Reuters:

One of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses tech firms including Apple Inc and Google Inc of conspiring to hold down salaries has asked the court to reject a $324 million settlement negotiated by his own lawyers.

Michael Devine, one of the four named plaintiffs in a class action of 64,000 people, described the tentative settlement as “grossly inadequate” in a letter to the judge in the case.

The proposed settlement is about one-tenth of experts’ estimates of potential damages and is lacking in any penalty, he said.

How different was the original goal versus the announced settlement?

The workers planned to ask for $3 billion in damages at a trial scheduled to begin at the end of May, according to court filings. That could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law.

That’s a huge difference.

WSJ (paywall):

The head of the Federal Communications Commission is revising proposed rules for regulating broadband Internet, including offering assurances that the agency won’t allow companies to segregate Web traffic into fast and slow lanes.

The new language by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to be circulated as early as Monday is an attempt to address criticism of his proposal unveiled last month that would ban broadband providers from blocking or slowing down websites but allow them to strike deals in which content companies could pay them for faster delivery of Web content to customers.

Bottom line, the original plan allowed for “paid prioritization” (fast lanes and slow lanes on the net) and the new language specifically disallows it. Hoping this plays out as stated and doesn’t get softened by corrupt influences.

The Daily Dot:

It’s been made clear by the many reports and unnamed sources from every reputed site on the Internet—and by Tyrese—that Beats Electronics will soon be acquired by Apple for around $3.2 billion. But what has not been made clear is why, and why now.

Many have questioned whether Apple has run out of ideas—but this is one of the best decisions Apple has made in years. There are three main reasons why this deal likely happened, and all three show that Apple CEO Tim Cook has a keen awareness of the position his company finds itself in and is willing to make the necessary changes to keep Apple on top.

The author makes some very interesting points. I agree the key to the deal is Iovine.

Bloomberg:

Lee was operated on early yesterday at Samsung Medical Center after being resuscitated and stabilized the previous night at Soonchunhyang University Hospital following an acute myocardial infarction, according to an e-mailed statement from Samsung Group spokeswoman Rhee So Eui.

As to the question of succession planning:

Naming his son as vice chairman “was a clear step” in terms of succession, Heo Pil Seok, Chief Executive Officer at Midas International Asset Management Ltd. in Seoul, said by phone yesterday.

The game is called “Drowning in Problems”. Takes about 10 minutes to play through. Interesting game mechanic.

Some notable progress. When you see the final result, remember these pictures. The land is almost completely cleared. I suspect the trees will return.

Seems to me, the land in the center is at a higher level than the land on the outside of the ring. I wonder if that’s just a trick of the lens or if that’s really true. If so, I wonder what the purpose is there. I love watching this unfold.

A visual walk through the critical events in the creation of the billion dollar Beats empire. A fun read. If this deal with Apple does get consummated, it’ll be interesting to see if Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine become part of the executive team at Apple, as suggested by the Wall Street Journal.

Many thanks to Smile Software for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS this week with PDFpen Scan+. PDFpen Scan+ 1.3 offers a redesigned user interface to make scanning simpler. Cropping is fast and precise. Bulk scanning is quicker with post-process image editing. OCR and preview the results, then copy the text for use elsewhere. Share your scanned PDF, with embedded OCR text, by email or via your favorite cloud service. PDFpen Scan+ is universal for iPad and iPhone and is available on the App Store.

Marketing Insight, a South Korean firm that tracks users satisfaction rankings across a variety of factors, compared Apple’s iPhone 5s against Samsung’s latest Galaxy S5, LG G Pro2, Nexus 5 and other models. While Apple overall was significantly above average across every category, Samsung was ranked below average in design, display, processing speed, multimedia speed, size and weight, usability, response to touch, latest tech and UI design.

Sucks to be Samsung.

Email exchanges between National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt suggest a far cozier working relationship between some tech firms and the U.S. government than was implied by Silicon Valley brass after last year’s revelations about NSA spying.

