Apple loses patent lawsuit filed by University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm over chip technology - Silicon Valley Business Journal

 

Gina Hall Contributor

 

 

A jury has decided Apple used the chip technology of the University of… more

 

Apple may have to pay up to $862 million in damages to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm after a jury found on Tuesday that the Cupertino company used chip technology without permission.

The Madison, Wisconsin, jury noted that the university licensing arm’s patent, which improves processor efficiency, is valid, according to Reuters. The case will move forward to determine how much Apple must pay for infringing on the patent.

 

A jury has decided Apple used the chip technology of the University of… more

---

---

So what does this mean for Apple?

The lawsuit
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) brought suit against Apple in January 2014 for patent infringement on a 1998 patent for improving chip efficiency.

The jury considered whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors found in the iPhone 5s, 6, 6 Plus and the iPad violated the patent. Apple denied infringement and argued the patent was invalid, the report said.

Moving forward
U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled that Apple could be liable for up to $862.4 million in damages. How much of that will Apple pay? The trial will move forward in three phases: liability, damages, and a decision over whether Apple infringed the patent willfully. If Apple knowingly infringed on the patent, the penalties will be more severe.

Additional Apple suits
It doesn’t look like this case will be the end of Apple’s run-in with the university. Last month, WARF launched another lawsuit against Apple. The second suit is aimed at Apple’s latest chips, the A9 and A9X used in the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the iPad Pro. WARF sued Intel Corp. in 2008 for violating the same patent, but the case was settled in 2009 prior to trial.

Apple has been involved in several patent suits this year, sometimes coming out as the loser, other times emerging on top.

In early 2015, Swedish telecom company Ericsson sued Apple for patent infringement, a move that could halt sales of the popular Apple products in the U.S., although it likely wouldn’t come to such a drastic scenario. If Ericsson wins the dispute, Apple would likely have to pay Ericsson between $250 million and $750 million in fees annually, based on estimates of handset sales and royalty payments per phone, according to Reuters, citing of analysts familiar with the situation.

Read more by seeing  link at:  Apple loses patent lawsuit filed by University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm over chip technology - Silicon Valley Business Journal

Rauner: Time to sell Thompson Center; Architect, former governor less than thrilled – Illinois News Network

 

SPRINGFIELD — Need a full city block in Chicago’s Loop?

Gov. Bruce Rauner may have a deal for you.

Rauner, R-Winnetka, on Tuesday announced his plan to sell the James R. Thompson Center, the state’s massive office and retail building at 100 W. Randolph St.

Although home to about 2,200 state employees, the 17-story building of nearly 1.2 million square feet is expensive to heat and cool, needs about $100 million in repairs and is inefficient as an office complex, the governor said.

“We intend to close and sell the state of Illinois building, the James R. Thompson Center, move our people out into existing space … in Springfield and in the city of Chicago and put this building onto the market to be sold to a private developer,” the governor said.

The sale, Rauner said, would probably mean demolition of Thompson Center to be replaced by a “more impactful, positive, commercial office building and retail space.”

Rauner declined to say how much he believes the state can get for the property because his plan calls for public auction, but he described the location as among the best in the city and state.

“It’s attractive,” the governor said. “We can can get good value for taxpayers by selling this building and moving out.”

Even without cash from a sale, the state cannot afford to stay in the building, Rauner said.

“We could pay people to take this building from us and save a lot of taxpayer money,” he said.

The state’s cost to keep its people in the Thompson Center are two to three times that of putting them in comparable office space in the city or elsewhere in the state, Rauner said.

By moving out and using existing or even newly leased space, the state could save $6 million to $12 million per year, Rauner said.

Redeveloped and put to better use, the property could also generate as much as $20 million in tax revenue for the city and for Chicago Public Schools, Rauner said, adding that new construction could generate 8,000 short-term jobs.

“By any measure we’re high cost here and need to move,” Rauner said.

Rauner said the proposed sale has nothing to do with the state’s budget crisis or his “Turnaround Agenda” but simply represents good financial management.

He also said it’s not part of some larger plan to move more state jobs to Springfield.

The plan would need legislative approval, and the Republican governor said he’d spoken with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both Chicago Democrats. He described them as open to the idea.

Steve Brown, spokesman for Madigan, said the speaker was aware the governor was announcing his plan and remains willing to listen.

That said, Brown added, there are questions still to be answered, including where workers would move to and to what ends the sale revenue and savings would be put.

Rauner said he’d also notified both Gov. James R. Thompson, for whom the center is named, and the building’s architect, Helmut Jahn.

Thompson, a Republican and the governor from 1977 to 1991, didn’t sound overjoyed about the idea in a short conversation with Illinois News Network.

