Magic Jack ends suit against Net Talk

A suit between Magic Jack and a Miami-based rival has ended.

Net Talk, with headquarters in suburban Miami-Dade, announced Tuesday that Magic Jack had dropped its patent-infringement suit against Net Talk over the company’s Internet phone service. Magic Jack is one of the best-known providers of VOIP (voice over Internet protocol), and sued Net Talk in April over the competitor’s product.

In December, both sides agreed to drop the legal action, and the federal case was dismissed.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Gov. Rick Scott remains skeptical of federal health care changes

WASHINGTON --
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Monday that he had a "great conversation" with the Obama administration’s health secretary, continuing to project openness toward a health care law he once fiercely opposed and used as a springboard to political office.

But Scott emerged from the meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with the same concern about the cost of expanding Medicaid and resistance to partnering with the federal government on a health care exchange, of which the state has already missed a December deadline.

"I want the right health care safety net for our citizens, but whatever we do, it’s got to be a program that works for Florida," the governor told reporters. "We cannot have an adverse impact on access to quality health care or the cost of health care."

The noncommittal approach reflects tense undercurrents, with health care advocates pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the law and President Barack Obama’s re-election as a mandate to move forward and with Scott’s political base not trusting government claims of lower costs.

Tea party members spent the past few days emailing and calling Scott to warn him against working closely with the federal government. "He would be the ultimate hypocrite," said Everett Wilkinson, a group leader in South Florida. "One of the main reasons he ran for governor was to oppose Obamacare."

Scott faces re-election in two years and has moderated his stance on several issues, including health care, saying he was ready to negotiate. Still, he seemed no more open to changes Monday as he did immediately following the November election.

He remains chiefly worried about an expansion of Medicaid, a cornerstone of the health care law, which seeks to lower costs by covering the uninsured. The U.S. Supreme Court, while upholding the bulk of the law, said states can opt of the Medicaid expansion.

Scott said nearly doubling the number of Medicaid participants (currently 3.3 million in Florida) would cost $63 billion over 10 years, with Florida’s taxpayers contributing about $26 billion. That figure is at sharp odds with the $8 billion state liability economists projected in August. Critics say Scott is playing with numbers to support his opposition.

In the meeting, Sebelius reminded Scott that Florida has the nation’s third-highest rate of uninsured and that the federal government would pay 100 percent of the costs of Medicaid expansion for the first three years, then 90 percent after that.

Sebelius urged him to work with the government on a health insurance marketplace and said there were other programs the state could adopt to lower costs. "She also reiterated her commitment to flexibility as HHS works with states to continue implementing the Affordable Care Act," Sebelius’ office said in a statement.

"I’m worried not about the next three years but the next six, seven years," Scott told reporters, repeating his mantra that more government does not come free.

"Unfortunately, since Gov. Scott took office, our state has developed a reputation for sending federal dollars back to Washington," said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, one of several Democrats unhappy with Scott’s reluctant stance. "We need these federal dollars right here in the state of Florida, helping Floridians. Floridians with health insurance subsidize health care for those who do not have health insurance."

Jim Zingale, an official with the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, echoed that sentiment and said the billions in federal spending would bring jobs: "This is going to be one of the largest economic booms in the state."

U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Spring Hill, sent a letter to Sebelius that read, "The fact of the matter is that if Governor Scott agrees to the Medicaid expansion, he will be committing the State of Florida to writing a blank check. We don’t know whether it will be $8 billion, $26 billion, or some other untold amount. And the American people at large will be expected to pay to pick up the federal government’s portion of the yet-to-be-determined tab."

Henry Kelley, with the Florida Tea Party Network, said Scott’s talks in Washington are worthy of praise and concern. "I’m fine with him trying to work out things on Medicaid. It’s an enormous (budget) line item and if there’s a smarter way to do it, it at least needs to be pursued." But he said Scott should let the federal government design a health care exchange for Florida. "The Democrats in Washington passed this. Let them own it."

Scott used the meeting to press Sebelius to grant the state a waiver to put more Medicaid recipients into private managed-care programs. He said he hoped talks would continue.

