Tag archive: Massachusetts

A group of highly skilled, big-spending gamblers in Massachusetts are using a unique loophole in the state's Cash WinFall lottery to win millions of dollars every three months, without fail, reports the Boston Globe. And they are using their computer science and mathematical skills to help bring in massive paydays. What the gamblers are doing is not, in itself, illegal — or, at least, the law on the gambling practices live in a very grey… Read More

Taiwanese display maker Prime View International (PVI) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kindle and Sony Reader display maker E Ink for about $215 million. E Ink makes displays that have a look similar to printed paper and, while slow, they are readable in direct sunlight, and thus ideal for devices like the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. Once the acquisition is complete, PVI plans to continue developing E Ink's… Read More

Analog television hasn't even been fully switched off in order to make room for new wireless services, and already Verizon Wireless has announced it plans to roll out mobile broadband services based on LTE technology in the United States beginning this year. The so-called 4G services will first launch as mobile connectivity for notebook computer users in two U.S. cities during 2009, and Verizon expects to expand that footprint to 25… Read More

Computer maker Dell has agreed to pay some $3.35 million to settle 34 states' allegations that the company's warranty, financing, and rebate offers were deceptive and misled consumers. The agreement has Dell paying $1.5 million into a restitution account; impacted consumers will be able to submit claims for compensation. The other $1.85 million will go towards the states' legal costs. “More than the money, this… Read More

There’s more to Google Street View than entertainment and not getting lost, it seems. Authorities have used it, along with GPS tracking from a cell phone, to locate a nine-year-old girl reportedly taken by her grandmother. The problem began after Rose Maltais collected her granddaughter Natalie from her guardians for a weekend away. Athol, Massachusetts, police chief Timothy Anderson told the BBC that Rose Maltais "said that… Read More

At this point, it's fair to assume most U.S. television viewers have heard that analog television broadcasts are due to shut off on February 17, 2009, and that if folks want to continue receiving over-the-air broadcasts they need to either get a newer TV with a digital tuner, or buy a converter box they can hook up to their old TVs to receive digital signals. The good news is that the U.S. government set aside some funds to subsidize… Read More

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts have charged 33-year-old Biswamohan Pani with stealing more than $1 billion in trade secrets from chipmaker Intel. And while we imagine the circumstances could be more convoluted, the reality is complicated enough. According to the indictment, earlier this year Pani was working for Intel and gave notice that he planned to leave his job, eating through accumulated vacation time while seeking a job at a… Read More

Members of the U.S. Congress have begun questioning how some of the most widely-trafficked Internet companies and sites keep track of their users' online behavior in an effort to target advertising based on search terms, site usage, and other parameters. The requests have been sent to more than 30 Internet companies, including major names like Google, Microsoft, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T. The rising concern over… Read More

In a surprise move, cable operator Comcast has reversed it's controversial policy of filtering some types of network activity—like BitTorrent and other P2P file-sharing programs—in the name of "network management." According to a company statement, Comcast will treat all types of Internet traffic equally and adopt a new set of network and traffic management tools that don't discriminate between different… Read More

Outgoing eBay CEO Meg Whitman has wasted little time figuring out what she might do after eBay: she'll be working as co-chair of John McCain's U.S. presidential campaign. McCain is the presumptive nominee of the Republican party, having won enough delegates during primary elections to secure his party's nomination. “I'm honored that Senator McCain has asked me to become a part of his campaign,” Whitman… Read More

The iPhone can’t keep out of the news, but this time it’s not for the right reasons.   Massachusetts- based inventor Romek Figa has filedsuit against Apple over the caller ID function in the phone. He claims to have patented the procedure that identifies a caller based on phone number in 1990, andhis suit in fact refers to “the 496 patent,” according to Vnunet.   Figa says he talked to Apple last year,… Read More

At a hearing yesterday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin weighed in on Internet service providers that engage in "network management" practices that involve degrading service for some types of traffic—like file sharing applications—in favor of others. While allowing that service providers should be able to take reasonable steps to make sure their networks run… Read More

It may not be quite as exciting as the robot wars that play out in movies and television, but a battle between two robot manufacturers is raging now –  in courtrooms. Massachusetts-based iRobot filed suit against Robotic FX back in August for allegedly infringing on trade secrets from iRobot’s PackBot robot, and on Monday, iRobot announced it had secured an injunction in the case that will prevent the Robot FX from using… Read More

Back in 2002, Microsoft agreed to a landmark settlement in its huge antitrust case with the federal government. Part of the settlement was that Microsoft agreed to oversight of its business activities to ensure the company did not abuse its monopoly position in the computer operating system market. Most of those restrictions were set to lapse on November 12, 2007, but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is responsible for overseeing the… Read More

Remember back in March when Microsoft demonstrated its Surface computing interface, essentially bringing multimedia and sharing functions to a coffeetable-like interface? Savant Systems LLC of Osterville, Massachusetts, is looking to do something similar with a new coffee table interface which enables users to tap into their home audio, video, digital media, jukebox, security, and automation setups—plus a variety of other… Read More