Hasta La Gadget!

The CharityBuzz auction that would see a lucky bidder win a coffee date with Apple CEO Tim Cook has now ended, and after 86 bids were placed, the winning bid came in at a whopping $610,000, which was placed within the last half hour of the auction, after the price remained steady at $605,000 for quite some time.

The auction listed an estimated value of $50,000 for an hour-long coffee session with the Apple big wig, but it seems many fans thought it would be worth way more than that to hang out with the man. What’s perhaps even more impressive, is that all the funds are going to charity. Specifically, Cook is sending the money to the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

The auction first went live last month, and the highest bid almost immediately skyrocketed to over its estimated value of $50,000, prompting many people to rethink just how high the auction would go. At the pace that the auction kept early on, we almost thought that it could exceed seven digits, but once the auction surpassed $500,000, bids started to slow down tremendously, with the final price landing on just over $600,000. That is still mighty impressive, however, and it makes the auction the highest-priced auction ever on CharityBuzz.

According to the auction details, the highest bidder will be able to bring one guest, both of which will go through background checks before meeting up, and each meeting will last between 30 minutes to one hour, although we’re not sure what factors will lead to a shorter or longer meeting with the Apple CEO. The auction listing also says that “polite manners and respect for the generous donor and adherence to any rules or parameters are a must,” so it seems like you won’t be able to give Cook a hard time over when the iWatch or iTV will launch.

VIA: The Next Web

Tim Cook coffee date auction ends at over half a million is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We can’t say we were enthused with Coda Automotive’s ho-hum EV design, and we know the public wasn’t, either. Still, it’s hard not to lament the company’s fate now that its parent, Coda Holdings, is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and getting out of the car market. The firm has had enough of production delays and slow adoption, and now it’s planning to sell its Automotive division through an auction that should net at least $25 million. What’s left of Coda will focus on energy storage, if and when it emerges from bankruptcy — not nearly as exciting a field, but likely more profitable. While the exit was far from unexpected, it reminds us that the modern EV business is more often defined by its casualties than its winners.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Bloomberg

Source: Coda Automotive

There are a lot of people around the world who like to collect historical pieces of technology created in decades and centuries past. Some of this old technology is purchased at auctions such as the one operated by a company called Breker in Germany. This is the auction house that sold a 1976 Apple I computer last year for $640,000. There are only six surviving Apple I computers known to be in working order.

Another of these working machines is set to hit the auction block in Germany with Breker. This particular example is in working order and is expected to fetch somewhere between $260,000 and $400,000. This example appears to be missing its wooden case, but does include a monitor, keyboard, processor board, and the tape player. The auction will also have the Apple Lisa-1 computer from 1983.

This machine was the world’s first computer controlled using a mouse and was only produced in 1983. This particular machine is expected to bring somewhere around $20,000 and $40,000. The auction will also have a computer that’s even older than that original Apple I computer. This particular computer was built by Nat Wadsworth in 1973 and is called the Scelbi-8H. It was built around Intel’s first eight-bit microprocessor.

Only 200 of those devices were produced and only three have survived, it is expected to bring as much is $25,000. An Altair 8800 is also on the on the auction block and is expected to fetch as much as $5000. The auction will also have some older technology, much older in fact with the world’s first mechanical calculator with digital carryover on the auction block built by Blaise Pascal. This mechanical calculator is from 1642 and is known as the Pascaline. Only about 20 of those were constructed and 10 still exist. It’s expected to fetch as much as $260,000 at auction.

[via Breker]

Another working Apple I computer heads to auction is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve ever wanted to have a one-on-one with Apple CEO Tim Cook, now is your chance. He’s auctioning off a coffee meeting with him at Apple headquarters, and the highest bidder will be able to chat up the big wig of one of the world’s wealthiest companies. Of course, though, a coffee date with Tim Cook doesn’t come cheaply.

Cook is using Charitybuzz to host the auction, which is a website that gives celebrities the chance to auction off experiences with all the money going to charity. Cook’s charity of choice will see the funds from his auction go to the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. The highest bid at the time of this writing? $10,500.

The auction page lists an estimated value of the coffee meeting with Tim Cook at $50,000, which is quite an expensive cup of coffee, but perhaps Starbucks is catering? According to the auction details, it seems that the highest bidder will be able to bring one guest, both of which will go through background checks before meeting up, and each meeting will last between 30 minutes to one hour.

However, the highest bidder will also have to pay for travel costs, but we’re guessing that shouldn’t be too much of an issue, considering that you’re already paying a few thousand dollars to meet up with the Apple head. The auction listing also says that “polite manners and respect for the generous donor and adherence to any rules or parameters are a must,” so it looks like you won’t be able to give him a hard time over when the iWatch and iTV will come out.

[via The Next Web]

Tim Cook auctioning off coffee meeting for charity is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Department of Justice has provided the FCC with new recommendations for governing spectrum auctions, and with a heavy emphasis on leveling the playing field, the findings are likely to draw the ire of AT&T and Verizon. In its briefing, the DOJ made its case that the nation’s two largest carriers currently hold market power, which is due to the heavy concentration of lower frequency spectrum (below 1,000MHz) allocated to the two incumbents.

According to DOJ officials, “This results in the two smaller nationwide carriers having a somewhat diminished ability to compete, particularly in rural areas, where the cost to build out coverage is higher with high-frequency spectrum.” Although the DOJ never came right out and said it, one can easily surmise that it’s guiding the FCC to establish rules that favor smaller carriers — namely Sprint and T-Mobile — in future low-frequency spectrum auctions. In the DOJ’s opinion, an incumbent carrier would need to demonstrate both compelling evidence of capacity constraints and an efficient use of its current licenses in order to gain additional lower frequency spectrum. Otherwise, the opportunity exists for AT&T and Verizon to snap up licenses simply in attempt to harm competitors.

Given that the FCC and DOJ share the responsibility of ensuring competition in the marketplace, it seems unlikely that this latest brief will fall on deaf ears.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Reuters

Source: FCC (PDF)