fines

Sean Parker agrees to $2.5M settlement over wedding venue

It appears that former Facebook president Sean Parker has inadvertently become an environmentalist to save his wedding.

He has agreed to dole out $2.5 million in a settlement with the California Coastal Commission over the construction of an immense wedding venue in an ecologically sensitive area of state. That comes on top of the $10 million he spent on his lavish wedding this past weekend to singer-songwriter Alexandra Lenas.

In a little nook of the redwood forest in Big Sur, Calif., Parker commissioned the custom-made construction of what seems like a small village for his wedding day. In addition … Read more

SEC fines Nasdaq $10M over Facebook IPO

Analysts might attribute more blame with the Nasdaq now over Facebook's bungled initial public offering last year thanks to a new decision from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC is charging the American stock exchange with a $10 million penalty over poor decisions made as well as systems set up during the IPO and secondary trading scheme for shares of the world's largest social network.

According to the government agency itself, this is the largest penalty ever slapped against an exchange.

The SEC issued a memo on Wednesday detailing the rationale behind the decision. Here'… Read more

Samsung probed for allegedly bashing rival HTC online

The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into Samsung on allegations that the phone-maker was paying students to post negative online comments about HTC devices, according to AFP. HTC is one of Samsung's most staunch rivals.

Supposedly, the South Korean tech giant hired students to both write the inflammatory comments about HTC products and also recommend Samsung cell phones. The commission says that this type of behavior is akin to false advertising. According to AFP, the Fair Trade Commission spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said, "The case was set up last week after we received complaints." … Read more

Fujifilm XP200, S8400W adds more Wi-Fi to FinePix line

Continuing to focus on its pockets of growth for point-and-shoots, Fujifilm announced today two new FinePix models, the XP200 and S8400W.

An update to 2012's rugged XP170, the XP200 gets better waterproofing, now able to shoot down to 50 feet, and is still shockproof to about 6.6 feet, freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and dustproof. It has a redesigned battery door with a dial-locking mechanism to help keep the seal tighter than simple sliding locks.

Other improvements include a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3-inch, 920K-dot-resolution LCD, and a new burst-shooting button for capturing shots at up to 10 … Read more

NBA makes Mark Cuban pay $50k over critical tweet

A little advice to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban: if you don't agree with an NBA referee, it's probably best to keep your fingers away from Twitter. It can cost you big time.

Following a three-point Mavericks loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday, the Cuban took to the microblogging service to gripe about some officiating that occurred during the game:… Read more

Apple walloped with $368M in damages in VirnetX patent suit

A Texas court ordered Apple to pay $368.2 million in damages to the patent holding and security software company VirnetX today. According to Bloomberg, which broadcast the news on Twitter, Apple is being fined over infringement of VirnetX's network patents.

In the suit, VirnetX claimed that Apple integrated these network patents into its products like FaceTime, according to 9to5Mac. Originally VirnetX was asking for $900 million, but apparently the jury decided $368 million was enough.

VirnetX is well known for going after major tech companies for patent infringement. In its early days, the company aggressively patented technology that … Read more

Illegal file-sharer gets slapped with $1.5 million in damages

The damages award against illegal file-sharer Kywan Fisher will most likely send him to the poor house. Illinois federal court Judge John Lee ordered Fisher to fork out $1.5 million to adult entertainment company Flava Works this week, according to TorrentFreak.

Flava Works sued Fisher for sharing 10 movies he'd previously paid for via BitTorrent. The damages award amount was reached by fining Fisher $150,000 per movie. This is the largest damages award ever ordered in a BitTorrent case.

Flava Works caught Fisher sharing its movies by tracing the illegal copies he was accused of sharing back … Read more

Obey the law, or else. California cracks down on app developers for privacy

Making good on her promise, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has continued her crackdown on mobile-app developers and companies for not doing more to ensure users' privacy. She announced today that she'll be sending letters to 100 app developers and companies to formally notify them that they're violating California's privacy laws.

"Protecting the privacy of online consumers is a serious law enforcement matter," Harris said in a statement today. "We have worked hard to ensure that app developers are aware of their legal obligations to respect the privacy of Californians, but it is critical … Read more

Ultracompact megazoom cameras compared

Zoom lenses sell cameras these days, so it's no surprise that manufacturers are doing everything they can to get longer lenses into increasingly smaller bodies.

A 3x or 5x zoom lens used to be the standard for ultracompact cameras -- those measuring 1 inch thick or slimmer -- but in 2012, you can easily find a skinny point-and-shoot with a 10x optical zoom.

The frontrunner here is the sub-$250 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 thanks to its excellent features, fast autofocus, and the quality of its pictures and video (though its color accuracy could be better). Most of the category consists of sub-$200 cameras, though, so there are several options if you're just looking for a simple pocket camera with a long lens.… Read more