Business, Financial & Legal - Page 240

All the latest Business, Financial & Legal news as it relates to tech, gaming, and science - Page 240.

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Samsung takes a shot at Apple Maps in its latest advertising campaign in Australia

Trace Hagan | Dec 12, 2012 6:31 PM CST

Samsung isn't missing a chance to take a shot at its fierce rival, Apple. A marketing campaign has popped up in Australia, where the police have issued a warning that Apple Maps may put your life in danger, at least if you're trying to reach the city of Mildura.

Apple Maps instead leads you to the middle of a national park, which just happens to be in a really hot part of the country with limited water. With it being summer Down-Under, this is a bit of a problem. As you can see in the picture above, Samsung has placed a 4x4 SUV in Sydney, Australia, with a tent and sign next to it.

"Oops, should have got a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can trust," the sign reads. Is this a good marketing campaign? What are your thoughts on it?

Continue reading: Samsung takes a shot at Apple Maps in its latest advertising campaign in Australia (full post)

Mac Pro best candidate to be Apple's "Made in USA" Mac product

Trace Hagan | Dec 10, 2012 2:27 PM CST

Tim Cook has said that Apple is investing $100 million to build one of its Mac lines exclusively in the US. But just which Mac line will it be? Cook didn't specify, but there are certainly some clues that lead us to a likely candidate. Apple will most likely build (drum roll please!) the Mac Pro line of Macs in the US.

First off, $100 million for a factory will yield a factory with about 200 people and be capable of building around 1 million units a year. Apple sells less than 1 million Mac minis and less than 1 million Mac Pros every year. Tim Cook et al has indicated that a new Mac Pro line is coming in 2013.

The Mac Pro is much heavier, and thus more expensive to ship, than the Mac mini. Also, the profit margin on the Mac Pro is much higher as they retail from $2,500 to $3,800. This higher profit can easily absorb the increase in costs to produce. They are also the easiest Mac to produce and customize.

Continue reading: Mac Pro best candidate to be Apple's "Made in USA" Mac product (full post)

One of Apple's patents preliminarily ruled invalid, could affect other patents and Samsung lawsuit

Trace Hagan | Dec 7, 2012 5:30 PM CST

Apple's patents are key to their legal successes against Samsung and other companies. But what happens when one of those patents is ruled invalid? Well, not only does Apple lose the right to sue over that patent, any patents based upon that patent could also be ruled invalid.

The patent that Steve Jobs is best known for, 7,479,949, has been preliminarily ruled invalid. The patent covers a touchscreen device and input derived from apply heuristics. The patent, if you speak legal and engineering, probably does a better job explaining than I can:

A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.

Continue reading: One of Apple's patents preliminarily ruled invalid, could affect other patents and Samsung lawsuit (full post)

Virginia women faces legal action over negative Yelp review

Trace Hagan | Dec 7, 2012 4:02 PM CST

This is a story that could completely wreck Yelp's business, if the company isn't careful. A women in Virginia is facing a lawsuit from a contractor over allegations that her negative Yelp review caused him to lose work. Sound a bit ridiculous? We thought so too, until we found out a bit more.

In the review, Jane Perez listed out a bunch of accusations, which included damage the contractor reportedly did to her home, an invoice for work that was reportedly not done, and missing jewelry. She finished out the post by saying, "Bottom line do not put yourself through this nightmare of a contractor."

The contractor, Christopher Dietz, has now filed a $750,000 Internet defamation lawsuit against her, claiming that the Yelp post, along with some Angi's List postings, were false and caused him to lose business. He's also seeking a preliminary injunction to keep her from writing even more reviews.

Continue reading: Virginia women faces legal action over negative Yelp review (full post)

Apple bringing at least some of the Mac production to the US

Anthony Garreffa | Dec 7, 2012 4:26 AM CST

I've said that Apple should bring their production to the US, and it looks like they read my posts here at TweakTown - probably not, but this is great to see. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the news during an interview with Rock Center, that they will be indeed bringing some Mac production to the United States:

At the moment it's not known which Mac products will be manufactured in the US, but there have been rumbles of it being the iMac as some of the current iMacs have "Assembled in USA" inscribed in the back of them.

During the interview with Brian Williams, Cook said "we've been working for years on doing more and more in the United States". Cook noted during the interview that Apple are spending around $100 million in the US production adventure:

Continue reading: Apple bringing at least some of the Mac production to the US (full post)

Netflix CEO could have SEC action thanks to a Facebook post

Anthony Garreffa | Dec 7, 2012 1:35 AM CST

Social networks can be dangerous for powerful people, with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings possibly facing the Securities and Exchange Commission over a statement he posted to social networking site, Facebook.