“Well, as to Gov. Rauner’s proposal, I don’t have any comment because that’s up to him and the Legislature to determine the reason why deferred maintenance is so high,” Thompson said.

That maintenance was neglected during the administration of Gov. Pat Quinn, a Chicago Democrat in office from 2009 to 2015, Thompson said, “and that’s the problem.”

Quinn’s predecessor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, at one time essentially proposed a complex mortgaging scheme for the building, but that plan fell through.

Gov. Rauner on Tuesday declined to characterize the aesthetics or architectural significance of the Thompson Center, instead telling the media, “I’ll leave that for you to discuss.”

Architect Helmut Jahn criticized the state for not maintaining the building and said it should be repurposed, not demolished.

The architect suggested the building’s restaurants and retail outlets be upgraded and part of the building be converted for round-the-clock uses including a hotel, apartments and condominiums.

“Architectural history is full of examples where such repurposing has brought new life to structures like this,” he said in a prepared statement. “The building will only survive this way, and will become a landmark for the 21st Century.”

James R. Thompson Center

Originally: State of Illinois Center
Renamed: In 1993 to honor James R. Thompson, governor from 1977 to 1991
Architect: Helmut Jahn
Built: 1979 to 1985
Cost: About $172 million
Size: 17 stories tall, 1,193,163 square feet
Location: 100 W. Randolph Street, Chicago. Occupies the block bounded by LaSalle, Randolph, Clark and Lake streets
Materials: Steel, pink and gray granite, concrete
Houses: About 2,200 employees from dozens of state agencies, plus shops and restaurants
Called: Everything from “visionary” and “a strong, powerful and important statement ” to “The Cash Register” and an “impractical monstrosity”

Rauner: Time to sell Thompson Center; Architect, former governor less than thrilled – Illinois News Network

Exelon Defers Retirements of 2 Illinois Nuclear Plants- Power Engineering

 

Exelon Defers Retirements of 2 Illinois Nuclear Plants

Sept. 10

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) said it plans to run the Quad Cities nuclear power plant through May 2018 and the Byron nuclear plant through May 2019.

The utility said all of its nuclear plants in the PJM market cleared the transition capacity auction for the 2017-18 planning year, and that it will defer any decisions about future operations of Quad Cities and Byron, which the companies considers economically challenged. The auction results take effect in June 2017. The decision to defer the retirements comes after analysis of the present and future economics of the plants, taking into consideration the constructive market trends from the PJM capacity auction reforms.

All of the nuclear plants have also cleared the transition capacity auction for the 2016-17 planning year, but Quad Cities, Oyster Creek and Three Mile Island nuclear plants did not clear the capacity auction for the 2018-19 planning year.

"The new market reforms help to recognize the unique value of always-on nuclear power, while preserving the reliability of our electric system," said Chris Crane, Exelon president and CEO. "However, these plants are long-lived assets with decades of useful life left, and today's decision is only a short-term reprieve. Policy reforms are still needed to level the playing field for all forms of clean energy and best position the state of Illinois to meet EPA's new carbon reduction rules."

Exelon said it plans to bid all of its eligible nuclear plants into the 2019-20 PJM capacity auction held next year. PJM holds a capacity auction each year to ensure enough power generating resources are available to meet demand in the region that covers 13 states and the District of Columbia.

The Nuclear Energy Institue (NEI) said in a release that, although the decision is temporary, it is a good step for the state.

"Although only a temporary reprieve, Exelon's decision is an enormous win for the state of Illinois. The Quad Cities and Byron nuclear stations employ almost 1,800 people directly, and are responsible for an additional 7,500 indirect jobs in the state," said Richard Myers, NEI's Vice President for Policy Development and Planning. "The two facilities produce $3.1 billion a year in total economic value for the state, according to an economic analysis conducted by NEI. In addition to this immense economic value, these nuclear energy facilities are essential if Illinois hopes to reduce its carbon emissions. Quad Cities and Byron produce 34.6 billion kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity every year-more than three times the state's entire production from renewable

NRC Issues White Finding for Entergy Nuclear Power Plant in Louisiana - Power Engineering

Auditing company to act as interim Poplar Grove treasurer

 

By Shelby R. Farrell

Reporter

POPLAR GROVE – The Village of Poplar Grove’s Board of Trustees was quick to appoint its auditing firm as interim village treasurer after being without one for almost two weeks.

Maria Forrest submitted a letter of resignation to the Board of Trustees saying she would resign as of Sept. 15, and at a Special Village Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 28, the trustees approved for Sikich, LLP to act as interim village treasurer, completing those duties as assigned.The board also accepted the letter of resignation at that meeting.

