Links 10/27: AT&T’s Vision of Ultrafast Wireless Technology May Be a Mirage; Senate calls the wrong Time Warner CEO to testify

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AT&T’s Vision of Ultrafast Wireless Technology May Be a Mirage (NY Times)

The Big Deal: Senate calls the wrong Time Warner CEO to testify (Marketwatch)

CenturyLink, Level 3 Stocks Spike; Merger Of Equals? (Investor's Business Daily)

Amazon earnings: 52 cents per share, vs. expected EPS of 78 cents (CNBC)
AWS reports $3.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2016, up 55% over last year

Surprise, surprise: AWS is making boatloads of money for Amazon (The Register)

Amtrak to Pay $265M for Philadelphia Crash That Killed 8 (Bloomberg)
Was the engineer ever charged with anything?

Evolve IP acquires King of Prussia-based cloud company as M&A strategy ramps up (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Google's CFO just denied it's ditching Google Fiber, saying the unit is still 'very active (Business Insider)

Oracle Cloud Chief Shawn Price (ex-SAP) Dies at 53

Oracle Cloud Chief Shawn Price Dies at 53 (Fortune)

Prior to Oracle, Price was executive vice president at SAP. He had previously served as president of Zuora and chief executive of Savvion.

Deeply saddened by the news about Shawn Price. Good man taken too soon. Admired by many at SAP. Prayers for his family & Oracle colleagues.

— Bill McDermott (@BillRMcDermott) October 26, 2016

Links 10/26: Campbell Soup backs nutrition venture; Brickwork raises $5M in Series A Funding, led by Safeguard Scientifics

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AT&T/Time Warner seems headed for FCC review, whether AT&T likes it or not (Ars Technica)

Verizon is buying Jason Kilar's video startup Vessel and shutting it down (Recode)

Apple is launching its new TV guide tomorrow — but Netflix won’t be a part of it (Recode)


Sling’s Lynch on competing with DirecTV Now: ‘Our strategy isn’t to recreate the big bundle of channels’ (FierceCable)

Campbell Soup backs nutrition venture (Courier-Post)


NY, Canada buyers invests $150M+ in Delco's Pilot Freight (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Brickwork Raises $5M in Series A Funding, led by Safeguard Scientifics (FINSMES)

Groupon says it will acquire LivingSocial, shares drop (Chicago Tribune)
I hadn't heard much about LivingSocial lately, but it has shrunk to the point where Groupon called it "not material" to its overall
financial position. Comcast-backed Atairos Group has a minority stake in Grouopon.

Judge Group opens new Wayne headquarters (Update: Liberty Property Trust sells building)

Tom Paine

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The entire Judge Group HQ staff in front of the new headquarters /
courtesy The Judge Group

The Judge Group, a global professional services firm specializing in technology, talent & learning solutions, opened its new headquarters earlier this month in Wayne, in a newly renovated building located on South Warner Road in Upper Merion Township. It was previously headquartered in West Conshohocken. On Monday, October 10th, Judge officially opened the headquarters building with a ribbon cutting ceremony, featuring the 250+ employees that will work from the new building, along with several local dignitaries.

The Judge Group has about 530+ full time Judge employees across all locations, and places over 4,500 professionals annually, the company told me.

Founded in 1970 by Martin Judge, The Judge Group has grown from a single office in North Philadelphia, to an international company with over 35 offices in the United States, Canada, China, and India. But this is the first time it will have dedicated, single tenant headquarters.

Founder and CEO Marty Judge, Jr. and COO Katy Wiercinski cutting the Ribbon to the new building /
courtesey The Judge Group

The Judge Group has been instrumental, as a leading tech recruiter and staffing firm, in the growth of the software & IT industries in the Philadelphia area.

In 1997, Judge completed an initial public offering and became publicly traded on the NASDAQ. After seven years as a public company, Marty Judge bought back The Judge Group and reverted to private ownership. Judge has experimented with several related businesses; in the 1980s and early 1990s, it actually manufactured IBM-compatible PCs. In recent years, it has focused more on global expansion.

The new office will also serve as the global headquarters for AFL Global, the parent company of the China American Football League, founded by Martin Judge, which kicked off their inaugural season Saturday, October 1st, in Beijing.

“I am thrilled to see the business, which I started 46 years ago, grow from the small office I had in North Philadelphia, to a 90,000 square foot facility, which now serves as the global headquarters of The Judge Group,” said Judge. “The company has come such a long way, and I am extremely proud that Judge continues to be headquartered in the Greater Philadelphia area."


