Arris closes deal to buy Motorola Home cable and internet biz from Google

ARRIS Acquires Motorola Home: Creates Premier Video Delivery and Broadband Technology Company
Powerful Combination Transforms Industry, Accelerates Innovation
SUWANEE, Ga., April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ARRIS Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) today announced that it completed its acquisition of the Motorola Home business from a subsidiary of Google Inc. This combination will enable ARRIS to transform how service and content providers deliver entertainment and communications. ARRIS paid Google approximately $2.2 billion in cash and issued Google 10.6 million shares of its common stock in connection with the transaction.

The cash portion of the consideration was funded through syndicated debt financing and the sale by ARRIS of 10.6 million ARRIS shares to Comcast Corporation. As a result of these securities transactions, Google and Comcast each hold approximately 7.7% of ARRIS' currently outstanding shares.

"This acquisition creates a global player in video delivery and broadband technology. We are combining the industry's top experts and technologies to create a powerful solution for the entire multiscreen delivery chain – from network infrastructure, to transport, to user experience," said Bob Stanzione, Chairman and CEO of ARRIS. "The new ARRIS has the expertise to transform the industry."

The company will be led by a management team of top executives with unrivaled experience from both companies. These leaders have a proven track record for pioneering many of the industry's most significant transformations to date, and bring with them deep customer relationships and industry expertise.

As previously announced, ARRIS will release first quarter 2013 financial results after the market close on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. ARRIS management will also conduct a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EDT on the same day to discuss these results. More information about this conference call can be found on ARRIS Investor Relations website:
http://ir.arrisi.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=87823&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1804842&highlight=

About ARRIS
ARRIS is a premier video and broadband technology company that transforms how service providers worldwide deliver entertainment and communications without boundaries. Its powerful end-to-end platforms enable service and content providers to improve the way people connect – with each other and with their favorite content. The Company's vision and expertise continue to drive the industry's innovations, as they have for more than 60 years. Headquartered north of Atlanta, in Suwanee, Georgia, ARRIS has R&D, sales and support centers throughout the world. For more information: www.arrisi.com

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and related public disclosures contain forward looking statements. These statements include, among others, statements concerning future performance of ARRIS following the completion of the acquisition of the Motorola Home Business and ARRIS' ability to achieve the expected strategic benefits and synergies. Statements regarding future events are based on the parties' current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are necessarily subject to associated risks related to, among other things, the retention of employees of Motorola Home Business and the ability of ARRIS to successfully integrate Motorola Home's opportunities, technology, personnel and operations. Other factors that could cause results to differ from current expectations include: the uncertain current economic climate and financial markets, and their impact on our customers' plans and access to capital: the impact of rapidly changing technologies; the impact of competition on product development and pricing; the ability of ARRIS to react to changes in general industry and market conditions; rights to intellectual property and the current trend toward increasing patent litigation, market trends and the adoption of industry standards; possible acquisitions and dispositions; and consolidations within the telecommunications industry of both the customer and supplier base. These factors are not intended to be an all-encompassing list of risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's business. Additional information regarding these and other factors can be found in ARRIS' reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. In providing forward-looking statements, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update publicly or otherwise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE ARRIS Group, Inc.

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By: Unknown On 1:02 PM

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HBO and Cinemax come to Google Fiber, cable companies shaking in their boots

Google Fiber has a lot going for it, both as an ISP and a pay-TV platform. There was was one gaping hole in the service though: no HBO. Lets be honest with ourselves, its the big geeks that are looking to hop on that 1Gbps service first. And what do geeks love almost as much as blazing-fast Google-branded internet? Game of Thrones. Now Kansas City (and soon Austin) based nerds will be able to watch Joffrey become an even bigger monster live, rather than wait for some torrent site to get an illegal copy of it up (or, if they're smart, mooch off of someone's HBO GO account). Alongside HBO, Google Fiber has also added Cinemax: Home Box Office's less cool sibling. The branded families of channels are both available today for $20 a month or $10 a month respectively. Or, if you're a real premium TV fan, you can get both, plus STARZ and Showtime for $40 a month. Hit up the source for a few more details.

