Technology

From AOL Time Warner to DirecTV and Dish: 20 years of media mergers

Published

5 hours ago

October 4, 2024

From AOL Time Warner to DirecTV and Dish: 20 years of media mergers

This week, DirecTV announced it intends to buy Dish, Sling TV, and the rest of EchoStar’s television business for a dollar (while also taking on all of Dish’s debt), combining almost 20 million satellite TV subscribers from two companies that have been circling one another for decades.

But it’s not just DirecTV and Dish. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, General Electric, GM, News Corp, Tumblr, and the various incarnations of Time Warner have also gotten mixed up or split up while trying to bridge the gap between communications and media over the years.

Here’s a partial timeline of the events that might end with these two companies joining together at last.

AOL, meet Time Warner

At the turn of the 21st century, it was obvious that the internet was the future. Instant communication between anyone in the world and the idea of digital distribution was irresistible, and AOL seemed on top of the world.

What better way for Time Warner to get in on the ground floor than to join forces with the company that rode to the top, one 60-hours-of-free-internet CD at a time? By 2009, it was all over.

The satellite era is upon us, and the telecoms enter the chat

Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T’s acquisitions were an attempt to take over the media landscape built on their networks, with varying degrees of success, delivering brands like Oath, WarnerMedia, and Peacock as well as the entirely forgettable Go90.

Welcome to the streaming future

Over the next few years, AT&T executives float bad ideas for Game of Thrones, like shooting “snackable” vertical video versions. The company eventually introduced HBO Max before demoting HBO from its streaming brand, renaming the service Max.

You know what happened next: Netflix never looked back on its path to 270 million global subscribers, and Disney reintroduced the bundle for streaming. At the same time, both Quibi and CNN Plus evaporated too quickly to make an impact.

Ultimately, Verizon sold what was left of Oath to Apollo Global Management, and then AT&T shipped WarnerMedia off into a partnership with Discovery. Now, AT&T is selling all of DirecTV to TPG. That’s the private equity firm behind this new $1 attempt to merge with Dish Network again, while EchoStar can continue on its quest to build a nationwide Open RAN 5G network.

We’ll see everyone back here in another 20 years to find out how it all worked out, okay?

Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

Source link

Servers computers

0814 Rack of blade computer servers with storage or database within a datacenter ppt Slides

Published

17 mins ago

October 5, 2024

NewsAdmin

0814 Rack of blade computer servers with storage or database within a datacenter ppt Slides

source

Technology

Ben Horowitz says he’ll donate to Kamala Harris after all

Published

20 mins ago

October 5, 2024

NewsAdmin

Ben Horowitz says he’ll donate to Kamala Harris after all

“As I mentioned before, Felicia and I have known Vice President Harris for over 10 years and she has been a great friend to both of us during that time,” Horowitz wrote in an email to his venture capital firm obtained by Axios. “As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign.”

“Like, how do you walk that back?”

I… listen. Two things. First, one of the most striking things about the podcast Horowitz made with his a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was how focused both men were on who’d take their meetings. Their political commitments, in many respects, boiled down to who would spend face time with them. Near the end of the podcast, Horowitz told what was (I think?) supposed to be a heartwarming story about hanging out with Trump’s grandkids — and how his reaction to hearing about the assassination attempt on Trump was, “Oh my god, Grandpa just got shot.”

So, you know, the whole thing where Harris has been “a great friend” to both Horowitz and his wife checks out as a political position for him. In some respects, I get it. I, too, want to see my friends succeed!

But second, that crucial Trump endorsement was made before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in favor of Harris, and before the enormous outpouring of support for the new Democratic candidate. That meant a16z had already sacrificed any leverage it might have with a Harris administration — and a candidate who made Trump look like less of a sure winner. In the case of a Harris win, these boys were looking at an entire four years without important meetings, and we already know they view that as a dreadful tragedy for the entire nation.

In order to regain any possibility of leverage in a potentially Democrat-led government, someone was going to have to eat humble pie, and it sure as shit wasn’t going to be Andreessen. Horowitz, whose support for Trump was termed a “Maga U-turn” by The San Francisco Standard, has a history of donating to progressive causes; Harris, then a senator, was even a guest at a Horowitz backyard barbecue in 2018.

“I’m just wondering what they’re gonna do when Kamala wins,” one founder told The San Francisco Standard of the a16z Trump endorsement. “Like, how do you walk that back?”

Well, I guess we know now. Horowitz’s email says that he’s had several conversations with Harris and her team — crucial to note here that he got to the candidate herself, given that access is apparently one of Horowitz’s main political concerns. And so while Horowitz still thinks President Joe Biden is no-good and very bad, he is “encouraged by my belief” in Harris to do good for tech, despite the fact that she has not yet staked out any policy positions.

