Judge approves Kodak patent sale to Apple, Google, others

Roughly a year after printing and imaging giant Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of more than one thousand patents to Apple, Google, Microsoft and others, in a bid to generate much needed cash for the ailing firm.

The trouble is, the patents were valued at around $2-2.5 billion and yet they sold for $525 million -- around one quarter their estimated value -- to Intellectual Ventures, which licenses the patents to Apple, Research in Motion, Facebook, Google, HTC, Adobe, and numerous other technology firms.

U.S. judge Allan Gropper approved today a package of sales and licenses for 1,100 digital imaging patents belonging to Kodak, which have been the cornerstone of the firm's claw-back out of bankruptcy after receiving a $830 million loan to stay above the bankruptcy surface.

Gropper said he was "disappointed" in the price, according to Bloomberg, but noted: "We're moving the case forward so we should be optimistic."

Kodak's patents that related to the capture, manipulation and sharing of digital pictures.

The money from the patent sale will be used on the most part to repay the financial firms who have loaned cash to Kodak during its time of financial difficulties. Kodak reportedly owes about $665 million to lenders, according to an attorney representing Kodak.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/judge-approves-kodak-patent-sale-to-apple-google-others-7000009717/

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Rockefeller Retirement Sparks Likely GOP Primary

by Mike Flynn 12 Jan 2013, 10:49 AM PDT post a comment

Capito was first elected to the House in 2000, becoming the first Republican woman to represent West Virginia in Congress. Until the 2010 election, she was the sole Republican in the state's delegation. She is the scion of a powerful political dynasty in the state, where he father served 3 terms as Governor. Her father and Rockefeller battled politically for decades, running against each other for various offices 3-4 times. Because of this, in large part, she had a fairly clear path for the nomination to take on the veteran Senator.

With Rockefeller's retirement, however, it is unlikely she'll have an uncontested path to the now-open Senate seat. Open Senate seats are rare and Capito has some positions that are ill-suited to the conservative state. While most voters in the state still identify with the Democrat party, they are very conservative and often at odds with the national party. Obama lost every county in the state and won just 35% of the vote.?

Capito's chief vulnerability is that she is actively pro-choice, belonging to a few pro-choice caucuses in the House. All other members of the state's delegation, including the Democrats, are pro-life. It is almost impossible to imagine pro-life groups sitting out a GOP primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate.?

Beyond abortion, Capito has built the kind of moderate GOP voting record one would expect from a suburban Congressman. Her lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is just 70%. Her rating from Heritage Action is just 48%, well below the average House GOP member rating of 66%. ?The Senate Conservative Fund, founded by Sen. Jim DeMint,?has already said they couldn't support Capito. ??

It seems highly certain there will be a GOP primary to contest the open seat. If multiple candidates contest the seat, Capito should have the edge despite her moderate positions. Multiple challengers would split the hard-conservative vote in the primary, allowing Capito to edge through on her name ID and fundraising advantage. A single conservative, challenger, however could make for a very competitive primary.?

A number of national GOP organizations are convinced that candidates who were too conservative cost them critical senate seats in the last two cycles. They, led by Karl Rove's Crossroads, have vowed to be more involved in GOP primaries. West Virginia, then, is likely to be the setting for a fight between these groups and grass roots conservatives. It will be a fight for the future of the GOP.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BreitbartFeed/~3/fJtak4yMIgE/rockefeller-retirement-sparks-likely-gop-primary

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France opens new front in terror war, sending troops to Mali to battle al Qaida-linked extremists

NAIROBI, Kenya Hundreds of French troops poured into central Mali on Friday in a bid to halt the advance of Islamist militants who last spring captured the country?s north and appeared this week poised to seize the remainder of the West African nation.

French aircraft reportedly bombed rebel positions near the town of Konna as troop transports arrived throughout the day to the south at the twin cities of Mopti and Sevare, where a major Malian military base is located.

