As Best Buy attempts a return to financial well-being, it’s decided to sell the 50 percent share it still owns in Best Buy Europe to fellow joint venture partner Carphone Warehouse. The price is set at about 500 million GBP ($775 million, mostly in cash) and is expected to close by June. Best Buy paid $2.15 billion for its share of the business back in 2008 and the first branded store opened in 2010, but it was already looking for a way out by 2011. That’s when it closed its UK stores and paid Carphone Warehouse $1.3 billion for its share in the US Best Buy Mobile business. reporting the joint venture as discontinued operations for its next fiscal year will cause Best Buy to take a $200 million charge, and it’s tossing Carphone Warehouse another $45 million to satisfy outstanding obligations like closing the Global Connect JV the two started in 2011. There’s no word on any moves for its business in Mexico, Canada and China, and CEO Hubert Joly says this sale “should not suggest any similar action” elsewhere.
As Best Buy attempts a return to financial well-being, it’s decided to sell the 50 percent share it still owns in Best Buy Europe to fellow joint venture partner Carphone Warehouse. The price is set at about 500 million GBP ($775 million, mostly in cash) and is expected to close by June. Best Buy paid $2.15 billion for its share of the business back in 2008 and the first branded store opened in 2010, but it was already looking for a way out by 2011. That’s when it closed its UK stores and paid Carphone Warehouse $1.3 billion for its share in the US Best Buy Mobile business. Reporting the joint venture as discontinued operations for its next fiscal year will cause Best Buy to take a $200 million charge, and it’s tossing Carphone Warehouse another $45 million to satisfy outstanding obligations like closing the Global Connect JV the two started in 2011. There’s no word on any moves for its business in Mexico, Canada and China, and CEO Hubert Joly says this sale “should not suggest any similar action” elsewhere.
We talked about Sony‘s Xperia SP smartphone back on March 18, which we reported was supposed to hit shelves in the second quarter of this year. It looks like that timeline was spot-on, with the Xperia SP going on sale in the UK via T-Mobile and Orange for a moderate £249.99 sans-contract. Such adds on to the other places it is already available, including India and Singapore.
While the Sony Xperia SP’s display isn’t standing out among the best available, the rest of the specs place it fully in the mid-to-high range. Inside, users will find a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor alongside 1GB of RAM. There’s a rear Exmor RS for mobile 8-megapixel camera and flash. There’s also a light strip that displays different color lights depending on which notifications the user receives.
The display is a sizable 4.6-inches with a 720p resolution, which is less than some of its competitors, but certainly not a bad resolution. Sony says that the display’s colors and contrast are improved via the inclusion of a Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 system, which been used in some of the maker’s other handsets as well. This is accompanied by Battery STAMINIA, which is a feature said to improve battery life.
Connectivity includes the typical 3G/4G, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The handset runs Android 4.2.2, and weighs in at 155 grams with an aluminum frame. The Xperia SP is being offered in three colors: red, black, and white, the latter of which you can see in the image above. T-Mobile UK says customers should allow 30 days for delivery.
Sony’s mash-up Xperia, the SP, is taking its transparent element light show to the UK today, giving budget-minded Brits one stylish and feature-packed mobile alternative. The 4.6-inch 720p handset, which is basically a Best of… edition of the Xperia S and P with an aluminum unibody, is shipping now at T-Mobile UK for £250 outright (about $387 USD), whereas Orange and EE are offering up the device for free with qualifying plans. If you want LTE, however, you only have one carrier option and that’s EE — a choice that’ll have you shackled for a two-year period. As for O2 and Three, those carriers still have the SP listed as “coming soon,” but it’s safe to say you won’t find a better bargain than *free.
While there have been white space test runs in the UK, these were private trials that weren’t going to get the ball rolling without government help. Thankfully, local regulator Ofcom is of a like mind. It now plans a trial for data on the in-between frequencies this fall, with full-fledged service going live as soon as 2014. The agency expects to settle on the final locations for the pilot after it chooses partners. No, Ofcom can’t guarantee that all the stars will align for rural broadband or other long-range wireless projects — but its involvement at least means those stars are within reach.
Have you heard of the robot maker species that doesn’t need a grand research goal, isn’t motivated by government competitions or corporate interests, and doesn’t necessarily care if their efforts result in profit? Japanese blacksmith Kogoro Kurata and British animatronics expert Matt Denton are live specimens with a simple purpose: make awesome robotic machines.
Those with an even mildly passing interest in robotics technology probably heard about Tokyo-based Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas robot last year. Those just a bit robo-geekier have probably seen this month’s blast of coverage on Winchester-based Micromagic Systems’ Mantis robot. Here’s a quick rundown to set the stage (also see specs & videos below):
Kuratas – Japan, Public in July, 2012 Team leader Kogoro Kurata is by trade a blacksmith, and with perhaps a few sponsors and some donated labor, his namesake Kuratas robot appears to be an entirely self-funded undertaking. In development for some 3-4 years, Kurata considers his four-legged rolling mech project an artistic and proof-of-concept exercise, and this exercise can be bought and customized: rolling away in your own Kuratas will only require US $1.3 million (bells & whistles also available at $50,000-$100,000 each). Realistically, it’s probably cheaper to pack up and move to Japan than pay for overseas shipping on this one.
Mantis – U.K., Public in April 2013 Matt Denton is a microelectronics and software guy who, when not making giant robot bugs, makes other robotic stuff for the entertainment industry. Denton’s walking hexapod project took off in 2009, and he considers Mantis a demonstration piece and hopefully a source of inspiration for other robot makers. While it’s managed under the umbrella of his company, Micromagic Systems, the project does receive additional outside funding. At the moment, Mantis is not for sale, but you can arrange appearances, demos, and sponsorships. How about, uhhh… birthday parties?