Rewinding back to July, Hastings' Facebook page announced that Netflix passed a billion hours of streaming for the month of June - the first time that Netflix has ever done that, ever. This simple post from Hastings could have violated regulations in regards to fair disclosure, the SEC has reportedly told Netflix.

Bloomberg has reported that Hastings' post could've been seen by his 200,000 followers. The SEC has said that the post could constitute selective disclosure of material information, which could justify a civil claim. Netflix said in a statement that the fact that they had previously stated they were closing in on a billion hours of streaming in June. On top of this, they've said that the billion-hour total is not "material" to investors. Netflix remains "optimistic that this can be cleared up quickly through the SEC's review process".

Continue reading: Netflix CEO could have SEC action thanks to a Facebook post (full post)

US debt visualized in $100 bills - amazing, but scary

Anthony Garreffa | Dec 6, 2012 10:34 PM CST

I'm an Australian, but keep up as much as I can with the fringe areas of US politics and the debt that the world has. We know that the US is in over their heads in debt, but just how much? Sure, $1 billion sounds like a lot - but I think most people have lost sight of just how much these billions, and trillions mean.

This could turn into a long winded whinge session about not only the state of the US political system, but the entire world's financial system. Instead, we'll show you a visualization from Demonocracyinfo of the current US debt. Currently, the money owed by the US government is larger than the size of the economy itself. The current debt ceiling is set at $16.394 trillion and the US are getting close to that mark with just a few weeks until they hit the "fiscal cliff" I'm sure you've heard about.

What did you think of the video? At first, I thought - oh that's not too bad, millions don't look like that much - then the billions begin. Once that's over and the shock sets in, you see the entire federal debt, and it's a scary number.

Continue reading: US debt visualized in $100 bills - amazing, but scary (full post)

Study suggests that the FTC would see strong support for revised laws to protect children online

Trace Hagan | Dec 6, 2012 4:03 PM CST

The FTC is widely expected to announce updates to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the coming weeks. For those who don't know, COPPA is a law that requires online companies to gain a parent's permission before obtaining and storing personal information of his or her child.

The law was originally passed in 1998 and implemented in 2000 and the internet has advanced and changed by leaps and bounds since then. Princeton Research Associates International conducted a survey over two weeks in November. It consisted of 2,000 adults being asked questions, and the results highlight the fact that most people support laws like COPPA.

In fact, 90 percent agreed with the COPPA law, when asked. 91 percent believed that advertisers should be prevented from identifying a minor's location via their cellular device. 80 percent of adults were against websites collecting activity reports of children online, even when said reports are anonymous.

Continue reading: Study suggests that the FTC would see strong support for revised laws to protect children online (full post)

Congress doesn't want the UN to meddle with the internet, passes resolution unanimously

Trace Hagan | Dec 5, 2012 8:15 PM CST

There is currently a summit going on Dubai, The World Conference on International Telecommunications, to be specific, that is discussing how the internet should move forward. The details of the talks are whether or not governments should take more control over the internet, or if the UN should possibly take it over.

The United States Congress has done at least one thing correctly by passing a resolution opposing both of the options being considered. The House, today, passed the Senate resolution that calls on the US government to oppose UN control. "The 193 member countries of the United Nations are gathered to consider whether to apply to the Internet a regulatory regime that the International Telecommunications Union created in the 1980s for old-fashioned telephone service," Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said on the House floor.

"I think that we are all very, very proud that there is not only bipartisan, but bicameral support underlying this resolution, and there is complete support across the Executive Branch of our government," Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said. "In other words, the United States of America is totally unified on this issue of an open structure, a multi-stakeholder approach that has guided the Internet over the last two decades."

Continue reading: Congress doesn't want the UN to meddle with the internet, passes resolution unanimously (full post)

Apple stock trader arrested over $1 billion in wire fraud

Trace Hagan | Dec 5, 2012 7:44 PM CST

It seems as though Apple's stock just isn't catching a break, and that's caused one trader to get into some hot water. David Miller, a previous trader for Rochdale Securities, Stamford, was just arrested today over claims that he committed wire fraud back in October.

The FBI say that Miller purchased 1.625 million shares of Apple stock, worth roughly $1 billion, on October 25, the day Apple was due to report its quarterly earnings. Now, that's all perfectly legal, except for the fact that he used the brokerage's money. He expected stock prices to increase and was planning to pocket the profit.

As we all know, Apple stock hasn't been doing the best lately, and October 25 was no different. Stock prices decreased and his employer lost roughly $5 million over the trade. He explained it away as an honest mistake, saying he meant to purchase 1,625 shares, not the 1,625,000 shares that were purchased.

Continue reading: Apple stock trader arrested over $1 billion in wire fraud (full post)

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