additionally, Apple’s website no longer lists the 15-inch MacBook Pro models. However, 13-inch models remain listed. The company has also announced a new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR. They will go on sale in the US in December. There is no word on India availability yet.
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Wall Street Journal : Sources: Cantor Fitzgerald agreed to invest as much as $600M in Tether for about a 5% stake in the past year; Canto...
