HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Go Separate Ways

The long-awaited split of HP's personal computer and enterprise operations has taken place, and CEO Meg Whitman, who oversaw the transition of the massive, listing ship, clearly faces the most challenging crisis of her career -- trying to save a legacy business from being buried by the sands of time and progress.

HP, which struggled for more than 15 years to compete in a modern age of mobile computing and cloud services, on Monday began its first official business day as a house divided into two brand new US$50 billion enterprises.

Whitman is now president and chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which offers cloud services and data center infrastructure to the HP corporate customer base.

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The New York Times May Get Technical With Ad Blockers

The New York Times Company last week indicated would take steps to circumvent ad-blocking tools.

"As you know, the Times' digital subscription revenue stream means that we are less exposed than most publishers to the impact of ad-blockers," said NYT Company CEO Mark Thompson during an earnings call. "Nonetheless, let me make it clear that we oppose ad blocking."

Creating "quality news content is expensive," he noted, and online advertising is an important means through with media outlets fund news gathering.

"We are exploring a number of options -- including, but not limited to, technical solutions -- to mitigate the impact of ad blockers should the threat increase," Thompson said.

When asked to elaborate on what he meant by "technical solutions" to mitigate the problem, NYT spokesperson Eileen Murphy circled back to the CEO's statements.

Thompson's prepared remarks on ad blocking during the earnings call represent the company's public comment on the matter, she told the E-Commerce Times.

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Google Migrates Project Loon to Indonesia

project Loon, part of Google's parent company, Alphabet, on Wednesday announced that it has signed agreements with three mobile network operators in Indonesia -- Indosat, Telkomse, and XL Axiata -- to begin tests of its balloon-powered Internet service in 2016.

Only about one in three of Indonesia's 250 million residents is connected to the Internet. Project Loon will transmit signals from areas connected to an Internet ground station across several balloons in the stratosphere and back down to areas without access.

The project so far has wirelessly transferred data between balloons more than 100 km apart. Its long-range plan is to provide a continuous ring of connectivity around the globe in partnership with mobile network operators.

Each balloon supports a gondola carrying solar-powered electronics. It establishes a radio link from a telecom network on the ground and beams down LTE Internet access to areas without coverage.

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Tesla's Autopilot Drifts Toward Driverless Cars

Tesla Motors on Wednesday introduced an autopilot system featuring Tesla version 7.0 software that could aid drivers in finding parking spots making lane changes, and watching for blind spots on the road.

The system is not designed to do the driving just yet, but it could help relieve drivers in the most tedious and thus potentially dangerous aspects of road travel.

The autopilot system is available in Tesla Model S vehicles. The hardware included in those models since last year allows for the gradual introduction of self-driving technology, including forward radar, a forward-looking camera, 12 long-range ultrasonic sensors situated to sense 16 feet around the vehicle in all directions at all speeds, and a high-precision, digitally controlled electric-assist braking system, according to Tesla.

The autopilot technology can search for parking spaces and aid in parallel parking. On the road, it can help the driver change lanes when activated by a simple tap on the turn signal.

This could be a significant leap forward from the semiautonomous systems used in vehicles by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Those systems can maintain a vehicle's position in the lane as well as its distance behind another automobile.

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Chrome OS Is Dead, Long Live Chrome OS?

Google is two years into a plan to consolidate the Chrome operating system -- which it uses as the platform for a series of stripped down, low-cost computers -- and the Android mobile OS, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Google officials quickly pushed back against the WSJ report, which claims that the company, now a subsidiary of the newly formed Alphabet conglomerate, plans to roll out a combined OS in 2017.

Chromebooks running the Chrome OS -- Acer's C910 is pictured above -- have gained adoption as entry-level computers for students and as a low-cost option for a growing number of corporate customers.

Shortly after the WSJ report appeared, Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president at Google, tweeted a response:

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Google Fine-Tunes Self-Driving Cars' Kid Perception

Google last week announced that it has developed technology for its self-driving vehicles that would be able to detect people in costumes -- presumably children dressed for Halloween.

The company is teaching its cars to drive more cautiously around children and thus be ready to adapt to sudden and even erratic movement, it said.

Google's engineers are striving to help the cars react, especially as children's behavior can be unpredictable. The vehicles are designed to scan for those in costumes or other garb that might make them not immediately recognizable as a person.

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Marine Corps' new helicopter completes its first flight

CH-53K King Stallion (Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation).


King Stallion, the U.S. Marine Corps’ brand spanking new helicopter, completed its first flight Tuesday.


The Marines’ new helo is incredibly advanced - it will be able to lift a whopping three times more weight than its predecessor.


Made by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, the CH-53K King Stallion prototype is also known by the less catchy name Engineering Development Model-1 (EDM-1).

King Stallion will be the Marine Corps’ next-gen heavy lift helicopter and the goal is to give them the best heavy lift helo in the world. Ultimately, the Corps plans to have eight active duty squadrons, one training squadron, and one reserve squadron.

What’s cool?

King Stallion will have a cruise speed of 141 knots and a range of about 530 miles.

Related: Navy taps Raytheon for sophisticated 'last chance' gun system

The CH-53K King Stallion will have similar physical dimensions as its predecessor, the CH-53E Super Stallion. It will also be powered by three engines, but with the upgraded engine power of the T408-GE-400s.

It has fourth-generation composite main rotor blades with anhedral tips and advanced airfoils. There’s also a new tail rotor head and blades.

And there are a lot of innovations designed to improve crew and passenger protection. In addition to cutting-edge self-defense weapons, advanced lightweight armor is incorporated as well as enhanced ballistic protection. The troop seats and retracting landing gear are also engineered to be crashworthy.

This new helo will be capable of carrying 27,000 pounds –nearly three times the amount of its predecessor. It will be able to carry these massive loads over 110 nautical miles under challenging "hot and high" conditions.

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