Business, Financial & Legal - Page 114

Just weeks out from Google's unveiling of the 5.9-inch Nexus 6 smartphone, the NVIDIA Tegra K1-powered Nexus 9 tablet and Android L, the company has reportedly met with the executives of Cyanogen Inc. to talk about an acquisition, which Cyanogen denied.

Cyanogen is now talking of a Series C round of funding, with some large tech companies and investors in deep talks with the company, which seeks a valuation of close to $1 billion. How can a company who makes a modified version of Android be worth that much money? Simple: Cyanogen is reportedly in talks with taking its CyanogenMod OS to India through a manufacturer called Micromax. Micromax, along with Samsung, own the majority of the smartphone market in India, which could be just what Cyanogen needs to get its OS into the hands of tens of millions of consumers.

With Google being denied the chance to acquire Cyanogen, it could mean a different direction for Android, considering many experts prefer CyanogenMod even over stock Android, which is what Google places on its Nexus devices. With the Android Silver program in trouble, and a failed acquisition of a company that heavily modifies, and sometimes for the better your mobile OS, where will Google go now if it had its hopes on this acquisition going through?

Auction house eBay has decided to spin off its PayPal business amid activist pressure from board members and shareholders, with two independent companies to begin in the second half of 2015. Devin Weng, head of the eBay "Marketplaces" business, will lead the independent eBay as CEO - and Dan Schulman, a former American Express executive, will be CEO head of the new PayPal unit.

"We are happy that eBay's board and management have acted responsibly concerning the separation - perhaps a little later than they should have, but earlier than we expected," said investor Carl C. Icahn. "As I have said in the past and have continued to maintain, it is almost a 'no brainer' that these companies should be separated to increase the value of these great assets and thus to meaningfully enhance value for all shareholders."

Corporate spinoffs are becoming more commonplace among major corporations, as shareholders and potential investors want to see better control over corporate operations. Depending on the economic climate - and the parties involved - it can lead to a strong boost in stock prices to win over board members.

Microsoft plans to open a new retail store at 677 Fifth Avenue in New York City, a few blocks away from Rockefeller Center - and not too far away from a rival Apple store. The company currently has more than 100 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with at least 10 more expected to open before the end of the year.

Learning from the success of the Apple store, where die-hard customers and curious onlookers wander in, Microsoft hopes its retail experience will help draw in potential customers. Even if a Microsoft store cannot draw the same attention as a rival Apple store, it's an important opportunity to allow consumers the chance to test new technologies they might be unfamiliar with.

"As our first flagship store, it will serve as the centerpiece of our Microsoft Stores experience," the company said in a blog post. "This is a goal we've had since day one - we were only waiting for the right location. And now we have it."

The tubes of the Internet have been filled the new two new iPhones, #BendGate, the Galaxy Note 4 coming soon, and so much more in the mobile world, so BlackBerry doesn't get the headlines that its biggest competitors do.

Well, the company has just posted better-than-expected Q2 results, but still managed to lose $207 million for the three-month period. Even with the huge loss, it's still an improvement from the previous quarter, where the company posted a loss of $965 million. After one-time items, such as charges for laying off employees and other restructuring efforts, the company said the loss was around $11 million, or $0.02 per share, beating Wall Street's forecast of $0.16 per share.

Revenue for Q2 sat at $916 million, which is represented as 46% hardware, 46% services and 8% in software and other revenue. During the three-month period, BlackBerry said it sold approximately 2.4 million smartphones to end users, which included shipments made, and recognized before Q2. BlackBerry's Executive Chairman and CEO, John Chen, said: "Our workforce restructuring is now complete, and we are focusing on revenue growth with judicious investments to further our leadership position in enterprise mobility and security".

Apple is being sued by two parties, Ireland's Longitude Licensing Ltd and Luxembourg's Longitude Flash Memory Systems S.a.r.l., with their joint patent infringement lawsuit against Apple alleging the company is in violation of 13 counts of patent infringement that cover virtually all of Apple's iDevices.

