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Courtney Love settles and pays $430,000 over Twitter defamation case

Posted by Harshad

Courtney Love settles and pays $430,000 over Twitter defamation case


Courtney Love settles and pays $430,000 over Twitter defamation case

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 08:37 PM PST

Courtney Love settles and pays $430,000 over Twitter defamation caseCourtney Love has reportedly settled her Twitter defamation case out of court for $430,000.

In 2009, Love used the micro-blogging service to throw a tirade against fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir (the Boudior Queen), who promptly sued the rocker.

Love will make the payments on a monthly basis from now until 2014.

Simorangkir and Love were in a dispute over a $4000 payment for clothing, and the Boudior Queen says Love's Twitter tirade ruined her reputation and business.

In one of the more nasty tweets, Love called Simorangkir an "a**wipe nasty lying hosebag thief."

Simorangkir's attorney was pleased with the settlement (via THR):

The amount of the settlement says it all. Her reprehensible defamatory comments were completely false and $430,000 is quite a significant way to say I am sorry. One would hope that, given this disaster, restraint of pen, tongue and tweet would guide Ms. Love's future conduct.


Love's attorney was also satisfied with the settlement:

Because of the extended payout it's a modest settlement. They got out with an amount that left them bragging rights but nothing else.

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Marvell posts weak earnings, highlights market shift by RIM

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 08:00 PM PST

Marvell posts weak earnings, highlights market shift by RIMMarvell Technology posted weak earnings on Friday, leading to a 10 percent dip in the company's shares.

Perhaps more notably, Marvell's report highlighted the continued struggles of RIM, maker of the BlackBerry smartphones.

Marvell makes the application processors in BlackBerry devices.

Overall revenue in the wireless and mobile markets fell 13 percent year-over-year and CEO Sehat Sutardja said the decline was due to the fact that RIM "was shifting entry-level smart phones, an area where we do not currently participate."

The shift came as a shock to most, although one analyst explains:

Demand for low-end smart phones is rapidly outpacing growth in the high-end segment in emerging economies given their lower cost.

RIM Blackberrys are particularly attractive in this market given the Blackberry Messaging service which allows free Blackberry-Blackberry messaging and lowers the total cost of usage.


Nielsen reported this week that Android had taken the crown as top smartphone OS in the U.S. with 29 percent share, followed by iOS and BlackBerry at 27 percent each.

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Google Docs editing now available in 44 more languages

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 07:25 PM PST

Google Docs editing now available in 44 more languagesUntil November, mobile Google Docs users could only open and view their documents, but not edit. In mid-November, Google added editing capabilities in English.

Today, the search giant says "we're excited to announce that you can now edit your docs on the go in 44 more languages."

You must be running iOS 3.0 or higher and Android 2.2 to be able to access the latest Docs.

If you meet those requirements, navigate to docs.google.com from the mobile browser and sign into your Gmail account.

Users can change from view to edit mode by pressing 'Edit.'

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Samsung admits their upcoming tablet is 'inadequate' compared to iPad 2

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 12:56 PM PST

Samsung admits their upcoming tablet is 'inadequate' compared to iPad 2Samsung has reluctantly admitted this week that the iPad 2 has made its upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 Honeycomb tablet "inadequate," and that the company will have to improve some aspects before release.

VP of Mobile Lee Don-Joo says the iPad 2's super thin design and pricing model have forced the company to go back and "improve the parts that are inadequate" on the 10.1.

The tablet is a successor to the original Galaxy Tab, and includes a dual-core processor, a 10.1-inch screen and run on the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Apple announced the iPad 2 on March 2nd with a launch date of March 11th, much quicker than most anticipated. The iPad 2 will also sell with a base price of $500, underselling the base model of the first Honeycomb tablet, the Motorola Xoom, by $100.

The underpowered Android 2.2-based original Galaxy Tab still sells for over $400 without contract.

While Samsung had not yet priced the 10.1, most believe now they will be forced to put a base price of $500, if they want to even compete.

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Researcher blames U.S., Israel for Stuxnet

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 12:29 PM PST

Researcher blames U.S., Israel for StuxnetGerman security researcher Ralph Langner has told an audience at this years TED conference that the United States and Israel were most likely behind the Stuxnet malware.

He said that the malware was designed specifically to cripple systems related to Iran's nuclear program. Langner was one of the first researchers to show how Stuxnet is used to take control of industrial equipment. The most likely target of the malware was equipment used for the enrichment of uranium.

"My opinion is that Mossad is involved," he said. "There is only one leading source, and that is the United States."

Symantec had suggested in a report on Stuxnet that it would have taken a team of between 5 and 10 developers about six months to create the Stuxnet worm. Langner says they needed to have inside information to get the worm to its intended targets and to carry out its duties.

Analysts say that Stuxnet was likely designed to damage centrifuges used in the process of enriching uranium. The worm targeted programmable logic controllers (PLCs) made by Siemens, which are used to control a wide variety of industrial systems.

Iran's Interior Ministry denied earlier this week that Stuxnet was responsible for a shutdown at the Bushehr nuclear reactor. Despite the thorough analysis done of Stuxnet itself, there is no hard evidence to link either the United States or Israel to its development.

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Student charged with grade-fixing racket

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 12:19 PM PST

Student charged with grade-fixing racketTyler Coyner, a 19-year-old student at University of Nevada has been charged with being the ringleader in a group that charged money for increasing classmates' grades at his former school, Pahrump Valley High School.

Coyner and 13 others are now facing charges for conspiracy, theft and computer intrusion. The student hacked the password for the Pahrump Valley High School's grade system and over his senior year charged other students money in exchange for a bump in their grades.

Additionally, Coyner bumped his own grades so high (to a 4.54 GPA) that he was the salutatorian at his graduation, an honor given to the student with the second highest GPA in the school.

When Coyner's dorm room was raided, the police found a stolen LCD TV and equipment for making fake driver's licenses.

Two other 19 year olds have been charged while the rest are minors. All of the minors are those who paid to have their grades changed.

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Judge gives Sony the right to acquire all IP addresses of visitors to Geohot site

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 11:51 AM PST

Judge gives Sony the right to acquire all IP addresses of visitors to Geohot siteA federal judge has ruled this week that Sony can subpoena the Web host for George 'Geohot' Hotz's website, and acquire all the IP addresses of anyone who has visited his site in the last 26 months.

Furthermore, Sony also won subpoenas for data from YouTube, and for Geohot's Twitter account.

Sony has accused Hotz of violating the DMCA by publishing a master key for the PS3 that allows others to run homebrew on the console.

As part of the ruling, web provider Bluehost must give "documents reproducing all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms" of Hotz's site. Furthermore, Sony must receive "any other identifying information corresponding to persons or computers who have accessed or downloaded files hosted using your service and associated" with the www.geohot.com website, including but not limited to the "geohot.com/jailbreak.zip file."

Sony was given the subpoena rights for two reasons; one to prove that Hotz "distributed" the hack and the other so Sony can prove that its lawsuit in San Francisco will not have to be transferred over to a court in New Jersey, Hotz's home state. Sony says seeing the IP addresses will prove that a significant amount of the hits were from California compared to New Jersey, so San Francisco is a more "proper venue."

The YouTube subpoena is for the video "Jailbroken PS3 3.55 with Homebrew" posted by Geohot and demands all the data for anyone who watched the video or commented.

You can check the PDFs of the ruling here at Wired: Judge Lets Sony Unmask Visitors to PS3-Jailbreaking Site

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