"Some inhabitants from Konna told us that there are many dead bodies of jihadists hit by the air force," said Pate Thiam, a 33-year-old sales agent living in Sevare who sent his mother to a town further south for safety.

The dispatch of French troops, the first Western response to the growing presence of al Qaida-linked rebels in Mali, came only hours after the rebels had seized Konna, a strategically located central town, and appeared poised to move on the country?s capital, Bamako.

Alarmed by the sudden rebel advance, Malian President Dioncounda Traore sought assistance from France in a letter delivered to French President Francois Hollande on Thursday. French troops began arriving Thursday night, local residents told McClatchy.

"Yesterday, we were really scared," Thiam said. "My house is just opposite the military camp, and military vehicles and ambulances brought many wounded."

"The people panicked," said Fanta Kelly, a medical official in Mopti who said wounded civilians and soldiers overwhelmed that town?s hospital during the Islamists? offensive.

The panic grew as word spread that Moussa Kusa, an insurgent preacher, had told followers that the Islamists planned to be in Sevare and Mopti by Friday prayers. "All the civil officials rushed to the fuel station with their vehicles to prepare to flee," Kelly said.

But the arrival of the French and the steady stream of aircraft flying in and out reassured local residents on Friday. "The situation seems better,? Kelly said.

"We pray that this will be the end of this unbearable situation," Thiam said.

Britain announced support for the French move, while the U.S. kept mostly mum on the topic, deferring to the French to discuss their involvement. Troops from Senegal and Nigeria also were taking part in the campaign, and the government of Mali declared a nationwide state of emergency. The U.N. Security Council late Thursday called for members to assist Mali.

In Paris, Hollande said that his country?s troops would stay in Mali ?as long as necessary? to prevent the West African nation from becoming a new haven for al Qaida-linked extremists. It was not known, however, if the French intended merely to halt the Islamists? advance or to launch an offensive to return Mali?s desert north to central government control. The area currently under Islamist rule is larger than France itself.

?Mali is facing an assault by terrorist elements coming from the north whose brutality and fanaticism is known across the world,? Hollande said, according to the Agence France Presse news service.

The seizure by militants of northern Mali last spring was an unintended consequence of the U.S.-backed NATO campaign to overthrow the government of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Thousands of desert tribesmen known as Tuaregs, who?d been incorporated into Gadhafi?s army, fled Libya in the weeks after his fall, carrying their weapons with them. The Tuaregs resumed a military campaign to establish a Tuareg-ruled state in the Sahara Desert and quickly seized areas of northern Mali. Al Qaida-linked militants then displaced the secular Tuareg force.

The militants, some of whom were members of al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, imposed a rigid interpretation of Islamic law that allowed for amputations and stonings for some perceived crimes. They also destroyed historically significant shrines in the city of Timbuktu that they considered idolatrous.

U.S. officials remained uncertain whether the al Qaida group was a threat to American interests, but the deaths in September of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans deepened concerns. The Libyan government claimed that Mali-based extremists had participated in the attacks on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, and U.S. officials said that some of the alleged attackers phoned fellow extremists in Mali to boast.

The rapid escalation of the conflict this week came as a surprise, however. A military campaign to dislodge the Islamists was being planned by Western nations and Mali?s fellow members of the Economic Community of West Africa wasn?t expected to begin for months, as officials wrestled with how to finance, train and equip the 3,000-man force.

?We?re very happy with France?s decision,? said Ibrahim Garango, part of a pro-government militia positioned in Mopti. Garango, who was reached by phone, said he hasn?t seen any French forces yet and doesn?t know the size of their contingent, but he stressed that any assistance was welcomed.

?These are terrorists and it would?ve been very, very difficult to win against them without help from France,? he said.

U.S. law prohibits direct aid to Mali?s government or military because there have been no new elections since a military coup overthrew the democratic government last year. But U.S. officials said U.S. military assistance could be directed through other international partners, such as the French or the African Union.

