Judge Koh: There Are A Couple Inconsistencies in Apple-Samsung Verdict

Judge Lucy Koh said Friday that there were a couple of inconsistencies in the jury verdict that found Samsung guilty of infringing a number of Apple patents and awarding more than $1 billion in damages.

Judge Koh: There Are A Couple Inconsistencies in Apple-Samsung Verdict

There are at least two problems with the verdict, Koh said. For the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE, the jury found no infringement or inducement but awarded damages. In another count, the jury found no infringement of Apple’s utility patents but found inducement of infringement, a combination not possible according tot he jury instructions.

Koh sent the jury back down to clarify those two points, though both issues would not seem to affect the bulk of the jury’s ruling.

Best Buy’s giving its new CEO $32M — more than twice what it made last quarter

Best Buy’s giving its new CEO $32M — more than twice what it made last quarter

"Best Buy is laying off 2,400 workers, can't afford to hire anyone, can barely pay its bills and yet the company is paying its new CEO twice what it made last quarter... A new CEO with no retail experience... and who is French with no visa (and he gets a $6-million payout if he can't get one by the end of Sept.) And this makes sense to who on the board?"

HP Losing To Dell - That is Pitiful.

Mizuho analyst Abhey Lamba notes, however, it appears H-P’s enterprise segment was weak, and in fact lost ground to Dell. “Comparing H-P and Dell’s results, H-P seems to have lost share in all of they enterprise segments. We wait to hear more details on the conference call.”

HP $16 Soon

From UBS Analyst recently:

"HP lacks the pure enterprise focus of IBM and EMC yet will have trouble competing for consumers without strong tablet and phone businesses like Apple and Samsung," wrote Milunovich in an initiation of HP shares with a sell rating and a $16 price target.

Apple patent could lead to thinner, lighter iPhone screens

Apple patent could lead to thinner, lighter iPhone screens

A patent awarded to the iPhone maker suggests a way to reduce the weight and thickness of screen displays by combining different elements.

Google acquires Frommer's, pushes further into travel info

Google acquires Frommer's, pushes further into travel info

The company acquired the travel guide service from John Wiley & Sons for an undisclosed sum, but may face critics alarmed by its growing clout in the travel arena.

Google is once again investing in the travel space.

The search giant is acquiring travel guide provider Frommer's from John Wiley & Sons. It's not immediately clear what Google might have planned for Frommer's, and a purchase price has not been divulged.

Wiley announced earlier this year that it would put Frommer's, which includes everything from travel guides to hotel ratings, on the purchasing block, though the company did not have any potential suitors in mind.

Does Cybercrime Really Cost $1 Trillion?

Does Cybercrime Really Cost $1 Trillion?

"Gen. Keith Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency and oversees U.S. Cyber Command, which means he leads the government’s effort to protect America from cyberattacks. ...

Alexander warned that cyberattacks are causing "the greatest transfer of wealth in history," and he cited statistics from, among other sources, Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc., which both sell software to protect computers from hackers. Crediting Symantec, he said the theft of intellectual property costs American companies $250 billion a year. He also mentioned a McAfee estimate that the global cost of cybercrime is $1 trillion. "That’s our future disappearing in front of us," he said, urging Congress to enact legislation to improve America’s cyberdefenses.

These estimates have been cited on many occasions by government officials, who portray them as evidence of the threat against America. They are hardly the only cyberstatistics used by officials, but they are recurring ones that get a lot of attention. In his first major cybersecurity speech in 2009, President Obama prominently referred to McAfee’s $1 trillion estimate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the main sponsors of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 that is expected to be voted on this week, have also mentioned $1 trillion in cybercrime costs. Last week, arguing on the Senate floor in favor of putting their bill up for a vote, they both referenced the $250 billion estimate and repeated Alexander’s warning about the greatest transfer of wealth in history.

A handful of media stories, blog posts and academic studies have previously expressed skepticism about these attention-getting estimates, but this has not stopped an array of government officials and politicians from continuing to publicly cite them as authoritative. Now, an examination of their origins by ProPublica has found new grounds to question the data and methods used to generate these numbers, which McAfee and Symantec say they stand behind."

The 7 Ugly Truths About Facebook

The 7 Ugly Truths About Facebook

Since going public on May 17, the ever popular social network has started to show a few kinks in its digital armor. First the stock price tanked. Then its domestic user growth slowed. And of course privacy concerns and data security remain ongoing issues for the company as it expands globally.

But for all the hype surrounding Facebook, the fact remains that it is an imperfect company with its fair share of internal and external struggles, like any firm. 

Refugee from Facebook questions the 'SOCIAL MEDIA LIFE'

Refugee from Facebook questions the 'SOCIAL MEDIA LIFE'

"Not long after Katherine Losse left her Silicon Valley career and moved to this West Texas town for its artsy vibe and crisp desert air, she decided to make friends the old-fashioned way, in person. So she went to her Facebook page and, with a series of keystrokes, shut it off.

The move carried extra import because Losse had been the social network’s 51st employee and rose to become founder Mark Zuckerberg’s personal ghostwriter. But Losse gradually soured on the revolution in human relations she witnessed from within."

Facebook Shares Could Fall ANOTHER 50%

Facebook Shares Could Fall ANOTHER 50%

With such a short history, the release of Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB  ) second-quarter earnings is an important opportunity to review the valuation in light of new data. Prior to the company's May IPO, I warned investors to steer well clear of the shares. While the near-40% decline the shares have suffered since the offering may tempt investors into believing they can now secure an attractive entry point, after consideration, my advice is unchanged today.

Facebook falls shortIn an article published just after the IPO, I used a graph similar to the one below to show that Facebook's growth path was far outstripped by Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG  ) . The graph matches up annual revenues for both companies over five-year periods: 2000 through 2004 for Google versus 2007 through 2011 for Facebook: