When a pre-release iPhone 4 prototype wound up in the hands of Gizmodo last year, authorities began an investigation that led to the seizure of an editor’s computers. Authorities allege that an Apple engineer left the prototype at a bar. Gizmodo admitted paying someone to get the phone, stating it didn’t realize the prototype was stolen. Now Gizmodo editors can breathe easy, because the San Mateo County District Attorney has not brought charges against anyone from the site. [More]
Government Policy
Viacom, Cablevision Settle iPad Streaming Suit
By 8.11.11
In what could be described as a streaming contest, Viacom and Cablevision have been legally sparring for weeks over how to divvy up the rights to control streaming video on iPad apps. Now the corporate giants have settled their differences out of court. In a joint statement, the companies announced that Cablevision will be allowed to stream Viacom channels, including MTV and Comedy Central, over iPads located inside cable-subscribing homes. [More]
5 People Serving Time In Michigan Jails For Failing To Pay Fines
By 8.10.11
A 19-year-old Michigan man thought he’d do some unlicensed fishing but when he cast his line he ended up reeling in a jail sentence. Because he caught a fish out of season and couldn’t afford the $215 fine, he was sentenced to three days in jail. The American Civil Liberties Union is using the fisherman’s case, along with four others, to attack a state law it considers to be the modern-day equivalent of a debtors’ prison. [More]
Philly Cracks Down On Flash Mobs With Teen Curfew
By 8.10.11
Just as Bomont became known as the town that forbade dancing and rock music, Philadelphia could earn the reputation as the city that stifled flash mobsters. Hollywood would do well to base a Footloose-style film on Philly, which has placed 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday night curfews on teens in downtown Center City, where a recent flash mob left two injured, and college neighborhood Universe City. In the rest of the city, curfew is midnight for those ages 14 to 17 and 10 p.m. for kids under 13. [More]
Federal Reserve Says It Will Keep Interests Rates Low For 2 More Years
By 8.10.11
In a move meant to ease uncertainty in the markets, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low for the next two years. The Fed’s target rates, which banks use to set loan rates, have been close to zero since 2008, and previously said they would stay there for “an extended period.” The two-year designation is a sign that the Fed expects the economy to remain in troubled waters until at least 2013. [More]
FCC Throws Hitch Into AT&T's Plans For 4G Roll-Out
By 8.9.11
Last December, AT&T spent nearly $2 billion to purchase a big chunk of wireless spectrum from Qualcomm, with the plan of using it to expand 4G access across the country. But that deal has since been stuck in regulatory review, and it looks like it’s going to be there for some time as the FCC has decided to make that decision part of its review process for the pending AT&T purchase of T-Mobile. [More]
Atlanta Teacher Exposes Teacher-Aided Cheating On Standardized Tests
By 8.9.11
Incentivized standardized tests are designed hold teachers and schools accountable for student performance, but they also provide plenty of motivation to artificially inflate test scores. A teacher in Atlanta helped expose her colleagues of doing just that. [More]
FBI Releases App That Helps Parents Find Missing Kids
By 8.9.11
Parents can use a new iPhone app from the FBI to store photos and important information about their children and alert the authorities in case they go missing. [More]
Department Of Justice, Four States File Fraud Suit Against For-Profit College Company
By 8.9.11
The for-profit college industry has earned a reputation for shady methods of operation, such as peddling flimsy academic credentials for high prices and minimal effort in the classroom, and now the government is taking one of the largest corporations in the industry to court. [More]
Freddie Mac Wants $1.5 Billion From Taxpayers
By 8.9.11
Apparently oblivious to the fact that the government is experiencing some financial problems, Freddie Mac says it needs to ask taxpayers for $1.5 billion to help it cover the net worth deficit it’s plunged into thanks to the housing market bust. [More]
Army Makes Soldier Pay $21 C.O.D. Fee To Receive Purple Heart
By 8.8.11
A soldier who was wounded in Iraq feels the Army did him an indignity by not only waiting four years to send him his Purple Heart, but delivering it with a $21 bill to cover shipping. The soldier, who hails from South Dakota, was wounded in a rocket blast in 2007. [More]
Get $500 Each Time Sprint Called You After You Said Stop
By 8.8.11
If Sprint telemarketed you after you told them not to call you again, you could get $500 for each time they rang you up, thanks to a recent class action settlement. [More]
To Battle Drought, Texas Town Will Drink Recycled Sewage
By 8.8.11
If you happen to find yourself in Big Spring, Texas, you could be contributing to the water supply every time you relieve yourself. The town is building a plant that will capture and recycle treated waste water, planing to take treated water that would normally flow into a creek and redirect it into the drinking water supply. [More]
Prepare To Pay More In Tolls While Driving In NY, NJ
By 8.8.11
Driving to New York from New Jersey could become more expensive, as proposed toll increases would raise the cost for using several bridges and tunnels — currently maxing out at $8 — up to $15 during peak hours in September, and as much as $17 in 2014. [More]
Pregnant Passenger Says TSA Confiscated Her Insulin
By 8.8.11
The ever-vigilant Transportation Security Administration has kept the air safe from harmless fluids by confiscating a pregnant traveler’s insulin and ice packs as she tried to board a flight from Denver to Phoenix last week. [More]
Man With Breast Cancer Can't Get Medicaid Coverage Because He's A Man
By 8.5.11
While breast cancer in males is not common, it’s no yellow lobster. But a South Carolina state program that provides Medicaid to breast cancer patients in need had to deny a patient because of his Y chromosome. [More]
Judge Spices Up Order With Corn-Pone Comedy
By 8.5.11
A Kentucky judge’s order in a tense malpractice suit went viral this week after folks were amused by the corn-pone humor and mixed metaphors that he used to enliven a normally straight-forward legal document. Among the colorful phrases, the judge wrote that he was glad the case was settled as he would have preferred to “have jumped naked off of a 12-foot step ladder into a 5 gallon bucket of porcupines” than to preside over it. [More]
Honda Recalls 1.5 Million Accords, CR-Vs & Elements Over Transmission Concerns
By 8.5.11
Honda has announced a recall of certain model year 2005-2010 4-cylinder Accords, 2007-2010 CR-Vs and 2005-2008 Elements to update the software that controls those vehicles’ automatic transmissions. [More]