Forrest was the interim treasurer for the village from 2009 to 2011 when she was appointed, and there was no reason for her resignation in the letter, which was dated Sept. 15 and said, “Please accept my resignation effective today Sept. 15, 2015.”

At the special meeting, Village President John Neitzel thanked her for her time in the position where her duties and responsibilities included cash management and investing, debt management, payroll and pension administration, preparing financial statements, budgeting, financial planning and forecasting.

“Maria has been the appointed treasurer since 2009, and we’ve made such monumental progress through her work since then, and we thank her for her support and the contribution that she has made to the village,” he said.

Neitzelwas also elected in 2009, and the village was $450,000 in debt. Since then, the village implemented taxes and other ways of fixing the financial deficiencies, and in 2015, the village was able to fund more than $950,000 worth of capital improvements, according to a letter-to-the-editor that Neitzel wrote to the Rockford Register Star in August.

In the same article, he said the problems stemmed from the village growing from “a few hundred to our current population of more than 5,000 residents” in the last two decades and the village government not growing with the village itself.

To help further fix the gap, Village Administrator Diana Dykstra requested an audit from Lauterbach and Amen this year, which revealed problems with money handling and financial policies. The company gave the village 28 recommendations for their financial woes, which the board plans to implement at least a quarter of it by the end of the year.

Dykstra said that when she got Forrest’s letter to resign, she decided to ask the auditing for recommendations on where to find an interim treasurer.

“Sikich came highly recommended as one of the top three auditing firms in the state,” she said. “Lauterbach is one of the others as well, and so we wanted a different firm to perform those treasurer functions.”

She said there shouldn’t be much of a difference between using a firm versus appointing an individual to perform the duties, and the village will be assigned one person from the firm. She also said they won’t have to go through a learning curve because the people who work at Sikich, LLP are familiar with the software that the village treasurer would use.

“Our plan would be to have them do bank reconciliations, forecasting and reporting to the board, any journal entries that may be required and payroll,” Dykstra said. “I think the benefit is the skills and abilities of this audit firm to come in and possibly make recommendations to better practices based on government standards.”

Dykstra said the village should need the firm to fulfill these functions with a staff accountant in eight hours a week at $100 an hour, working under hourly wages. She also later said the village “won’t need the senior partner to come and do bank reconciliations,” which would cost $120 an hour.

“I think there will be a time frame where this cost will exceed our monthly allotment,” she said.

“However, it will clear up some inefficiencies. I feel confident this will balance out by the year-end to provide the additional guidance we needed and streamline those duties. The goal would be to make ourselves more efficient and when we are prepared to make a decision about the position, we will have a better understanding of what positions are needed.”

Above is from FACEBOOK:  Auditing company to act as interim Poplar Grove treasurer

Thompson Center for sale, Rauner says | WGN-TV

 

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to sell the James R. Thompson Center, which houses state government offices in downtown Chicago.

Earlier this year, Rauner's administration asked for an appraisal of the 16-story glass paneled building. Rauner spokesman Lance Trover confirmed Rauner's plans to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Rauner was expected to offer more details Tuesday at a news conference.

The Thompson Center opened in 1985 and was designed by architect Helmut Jahn. The building is notable for its sleek design among more stately downtown buildings, including neighboring Chicago City Hall. The Thompson Center has a round shape and a large atrium.

However, parts of the building have fallen into disrepair and require work.

Thompson Center for sale, Rauner says | WGN-TV

Want a discount on a house? Drive way out of town - Yahoo Finance

 

Ever since the Greeks built temples on high and the Egyptians erected pyramids in the sand, real estate has always been all about location. Never has that been more true than today, specifically when it comes to price. As millennials and active baby boomers flock to urban cores, embracing shared cars and bicycles, the discount for living farther away from town is growing.

"In my 26 years in the business, the price discount available to someone who is willing to commute has never been greater," John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting wrote in a new report.

Take the Chicago area: Home prices in closer-in Deerfield are about 15 percent below their peak in 2006, but keep going out the interstate, and home prices are still as much as 30 percent below peak, according to the report. The same is true in Los Angeles, where home prices in the close-in suburb of Glendale are now 2 percent above peak, but further out in Palmdale they are a striking 37 percent below peak.

"We're still a little bit under prerecession pricing, whereas the inner jurisdictions are now above prerecession pricing," said Brian Cullen, head of development at Willowsford, a 4,000 acre residential community in Ashburn, Virginia, about an hour's drive from Washington. "People will make a value decision that they want to live in Willowsford, that they want a community that offers a lot of things they want, and that the driving isn't that challenging for them."