Always a pitchman for the state, Scott began his news conference by saying that reporters would not need to wear jackets if in Florida. He ended with, "Thanks. Have a great day. Move to Florida."

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Year-end Wii U sales steady, says Nintendo chief

KYOTO (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd‘s year-end sales of its Wii U games console were steady, though not as strong as when its Wii predecessor was first launched, the Japanese game maker’s top executive told Reuters on Monday.

The company, which grew from making playing cards in the late 19th century into the blockbuster Super Mario video game series, is pinning its hopes on the Wii U after posting a first operating loss last year, as gamers ditch console games to play on smartphones and tablets.

“At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn’t as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom. But sales are not bad, and I feel it’s selling steadily,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview.

Iwata gave no details on sales or forecasts, but said Nintendo needed to focus on developing attractive software for its 3DS handheld device to draw new users, and increase Wii U sales as it battles competition from popular mobile devices. The Wii U carries video content from Netflix Inc and Hulu, and has a dedicated social gaming network called Miiverse, which allows users to interact and share games tips.

Nintendo said in October it aimed to sell 5.5 million Wii U devices by end-March. Wii U, the successor to the blockbuster Wii machine, went on sale in the United States on November 18. The company later said it sold more than 400,000 of the video game consoles in the first week.

Nintendo sold 638,339 Wii U consoles in Japan between December 8 and 30, according to data from game magazine publisher Enterbrain. The company has sold nearly 100 million of the original Wii units since its launch in 2006.

Rival Microsoft Corp sold more than 750,000 of its Xbox 360 console during the Black Friday week in November – one of the busiest U.S. consumer shopping periods of the year, beating sales of both Sony Corp’s

DOUBLE CHALLENGE

Iwata acknowledged the challenge of producing two Wii U models at the same time, as most customers wanted the premium package, which sold out quickly in many places, while there was a glut of the slightly cheaper Wii U model on store shelves.

“It was the first time Nintendo released two models of the game console at the same time … and I believe there was a challenge with balancing this. Specifically, inventory levels for the premium, deluxe package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn’t find it,” he said.

Iwata noted a weaker yen would have little impact on Nintendo’s profits this fiscal year, but would positively impact its foreign denominated assets.

Nintendo’s Osaka-listed shares earlier ended down nearly 2.1 percent on Monday at 8,980 yen, and have fallen 15 percent since the Wii U was launched.

(Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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Supernatural Star Jensen Ackles and Wife Expecting Baby

Congrats are in order for Jensen Ackles!

Pics: Hot Moms! Hollywood's Most Glam Baby Bumps!

The Supernatural star is expecting his first child with wife Danneel, confirms People magazine.

Jensen, 34, and Danneel, 33, will meet their bundle of joy later this year. The happy couple married in 2010.

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Cops on lookout for man who sexually abused 10-year-old girl in Queens

Cops are hunting a man wanted for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl inside the child’s apartment building, authorities said.

The victim was walking home from the store Saturday afternoon when the man followed the girl into her apartment building near Broadway and Pettit Avenue in Elmhurst, according to cops.

The man tried to engage the girl in conversation before touching her groin over her pants, cops said. He then exposed himself to her before the girl fled into her apartment uninjured.

Police described the perp as a white male with a beard and glasses, approximately 30 years old between five-feet-ten and six-feet-tall. He is believed to be between 170 and 190 pounds.

Cops said he was last scene wearing a black sweatsuit, a black knit cap and pushing a black mountain bike.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

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Florida company provides electrical power for the world

More than 4,000 miles from its home base in Doral, Energy International is helping keep the lights on and the power grid humming in Gibraltar, the British territory on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.

Energy International, a global provider of power plants and energy solutions, sent a temporary plant that will provide power for at least the next two years while a more permanent fix is sought for the territory’s erratic and aging electrical system.

The Doral company was founded 14 years ago as MCA Power Systems and its initial goal was to pursue energy contracts in Latin America. It began 2000 with a name change and in recent years its focus has become global.

“The world needs energy,’’ said Brett Hall, EI’s vice president of finance.

While the 2007-2008 recession curtailed the growth of worldwide energy demand, the U.S. Energy Information Agency has projected that global demand for electricity will increase by 2.3 percent annually from 2008 to 2035.

