Here's how #Dell plans to finance its purchase of #EMC

The deal is a complicated financing structure that will spread the debt Dell is trying to raise over a number of markets.

Dell’s $67 billion acquisition of EMC will not only be one of the largest tech deals ever, it could also be one of the most leveraged. But doesn’t seem to have stopped the banks from wanting in.

According to Dell’s proxy statement, eight banks have committed to providing the company with as much as $49 billion in financing. One question was how the banks would structure the deal given that regulators and the market are increasingly worried about rising risks in the corporate lending market. One banker tied to the deal said there was a concern that regulators would flag the deal because it had too much leverage. What’s more, the high-yield loan market has slowed recently, with investors particularly worried about buying debt tied to merger transactions.

The result is a complicated financing structure that will spread the debt Dell is trying to raise over a number of markets. According to one banker close to the deal, Dell will raise a total of $45 billion in debt to do the deal, slightly lower than has so far been reported. Only about $10 billion of that though will be bank loans. On top of that, the banks will provide an additional $3 billion in a revolver. Dell is expected to raise about $10 billion through the high-yield market. Institutional shareholders have committed to providing $8 billion in funding to the deal. But the big surprise is that bankers are expecting to be able to sell $17 billion in high-grade bonds connected to the deal.

Just how leveraged the deal is is hard to tell. The combined Dell-EMC  EMC -2.79%  is expected to have $56 billion in debt after closing. EMC is expected to generate $6.3 billion in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Dell hasn’t released earnings numbers since it went private in 2013, but back then its EBITDA was $4.5 billion. And there is some indication that Dell’s cash flow has slipped since then. Still, use those numbers and the deal has a leverage ratio (Debt-to-EBITDA) of around five times.

Regulators have warned banks against lending to deals with over six times leverage. So Dell-EMC appears to be below that bar. 

The average leveraged buyout deal this year had a leverage ratio of 5.7. So Dell-EMC is not high for all deals. But for large tech deals, which tend to have less debt, the leverage in the deal is very high. For instance, Carly Fiorina’s much maligned acquisition of Compaq when she was head of Hewlett-Packard only resulted in a combined leverage ratio of 2.3. The most recent large tech deal to even come close is Broadcom’s $36.5 billion takeover of Avago Technologies, which was announced earlier this year. And even in that deal the leverage ratio was only 3.2.

What’s more, the Dell-EMC deal comes at a time when investors are increasingly worried about corporate debt. Corporate bond spreads, or the difference between how much companies have to pay in interest to borrow and U.S. Treasuries, have been rising. There have been more downgrades of corporate bonds this year than at any point since the financial crisis. And coverage ratios, or how much more companies are making than the debt they owe, have been falling. And there is some sign that debt investors are worried about the Dell-EMC deal. Existing bonds tied to EMC have sold off since the link-up has been announced.

Nonetheless, the Dell-EMC deal shows that if there is a growing bubble in the corporate debt market, at least for now, the banks don’t see it.

Fortune.com

Tesla's Elon Musk Is Thinking About Designing An Electric Plane. #tesla, #ElonMusk

Your flight to Europe could one day be completely powered by rechargeable batteries.

Elon Musk is convinced that some of the largest vehicles -- we're talking planes and ships -- will soon be electric. In an interview with Marketplace on Monday, the Tesla and SpaceX chief spoke of a future in which all manner of conveyances will shift away from traditional energy sources.

"Aircraft and ships, and all other modes of transport, will go fully electric -- not half electric, but fully electric," Musk said. "No question."

If Musk's vision comes to be, it would mean a total transformation of some of the world's most polluting industries. Shipping is estimated to generate nearly 5 percent of the world's annual greenhouse gases, according to a leaked United Nations report from 2008. Cruise ships are just as guilty -- many rely on bunker fuel, which is cheap and releases high levels of pollutants, and dump enormous amounts of sewage and other wastes into bodies of water.

Aviation, meanwhile, is among the fastest-growing causes of carbon emissions. A roundtrip flight between New York and London produces around 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person, the same amount of emissions released by someone in Europe heating his or her home for an entire year. As more and more people travel by plane, that carbon footprint is only going to grow.

Musk also entertained the possibility of researching electric-powered planes. “I do like the idea of an electric aircraft company. I think one could do a pretty cool supersonic, vertical take-off and landing electric jet," he said during the Marketplace interview. "I have a design in mind for that."

