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Softbank and Sprint say no to Huawei in hopes of getting merger back on track
In an effort to speed up an already contested $ 20.1 billion merger, Softbank and Sprint have reportedly agreed not to use Huawei network equipment within the US carrier’s existing network. In fact, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, recently told The New York Times that the two outfits have pledged to remove Huawei hardware from Clearwire’s network, too. These promises are likely a reaction to Congress’ security concerns, which saw Huawei exiled from America’s first responder network back in October. While Rogers is happy with Softbank and Sprint’s new game plan, this deal is far from done. The two firms still need to make it past the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews national security risks connected to business transactions. Until then, Dan Hesse may wanna hold off on any extra curricular activities.
Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Mobile, Sprint
Via: The Register
Source: The New York Times
Matt Barkley proves he’s back to where he’s been — and no more — during pro day performance
LOS ANGELES — While USC quarterback Matt Barkley ran a 40-yard dash and participated in agility drills during the school’s Wednesday pro day at Cromwell field, that was about as insignificant as it could be for the NFL teams in attendance. All 32 teams were expected to make an appearance from their coaching and/or scouting staffs, and most certainly did — there were especially heavy groups from the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets organizations, though a lot of the shot-callers in the league were at LSU’s pro day. What those in attendance wanted to see was how well Barkley would throw the ball after a November, 2012 shoulder injury that ended his season, and prevented him from participating in pre-draft processes like the Senior Bowl and scouting combine — at least, as a pure thrower.
“It was a great day to come out and just throw the ball around,” Barkley said when his performance was done. “It feels good to be back and SC’s campus like this — that was a good day. You always strive to be perfect, especially on a day like this, but I’m pleased with how the guys ran routes, and how the ball came out.”
With performance coach Chris Weinke in tow, Barkley took to the field with his cadre of homegrown receivers at around 1:00 p.m. and proceeded to fling the ball around. He started with quick 10-yard in-seam and out throws to a four-across array of receivers, showing that he could at least get the ball out of his hand with the same velocity he had before. And in that sense, Wednesday was a big win for Barkley — wherever teams had him graded as far as overall arm strength is about where he is now.
The bad news, we suppose, would be for anyone expecting his work with Weinke or Dr. James Andrews to provide a new level of sauce on his longer passes. On deeper sideline throws, especially those he threw outside the pocket on designed rollouts, Barkley tended to struggle with the kind of quick and precise timing needed to make those plays happen in game situations. While he can clearly sing the ball with optimal arc to any depth, his receivers (including Robert Woods, who drew a lot of applause from those in attendance) had to come back and otherwise adjust on about half of his long passes. The actual stats — many would estimate five or six incompletions in a total of 62 throws — were not as important as the kinds of passes Barkley threw incomplete, and the completions his receivers had to make for him.
That said, and where Barkley’s been undersold to date, is in his control and command of the little things. In my opinion, he has by far the best footwork, ball flight (ability to put the right amount of air under the ball), anticipation, and sense of play action of any quarterback in this draft class. When I talked to Weinke about Barkley’s positive traits, footwork and anticipation came up more than once. It’s clear to me that Barkley has developed his sense of anticipation as an adaptive strategy to compensate for the deep arm deficiency.
Weinke told me that Barkley came to him after rehabbing his shoulder with Dr. Andrews on January 20, and the two have been working on getting Barkley back to full strength ever since. Barkley was at about 50 percent, Weinke estimated, when he showed up, about 80 percent two weeks ago, and ready to let it fly on Wednesday.
“The ultimate goal was getting to today and being able to make all the throws,” Weinke told me. “He feels comfortable with where his shoulder is, and with making every throw, and looking back, he’s glad he did follow the plan.”
Weinke also had a ready answer for those concerned with Barkley’s velocity.
“Here’s the deal — everybody gets enamored with arm strength,” he said. “The key for me when coaching quarterbacks, whether it’s a veteran or a younger guy, is to understand that the most important thing is obviously accuracy. Along with that is being able to have the ability to process information and deliver the ball with anticipation. Very rarely in the National Football League do we drop back and throw the ball 70 yards. The great quarterbacks don’t have to have a cannon for an arm — they’ve got to be able to make all the throws physically, and to get the ball out on time.”
Weinke is convinced that Barkley is such a quarterback, and Barkley, though fairly taciturn after his throwing session, is clearly convinced as well.
“I don’t know — that’s not my job,” he said, when asked if he had something to prove today. “I do what I do, and if it’s proof enough for someone else, so be it. But I don’t think that was my goal today.”
Barkley’s goal today was to show the NFL what he could do up close and in person, and to that end, his pro day was an unqualified success. When NFL teams go back to the tape, they’ll see what they saw in Los Angeles — both good and bad.There are worse things to be than Matt Barkley at his best — we just have to remember that with some players, “best” isn’t always what we want it to be.
After a great deal of drama, it turns out that Matt Barkley is, in the immortal words of Dennis Green. who we thought he was.
