Month: June 2018

(credit: Comcast)

21st Century Fox has been consistently trying to avoid selling to Comcast because Fox officials believe a merger with the largest US cable company may not be approved by the federal government.

Comcast and the Walt Disney Company have been in a bidding war for the assets being sold by Fox. The most recent development came last week when Fox leadership rejected a $65 billion offer from Comcast and accepted Disney's new offer of $71.3 billion.

Comcast could try to outbid Disney again and seek approval from Fox shareholders. But Fox and Disney said in a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing that a Comcast/Fox deal would face a difficult path to regulatory approval.

In a surprise announcement this morning, Nintendo revealed a free downloadable update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that will allow the Switch game to be controlled using the Toy-Con Motorbike controller constructed with the Nintendo Labo Variety Kit.

As shown in a brief preview video, the cardboard enclosure uses the Joy-Con's gyroscopic motion sensing to detect a handle twist for acceleration and leaning to steer. Cardboard protrusions on the motorbike controller can push buttons on the Joy-Cons to activate items, braking, and drifting. Four sets of motorbike controllers can be used on the game simultaneously.

The setup reminds us of nothing so much as the plastic Wii Wheel accessory that came with Mario Kart Wii, albeit with a bit more assembly required—Nintendo recommends 90 to 150 minutes to put together the Toy-Con motorbike.

Enlarge / Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. (credit: Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)

Uber has won the right to operate in London for another 15 months. The company's ability to offer service in the city had been called into question last September when London's transportation regulator denied Uber's application for a five-year renewal of its license.

Uber appealed that ruling, and on Tuesday the Westminister Magistrates' Court ruled in favor of renewing the company's license for a 15-month probationary period. Uber was allowed to continue operating in London while it appealed the ruling.

The decision was a vindication of the more conciliatory strategy of Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi.

Enlarge / Infrastructure goes under water in San Francisco. (credit: NOAA)

In March, a federal district court case led to an unexpected spectacle: a “tutorial” on climate science requested by the judge. Oakland and San Francisco had filed suit against several oil companies, alleging that they should help pay for the impacts of sea-level rise because they had intentionally misled the public about global warming. Judge William Alsup apparently wanted to make sure he understood the physics and chemistry of the situation before he weighed legal standards.

On Monday, Alsup granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case—a blow for Oakland, San Francisco, and other cities eyeing the outcome. “The issue is not over science,” Alsup writes in his decision, “All parties agree that fossil fuels have led to global warming and ocean rise and will continue to do so.”

Instead, the decision turns on legal precedents and Alsup’s unwillingness to overstep what he views as the judicial branch’s role.

Enlarge / The dongle's official name is the "Surface Connect to USB-C Adapter." (credit: Microsoft)

When the Surface Pro was refreshed last year we were surprised and disappointed to see that it joined the Surface Laptop in having neither USB Type-C nor Thunderbolt 3. Instead, Microsoft said that it would be shipping a USB Type-C dongle to provide a Type-C port for those who wanted it later in 2017.

The dongle did not, in fact, materialize in 2017. But it does exist now, and it will go on sale this Friday for $80. The big, boxy adapter connects to the proprietary Surface Connect port on the current model Surface Pro and Surface Laptop (and only those systems; Microsoft says it's not compatible with any others) and offers a single USB Type-C port.

The port can be used with a Type-C charger to charge the computer (provided that the charger can deliver a minimum of 27W at 12V), or it can be used to connect Type-C peripherals to the computer. It supports USB devices, and also supports Type-C Alternate Modes to connect to displays using a Type-C cable.

Enlarge / The dynamic Mojave wallpaper in transition. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Today, Apple released the public beta for macOS Mojave. It adds dark mode, makes significant user experience overhauls to Finder and Quick Look, adds a bunch of apps you might be familiar with from iOS, provides new ways to organize your desktop icons, and more.

Installing a beta this early is not advisable for most users—though if you want to brave it, knock yourself out—so we've spent the past week exploring this new build in order to give you a sense of its major features without the risk (and illustrated with a plethora of screenshots to boot).

Generally, Mojave's changes paint a picture of a Mac platform that continues to seek a tighter relationship with iOS. There's a new way to bring iOS apps to the Mac. Continuity features have been expanded for more use cases. An overhauled Mac App Store takes cues from the iOS 11 App Store, and system updates have even been relocated to the OS's settings panel.