Hasta La Gadget!

Will this be the final chapter in the infamous and incredibly entertaining tale of former Gizmondo head Bo Stefan “Fiery Ferrari Crasher” Eriksson? Doubtful, but with any luck it’ll serve as a decent thread to wrap up that optioned movie on his life. An Uppsala, Sweden District Court has sentenced the man to 1.5 years in prison for his most recent round of escapades, which include illegal threats, attempted blackmail, and robbery. Assuming he starts jail fairly soon, mark your calendars and place your bets, we’re expecting a whole new slew of comical misdeeds to hit the news feeds by March 2011 — and no, we still don’t think a new Gizmondo will be out by then.

[Thanks, piraya]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming, Handhelds, Transportation

Former Gizmondo exec Stefan Eriksson gets 1.5 year sentence, movie might now have ending originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Mac cloner Psystar has filed for bankruptcy, effectively stalling Apple’s legal case against the Florida-based startup.

Filed with the federal courts in Florida, the voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection temporarily puts Apple’s lawsuit on hold while the bankruptcy court begins proceedings.

Apple in July 2008 filed suit against Psystar alleging copyright, trademark and shrink-wrap license infringement. Psystar opened its Mac clone business in April, selling a PC hacked to run OS X Leopard.

Apple strictly forbids its operating system to be installed on anything but Apple products. The corporation alleges Psystar is violating the Mac OS X end-user agreement, which states, “You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.” The corporation also alleges Psystar is committing copyright infringement by installing OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Psystar did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, the bankruptcy petition suggests Psystar’s investors may have withdrawn from financially backing the company. The bankruptcy filing also implies that Psystar likely cannot afford a legal team to win its battle against Apple.

Winning the lawsuit would be a large victory for Apple, as it would set a legal precedent enabling the corporation to easily squash other existing Mac cloners.

The Florida court on June 5 will hold a hearing revealing Psystar’s equity creditors, meaning if there any large entities backing the Mac cloner (e.g., Microsoft), we’ll know who they are very soon.

Suggestion of Bankruptcy [PDF via MacObserver]

See Also:

• Apple, Psystar File to Protect Secrets Before Battling in Court …
• Psystar Marches Forward With Beefy Mac Clone
• Mac Copycat Psystar Gets Ammo to Countersue Apple
• Psystar: Apple Is Paranoid for Alleging Conspiracy
• Psystar: Blu-Ray Hackintosh for Sale; MacBook Clones on the Way …
• Psystar Tags Back Apple With Antitrust Suit
• Apple Cries Corporate Conspiracy Behind Psystar
• Apple Finally Sues Mac Copycat Psystar

Image courtesy of Psystar

We knew AMD would be celebrating its victory over Intel and its record $1.45 billion fine doled out by EU over violation of antitrust rules, but we figured that just meant a very fancy cake and maybe a trip to the local zoo. Nay, we were mistaken, as the chip maker has gone all out in creating an entire website dedicated to its victory. “AMD Break Free” is pretty amazing in its thoroughness, and you’ll find all kinds of court documents, press releases, explanations of antitrust laws, and even a news feed to follow further developments. Of course, Intel’s appeal is a sure sign this case will be drag on for a very long time, possibly even become overturned, and none of this apparent gloating is gonna help one bit in getting the company back into the top ten rankings for chip manufacturers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

AMD ‘breaks free’, creates site dedicated to Intel’s antitrust ruling originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 May 2009 21:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It looks like Verizon customers will have less telemarketing calls to deal with, but there are still plenty of other ways to protect yourself from unwanted calls.

1. Ditch the landline: Landline telephone numbers are usually easy to find. I mean, if you are in the phone book you are just asking for it. To be honest, I don’t see much of a reason to keep one around in the first place, but if you must at least take steps with your provider to privatize your number.

2. Do Not Call Registry: One of the easiest things you can do to prevent telemarketing calls is to sign up for the Do Not Call Registry. As of February, updated laws have made the registry permanent, and it prohibits telemarketers from calling you (starting a month after you sign up). Should someone decide to harass you anyway, you can file a complaint. The FTC has the power to levy hefty fines on telemarketers for each infringement.

3. “Take Me Off Your Calling List”: Keep in mind that the Do Not Call Registry does not protect you from being contacted by political organizations, charities, surveyors, companies that you have done business with in the past 18 months (or submitted an inquiry to in the past 3 months) or companies you have given permission to contact you. Should you receive an unwanted call from any of these groups, they are obligated by law to remove your name from their calling list should you request it. Keep in mind that they have a 31-day buffer to update their records.

4. Block Unwanted Calls: Most service providers offer some sort of option to block anonymous calls and texts. All you need to do is request it.

5. Research With the Better Business Bureau: If you are solicited by a business or charity and and are interested in further contact, make sure to do a search with the Better Business Bureau to make sure that they are legit.

6. Be Careful About What You Sign Up For: As mentioned in the Do Not Call Registry guidelines, you can be legally contacted by a company if you have given permission for them to do so. However, “permission” can come in various forms. If you are signing up for a service on a website or filling out a entry form in a contest, you may be opening up yourself to a world of spam and telemarketing calls. The bottom line: make sure to read the fine print.

7. Google Voice: The idea is in it’s infancy, but managing calls, texts and voicemail through Google Voice could evolve into a useful tool to weed out telemarketers. The ability to use it with your own phone number would be a good start.

Early this morning, Peter Sunde, co-founder of the Pirate Bay, glumly tweeted a “leaked” verdict, indicating that things didn’t look good for the four Swedish shipmates. Shortly after came the official word: Guilty.

After a decidedly entertaining trial replete with posturing, theatrics and serious cockiness, the four co-founders of the torrent site were found to have been accessories to copyright infringement, each face a year in prison, and must pay $3.5m in damages to Sony, Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures and others.

Although he could be going to jail soon, Sunde is still quick to make a joke:

Really, it’s a bit LOL. It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release.

Ha? However, his casualness might be warranted, as the appeals process—which could bring the case all the way to the Swedish Supreme Court—is expected to stretch out for years. As for what will happen to the site? Sunde reassures:

Stay calm – Nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing what so ever. This is just a theater for the media.

This hasn’t been the best week for pirates, really. [TheLocal —Thanks, Jonathan!]