?We are monitoring the situation closely," said Department of Defense spokesman Maj. Robert Firman. "We have noted that the government of Mali has asked for support, and we share the French goal of denying terrorists a safe haven in the region."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the United States is consulting "very closely" with France but that neither Mali nor France has requested direct U.S. military support.

Allam reported from Washington, Boswell from Nairobi, Kenya. McClatchy special correspondent Brahima Ouologuem contributed from Bamako, Mali.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/11/3780530/france-opens-new-front-in-terror.html

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Step-by-Step: Build Linux VMs in the Cloud with Windows Azure

Cloud Expo Authors: Keith Mayer, Pat Romanski, Gerry Grealish, Lori MacVittie, Liz McMillan Related Topics: Cloud Expo, .NET, Linux, Open Source, Virtualization, Silverlight, Apache Cloud Expo: Blog Post Step-by-Step: Build Linux VMs in the Cloud with Windows Azure Windows Azure Virtual Machines provides Linux and Windows VM support
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Source: http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/2509943

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End of an era as Czechs vote to replace president Klaus

PRAGUE (Reuters) - This weekend's election to choose a new Czech president is a wide open race but one result is clear already: the era of incumbent Vaclav Klaus, one of Europe's most colorful and divisive leaders, is coming to an end.

Klaus, 71, is required by law to leave office after two five-year terms in which he did much that won favor from ordinary Czechs but also frequently angered fellow European leaders with his fierce Euro-skepticism.

He kept Europe waiting for months in 2009 by refusing to sign the EU's Lisbon treaty, a step which led to some people calling him a central European Margaret Thatcher, the former British leader who relished tangling with Brussels.

There is no clear front-runner in the presidential election, which takes place over Friday and Saturday, but the victor will be much more pro-European than Klaus. The most likely outcome is a second round run-off between two former prime ministers, Milos Zeman and Jan Fischer.

The change of president is likely to be welcomed in several European capitals, where nerves were frayed by Klaus' suspicion of European integration, often expressed in a blunt style.

"Since the Czechs started making problems, they won the nickname 'Circus Prague'," said an EU diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Some of their positions are hard to understand rationally. The Euro skepticism in there is coming from one person so I am sure everyone is waiting for his replacement."

The presidential post does not carry much day-to-day power. That rests with the prime minister and his cabinet.

But presidents have a role in representing the country abroad, appoint prime ministers and the central bank board, pick constitutional court judges, and enjoy high respect among the Czech Republic's 10 million people.

Klaus took over the presidency from Vaclav Havel, the playwright and dissident who led the Velvet Revolution that ended Communist rule.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

The two men could not have been more different. Havel was a softly-spoken intellectual devoted to human rights. His successor is a right-wing economist and follower of Margaret Thatcher who takes pride in his abrasive style.

He has often resorted to intimidating opponents. "And who are you?" has been his favorite way to start a conversation, even with people whom he clearly knew.

More seriously, say his critics, his Euro-skepticism bordered on an obsession, and they allege it has helped push the country to the edge of the EU mainstream.

Though many in western Europe share his euro-skepticism, Klaus was a rarity among central European leaders, most of whom see embracing the EU, after decades of oppression by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as their historic destiny.

When Czechs voted in a referendum on whether to join the EU in 2003, Klaus did not recommend a "yes" vote. He refused to fly the EU flag of gold stars on a blue background from the presidential residence in Prague Castle.

In excerpts from a book he is preparing to publish, Klaus said the world today is "much more socialist, if not more communist, in any case more unfree," than he had imagined after the fall of communism.

"Our convergence toward the EU meant and means turning away from capitalism," he wrote.

He once also likened the EU structure to that of Comecon, the Soviet bloc' economic cooperation group.

"He took the fight against the EU...as his personal struggle, while he forgot that he should mainly defend the interests of the Czech Republic," said political analyst Josef Mlejnek.

