ONOS Project Gets Linux Foundation Bump

e Linux Foundation on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership withON.Lab and its ONOS project community to develop open source network services.



They will build infrastructure for software-defined networking and network function virtualization technology. The foundation will provide its global reach, experience and infrastructure to seed ONOS' growing community.

This latest LF-sponsored collaborative project will help ONOS, or Open Network Operating System, better monetize its open source networking platforms for service providers. It also will help vendors and service providers invent new business models, according to the Linux Foundation.

"It is a natural evolution for the ONOS Project. We are at a point where we are scaling to the next level with partners, use cases, [proof of concept], trials and community," said William Snow, vice president of engineering for ON.Lab, the Open Networking Lab.

Read More

Google's Nexus 6P and 5X Win Some Love

The reviews are out for Google's Nexus 6P and 5X, unveiled late last month, and they can be summed up in two words: Love them!

They're described as "the best Nexus devices ever produced" and "Google's answer to Apple's iPhones," but those tired phrases are rolled out with every new Nexus or flagship Android smartphone, so what else is new?

The camera, for one. The phones' cameras apparently are a big improvement over previous Nexus cameras.

Speed and the improved security offered by the fingerprint sensor are other plus points.

Google and its partners -- Huawei for the 6P and LG for the 5X -- finally havenailed the camera and battery life -- two of the features that traditionally have been weak in Nexus devices, wrote Ron Amadeo for Ars Technica.

Read More

TWC's New Virtual Assistant Curries Customer Favor

The new Ask TWC Virtual Assistant lets customers use a mobile device or computer to type a question in their own words, or choose from a list of common questions to get immediate assistance.

The type and volume of inquiries and their resolutions will let TWC constantly learn, the company said.

Customers in all TWC service areas can access the tool, said TWC spokesperson Judy Barbao.

The virtual assistant may direct customers to a specific location on the TWS website for an answer to their question, or it may offer the option to connect directly with an agent for an online, real-time chat, she told CRM Buyer.

"We continue to offer customers a variety of options for TWC support and assistance, including phone and online support as well as through our free My TWC app," Barbao said.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More