Items tagged with softbank
When we think of Boston Dynamics, we think of a company that is bringing us even closer to Skynet. The company produces robots that are capable of incredible feats that make them move and function more like a human (in the case of Atlas) or like a dog (with SpotMini). The company is cranking it up another notch with the latest iterations of these two robots. With Atlas, the humanoid robot is becoming more fluid in its motions and is seen taking a casual jog outside with strides that more closely mimic that of a human. Atlas is seen running on flat land and even up a slight incline. Impressively, it is also shown jumping over a log and landing solidly with both feet. Remember, this is...
Read more...
It looks though the third time was a charm for T-Mobile and Sprint. After two previous attempts at tying the knot, T-Mobile and Sprint today officially announced that they have agreed to merge in an effort to create a powerhouse wireless company delivering 5G internet the masses. The move is no doubt an attempt to better compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, America's first- and second-place wireless carriers respectively. T-Mobile is currently a distant third place when it comes to wireless subscribers, while Sprint sits in fourth place. The combined company will be called T-Mobile, and it will be led by the T-Mobile's current executive team to spread more Un-carrier goodness....
Read more...
It's been an incredibly busy few months for Qualcomm, and it appears that the action isn't going to be slowing down anytime soon. In the past week, the US government took a weight off of Qualcomm's shoulders by putting a stop to the Broadcom deal, all in the name of national security. This happened at the same time news of potential Intel interest rose to the surface. With Qualcomm effectively safe from Broadcom, all is well... right? Not so fast. It's clear that with Intel's interest, Qualcomm is a much hotter target than previously anticipated, and for that reason, former CEO (and son of company founder) Paul Jacobs has decided he'd like to take the company private. Being either a public or...
Read more...
Reports are going around that Softbank is intending to list the mobile phone unit SoftBank Corp. in Tokyo and abroad this year. Any potential public offering would be a massive money generator with some estimating that it could bring in 2 trillion yen, which is about $18 billion. SoftBank has the potential to be one of the largest ever IPOs for a Japanese company. SoftBank reportedly intended to apply to the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as this Spring and to begin trading this fall. While the company starts trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the company also hopes to list stock overseas, possibly in London, at the same time. Reports indicate that SoftBank Group plans to sell about 30% of outstanding...
Read more...
We have seen Boston Dynamics robots pull off some pretty wild stunts over the years, from fetching beer, to walking up stairs, to being brutally assaulted by its human handlers and taking it in stride. However, this latest achievement by a Boston Dynamics Atlas robot simply left our mouths agape. The video starts off impressively enough, with the nearly 6-foot tall Atlas robot jumping onto a short platform, and then from one platform to another. It then jumps down again, only to jump up onto a platform roughly 3-ft tall (give or take a few inches) but the last platform is taller, almost twice as tall. What happens next is nothing short of amazing. Just watch the video... Your eyes do not...
Read more...
SoftBank has made yet another notable purchase in the land of tech, this time for Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics design company that has built some eerily lifelike robots. Google's parent company Alphabet had been shopping the robotics firm for more than a year after acquiring the company in 2013 and has now found a buyer. Boston Dynamics gained notoriety on the Internet by posting videos of its various robots, including Atlas, a human-like contraption that stands 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. Armed with sensors in its body, legs to balance, and both LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, Atlas is able to assess the terrain and move around like an...
Read more...
NVIDIA has been firing on all cylinders over the past year or so and has seen impressive growth in nearly all of its divisions, including gaming GPUs and its efforts in deep learning and artificial intelligence, two of the hottest fields in technology right now. The GPU maker's success has drawn the attention of SoftBank, a multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation in Japan, which just made a big time investment in NVIDIA.How big are we talking about? Try $4 billion, which gives SoftBank a 4.9 percent stake in NVIDIA. SoftBank is now the fourth-largest shareholder in the graphics chipmaker. While it is a massive investment, that amount is just a smidgen less than what would otherwise...
Read more...