The plaintiffs are using former Sandisk patents that they now hold, partnering up with Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc., to help them increase the value of their IP. The following Apple devices are included in the lawsuit: Apple iPad, Apple iPad 2, Apple iPad (3rd Generation), Apple iPad (4th Generation), Apple iPad Air, Apple iPad mini, Apple iPad mini with Retina display, Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, Apple iPhone 3GS, Apple iPhone 4, Apple iPhone 4S, Apple iPhone 5, Apple iPhone 5C, Apple iPhone 5S, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, and iPod Touch 5G".

The lawsuit itself involves the flash technology and memory on the massive list of iDevices, which could land Apple in some hot water. For the full legal mumbo-jumbo, Patently Apple has you covered.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shut down Butterfly Labs, a bitcoin-mining company that tricked users into purchasing machines that would produce bitcoins. The supposed "bitcoin-mining" devices cost from $149 to $29,899, along with a cloud-based service that tricked customers into paying for server farm computing time.

"We often see that when a new and little-understood opportunity like bitcoin presents itself, scammers will find ways to capitalize on the public's excitement and interest," said Jessica Rich, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director, in a press statement. "We're pleased the court granted our request to halt this operation, and we look forward to putting the company's ill-gotten gains back in the hands of consumers."

The opportunity to mine, own, and use bitcoins as a digital currency - with no federal or central bank support - has paved the way for cybercriminals to trick and steal from regular users. The current value of bitcoin is slightly under $500 per bitcoin, but peaked at more than $1,000 each last November, and continues to prove to be rather volatile.

After a massive Kickstarter game was officially cancelled on Thursday, the company has updated its terms to better protect people from being stung by cancelled projects. The project in question was science fiction author Neal Stephenson, with his $526,000 in funding up in the air after cancelling his project late last week.

Section 4 of Kickstarter's new terms states that it will help project creators set themselves up better for success, and to not upset their backers. If the creators behind a Kickstarter project can't deliver their goods, the company explains how it will try and make good when creators don't fulfil their goals, or backer rewards.

If this does happen, creators are expected to explain themselves as to what is happening, and where all the money has gone. If the project was cancelled, Kickstarter expects creators to issue refunds to anyone who asks for them. Kickstarter reiterates that when refunds are offered, backers can "explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form", but I don't see many people having faith in a creator if their project fails, but the option is there. Estimated completion dates, to Kickstarter, are just that: estimations. They are not deadlines, with Kickstarter having no power to issue refunds. But, backers can pull their pledge out anytime during the funding process.

Microsoft has announced today that it is cutting 14% of its total workforce, or 2100 jobs. From those 2100 employees who are now out of jobs, 747 of them are from the Washington state, with the remaining jobs lost from Microsoft's other locations across the world.

It was only a few months ago that the Redmond-based giant cut a total of 18,000 jobs, with 12,500 of those jobs being cut from the recently-acquired handset and services division from Nokia. At the time, CEO Nadella said that he wanted to get Microsoft in better shape, with the reductions required in order to properly integrate Nokia's services and devices teams into the company. The cuts were to both professional, and factory workers.

We should see Microsoft feeling pre-tax chargers of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next year, with $750 million to $800 million for severance and related benefit costs, and then $350 to $800 million for asset-related charges.

As soon as new top level domains (TDLs) are created, the massive Internet giants jump on them instantly, throwing millions of dollars in order to own them. This has just happened with a bidding war between Amazon and Google, fighting for the rights of new TDLs, including .buy, .tech, and .VIP.

Google bet on all three of the new TDLs, but Amazon beat them for .buy, throwing up $4.5 million. Dot Tech paid $6.7 million for the .tech domain, with .VIP going to Minds + Machines for $3 million. Google walked away with nothing, but the company is showing interest in as many as 100 TDLs, so their time will come.

ICANN auctions off the domains, with the organization responsible for coordinating and maintaining the domain names. ICANN is set to throw up a slew of new domains before the end of the year.

I don't think anyone saw this coming, but Breitbart has written a piece "Exposed: The Secret Mailing List of the Gaming Journalism Elite" which exposes some of the biggest editors, reporters and reviewers of gaming news sites. This expose accuses these editors and sites from shaping industry-wide attitudes to events, and much more.

