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23XI, Front Row Motorsports pueden competir como equipos charter mientras continúa la demanda antimonopolio de NASCAR, dictamina el juez

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En lo que es una victoria notable en la demanda federal antimonopolio en curso contra NASCAR23XI Racing y Front Row Motorsports recibieron una orden judicial preliminar el miércoles que permite a los equipos de la Serie de la Copa competir como equipos charter durante la temporada 2025, y se les dio luz verde para completar un acuerdo previamente acordado que cada equipo alcanzó con Stewart – Haas. Racing comprará un contrato único, que debe ser aprobado por NASCAR ahora.

La decisión es una revocación de un fallo de octubre que negó a 23XI y FRM una orden judicial preliminar, que habría impedido a los equipos competir como equipos charter (y por lo tanto con entradas garantizadas a las carreras) mientras avanza la demanda contra NASCAR que alega prácticas anticompetitivas. .

En ese momento, el juez Frank Whitney decidió que los equipos no cumplieron con el estándar para dicha solicitud, donde los equipos no enfrentan daños irreparables si no se emite una orden judicial, pero los equipos pueden volver a presentar la solicitud si las circunstancias cambian. Las circunstancias cambiaron y cuando el caso fue remitido al juez Kenneth Bell, éste emitió la orden judicial preliminar, dijeron los equipos.

“Damos la bienvenida a la decisión del juez Bell de hoy de otorgar una orden judicial preliminar a nuestro favor. El fallo del tribunal permite a 23XI y Front Row Motorsports competir con autos existentes como equipos charter en la Serie de la Copa el próximo año”, dijo Jeffrey Kessler, abogado de 23XI y FRM. “La decisión también requiere que NASCAR apruebe la compra de ambos equipos para un tercer contrato de Stewart-Haas Racing y permita que estos autos también compitan como equipos contratados en la temporada 2025. Confiamos en la solidez de nuestro caso. Continuaremos luchando para que las carreras prosperen y se conviertan en un deporte más competitivo y justo de manera que beneficie a los equipos, pilotos, patrocinadores y, lo más importante, a nuestros fanáticos.

el atleta Me comuniqué con NASCAR para comentar sobre el fallo.

De los 15 equipos de tiempo completo de la Copa, 23XI y FRM son los únicos dos equipos que no han firmado la oferta de “tómalo o déjalo” de NASCAR presentada en septiembre que extendió el acuerdo de fletamento del deporte por siete años, hasta la temporada 2031. Se ha presentado una demanda federal conjunta alegando prácticas monopólicas posteriores por parte de 23XI, cuyo grupo propietario incluye a 23XI. NBA El legendario Michael Jordan y el piloto estrella de NASCAR Denny Hamlin, y FRM, propiedad del restaurador Bob Jenkins.

A principios de este mes, la demanda fue transferida a… campana. Esto se produjo después de que FRM presentara una declaración jurada la semana pasada alegando que NASCAR no aceptaría comprar vehículos chárter SHR a menos que 23XI y FRM retiraran la demanda conjunta.

Como parte de la presentación, el gerente general de FRM, Jerry Freeze, dijo que el presidente de NASCAR, Steve Phelps, inicialmente le dijo en septiembre que el acuerdo para comprar el contrato de SHR había sido aprobado por NASCAR, solo para que NASCAR informara más tarde a los equipos que cualquier aprobación estaba condicionada a la pleito. disminuido.

Además, el presidente de SHR, Joe Custer, declaró en una declaración jurada que NASCAR le dijo varias veces que se aprobaría la venta de sus chárter a 23Xi y FRM, y que si la venta no se hubiera aprobado, SHR no estaba en condiciones de presentarla. Dos entradas adicionales, según lo exige el contrato de fletamento que firmé en septiembre.

Las nuevas presentaciones mostraron suficiente “daño irreparable” para que Bell fallara a favor de los equipos. Bell escribió que los reclamos antimonopolio de 23XI y FRM estaban justificados y que exigir a los equipos que retiraran la demanda o compitieran como equipos abiertos les haría “sufrir daños” porque perderían pilotos y no serían considerados equipos autónomos.

“Aquí, el interés público apoya firmemente la emisión de una orden judicial preliminar limitada a favor de los demandantes durante la temporada de carreras de NASCAR de 2025, para brindarles a los fanáticos de las carreras de autos stock la oportunidad de ver (y animar a favor y en contra) la lista completa de equipos”, escribió Bell. , “y para permitir la consideración de las impugnaciones legales antimonopolio presentadas por los demandantes.