Klaus saw the Lisbon treaty, aimed at streamlining decision-making in Europe, as an attack on Czech sovereignty. He eventually signed it after winning concessions, but not before some European policymakers had accused him of holding the continent hostage.

Since then, stories circulated in Prague of frosty exchanges when Klaus met other EU heads of state.

Yet Klaus's euro-skepticism has paid off in one respect: it helped keep them out of the euro single currency. While the euro zone wrestles with a debt crisis, Czechs are now happy with their solid crown currency and low debt.

Many Czechs also give Klaus credit in other areas. As Czechoslovak finance minister and later Czech prime minister, he won applause for liberalizing prices and trade in the early 1990s while keeping macroeconomic stability.

Klaus's term ends in March. He has said he would devote his time to a think-tank he set up with the help of the richest Czech businessman, Petr Kellner, a beneficiary of 1990s privatizations.

But he has also said he could not rule out seeking a role in Europe, noting that there are European Parliament elections next year. That may seem improbable given his views on the EU, but he would not be the first person to use the parliament to rail against Brussels.

While commentators say this may be just a ruse, many Czechs believe he will stay in public life. Speaking this week about his future political plans, Klaus said: "Nothing is over."

(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet and Martin Santa; Editing by Christian Lowe and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/end-era-czechs-vote-replace-president-klaus-173217598.html

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GM to open third U.S. tech center, hire 1,000 people

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co will open a third U.S. information technology center as part of its plan to bring that work in-house and improve the automaker's efficiency and productivity.

GM said on Thursday it will hire about 1,000 people, including software developers, database experts and business analysts, to staff the center near Atlanta. It will be the third of four centers in the United States GM previously said it would open.

Last summer, GM, a pioneer in outsourcing information technology, said it would reverse that trend with plans to vastly expand the number of in-house IT experts over three years.

At the time of the announcement, GM outsourced some 90 percent of its IT services and provided 10 percent of that work in-house, an approach that had been the model at the Detroit company for most of the last three decades. The U.S. automaker said it planned to flip those percentages.

GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott, a former Hewlett-Packard Co executive, outlined his plans last June to GM's IT employees, which then numbered about 1,500. GM currently employs about 2,200 IT staff and that number will rise to about 9,000 when the transition is completed, Mott said on Thursday.

"We've been on a journey for the past few months to transform GM IT," Mott told reporters on a conference call. "One of the key strategies in this turnaround is the opening of (information technology) innovation centers in key U.S. markets and bringing the work back in-house to GM."

Last October, GM said it would shift 3,000 people over six months to its payroll from HP, which has long handled IT work for the automaker.

In the two months prior to that, GM had announced plans to hire 2,000 workers to staff new IT centers in Texas and Michigan. The location of the fourth IT center will be announced later but employment will be on the same scale, Mott said.

GM said it has hired more than 700 IT specialists to work at the centers in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan. The Georgia center will be located in Roswell, a northern suburb of Atlanta, and Mott said interviews for the location will begin next week with hiring to occur as soon as possible.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gm-open-third-u-tech-center-hire-1-153307842--sector.html

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Conn. moves cautiously on guns in Newtown's wake

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, center, at podium, speaks to members of the House and the Senate in his State of the State address at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Malloy urged state lawmakers Wednesday to work with him to prevent future tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, but stressed that ?more guns are not the answer.? Legislators also must grapple with a projected deficit of about $1.2. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, center, at podium, speaks to members of the House and the Senate in his State of the State address at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Malloy urged state lawmakers Wednesday to work with him to prevent future tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, but stressed that ?more guns are not the answer.? Legislators also must grapple with a projected deficit of about $1.2. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, salutes as he arrives to speak to the House and the Senate in his State of the State address at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Gun control, mental health care and school safety are expected to be major topics in the new session. Legislators also must grapple with a projected deficit of about $1.2. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his third State of the State address at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Wednesday Jan. 9, 2013, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? A month after the Newtown school tragedy, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is moving cautiously on gun control in Connecticut, a relatively liberal Northeastern state that nevertheless has a strong gun culture and is home to some of the nation's best-known firearm makers.