It’s been a whirlwind week in the wireless industry. Verizon disturbed the hornet’s nest when it unveiled its Verizon Unlimited plan, which prompted direct responses from T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T (in that order). Now were hearing about another shakeup that could be coming down the line — a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. We’ve heard talks about such a mashup before, but it appears that the big change this time around is that Sprint’s parent company, Japan's SoftBank, is willing to cede control of the company. The merger would bring together America’s third-place (T-Mobile) and fourth-place (Sprint) wireless carriers, putting the combined company in a better position to take on Verizon...
Read more...
If you currently are in possession of a smartphone (and who isn’t these days), there’s probably close to a 99 percent chance that it’s running on a processor that was originally designed by ARM Holdings. ARM doesn’t actually build the chips that you find in smartphones like Apple’s iPhone 6s or Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge; but it does license its processor designs and related IP directly and allows licensees to create their own custom processors using ARM instruction set compatible architectures. A big shakeup is about to happen at ARM, because Japanese powerhouse SoftBank has offered to purchase the British multinational tech company for around $31.4 billion in cash. This lofty price tag represents...
Read more...
It's a good thing for Sony that its PlayStation 4 console is such a success, because in the land of mobile, especially smartphones, sales aren't anywhere as easy to come by. That's true of most companies not named Apple or Samsung, though it's particularly disappointing for Sony, one of the better known brands in electronics. Sony's strategy to turn things around in the smartphone business is to team up with Sprint and its Japan-based parent company SoftBank. For the first time, Sprint will add a Sony brand smartphone to its catalog of devices. That smartphone is expected to be the Xperia Z3, Sony's next flagship handset, which will likely launch at next week's IFA tech expo in Berlin. The goal...
Read more...
Much to T-Mobile's chagrin, Sprint is no longer interested in acquiring the nation's fourth largest wireless carrier, and the decision to ditch any potential deal the two may have been negotiating could spark a price war. That's just fine by Sprint, which is testing out new pricing plans as it prepares itself for what could be a fierce fight in wireless. Masayoshi Son, CEO of Sprint's parent firm SoftBank Corp, said his company will infuse the nation's third largest wireless carrier with its "street fighter" tactics through new leadership. Indeed, Sprint already hired a new CEO of its own, replacing former chief Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure, founder and CEO of wireless distribution company Brightstar....
Read more...
We as a society are still coming to terms with folks wearing Google Glass on their face, and eventually, we're going to have to come to grips with robots such as this walking around in parks and shopping malls. The Japanese-born robot, named Pepper, is set to go on sale early next year in Japan for just under $2,000. As of now, plans to ship it outside of Japan are still up in the air, likely due to cultural uncertainties on how nations would react to such a cutie showing up on store shelves. The robot is described as a "cooing, gesturing humanoid on wheels," which has a special talent: it can comprehend emotions and make people smile. The unit itself is 48" tall, weighs 62 pounds, has no hair,...
Read more...
Back in December, we caught wind that Japan’s Softbank was looking to snag T-Mobile, and now that deal is closer to becoming reality, according to new reports. Deutsche Telekom AG currently owns a majority stake in T-Mobile, but it’s apparently willing to sell that majority to Softbank while keeping a minority stake for itself. The news was originally leaked by Kyoto News Agency, but Reuter’s sources confirmed it while noting that there have been complications, not the least of which is overcoming regulatory concerns in the U.S. Softbank/Sprint's Son (Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg) The issue here is primarily is that Softbank also owns most of Sprint, and if it acquires...
Read more...
Sprint is forging ahead with plans to bid for a takeover of T-Mobile, according to a new report. Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Sprint has lined up financing with at least six banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG. It’s unclear how much capital will be needed, as the deal would require covering T-Mobile’s $8.7 billion in debt. Whatever the number, Softbank (which owns 80% of Sprint) and Deutsche Telekom AG (which owns 67% of T-Mobile) are talking. Part of those discussions center on who would helm the newly-merged company, and the report...
Read more...
