While Netflix hopes to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $72 billion, CNBC reports a senior official in America's federal government said the administration was viewing the deal with "heavy skepticism. And that's not the only hurdle:

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount, in a letter to lawyers for Warner Bros. Discovery [WBD], had warned that a sale to Netflix likely would "never close" because of regulatory challenges in the United States and overseas. "Acquiring Warner's streaming and studio assets 'will entrench and extend Netflix's global dominance in a matter not allowed by domestic or foreign competition laws,' Paramount's lawyers wrote," the Journal reported.

Paramount "is now weighing its options about whether to go straight to shareholders with one more improved bid," CNBC reported Friday, "perhaps even higher than the $30-per-share, all-cash offer it submitted to Warner Bros. Discovery this week."

And CNBC reported Friday that the review by America's Department of Justice "can take anywhere from months to more than a year."
Netflix said Friday it expects the transaction to close in 12 to 18 months, after Warner Bros. Discovery spins out its portfolio of cable networks into Discovery Global... As part of the deal, Netflix has agreed to pay a $5.8 billion breakup fee to Warner Bros. Discovery if the deal were to get blocked by the government.


Netflix's planned move is already drawing high-powered criticism, reports CNN:

"The world's largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent. The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers...." the Writers Guild of America union representing Hollywood writers.
"Producers are rightfully concerned... Our legacy studios are more than content libraries — within their vaults are the character and culture of our nation." — The Producers Guild of AmericaThe deal raises "many serious questions" about the entertainment industry's future, "especially the human creative talent whose livelihoods and careers depend on it." — SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood's biggest actors union
"This is not a win for consumers. Netflix has already aggressively raised prices, increased ad load, and stopped people from sharing passwords. Absorbing a competitor with strong content will only lead to its service becoming more expensive and give consumers less choice." — Ross Benes, a senior analyst at eMarketer, told CNN. [Benes also thinks this could mean fewer companies spending heavily on movies and TV shows. "This contracts the industry."

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CNN's prediction for 2026? "Any device that uses memory, from phones to tablets and smartwatches, could get pricier." But will it be a little or a lot?

The article cites an analysis from multinational strategy/management consulting firm McKinsey & Company which found America's data center demand could continue growing by 20 to 25 percent per year" through 2030. "That's prompted memory manufacturers like Micron and Samsung to shift their focus to data centers, which use a different type of memory, meaning fewer resources for consumer products. (Jaejune Kim, executive VP for memory at Samsung, said in October that their third quarter saw strong demand for memory for AI and data centers, and that they expected the supply shortage for mobile and PC memory to "intensify further.")



Memory prices are rising for consumer products because major manufacturers are instead ramping up production for AI data centers as artificial intelligence companies boom. "It's pretty much brutal and crunched across the board," said Yang Wang, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.


The International Data Corporation, a global market research firm, reported earlier this week that the smartphone market is expected to decline by 0.9% in 2026 in part because of memory shortages. Memory prices are expected to surge by 30% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and may climb an additional 20% early next year, Counterpoint Research said last month... TrendForce, a research firm that follows the semiconductor industry, estimates memory price hikes have made smartphones 8% to 10% more expensive to produce in 2025 (higher production costs don't always translate into higher consumer prices for a variety of reasons).

Some smartphones could cost more as soon as early next year, said Nabila Popal, a senior research director for the International Data Corporation. Cheap Android phones may see the biggest impact, since less expensive products usually have thinner margins. "It's going to be almost impossible for them to not raise prices" of cheaper Android phones, said Popal. Companies may also postpone phone launches to focus on expensive models that may be more profitable. The average selling price for smartphones is expected to climb to $465 in 2026, compared to $457 in 2025, according to Popal, putting the smartphone market at a record high value of $578.9 billion.

But the pendulum is expected to swing back in the other direction late next year as the supply chain adjusts, according to Popal and Wang, potentially bringing prices back down or at least capping increases.