Update 11/12: Liberty Property Trust sold building to German investment firm.

Links 10/25: QVC to launch network dedicated to selling beauty products; AT&T will offer $35 subscription with 100 channels, including mobile streaming

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I'm Still Not Convinced by The AT&T-Time Warner Deal (Alan Murray / Fortune )

AT&T will offer $35 subscription with 100 channels and includes mobile streaming (TechCrunch)


Comcast Earnings On Tap Amid AT&T-Time Warner Deal (Investor's Business Daily)

Alphabet Cutting Jobs in Google Fiber Retrenchment (Bloomberg)


QVC to launch network dedicated to selling beauty products (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Phillies hiring to expand analytics department (Morning Call)

The definitive guide to making a successful SAP S/4 HANA business case (Denn Howlett/Diginomica)

As Harrisburg legalizes Uber & Lyft, the PPA ruminates on how to regulate them (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Uber’s new self-driving Volvo SUVs have been spotted in Pittsburgh (The Verge)

Unisys Says Turnaround Remains On Track Despite Q3 Sales, Earnings Declines (CRN)

Move towards OTT causing upheaval in content, telecom markets; Comcast in the middle of it all

Tom Paine

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Media convergence (an overused term), you might call it, seems to be reaching a fever pitch. Mostly, its pushing content companies together with more technology oriented enterprises.

Exhibit A is AT&T's approach to Time Warner, which resulted in an agreement this weekend under which AT&T would acquire Time Warner for $85 billion. AT&T was said to want to push the process quickly to a conclusion to keep Time Warner out of the arms of others (maybe Google, even Apple perhaps).

At&T acquired DirecTV for $49 billion last year, but is said to be planning to phase out the satellite business in 3 to 5 years and banking its future distribution on a large-scale OTT service, DirecTV Now, to be launched by the end of this year (actually November).

AT&t also appears to be deemphasizing its U-verse wired broadband service. What its ultimate network technology strategy will be - some combination of wired and wireless presumably - is not clear now.









As Fortune reported, "the logic behind AT&T acquiring Time Warner would likely be to counteract moves by Comcast, the cable giant that also owns NBC Universal, some analysts said."


Meanwhile, Comcast doubled its bet on new media darling BuzzFeed, according to Recode, increasing its investment from $200 million to $400 million. BuzzFeed is seen as a vehicle for Comcast's ambitions in non-linear video, on YouTube and other platforms outside the traditional cable stack. BuzzFeed's valuation for the deal is $1.7 billion, slightly more than it was for Comcast's first investment. There were reports, unconfirmed, that BuzzFeed badly missed its revenue targets last year.

But Sam Landman, a managing director at Comcast Ventures, is holding off on backing some recent media start-ups he’s seen, according to an LA Times article, until they demonstrate more revenue-generating ability.

Google has gained rights to all of CBS' content for its OTT service, including live NFL games, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported last week. The new "Unplugged" OTT service, scheduled for an early 2017 launch, will be part of Google's YouTube platform.

Also, reports last week suggested that NBCU is close to coming on board with Google's Unplugged, for much if not all of its content.

Last week also saw Comcast announce its new Comcast Technology Solutions division, a combination of its Comcast Wholesale, thePlatform and This Technology business units. Comcast Technology Solutions encompasses an Ad Platform, Video Platform and Wholesale Platform. The new unit will support the market for third-party OTT platforms and related media technology services; publisher Time Inc. is an initial client.

Verizon's results last week underscored the impact of increased wireless pricing pressures and slowing growth, and also was a reminder of its relatively weak position in content. I'll be contrarian, however, in taking the position that owning tons of content may not be an optimal course for a telecom company, and that Verizon may not be off track in its strategy.

From AT&T's point of view, however, some of the thinking behind the Time Warner deal is that the more valuable content you own, the more reciprocal power you have in negotiating for rights to other's content.