Gun control advocates and their allies in the state General Assembly want to pass new restrictions on weapons while passions are still high over the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage Dec. 14 that left 20 children and six women dead. But they are bracing for strong opposition.

Gun owners have packed statehouse hearings in recent years to oppose measures that would tighten the state's gun laws. And gun manufacturers such as Colt Manufacturing Co., which traces its history to a Hartford factory that Samuel Colt opened in 1855, have threatened in the past to leave Connecticut, taking hundreds of jobs with them, if certain requirements became law.

Malloy, a Democrat, became choked up when he mentioned Newtown in his State of the State Address on Wednesday, saying: "Let us do everything in our power to ensure that Connecticut never again suffers such a loss, that we take real steps to make our kids and our communities safer."

He offered no specific proposals, instead noting that an advisory panel he set up last week will issue recommendations in March on gun control, mental health treatment and other issues arising from the Newtown massacre.

Betty Gallo, a lobbyist for Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said the state has an opportunity to become a national model on gun control. She said she understands the governor is taking a comprehensive look at what could prevent another tragedy, but she and others worry about opposition.

"There are people who have gun manufacturers in their town who are truly worried about constituents' jobs," Gallo said. "We expect problems with retailers and manufacturers."

In addition to West Hartford-based Colt, Connecticut is home to the gun makers Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Mossberg & Sons. None of the companies responded to requests for comment.

Also, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association, is based in Newtown, only a few miles from the scene of the Sandy Hook shooting. A spokesman, Mike Bazinet, said it is taking part in the gun control dialogue led by Vice President Joe Biden but has not gotten involved on the state level.

"If we were asked to participate in any process that has as its goal the reduction of violence and the protection of our children, we as an industry would be pleased to take part in that process," Bazinet said.

Connecticut, whose legislature has long been controlled by Democrats, ranks among the states with the most stringent gun control laws, but proposals to make them stronger have run into strong resistance.

In 2009, a bill to require gun markings to make them easier to trace was dropped after Colt vice president Charlton Chen warned that the company would consider leaving if it became law. "Let us not make a mistake with the unintended consequences of driving businesses and jobs out of Connecticut," he said.

More recently, gun owners turned out in force at the Capitol last March to oppose legislation banning large-capacity ammunition magazines, such as those later used by gunman Adam Lanza in the Newtown massacre. The measure failed.

Robert Crook, executive director of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, said he has 35,000 members who represent a small portion of the 180,000 people with pistol permits in the state. He said 350 of them were prepared to testify last year against the bill banning large-capacity magazines.

He said school security should be a bigger priority than gun control, noting that the Newtown shooting was carried by a troubled young man who took his mother's weapons and was not a gun owner himself. But Crook added: "We're open to any rational suggestions that make common sense."

State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, a Democrat and a longtime proponent of tougher gun laws, said he is hoping the political climate has changed since the tragedy.

"I'm hopeful that some people will recognize that not every gun regulation bill is a serious threat to the Second Amendment and that people will be a little more reasonable about accepting some reasonable regulation," he said.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., a Republican, said he expects lawmakers will find more common ground on the issue than people might expect.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in neighboring New York is trying to put his state out front on gun control, coming out with a wide-ranging package of restrictions Wednesday in his State of the State Address.

He called for loopholes to be closed in a state ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines that carry more than 10 bullets. The Democrat also wants to require holders of handgun licenses to undergo follow-ups to make sure they are still qualified to possess a weapon, and he is calling for increased sentences for certain gun crimes.

___

Associated Press writers Susan Haigh and Stephen Singer contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-09-School%20Shooting-Gun%20Control/id-fc19d785391c42e69f5970275b6e7a36

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