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AP Technology NewsBrief at 3:36 p.m. EST(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Kodak _ and film _ saying goodbye to the OscarsLOS ANGELES (AP) _ Each year at the Oscars ceremony, Hollywood says goodbye to stars and filmmakers who've passed away. This year, the award show will bid adieu to the Kodak Theatre. Just a decade ago, the glamorous 3,300-seat venue was touted as the Oscars' first permanent home, but the 131-year-old company has forfeited its sponsorship of the venue as it struggles with bankruptcy. Judge awards iPhone user $850 in throttling caseSIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) _ A judge in Southern California on Friday awarded $850 to an iPhone user because AT&T Inc. reduced his download speeds in an attempt to manage usage on its network. Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Matt Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley. Spaccarelli filed a small claims case against AT&T last month, arguing the communications giant unfairly slows speeds on his iPhone 4's unlimited data plan. Anonymous vandalizes US prison contractors' siteLONDON (AP) _ The website of an international prison contractor was defaced by hackers who on Friday replaced the company's home page with a hip-hop homage devoted to former death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal. Hackers allied to the loose-knit Anonymous movement claimed responsibility for vandalizing the site of Boca Raton, Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which manages some 60 custodial facilities in Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa. Study: We're getting less friendly on FacebookCHICAGO (AP) _ Whether it's pruning friends lists, removing unwanted comments or restricting access to their profiles, Americans are getting more privacy-savvy on social networks, a new report found. The report released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that people are managing their privacy settings and their online reputation more often than they did two years earlier. For example, 44 percent of respondents said in 2011 that they deleted comments from their profile on a social networking site. Only 36 percent said the same thing in 2009. Apple Germany disables push email serviceBERLIN (AP) _ Apple says it has disabled the push email function for its mobile devices in Germany in an ongoing patent dispute with rival Motorola. Apple Inc. said Friday the disabling of the push service, which sends messages automatically to the devices as soon as they're received rather than waiting for the device to refresh its email, will affect customers using MobileMe and iCloud email. Company claiming iPad trademark sues Apple in USSHANGHAI (AP) _ Apple Inc. is facing yet another challenge to its use of the iPad trademark in China _ this time in a court in California. Proview Electronics Co., a unit of Proview International Holdings, which claims it owns the iPad name, filed a lawsuit against Apple's use of the trademark in mainland China at the Santa Clara Superior Court on Feb. 17, Proview spokeswoman Alice Wang said Friday. Tough times for HP ahead; will investors wait?NEW YORK (AP) _ Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to spend years turning itself around as it addresses internal problems and battles broader threats from smartphones and tablet computers. Investors willing to wait could be rewarded. Its market value is half of what it was about a year ago, and HP could start to improve in the second half of 2012. Apple CEO hints company will part with some cashCUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) _ Apple CEO Tim Cook says he believes the world's most valuable company has more money than it needs. His next challenge is to figure out whether Apple should break from the cash-hoarding ways of his predecessor, the late Steve Jobs, and dip into its $98 billion bank account to pay shareholders a dividend this year. During a question-and-answer session Thursday at the company's annual shareholders' meeting, Cook indicated he and the rest of Apple's board are nearing a decision. 2 Baltimore attorneys sue Facebook over privacyBALTIMORE (AP) _ Two Baltimore law firms have filed a lawsuit against Facebook, arguing that the site has violated privacy laws. The Daily Record of Baltimore (http://bit.ly/xicCpO) reports the law offices of William Murphy Jr. and Peter Angelos filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif. The lawsuit, which also involves a California firm, claims Facebook has used online tracking technology to monitor users even when they are not on Facebook's site. T-Mobile USA to make data network work with iPhoneNEW YORK (AP) _ T-Mobile USA on Thursday said it will revamp its wireless data network this year, with the side effect of making it compatible with iPhones and some other smartphones sold by competing carriers. T-Mobile is the smallest of the four nationwide carriers and the only one that doesn't sell the iPhone. But the reorganization of its wireless spectrum means that iPhone 4S users could migrate over from Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless when their contracts expire. (c) 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |