Jury Orders Samsung to Pay Apple $290 Million

A Silicon Valley jury on Thursday ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Apple $290 million for copying vital iPhone and iPad features.

The verdict covers 13 older Samsung devices that a previous jury found were among 26 Samsung products that infringed Apple patents.

The previous jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion. But U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered the new trial and tossed out $450 million of the damages after concluding the previous jury miscalculated the amount Samsung owed.

Samsung appealed that verdict and is expected to appeal the latest verdict.

A third trial is scheduled for March to consider Apple's claims that Samsung's newest devices on the market also copied Apple's technology.(continue reading below)

Apple and Samsung are the world's two biggest smartphone makers. The bitter rivals have been waging a global battle for supremacy of the $300 billion worldwide market.

Apple has argued in courts, government tribunals and regulatory agencies around the world that Samsung's Android-based phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints that some key Apple patents are invalid and Apple has copied Samsung's technology.

Samsung lawyer William Price argued Apple is misconstruing the breadth of its patents to include such things as the basic rectangle shape of most smartphones today.



Apple attorney William Lee told the jury that Samsung used Apple's technology to lift it from an also-ran in the smartphone market three years ago to the biggest seller of them in the world today.

"Apple can never get back to where it should have been in 2010," Lee told the jury Tuesday at the conclusion of the weeklong trial.

The fight in San Jose is particularly contentious. The courtroom is a 15-minute drive from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, and several prospective jurors were dismissed because of their ties to the company.

The South Korean-based Samsung has twice sought to stop the trial, accusing Apple on Tuesday of unfairly trying to inflame patriotic passions by urging jurors to help protect American companies from overseas competitors. The judge denied Samsung's request for a mistrial, but did reread to reread an instruction ordering them to put aside their dislikes and biases in deciding the case.

On Wednesday, Samsung again demanded a halt to the trial after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office told Apple it was planning to invalidate a patent protecting the "pinch-to-zoom" feature at issue in the jury's deliberation. The judge ordered more briefing while declining to stop the trial.
"Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy," Price told the San Jose jury.

source: abc news
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Flexible friends: 2014 World Cup prostitutes will accept CARD payments

Sex workers in the state of Minas Gerais, which includes the World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte, have struck a deal with a bank

Prostitutes in a World Cup host city in Brazil will take payment by debit or credit card.

They struck a deal with a bank and will be given chip and PIN machines.

The women in Belo Horizonte, 270 miles from Rio, have adopted the slogan, “Enjoy now, pay later”.

Cida Vieira, of prostitute’s group Aprosmig, said: “Clients who want to extend their programme but don’t have any cash can stay with a girl for longer without any interruption.”

Their association said card payments would be better for clients’ security and bank statements would not specify the “activity”.

The women are also taking English lessons for next year’s competition.

Adapted from The Mirror
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Police investigate baby for sale online ad

Adapted from SkyNews

A baby has apparently been offered for sale on a website in Brazil for £270 because the mother claims it cries too much.

The advertisement, which police say was unlikely to be genuine and which was eventually removed for breaching the site's terms and conditions, said the baby was on offer for one thousand Brazilian reais (£270).

A picture of the baby was uploaded to online market website OLX along with the description: "Cries a lot, won't let me sleep and I need to go to work."

The poster identified a Vinícius Félix and offered a contact number in the suburb of the central Brazil city of Goiania. Calls to the number were not being answered.

OLX is an online site for buying and selling goods and services.

The advert was posted on Tuesday and remained up for 24 hours before it was removed by the site administrators for breaching the rules and regulations.

Marcela Orçai, the detective in charge of child protection leading the investigation, said the advertisement was likely a hoax and the name and address the poster submitted did not exist.

Police say they are monitoring the website and the suburb where the alleged child lives.

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Russian plane crashes killing all 50 people on board

A passenger plane has crashed at an airport in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board, officials say.

The Boeing 737 had taken off from Moscow, and was reportedly trying to land but exploded on impact.

Russian officials told local media there were no survivors.

The plane belonged to Tatarstan Airlines, and crashed about 7:20pm local time (15:20 GMT) on Sunday, reports said.

The Emergencies Ministry said there were 44 passengers and six crew members on the flight.

There were no immediate indications of what may have led to the crash, but reports said the pilot had already tried to land twice before - and crashed on the third attempt.

The airport in Kazan - the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan - has been closed since the accident.

The BBC's Daniel Sandford, in Moscow, says that although some of Russia's biggest airlines now have very good reputations, frequent crashes by smaller operators mean the country has one of the worst air safety records in the world.
-BBC
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News reporter drops F bomb live on TV after becoming frustrated with ear piece – video

 Adapted from metro.co.uk
A frustrated news reporter put her colleagues in an awkward position after she dropped the F-bomb on live TV.

Reporter Lauren Podell hadn’t realised she was being broadcast when she uttered the expletive after becoming annoyed with feedback on her earpiece.

‘I don’t have IFB (interruptible feedback), I don’t know when we’re going, neither does Jim, I can’t get this f***ing in there!,’ she said on the ClickOnDetroit show.

The picture had cut to a shot of the in-studio anchors and a scene from the fire Podell was reporting from.

Rather than becoming flustered and embarrassed, co-anchor Evrod Cassimy remained calm and apologised to the audience for what they had just heard.

YouTube user Nami Sumo said: ‘Definitely a lot more interesting than the prozaic robots they usually have anchoring the news.’

Here is the video:
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Swedish hotel made of ice told to install fire alarms

A hotel is having to bow to health and safety chiefs by installing fire alarms – despite the establishment being made entirely of ice.

The popular Ice Hotel, located in the north Swedish town of Jukkasjarvi, melts every spring and has to be rebuilt come the winter.

Despite the owners’ surprise, a spokeswoman for the hotel said they understood how ‘there are things that can actually catch fire, like pillows, sleeping bags or reindeer skins’.

‘To us the most important concern is the safety of our clients, so we will comply,’ Beatrice Karlsson added.

The frozen hotel, which is situated 124 miles above the Arctic Circle, is open between December and April. But because the ice and snow is constantly shifting, putting in the alarms has proven to be a bit of a challenge.

‘The environment is humid, and ice and snow move, so that had to be taken into account,’ Ms Karlsson said.

‘It’s been a challenge for our building team, but it made us one experience richer.’

The hotel had a test period for the alarms with the local fire department last winter and all seemed to go well.

Only one incident has occurred since their implementation, and that was a guest having a cigarette in a cleaning closet, the spokeswoman said.

Rooms start from £170 per night and go up to £900 per night.

Source : metro.co.uk
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