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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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MagicJack's Defamation Case Against Boing Boing Dismissed [Legal]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/o08Ud19WJIA/magicjacks-defamation-case-against-boing-boing-dismissed

Doing the right thing by exposing a company's shoddy product, customer service, or iffy privacy policy can have consequences. Our friends at Boing Boing just finished dealing with MagicJack and a groundless defamation suit because they were brutally honest.

You can read a full account of the events along with the post that started it all over at Boing Boing, but the ordeal boils down to this:

Boing Boing posted about MagicJack's "terms of service-which include the right to analyze customers' calls-and various iffy characteristics of its website" in April of 2008. According to Robert Beschizza:

The post was titled "MagicJack's EULA says it will spy on you and force you into arbitration." This EULA, or End-User Licensing Agreement, concerns what subscribers must agree to in order to use the service. I wrote that MagicJack's allows it to target ads at users based on their calls, was not linked to from its homepage or at sign-up, and has its users waive the right to sue in court. I also wrote that that MagicJack's website contained a visitor counter that incremented automatically; and that the website claimed to be able to detect MagicJacks, reporting that "Your MagicJack is functioning properly" even when none are present.

He also notes that "the post didn't criticize the service or the gadget itself, which works very well."

In March 2009, Boing Boing was notified that MagicJack was filing suit because "these statements were false, misleading, and had irreparably harmed MagicJack's reputation by exposing it to 'hate, ridicule and obloquy.'"

A great deal of back-and-forth followed until the suit was finally dismissed and MagicJack was ordered to pay Boing Boing "more than $50,000 in legal costs."

We may think that all's well that ends well and that the truth prevailed, but it took a great deal of time and legal costs. Perhaps a site smaller than Boing Boing could not have handled the effects of a defamation suit like this—justified or not—and would've given in to a company's demands. And that's more terrifying than some wonky EULA. [Boing Boing]

iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/ipad-confirmed-to-use-powervr-sgx-graphics/

It may not be as big a surprise as the A4 itself was, but Apple has now confirmed via the latest iPad SDK Beta 3 documentation that the iPad does indeed use PowerVR SGX graphics hardware as part of its custom system-on-a-chip, which flatly contradicts previous reports of A4 using Mali, and lines up with what our pal Anand Shimpi has been telling us lately. What Apple doesn't confirm, unfortunately, is exactly which chip in the PowerVR SGX family the iPad uses, so it's still at least possible that it could pack a bigger punch than the iPhone or iPod touch.

In related news, a recent Apple job posting has now also offered up the first hard evidence that Apple might actually be putting its huge investment in A4 to use other platforms besides the iPad -- shocking, we know. That job is for an Engineering Manager, who would lead a team focused on the "bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms," and would otherwise be responsible for "low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms" -- experience with ARM-based SoCs is also an "additional success factor." Sound like the job you've been waiting for? Then hit up the link below for the complete details.

iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG debuts T280 ultralight, X140, X200 netbooks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/lg-debuts-t280-ultralight-x140-x200-netbooks/

Well, it looks like MSI isn't the only company churning out new systems in advance of CeBIT -- LG has now also let out word of three new laptops and netbooks ahead of the big show. Leading the pack is the stylish, CULV-based T280 ultralight pictured above, which packs an 11.6-inch display, a choice of a 1.3GHz Pentium dual-core or Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB or 500GB hard drive, and a price ranging from $990 to $1,094. Joining it are the X140 and X200 netbooks, the latter of which actually looks to be identical to the X20 model we spotted at in the FCC's hands earlier this month. Both of those will pack 1.66GHz Atom N450 processors, along with some other seemingly similar specs, but fairly different designs. Dive into the links below for a closer look.

LG debuts T280 ultralight, X140, X200 netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Editorial: the American phone subsidy model is a RAZR way of thinking in an iPhone world

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/editorial-the-american-phone-subsidy-model-is-a-razr-way-of-thi/

The concept is simple enough -- pay more, get more. So it has gone (historically, anyway) with phone subsidies in this part of the world, a system that has served us admirably for well over a decade. It made sense, and although it was never spelled out at the customer service counter quite as clearly as any of us would've liked, it was fairly straightforward to understand: you bought a phone on a multi-dimensional sliding scale of attractiveness, functionality, and novelty. By and large, there was a pricing scale that matched up with it one-to-one. You understood that if you wanted a color external display, a megapixel camera, or MP3 playback, you'd pay a few more dollars, and you also understood that you could knock a couple hundred dollars off of that number by signing up to a two-year contract. In exchange for a guaranteed revenue stream, your carrier's willing to throw you a few bucks off a handset -- a square deal, all things considered. So why's the FCC in a tizzy, and how can we make it better?

Continue reading Editorial: the American phone subsidy model is a RAZR way of thinking in an iPhone world

Editorial: the American phone subsidy model is a RAZR way of thinking in an iPhone world originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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