Focused beam reflectance measurement

If it feels like you've been waiting forever for Google Fiber, you're not alone. It has, after all, been more than a decade since Google's announcement that "fiber is coming." To be fair, Google Fiber is long established in some areas. Before temporarily halting fiber expansion in 2016, the company brought service to 11 major US markets. Even in those cities though, Google's internet service didn't reach all, or even most, households, leaving many wondering when and if their neighborhood would be eligible for service. Meanwhile, residents of 34 other metropolitan areas who were teased with the possibility of getting Google Fiber early on are still wondering if it will come to their city at all. So what's going on with Google Fiber? A decade of deployment Let's start with where Google Fiber has successfully established service. In addition to Kansas City, Google Fiber's inaugural location, the service is also currently available in Atlanta; Huntsville, Alabama; Orange … [Read more...] about Whatever happened to Google Fiber?

Yesterday, identity and access management (IAM) vendor Okta announced plans to acquire customer identity and access (CIAM) vendor Auth0 for $6.5B in an all-stock transaction . Founded in 2013, Auth0 has been rapidly growing its developer-focused offering and has raised more than $330 million in venture financing. Based on Forrester's estimates of Auth0's annual revenue, this acquisition price is around an 80-100X revenue multiple, which is considerable and unprecedented in the Identity Access management (IAM) space. For reference, we estimated that Cisco's acquisition of Duo in 2018 was around a 20X revenue multiple and was done as a cash transaction. With this purchase and valuation, Okta is raising its bet and going all in on CIAM. Also: Okta and Auth0: A $6.5 billion bet that identity will warrant its own cloud Featured Remote work: 5 things every business needs to know Echo Show 10 with motion: How it feels to be followed around The best Samsung … [Read more...] about With its acquisition of Auth0, Okta goes all in on CIAM

This article is part of DBA , a new series on Mashable about running a business that features insights from leaders in entrepreneurship, venture capital and management. I’m not the first corporate leader to argue that people are the most important asset of any company. Get the people right, and they will build success with anything you give them. CEOs have spent years analyzing the perfect formula to drive innovation, passion, performance and ultimately revenue throughout the corporate ranks, yet a recent Gallup survey found that a whopping 87% of employees are not actively engaged in their jobs. Similarly, fewer than half of respondents to a study by Altimeter Group indicate that their employers have any kind of employee engagement and advocacy strategy. Attracting and keeping a best-in-breed workforce is harder than ever. Organizations, especially in tech, have to compete fiercely to engage, challenge and develop the best people. But what does that engagement look like … [Read more...] about The exponential business benefits of putting people first

The U.S. Senate is considering including in a new bill to boost competitiveness against China $30 billion in funding for previously-approved measures to supercharge the country's chipmaking industry, a congressional source said on Thursday. Lawmakers aim to bring the package, which would include other elements to boost the U.S. tech sector, to a full vote in April, the person said, declining to be named because the legislation has not been finalized. The source, who is involved in the effort, said that the Schumer-led package is likely to have provisions curbing China's access to U.S. capital markets, a focus of the Trump administration's crackdown on Beijing. A spokesman for U.S. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, who is spearheading the new package, did not respond to a request for comment. Schumer said last month he had directed lawmakers to craft a new bill to boost U.S. competitiveness against China, based on legislation he and Republican Senator Todd Young proposed … [Read more...] about US Senate mulls $30 billion in funding to boost chipmaking sector: Source

Qualcomm today announced Snapdragon Sound, which is what the company describes as “a chain of audio innovations and software” that work together to significantly improve audio quality when listening to music through wireless headphones, earbuds, and other devices. The goal is to deliver “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly,” according to James Chapman, Qualcomm’s VP of voice, music, and wearables. Snapdragon Sound takes advantage of the company’s latest processors, Bluetooth audio SoCs, and codecs like aptX Adaptive to achieve playback of hi-fi music up to 24-bit 96kHz. The concept of high-quality wireless audio isn’t new to Android; Sony has been largely pushing that mission forward with its own LDAC technology, which can transmit up to three times the amount of data that the standard SBC Bluetooth codec is capable of. But Qualcomm’s components are found in headphones and earbuds from many companies — Bose, Jabra, 1More, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Anker, and more — … [Read more...] about Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Sound certification promises a big wave of hi-fi wireless headphones