“Los demandantes han demostrado que es probable que tengan éxito en sus afirmaciones de que 1) NASCAR tiene poder de monopolio en el mercado de carreras de autos stock de primer nivel y 2) en la medida en que el Acuerdo de Estatuto de NASCAR de 2025 incluye una versión que prohíbe a los equipos hacer valer reclamos antimonopolio, Como han afirmado los demandantes, tal fallo sería una violación de las leyes antimonopolio”. Además, los demandantes han demostrado que, si no se garantiza la entrada a todas las carreras como equipo charter, probablemente sufrirían un daño irreparable. A través de la pérdida de control contractual sobre sus mejores pilotos y la consiguiente incapacidad de presentar su mejor equipo de carreras”.

profundizar

ir más profundo

Ambos equipos que demandan a NASCAR competirán en 2025

Otorgar el estatus de estatuto a 23XI y FRM para la temporada 2025 garantiza a cada organización ingresos mucho más altos que si tuvieran que operar como un equipo “abierto”. También les garantizó un lugar de salida en las 36 carreras de puntos de la Copa. Sin los chárter, tanto 23XI como FRM también corrían el riesgo de perder a sus pilotos cuyos contratos les exigían estar en un coche con un chárter, incluido Tyler Reddick de 23XI, que terminó cuarto. en el campeonato 2024.

“Los demandados sugieren que las preocupaciones de los conductores de los demandantes no son sinceras y que nunca abandonarán realmente los equipos de los demandantes”, escribió Bell. “Si bien el tribunal, por supuesto, no puede descartar completamente esta posibilidad, la realidad de la situación tanto para los conductores como para los demandantes es clara e inmediata. A falta de que se emita una orden judicial preliminar antes del 18 de diciembre de 2024, Tyler Reddick se convertirá en un 'agente libre'. y aún se desconoce si tiene o no un plan firme para dejar 23XI”. Otros equipos tendrán la capacidad actual de contratar sus servicios (probablemente durante varios años para proteger al equipo y al piloto. Si bien el daño irreparable no puede ser especulativo, no lo es). tiene que ser). confirmado o ya había ocurrido antes de que se dictara la orden judicial.

Bell también declaró en su fallo que se espera que el juicio comience en algún momento antes del inicio de la temporada 2026. Si NASCAR así lo decide, podría apelar el fallo del miércoles ante la Corte de Apelaciones de Estados Unidos.

Lectura requerida

(Foto: James Gilbert/Getty Images)



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Entertainment

Apple’s new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro gets a function row and haptic trackpad

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Apple has announced a refreshed Magic Keyboard accessory at today’s iPad event. The new keyboard is designed to specifically work with the M4 iPad Pro line, though it doesn’t integrate with the iPad Air or any other model.

When connected to the iPad Pro, it makes the tablet look like an actual laptop. Apple says “the entire experience feels just like using a MacBook.” To further assist this laptop mimicry, the keyboard boasts a larger trackpad with haptic feedback. There’s also a new function row for quick access to convenient controls, like brightness and the like.

Here it is.Here it is.

Apple

The keyboard now features an aluminum palmrest and is available in two colors. Magic Keyboard ships with the iPad Pro next week. The keyboard costs $300 or $350, depending on which iPad Pro model it aligns with. The company also announced new iPads today, including an OLED iPad Pro and a refreshed iPad Air.

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Business Industry

Samsung has been world’s biggest soundbar brand for 10 years in a row

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Samsung has announced that it was the world’s biggest soundbar brand in 2023. With another year as the top-ranked soundbar brand globally, the South Korean firm has become the world’s biggest soundbar brand for ten years.

Samsung has been the world’s biggest soundbar brand globally since 2013

According to a report from FutureSource Consulting, Samsung was the world’s biggest soundbar in 2023, and the company has achieved this feat consecutively for the past ten years. The latest market research analysis reveals that Samsung had an 18.8% market share and a 20.3% revenue share globally in 2023.

Samsung Soundbar World's Biggest Brand 10 Years

Year after year, Samsung has continuously pushed the boundaries of soundbars, releasing several top-ranking soundbars and impressive new technologies. Some of the company’s impressive audio technologies include Q-Symphony, which uses the speakers of the soundbar and the paired TV simultaneously for an immersive audio experience.

The South Korean firm also introduced a feature called SpaceFit Sound, which calibrates the soundbar automatically according to the room it is placed in. A couple of years ago, Samsung also introduced Wireless Dolby Atmos, removing the restriction of using wires between the TV and the soundbar to be able to use Dolby Atmos.

Samsung HW-Q990C Soundbar

Last year, the HW-Q990C was adjudged the world’s best soundbar of 2023, thanks to its impressive 11.1.4-channel audio and 656W of audio output. It also features AirPlay 2, 4K HDR10+ passthrough, built-in Alexa, SpaceFit Sound Pro, Active Voice Amplifier, and Game Mode Pro. It also has Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and SmartThings.

Earlier this year, the company unveiled a follow-up flagship soundbar model, the HW-Q990D, which will be launched soon.

Cheolgi Kim, EVP of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, said, “We are thrilled to be once again acknowledged as the market leader in soundbars, a milestone that reflects the positive feedback from our customers over the years. Building on this success, we will continue to push the boundaries of home entertainment with superior sound quality and advanced connectivity features, leveraging AI-based sound technology to strengthen the consumer experience and Samsung’s position in the global market.

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Life Style

Did ‘alien’ debris hit Earth? Startling claim sparks row at scientific meeting

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An electron microprobe image of a grey sphere on a black background. The sphere has a partially irregular surface and is about 200 micrometres across according to the scale bar.