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Linus Torvalds recently defended Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death during a video with Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips, where the two built a PC together. It's FOSS reports: In that video, Sebastian discussed Torvalds' fondness for ECC (Error Correction Code). I am using their last name because Linus will be confused with Linus. This is where Torvalds says this: "I am convinced that all the jokes about how unstable Windows is and blue screening, I guess it's not a blue screen anymore, a big percentage of those were not actually software bugs. A big percentage of those are hardware being not reliable."

Torvalds further mentioned that gamers who overclock get extra unreliability. Essentially, Torvalds believes that having ECC on the machine makes them more reliable, makes you trust your machine. Without ECC, the memory will go bad, sooner or later. He thinks that more than software bugs, often it is hardware behind Microsoft's blue screen of death. You can watch the video on YouTube (the BSOD comments occur at ~9:37).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Max Verstappen piled even more pressure on his McLaren rivals in the battle for the 2025 title as he delivered a blistering lap to take pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. With Lando Norris starting alongside on the front row and Oscar Piastri just behind in third, there's still so much to play for in the season finale. Here are the best facts and stats from a pivotal Qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit...

Lando Norris admitted that he was “disappointed” to not take pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but the Briton vowed to try to win as he looks to claim a maiden World Championship.

Oscar Piastri was satisfied with his efforts during the final Qualifying session of the season in Abu Dhabi, feeling that third on the grid represented “more or less what we had” after a low-key start to the weekend.

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Lando Norris (McLaren), 3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

Max Verstappen will start the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position, the Red Bull driver setting a stunning lap in Q3 to hold off the challenge of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen secured a critical pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, pipping Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to the top spot to put himself in the best place to chase down his fifth world title.

Max Verstappen could not hide his delight and satisfaction after producing another spectacular Qualifying display to bag pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Arvid Lindblad led this weekend’s Sprint Race in Abu Dhabi from start to finish, but the Campos Racing driver was made to work for his victory by Joshua Duerksen.

This rabona assist from Rayan Cherki is ridiculous (complimentary).

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For its 50th anniversary, the original theatrical cut of Star Wars will be released in theaters in Feb 2027 (maybe even IMAX). Han shoots first, no weirdly svelte Jabba.

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Zijn advocaat bevestigt tegen NRC dat de gijzelnemer van vrijdag in de PI Vught Corné H. is. H. werd vorig jaar veroordeeld voor een spraakmakende gijzeling in Ede en had eigenlijk al aan zijn tbs-behandeling begonnen moeten zijn. De PI meldt aangifte te willen doen.

De premiers van Aruba en Curaçao blijven toch in de regio vanwege aanhoudende spanningen tussen de Verenigde Staten en Venezuela. Volgens de leiders is er geen specifieke informatie over een mogelijke escalatie, maar „is de spanning voelbaar”.

Het Indonesische eiland werd vorige week zwaar getroffen door cycloon Senyar. Hele dorpen werden daardoor verwoest. De autoriteiten melden zaterdag dat het dodental is opgelopen tot 908. 410 mensen worden nog vermist.

Van jongs af aan droomt Earl ervan om brandweerman te worden. Toen hij negen jaar geleden dakloos werd, leek die droom verder weg dan ooit, maar nu komt dat toch een beetje uit. "Was ik maar die man die al die mensen uit de brand had geholpen."

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Mooi verhaal mensen. Over een man die een weddenschap aanging in een bar, en nu 27 jaar later, nog steeds een man een man een woord een woord is. Karl Bushby is de naam, en hij wandelt - sinds november 1998 - van het zuidelijkste puntje van Chili naar huis in Hull, Engeland, waar-ie volgend jaar september hoopt aan te komen. Uiteraard heeft Karl een eigen wiki. En het meest recente bericht staat dit weekend in de Times of India, Allermooiste quote: He often says that his journey has revealed the best of humanity. In his words, 99,99% of people he has met have been kind, generous and supportive. Mocht u Karl ergens tegenkomen binnenkort, doe 'm de groeten.