Mobile Phone Unlocking Bill Introduced in The U.S. Senate

In February, the White House petition initiated to undo the questionable policy change outlawing new cell phones from being unlocked reached its goal of securing 100,000 signatures, the threshold required to mandate a response from The White House.

Earlier this week, the White House responded and it confirmed the Obama Administration's support for the legalization of cell phone unlocking. 

On Thursday, the effort gained even more momentum as U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Wireless Consumer Choice Act. Although it remains to be seen if this bipartisan senate bill will sail through to passage, not many obstacles are expected in the short term.

"Consumers shouldn't have to fear criminal charges if they want to unlock their cell phones and switch carriers," Senator Lee stated this afternoon. "Enhanced competition among wireless services is the surest way to increase consumer welfare." 

"Consumers should have flexibility and choice when it comes to their wireless service and they deserve to keep and use cell phones they have already purchased," Senator Klobuchar added. "This legislation will help allow consumers to unlock their phones. I will continue to work with my colleagues to promote policies to meet the needs of consumers and boost competition." [ModMyi]

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Apple Name associated with a 1$ Billion Fraud Case

Although Apple itself has done nothing illegal in this matter, the company is seeing its brand take a beating in the headlines for little more than its connection to the fraudulent activities engaged in by a single Wall Street trader.

Bloomberg confirms that an ex-trader with the firm Rochdale Securities LLC has been charged with wire fraud relating to an unauthorized $1 billion purchase of Apple stock. But when all didn't go as planned in the scam, the stunt cost his company $5 million.

The trader in question is David Miller, 40. Miller surrendered to the FBI yesterday and was subsequently released on $300,000 bail.

"The Stamford, Connecticut-based brokerage has been struggling to survive and hold on to its staff after Miller’s trade, made about the time of the Cupertino, California-based Technology Company’s October earnings release."

“As is so often seen in these types of cases, the alleged criminal conduct of Miller was for personal gain at the expense and detriment of others,” FBI agent Kimberly Mertz said yesterday in a statement. “Manipulating and orchestrating stock transactions in such a manner is a very serious criminal offense and its impact can be both devastating and lasting.”

In case you're wondering, wire fraud could land you in the slammer for up to 20 years. [Bloomberg]


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Microsoft Sued Over Live Tiles Windows 8 Interface

Microsoft sued over live tiles in new Windows 8 operating systems

SurfCast filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the company, challenging a key interface element in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

 

Microsoft has been slapped with a patent infringement lawsuit over its use of dynamic "live" tile icons in Windows, including in the newly launched Windows 8 OS for PCs and tablets and in the Windows Phone 8 OS for smartphones.
SurfCast, based in Portland, Maine, filed its lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Maine, and is asking for Microsoft to pay unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.

At issue is U.S. Patent 6,724,403, titled "System and Method for Simultaneous Display of Multiple Information Sources," which SurfCast was awarded in 2004.

SurfCast takes issue with Windows' use of live tiles, which are rectangular or square icons in the Start screen of new Windows versions that provide links to applications, websites, contacts and other elements. SurfCast describes itself on its website as a designer of OS technology. It claims to have developed the live tile technology in the 1990s.
In a statement, Microsoft said it was "confident" it would prove in court that SurfCast's claims are without merit and that Microsoft has created a "unique user experience."

Unlike conventional icons, live tiles display dynamically-changing data about the element it links to, such as the number of unread messages in users' email inboxes and alerts about new notifications from their social networking accounts.
Live tiles are a key user interface feature in a variety of new Windows versions, including Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT, which is a Windows 8 version for devices that use ARM chips. Microsoft first used live tiles in Windows Phone 7.
Starting with Windows 7 and most significantly with the just-launched Windows 8 OS family, Microsoft redesigned the Windows user interface around the use of these tile icons, so as to optimize the OS for use with touchscreen tablets and smartphones.
Windows is a minor player in tablets and smartphones, whose sales have been booming in the past three years. Google's Android and Apple's iOS are the main OSes used in tablets and smartphones. [Computer World UK]

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How to Burn XGD3 Files on Mac OS X

This is my video tutorial on how to burn XGD3 files on a Mac.

Follow it bellow:

Phone Unlocking and Jailbreaking Tablets illegal

The latest news from Congress it granted blessing on the iOS jailbreak and Android Rooting all devices; the hackers embraced this with pride. That specific amendment a few years ago to the DMCA was just temporary and since then the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has tried relentlessly to get it reinstated. This has now happened. The Library of Congress has now extended it for another three years, but with some extreme limitations: After 90 days, unlocking of new phones will be verboten and all tablet mods will still be illegal. This has major differences from the 2010 stipulation which did allow unlocking, because the Librarian decided that a recent copyright ruling means fair use rules no longer apply to a handset's OS. It also states that this exception does not apply anymore as carrier rules regarding unlocking are now more relaxed.

What do you think?

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