Riggio and Lynch clashed on the “proper spending levels” for Nook Media, something that led Riggio to move to acquire the retail business, a proposal the B&N board continues to weigh, Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser said. The board also continues to seek potential partners for the Nook division and will consider selling it, he said. Lynch was named B&N CEO in 2010, having previously served as president of BarnesandNoble.com. He helped launch Nook in 2009 (CED Oct 22/09 p1). Yet Riggio’s taking on a greater management role -- B&N Chief Financial Officer Michael Huseby was named CEO of Nook Media and president of B&N -- “does call into question whether he still intends to purchase the retail business,” Strasser said. “That seems less likely with this new management structure."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the implementation of the Entry/Exit Information system’s second phase on July 5. Under Phase II of the Entry/Exit program (see 12100139), DHS and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will “expand the exchange of biographic entry data collected on third-country nationals, permanent residents of Canada who are not U.S. citizens, and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. who are not Canadian citizens, to all automated land ports of entry at the common border, including all major land border crossings,” CBP said. The process of collecting and sharing information for Phase II will be done in accordance with each country’s privacy laws and policies, consistent with the Action plan, Joint Statement of Privacy Principles, and an Annex to the Statement of Mutual Understanding on Information Sharing agreed to by DHS and CBSA. Both countries have issued appropriate privacy documents, and more information can be found (here) and (here).
The FCC gave Motorola Solutions the clarity it sought on whether a 2012 order restricting Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) from being deployed in the portions of the 800 MHz band reserved for public safety applies to not just National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee band spectrum. “We hereby clarify that the Commission did not intend to limit use of this technology in the 800 MHz band to [Business/Industrial Land Transportation] Pool licensees, and, as indicated in the Discussion of the Report and Order and in the amended rules themselves, TETRA technology is permitted on all channels in the 809-824/854-869 MHz band, not just the B/ILT channels,” said the commission in a Tuesday order (http://bit.ly/1azyv7j). “As to the second issue on which MSI seeks clarification, whether the technical rules adopted in the Report and Order are technology-neutral or are intended only for TETRA equipment, we clarify that the rules permit any equipment that meets the applicable adjacent channel power limits of Section 90.221. The application of the rule is not limited to TETRA equipment and it was not the Commission’s intention to restrict the rule in this manner."
The New York state attorney general’s office again came down against Verizon’s Voice Link service, both regarding its attempted deployment beyond Fire Island and in comments before the New York State Public Service Commission generally. The AG defended its emergency petition accusing Verizon of illegality in promoting the fixed-wireless Voice Link as a copper replacement in the Catskills. Verizon has maintained the deployment is optional and fully permissible under a May PSC order -- and strongly defended the use and virtues of the new option overall (CD July 1 p18). “While it is true that Verizon’s tariff permits ‘offer[ing] such an alternative service as an optional service’ outside Fire Island, the company’s practices show that Verizon is not, in fact, offering Voice Link as an ‘option,'” the AG told the PSC Tuesday of Verizon’s defense (http://bit.ly/12EQbFl). “For such choice to have any meaning, customers need to be told they have a right to choose to retain their landline service. ... Based on information received from multiple consumers, Verizon is clearly not offering them such a choice.” It described three accounts of consumers receiving Voice Link pressure. The telco fails to tell consumers all relevant Voice Link details and has given “false information, such as asserting that storm damage from Sandy rendered the land line network in the Catskills beyond repair,” the AG said. It urged the PSC to audit Voice Link deployment attempts. The AG and Communications Workers of America also supplied the PSC with comments on the service Tuesday, despite the PSC’s extension of its comment deadline until September. In its comments (http://bit.ly/18tGUsb), the AG slammed Verizon’s copper strategy and referred to ways Voice Link doesn’t match up to landline service. CWA reiterated its concerns with the service and criticized Verizon’s vague language surrounding its deployment: “The Commission needs to get the real story on Verizon New York’s plans for Voice Link and to take an leadership [sic] role in setting the ground rules for any future expansion of the service as Verizon NY’s sole service offering,” the union said (http://bit.ly/14oEebb).
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued two name or address change notifications June 28:
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for July 1 (Note that some may also be given separate headlines.)
CE makers’ fears, as voiced last week at CE Week’s Ultra HD Conference (CED June 28 p1), that lowball-priced 4K sets this holiday selling season will create confusing “mixed messaging” for consumers and hurt the industry, are “much ado about nothing,” Rey Roque, vice president-marketing at Westinghouse Digital, told us. Westinghouse is targeting a $12,000 price point for its 84-inch Ultra HD 4K TV, with a 65-inch model to reach market at a projected $5,999 tag, Roque said. Westinghouse expects to begin shipping its Ultra HD products in August, he said.
Fast-paced sales of smartphones and tablets are laying the foundation for the second-screen ecosystem, panelists said at CE Week. The installed base of devices that are part of the second-screen experience is seeing an “explosion” of growth, said Shawn DuBravac, CEA director-research. Some 40 percent of U.S. households have a tablet, up from 22 percent in 2012 and 11 percent the year before. Density of tablet ownership is also on the rise, growing from 1.4 tablets per owning household in 2012 to 1.5 this year, DuBravac said. Smartphones were in 46 percent of households last year and that rate has pushed past half of U.S. households in 2013, he said.
Sharp in the U.S. will launch a 70-inch Ultra HD LCD TV in mid-August, eschewing a smaller model being sold in Japan and that set’s “moth-eye” technology so it may hit an $8,000 price point, company executives said.
The Federal Aviation Administration extended the deadline for an aviation rulemaking committee looking at the use of electronic devices in flight to complete its work. The 28-member group is now slated to wrap up its work in September. It had planned to finish July 31, an FAA spokesman said. The committee is looking at personal electronic devices like tablets and e-readers, but not cellphones, which are the purview of the FCC, according to a fact sheet released by the aviation agency Friday (http://1.usa.gov/130flW7). Under current FAA rules, the devices must be turned off during takeoff and landing and when aircraft are below 10,000 feet to protect key aviation systems from interference. “The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft,” the agency said in a statement Friday. “That is why we tasked a government-industry group to examine the safety issues and the feasibility of changing the current restrictions. At the group’s request, the FAA has granted a two-month extension to complete the additional work necessary for the safety assessment. We will wait for the group to finish its work before we determine next steps.” The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a draft of the report indicates consensus that the restrictions should be relaxed.