DOJ Ruling That Apple Violated Antitrust Laws

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Justice Department Issues Statement on U.S. District Court Ruling That Apple Violated Antitrust Laws

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division made the following statement today after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that Apple Inc. violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by conspiring to raise e-book prices and end e-book retailers’ freedom to compete on price:

“This result is a victory for millions of consumers who choose to read books electronically.  After carefully weighing the evidence, the court agreed with the Justice Department and 33 state attorneys general that executives at the highest levels of Apple orchestrated a conspiracy with five major publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster – to raise e-book prices.  Through today’s court decision and previous settlements with five major publishers, consumers are again benefitting from retail price competition and paying less for their e-books.

“As the department’s litigation team established at trial, Apple executives hoped to ensure that its e-book business would be free from retail price competition, causing consumers throughout the country to pay higher prices for many e-books.  The evidence showed that the prices of the conspiring publishers’ e-books increased by an average of 18 percent as a result of the collusive effort led by Apple.

“Companies cannot ignore the antitrust laws when they believe it is in their economic self-interest to do so. This decision by the court is a critical step in undoing the harm caused by Apple’s illegal actions.

“I am proud of the outstanding work done by the trial team.  The Antitrust Division will continue to vigorously protect competition and enforce the antitrust laws in this important business, and in other industries that affect the everyday lives of consumers.”

Background
           
On April 11, 2012, the department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Apple, Hachette Book Group (USA), HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc., for conspiring to end e-book retailers' freedom to compete on price by taking control of pricing from e-book retailers and substantially increasing the prices that consumers paid for e-books.

At the same time that it filed the lawsuit, the department reached settlements with three of the publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Those settlements were approved by the court in September 2012.  The department settled with Penguin on Dec. 18, 2012, and with Macmillan on Feb. 8, 2013.  The Penguin settlement was approved by the court in May 2013.  Final approval of the Macmillan settlement is pending before the court.  Under the settlements, each publisher was required to terminate agreements that prevented e-book retailers from lowering the prices at which they sell e-books to consumers and to allow for retail price competition in renegotiated e-book distribution agreements.

The department’s trial against Apple, which was overseen by Judge Denise Cote, began on June 3, 2013. The trial lasted for three weeks, with closing arguments taking place on June 20, 2013.  The court has not yet scheduled a hearing to address the parties’ proposed remedies.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/July/13-at-772.html

Facebook's Revamped News Feed: 3 Things To Do:

Informationweek Software

Debra Donston-Miller | March 09, 2013 09:06 AM

Facebook's Futuristic Data Center: Inside Tour

(click image for larger view and for slideshow)

Facebook is changing its News Feed feature -- significantly. The update will be rolling out to users in the next month or so, but from what we've seen so far, the new News Feed is a vast improvement in the Facebook experience. But because even good changes can be unsettling, here are three tips to smooth the transition when the new News Feed lands on your virtual doorstep.

1. Pay more attention to photos.

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One of the biggest changes to the News Feed is the size and prominence of photos. In fact, during the press event announcing the News Feed changes, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said images will comprise 50% of total News Feed content. That picture of your adorable new baby, that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia, or the majestic bald eagle you spotted while hiking will be bigger and brighter, with more visible details than ever. So will the picture of your spouse on a bad hair day (or worse). So be careful what you post. Just saying.

2. Be prepared to drill down for content.

If your current Facebook News Feed is anything like mine, it's a mishmash of promoted posts, suggested pages and updates from the many brands that you've "liked." Oh, and once in a while you'll see an actual update from a friend (a real-world friend, not just the Facebook kind) or family member.

[ For more on Facebook's facelift, see Facebook News Feed: 5 Coolest Changes. ]

That's the problem -- for users and businesses alike -- that Facebook is looking to solve with its new specialized streams. At the press event, Zuckerberg compared the new News Feed to, of all things, a print newspaper, with the News Feed being the equivalent of a front page and new specialized streams akin to the different sections in a newspaper. With the new News Feed, you can choose to consume content from streams dedicated to (among other things) music, photos or updates from pages that you follow. It may take a little getting used to, but this new interface promises to streamline the end-user experience and make it generally more effective.

