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Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Denied Bid for New Trial (wsj.com) 64

Posted by msmash from the no-mercy dept.
A federal judge denied Elizabeth Holmes's bid for a new trial, the latest setback for the Theranos founder who was convicted of fraud in January. From a report: U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw Ms. Holmes's trial which began last year, said in a ruling late Monday that the arguments in her three motions for a new trial didn't introduce material new evidence or establish government misconduct, adding that a new trial was unlikely to result in an acquittal.

Ms. Holmes is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 18. Earlier Monday, a court probation officer submitted a presentence report, an investigation into Ms. Holmes's legal and personal background. The judge previously denied her request for an acquittal. He also denied requests for an acquittal and new trial from Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, Ms. Holmes's former boyfriend and deputy at Theranos, who was found guilty on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy in a separate trial that concluded in July.
China

Apple iCloud Data in China is Being Stored By a State-Run Telco (engadget.com) 84

Posted by msmash from the double-standard dept.
Six months ago Apple caused controversy by announcing its intentions to move Chinese users' iCloud keys out of the US and into China, in order to comply with Chinese law. From a report: Now, that data, which includes emails, text messages and pictures, is being looked after by government-owned mobile operator China Telecom. And users and human rights activists alike have big concerns. The move has unsurprisingly been praised by state media, with Chinese consumers being told they can now expect faster speeds and greater connectivity. But as comments on Weibo (China's equivalent of Twitter) reveal, users have major privacy worries, claiming the government -- known for its extreme citizen surveillance methods -- will now be able to check personal data whenever it wishes.
IOS

Spotify Says Apple Won't Approve New Version Of Its App Because It Doesn't Want Competition For Apple Music (recode.net) 327

Posted by msmash from the things-people-say-about-Apple dept.
According to a report on Recode, Apple has rejected an update to Spotify's iOS app, and that this has caused a "grave harm to Spotify and its customers." The Swedish-based music company competes with Apple's Music streaming app and service. In a letter to Apple's top lawyer, Spotify says that Apple turned down a version of the app citing "business model rules" and demanded that Spotify uses Apple's billing system if it wants to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions. From the report:The letter, sent by Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell on May 26, suggests that Spotify intends to use the standoff as ammunition in its fight over Apple's rules governing subscription services that use its App store. "This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law," Gutierrez wrote. "It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple's previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify ... we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors."

Comment This isn't a new behavior for companies (Score 1) 269

by Tanlis (#49335091) Attached to: Developers and the Fear of Apple

Let's be honest, this behavior of a company shunning a person/publication because they criticized the company isn't new. Many companies do this all the time. Electronic and car companies employ have been employing this behavior for quite some time. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the way business is. The company is in the market of selling something and if you bad mouth it or hurt the company, why should they give you access to them or their products. Now the difference is that developers are actually providing something that can help the companies sell more products. But from Apple's perspective there are new developers that can replace any that decide to leave. I imagine that they don't want to lose those developers, but right now it's not hurting their bottom line.

I think with people like Marco Arment and other people that were mentioned in the article, they know some of the guys that are working on iOS or MacOS and may of felt bad cause they criticized their work. As a developer my self, I never want to release a buggy product and work my hardest to fix as much as I can, but sometimes that choice is out of my hands. And obviously given that some of these people make their living off of writing about Apple, I think it's understandable they may be concerned that their words could hurt their reputation with the company and thus their living could be impacted. But that's a risk when you take a stance on something that impacts someone else.

Submission + - White House Petition Lobbies to Make Cell Phone Unlocking Legal (whitehouse.gov)

Submitted by Tanlis
Tanlis writes: The Librarian of Congress decided in October 2012 that unlocking of cell phones would be removed from the exceptions to the DMCA. As of January 26, consumers are no longer able to unlock their phones for use on a different network without carrier permission, even after their contract has expired. Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked. We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.
AT&T

After Complaints, AT&T Solidifies, Increases Data Limit 211

Posted by Soulskill from the nice-try-with-the-math-trick dept.
New submitter rullywowr writes "After many users expressed anger, AT&T has moved the slowdown throttling bottleneck from 3GB of data to 5GB of data for users of 4G LTE smart phones. 'Previously, AT&T slowed speeds for subscribers who reached the top 5% of data users for that billing cycle and geographic location. Customers were outraged, arguing that the percentage method meant they had no way to know what the limit was — until AT&T informed them via text message that they were in danger of exceeding it.' AT&T still maintains the position that less than 5% of its users exceed the 3GB threshold each month."

Comment App usage while out on patrol (Score 5, Funny) 80

by Tanlis (#35906454) Attached to: Army Develops Android-Based Framework For Battlefield Ops

While out in the field with the Android phone and the new apps...

Sergeant: Private! Check to see if any other patrols have left any warning signals near here.

Private: Ok Sarge!

5 minutes later...

Sergeant: Private! What's taking so long? Are there any damn warnings?!?!

Private: Ohh! Sorry Sarge. I had to wait for the ad for Angry Birds Rio to finish loading and then I decided to download to it.

Sergeant: Gomer!!!
Math

Erdos' Combinatorial Geometry Problem Solved 170

Posted by Soulskill from the math-that's-way-over-your-head dept.
eldavojohn writes "After 65 years, Paul Erdos' combinatorial problem has been solved by Indiana University professor Nets Hawk Katz. The problem involved determining the minimum number of distinct distances between any finite set of points in a plane and its applications range from drug development to robot motion planning to computer graphics. You can find a description of the problem here and the prepublication of the paper on arXiv. The researchers used the existing work on the problem and included two new ideas of their own, like using the polynomial ham sandwich theorem, to reach a solution that warranted at least half of Erdos' $500 reward posted for solving this problem way back in 1935."

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