Motherboard:

Snood itself is a lot like Puzzle Bobble. A turret presides over the bottom quadrant of the screen, and you, the player, move this turret with your mouse in an arc from left to right. Pick a trajectory, click the mouse button, and another snood ejaculates onto the playing field, making a satisfying “thoonk” not unlike the pneumatic “thoonk” from an arcade’s air ball cannon. Match three snoods of the same color and type, and they vanish. Knock other snoods away with them—a “two birds with one stone” type of play—and they drop from the screen with a little triumphant fanfare.

I’ve been addicted to this game for years.

In a 69-page decision (you can read it below), the three-judge panel ruled that Oracle can pursue copyright claims against Google for the parts of Java that it used in creating Android. Oracle has argued that Google used the code without authorization.

Google’s not out of the woods yet.

Yeah, I know, this sounds like made up craziness. But wait.

> Tzukuri has implanted a solar-powered 3mm BLE chip into the frame of each pair of sunglasses, which then allows you to pair your sunglasses to your iPhone (no mention of Android, yet). > > Why is this useful, you might ask? Well, similar in concept to Tile, Tzukuri hopes to help you solve a particularly irksome problem when it comes to eye wear – buying a fashionable, expensive pair of shades only to lose them when you are out and about. You should check out the glasses online store https://www.glasseshut.co.uk/ for the most fashionable eyeglasses and sunglasses. > > Once your phone is paired to your shades, your phone will notify you if they ever become separated by a distance of more than 16 feet- indicating that you might have left your phone behind. Or, conversely, if you happen to be wearing your sunglasses but walking away from your cell phone, their app will pick up on this movement and ring loudly, reminding you to retrieve your phone.

I think this sounds useful and, I suspect, a feature that expensive sunglasses will standardize on in the future. Or you can just get the $15 sunglasses off the rack at the drug store.

Oops. That’s a pretty big thing to get wrong.

Apple is stocking up on talent. I hope this guy can help the iPhone camera take better night shots.

The Neve 1073 Channel Amplifier is easily the most revered preamp and EQ circuit ever designed. Introduced in 1970, this hallowed class-A, transistor mic/line amp with EQ epitomizes the beautiful “Neve sound,” with unparalleled clarity, sheen, and bite.

I love the Neve gear—it’s my favorite.

In a somewhat surprising move, Apple is rumored to be in talks with Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics that could see the audio accessories and music streaming service acquired for $3.2 billion.

Under the supposed deal, Apple would gain control of Beats’ audio hardware division as well as the firm’s subscription-based music streaming service. The Beats management team would report to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

This is getting interesting.

Smart words from Gruber.

The vast majority of the new threats found was on Android (no surprise there), which accounted for 275 out of 277 new families we saw in this period, leaving 1 new malware apiece on iOS and Symbian.

I don’t understand why people keep buying this shit. Get off the bus and take a plane.

Much respect, Josiah.

“Ive is our generation’s most innovative and influential figure in the field of industrial design—no other design mind has done more to transform the way we visualize and share information,” said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast to establish a department of architecture and design, and we’re thrilled to celebrate Ive’s revolutionary achievements.”

Congrats Jony.

It turns out more iPhone users do in fact prefer wine to beer. They are also more likely to own stock and to have flown on a plane in the past year. Meanwhile, Android users are more likely to rely on public transportation, describe themselves as religious, have eaten McDonalds in the past month or to smoke tobacco.

WANT!

Graham Spencer for MacStories:

Today I am back to revisit the topic of entertainment services. The purpose, as was the case last time, is to see the international availability of entertainment services from Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Not only have we updated the information on all of these, but we have also added data about the availability of Rdio, Spotify, Deezer, Netflix, Hulu, Kobo, and Nook.

Great story with lots of good information.

Let’s remember one of the cardinal rules of social media. Out of 100 people, 1% will create the content, 10% will curate the content, and the other 90% will simply consume it. That plays out on this blog, that plays out in Twitter, and that plays out in most of the services we are invested in.

Very interesting post from Fred Wilson.

Some good thoughts from Om Malik on how Apple can change iTunes. I don’t know that I agree with everything, but there is no doubt that iTunes, which started as the center our media files, has become bloated.

Perhaps even making the iPhone/iPad, when connected, a system service instead of opening iTunes. Removing some of this from the app may help it focus again.