Tesla has been at the forefront of bringing (pricey) electric vehicles to the marketplace. Its new Model S sedan is more energy-efficient than previous versions, and the company unveiled an all-electric SUV last month. Tesla isn't totally immune to criticisms about carbon emissions, though -- while its cars run on battery power, most of those batteries likely draw their charges from a power grid that runs on fossil fuels.

Huffingtonpost.com

#Volkswagen to change system for exhaust in new cars

BERLIN — Volkswagen said Tuesday that it would revamp the technology it uses for controlling diesel exhaust in future models as it struggles to overcome an emissions cheating scandal that has battered its reputation and threatened its financial stability.

The company said it would switch to what it called a selective catalytic reduction system to decrease emissions on its diesel engines in Europe and North America, where the scandal erupted last month.

The approach is conceptually similar to an emissions system Volkswagen considered until 2007, when it adopted the system now at the center of its scandal. The alternative technology, which is not part of its plan to fix cars already in circulation, was rejected by the company at the time as too costly.

Reflecting the scandal’s mounting financial toll, Volkswagen also said Tuesday that it would cut investments at its leading brand by 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion). That will limit the company’s ability to innovate at a time when carmakers are trying to keep ahead of a rush of new technology.

Volkswagen, Europe’s leading automaker, was forced to admit that about 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide were equipped with software that allowed it to cheat on tests of noxious gas emissions. The company now faces a raft of investigations in the United States, Europe, and China.

The change involves adding a tank of a urea-based fluid to clean exhaust and affects only coming models, said Volkswagen spokesman Peter Thul.

“Diesel vehicles will only be equipped with exhaust emissions systems that use the best environmental technology,” Herbert Diess, chairman of the car brand, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, said in a statement Tuesday. The change will take place “as soon as possible,” according to the statement.

It also appears Volkswagen will be moving away from diesel as its preferred clean technology. Volkswagen said Tuesday it was pushing ahead with the development of electric and plug-in hybrid cars based on a series of components that can be used in different models.

Exemplifying this shift will be a transformation of the next generation of Volkswagen’s luxury Phaeton limousine into an all-electric model, expected in 2019 or 2020.

Last week, Volkswagen submitted a detailed proposal to German authorities of how it planned to remove from its vehicles in the country the software used to cheat emissions tests. The Federal Motor Transport Authority is reviewing Volkswagen’s proposal to remedy the issue on its 1.2-, 1.6-, and 2-liter diesel engines.

The German Transport Ministry has said there will be a recall for affected vehicles, with a software fix for the 2-liter engines expected to be ready early next year. The 1.6-liter motors, however, would require further modifications that cannot be expected before later in 2016. No information has been released regarding a fix for the 1.2-liter engines.

In testimony before Congress last week and the British Parliament Monday, Volkswagen officials indicated that fixes would vary by country, given varying emissions standards.

Paul Willis, general manager of the Volkswagen Group in Britain, said Monday that repairs for diesels sold in Europe would not involve the installation of a new emission filtration system using urea as an additive. But such a remedy is expected in many vehicles in the United States, which has tougher standards for emissions of nitrogen oxides, which have been linked to a host of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.

Fallout from the scandal has ricocheted throughout Germany, Europe’s largest economy, with a benchmark survey released Tuesday showing economic sentiment dropped more than expected in October.

Bostonglobe.com

20 Awesome Hidden Features of iOS 9 #iphone, #ios

There are several hidden features in iOS 9 that are very useful. There are nifty features to improve battery life, and tweaks that improve the security of you iOS device, along with small tweaks like the Bluetooth battery widget and reorganised folders on iPads that make the experience of using your device that little bit better. Here is a list of features that you may not have spotted on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

1) Swipe left to invoke Spotlight
If you are wondering why you can no longer swipe down from any home screen to search, it's because Spotlight has been reinstated to a screen of its own in iOS 9. Before iOS 7, Spotlight could be invoked by swiping left from the main home screen, but this hasn't been the case with recent iOS versions. Here you will also see Siri's suggestions for apps and contacts based on what apps you use and who you contact at any given time of the day.

2) Settings search
The settings app is one of the more crowded and confusing parts of your iPhone or iPad - but now, you don't need to know where every setting is. The search bar at the top of the Settings app lets you quickly find whatever options you were looking for, to easily make the changes you want.

3) Low power mode
Running out of charge? Go to Settings > Battery and enable Low Power Mode. This disables certain visual effects, automatic downloads (apps, songs, etc), mail fetch, and background app refresh to improve battery life.