Harris has sort of made overtures on what Horowitz termed “probably the most emotional topic” in the election: crypto. One of her campaign aides has said, “She’s going to support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow,” in response to a question about crypto.

Source link

Technology

NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Saturday, October 5 (game #482)

Published

41 mins ago

October 5, 2024

NewsAdmin

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Connections expert

Marc McLaren

NYT Connections today (game #482) – today’s words

NYT Connections hints for game 482 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

JACUZZI
BIKINI
HANGER
X-RAY
Q-TIP
TOOTHBRUSH
G-STRING
CHAPSTICK
T-BONE
XEROX
HIPSTER
SKIRT
DRILL
FILET
SINK
THONG

NYT Connections today (game #482) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

Yellow: Beef bits
Green: Hidden clothing
Blue: Open wide!
Purple: Remember the capital letter…

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #482) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: STEAK CUTS
GREEN: KINDS OF UNDERWEAR
BLUE: INVOLVED IN A DENTIST VISIT
PURPLE: BRANDS THAT HAVE BECOME GENERIC TERMS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #482) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 482 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #482, are…

YELLOW: STEAK CUTS FILET, HANGER, SKIRT, T-BONE
GREEN: KINDS OF UNDERWEAR BIKINI, G-STRING, HIPSTER, THONG
BLUE: INVOLVED IN A DENTIST VISIT DRILL, SINK, TOOTHBRUSH, X-RAY
PURPLE: BRANDS THAT HAVE BECOME GENERIC TERMS CHAPSTICK, JACUZZI, Q-TIP, XEROX

My rating: Hard
My score: 3 mistakes

Phew! I cut this one close, losing all three guesses before I’d solved a single connection, but managing to complete the game with no further mistakes. And it is undeniably a hard one. Even yellow – supposedly the easiest group – featured four answers of which I only knew two. The connection was STEAK CUTS, and I got FILET and T-BONE, but hadn’t really heard of HANGER and was only vaguely aware of SKIRT. Ditto KINDS OF UNDERWEAR – BIKINI, G-STRING and THONG were OK, but I do not really know what a HIPSTER is.

Fortunately I managed to get blue and purple first, after a lot of thought, and scraped home with no room for further error.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Friday, 4 October, game #481)

YELLOW: CONCAVITY DENT, DIMPLE, DING, DIVOT
GREEN: SMALL AMOUNT DAB, DASH, DOLLOP, DROP
BLUE: DISNEY CHARACTERS DAISY, DALE, DOC, DORY
PURPLE: ___ DATE DELIVERY, DINNER, DREAM, DUE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Source link

Servers computers

HOW MUCH DOES A USED SERVER RACK COST

Published

53 mins ago

October 5, 2024

NewsAdmin

You might have been looking for a used server rack to purchase, but you may not know how much does a used server rack cost. The price for used server racks will depend largely on the size of your business and what you need them for. In this blog post, we’ll give you the rundown of what you need to know about purchasing a used server rack for you or your company so that you get exactly what you want without any surprises.

Learn more about how to securely and successfully sell your new and used surplus tape media by clicking the links below.

o How can I safely sell my used data tapes?
https://webuyusedtape.net/sell-tape-media/

o Should we be concerned with data leaks from LTO tapes?
https://webuyusedtape.net/2020/12/17/setup-an-airgap-using-lto-tape/

o How can we securely destroy the data on our data tapes?
https://webuyusedtape.net/services/data-destruction/

o What is a data destruction certificate?
https://webuyusedtape.net/2021/07/06/what-is-certificate-of-data-destruction/

o Are your processes compliant for tape media data destruction?
https://webuyusedtape.net/services/compliance/

o How are data tapes tracked during the data eradication process?
https://webuyusedtape.net/2021/04/20/volser-barcode-labeling-overview/

source

Technology

The best free movies on YouTube right now (October 2024)

Published

1 hour ago

October 5, 2024

NewsAdmin

The best free movies on YouTube right now (October 2024)

With cord-cutting at an all-time high, streaming services have become more important. Netflix, Max, Amazon, Prime Video, and Hulu offer countless hours of movies to watch with the push of a button. However, these services continue to raise prices, which doesn’t bode well for bank accounts.

YouTube, however, offers a wide selection of free movies. The movies are ad-supported, but that’s a fair trade-off compared to other streamers that cost north of $10 a month. If this is your first time using YouTube to watch movies, we have curated a special guide with recommendations for various genres. Check out our selections below.

Looking for more stuff you can watch for free? Check out our guides to the best free shows on YouTube and the best sites for watching free movies online. If you’re willing to pay, read these guides on the best new movies to stream and the best movies on Netflix.