Business, Financial & Legal - Page 271

Just as Samsung and Apple's lawsuit comes to a close, Google's recently-acquired Motorola is now taking a swing at the Cupertino-based company. Motorola have claimed that Apple are infringing on seven of its patents, and are seeking to block the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers from being imported into the United States.

Google acquired the device maker back in February, and until now, Motorola have been tightly lipped on its previous problems with Apple. But, according to a piece from Bloomberg, Google's Motorola division have just filed a new patent lawsuit against the company, opening up some of those old, sore wounds that were leftover from Motorola and Apple's long history of legal disputes. Motorola's complaint over at the US International Trade Commission (ITC) named features such as location reminders, e-mail notifications, along with phone and video players as possible infringements.

These complaints are some of Apple's biggest features in their iOS-based devices, and with Google's lust of blocking US imports of Apple products, it would be a huge win for Google and an even bigger loss for Apple. Motorola Mobility have said in a statement:

It looks as though OnLive has gone through quite the headache over the weekend, where it was first reported that the entire staff of the streaming gaming company had been laid off. But, the official word is that OnLive's assets were acquired by a "newly-formed company" that has "substantial funding".

As the story continued, it looks as though a single investor has come in who was interested in the company and decided they've like to own it. Some of the freshly-unemployed ex-OnLive staffers were re-hired to join the new business that the investor had purchased, OnLive Reloaded, maybe? There would still be some that were cut, but with the remaining employees, they've said that OnLive's IP would be moved over to the new company, but this leaves the ex-staffers' shares to be wondered about.

This then lead to news of their shares in the company, those shares would not be transferred to the new company as the original is closing. CEO of Tiswaz Entertainment who is also an advisor to game developers and publishers, Kevin Dent has had quite a lot to say of the matter, but on the matter of the employees shares:

There's a juicy rumor making the rounds, but it is being reported by the New York Post, and not by some vague blog. But, it looks like KKR and Providence Equity Partners have been in discussions with EA, with the talks at "very early stages".

We've seen EA's share prices drop 37% this year, but the rumors have spiked their stock prices by close to 5.5% ,or 72 cents, seeing them hit $13.81 thanks to the talks. EA's market cap sits at around $4 billion with one source saying they would be willing to cut a deal if it were at $20 per share.

One of the weirder things going on with EA, is that they've been slowly buying back stock from investors, which could be a preemptive move if they were considering putting up a 'for sale' sign. EA hasn't only been watching their share prices tank, they've not been able to make success in the market lately. This comes down to gamers not willing to part their hard-earned cash for a new game at the current $60-or-so pricing, instead, they're jumping on mobile and casual games which can be played for free.

Apple and Google are probably rolling in piles and piles of cash right now, thanks to their ever-so-popular and cash-generating iTunes and Play Stores, respectively. But, portable game console makers (among other things) Sony and Nintendo aren't too happy with Android and iOS devices, as they're more than powerful enough to play high-quality games these days.

Considering that high-end tablets such as Apple's iPad, ASUS' Transformer range, or Samsung's Galaxy range, are more powerful than most of Sony or Nintendo's portable gaming systems, I don't see the complaint. Stay stagnant, and this is what happens. Fortune reports from the latest research of Flurry Analytics, which shows that Android and iOS-based devices accounting for 58% of all mobile gaming revenue in the US.

This left Sony's PlayStation Vita and Nintendo's 3DS for just 36% of the mobile gaming revenue in the US. If we rewind the clock back to 2009, Nintendo were enjoying 70% of that, all to themselves. How times have changed. Are you surprised? I'm not. This is why I've been so heavy-hearted on the next-gen consoles. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have to hit the ball out of the park, hardware-wise, to stay current and on top of things against the onslaught of tablets and mobile devices.

It was only back in April that we reported that Apple were investing heavily into an Oregon-based datacenter, putting up $250 million for the site. Well, now it seems that the Cupertino-based company has filed their plans with the city of Prineville, where its goal has been revealed for the datacenter.

The Oregon datacenter is to take up 500,000 square feet of datacenter space, which is around the same as Apple's Maiden, North Carolina facility. The Associated Press reports:

The United States government just can't seem to catch a break when it comes to the MegaUpload/Kim Dotcom lawsuit. First, the warrant used to raid his house has been overturned by New Zealand. Then, his extradition hearing was pushed all the way back to March, 2013. Now, a New Zealand court has ruled that the FBI must release all evidence against him for his extradition hearing.