4) App screen time
Go to Settings > Battery and tap the clock icon under Battery Usage. This will give you detailed app usage information, and shows you how much time an app has been active, or running in the background. If an app is using a lot of battery while in the background, removing it could solve some battery woes.

5) Batteries widget
Open the Notification Centre and add the Battery widget. You will see the battery level of your iPhone, and also all paired devices like Apple Watch or Bluetooth headphones. It also has a tiny icon there to let you know if the device is charging.

6) Photo folders
The photo album on your iPhone or iPad has always been a slightly cluttered mess, but iOS 9 has brought some changes that could help. Open the Photos app and tap Albums. You'll see that all your photos are now neatly categorised into folders, such as Selfies, Panoramas, Screenshots, and more.

7) iPad folders
If you've created folders on the home screen of you iPad, you will notice that there are four apps per row in each folder, and four rows, as opposed to the three by three grid in iOS 8. That means that each page of a folder can now show 16 apps at a time, which is handy as you won't have to keep hunting for apps hidden away behind pages now. This is just one of the many iPad-specific tweaks in iOS 9.

8) Keyboard shortcuts
QuickType keyboard on the iPad has several nifty features in iOS 9. An entire shortcut bar at the top lets you quickly add attachments, formatting, and has nice undo and redo buttons too. Swiping on the keyboard with two fingers unveils a trackpad mode. This trackpad feature comes to iPads, and the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus (via 3D Touch). If you plug in a Bluetooth keyboard accessory, you can use quite a few shortcuts such as command-N to create a new document in certain apps such as Pages. Third-party apps like Microsoft Outlook have also been updated to make use of this feature.

9) Return to app
Moving between apps is a lot easier on iOS 9. If an app opens a link in another app, you'll be able to get back to the first app without needing the app switcher. For example, if you open a link in the Messages app, it will open in Safari. To return to the app, just tap the Back to Messages link on the top-left.

10) Custom numeric passcode
If you don't want to set a six-digit passcode or a regular password comprising alphabets and numbers, you can create a custom numeric passcode in iOS 9. Go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Change Passcode. Tap Passcode Options and select Custom Numeric Code.

11) Spotlight calculator
Spotlight search can now search within third-party apps, and doubles up as your calculator and currency converter. Just type $600 in the search bar and Spotlight will show the equivalent rupee amount right there. You can also perform basic calculations using the search bar.

12) Quickly select photos
Open the Photos app, go to the album of your choice and tap Select on the top-right. Now just slide your finger over a bunch of photos and you will see that they're all getting selected. This is much faster than manually tapping each photo to select it.

13) Contextual Siri search
You can ask Siri to remind you about something tomorrow or to show you photos taken in Mumbai. Siri has now become a lot better at processing natural language.

14) Who's calling?
Getting a call from an unknown number? Siri will check your emails to try and show you the name of the contact.

15) Better Reader mode
Safari's inbuilt reader mode makes it easier to read articles. Once you enable it you can tap and hold the AA icon on the top-right to see several new iBooks-like options such as changing the fonts and night mode.

16) Safari share sheet
In Safari tap the share icon and you will see several new options. For example, you can now save webpages to pdf via iBooks in two taps. Also new in the share sheet are extensions that let you request the desktop version of any site and find words on the webpage. You can also save links to the new and improved Notes app or add them to the Reminders app directly.

17) Paste and go
Copy a URL and tap and hold the address bar in Safari. This will reveal a Paste and Go button. If you copy any other search term, this button changes to Paste and Search.

18) Grouped notifications
You still can't dismiss all notifications at once, but you can now dismiss all notifications from any one day at once. This is because iOS 9 groups notifications by date rather than by app. You can toggle this via Settings > Notifications > Group By App.

19) Mail improvements
The Mail app now lets you add markup to any photo. Select any photo you've attached, tap and hold, press the > button and tap Markup. Here you can annotate the picture and even add a digital signature.

20) Safari reload
Safari's reload page button on the top-right hides a couple of interesting features. Open any webpage and tap and hold the reload button. Now you will see two options slide up - Request Desktop Site and Reload Without Content Blockers. The second one will appear only if you are using a content blocker app.