A Win for Imagination The Kuratas robot is last year’s news, but this month’s announcement of the updated Mantis robot provides an opportunity to remember that not all valuable technological development has to be sober or practical or provide immediate, obvious utility. Sure, perhaps Mr. Kurata in Japan and Mr. Denton in the U.K. are the embodiment of oversized boys with cash enough to build man-sized toys – but check your worldview – that is not a bad thing!
If you’ll forgive here a small slice of cheese, it’s nice to know that these grown men haven’t let the grown-up world and the joyless, withered, humorless souls of business and academia emasculate their imaginations. From nearly opposite sides of the earth these independent robot creators have chased their dream of building badass robots because building badass robots is badass. It’s truly admirable.
While the latest from Kurata’s and Denton’s imaginations are wildly dissimilar in design, origin, and intent, there is also a measure of commonality. This isn’t Kurata’s first giant mech rodeo, and Denton’s been at the hexapod game since long before Mantis went into development; they’re both robotics veterans. On top of that, although released 8 months apart, both robots received common threads of media attention. We saw it last year with Kuratas, and this month Mantis is also getting a taste of the “Wow, that’s an interesting but useless robot, so… moving on.” or the “Gee, what an irresponsible and wasteful thing to create.”
Superficial media blips overlook not only the imagination put into these robot masterpieces, but also give little treatment to the super-advanced and original engineering, computer science, and design prowess that defines these machines not as mere sculpture, but actual factual functioning robots.
Mantis and Kuratas: Also a Win for Pure Science No doubt, Kurata and Denton are the drive behind their respective robots, but their forces of passion have also produced two world-class robotics engineering and software development teams. Sure, Kuratas and Mantis may be indulgent, but while these two executive-level robot dorks pursue their geeky dreams, they’re also producing loads of practical knowledge and providing a venue for other developers to experiment.
Kurata and Denton had their self-driven, beholden-to-none ideas and goals, so they made some hypotheses, got their R&D teams together, did countless tests and trials, built models and stuff, rejiggered this and that, and eventually sent out a press release and uploaded their justifiably viral YouTube videos you see down below.
Please forgive another slice of robogeekery cheese, but it’s worth stating that pursuing something because you love it, seeing if you can get it to work just to see if you can get it to work… well, that’s some beautiful, pure science right there. In robot form.
Go Make Your Own You might have noticed this wasn’t much of a showdown. Really, it’s a vote of encouragement to anyone building iron giants, tinkering with a robot hobby kit, or wiring together cardboard boxes, tubing, and PVC pipe.
So, good luck to Kurata and Denton, we love your work and we’re waiting for the next generations. And hey guys, how about fostering a little international cooperation and goodwill amongst robots: mount Kuratas on the Mantis chassis and have a little cultural exchange?
While the iPhone didn’t even have a built-in FM radio to replace, Android phones have now started to forgo the radio tuner in the last few years as streaming services (and data reception) have improved. This time around, Beeb listeners can now access the iPlayer radio app, which has made the leap across from iOS. Not only will you be able to install it on your Android smartphone, but also Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet series. The new app doesn’t use Flash, given its absence on most up-to-date versions of Google’s mobile OS, instead using HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) to deliver your weekly doses of Doctor Whoserial. There’s even a handful of improvements over the iOS iteration, with the ability to use the iPlayer alarm function without keeping the app running overnight.
Meanwhile, the radio app’s design has been given a rethink for its Android debut, following the design and navigation notions of Google’s homemade apps which should hopefully making sense to any seasoned Android 4.0 user. The BBC’s Executive Producer James Simcock explains exactly what’s been done differently at the source, but if you’re not a “reading” kind of… reader, there’s a trailer after the break.
We’ve seen a few UK carriers show their cards ahead of the Galaxy S 4 launch this weekend, but MVNO Virgin Media has been slightly coy with details compared to bigger peers like EE and Vodafone. Better late than never, we suppose: the provider has outlined just how much we’ll have to spend to get Samsung’s flagship. Customers who have Virgin broadband or TV services can pay the same £31 per month as their EE counterparts, getting a lower £99 device cost and insurance in exchange for a more limited service that includes 200 minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of data. When mobile-only customers have to pay £5 more per month, though, we’d think carefully about signing up just for the sake of the GS 4. There are better deals afoot if you’re not already a loyal Virgin customer.
If the adorable patterns on the Animal Crossingspecial edition 3DS XL didn’t tug at your heart (and wallet) strings, perhaps this English rose will. Set to arrive in the UK on May 31st, there’s no software tie-in to mark the occasion, just the vivid hues of an entirely pink handheld. For the international purveyors of all things kawaii, there’s still a pearl-finish pink and white 3DS XL listed on Amazon. Regardless of the shade, both options should pair really well with your vast collection of Hello Kittytat goods.
When we think of BBC iPlayer use on mobile devices, we most often picture someone catching up on dramas with their smartphone during the commute home. Not anymore: newly available March stats from the Beeb reveal that tablet viewing has overtaken phone viewing for the first time. The difference is slight — tablets are only 200,000 requests ahead, at 41 million — but it’s enough to suggest that many now prefer bigger screens when they’re away from a computer or TV. While the broadcaster hasn’t directly explained the change in demographics, it’s not hard to see a possible explanation based on viewer habits. The BBC notes that most tablet-bound iPlayer users watch TV, and most iPlayer TV time overlaps that of traditional viewing, when audiences are more likely to be at home with the larger devices at hand. If you’re one to curl up on the couch to watch Panorama on an iPad or Android slate, then, you may just be part of a growing trend.
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