* DuPont Pioneer gains broad licensing of Monsanto technology
* DuPont to pay minimum $1.75 billion in royalties over several years
* Deal throws out $1 billion court verdict DuPont owed Monsanto
* DuPont shares down 0.9 percent; Monsanto up 3.7 percent
By Carey Gillam
March 26 (Reuters) – Monsanto Co and DuPont have settled a bitter legal battle over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds and will drop antitrust and patent claims against each other while forging a new collaboration, the companies said on Tuesday.
The deal tosses out a $1 billion jury verdict DuPont was ordered to pay Monsanto last August. Instead, the companies agreed that DuPont would make at least $1.75 billion in royalty payments over several years in exchange for broad access to develop products using Monsanto’s leading genetic technology.
Monsanto shares rose nearly 4 percent on the news, while DuPont shares fell nearly 1 percent.
Still, DuPont officials said the agreement was a win for shareholders and sets up its Pioneer agricultural seed unit for future growth.
“This is a smart deal for DuPont,” Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, said in an interview. “We’ve got access to two additional technologies that we can now combine with our existing technologies as well as the technologies that are in our pipeline.”
DuPont Pioneer will have broad rights to key new technology that include stacking of traits, Schickler said.
Monsanto, which generates revenues both through seed sales and licensing of its genetic seed technology to other companies, said the deal should bring in far more than the minimum $1.75 billion as DuPont pushes the company’s technology through its broad customer base.
“They were and are the largest soybean company in the world, the United States for sure,” said Scott Partridge, vice president/strategy for Monsanto. “We are pleased to have them again as a customer for our newest technology. It is another avenue to put the highest-performing product in the hands of farmers.”
Under the agreement, which Schickler said came together over the last week, DuPont is to make four annual fixed royalty payments totaling $802 million to Monsanto from 2014 to 2017.
Beginning in 2018, DuPont will also pay royalties on a per-unit basis for Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean technology and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend for the life of the agreement in exchange for continued technology access. Annual minimum payments through 2023 will total $950 million.
DuPont can start testing Monsanto’s material in the field this year and will be able to sell Roundup Ready 2 Yield in 2014. And if regulatory approvals are in place, DuPont will be able to start selling the Xtend product in 2015, according to Schickler.
Pioneer will integrate the technology into its own seed germplasm over time, he said.
Access to Xtend is key as it is seen as part of a next wave of herbicide-resistant crop technology aimed at dealing with a wave of herbicide-resistant weeds spreading across U.S. farmland.
The deal also calls for Monsanto to receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
The settlement comes after a jury in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis awarded Monsanto $1 billion in August, agreeing with the company that DuPont and Pioneer violated a licensing agreement for use of the Roundup Ready trait by trying to stack several traits together.
DuPont was pursuing a separate case against Monsanto, alleging anti-competitive behavior, and a hearing in that matter was set for this fall. But under the settlement, each side is dropping its claims against the other.
Both DuPont and Monsanto hold strong positions in the U.S. seed industry. They and other competitors have been racing to develop improved crops through genetic modifications and other means.
Pioneer, which generated sales of $7.3 billion in 2012, has been gaining market share in North American soybean and corn markets, and its brands have been popular with farmers.
Monsanto, which had $13.5 billion in sales last year, is seen as the market leader in developing genetically altered crop technology and is the world’s largest seed company.
Monsanto introduced its Roundup Ready soybean technology in 1996. Roundup Ready crops can tolerate sprayings of Roundup, or glyphosate-based, herbicide. And the technology has become a foundation for many key crops, including corn, alfalfa, cotton, canola and sugar beets.
Shares of DuPont were down 0.9 percent at $48.63 in midday trading, while Monsanto rose 3.7 percent to $103.08.
What’s the Best iPhone Data Plan?
Posted in: Today's Chili
T-Mobile has the iPhone now. It’s only a hundred bucks! There’s no contract! Unlimited everything! But before you get too excited about the prospect of jumping ship for forgotten carrier, let’s take a look at how exactly that its iPhone 5 data plans compare to the other big dogs. More »
(Credit: Apple/USPTO)
A newly awarded Apple patent describes a pen that acts as a portable, wireless computer.
