gigatech1Reports are coming in that Apple is in exploratory talks to acquire Jay-Z’s streaming music service Tidal. From the Associated Press report:

“The talks are ongoing and may not result in a deal, these people said. Apple is exploring the idea of bringing on Tidal to bolster its Apple Music service because of Tidal’s strong ties to popular artists such as Kanye West and Madonna.”

Tidal was setup by Jay-Z just over a year ago:

“Jay Z bought the service in March 2015 for $56 million from Swedish company Aspiro, which had created the brand Tidal. He has given 19 famous artists and bands small stakes in Tidal and promised each millions of dollars worth of marketing, according to people familiar with the matter.”

Apple is battling it out with Spotify for the streaming music market and an acquisition of Tidal could bolster the numbers. Tidal, which has 3 million paid subscribers would add to the 15 million plus subscribers that Apple Music already has. This is still behind Spotify’s 30 million subscribers but Apple Music has been on a growth trajectory.

Apple Music was result of the acquisition of Beats by Dre for $3 billion. Tidal on the other hand is valued at approximately $500 million and could put some of Apple’s overseas cash reserves to good use.


3Written by Rack Alley

There are several options when it comes to server hosting los angeles. Dedicated servers, virtual private servers, colocation and cloud servers. Colocation is when a server owned by the customer is hosted at a third party data center. There are several pros and cons to colocation which we will look at below.

Pros

The primary benefit of la colocation is the backend infrastructure that comes with a proper third party data center. The first layer is the on rack power and switching redundancy which will be very costly in house. This allows failures at several levels without any interruptions to services. Secondly there is the amount and cost of bandwidth available. As data centers purchase both in bulk there is plenty for any additional requirements. Massive spikes in traffic from viral sharing can be handled easily as long as the server is capable. Another advantage is round the clock tech support and monitoring.

Cons

Putting your own server also means that anything that is directly related to the server is your own responsibility. First there is the hardware. Any hardware failure and warranty will need to be serviced directly unless purchased from the data center. In addition any hardware upgrades to the server will result in both downtime (in order to install the upgrades) and additional capital costs unlike dedicated server rentals. Often companies prefer to outright own servers rather than rent but it also means a lack of flexibility from that commitment.

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Rack Alley provides premium colocation services perfect for small and enterprise customers at a los angeles data center.


gigatech2An amazing deal has popped for Amazon Prime customers looking to buy a new low cost Android phone. They are offering $50 off one of two phones: the BLU R1 HD which is normally $99.99 is going for $49.99 and the $199.99 Moto G4 at $149.99. From Amazon:

“Each phone is offered unlocked, with no commitment to a contract, giving Prime members the flexibility to switch between wireless carriers and service options to best fit their needs. The BLU R1 HD and Moto G feature Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Google Mobile Services, including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Play”

The two phones are also quite decent. The BLU R1 HD for example has some impressive specs for a low end phone:

“Featuring a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, fast 4G LTE speed, 8MP rear-facing camera, 5MP selfie camera with LED flash, 1 GB RAM and 8 GB of internal – with microSD card support for up to 64 GB of additional storage. The BLU R1 HD is compatible with GSM carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile”

The Moto G on the other hand is an extremely popular phone that packs excellent features at a low end price:

“The fourth-generation Moto G is the latest premium phone from Motorola and the thinnest Moto G yet. Compatible with all major CDMA and GSM carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. It boasts a 5.5” full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset with an octa-core processor at up to 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and 4G LTE speeds. In addition, the Moto G features a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, and a 3000 mAh battery with TurboPower charging giving you up to 6 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging. Available with 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, plus microSD card support for up to 128 GB of additional storage.”

There is a catch to the offer. Much like the Kindle, these prices are ad supported. Buyers will have the full suite of Amazon’s Android apps installed. Ads will also appear at random times on the lockscreen and notification bar. For those willign to tolerate these ads, it is a great offer.