The Steelers Will NOT Bring Back James Harrison
Jason Worilds is a 25 year old, three year veteran at outside linebacker out of Virginia Tech. In the picture above, you will see Jason Worilds making a sack on a Virginia Tech alumni quarterback, Michael Vick in week five of the 2012 regular season when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in a 16-14 nail biter. Worilds started 25-of-41 games for Virginia Tech. He recorded 133 tackles (64 solo & 34.5 for a loss), 75 quarterback pressures, 5 forced fumbles, and 15.5 sacks. Why am I breaking down Worilds’ college stats? This will be his rookie season as the full-time starting right outside linebacker, and I will refer back to these later. He will be taking over James Harrison’s job. In Worilds’ short career with the Steelers, he has racked up 10 sacks and 62 total tackles. Worilds has spent three seasons learning the Steelers’ way to play defense and backing up All-Pros James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley. It is now Worilds’ chance to make a legacy in a Steelers uniform.
Could James Harrison Wind Back Up In Pittsburgh?
The market for former Steelers linebacker James Harrison appears to have dried up fast, and from all accounts the former NFL Defensive Player of the year could be back in Pittsburgh.
Thee Ravens were set to meet with Harrison on Sunday, but inked former Broncos LB Elvis Dumervil to a five-year deal.
Reports from Adam Schefter of ESPN state that Harrison who was let go a few weeks back, could come back to the Black and Gold
Schefter says that the linebacker is indeed open to returning to the team that released him on the second Saturday in March (March 9th).
The story goes is that Harrison was set to chat with Baltimore on Sunday, but then the Ravens went out and inked Dumervil, leaving Harrison out in the cold.
Schefter stated Monday on twitter that Harrison’s agent, Bill Parise, said he has not closed the door on his client returning to Pittsburgh, and that he would welcome a call from Steelers.
So what do you think – is it destined that Harrison is back opposite LaMarr Woodley in 2013?
Apple ID accounts reportedly vulnerable to password reset hack, forgot password page taken offline for maintenance (update 2: back)
Gaping security holes are a pretty terrifying thing, especially when they involve something as sensitive as your Apple ID. Sadly it seems that immediately after making the paranoid happy by instituting two-step authentication a pretty massive flaw in Cupertino’s system was discovered and first reported by The Verge. Turns out you can reset any Apple ID password with nothing more than a person’s email address and date of birth — two pieces of information that are pretty easy to come across.
There’s a little more to the hack, but it’s simple enough that even your non-tech savvy aunt or uncle could do it. After entering the target email address in the password reset form you can then select to answer security questions to validate your identity. The first task will be to enter a date of birth. If you enter that correctly then paste a particular URL into the address bar (which we will not be publishing for obvious reasons), press enter, then — voilà — instant password reset! Or, at least that’s the story. While we were attempting to verify these claims Apple took down the password reset page for “maintenance.” Though we’ve received no official confirmation from Apple, it seems the company is moving swiftly to shut down this particularly troublesome workaround before word of it spreads too far.
Update: We’ve heard back from Apple on the matter, which stated, “Apple takes customer privacy very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and working on a fix.” No real surprises that a fix is in the works, but there you have it from the horse’s mouth.
Update 2: The forgotten password page is back as of late Friday evening — that was (relatively) quick. iMore reports (and we’ve verified ourselves) that the security hole is now closed.
Bears Announce LB Urlacher Won’t Be Back With Chicago In 2013
The Bears have announced that that team is moving on from talking about a new deal with linebacker Brian Urlacher, and the two sides will go their separate ways.
“We were unable to reach an agreement with Brian and both sides have decided to move forward,” Bears General Manager Phil Emery said in a statement.
“Brian has been an elite player in our league for over a decade. He showed great leadership and helped develop a winning culture over his time with the Bears. We appreciate all he has given our team, on and off the field. Brian will always be welcome as a member of the Bears.”
Urlacher will stay on the market as an unsigned free agent, and one can only assume will start talking to other teams about joining another roster after 12 seasons with the Bears.
Bears coach Marc Trestman said earlier on Wednesday that he felt there was a place for Urlacher on the Bears in 2013, but now that dream appears over.
Titans running back Chris Johnson is not a big fan of the Shonn Greene signing
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson likes how his team’s front office has handled free agency, especially how they beefed up their offensive line by signing guard Andy Levitre to a six-year, $ 46.8 million contract, but one move in particular does not get his full approval.
According to Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean, Johnson doesn’t understand why the team signed free agent running back Shonn Greene to a three-year, $ 10 million contract.
“I have never been a big fan of the two-back system, so I don’t know how we plan on using him,” Johnson said. “I’m not afraid of competition, but I was thinking we’d maybe get a draft pick for the other back. And you don’t give a guy that kind of money to be just a goal-line guy and in tough-yardage situations. So we’ll see what happens.”
Johnson’s response to the Greene signing is not surprising. No running back played a higher percentage of his team’s offensive plays last season than Johnson, who official NFL playing-time documents show was on the field for 81.63 percent of the Titans’ snaps last season. Johnson accounted for over 73 percent of the Titans’ rushing attempts and rushing yards and had 44.8 percent of the team’s rushing attempts and receptions last season.