These editors and sites using a private Google Groups mailing list, which is called Gaming Journalism Professionals, or GameJournoPros. This group revolves around developer Zoe Quinn, who had "a sexual relationship with at least one prominent games journalist -- a journalist who had mentioned her and her products in his reporting" reports Breitbart.

The report is quite damning, but getting to the point, it looks like GameJournoPros is one giant voice, with one even larger, single opinion. They collectively collude on major issues, to "distort coverage of ethics violations and to support figures to whom they are politically sympathetic". We should expect this to either be blown up, or brushed under the rug, as game developers and publishers have invested tens of billions of dollars into the gaming industry, but if this is the result, do we need a big change? Can these editors ever be trusted with their obviously skewed opinions, if these reports and leaks are indeed true? What do you think?

According to the latest report from mobile research specialist Juniper Research, global smartphone shipments are expected to swell this year to 1.2 billion units. This number is up 19% over the 985 million smartphones shipped in 2013.

This 19% growth is thanks to the increase in shipments in the emerging markets, where smartphones shipments are driven by low-cost economy ($75-$150) and ultra-economy (sub-$75) smartphones. Developed markets have been seeing a sign of slowing growth for a while now, as everyone has a smartphone, with some having no reason to upgrade.

Juniper Research does note that both Samsung and Apple have a massive 45% chunk of the global smartphone shipment pie, which is a mammoth number. The research specialist has said that the average price of a smartphone will slowly decline by 2019 to around $274, which will be thanks to increased advances in technology, as well as new competition.

For far too many years, Sony has been bleeding cash, facing increased competition and selling off key assets and even business, such as the VAIO computing arm in a desperate effort to stay afloat. Now, things are getting a lot worse.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the struggling Japanese giant is set to announce a $2.15B loss for the last financial year, four and a half times the previously forecast loss, in results that are set to be published shortly.

Whilst specifics are forthcoming, it is expected that the former jewel in the companies crown; television, will continue to cause heavy losses, whilst the mobile division which encompasses tablets, phones and peripherals is also expected to post significant write downs.

Things just got messy between NVIDIA and Samsung, with NVIDIA suing the South Korean giant over alleged patent infringements. NVIDIA has included Qualcomm in its lawsuit, which has been filed with the US District Court in Delaware, as well as with the International Trade Commission.

Bright Side of News' Anshel Sag reports: "NVIDIA is alleging that Samsung's devices that use Qualcomm's chips are infringing upon NVIDIA's own technologies that have been patented. Not just that, but by filing a complaint with the ITC, NVIDIA is seeking that such devices that infringe upon these patents be banned from importation and sale within the United States." What is worse, is that NVIDIA is claiming that Samsung is infringing on their patents on some of hte most popular handset on the market, and some of which were just announced by Samsung a couple of days ago.

These include the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy S4 as well as the Galaxy Tab S and Galaxy Note Pro... that's a lot of Galaxies. NVIDIA continues, claiming that Samsung's Exynos processors violated seven different patents, as well as Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. The Snapdragon processors in question are include the Snapdragon S4 (using the Adreno 225), Snapdragon 400 (using the Adreno 305), Snapdragon 600 (using the Adreno 320), Snapdragon 800 and 801 (using the Adreno 330), and Snapdragon 805 (using the Adreno 420).

There's currently a class-action lawsuit regarding the debacle of Aliens: Colonial Marines, which was close to a conclusion last month when Sega agreed to shell out $1.25 million. But, that is all up in the air right now.

A month after Gearbox filed a motion distancing itself from any form of financial obligation, which would see them not paying some $750,000 which would bring the total settlement to $2 million. Sega responded with its own motion, where it said that Gearbox was just as responsible for any payout responsibility. It gets pretty dirty, with e-mails, contracts and much more between the two companies.

There were many letters that saw Gearbox releasing many screenshots, videos and much more details on Alien: Colonial marines that had not been approved by Sega. Sega's thoughts on this had not been good when it got to October 2012, with a Sega PR rep blaming "persistent panel leaking" of game details on "Randy [Pitchford, Gearbox director] doing whatever the fuck he likes."