Source: Google Fiber

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By: Unknown On 11:00 AM

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Researchers create hollow fiber optic cable, almost reach the speed of light

Fiber optic cables are usually made of glass or plastic but those materials actually slow down the transmission of light ever so slightly. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have created a hollow fiber optic cable filled with air that's 1000 times faster than current cables. Since light propagates in air at 99.7 percent of the speed of light in a vacuum, this new hollow fiber optic cable is able to reach data speeds of 10 terabytes (!) per second. Now that's fast. While the idea isn't new, it's previously been hampered by signal degradation when light travels around corners. This new hollow fiber optic cable reduces data loss to a manageable 3.5dB/km, making it suitable for use in supercomputer and data center applications. Isn't science wonderful?

[Image credit: qwrrty, Flickr]

Via: ExtremeTech, Gizmodo Australia

Source: Nature

Tags: air, fiber optic, FiberOptic, hollow, speed of light, SpeedOfLight, University of Southampton, UniversityOfSouthampton

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By: Unknown On 8:59 PM

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Myriad Social TV brings social networking to your cable box (hands-on video)

The marriage of social networking and television is nothing new, but Myriad recently launched Social TV, a white label solution which allows TV service providers to roll out their own custom social networking platform on your cable box. It complements services like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ by offering a more contextual way for viewers to interact with their friends while watching TV. Social TV provides an integrated HTML5 experience that's consistent across both television and companion devices (phones and tablets). Viewers can chose between receiving alerts on their TVs, mobile devices or both and can create show- or series-specific virtual communities that automatically expire when the program ends. The system is even mindful of time zones and time-shifts messages to prevent spoilers. More after the break.

Myriad Social TV hands-onSee all photoswhen.eng("eng.galleries.init")

We talked with Myriad's Dave Weidner who fielded our questions and gave us a demo of the tech in action. TV service providers can brand and tweak the solution and companion apps to their liking and create content with social networking in mind. In return, Social TV can gather detailed user metrics that enable targeted advertising for additional revenue. The system combines two of Myriad's existing products, Alien Vue (an environment which runs Android apps on non-Android set-top boxes and TVs) and the company's social networking back end (already used by multiple mobile operators worldwide). We saw Social TV running on a Broadcom BCM97425C reference set-top box and Nexus 7 tablet, but it's designed to work with most cable boxes including older models already deployed in the field. Trials are expected to begin by the end of the year, but final pricing and availability will be up to the individual TV service providers. Don't forget to watch our hands-on video.

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By: Unknown On 11:06 PM

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Inhabitat's Week in Green: 'stealth wear', coiled cable sculptures and a 'pop-up' hotel

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and whether you geek out on the game or just check it out for the commercials, it's difficult to avoid. More than one-third of Americans will tune in to the game tonight, and surprising new research finds that despite running the TV, household energy use actually drops by as much as 7.7 percent during the Super Bowl for a variety of reasons. One good way to keep your carbon footprint low, and your body healthy, on game day is to abstain from meat -- and we've got you covered with our top six vegan and vegetarian snack alternatives to bring to a Super Bowl party. After the game, the San Francisco 49ers will look forward to the 2014 season, when they'll debut their new stadium in Santa Clara. The stadium will feature three solar arrays and a green roof, and it will be the NFL's first LEED-certified stadium.

In other green design news this week, Foster + Partners partnered with the European Space Agency to announce an out-of-this-world plan to create 3D-printed structures on the moon. Here on Earth, cargotecture continues to catch on around the globe. In Israel, Yoav Messer Architects unveiled plans for a colorful 525-foot-long bridge made from recycled shipping containers. And we caught up with Belgium's Sleeping Around Hotel, a "pop-up" hotel made from six shipping containers that is constantly on the move. In China, MINIWIZ Sustainable Energy Development recently announced plans to build the iGreen aviation museum, which will be located in an enormous sphere made from recycled CDs and DVDs.

In green automotive news this week, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan announced that they'll team up to produce a mass-market fuel cell vehicle by 2017. Meanwhile Dutch car manufacturer TNO unveiled the world's first exterior automobile airbag, which is intended to protect pedestrians and cyclists. In the world of green tech, Indian researchers figured out a way to make durable, low-cost bricks from recycled paper mill waste. In Beijing, smog levels are so off the charts they prompted Chinese billionaire Chen Guangbiao to launch a line of canned air. In wearable technology news, Harvard scientists created a fiber that, inspired by the bastard hogberry plant, can change color when stretched. And as a commentary on the amount of surveillance in society today, New York-based artist Adam Harvey produced a line of "stealth wear" that uses "highly metallized" fibers to keep you hidden from thermal scanners and even tracking devices. Paranoid much?

