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Razer's 'paid to play' program bribes gamers to use its Cortex software
Lingering in the mind of every gamer is a silly, whimsical idea that very few manage to make a reality. "Gee," we think to ourselves. "It sure would be neat if I could get someone to pay me to play video games." Most of us know it's a futile dream, but it's a desire Razer is banking on. Today the company announced its "paid to play" initiative, a program that's almost exactly what it sounds like. Yes, Razer is going to reward gamers for play their favorite games, but those players won't be earning cash -- they'll be earning ZSilver points from the company's new digital currency platform.
Target settles data breach lawsuit with banks for $39 million
Nearly two years after Target's massive data breach leaked customer payment info, the retailer has reached a settlement with financial institutions. The company agreed to pay $39 million to the likes of MasterCard and banks who filed claims stemming from the 2013 incident. More specifically, Target will pay $20 million to the settlement class and $19 million to MasterCard to fund its Account Data Compromise program that ties into the hack. These figures are in addition to the $10 million settlement that the retail company already agreed to with lawyers for individual victims and its $67 million settlement with Visa.
Samsung may cough up millions over kaput TVs
A class action lawsuit filed by owners of faulty Sammy TVs has finally reached a settlement. The manufacturer has promised to foot the bill for new repairs, reimburse for previous repairs and hand out up to $300 to customers who no longer possess their broken TVs but can prove they once did. The fault can affects any of the models listed above -- possibly up to seven million sets in total -- and centers on an errant capacitor in the power circuit that stops the TV turning on, makes it slow to turn on, produces a "clicking sound" or makes it cycle on and off. If you think you're affected then check the source link for details on what to do next. Curious to know how much the lawyers got? A cool half-million for their troubles, which means they'll be upgrading to OLED.Update: A Samsung spokesperson offered up the following response, Approximately 1 percent of Samsung televisions sold in the U.S. from 2006 to 2008 have experienced some performance issues caused by a component called a capacitor. Since originally confirming this issue in early 2010, Samsung has voluntarily provided free repairs for U.S. customers with affected televisions. Recently, a nationwide class settlement covering all affected televisions in the U.S. was reached in Russell, et al. v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Oklahoma County in the U.S.
Apple makes first 'locationgate' legal payout, less than $1,000
Apple has made its first legal payout to an iPhone user after being accused of collecting and storing location data last year. A South Korean man is the recipient, apparently, of a settlement consisting of a whopping 1 million won, which only turns out to be about US$946 (as of this writing). Still, this is the first legally required payout on Apple's part -- the check was signed last month by Apple Korea, apparently. There is also a class action lawsuit in Korea that's attempting to get off the ground (though was stymied, apparently, by a site that went down under the traffic), and, especially with the news of this payout, there's probably other legal action going on around the rest of the world as well. Don't be too quick to dial up that lawyer, though -- Korea has some pretty strict data sharing laws, and collecting location information like this from users is clearly illegal there, whereas in the U.S. or other countries, the law might not be so clear on what companies can and can't do with user data. It's unlikely that this is the last payout Apple will make, but just because they paid here doesn't mean they'll be losing every judgement on this one.
Microsoft pushes up the schedule, plans app payouts to developers in January
Developers still won't be getting paid right away, but Microsoft's improved the Marketplace payout situation a little bit for developers who've been technically earning money with paid Windows Phone 7 apps for several weeks now. Originally slated for February, Redmond now expects to start cutting checks in the fourth week of January, which will include money earned between October and December; thereafter, payments will occur on a monthly basis, which is how these things should typically go. Microsoft's got a reputation for treating devs like royalty; holding their hard-earned cash for several months after the launch of Windows Phone 7 isn't a great way to demonstrate that, but if it's any consolation, these seems like a one-time delay while they get all the necessary systems in place.
HP agrees to pay $55 million to settle investigation into illegal kickbacks
The company that kicked Mark Hurd to the curb for financial impropriety has today reported it'll pay $55 million in a settlement with the US Department of Justice relating to some fiscal delinquency of its own. HP was accused of greasing up the wheels of business, as it were, by throwing cash around to companies who would recommend its services to state procurement agencies. This particular set of allegations related to a federal contract obtained by HP in 2002, and the settlement also extinguishes investigation into whether or not the computer vendor had provided incomplete information to the US government. That's all well and good, but we have to question the size of these levies. Today's also the day that HP's announced a new $800 million supply contract with the US Air Force -- would a fine that's less than a tenth of the contract's value really deter HP's entrepreneurial spirit?
Intel shells out $1.25 billion to settle all AMD litigation
Intel sure sells a lot of chips, but man -- it sure blows a lot of that profit on lawyers. Just months after it got nailed with a $1.45 billion fine from the EU in an AMD antitrust case, nearly two years after AMD hit Intel with another antitrust probe and nearly 1.5 years after the FTC sparked up an investigation of its own, Intel has finally decided to pony up in order to rid itself of one of those back-riding monkeys. In an admittedly brief joint announcement released simultaneously by both firms today, Intel has agreed to cough up a whopping $1.25 billion in order to settle "all antitrust and IP disputes" with AMD. In fact, the pair went so far as to say the following: "While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development." Aside from AMD's coffers filling up with cash, the agreement also gives both firms patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement. Of course, we're betting that this isn't the end of this exceptionally bitter rivalry, and we highly doubt Intel wrote a check this large while grinning from ear-to-ear. That said, we're eager to see what AMD does with its newfound cheddar, and if we had our druthers, we'd sit back and watch it invest heavily into beating Intel to the punch with its next few platforms.
YouPlayorWePay goes free with a new plan
As promised, YouPlayorWePay has returned, and they've got a whole new plan in place. Originally, as we reported earlier, they wanted to create a site where players would pay a fee for the opportunity to get reimbursed for lost playtime in World of Warcraft, but after outcries from the community, they have outlined a whole slew of changes on the site.And the biggest of these is that the service is now free. Instead of charging users, they plan to support a limited number of registrants (for March, when they begin, they're opening up 150 spots), and when downtime or queues occur for those registrants, they'll be given "YPOWP credits," which apparently will be used either towards compensation or towards "contest prizes," which will update every month. They've got some new stats on the front page, too, including the realms with the most calculated downtime, and how many compensation and contest prizes they've given out every month.Very interesting. From the beginning, the founders have made it clear that they didn't want to scam anyone (they told us as much in our interview), and they now say that not one person has been charged a cent for compensation. This new model, however, seems much more fair -- there's no cost up front for people who register, even if the "compensation" might not be worth as much as the cash they originally promised. What do you think of the new plan?