The potential is especially strong in developing nations. The International Energy Agency estimated that in 2009, 21 percent of the world’s population — 1.4 billion people — didn’t have access to electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of people without power rises to 69 percent.

Energy International has expanded sales from Latin America and the Caribbean to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, boosting revenue from $100 million annually in 2009 to more than $300 million today, Hall said. This year, EI is anticipating revenue of $350 million to $375 million.

In the next seven years the company, which is privately owned by American shareholders and affiliated with Gecolsa — the Caterpillar dealership in Colombia — hopes revenue will top $1 billion, he said.

Even though Energy International is based in the United States, it does little work domestically. Its sweet spot is emerging economies and contracts of $100 million or less.

“Our focus is to do whatever makes the most economic sense for a particular market,’’ said Hall.

“We’re not going to be building a nuclear power plant,’’ he said. But EI will accommodate its solutions to local fuel supplies whether it’s biofuel, natural gas or heavy fuels that are more prevalent.

When it comes to the type of temporary power solution needed by Gibraltar, which had been plagued by a string of power outages at its archaic electrical facilities, EI can have a temporary plant up and running in 30 to 40 days, supplying the engineering, rental turbines and other equipment and doing the installation.

“We were able to support Gibraltar’s power needs on short notice,’’ said Andres Molano, EI’s vice president of sales. “Some of their equipment required major maintenance and they needed to stop their plants.’’

EI, one of the world’s largest suppliers of interim energy solutions, signed a $12 million contract with the government of Gibraltar in November and the plant was operational by Dec. 21. The agreement includes an option for a three-year extension.

The equipment now in use in Gibraltar is considered part of EI’s fleet and will move on to other energy emergencies when its service in the territory famed for the Rock of Gibraltar is complete.

But when it comes to its permanent power plants, EI will build a facility for a client looking to generate its own power or construct a plant, run it and sell power directly to the final user.

“We can do all the work ourselves. We have all the skills in house — finance, design, operations, maintenance, building and the equipment,’’ said Hall.

Energy International has moved into the Middle East, completing projects in Oman and Yemen and establishing a subsidiary in Dubai in 2012 to pursue business in Africa and the Middle East, said Molano.

“Africa is new to us, but we believe there are opportunities there,’’ he said.

The company also is looking for continued growth in Latin America, especially in Colombia, which is now attracting foreign investors who previously had been spooked by violence.

Remote areas of the Amazon where temporary power solutions are needed also represent opportunity for the company.

“EI is very fortunate to be in a position in which we have more excellent opportunities than capital.’’ said Hall, so this year it will be concentrating on raising equity to finance growth.

“One of our biggest challenges in 2013,’’ Hall said, “will be to find investors or joint venture partners to provide capital that will enable EI to perform these projects so our aggressive revenue growth targets can be achieved.’’

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Police sweep planned for counterfeit BCS National Championship gear

In an effort to ensure fans purchase authentic BCS National Championship gear in Miami-Dade, a sweep for counterfeit material will be conducted at Sun Life Stadium on Monday, Miami-Dade police announced Sunday.

Hours before kick-off for the national game between Alabama and Notre Dame, officials from the Collegiate Licensing Company, the bowl, both universities, along with Miami-Dade police, will scrutinize vendors in search of unlicensed merchandise, police said.

All counterfeit merchandise is subject to seizure.

The trademark sweep will take place following a security sweep of the stadium at 9 a.m. Monday.

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Handset makers scurry to join Year of the Phablet

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone – closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back – is here to stay.

A surprise hit of 2012, it is drawing in more users, more handset makers and is shaping the way we consume content.

“We expect 2013 to be the year of the phablet,” said Neil Mawston, UK-based executive director of Strategy Analytics‘ global wireless practice.

While Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has blazed a trail with its once-mocked Galaxy Note devices, now other manufacturers are scurrying to catch up.

At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will launch their own.

ZTE, which collaborated with Italy’s designer Stefano Giovannoni for the Nubia phablet, is scheduled to launch its 5-inch Grand S, while Huawei brings out the Ascend Mate, sporting a whopping 6.1-inch screen, making it only slightly smaller than Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet.