Avi Loeb and his team say that metallic balls found near Papua New Guinea could be of extraterrestrial origin.Credit: Avi Loeb’s photo collection

The Woodlands, Texas

A sensational claim made last year that an ‘alien’ meteorite hit Earth near Papua New Guinea in 2014 got its first in-person airing with the broader scientific community on 12 March. At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, scientists clashed over whether a research team has indeed found fragments of a space rock that came from outside the Solar System.

The debate occurred at a packed session featuring Hairuo Fu, a graduate student at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is a member of the team that found the fragments. Team leader Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard who did not attend the conference, has made other controversial claims about extraterrestrial discoveries. Many scientists have said that they don’t want to spend much of their time analysing and refuting these claims.

During his presentation, Fu described tiny metallic blobs that Loeb’s expedition dredged from the sea floor near Papua New Guinea last year, and said that the spherules have a chemical composition of unknown origin1. He then faced questions from a long line of scientists sceptical of the implications of extraterrestrial material. “At the very least, it is something different from what we know,” Fu responded.

New work questions the team’s findings. In a manuscript posted on the arXiv preprint server on 8 March2, ahead of peer review, a researcher argues that the debris collected by Loeb and his co-workers is actually molten blobs generated when an asteroid hit Earth 788,000 years ago.

“What they found has all the characteristics of microtektites — little pieces of melted Earth that came from this impact,” says preprint author Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Meanwhile, other studies are challenging different aspects of Loeb’s claim, such as whether the meteor that reportedly produced the fragments was on the trajectory Loeb says it was. Together, the findings show how the broader scientific community is engaging with Loeb’s extraterrestrial claims, in spite of reluctance to do so.

A unique find?

‘Interstellar’ objects remained in the realm of theory until 2017, when astronomers spotted the first known celestial object to be on a trajectory that meant it could only have come from outside the Solar System. Loeb made headlines when he speculated that the object, a comet-like body named ‘Oumuamua, was an artefact sent by an extraterrestrial civilization.

‘Oumuamua passed through the Solar System far from Earth, but Loeb hoped to find another interstellar object that had hit the planet. He later proposed that a bright meteor that appeared in the sky north of Papua New Guinea in January 2014 had an interstellar trajectory and could have scattered debris in the ocean.

Three people use a vacuum tool on a metallic sledge on board a ship.

Avi Loeb (in hat) and colleagues recover particles from a magnetic sledge on their 2023 expedition.Credit: Avi Loeb’s photo collection

In June 2023, Loeb led a privately funded expedition to the site that used magnetic sledges to recover more than 800 metallic spherules from the sea floor. About one-quarter of the spherules had chemical compositions indicating that they came from igneous, or once-molten, rocks. Of those, a handful were unusually enriched in the elements beryllium, lanthanum and uranium. The researchers concluded that those spherules are unlike any known materials in the Solar System1.

However, Desch counters that the spherules could have come from an asteroid impact in southeast Asia. Key to his proposal2 is a kind of soil called laterite, which forms in tropical regions when heavy rainfall carries some chemical elements from the topmost layers of soil into deeper ones. This leaves the upper soil enriched in other elements, including beryllium, lanthanum and uranium — similar to the composition of the spherules collected by Loeb and his colleagues. Desch says that an asteroid known to have struck the region around 788,000 years ago3 probably hit lateritic rock and created the molten blobs found by Loeb’s team.

In an e-mail to Nature, Loeb argues that spherules from an impact 788,000 years ago should have been buried by ocean sediments. Desch counters that sedimentation rates are relatively low in the offshore area where the spherules were collected.

But others are sceptical of Desch’s proposal, too. Scientists have yet to find any confirmed tektites from lateritic rock, notes Pierre Rochette, a geoscientist at Aix-Marseille University in Aix-en-Provence, France, who is not affiliated with either team. And very few tektites are magnetic, he says, so it would be difficult for Loeb and his colleagues to have pulled up hundreds from the sea floor.

Fiery critiques

Desch was not the only scientist to challenge Loeb’s work this week.

After Fu’s conference presentation, Ben Fernando, a seismologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, spoke and took aim at claims concerning the 2014 meteor. Fernando and his colleagues, including Desch, analysed seismic and acoustic data gathered by ground-based sensors at the time the meteor hit the atmosphere4. Data from a seismometer on nearby Manus Island, which Loeb and his team studied as they were deciding where to dredge, show no characteristics of a high-altitude fireball — but do indicate a vehicle driving past, Fernando said. “This is almost certainly a truck,” he told the meeting. A second set of observations, made using infrasound sensors that listen for clandestine nuclear tests, seems to have detected the meteor hitting the atmosphere, but suggests it happened around 170 kilometres away from where Loeb’s team calculates.

Loeb told Nature that such critiques do not take into account US Department of Defense data that he says confirm the exact trajectory of that fireball. But because those data are held by the government, they have not been independently cross-checked by other scientists.

As conference-goers poured out of the room after his talk, Fu told Nature that Loeb’s team is working on further analyses, such as isotopic studies, that could shed more light on what the spherules are. After that, Fu said, he is looking forward to graduating and working on a new project — on how the Moon was formed.

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