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Half-Life and Counter-Strike developer Valve, claiming that the company is breaching Australian Consumer Law. The reason? Valve doesn't offer refunds of any kind, and now the ACCC is putting its foot down as these actions are against Australian consumer law.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims explains: "The Australian Consumer Law applies to any business providing goods or services within Australia. Valve may be an American based company with no physical presence in Australia, but it is carrying on business in Australia by selling to Australian consumers, who are protected by the Australian Consumer Law." "It is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses to state that they do not give refunds under any circumstances, including for gifts and during sales. Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers can insist on a refund or replacement at their option if a product has a major fault," Sims continued. "The consumer guarantees provided under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded, restricted or modified."

Valve has since responded, with Doug Lombardi saying: "We are making every effort to cooperate with the Australian officials on this matter, while continuing to provide Steam services to our customers across the world, including Australian gamers."

Technology giant Hewlett-Packard is recalling 5.6 million power cords, model LS-15, which were shipped with HP and Compaq notebooks, along with mini-notebooks and docking stations. HP received almost 30 reports of overheating cords that melted or charred, with 13 claims of minor property damage and two minor burn claims, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The cords were sold to consumers from September 2010 to June 2012, and consumers using this type of AC adapters should immediately stop using the power cords and unplug it. HP is offering free replacements for customers impacted by the safety risk. If you have a model LS-15 power cord, call 877-219-6676 - or visit the HP "Recalls" portion of the website to learn more.

"HP believes that certain power cords shipped with notebook PC products and AC adapter accessories may pose a risk of a fire and burn hazard to customers," HP said on its website. "We are taking this action as part of our commitment to provide the highest quality of service to our notebook customers."

It wasn't long ago that we were reporting that according to multiple sources, Google were in the process of acquiring Twitch in a deal worth $1 billion. But now Amazon has confirmed today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Twitch for $970 million, with the deal closing in the coming months.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, said: "Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month - from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old. Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community."

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear had the following to say: "Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming. Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world."

The bitcoin cryptocurrency has surged among consumers and businesses, but volatility has concerned many investors - and with values dropping almost 12 percent, from $492.95 down to $435.60 on Monday, there might be rightful concern.

What happened on Monday was considered highly unusual, as values started at almost $500 on Monday morning. However, the BTC-e platform bitcoin value slump trended downward, there were three trades that occurred at $309, but there were more than a thousand transactions valued from $309 to $400.

"We have seen crashes like this before and they follow a certain pattern, namely a sharp drop followed by a swift rebound to about a bit less than the previous level," said Raffael Danielli, Matlab Trading margin trading critic, in a statement to CoinDesk.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote a letter addressed to current CEO Satya Nadella, stating he is stepping down as a Microsoft board member. Ballmer retired almost six months ago and Microsoft picked Nadella to try to steer the company into a mobile, cloud-connected world.

"I bleed Microsoft - have for 34 years and I always will," Ballmer wrote in the letter. "I continue to love discussing the company's future. I love trying new products and sending feedback. I love reading about what is going on at the company. Count on me to keep ideas and inputs flowing. The company will move to higher heights. I will be proud, and I will benefit through my share ownership. I promise to support and encourage boldness by management in my role as a shareholder in any way I can."

It's not a surprise to hear Ballmer has stepped down from the board, especially as his focus turns more towards the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. In addition to owning the NBA franchise, Ballmer has stayed active in the non-profit community, teaching and studying, which is "taking a lot of time."

A Silicon Valley resident purchased a 1.4-acre home site near Lake Tahoe, a popular Northern California tourist destination, for $1.6 million in bitcoins. It was the first time the Martis Camp real estate company handled a transaction in bitcoins, but enjoyed a pleasurable experience this time around. The deal closed on August 6 and serves as a significant real estate transaction using bitcoins, with many companies still seeking cold, hard cash.

"We didn't know much about (Bitcoin)," said Brian Hull, Martis Camp sales director, in a statement to the media. "We actually closed in the quickest time frame that we've ever closed on a developer lot transaction."

Earlier in the year, the Sacramento Kings NBA team became the first professional sports team to begin accepting bitcoins - as more businesses embrace the sometimes volatile cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, Overstock.com estimates $6 million to $8 million in bitcoin sales during 2014, with the popular e-tailer serving as a major business early adopter.