The coronavirus is taking a toll on IT markets, with buyers and vendors adjusting “to a new set of assumptions and a new global economic reality,” reported International Data Corp. Wednesday. The researcher expects a “significant slowdown in spending on hardware in particular” during the first half, with software and services spending also hit from effects reverberating through supply chains, trade and business planning. A “pessimistic scenario” plots 1% IT spending growth for the year vs. an original forecast of more than 4%: “These forecasts are more likely to trend down than up in the next few weeks,” it said. IDC estimates February IT spending grew 4.3% in constant currency terms, down from a 5% projection, reflecting lowered device sales. Strong PC sales in Q4 gave way to a smartphone upgrade cycle driven by 5G, it said. Analyst Stephen Minton called the situation “extremely fluid.”
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NAB will not "move forward" with the April 18-22 NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center "in the interest of addressing the health and safety concerns of our stakeholders," said CEO Gordon Smith Wednesday afternoon. The decision to cancel came (see 2003110042) after the NAB executive committee voted unanimously by phone earlier Wednesday to scrub the event.
Broadcasters and device manufacturers widely support an FCC proposal to allow AM radio stations to voluntarily go all-digital, in comments posted in docket 19-311 by Monday night’s deadline. New rules should involve “a straightforward procedure for stations to notify the Commission of a change to all-digital operations and, likewise, a notification of reversion to analog or hybrid operations,” said Bryan Broadcasting, the originator of the petition that spawned the NPRM. Hubbard and others praised all-digital AM. The company operates such a station under experimental license (see 1911200056).
COVID-19 caused CTA to cancel a raft of events through June, while moving another to a “virtual format,” said the association Wednesday.
Space startups attracted $5.7 billion in financing in 2019, smashing the $3.5 billion record set in 2018, though it's still a handful of companies attracting the vast bulk of the funding, Bryce Space and Technology said Monday. SpaceX, Blue Origin, OneWeb and Virgin Galactic combined had more than $3.8 billion of that financing, it said. Bryce said 135 space startups received investment in 2019, up 34% from the 2018 previous record. Besides the big four, startup investments totaled $1.8 billion, down slightly from the $1.9 billion in investment excluding those companies the previous year, it said. But 2019 had a big increase in the number of rounds with undisclosed investments -- 38, compared with 15 in 2018 -- pointing to the actual total for the year topping $1.8 billion, it said. Seventy-nine non-U.S. startups got financing in 2019, up from 47 in 2018, while the number of U.S. firms leveled off, with 56 seeing financing, versus 53 in 2018, it said.
Questions about ICANN's role in vetting the Public Interest Registry's sale to private equity firm Ethos Capital and how public interest commitments for .org should be enforced predominated Monday at ICANN's first entirely virtual public forum. ICANN board members were in listening-mode only as they try to decide whether to approve PIR's sale by the Internet Society. They were pressed for more detail about how they plan to settle the controversial issue. The March 7-12 meeting was scheduled to be in Cancun, Mexico, but is taking place remotely due to the coronavirus (See 2002270028).
With public and highway safety groups staking out a hard line, it’s unclear when the FCC will act on new rules for the 5.9 GHz band, industry and commission officials said. Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules for the band, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 MHz reserved for cellular vehicle to everything and possibly 10 MHz for dedicated short-range communications (see 1912180019). Some observers said with the FCC poised to open the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and unlicensed, Chairman Ajit Pai may be less inclined to continue the fight over 5.9 GHz while taking some actions to allow C-V2X. Comments were due at 11:59 p.m. Monday in docket 19-138.
The Washington House voted 63-33 Friday on a bipartisan basis for a facial recognition bill (SB-6280). Members amended the bill to add language on private use of facial recognition that had been in the state’s comprehensive privacy bill (SB-6281). Lawmakers decided in recent days to remove the controversial section from the main privacy bill and move it to the other bill, Rep. Norma Smith (R) told us on the phone from the House floor Friday. Smith, who voted aye, praised the amendment by Rep. Debra Entenman (D), which included a private right of action and made other changes. "I originally wanted a ban" on facial recognition after learning about racial bias and other issues, Entenman said on the floor. "This technology does not see me as a brown-skinned person and as a woman." She urged supporting the bill with her amendment to add "moral guardrails." SB-6280 next goes to a House-Senate conference. Friday was the last day for floor votes, but as of 6 p.m. EST, the House hadn't voted on SB-6281 or its more than 25 amendments. The bill coming to the floor allows individuals to bring lawsuits under the state’s Consumer Protect Action, Smith said. Debate over enforcement and facial recognition divided Washington state lawmakers (see 2002280070).
The Satellite Industry Association said Friday it will postpone until Sept. 22 its annual Satellite Industry Leadership Dinner, originally scheduled for Monday, due to COVID-19 concerns.
Congress should do its job and legislate privacy, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday, in response to a question about remarks from Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. The Republicans said Wednesday there’s currently no path forward for privacy talks (see 2003040052).