3. Add the Facebook app to your iPhone and iPad.

If you haven't bothered to use Facebook on your mobile device because you heard the experience was subpar, you should go ahead and download the app soon. It's true that the News Feed of old offered what could be kindly called a less-than-optimal experience, but Facebook designed the new News Feed with mobile in mind from the start. In fact, the Facebook experience on your mobile device will be the same as that on a PC. Facebook says the News Feed changes will roll out to iOS first, then to Android.

Have you gotten the new News Feed yet? If so, what advice would you give to those just starting with it? Please let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Follow Deb Donston-Miller on Twitter at @debdonston.

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This Is How It Feels To Wear Google Glass:

By Zach Walton

Aside from the folks at Google and a few lucky developers, none of us have had the chance to wear Glass yet. We, the consumers, still don’t know how Glass is going to impact our lives, but a recent video from Google gives us a small idea.

In a new video simply titled, “How It Feels [through Glass],” Google shares a point of view walkthrough of how Glass will work in everyday scenarios. Check it out:

Now, I don’t think all of us will be doing anything quite as extreme as skydiving or performing barrel rolls in an air plane. What it illustrates, however, is how Glass will greatly impact sharing of information from one person to the next. A pilot can wear Glass, take off in a plane, and then have students watching a live feed from Glass on the ground. They get first hand experience in piloting a plane without having to be on board the vehicle.

Of course, Google’s views on how people will use Glass are a bit optimistic. We all know that the majority of Glass users will be using the technology to share inane statuses and irreverent jokes.

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Your (additional) Rules of the Internet:

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Above is one of our 12 Rules of the Internet. CNN commenters told us what we'd left out.

(CNN) -- Does the Internet need more rules? Does it need any rules at all?

Based on the comments to our story "Meet the Rules of the Internet," the judgment is decidedly mixed.

The story explained the origin of the Internet's "rules," originally a set of guidelines/inside jokes spawned by a variety of sources, including the Internet collective Anonymous, the site Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan's Christopher Poole.

As with many Internet memes, however, the concept quickly spread to the mainstream to the point where it's now fairly routine to run across references to "Rule 34" in blog posts and comment strings.

Some CNN commenters, however, weren't going to have any rules under any circumstances.

"The only rule of the Internet is that there are absolutely no rules," said Sal, among others.

Other commenters mentioned one of the best-known Internet observations, Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." Some wondered why it wasn't included.

We agree: Godwin's Law should definitely be a part of any set of Internet rules. (Personally, I blame my editor for its exclusion: Frankly, the guy is a ...)

With that out of the way, here are 10 more nominations for the list of Internet rules. Ignore them at your peril.

• As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. (Godwin's Law)

• You cannot unsee anything Rules 34-36 apply to. (suggested by Josh Weikel)

• The cake is a lie. (suggested by DragonWife; originated in the video game "Portal")

• Comment boards tend not to extend the discussion in a productive manner. (suggested by Simps0n)

• If a new version of anything comes out, half the Internet will hate it because they changed it too much, and the other half will hate it because they didn't change it enough. (suggested by chewie402)

• For trolls: When in doubt -- or when you just don't know -- go hostile. (suggested by Matt in KY)

• Don't be a d**k. (Wheaton's Law, suggested by freddosaurusRex)

• The girl you met online may actually be a guy. (suggested by Krehator; this is a variation of the classic New Yorker cartoon caption "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.")

• If anything you see upsets you, it is your problem, not the poster's. (suggested by readerman)

• Keep it simple. Odds are, most people reading this are stoned. (suggested by Jeffrey John Albrecht)

Thanks for playing. You can have your Internet back now.

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Work begins to standardize 'internet-of-things' protocol:

Summary: OASIS launches technical committee that promises to have a widely accepted machine-to-machine connectivity protocol available in about a year.
By Joe McKendrick for Service Oriented 

OASIS has announced a new technical committee is being formed to formalize a standard protocol for machine-to-device-to-sensor-to-refrigerator-to-other-machine-somewhere-else-on-the-network interactions, otherwise known as the "internet of things.' 

The protocol, "MQ [Messaging Queue] Telemetry Transport," or MQTT, is described on the MQTT.org site as a "machine-to-machine (M2M)/Internet of Things connectivity protocol." The protocol, designed as an "extremely lightweight publish/subscribe messaging transport," is intended to facilitate "connections with remote locations where a small code footprint is required and/or network bandwidth is at a premium." Examples include "sensors communicating to a broker via satellite link, over occasional dial-up connections with healthcare providers, and in a range of home automation and small device scenarios."