“Users have realized that a nearly 5-inch screen smartphone isn’t such a cumbersome device,” said Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research in Britain.

Driving the phablet’s shift to the mainstream is a confluence of trends. Users prefer larger screens because they are consuming more visual content on mobile devices than before, and using them less for voice calls – the phablet’s weak spot.

And as WiFi-only tablets become more popular, so has interest among commuters in devices that combine the best of both, while on the move.

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, the monthly data traffic for every smartphone will rise fourfold between now and 2018 to 1,900 megabytes.

The upshot is a market for phablets that will quadruple in value to $ 135 billion in three years, according to Barclays. Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to 228 million during the same period, though estimates vary because no one can agree on where smartphones stop and phablets start.

But that’s the point, some say.

“I think phone size was a preconceived notion based on voice usage,” said John Berns, a Singapore-based executive who works in the information technology industry. He recently upgraded his Note for the newer Note 2 and bought another for his girlfriend for Christmas. “Smaller was better until phones got smart, became visual.”

Samsung has been both the engine and beneficiary. While other players shipped devices with larger screens earlier – Dell Inc launched its Streak in 2010 – it was only when the Korean behemoth launched the Galaxy Note in late 2011, with its 5.3-inch screen, that users took an interest.

“The Streak was launched at a time when 3-inch smartphones were standard and the leap to a 5-inch Streak was a jump too far for consumers,” says Strategy Analytics’ Mawston.

“The Galaxy Note was launched when 4-inch smartphones had become commonplace, and the leap to 5-inch was no longer such a chasm.”

THE BIGGER, THE BETTER

Since then Samsung has bet big on bigger: its updated Note has a 5.5-inch screen and its flagship Galaxy S3 – the best-selling smartphone in the third quarter of 2012 – has a screen that puts it in the phablet category for some analysts.

Samsung accounted for around three quarters of all phablets shipped last year, according to Barclays’ Taipei-based analyst Dale Gai.

Samsung’s marketing heft has paved the way for others. LG Electronics Inc accounted for 14 percent of shipments in the third quarter of last year, according to Strategy Analytics.

HTC Corp’s 5-inch Butterfly – called the Droid DNA in the United States – has been selling well in places where Samsung is less dominant, according to Taipei-based Yuanta Securities analyst Dennis Chan. The first batch sold out soon after its December launch in Taiwan.

“I don’t think we can say that Samsung invented phablets,” said Lv Qianhao, head of handset strategy at ZTE. “But it did do a lot to promote this product category, which helped create tremendous demand.”

Phablets are also proving popular in emerging markets.

A poll of nearly 5,000 readers of Yahoo’s Indonesian website chose Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 as their favorite mobile phone of 2012, ahead of the iPhone 5.

Kristian Tjahjono, a technology journalist who posted the poll, said phablets were a natural fit for Indonesians who liked tablets but also liked making phone calls.

But while those in such markets who can afford them are going for the high-end devices, the door is opening for cheaper models. Tjahjono pointed to Lenovo’s 5-inch S880, which has a lower resolution screen and sells for about $ 250, which is around a third of the price of Galaxy Note 2.

SWEET SPOT

Falling component prices will add to demand. The total cost of an upper-end phablet, its bill of materials, will likely fall to 2,000 yuan ($ 323) this year, says Gai from Barclays, and will halve within two years.

“One thousand yuan is a very sweet spot for China,” he said.

India is also a fan.

Vivek Deshpande, who manages global strategy for Shenzhen-based mobile phone maker Zopo, says that while the Indian and Chinese markets are different, they both share a common appetite for aspirational devices: phones big enough for their owners to show off. This is changing the direction of lower end players.

“Zopo’s primary focus is now on phablets,” said Deshpande.

Even Samsung is pushing its own creation downmarket: In Las Vegas it will unveil the Galaxy Grand, a 5-inch device that lacks some of the resolution and muscle of its bigger brethren but will be aimed at markets like India. There is a version offering a dual SIM slot, a popular feature for those wanting to arbitrage cheaper call and data plans.