Links 10/24: Moffett: Comcast Verizon MVNO plans could be good for both companies; T-Mobile jumps 9% on speculation

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Moffett: Comcast Verizon MVNO Plans Could Be Good for Both Companies (Telecompetitor)

AT&T/Time Warner deal could be approved without any FCC merger review (Ars Technica)


AT&T Exec Blogs Case for Time Warner Merger (Multichannel News)

Michael Wolff on AT&T's Time Warner Deal and the Coming Game of Dominoes (Hollywood Reporter)

AT&T Clarifies Its Intent to Buy Time Warner (Not a Similarly Named Cable Company) (Hollywood Reporter)

T-Mobile Jumps 9%. Could It Be Bought?
(Barron's)







76ers lab chooses a fantasy sport site as first startup (Philly.com)

Fantasy Sports Companies Near Settlement With New York State (NY Times)
Both FanDuel and DraftKings are reportedly close to running out of cash, though in the past they've always been able to gin up more when needed.

TD Ameritrade faces scrutiny over Scottrade purchase (Reuters)
TD Bank also buying Scottrade banking business.


NetSuite reduces loss, but revenue outlook withdrawn (Diginomica)

Chance encounter with an AT&T DirecTV distributor

Tom Paine

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I happened to run into a DirecTV contractor (I assumed he was an independent, as most are), quite by chance this weekend.

When I mentioned to him that AT&T (which acquired DirecTV last year for a mere $49 billion) was acquiring Time Warner for $85 billion, he assumed I meant Time Warner Cable. I explained to him that TWC had been spun off from Time Warner a few years back, and was more recently acquired by Charter.

He seemed even more surprised that AT&T was spending all that money on programming content, like the Cartoon Network.

What really threw him was when I said AT&T was planning to get out of satellite distribution over the next five years or so, and rely on an OTT (over the internet) model. "That's our business," he responded. They serve the rural mountain counties around here where cable companies don't go, and there are few other options. One person I spoke with recently couldn't even get DSL.


Since I didn't mean to upset him, I told him that AT&T probably would make arrangements to continue to serve such customers by satellite, either by itself or by spinning off the rural areas to a separate company, as Verizon has done with its outlying territories.

Unless, I said, AT&T can come up with a robust enough LTE service for areas like that; then all bets are off.

Sunday Highlights: Shutter Three Mile Island?; Is Netflix taking over Hollywood?

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America’s Nuclear Problem (Bloomberg)
Close Three Mile Island? Absurd!

Netflix Is Taking Over Hollywood, and Hollywood Isn’t Thrilled (Bloomberg)

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: I love Twitter, but shareholders didn't want to buy it (CNBC)


AWS 'fesses up to cloud bill shock worries with budget calc update (The Register)

Cloudamize Adds New Platform Enhancements to Speed and Simplify Large Enterprise Migrations to the Public Cloud



Watch out Accenture, Deloitte – here comes Wip-pirio (Diginomica)

AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85 billion (Highlights & Opinions)

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AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85 billion, create telecom-media giant (Reuters)

AT&T to buy HBO, CNN, and the rest of Time Warner for more than $80 billion (The Verge)

AT&T to Buy Time Warner for $107.5/Sh in Cash and Stock; $85 Equity Value (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)


Regulatory Microscope Lies Ahead for AT&T and Time Warner (New York Times: DealBook)

AT&T strikes $85B deal to buy Time Warner (New York Post)

How Aggressive AT&T Has Out-Maneuvered Verizon, Comcast (Investor's Business Daily)

AT&T’s Time Warner deal looks like bad news for Verizon (Washington Post)

The ghost of AOL will haunt the Time Warner-AT&T deal (Recode)

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia Launches Expansive Virtual Reality Experience ; Most Comprehensive for Museums Worldwide Major Public Launch Event: October 25, 2016

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia Launches Expansive Virtual Reality Experience
Most Comprehensive for Museums Worldwide

Major Public Launch Event: October 25, 2016

The Franklin Institute.
NEWS PROVIDED BY
The Franklin Institute
Oct 21, 2016, 10:42 ET
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PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is transforming the way museums use digital technology to engage audiences with the launch of the most comprehensive, multi-tiered virtual reality initiative of museums worldwide.

The key components of The Franklin Institute's initiative include two museum firsts: the creation of a virtual reality content library loaded with premier science content curated from all over the globe—including the exclusive debut of one of the first 360-degree videos from the bottom of the deep ocean—all housed on the museum's first-ever mobile app; and an innovative virtual reality demonstration and lab space for immersive room-scale VR visitor experiences. This will be paired with mass distribution of thousands of free Google Cardboards to visitors, as well as virtual reality experiences within such iconic exhibits as The Giant Heart, Your Brain, and Space Command, culminating in The Franklin Institute leveraging this expertise to host conferences and workshops to allow for knowledge sharing among museums educators and various audiences.