This strikes a major blow to the United States as the FBI has been doing their best to keep their evidence secret. The New Zealand court has made a logical argument in which they state that "severely restrict[ing] the ability of [one party] to file relevant evidence would not easily be characterised as 'fair.'"

The New Zealand court asserts that there is no reason that the evidence cannot be presented in New Zealand and subsequently presented in the United States. Furthermore, the court cites the Bill of Rights Act and it's requirements for a fair hearing. Some interesting sections of the ruling follow:

The Apple vs. Samsung trial is coming to an end, but before we get there, Samsung started their day in court on Monday with some very interesting things to say. Apple have been playing dirty in court from day one, stating that Samsung knowingly stole its technology and designs by very meticulously examining each key element of the iPhone's UI and mimicking it on their own products.

Samsung, rather than deny doing anything wrong, decided to play hard ball - prove that Apple's technology patents aren't valid because they stole them to begin with. Samsung started off by talking about Apple's pinch-to-zoom patent, which Apple claim Samsung infringes upon by using the feature in most of Samsung's smartphones and tablets.

BGR goes into a technology called "Diamond Touch" which was shown to the court by Samsung's legal team on a massive touchscreen table built by Mitsubishi, where they showed the jury that Apple's patent on pinch-to-zoom technology shouldn't be valid because the technology had existed for years before the first iPhone hit the market. Samsung took a stab after, suggesting Apple knowingly stole the technology when its witness, Mitsubishi engineer Adam Bogue, testified that he showed the Cupertino-based company's engineers the Diamond Touch tech back in 2003.

In a scary ruling, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that law enforcement can use GPS data from a cell phone without a warrant. The ruling came down in a 2-1 verdict and liked the GPS data of a cellphone to the scent given off, and subsequently caught by a dog. Furthermore, the fact he obtained it voluntarily seemed to be a deciding factor for the court.

"There is no Fourth Amendment violation because Skinner did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the data given off by his voluntarily procured pay-as-you-go cell phone," wrote Judge John Rogers. "If a tool used to transport contraband gives off a signal that can be tracked for location, certainly the police can track the signal."

The ruling is contrary to the Jones v. United States case decided by the Supreme Court in January, 2012. In that case, agents put a physical tracking device on the suspect's vehicle. Since no physical intrusion occurred in this case, that ruling had no effect on the court in making their decision for this case.

Today, Corsair has announced that they have acquired certain assets of Raptor Gaming in order to get a better hold in retail sales. Raptor Gaming has a strong retail presence in Germany, the largest market for video gaming in Europe, and this is what Corsair hopes to be able to do with this acquisition.

Corsair has acquired from Raptor Gaming its full product portfolio of keyboards, mice, headsets, and accessories. These new products will be used in a new line alongside of Corsair's currently existing Vengeance gaming products. Raptor Gaming executives CEO Dirk Schunk and COO Heinz-Dieter Ludwig will work with Corsair to ensure a smooth transition.

"Corsair and Raptor share the same goal, bringing best-in-class PC hardware to gamers around the world," said Andy Paul, President and CEO of Corsair. "Raptor Gaming's strong retail presence will allow us to offer a wider range of PC hardware to gamers across Germany."

The late Steve Jobs' home was broken into recently, where thieves stole more than $60,000 worth of "computers and personal items" from the former CEO of Apple, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Jobs' house is on the 2100 block of Waverley Street in Palo Alto, and was broken into on July 17.

It was on August 2, however, that police arrested Kariem McFarlin, a 35-year-old man from Alameda. Fast forward to August 7, McFarlin was arraigned on one count of residential burglary and selling stolen property. McFarlin's bail has been set at a hefty $500,000, with the man potentially facing a sentence as long as seven years and eight months, this includes an extra year for "excessive taking of property" according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery.

Flattery hasn't yet said if the stolen property included some of Jobs' posthumous possessions or if it instead belonged to other members of his family. Police and DA's office have kept the mouth's sealed on details of the case, but Flattery does hint that McFarlin didn't know that the house he was breaking into belonged to Steve Jobs, the attorney says "the best we can tell is it was totally random".