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

(Reuters) - Apple Inc had a major setback in its ongoing patent 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 trial among a number of legal challenges around the world over mobile...

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Groupon replaces CEO Andrew Mason, looks for new chief

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc replaced Andrew Mason as chief executive officer on Thursday, a day after posting dismal quarterly results, and appointed co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and board member Ted Leonsis as interim chief executives. The daily deals company said on Thursday it has begun a search for a new CEO to lead the company, which is battling a crumbling share price, an...

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Apple CEO says he feels shareholders' pain, urges long view

CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday acknowledged widespread disappointment in the company's sagging share price but shared few details about its secretive product pipeline and touched only briefly on a raging debate about how best to reward shareholders. The world's most valuable technology company headed into its annual shareholders' meeting at its headquarters...

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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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HP sells webOS operating system to LG Electronics

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said on Monday it will sell the webOS operating system to South Korea's LG Electronics Inc, unloading the smartphone software it acquired through a $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm in 2010. LG will use the operating software, used in now-defunct Palm smartphones years ago, for its "smart" or Internet-connected TVs. The Asian electronics company...

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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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Facebook blocks access to NBC.com after reports site is infected

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't...

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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 Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure describing the widest known cyber attacks targeting Apple computers used by corporations. Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers...

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Burger King takes down Twitter account after hack attack

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hackers breached the Twitter account of fast-food chain Burger King, posting the online equivalent of graffiti and sometimes making little sense. Burger King Worldwide Inc suspended its Twitter account about an hour after it learned of the attack at 12:24 p.m. EST on Monday, company spokesman Bryson Thornton said in an email. "It has come to our attention...

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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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Exclusive: News Corp, popular tech blog contemplate split - sources

(Reuters) - AllThingsD, the widely read technology blog run by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, has begun discussions with owner News Corp about extending or ending their partnership, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. According to these sources, AllThingsD's contract with News Corp expires at the end of the year. One of the sources said Swisher and Mossberg have to deliver...

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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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No "Plan B" for Microsoft's mobile ambitions: CFO

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has not made much of a dent in Apple Inc's and Google Inc's domination of mobile computing, but a top executive hinted on Wednesday that it will not stop trying and does not have an alternative strategy. "We're very focused on continuing the success we have with PCs and taking that to tablets and phones," Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein...

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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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Judge speeds up schedule in Apple versus Einhorn case

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge approved Apple Inc's request to speed up the schedule in a lawsuit filed by star hedge fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, part of an effort to get the company to share its huge cash reserves with investors. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan of the Southern District of New York on Monday brought forward the legal schedule by a few days...

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