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Jurors who awarded Apple more than $1 billion in its intellectual-property battle with Samsung pressed through deliberations without any formal coffee breaks, worked through lunches, and continued their discussions for an hour longer than scheduled on two of the three days, jury foreman Velvin Hogan said.
The panel of seven men and two women went through a "meticulous" process in determining that Samsung infringed Apple's products, said Hogan, 67. When it came time to consider whether a violation was "willful," or intentional, "we knew where we had to go in the evidence," he said, referring to e-mails introduced at the trial. One pivotal document was an internal 2010 Samsung e-mail describing how Google asked the South Korean manufacturer to change the design of its products to look less like Apple's. "Certain actors at the highest level at Samsung Electronics Co. gave orders to the sub-entities to actually copy," Hogan said. "So the whole thing hinges on whether you think Samsung was actually copying. The thing that did it for us was when we saw the memo from Google telling Samsung to back away from the Apple design."
Jurors in Apple-Samsung case delved into e-mails, other evidence
Samsung wasn’t the only Asian smartphone maker to suffer through a Black Monday.
In Hong Kong, for instance, the share price of ZTE, the largest publicly traded maker of smartphones in China, fell 7.1 percent. In Taiwan, the shares of Samsung rival HTC, already beaten down 47 percent this year after enduring patent battles of its own against Apple, fell another 2 percent. “In general, it seems the Android camp is losing the patent wars,” says Dennis Chan, an analyst in Taipei with Yuanta Securities. But for some Chinese phone makers, there may be short-term opportunity in the ruling, as well.
Apple's Samsung Win Slams Asian Phone Makers
The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service. The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access. Last year, the FCC overhauled a $4.5 billion portion of the Universal Service Fund and converted it into a broadband Internet subsidy, called the Connect America Fund. The new fund aims to subsidize the construction of high-speed Internet networks to the estimated 19 million Americans who currently lack access. FCC has long argued that Universal Service is a fee that the providers choose to pass on to consumers and not a tax.
FCC eyes USF fee on Internet service
Today you can buy an alarm clock, a pill bottle and even a scale that connects to the web. The question is, should you?
There are three things any connected device should offer in order for its connectivity to justify the (generally) higher price for that item:
- Ecosystem: Is the connected device a platform or part of a platform you are currently using?
- Convenience: How much value the connected device offers ties into its ecosystem, but is also its own issue because the connectivity needs to allow you to do things you couldn’t previous do without connectivity. Adding connectivity to devices should make them smart but also make them easier to use.
- Data: The biggest value connected data-gathering devices can offer is the ability to grab far more data than a human could and deliver this data in real-time. If a device has the intelligence to act on that data, then the connectivity is even more worth the expense.
United States of Connectedness: What works for Internet of Things
Mobile phones and the rise of broadband means that fewer and fewer people need a landline. The Baby Bells are feeling the impact and here are two charts that highlight this precipitous decline. Of course, cable guys are doing fine, thanks to triple play offers.
US phone companies are losing their voice
Flight attendants may one day not have to ask airline passengers to turn off all their portable electronic devices after the cabin doors are closed on airplanes, depending on the outcome of a new Federal Aviation Administration study.
The FAA said that it was launching a study group to review its policies regarding electronic devices, which have been criticized by airline passengers in recent years as they reluctantly unplug in an increasingly plugged-in society. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that federal regulators who have issued the requirement for many years understand the increasingly important role electronic devices play in modern life. Cellphone users should not completely rejoice, however. The FAA said its study would not include consideration of allowing "voice communications" during flights.
FAA to study allowing more electronic device use during flight
A federal court has sided with Comcast, blocking a decision by the Federal Communications Commission that would have forced Comcast to put the Tennis Channel in the same tier as its own sports programming.
The FCC ruled last month that Comcast, which owns NBC, improperly discriminated against the Tennis Channel by relegating it to a lower tier of programming. Comcast had included the Tennis Channel as part of a specialty sports package, but the FCC ordered the company to offer the channel in the same tier as its own similar channels, including the Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network. Comcast sued to overturn the ruling, arguing that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious" as well as a violation of its First Amendment right to free speech. The company also filed an emergency motion asking the court to delay the implementation of the FCC's order pending the outcome of the case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted Comcast's motion for a stay on August 24.
Comcast stalls FCC order to change Tennis Channel number
The New York Times has reached an agreement to sell its About Group (About.com, ConsumerSearch.com and CalorieCount.com) to IAC/InterActiveCorp for $300 million in cash.
New York Times to sell About to IAC
What happens in the Kansas City neighborhoods that don’t meet Google Fiber’s preregistration targets?
Aaron Deacon, president of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, points out that the soft commitment of the $10 registration is an easy threshold for many residents to meet. But for some in disadvantaged areas, Internet service, and therefore preregistration, isn’t a priority. Enter Give Us a Gig, a community-driven initiative to maximize the impact this fiber build-out could have in and around Kansas City. Stemming from earlier efforts — including a broad community brainstorming session in 2011 — Deacon describes Give Us a Gig as a broad-base effort consisting of education, engagement and advocacy components. Door-to-door outreach, neighborhood organizing and community events are making headway in these disadvantaged neighborhoods, driving up adoption. According to Deacon, many residents are compelled to preregister when they learn that reaching neighborhood registration goals means community facilities will benefit as well. Schools, libraries and government buildings will be hooked up to Google fiber if residential interest is high enough. Google’s television service helps convince the reluctant as well, who despite tight budgets are still shelling out money for monthly cable service.
‘Give Us a Gig’ Helps Narrow Digital Divide in Gigabit City
Asked to peek at the websites of a sampling of south-metro cities, Michael Schlotfeldt finds a lot to object to. But it's when he's asked to do something as simple as locating the agenda of one city's next council meeting that the professional Web page designer really grows exasperated. After struggling for two minutes and 12 seconds -- an eternity in Web time -- he finally declares: "I give up. I have no idea." And that, says the president of St. Paul-based Plaudit Design, sends a terrible message. "Because it's so hidden, it feels like government is not welcoming, like they don't want your input. They've designed this to keep you away, is what it feels like -- as though it's a tool for insiders to exchange documents among themselves." Navigability -- the ease with which a newcomer can find important information -- is a big reason there's a growing movement across the metro to overhaul the way cities present themselves to the public.
Cities' digital entryways are getting a makeover