MQTT is also well-suited for mobile applications, proponents say, due to "its small size, low power usage, minimized data packets, and efficient distribution of information to one or many receivers."

Having a universally accepted and adopted M2M protocol will help get new devices and systems to market faster, since they often are built using many variations of hardware and software platforms, device types, and networks, OASIS notes. 

MQTT was invented by Dr Andy Stanford-Clark of IBM, and Arlen Nipper of Arcom (now Eurotech), back in 1999. It also has been called the “SCADA protocol,” the “MQ Integrator SCADA Device Protocol” (MQIsdp), the “WebSphere MQTT” (WMQTT).

OASIS' MQTT Technical Committee will work with MQTT as its base document to "define an open publish/subscribe protocol for telemetry messaging designed to be open, simple, lightweight, and suited for use in constrained networks and multi-platform environments."  OASIS has scheduled the first, in-person  meeting to be held in Boston on Monday, 25 March 2013, to be hosted by IBM.  A working specification will be completed by March 2014, OASIS says.

The MQTT TC is intended to complement previous work by the OASIS AMQP Technical Committee, which released a specification that provides for transaction and publish & subscribe messaging between autonomous businesses, departments and applications using an open protocol for enterprise middleware. The MQTT specification adds a means "by which sensors, control systems, embedded systems and mobile devices can publish and subscribe low-level, technically-orientated data," OASIS says. "There is natural affinity to bridge MQTT with AMQP, so as to connect telemetry with enterprise applications."

(Photo: Joe McKendrick.)

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App allows parents to activate missing child alert:

Michael Finney
More: Bio, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, News Team

20 years ago 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her home in Petaluma. Since then her father, Mark Klaas, has devoted his life to helping other parents of missing children. And now he has turned to technology to further the cause.

In light of the recent search for Kevin Collins, who's been missing for 29 years, I think we've all been wondering what we can do to protect our own children. Certainly, technology is much different than it was in 1984 when Kevin disappeared. Now, there's a new app that could be a lifesaver.

The Polly Klaas Foundation has recently introduced a smartphone app calledPolly's Guardian Angel. If a child goes missing, the app enables parents to activate an alert right away to friends, family, and other nearby app users.

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David Gonzales has three children and downloaded the app because of a recent abduction in his town, "We live in Morgan Hill, so obviously Sierra LaMar was a big incident in our neighborhood and so it brings about the awareness of your own children," he said.

Parents can download the app onto their iPhone for $4.99. An Android version will be released within a month.

A parent loads all the vital information of their child including pictures and information.

Safety Grid President Jim Hankins developed the app, "Plain facts that you would be able to recall at any time, you're going to be stumbling, and having quick access to the photos right there and distribute them," he said.

When an alert is activated, other app holders within a 15 mile radius are immediately notified. The app then guides you through the next steps.

"It prompts you to contact 911 if you haven't done so and then beyond that it will put you in contact with trained personnel at the Polly Center," said Marc Klaas. He notes that minutes are critical after a child goes missing, "It's become obvious to many people that Amber Alerts are too slow and too cumbersome."

It can take up to five hours from an initial police report before an Amber Alert is activated.

"I think that it does give me a little bit more piece of mind," Gonzales said.

The Klaas Foundation has also endorsed a combination GPS device and restricted cell phone that can be locked onto a child's wrist. The hope is that it will act as a deterrent to a potential kidnapper.

The new technology components of the Klaas Kids Foundation are all partnerships with outside companies and only a portion of the revenue goes to the foundation itself.

(Copyright ©2013 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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VivoPlay GPS+GSM Tracking/Safety Device for Kids:

Vivoplay tracking device with GSM, GPS and Wifi demonstration at CES 2013.

Trinity Mount Ministries assists in locating Missing Children and helps to stop Child Abuse.
Main website: http://trinitymount.info

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New apps help parents when children go missing:

Rod Chester News Limited Network

A new breed of technology tools and apps are helping parents who have children who go missing. Picture: AFP 

 

FOR parents of children who wander off, a new breed of technology tools could be the difference between life and death.