Artists and designers around the world are figuring out ways to use yesterday's technology as a medium for their art. Digital wristwatches, for example, are quickly going the way of the telegram, because many people simply check the time on their phones. In a new installation that's a commentary on the rapid obsolescence of digital technology, artist Heidi Voet wove more than 4,000 watches into a time-telling carpet that chimes in synchronicity. For his latest installation, artist Chris Shen transformed 625 disused remote controls into a giant glowing TV, creating recognizable images from the tiny infrared lights. Bulgarian artist Pavel Sinev creates sculptures from carefully coiled electrical cables that are tied together with zip ties. And Michael Johansson unveiled a new series of Tetris-like installations made by meticulously assembling found objects into geometric shapes.

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By: Unknown On 8:44 PM

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Intel prepares to launch combo cable and streaming TV service

Could 2013 be the year of the TV for the high-tech industry?

With Apple chomping at the bit to revolutionize TV and Google renewing its efforts in the market, now Intel appears to have its ducks in a row to launch its own TV offering.

Intel is ready to start marketing a set-top box built on its chips that will deliver a mix of streaming and cable programming to subscribers in selected markets, according to TechCrunch.

The service will be aimed at viewers who want to stream content to their TVs but don't want to entirely slash the tether to cable, where they night want to still to watch programming such as live sports.

A major barrier to entry into the TV market by the chipmaker—reluctance of content owners to relax their iron grip over their goodies—has been surmounted by Intel, TechCrunch reports, citing a source in the video distribution industry familiar with Intel's plans. The source said the service will be announced "soon."

That raises the likelihood that Intel could be planning a splash event about the service at CES next week.

If that's the case, Intel will share the spotlight with Google TV, which will be getting a buzz bounce when LG introduces seven new HDTV models in five screen sizes that will sport Google's TV technology.

To make Intel's offering more palatable to the content industry, the chip maker has agreed to roll out its service on a city-by-city basis, TechCruch reports. Content providers are reportedly more willing to give Intel more control over how content is distributed in select markets where the providers may have more flexible deals with entrenched distributors.

The plan also allows Intel to work around holdouts in key markets which will prevent them from blocking the chip maker from launching  its service.

Intel's desire to become a "virtual cable operator" has been rumored for months. Initial reports pegged the launch date at the end of 2012, but Intel, no doubt, discovered, as Apple has, that the content nut is a tough one to crack.

It has been reported that one of the major hangups to the Apple TV set has been resistance by content providers to give the hardware maker the control it believes it needs to revolutionize the medium.

If Intel has discovered a strategy to vault the content hurdle to high-tech companies expanding their beachhead in the nation's living rooms, everyone in the industry could benefit, including Apple.

Intel has been trying to make headway for its chips in the TV realm for years. In 2009, for instance, it announced "Sodaville," an integrated chip with the power to run 3D graphics and 1080p high definition video.

The chip maker also joined the cadre of companies behind the launch of Google TV in 2010. Over the years, though, Intel has become increasing dissatisfied with Google TV implementations by television makers so, as Microsoft did with its Surface tablet, the chip maker decided to create its own hardware path into the market.

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By: Dilusha On 12:21 PM

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Louis CK to offer HBO show as DRM-free download, chip away at cable content deals

By Jon Fingas posted Nov 13th 2012 1:31AM

With certain exceptions, HBO has developed a reputation for being protective of where and how its content goes digital. That makes Louis CK's plans for a 2013 comedy special a slight jolt to the system, even though it's not his first digital release linked to the channel. While HBO will get a first crack at airing the show, which will be recorded during Louis' ongoing tour, the comedian now plans to post the production online a few months afterwards using the same successful formula that has become his calling card: $5, no DRM and no region restrictions. The offering doesn't overhaul the industry, but it undoubtedly wrests control from the network as soon as the download link goes live. Think of Louis as making a small crack in cable TV's content wall.

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By: Dilusha On 3:47 PM

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