Facebook Antitrust Probes Will Target Acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram

A group of state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is on track to file antitrust charges against Facebook in early December, according to a report Thursday from the Washington Post. CNET: The move comes as the US Federal Trade Commission is also reportedly finalizing its antitrust probe into the social media giant. State and federal investigators…

Spotify To Buy Podcast Ad Company Megaphone for $235 Million

Spotify’s making another big podcasting acquisition. The company said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement to acquire ad tech company Megaphone in a $235 million deal. The companies declined to say whether the deal was in cash, stock or a mix of both. From a report: Megaphone offers technology for podcast publishers and advertisers seeking targeted slots on podcasts….

T-Mobile Will Pay $200 Million To Settle Sprint’s Alleged Lifeline Abuse

T-Mobile is paying the price for the reported misdeeds of its recent acquisition. From a report: The carrier has agreed to pay a $200 million settlement over FCC allegations Sprint abused the Lifeline program for low-income communications, claiming subsidies for 885,000 customers that weren’t using the initiative. The agreement also requires that T-Mobile honor the rules of a consent decree.The provider…

Twilio Wraps $3.2 Billion Purchase of Segment After Warp-Speed Courtship

Three weeks after announcing the $3.2 billion deal, TechCrunch is reporting that Twilio has officially acquired communications API company Segment. From the report: While we can’t know for sure, the speed with which the deal closed could suggest that it was in the works longer than we had known, and when we began hearing rumors of the acquisition, it could have…

Could RISC-V Processors Compete With Intel, ARM, and AMD?

“As promised, SiFive has unveiled a new computer featuring the company’s SiFive FU740 processor based on RISC-V architecture,” reports Liliputing: The company, which has been making RISC-V chips for several years, is positioning its new SiFive HiFive Unmatched computer as a professional development board for those interested in working with RISC-V. But unlike the company’s other HiFive boards, the new Unmatched…

Sony Close To Buying Crunchyroll For Nearly $1 Billion

According to Nikkei, Sony is close to acquiring U.S. anime-streaming service Crunchyroll for more than $957 million. From the report: Sony has its own popular anime, titles like “Demon Slayer” and “Kimetsu no Yaiba,” but has been licensing it to streaming services. Sony’s Aniplex, the studio behind “Kimetsu no Yaiba,” has a variety of content, including movies and music, that is…

Under Armour To Sell MyFitnessPal For $345 Million, After Acquiring It In 2015 For $475 Million

Global fitness giant Under Armour announced this morning that it will be selling MyFitnessPal to investment firm Francisco Partners for $345 million, five and a half years after acquiring it for $475 million. The company also announced that it will be winding down the Endomondo platform which it also acquired at the same time for $85 million. TechCrunch reports: In a…

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Successfully Stows Sample of Asteroid Bennu

fahrbot-bot shares a press release from NASA: NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has successfully stowed the spacecraft’s Sample Return Capsule (SRC) and its abundant sample of asteroid Bennu. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the mission team sent commands to the spacecraft, instructing it to close the capsule — marking the end of one of the most…

AMD Grabs Xilinx for $35 Billion as Chip Industry Consolidation Continues

The chip industry consolidation dance continued this morning as AMD has entered into an agreement to buy Xilinx for $35 billion, giving the company access to a broad set of specialized workloads. From a report: AMD sees this deal as combining two companies that complement each other’s strengths without cannibalizing its own markets. CEO Lisa Su believes the acquisition will help…

NASA’s OSIRIS-REX Makes Historic Touchdown On Asteroid Bennu To Collect Rock Samples

NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) sample return spacecraft has successfully touched the asteroid Bennu and collected a 2-oz sample of its surface. New Atlas reports: Launched atop an Atlas/Centaur booster from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on September 8, 2016 at 7:05 pm EDT, the robotic OSIRIS-REx probe spent…