Judge cuts Apple award versus Samsung, sets new damages trial

(Reuters) - Apple Inc had a major setback in its mobile patents battle with Samsung Electronics on Friday, as a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages. Apple won the award last year against Samsung in what was the biggest and highest-profile of a number of legal trials around the world, centered on the use and...

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Judge throws out part of Apple patent award against Samsung

March 1 (Reuters) - Celtic are surprised that arch-rivals Rangers were deemed to have gained no competitive advantage for making undisclosed payments to players and staff from 2000-11, the Scottish Premier League leaders said on Friday. Former champions Rangers were fined 250,000 pounds ($375,300) by the Scottish Premier League (SPL) on Thursday although the Glasgow club were told they could keep...

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Pentagon unveils plan to tap potential of mobile devices

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon unveiled a plan on Tuesday to ultimately enable the Defense Department's 600,000 users of smartphones, computer tablets and other mobile devices to rapidly share classified and protected data using the latest commercial technologies. The system aims to quickly enable the latest technologies to be securely used by the military while remaining "device...

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Apple signals emerging-market rethink with India push

NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country. More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the iconic device through...

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Einhorn scores legal victory versus Apple in cash scuffle

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with Apple Inc on Friday, blocking the iPhone maker from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan granted a motion by Einhorn's Greenlight Capital...

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Hackers circulate tainted version of China cyber security report

BOSTON (Reuters) - Unknown hackers are trying to infect computers by capitalizing on strong interest in a recent report by a security firm that accuses the Chinese military of supporting widespread cyber attacks on U.S. companies. Tainted digital versions of the report from cyber forensics firm Mandiant infect PCs with computer viruses that allow hackers to gain remote control of computers...

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Sony seeks head start over Microsoft with new PlayStation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp said it will launch its next-generation PlayStation this year, hoping its first video game console in seven years will give it a much-needed head start over the next version of Microsoft's Xbox and help revive its stumbling electronics business. The new console will have a revamped interface, let users stream and play video games hosted on servers, and allow...

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Twitter begins integrating advertising software

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it is opening up its platform to third-party advertising management software, taking another step to establish its ad-based business model ahead of an initial public offering. The ads application programming interface, or API, would allow advertisers to connect their existing ad management software to their Twitter account to automate...

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Exclusive: Apple, Macs hit by hackers who targeted Facebook

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date. Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers...

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Huawei denies work in field linked to U.S. death in Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese telecommunications company Huawei said on Monday it had not worked with an institute in Singapore on any projects in the specialist field of an American engineer who died mysteriously last year shortly after leaving the institute. Britain's Financial Times said on Saturday that Shane Todd had been working on "what was apparently a joint project" between Singapore's...

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Intel Israel more than doubles exports, mulls new investment

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Intel's Israeli subsidiary more than doubled its exports in 2012 to $4.6 billion and is seeking to bring manufacturing of the company's next generation of chips to Israel. Intel's exports, which rose 109 percent from $2.2 billion in 2011, were boosted by the start of production of chips using 22 nanometer technology at its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel, which...

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Facebook hacked, social media company says

(Reuters) - Facebook said on Friday that it been the target of a series of attacks by an unidentified hacker group, but it had found no evidence that user data was compromised. "Last month, Facebook security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack," the company said in a blog post. "The attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer...

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Big hedge funds fueled fourth-quarter dive in Apple shares

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the biggest hedge funds that helped make Apple Inc a stock market darling lost faith and dumped their stakes in the fourth quarter, fueling the massive drop in the iPhone maker's share price. Noted stock pickers including Leon Cooperman, Eric Mindich and Thomas Steyer unloaded billions of dollars of Apple shares between September 30 and December 31, according...

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Big hedge funds fueled Apple's fourth-quarter share plunge

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the biggest hedge funds that helped make Apple Inc a stock market darling lost faith and dumped their stakes in the fourth quarter, fueling the massive drop in the iPhone maker's share price. Noted stock pickers including Leon Cooperman, Eric Mindich and Thomas Steyer unloaded billions of dollars of Apple shares between September 30 and December 31, according...

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Europol breaks up multi-million euro Internet fraud gang

MADRID (Reuters) - A network of online fraudsters who masqueraded as European crime-fighting agency Europol and collected millions of euros in fake fines has been broken up - by Europol. The group, which worked across 30 countries over the past two years, paralyzed computers with a virus and left messages purporting to be from organizations like Europol and the police, saying users could...

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Apple CEO calls Einhorn lawsuit a "silly sideshow"

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook said the board is carefully considering David Einhorn's proposal for the company to issue preferred stock and return more cash to investors, but he called a lawsuit brought by the star hedge fund manager against Apple a "silly sideshow." Waving aside Einhorn's assertion that Apple is clinging to a "Depression-era" mentality,...

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Australia to grill Apple, others on pricing

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Apple Inc has been ordered to appear before Australia's parliament with fellow technology giants Microsoft Inc and Adobe Systems Inc to explain why local consumers pay so much for their products, despite the strong Aussie dollar. Broadening a row between the world's most valuable company and Australian lawmakers over corporate taxes paid on Apple's operations, Apple...

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Insight: Apple and Samsung, frenemies for life

SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - It was the late Steve Jobs' worst nightmare. A powerful Asian manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, uses Google Inc's Android software to create smartphones and tablets that closely resemble the iPhone and the iPad. Samsung starts gaining market share, hurting Apple Inc's margins and stock price and threatening its reign as the king of cool in consumer electronics....

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Google's Schmidt to sell roughly 42 percent of stake

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is selling roughly 42 percent of his stake in the Internet search company, a move that could potentially net the former chief executive a $2.51 billion windfall. Schmidt, 57, will sell 3.2 million shares of Class A common stock through a stock trading plan, Google said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...

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Dell's largest investor opposes buyout as too low

(Reuters) - Dell Inc's largest independent shareholder Southeastern Asset Management said it plans to oppose the buyout of the personal computer maker, setting up a battle for founder Michael Dell who is leading the effort to operate the company away from public scrutiny. Southeastern sent a letter to Dell's board expressing its "extreme disappointment" in the offer price of $13.65 a...

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