Some tools are designed to beep when your toddler wanders away in a shopping mall or falls into a pool.
Others are being used to track special need children who can disappear from home as soon as their parents look away.

Elizabeth Smart, who in 2002 was a 14-year-old Utah girl kidnapped and help captive for 9 months, recently launched the iPhone app Hero for parents to use in those first vital moments after a child goes missing.

If a child is lost in a crowded area, a parent with the free Hero app sends out an instant notification that appears on every phone with that app within 8km, using the power of social media to sound the alarm.

Elizabeth Smart, who was held captive for nine months in 2002, has made an app to help parents when their child goes missing. Picture: AP

There are privacy concerns about the misuse of Apple’s Find My Friends app but it can be used to help family members stay in touch.

If it’s loaded on an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can find a person’s location, or at least the location of their phone.

This app can help for parents wanting to know their teenagers have arrived somewhere safely, or help friends find which end of the beach they should head to so they can meet up.

But that sort of device will not help every parent.

Melbourne-based financial planner Kathy Havers became the Australian distributor for the British company Lok8u and their GPS watch nu.m8+ after buying one herself to monitor her autistic teenager who had a history of wandering off.

She said many of the tracking devices were removable, which was a problem for parents of special needs children.

To the child wearing a nu.m8+, it seems just to be a digital watch.

But to a parent, it’s a locator tool. They can type a request in to a password-protected website or send a text using a mobile phone and, assuming the phone is line-of-sight to GPS satellites, will find their child’s location within three minutes.

It can be programmed to set off a warning to the parent if a child goes to a particular location, or if the child removes the wristband.

Because the watch uses GPS, it won’t help locate them if they’re inside a building, like a mall. But it will help parents find their child as soon as they leave a building.

The nu.m8+ comes in a range of price packages, starting at $250 for the watch and a monthly fee of $22.90.
Ms Havers says the majority of the people who make the purchases are parents of special needs kids with a habit of walking off.

"People don’t tend to spend that sort of money until their child has done it once and then you have this awful thing in your heart and your head that you can never have it happen again" she said.

Independent Living Centres Australia sells a range of gadgets that, unlike GPS sensors, can help parents find a child lost inside a building such as a shopping mall.

The Angel Alert is a high-tech necklace for the child that wirelessly connects to a receiver for a parent. If the two devices become more than 9m apart, the child’s device sounds a signal.

The Giggle Bug uses technology similar to wireless gadgets to help you find your car keys.

If you can’t see your child in a crowd, you hit a button on a hand-held unit and the click on lady bug on the child starts beeping. It is designed to work at a range up to 30m indoors.

The "Mommy I’m here" teddy bear is a similar gadget, and works up to 50m. The advanced model can be programmed to set off an alarm if the child goes more than 10m from the monitor carried by the parent.

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Gadgets of 2013: the future is upon us

From Apple iTV to augmented reality glasses, these are the gizmos heading our way next year

Ian Tucker

Models parade in Google Glass augmented reality eyewear at a New York fashion show. Photograph: Edward Le Poulin/Corbis

Phone 5S

As per usual, it is expected that Apple will release an "S" update before moving up an integer.

Possible features? Respected tech industry analyst Peter Misek is predicting it will come with a new "super HD camera/screen, a better battery and NFC [near field communication - used in such things as contactless payment systems]". He also claims that, like the Nano, the phone will be available in six to eight colours.

When can I buy one? Misek suggests that Apple will be speeding up its cycle of launches, so we should expect it in June.

Apple iTV

There has been speculation for some years that Apple would make a land grab for the TV market. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently remarkedthat turning on a TV is like going "backwards in time by 20 or 30 years". That is, like the music and phone industry previously, it's in need of an Apple update.

Possible features? Cult of Mac reported that the TV would feature both Siri and iSight to enable voice and face recognition – iPhones and iPads could also be used to control it.

When can I buy one? Gene Munster (industry analyst) has predictedthat the Apple iTV will be launched in October 2013: "It should cost $1,500-$2,000 and come in sizes from 42 inches to 55 inches." It is likely a UK version would only be released when licensing deals with British TV channels are finalised.

Xbox 720

Microsoft's long-awaited follow-up to the Xbox 360, rumoured to be called the Infinity.

Possible features? Like the Kinect, the console will use motion detection technology and T3 recently revealed that Microsoft had filed a patent concerning projecting augmented reality 3D images on walls, which would require you to wear Wi-Fi-enabled 3D glasses. May also include a Blu-ray drive.

When can I buy one? A Microsoft executive did talk about a "new Xbox" but this statement was quickly withdrawn by the company; however, the company has placed job ads which mention the new console. ABloomberg report says the XBox 720 is likely to be available from autumn 2013.

Amazon phone

The internet giant is said to be adding a phone to its range of Kindle readers.

Possible features? Don't expect any revolutionary hardware, but the software will allow seamless integration between Amazon's Appstore, Amazon MP3, Amazon Cloud Player and Kindle books. In short, it will be more of an multipurpose Amazon revenue-generating device than a phone. As PC Magazine has suggested, it's likely to be cheap. This is because Amazon is expected to subsidise the cost of the handset and the monthly price plan using the revenue from the vast amount of Amazon media, electronics and whatnot you are inevitably going to purchase with it. It is also likely to come pre-loaded with a bar code scanner, which will point out how much cheaper everything is on Amazon. Yes, it does sound pretty Faustian.

When can I buy one? Your pact could start in mid-2013.

Augmented reality glasses

Google and a company called Vuzix are lining up futuristic specs for people who can't bear not to be connected.

Possible features? More of a headset than a pair of spectacles, the Vuzix projects a small colour image in front of your eye, runs the Android operating system and connects via Bluetooth to your phone. The screen could show you text messages, emails or map directions.

What this device's killer app will turn out to be is anyone's guess. It could, for instance, use face recognition to remind you of fellow partygoers' names, their CVs and their latest Facebook status updates and tweets – never be stuck for small talk again! A scary Charlie Brooker-scripted future is heading our way, basically.

When can I buy one? Summer 2013 for under $500. Google Glass isn't expected until 2014.

Nest

A "learning thermostat" designed by two former Apple employees, it has already been described as the "iPhone of thermostats" by Wired.

Possible features? Via Wi-Fi, it connects with your smartphone, allowing you to control your heating whether you're at home or not. Over time it learns your schedule and designs a heating or air-conditioning programme around it. It can detect when you're not at home. And it looks pretty: it glows orange for heating, blue for cooling.

When can I buy one? They're already available in the US for $250 – the manufacturer claims you will claw that back in utility bill savings in two years.

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Google, Tech Companies Take Action to Preserve Internet at U.N. Treaty Talks:

Google, Tech Companies Take Action to Preserve Internet at U.N. Treaty Talks:

A veritable who's who of Internet and tech companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, Cisco, AT&T and Verizon are headed to Dubai next week in an effort to preserve a free and open Internet.

Prompting the trip is alarm that proposed updates to a 24-year-old international treaty governing global telephone exchanges and other communications could put control of the Web into the hands of the United Nations and its member states. This could allow some governments to censor speech, cut off Internet access or set new fees for Internet traffic.

Google alone is sending four represenatives to Dubai, more than any other company, as part of a 100-member U.S. delegation of government organizations and officials for the two-week World Conference on International Communications. ...

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FBI - First Computer Scientist Class Graduates:

First Computer Scientist Class Graduates

11/30/2012

Play Local/Download

Mollie Halpern: The FBI graduates its first class of computer scientists from an intense eight-week training course. It’s a major milestone in the FBI’s Next Generation Cyber Initiative.

Keven Ates: It’s interesting work, and it requires some higher-level brain thought.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern, and this is FBI, This Week. The FBI is hiring, recruiting, and training additional computer scientists. It’s part of an effort to strengthen the FBI’s capabilities to combat the growing cyber threat. FBI computer scientist Keven Ates helped design and instruct the first class.

Ates: The training is going to give them perspective on what they’re going to be doing and how they’re going to be working with agents and intel analysts.

Halpern: Computer scientists will work side-by-side with agents to provide technical expertise to critical cyber investigations.

Ates: Helping secure our electronic borders is probably the number one issue that is coming up in the next couple of years. So helping define that, helping be involved in it, and using those skills and talents that I have is a joy.

Halpern: For more information, visit www.fbijobs.gov.

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