Links 2 • Nuclear Bits

FT: Apple in talks with luxury carmaker McLaren (Paywalled)

Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw in a big scoop for the Financial Times:

Apple has approached McLaren Technology Group, the British supercar engineer and Formula One team owner, about a potential acquisition, in the clearest sign yet that the iPhone maker is seeking to transform the automotive industry.

The California technology group, which has been working on a self-driving electric vehicle for more than two years, is considering a full takeover of McLaren or a strategic investment, according to three people briefed on the negotiations who said talks started several months ago.

This sounds insane. But then again, so did FT’s scoop about Apple buying Beats for $3.2 Billion. Almost everyone I remember went something like, “Why would Apple buy Beats!?”

September 21, 2016 ✚ Permalink

OLA: Clearing the Air

Yesterday, a report was published by DNA that quoted “sources” claiming that Uber was looking to buy a controlling stake in rival OLA by buying out all of its stake holders, including promoters Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, except for SoftBank.

“Uber is buying a controlling stake in Ola, where all the shareholders, except SoftBank, is being bought out. The enterprise valuation is being estimated at $4billion,” said the source.

OLA rebuffed this report as baseless and today, has clarified on the official blog:

We would like to state that the article, attributed to an ‘unnamed source’ is completely false, misleading, malicious and planted in the said newspaper with the intent of causing harm to the Ola brand and creating confusion among our stakeholders.

We are shocked and dismayed at the lack of journalistic ethics in carrying the story, despite our repeated denial to the reporter and the publication’s editorial representatives. We also had received a verbal confirmation that the report shall not be carried given the company’s denial.

We will initiate appropriate legal action and seek redressal and compensation for the damage caused to us by this irresponsible reporting from DNA.

Yikes!

April 16, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Flickr Might Be Up for Sale

Michael Zhang from PetaPixel referencing a WSJ report:

[…] Yahoo sent out letters to potential buyers in recent days, asking that they submit bids over the next two weeks for Yahoo’s businesses and holdings.

There are reportedly about 40 companies interested in snatching up part or all of Yahoo. Potential buyers include Verizon, Time, Microsoft, IAC/InterActiveCorp, private equity firms, and more. Yahoo originally acquired Flickr back in 2005 for around $25 million.

Yahoo has completely botched Flickr in recent times. They’ve made some crazy stupid decisions in the past, including making the Desktop Auto Uploadr a Pro feature.

sigh

March 30, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Vodafone to Acquire YOU Broadband for ₹400 Crores

Baiju Kalesh & Deepali Gupta, reporting for The Economic Times:

Vodafone India has signed a pact to buy YOU Broadband for around Rs 400 crore and has sought approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, said two people familiar with the transaction.

YOU Broadband has been an interesting ISP available in Mumbai, but they’ve stayed away from my area for years now, with no immediate plans to lay fibre here anytime soon.

I don’t expect Vodafone to change that either.

March 30, 2016 ✚ Permalink

The Joy of Tech: iPhone’s on First?

Nitrozac and Snaggy have this hilarious take on Apple’s iPhone product lineup over at The Joy of Tech.

For the uninitiated, this is a reference to the Abbott and Costello sketch, Who’s on First.

March 23, 2016 ✚ Permalink

ILM’s Art for Star Wars – The Force Awakens

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has just published this portfolio of 45 pre-production concept art on their website. It’s a fascinating look into the thought process that went into the film, and includes a lot of art for sequences that didn’t even make it into the final cut.

Since Industrial Light & Magic’s inception in 1975, every idea dreamt into existence found its genesis within the ILM Art Department. Forty years ago, legendary concept designers like Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston brought George Lucas’s brainchild of an asymmetrical Star Wars “used universe” to life, imagining fantastic worlds bursting with iconic heroes, villains, spaceships and aliens. The ILM Art Department continues to revolutionize film design today, coupling classical technique with the very bleeding edge of technology. Acclaimed directors like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and J.J. Abrams work hand-in-hand with the best art directors and artists in the film industry, exploring ideas and iterating on those ideas until their vision is realized, making the unreal real and the impossible possible.

Even if you are not a fan of the Star Wars franchise, you should check this out for sure.

March 14, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Flickr Desktop Auto-Uploadr Now a Pro-only Feature

Flickr today has announced a big change to its service that has left me baffled. On its company blog, Flickr says that it wanted to “reaffirm [their] commitment to the members of the Flickr community who wanted to know more about how people were sharing and engaging with their photos”

And how does Flickr plan to do that? Well,

The biggest change is that we are making the desktop Auto-Uploadr a Flickr Pro-only feature, giving Pro members exclusive access to the tool. This feature lets you effortlessly upload all of your photos from wherever they are being stored, while making them accessible from any device. If you are already a Pro member, you won’t see any changes to your existing subscription.

Flickr just yanked a tool that let its users upload more content to the service away from free users. Think about that for a moment. Flickr has already been in the dump lately, and now it has actively made it difficult for users to effectively the service. I fail to understand why it gives our tons of Free storage to users and then pulls a move like this.

March 9, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Official Release Dates for Upcoming Disney Pixar Films

The official @DisneyPixar Twitter handle just tweeted out the official release dates for their upcoming films through 2019.

I am very excited for The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory, but not so much about Cars 3.

October 8, 2015 ✚ Permalink