Granted to Apple today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent known simply as “portable computers” speaks of a pen computer with a built-in screen that can display e-mails, text message, and voice data. The device, which would be equipped with cellular and/or GPS technology to allow wireless communication, also would act as an advanced digital pen. The patent explains that the pen would include accelerometers to recognize handwriting and facilitate both speech-to-text and text-to-speech conversion.
Along with a cellular transceiver and GPS receiver, the pen computer would be equipped with a microphone and speaker, a touchscreen, and a rechargeable battery. In some areas, the patent describes the pen-shaped device as a portable computer, and in other areas, a cellular telephone:
A cellular telephone comprising: a case, the case sized and shaped to be held in one hand resting between the root of the thumb and index finger of the hand; the case being non-hinged and the case housing: a microphone and a speaker; a display, the display resting in the dorsal area at the back of the hand when the … [Read more]
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It looks like T-Mobile’s version of the iPhone 5 will lack a feature that many T-Mobile subscribers love to take advantage of. At T-Mobile’s Uncarrier event today, it announced that its version of the iPhone 5 will not be supporting the carrier’s exclusive WiFi calling technology. While it may not be a deal breaker for many, especially since T-Mobile’s 4G LTE Network has just gone live, many others will be disappointed.
T-Mobile’s WiFi Calling is a lifesaver for many people, especially considering how T-Mobile doesn’t have the best network coverage around. If you have poor-to-no reception in your office, or at your friend’s home, or at a Starbucks, you can switch on your WiFi and use a nearby WiFi network as a coverage extender (for compatible phones). The service makes sure that you can get coverage indoors at all times.
While T-Mobile’s iPhone 5 won’t have support for WiFi calling, it will be the only iPhone 5 from any major carrier to offer HD Voice calling. The feature delivers crystal clear phone calls between two HD Voice compatible phones. Background noise will be reduced drastically and you’ll be experiencing calls as if the person you’re talking to is right next to you. With the iPhone 5′s LTE capabilities, as well as its 4G HSPA+ capabilities, you can be assured that you will be HD Voice-capable at all times.
T-Mobile now has LTE coverage in Phoenix, San Jose, Baltimore, Kansa City, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and Houston. You will be able to experience an average download speed of 25Mbps and an average upload speed of 8Mbps on T-Mobile’s LTE network. Some screenshots have shown, however, that T-Mobile’s LTE speeds can reach up to 60Mbps download speeds. To take advantage of T-Mobile’s new LTE network, you should check out the carrier’s new Simple Choice plans.
Have a peek at our full iPhone 5 review now and get ready for the full T-Mobile release soon!
T-Mobile iPhone 5 won’t support WiFi calling is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Sometimes, being all uptight and formal is just not our style. After all, why be so formal when you can sit back and relax when the situation allows it, especially after you have had a particularly difficult day at the office? I guess this is where this pair of Thanko Prism Glasses is all about. There are moments when you just want to kick your shoes off, relax and lie down on the bed, all the while wanting to watch what’s being shown on the TV without requiring you to lift your neck. Now, if you were to get a pillow to support your head, it would end up aching after a while, and is definitely not good for the posture.
Enter this Thanko Prism Glasses, where it works in the same principle as that of a submarine periscope. All you need to do is slip on a pair of these puppies, lie down, turn on the TV and voila! – you are able to view what’s going on without having to strain your neck. Best of all is, the Thanko Prism Glasses are flexible and large sized enough to wear over your existing pair of glasses, assuming that they are reasonably sized, of course.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Pebble 1.9.1 Firmware Update Announced, DICE+ Is An Innovative Controller, 
T-Mobile details its no-contract Simple Choice plans: starting at $50/month for unlimited talk, text and 500MB unthrottled data
Posted in: Today's Chili 
T-Mobile already let its new “UnCarrier” plans loose on its website without much fanfare this past weekend, but it’s now finally talking a bit more about them at its big launch event in NYC. Dubbed Simple Choice, the new plans all of course do away with the traditional two-year contracts, and they all start with both unlimited talk and text. The differences come with the data options: the basic $50 a month plan will get you 500MB of high-speed data with rates throttled down to 2G speeds after you hit that limit. Heavier data users can opt for 2GB of unthrottled data for an extra $10 per month, while fully unlimited 4G data will set you back an extra $20 a month (or $70 total). A second line will run another $30 on top of that, with each additional line costing $10 apiece. Not surprisingly, the carrier is also making a big marketing push to promote its new approach. You see its first commercial after the break, and find a full breakdown of the plans at the source link below.