Sourse: Ndtv.com

Tesla's new Model S sedan gets 103 out of 100 points, breaking Consumer Reports record. #Tesla

 "This is it, the best car Consumer Reports has ever tested," says Jake Fisher, the consumer magazine's auto test director, standing next to the Tesla Model S P85D sedan. "Simply put, the fully electric car is a glimpse into the future of the automotive industry." How impressed was Consumer Reports with the luxury car? It originally gave it 103 out of 100, forcing the magazine to recalibrate its rating system so the P85D got a mere 100 — still beating the regular Tesla Model S, which scored 99 in 2013, under the old system.

Along with being the highest-rated, it's also the fastest car the magazine has tested, and more efficient than even the regular Tesla Model S, Fisher said. But there's one more superlative to come: At $127,820, it's also the most expensive car Consumer Reports has ever tested. And "it has imperfections," Consumer Reports says. "The interior materials aren't as opulent as other high-ticket automobiles, and its ride is firmer and louder than our base Model S."

But in terms of performance, efficiency, and speed — going from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds with a silent electric motor is "frighteningly eerie," and the car is "so explosively quick that Tesla has created an 'insane' driving mode," the magazine said, creating "near-instant g-forces" that "can otherwise be achieved only by leaping off a building— literally" — this Tesla is "the closest to perfect we've ever seen," Fisher says. Elon Musk is probably not blushing. After all that gushing, you can watch Tesla's P85D in action below.

Theweek.com

Google confirms it will kill Flash advertising in Chrome on 1 September! #google, #flash, #html5

GOOGLE HAS DELIVERED what could be the killer blow for the much maligned Adobe Flash runtime that has been the cause of so many insecurities it probably qualifies for a course of CBT and some Prozac.

The company has announced that from 1 September it will turn Flash adverts into static images to protect against potential malicious code injections.

The move, first announced in June, has been trialled in the Beta Channel, and is rolling out to stable browser users from Tuesday.

Most of the web realises that HTML5 is the future, despite what Microsoft will tell you about Silverlight, a platform also not supported by Google, and calls have been mounting to kill off Flash once and for all.

As well as the security aspect, Flash slows down web rendering to an extent unacceptable to modern users. And it kills your battery as a result. And it's just awful. And did we mention the hacking?

Adobe has been on an active campaign to move people onto new alternatives like Adobe Air, but the simplicity and compatibility of HTML5 have made it a losing battle.

Firefox recently blocked Flash by default, and Chrome users will now actively have to choose to animate advertising content, which Chrome will "intelligently select", according to Google. Meanwhile, Amazon has banned Flash advertising for all adverts it hosts.

It will come as a nasty shock to advertisers, the vast majority of which are still using Flash.

Chrome doesn't actually use Adobe Flash, but rather renders using its own Pepper Flash plug-in, but it still doesn't seem to think that safety can be assured.

The option to kill Flash has always been there. Fiddle about under the bonnet of your browser and it has always been possible to deactivate it. But with Chrome and Chromium derivatives now taking up a large chunk of market share, this could be a huge sea change not just for the browser, but for internet advertising as a whole.

Mobile phones have been Flash free for a long time, and it doesn't seem to have done them any harm. Chrome for Android hasn't used Flash for several years, and in doing so has accelerated the decline of this relic of a bygone era.

Flash won't completely die for a while. There are still proprietary systems relying on it. But this one could be the stake in the heart we've been waiting for to make the internet just that little bit less of a crapshoot. But only a little.

Theinquirer.net

VMware Fusion is ready to put Windows 10 on your Mac. #VMware #Windows10

Parallels may have been the first to bring Windows 10 virtualization to the Mac, but its rival VMware isn't far behind. Its newly released VMware Fusion 8 has full support forMicrosoft's latest platform, including Cortana -- you can ask it questions whenever the virtual machine is open, even if it's in the background. Graphics also get a big helping hand this year, with faster overall performance, support for DirectX 10-only software (read: some games) and compatibility with super high-resolution 5K iMacs.

Whether or not you'll want to pick VMware's offering over Parallels will likely depend on how you like the finer points of their interfaces, such as their attempts to blend Windows into OS X (such as Fusion's Unity mode). The regular edition of Fusion 8 is even priced similarly, at $80 for a fresh copy or $50 if you're upgrading from version 6 or 7. Developers and other high-end users can shell out $200 to get Fusion 8 Pro. If you do choose VMware, though, be prepared for a hiccup -- Ars Technica notes that the initial release has a bug that sometimes deprives you of the Start screen with Unity mode turned on. The flaw should be fixed soon, though, so don't let that deter you if you prefer VMware's approach.

Engadget.com

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