“I’ll just roll with it. Of course I don’t want to carry the ball 30 or 40 times a game,” said Johnson. “And I don’t mind a guy getting a carry or two. But if I am the main guy and it is supposed to be my team…it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Greene’s contract may have raised a few eyebrows, but an average per year (APY) of $ 3.3 million is slightly below the $ 3.5 million per year average that Michael Bush received from the Chicago Bears to be the No. 2 behind franchised running back Matt Forte last offseason. Bush ended up playing in less than 25 percent of the Bears’ snaps in 2012, and while Greene could be in store for similar usage, Titans head coach Mike Munchak views the 226-pound Greene as an option on all downs.
“We’re not going to have him as a short-yardage back, a goal-line back and four-minute back and that’s all he does,” Munchak told Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com. “We feel he can play all three downs. He may get a series where he gets going and we’re taking over the line of scrimmage and you want that runner in there and we leave him in there.”
Chicago Bears announce that Brian Urlacher will not be back in 2013
The Chicago Bears have announced that they were unable to reach agreement on a new contract with longtime middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and that both sides will move forward in 2013.
“We were unable to reach an agreement with Brian and both sides have decided to move forward,” general manager Phil Emery said in a statement released by the team. “Brian has been an elite player in our league for over a decade. He showed great leadership and helped develop a winning culture over his time with the Bears. We appreciate all he has given our team, on and off the field. Brian will always be welcome as a member of the Bears.”
Urlacher, who turns 35 in May, has been with the Bears since he was selected with the ninth overall pick of the 2000 NFL draft. Over the last 13 seasons, Urlacher has over 1,300 tackles with 41.5 sacks and 22 interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 258-pound Urlacher went to eight Pro Bowls, was named to five All-Pro teams and was voted the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2005.
“Over the last 13 years, Brian Urlacher has been an outstanding player, teammate, leader and face of our franchise,” said Bears chairman George H. McCaskey. “As Bears fans, we have been lucky to have such a humble superstar represent our city. He embodies the same characteristics displayed by the Bears all-time greats who played before him and he will eventually join many of them in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We thank Brian for all he has given our team and our city. He will always be a part of the Bears family. We wish him the very best.”
Urlacher injured his left knee late in the 2011 season and ended up missing most of last season’s training camp. Urlacher missed the final four games of the 2012 season with a hamstring injury.
Despite Urlacher’s age, recent injury woes and the team’s offseason coaching change from Lovie Smith to Marc Trestman, the Bears had not ruled out bringing the veteran back. Earlier on Wednesday, Trestman discussed Urlacher’s future with the team during the NFC coach’s breakfast at the owner’s meetings in Phoenix, Arizona.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times:
“We evaluated Brian and we think he can help our football team — no doubt about it, we do. ” Trestman said Wednesday during the NFC coaches breakfast during the NFL annual meetings at the Arizona Biltmore.”[But] that’s the coaching side of it. The coaching side is that we’ve made an evaluation and feel good about having Brian back. Not just from a locker-room perspective, but as a player on a football team.
“We’ve established that as a staff and then the rest is the process, the collective process of what is best for the Bears. There is a lot that goes into that. There’s more to it than just the football side. There’s a lot that goes into it. That’s the best interests of the Bears. That’s where we are. “
With the Bears moving on without Urlacher, and losing versatile backup Nick Roach to the Oakland Raiders in free agency, Blake Costanzo, one of the best special teams players in the league, is penciled in as the starting middle linebacker.
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Atlanta Falcons agree to terms with running back Steven Jackson
Free agent running back Steven Jackson has agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
The Falcons’ official Twitter page reports that the deal spans three seasons. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Jackson hit the free agent market after the St. Louis Rams provided him with the option to void the final year of his contract. The Rams are preparing to go forth with 2012 draft choices Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead in the backfield.
Jackson drew interest from both the Green Bay Packers and Falcons before deciding on Atlanta on Thursday. The Falcons were in the market for a veteran back after releasing Michael Turner earlier this month. Turner topped 1,300 three times during his first five seasons with the Falcons, but was released after averaging just 3.6 yards per carry in 2012 and watching his 2013 base salary swell from $ 5.5 million to $ 6.9 million.
The Falcons, who lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game, had the NFL’s eighth-ranked offense last season, but were just 29th when running the ball, averaging less than 88 yards per game. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound Jackson gives the Falcons a powerful inside runner to pair with Jacquizz Rodgers, a smaller, faster back who can attack the opponents’ edges.
Selected in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft out of Oregon State, Jackson has rushed for 10,135 yards and 56 touchdowns with 407 receptions for 3,324 and eight touchdowns out of the backfield. The three-time Pro Bowler has rushed for 1,000 or more yards in eight straight seasons and is the Rams’ all-time leader in rushing yards and is tied with Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson second in club history in rushing touchdowns, trailing Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk by two scores. Jackson also ranks fifth in Rams’ history in receptions and is fourth in total touchdowns.
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