Update: As Android Central notes, there’s also some changes to the way T-Mobile is handling plans for tablets, hotspots and other devices. Basically, if you have a standalone device on its own account, your options start at $20 a month for 500MB of unthrottled data and go up to $80 for 12.5GB. If you’re adding that device to your existing account, though, it simply counts as an extra line, costing the same $10 for 500MB or an extra $20 for unlimited data.
Source: T-Mobile
I find it interesting that these days, most hardware have the ability for you to upload, or “flash” it with the latest firmware in order to further enhance said device’s performance – something that was definitely not done in the past. Well, Nintendo of Japan has just announced a downloadable update for the Nintendo 3DS which is said to throw in a new function to the hand-held portable gaming system.
One of the items that will be featured in the firmware update would be a tool that enables Nintendo 3DS users to transfer save data from the packaged version of a game to the downloadable version. In other words, those who picked up a physical version of a game originally will be able to continue from their last save point should they decide to download the digital version of the same game. Do tread with some caution though, as save data that was transferred to a digital game is an irreversible act – it cannot be moved back to the physical version.
Other than that, another improvement would be the ability to download items in the background when the Nintendo 3DS system remains in Sleep Mode, and items too, will fall under this so-called “influence” as they can be downloaded while the Nintendo eShop is running.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: God of War: Ascension 1.03 Update Released, Battlefield 4 Arrives On PC This Fall, 
T-Mobile’s LTE rollout has been a long time coming, but as of today that network is finally live. At an event in New York City, the carrier made its initial batch of LTE cities official — seven markets in total. Now, subscribers in Baltimore, MD; Kansas City, KS; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; San Jose, CA and Washington D.C. will be among the first to take advantage of the UnCarrier’s fully-fledged 4G network and its newly revised unlimited talk, text and data plans. As for New York City, a market many assumed would make this first LTE round, CEO John Legere says that’s coming soon, mostly likely by early summer. Speeds on this new network, as we saw demoed just a little over a week ago, should range between 10 to 20Mbps down and 8 to 12 Mbps up — at least, during this intro phase — with a fallback onto HSPA+ when LTE isn’t present. When T-Mobile gets around to repurposing that MetroPCS spectrum it’s so close to acquiring, expect to see even more robust LTE speeds and wider coverage across its footprint.
To kick off adoption of this nascent network, T-Mobile’s offering up a pretty attractive portfolio of handsets and high-end ones, at that. So Magenta subs or prospective carrier-switchers looking to sign up for T-Mobile’s LTE can choose from the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S 4, iPhone 5, Galaxy Note II and BlackBerry Z10 — that latter two of which are currently available. And now that the UnCarrier’s removed the contract chains we’ve all come to know and loathe, subscribers can opt to snag one of these handsets outright with an accompanying Simple Choice plan. If you’re excited by all of this change or just want to see it laid out in the company’s official terms, head past the break for official PR.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile
iPhone 5 coming to T-Mobile April 12th, 4S and 4 available in ‘select markets’
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Remember when T-Mobile announced that it would begin carrying Apple products sometime this year? It looks like today’s the day we finally get more information. As we’ve been expecting, the fourth-largest carrier is now ready to officially offer the iPhone after years of inviting customers to bring an unlocked model onto its network. (Update: see our hands-on here!) The iPhone 5 will be available in retail stores and online starting April 12th, but you’ll be able to pre-order one beginning April 5th. Additionally, the iPhone 4S and 4 will be coming to “select markets,” though we haven’t seen details on which markets or when they’ll be offered.
What about pricing? You can grab the iPhone 5 for $100 down and pay the rest in $20 monthly installments for the next two years; the 4S will be $70 down (with the same $20 installments) and the 4 will be $15 down with $15 monthly payments. No doubt, this move will make its forthcoming LTE launch even more enticing, but that’s not all: T-Mobile CEO John Legere stated on stage that his company’s version of the iPhone 5 will support AWS HSPA+ in addition to LTE. HD Voice is also offered on this particular model.
We also learned that despite the network’s use of the “UnCarrier” brand, its version of the iPhone 5 will be locked to T-Mobile until the phone is completely paid off.
Stay updated on T-Mobile’s announcements with our liveblog!
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
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