A free public launch event at The Franklin Institute is planned for the evening of Tuesday, October 25. Experts from all across the country (United Nations, MIT, Surgical Theater) will showcase the most cutting-edge VR technology to illustrate the breadth of virtual reality applications. Guests can attend a live virtual reality sporting event (Drexel University Men's Soccer), tour a space shuttle, watch a brain surgery being performed in virtual reality, and even watch as a drone takes a photogrammetric survey within the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial—and then explore inside of it through an HTC Vive. In addition, they will be among the very first to experience The Franklin Institute's all-new virtual reality platform.

The Institute embarked on its transformative digital strategy in 2015 with the hiring of Chief Digital Officer Susan Poulton and the formation of a dedicated digital innovation team. This next phase of the strategy further solidifies The Franklin Institute as a leader in advancing digital in the museum community. "I am excited by the enormous potential museums have to be a catalyst for bringing emerging technologies to the public," Poulton said. "The Institute will develop unique virtual reality and mobile content experiences and deliver them to expanded audiences, demonstrating that museums can take risks and lead the way digitally in ways they may have been reluctant to before."

The Franklin Institute is leveraging its strengths as one of the premier science centers in the world, specialized in providing access to high-quality, hands-on exhibits and rich STEM-based experiences, to launch this new digital platform. The efforts around virtual reality support the Institute's long-term digital strategy which include enhancing the core visitor experience, and developing new approaches for the creation and distribution of original and curated science content that expands its reach and mission to a national and global audience. The Franklin Institute has long been a leader in bringing the latest technologies to the public as the first place they could experience film, live television, and a telescope.

"The Franklin Institute is making a strong commitment to helping advance museums digitally. Our mission is to inspire a passion for learning about science and technology and immersive virtual reality is a way to do that like never before," said Larry Dubinski, President & CEO of The Franklin Institute.

The Institute will become the first cultural organization in Philadelphia to fully embrace virtual reality in a deep and transformative way, positioning itself and the Greater Philadelphia area as a key cultural destination for cutting-edge virtual (and soon augmented) reality innovation. The VR initiative will offer easy access to technology experiences for the broader Philadelphia public, and allow the Institute to form new mutually-beneficial relationships with local content creators and universities by providing an on-site testing environment through the "holodeck".

The Franklin Institute's comprehensive approach to virtual reality will solidify its role as a global leader among museums and non-profits by demonstrating the variety of experiences, from educational to engaging, that can be achieved with virtual reality.

Virtual Reality at The Franklin Institute

Virtual Reality Demonstration Space: "The Holodeck"
A first for museums nationwide, The Franklin Institute's own virtual reality facility equipped with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift and rotating science content for a complete, room-scale immersive experience. It will also serve as a testing zone providing developers across the region with a captive audience for their latest virtual reality software.

Virtual Reality Content Library
Housed within The Franklin Institute's first-ever mobile app and catering to offsite visitors, is a powerful virtual reality science content library featuring experiences curated by The Franklin Institute from all over the globe within the categories of Space, Planet Earth, Human Body, Technology, Physical Sciences, and History.

In-Exhibit Virtual Reality Experiences
The Franklin Institute is leveraging three of its core exhibits—The Giant Heart, Your Brain, and Space Command—to provide topical virtual reality experiences for visitors. The experiences will be tailored based on available virtual reality content, as well as future VR content developed by The Franklin Institute.

Virtual Reality Knowledge Sharing
With the goal of promoting knowledge sharing and best practices on digital trends and applications, The Franklin Institute will cultivate partnerships, develop and host related conferences, symposia, and workshops for a variety of audiences, including the general public, museum experts, educators, journalists, and professionals.

The Franklin Institute's mobile app is made possible by support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. To download the app, please visit www.fi.edu/mobile. Images are available: https://www.fi.edu/press-room/press-kits/virtual-reality using the password: presspass.

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
Located in the heart of Philadelphia, The Franklin Institute is a renowned and innovative leader in the field of science and technology learning, as well as a dynamic center of activity. Pennsylvania's most visited museum, it is dedicated to creating a passion for learning about science by offering access to hands-on science education. For more information, visit www.fi.edu and follow The Franklin Institute on Twitter @TheFranklin and Instagram @FranklinInstitute, hashtag #franklininstitute.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161021/431275LOGO



SOURCE The Franklin Institute

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-franklin-institute-in-philadelphia-launches-expansive-virtual-reality-experience-300349164.html