Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been closely following developments related to BlackBerry’s buyout ever since the company announced that it is up for sale. It signed a letter of intent with Fairfax Financial Holdings back in September. Fairfax is already the largest shareholder, it seeks to purchase the rest of the outstanding shares at $9 a pop, which makes their buyout bid for the ailing Canadian manufacturer $4.7 billion. There have been rumors that Cerberus Capital Management might be interested in acquiring BlackBerry, while the company’s co-founders have already made their intentions to bid for the company public. A new WSJ report suggests that Cerberus, the co-founders and chipmaker Qualcomm might jointly bid for BlackBerry.

Fairfax returns after conducting its due diligence on November 4th, analysts expect that it might drop its bid if there are no other buyers. Cerberus has been rumored to be interested in the company for quite some time, and both Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin are said to be in talks with Cerberus. Qualcomm is apparently in talks to join this group as well. Though a concrete offer is yet to surface, and its not known right now just how much the group would be willing to pay over the existing $9 per share offer. It was recently rumored that BlackBerry executives flew to California in order to solicit a bid from Facebook, but the world’s largest social network hasn’t publicly disclosed any interest in the handset manufacturer as yet.

BlackBerry Co-Founders Might Join Cerberus And Qualcomm In Buyout Bid original content from Ubergizmo.

The patent wars between tech giants has been heating up over the years, with companies using patents and legal victories as a means to block the sale of devices by their competitors. So far the biggest one we’ve seen is Apple versus Samsung, but it looks like that war will pale in comparison to the upcoming one where a consortium has filed a lawsuit against Google, ASUS, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech, Samsung, and ZTE, claiming that they have infringed upon patents owned by them. The consortium is none other than Rockstar which is owned jointly by the likes of Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, Microsoft, and Sony. The consortium owns thousands of patents which were bought when Nortel filed for bankruptcy, so safe to say they have a lot of weapons in their combined arsenal.

According to the lawsuit, Rockstar claims Google infringed upon seven of Nortel’s patents, while other companies, such as Samsung, HTC, and LG, were accused to infringing upon seven patents related to graphical user interfaces, messaging, notifications, and other mobile-related functions. According to Rockstar’s CEO, John Vesci (via Wired), “Pretty much anybody out there is infringing […] It would be hard for me to envision that there are high-tech companies out there that don’t use some of the patents in our portfolio.” While other companies listed as having infringed upon the patents have yet to respond, a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying, “While we haven’t yet been served with this complaint, we continue to advocate for patent reform that would address the current flood of patent litigation.”

Tech Consortium Sues Google And Other Tech Companies For Alleged Patent Infringement original content from Ubergizmo.

We often hear about cyberattacks being launched against a country, the U.S. and China have been bickering about this for quite some time, and only recently Israel saw a major tunnel being blocked due to a cyberattack. A private Finnish broadcaster, MTV3, reported that Finland’s government data network had been hit by large-scale hacking. After the report was aired, the government arranged a press conference to confirm that a “sever and large” hack had breached the Foreign Ministry’s data network.

Finland’s foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, confirmed that the breach was discovered in spring 2013, and that the country’s intelligence service is investigating the hack as they believe its a “serious espionage” case. Tuomioja didn’t say who the government suspects to have carried out this hack. However, MTV3 previously reported, citing sources, that intelligence agents hailing from China and Russia might be involved. It further added that the hackers had access to the foreign ministry’s network for years, and that they targeted classified communications between officials of Finland and the European Union. Tuomioja assured during the press conference that there has been no exposure of the most highly classified information. Both Russia and China have previously been accused to state-sponsored hacking in the past, particularly by the U.S. and other Western countries, but so far both countries have denied ever having any direct involvement in the cyberattacks.

Finland’s Government Data Network Hit With ‘Severe And Large’ Hacking original content from Ubergizmo.

This article was written on July 09, 2006 by CyberNet.

Sunday’s Summary

This week was a little crazy at CyberNet News with a few unexpected days down! Here is your week in review with Sunday’s Summary! If you missed something, check it out. What was going on this week at CyberNet News with CyberNotes?

• Million Dollar Monday: World’s Largest Plasma TV!
• Time Saving Tuesday: Free RapidShare Premium Accounts
• Web Browser Wednesday:Customizing Opera To Fit Your Needs
• Tutorial Thursday: How To Schedule Your Computer To Shutdown And More
• Free For All Friday: Protopage Ajax Desktop Fun!
• Saturday’s Weekend Warrior: Staying Connected To The Internet While Traveling

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Recently we reported that Google is believed to be involved in the construction on top of a mysterious barge that is docked at Treasure Island, San Francisco. There are a number of theories out there with regards to this structure, some believe its a floating data center, while others claim its actually a “floating marketing center” for Google Glass. According to new reports, Google apparently has both coasts covered, as a mysterious four-story barge docked at Portland Harbor is now being linked to the internet search giant.

This barge was first seen in Portland on October 11th. A local company, Cianbro, has been tasked with carrying out interior and electronics work on the barge. The company isn’t authorized to name its client or detail the work its doing. There’s speculation that the barge’s final destination is actually outside Maine, and that its just docking in Portland Harbor until the works are taken care of. Up till now, Google has not clarified if its involved with these mysterious barges, and even if it is, what is it going to use the floating structures for. A spokesman for the Portland Coast Guard says that they know what’s inside the structure, which is following all regulations and is “not a threat” to public safety in Portland. [Image via Business Insider]

Google Reportedly Has Another Mystery Barge Docked In Portland Harbor original content from Ubergizmo.