On a fall weekend in Willowsford, Ian Walsh throws a baseball with his three young sons on the front lawn of their spacious new colonial. It's days like this that make the commute during the week to downtown D.C. all worthwhile.

"It's easy to look at the math, the amount of square footage you can get inside your house, including the land, just the size of house you can get for the dollar, just drops dramatically as you get a little bit outside of the city," said Walsh.

Home prices in Ashburn are still over 15 percent below their recent peak, and that, according to Walsh at least, is an easy trade-off for the drive.

"When I get out here and into the neighborhood, I kind of feel the stress of the city roll off my shoulders a little bit and relax almost instantly, and any sort of stress from work or the commute is kind of wiped away when I pull in," he added.

For families with children, the suburbs have until now been the preferred option, but changes in demographics and social behavior are fighting that "norm." The Burns report looked at driving habits and found that for those ages 20-24 today just 78 percent have a driver's license, compared with 93 percent back in the late 1970s. Even though more workers today telecommute, they still show strong demand for urban neighborhoods.

"Prices are so ridiculous," said Jane Fairweather, a real estate agent in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the closest suburbs to Washington that now boasts a growing and pricey urban core of its own. "For those who have money, they will pay the premium, whatever that is, to live in a walkable community. I'm sure there's a price that people would say 'no,' but I don't know what that is to tell you the truth!"

Realtors used to say you get $1,000 in savings per mile as you drive outside of the city. The farther you go, the more you get for your money. That is no longer the case, as the nation's urban housing markets have recovered from the recession far faster than the so-called exurbs, or, the areas beyond the close-in suburbs.

"This 'drive until you qualify' discount far exceeds the industry rule of thumb today," Burns said.

That, in turn, may mean that there is a lot more room for prices to grow in the far-out suburbs. Buyers could be looking at a better investment in the long run, but only if they're willing to take the long drive.

Want a discount on a house? Drive way out of town - Yahoo Finance

Charles Koch comes out against special interest groups. LOL! | Grist

By Katie Herzog

He looks a little bit like your favorite grad school philosophy professor. He’s got a full head of gray hair, a strong, guileless smile, and socks that don’t quite match. He’s been married for 40 years and seems like a family man, deeply devoted to the ideals instilled in him by his father. He talks about hard work and good jobs and fighting against the powers that be. No, I’m not talking about the produce buyer at the Park Slope Co-Op. I’m talking about Charles Koch.

During a rare interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Charles Koch, the sixth richest man in America, tried extremely hard to win your sympathy. Speaking with reporter Anthony Mason, the billionaire industrialist emphasized his dedication to democracy and the political process. “To get rid of these special interests,” Koch said, “that’s the whole thing that drives me.”

Mason, showing immense willpower, didn’t even roll his eyes. “Do you think it’s good for the political system that so much what’s called ‘dark money’ is flowing into the process now?,” he asked Koch.

“First of all, what I give isn’t dark,” said Koch. “What I give politically, that’s all reported. It’s either to PACs or to candidates. And what I give to my foundations is all public information.”

HA! The reason PACs exist in the first place is to funnel money to political campaigns without disclosing where it comes from, and Koch, according to CBS, will spend some $300 million on the 2016 campaign. THREE HUNDRED MILLION!!! The Koch brothers’ spending rivals that of the Republican National Committee, and much of it will be funneled through tax exempt PACs and advocacy groups.

“But do you think it’s healthy for the system that so much money is coming out of a relatively small group of people?,” Mason asked the very rich man.

“Listen, if I didn’t think it was healthy or fair, I wouldn’t do it,” Koch replied. “Because what we’re after is to fight against special interests.”

Hmmm. That seems curious considering the Kochs are special interests. And unless you too are a billionaire industrialist, their interests probably go against yours. They have attacked clean energy, climate action, and environmental regulations, and paid bribes to win contracts. On a Keystone alone, they stand to make $100 billion if the pipeline is approved. Yes, billion. And that, folks, is what you call a “special interest.”

But Charles Koch doesn’t want you to see him as just another billionaire oligarch shopping for a president to call his own. He wants you to see him as human — as a victim, even. “I get a lot of death threats,” Koch told Mason. “I’m now on al-Qaeda’s hit list, too. So that’s really getting into the big time. Gets pretty scary.”

Much like the prospect of a Koch-backed president winning the election. Alas Koch is undeterred by death threats. “I decided long ago, I’d rather die for something than live for nothing,” he said on CBS Sunday Morning. Well, at least there’s one thing we can agree on — we’d rather you die for something too, Mr. Koch. Anything, really, at all.

Charles Koch comes out against special interest groups. LOL! | Grist