All posts by Jonathon Bowes

About Jonathon Bowes

Jonathan Bowes started his career in banking. After a few years, he took courses in business and finance and worked his way up the corporate ladder. Today, while writing part-time for Business District, Bowes assists talented people to find jobs in the field of economics. Contact Bowes at Jonathon[at]businessdistrict.com

Apple Facing Off with Justice Department Over Price Fixing of eBooks

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Conspiring to Raise Prices? Lawsuit Opens Today
Conspiring to Raise Prices? Lawsuit Opens Today

Today Apple Inc is going to trial over accusations being made by state and federal authorities that they conspired with book publishers to increase the cost of eBooks to consumers.

The US Justice Department is taking the famously popular producer of iPads and iPhones to court in a case that observers say will scrutinize how Internet businesses interact with their suppliers of content.

“This case will effectively set the rules for Internet commerce,” said David Balto, a former policy director for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The lawsuit was first filed against Apple along with five of the country’s six largest book publishers back in April, 2012. The suit alleges that they conspired to raise eBook prices in order to halt Amazon’s grip on book pricing.

Apple is on its own for the trial since all five publishers settled out of court by agreeing to halt their prohibitions on wholesale discounts in addition to paying together $164 million in damages for the benefit of consumers. The five publishers are: Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and Macmillan.

The Justice Department is not pursuing monetary damages from Apple, but rather wants Apple to be forced to stop similar practices in the future. Apple is worried that if they are found guilty as charged they will then face separate trials by state attorneys general in which they will indeed by liable for monetary damages through class action lawsuits.
Apple’s chances of coming through the trial unscathed could be small, based on a comment made by the presiding judge at the last hearing before the trial.

“I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books,” said U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on May 23. The judge will hear the case without a jury.
With the judge’s opinion before the trial apparently against Apple, why then isn’t the giant computer company settling out of court?

Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview with All Things Digital that Apple was “not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do.”

Cash Registers Going the Way of the Dinosaur

iPad 2, Lifestyle, Tech News, , , , , ,
Take a Good Look: You Wont be Seeing this Much Longer
Take a Good Look: You Wont be Seeing this Much Longer

Shops are finding the old-fashioned cash register expendable as the bulk of purchases are made with credit and debit cards, making having cash-on-hand obsolete.

Instead stores are beginning to have their salespeople armed with smartphones or tablet computers to register sales, and in some cases even the customers themselves will be able to load their purchase into their own mobile device.

The luxury retailer Barneys New York is planning on making the changeover this coming year, using iPads or iPod Touch devices to record purchases in seven of their almost two dozen non-outlet stores. Urban Outfitters, a clothing store chain for teen buyers, ordered its last cash register last fall. They plan to go completely mobile one day soon. Wal-Mart, which is the largest retail chain in the world, is now testing a “Scan & Go” application that allows customers to scan their purchases as they shop.

“The traditional cash register is heading toward obsolescence,” said Danielle Vitale, chief operating officer of Barneys New York.

Phone Therapy Helps Depressed Patients

Tech News, , ,
A Smartphone that Detects Moods

Scientists at Northwestern University, led by psychologist David Mohr, are developing a smartphone which can detect depression in phone users and offer help to improve the user’s mood.

David Mohr thinks of his phones as virtual therapists:

“We’re trying to develop individual algorithms for each user that can determine specific states, so their location where they are, their activity, their social context, who they’re with, what they’re engaged in, and their mood,” Mohr said.

For example, if someone has not left his house for several days, the phone will know.

“It can provide them an automated text message, or an automated phone call to make a suggestion to give somebody a call or get out of the house,” Mohr said.

A preliminary phone has already been tested on eight patients, and the results seem to indicate that a phone ‘therapist’ can be a very useful thing, helping to uplift the patients down moods.

“They all had a major depressive disorder when they started, and they were all both clinically and statistically better at the end of the treatment,” he said.

Mohr suggested that this type of technology can be a highly cost-effective method for treating depression. More widespread tests are scheduled for this coming summer.

Top Searches on Google for 2011

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An Apple Everyday

At the end of each year Google releases a list of which search terms garnered the most numbers in

Steve Jobs and iPad

a variety of different categories during the previous twelve months. In the top ten list of terms with the fastest growth in technology, the top six were all related to Apple, including “iCloud,” “Osx Lion” and “iPad 2.” In the eighth position was the term “Steve Jobs.”

Rebecca Black Most Searched Term Overall

Rebecca Black

On the overall top 10 list, “Google+” came in second place. Amazingly, the only search term growing faster than “Google +” was the search for “Rebecca Black” nabbing first place, proving that ‘most’ is not always ‘best.’  Apple took control here as well; with three of the top ten spots, including “iPhone 5” taking sixth place, and “Steve Jobs” in ninth place. “iPad 2” made it into the top ten at tenth place.

Kindle Fire Most Searched for Gadget

The list of top ten fastest growing searches in the gadget category was a better representation of what really happened this past year: Getting the gold was “Kindle Fire,” while “iPhone 4S” was the second place finisher. Also placing in the top ten list for gadgets were, “Sidekick 4g,” “HP Touchpad,” “HTC Inspire,” “Palm Pre 3,” and the “HTC Thunderbolt.” These are the electronic toys that fueled the minds of consumers and filled the pockets of the electronics industry this past year.

Major Innnovation In Transistor Technology

Tech News, , ,

Intel Corporation, one of the leaders in the computer parts business, has won the “Semiconductor Innovation of the Year Award” for its “Tri-Gate Transistor.” The tri-gate transistor is the first 3-D transistor and is a major improvement over the transistors which were developed fifty years ago. The tri-gate transistors will enter mass production by year end and will be produced in Intel chips.

Tri-gate transistors will improve performance and reduce power requirements for an entire spectrum of 22nm-based products from the miniature handheld devices to powerful servers.

The award is given by the Wall Street Journal which has three criterion for judging winning innovations.

1. Does the innovation break away from known ideas or processes already in use?

2. Does the innovation do more than marginally improve existing technology?

3. Will the innovation have a wide ranging influence on its field or on future technology?

Apparently Intel’s tri-gate transistor met these criterion fully.