The Cynical Economist

Apple Loses Patent Lawsuit Against Samsung In Japan

Apple Inc. lost a patent lawsuit in Japan as a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) smartphones and a tablet computer didn’t infringe on an Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.

Apple’s rot starts with its Samsung lawsuit win

Apple is one of the most aggressive intellectual property litigators of all time. Its major moves have not been about protecting precise technical innovations, but about claiming the much softer zone of look and feel. It sues for brand rather than engineering. It has pioneered a new modern sensibility: taste is what’s most valuable; identity is king. It’s sued about the lower case “i”; it’s sued about the word “pod”; it’s sued New York City over the “big Apple”; it’s sued over using the words “app store”.

This fierce defensiveness might be rightly understood in a psychological sense: Apple itself is based on stolen iconography. There was first the Beatle’s Apple and there was Xerox PARC’s desktop design. Apple’s self-righteousness masks its guilt. (It may be sheepish, too, about being more of a marketing organization than a technology company.) What’s more, it knows better than anybody that if you relax your vigilance, somebody can easily walk off with what you’ve done – and improve it

U.S. Senator Reid, son combine for China firm’s desert plant

In 2003, the Nevada Democrat publicly banned relatives from lobbying him or his staff after newspaper reports showed that Nevada industries and institutions routinely turned to Reid’s sons or son-in-law for representation.

Now, questions surrounding family ties are flaring again in Nevada around the Senate majority leader. He and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in an effort by a Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert.

Obama Trying Ideas People Came To America To Get Away From - That is a must read 

Under Barack Obama, the only “Change” is that “Hope” has been hard to find.
Now millions of Americans are insecure about their future. But instead of inspiring us by reminding us of what makes us special, he divides us against each other.

He tells Americans they’re worse off because others are better off. That people got rich by making others poor.

Hope and Change has become Divide and Conquer.

No matter how you feel about President Obama, this election is about your future, not his. And it’s not simply a choice between a Democrat and a Republican.

It’s a choice about what kind of country we want America to be.

As we prepare to make this choice, we should remember what made us special. For most of history almost everyone was poor. Power and wealth belonged to only a few.

Your rights were whatever your rulers allowed you to have. Your future was determined by your past.

If your parents were poor, so would you be. If you were born without opportunities, so were your children.

But America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights. That power belongs to the people. That government exists to protect our rights and serve our interests.That we shouldn’t be trapped in the circumstances of our birth. That we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.

South African miners charged with murder of colleagues shot by police

Murder charges brought against 270 miners under obscure law previously used by apartheid government

Majority of New Jobs Pay Low Wages, Study Finds

While a majority of jobs lost during the downturn were in the middle range of wages, a majority of those added during the recovery have been low paying, according to a new report from the National Employment Law Project.

‘Drink Less, Work More’, Billionaire Tells Non-Rich

“There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire,” she writes. “If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself – spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working.”

She also tells the stories of her two grandfathers and three of her wealthy friends, who all started at the bottom and worked their way to the top. One grandfather, James Nicholas, started cleaning stables and launched a transportation company. Another granddad built a sheep station with 25,000 sheep.

Her pal Michael Kailis came from a poor Greek immigrant family and became Australia’s crawfish king. Friend Jack Cowin borrowed from friends to found the Hungry Jack burger chain, and is now the country’s “king of fries.”

“The lessons are the same,” she writes. “You can’t get rich without working hard, taking risks, investing and reinvesting your profits.”

Of course, as Rinehart knows, you can also become very rich from inheriting and expanding your father’s company.