AllThingsD Week In Review: AppSung 2, Internet Funneling and Inside Microsoft’s CEO Search
In case you missed anything, here’s a quick roundup of some of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:
- This week, Apple and Samsung were back in black … suits, for a partial retrial of last year’s patent infringement lawsuit. This time, though, the only thing that mattered this week was money, and how much of last year’s $1 billion verdict was improperly calculated. Apple said Samsung should pay $379 million in addition to an undisputed $640 million, while Samsung argued that $52 million was plenty. Ultimately, the jury decided Samsung owed $290 million for its patent infringement adding up to a total of $929.83 million between the two trials. The battle between the two companies, however, is far from over.
- Internet research firm Renesys disclosed this week that earlier this year, an unknown party targeted Internet carriers in major cities worldwide and performed what’s called a “Man-In-The-Middle attack,” funneling Internet traffic bound for those cities through Belarus and Iceland. Arik Hesseldahl explained the reported attack in detail here.
- Ding! Southwest Airlines is upping the ante in the electronics-on-planes game, tapping its satellite internet infrastructure to offer gate-to-gate Wi-Fi Internet.
- The ever-falling cost and size of computing power caused Intel to get beaten at its own game, chairman Andy Bryant said on Thursday. Bryant said the company “lost [its] way” but that there’s still reason to be hopeful looking forward.
- Who will take over the reins at Microsoft once its current CEO Steve Ballmer departs? High-ranking insiders say it might be Ford CEO Alan Mulally, to be a “caretaker” of the job while training others who might eventually take his place. There’s still time, though, for a dark horse to emerge.
- Sony’s last gaming console, the PlayStation 3, was sold at a loss, but its new PlayStation 4 is being built for $381, or $18 under its retail price, according to research firm IHS. Here are the details from IHS’ teardown.
- Apple is trying to acquire 3-D sensing company PrimeSense, but as of Sunday, talks were “close” but not yet done. Sources said its reported valuation of $345 million would would not represent a huge win for investors. (Update: Oh look — sold!)
- Amazon is in the process of creating its own brand for supermarket goods, according to several job listings the company has posted over the last few months. Private-label brands can help retailers cut margins and keep prices low.
- At long last, here’s the Google Wallet debit card. It’s not as crazy as you might expect, though; Google is only targeting the physical card to a subset of existing users of its digital Wallet service.
- The iPhone 5s still has that new-phone smell, but analysts say the company’s next flagship smartphone may cost at least $50 more.
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