Micron Technology Inc., an American maker of memory chips, said it will buy the remaining 67% of shares in Taiwan’s Inotera Memories Inc. that it doesn’t already own in a deal valued at $3.2 billion, net of cash and debt, according to WSJ
Boise, Idaho-based Micron currently purchases all of Inotera’s output of computer memory chips known as dynamic random access memory.
“The acquisition is the culmination of a highly successful seven year partnership with Inotera,” Micron Chief Executive Mark Durcan said in a statement.
Micron will purchase all the remaining shares of Inotera for 30 New Taiwan dollars (US$0.92) a share, a 30% premium to Inotera’s Monday closing price of 23 New Taiwan dollars. It said it would fund the acquisition with $2.5 billion in debt, up to $1 billion in Micron equity to Nanya Technology Corp. and cash from its balance sheet.
Inotera had $900 million in net cash at the close of the quarter ended Sept. 30. Formosa Group companies, including Nanya Technology, own about 32% of Inotera.
Vandals have damaged the entrance to a building in Hamburg that houses the offices of social network Facebook, smashing glass, throwing paint and spraying “Facebook dislike” on a wall, according to police in the northern German city.
Police said in a statement on Sunday that the overnight attack was carried out by a group of 15-20 people wearing black clothes and hoods. An investigation has been launched. Facebook was not immediately available to comment.
The European head of Facebook is under investigation in Germany over the social network’s alleged failure to remove racist hate speech. The investigation was announced last month as German politicians and celebrities expressed concern about the rise of xenophobic comments in German on Facebook and other social media sites as the country struggles to cope with the flow of refugees.
In a statement by the company said, “There has been no violation of German law by Facebook or our employees. The allegations lack merit and are totally baseless.”
On the other news report, Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL), has been granted a patent that puts further weight to rumours of an upcoming waterproof iPhone. The patent reveals a “self-healing elastomer” or rubber inside the phone’s ports (such as the Lightning port and headphone port) that could lose and regain its shape to keep the innards from being exposed to water and other debris, according to gadgets.ndtv
The company may have plans to make a waterproof iPhone without changing much of the outer aesthetic, it appears. The patent, which was filed for in 2014 and granted on Thursday last week, reveals a rubber seal on external jacks that would supposedly open when you insert a connector like the headphone, and once removed, it regains its shape to block the device’s opening.
“An electronic device has a self-healing elastomer applied over one or more external electronic connectors. The self-healing elastomer may obscure the electronic connectors from the user as well as provide environmental protection for the connector and the electronic device,” the patent abstract reads.
There could be more application of this technology, do note. “Electronic probes may temporarily penetrate the self-healing elastomer to mate with the electronic connector. After removal of the probes the self-healing elastomer may elastically reform and self-heal.”
That said, Apple has been seemingly interested in making its devices waterproof. A rumour from earlier this year suggested that the iPhone 7 could have the ability to withstand water. Also, the iPhone 6s has been found to contain seals that protect the device from water. Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) has never advertised for this feature.
More Apple devices will be attacked in 2016: Symantec
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Apple devices like iPhone and iPad as these products gain popularity among consumers across the globe, including India, says a report by security solutions firm Symantec, according to indiatoday.intoday.in
Besides, 2016 could see more attacks on the iOS platform that has been perceived to be “free from malware” in the past, it added.
“Apple devices have experienced a surge in popularity in recent years. According to IDC, the company now accounts for 13.5 per cent of global smartphone shipments and 7.5 per cent of global PC shipments. This increase in usage has not gone unnoticed by attackers. A rising number of threat actors have begun developing specific malware designed to infect devices running OS X or iOS,” Symantec Director Solutions Product Management (Asia Pacific and Japan) Tarun Kaura told PTI.
He added that although the number of threats targeting Apple operating systems remains quite low when compared to the company’s main competitors like Windows and Android, the amount uncovered has grown steadily in recent years.
He added that security researchers have also given a greater focus on vulnerabilities in Apple software with a number of high-profile flaws uncovered in the past year. The findings are a part of Symantec’s predictions for 2016.
These threats span from ordinary cybercrime gangs branching out to Apple platforms to high-level attack groups like the Butterfly corporate espionage team that infected OS X computers in targeted organisations, Kaura said.