As phablets slide into the mainstream, handset makers are trying to find ways of differentiating.

As well as hiring Italian designer Giovannoni better known for his minimalist, sleek bathrooms, ZTE also came up with an onscreen keypad that inclines to one side of the screen, depending on whether the user is left- or right-handed.

Samsung, however, not only has first mover advantage, it can also build on its expertise in display.

Barclay’s Gai says Samsung is expected to introduce a thinner, unbreakable AMOLED screen which will leave room for bigger batteries.

“That will put Samsung in good stead to still dominate the market,” he said. Despite pressure in China, Gai estimates Samsung’s share of smartphones with 5-inch or larger screens to fall only from 73 percent in 2012 to 58 percent in 2016, which is still the lion’s share.

By then consumers will see the phablet for what it is, says Horace Dediu, a Finnish analyst who runs a technology blog asymco.com. Its rise is part of a wider march of computing power into wherever we reside – the living room, the train, bed or work.

“It makes sense that we’re moving towards a time where we are served not by a computer or a netbook or a phone, but rather that we have these screens scattered around and available for us to play with,” he said. “In a way the phablet is not a bulky phone but a very delicate computer.”

(Editing by Emily Kaiser)

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Texas Chainsaw 3D Beats Les Miserables Django Unchained

Texas Chainsaw 3D ripped through theaters in its weekend debut, scoring $23 million and the top spot at the box office.

The Christmas Day champion, Les Miserables dropped to fourth place over the weekend, behind Django Unchained ($20.1 million) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($17.5 million). The popular musical pulled in $16.1 million.

WATCH: The Best Moment from Les Miserables

Quentin Tarantino's Spaghetti "Southern," starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, is on pace to pass Inglourious Basterds as his top-grossing film in North America, as its current cumulative gross has just hit $106.4 million. Comparatively, Basterds took in a cumulative $120 million at the box office.

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Labor issues could mean NYC school bus strike

The New York City schools chancellor on Sunday accused the union representing school bus drivers of “jerking our kids around” by threatening a strike that would force 152,000 students to find alternative ways to get to class.

“A strike would affect our most vulnerable students,” Chancellor Dennis Walcott told a news conference at the Manhattan headquarters of the Department of Education.

The children who use the yellow school buses include 54,000 with disabilities, the chancellor said, and the “union should stop playing games, issuing threats of striking” — but not saying which day it might happen.

“The union has said, ‘Well, maybe on Monday, well maybe Wednesday, maybe we’ll do it, maybe we won’t do it.’ They’re jerking our kids around,” Walcott said. “We can’t allow that to happen.”

Officials of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union say they’re trying to avert a strike. But as Walcott spoke inside, thousands of drivers and their supporters packed City Hall Park for a boisterous rally with talk of walking out. cm-bd

The city is looking to cut transportation costs and has put contracts with private bus companies up for bid. The union is decrying the lack of employee protections, saying many current drivers could suddenly lose their jobs once their contracts are up in June.

A decision on the new bids is to be made in May, city officials said.

“They’re trying to replace us with inexperienced drivers working for new companies for minimum wage,” said Samuel Rivera, 38, who’s been driving for almost a dozen years.

Driver Rick Meli scanned the spirited throng in the park, standing shoulder to shoulder, and said, “This is going to get ugly.”

“I’ve been working 35 years driving kids to school in the Bronx, and now you’re going to tell me, ‘You don’t have a job no more’?” said the 67-year-old union member. “How do you tell this many people they could lose their jobs?”

In case of a strike, students will be given MetroCards to get to school. If they’re younger, a parent or guardian also would get a MetroCard to escort a child. And in the case of special needs children, families would get reimbursed for non-public transportation.

The union argues that child safety is at stake if less experienced drivers are hired for lower wages.

Walcott countered that bids include stringent safety requirements for the drivers — as well as savings that could be used for educational purposes. He said New York has not used significant competitive bidding for new yellow bus contracts since 1979, resulting in a $6,900 annual busing cost per child — compared with $3,124 in Los Angeles.

A strike would impact all students who use the buses, including parochial and private schools.

New York City has 1.1 million students in its school district.

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