Business

Lexmark Sued a Company That Let Buyers Refill Their Ink Cartridges … and Lost

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The Supreme court in a 7-1 decision found that consumers can do what they want with the printers they buy, despite Lexmark forcing buyers to “sign” a “post-sale restriction” contract that the buyer won’t tamper with their patented product after they buy it.

The case is “Impression v Lexmark.”

Lexmark makes two similar types of printers: the cheaper one comes with ink cartridges that have a chip on them that prevents users from refilling them and putting them back in the printer, so the user has to go buy a new one from a store. Impression removes the chip so users can refill their cartridges.

Lexmark sued, saying that infringes on their property rights (which they said they maintained post-sale) that prevented third parties from modifying or repairing their products.

The court reasoned that if companies could maintain property rights preventing modification and repair after a product was sold, pretty much every repair shop in the country could be sued, the “smooth flow of commerce” would be impaired, and all parties involved would end up harmed.

Moody’s Lowers China’s Credit Rating

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China protested when the investors service lowered its credit rating 1 notch because of China’s rising debt load (which could be difficult to service) and slowing growth.

It is the first time in the 30 years since the end of the devastation caused by Mao and the Cultural Revolution that China’s credit rating has been downgraded at all.

However, when the average of the three big ratings is made (the usual practice), the Moody’s rating means less.

Tesla’s Solar Roofs Cheaper Than Regular Roofs & Have ‘Infinity Warranty – Elon Musk

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Musk announced this week via Twitter that his solar roofs were now for sale globally, and Tesla would start delivering them probably at the end of this year in the States and overseas next year.

And on the Tesla website there was information about the warranty for the roof tiles: “Glass solar tiles are so durable they are warrantied for the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first.”

Microsoft Releases Large Update After WannaCry Event

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Microsoft issued a large Windows update days after the WannaCry malware pandemic infected thousands of computers and led to a huge wave of Windows users updating their OSs to close the SMBv1 exploit left open by Windows until March when a leak of NSA intel made the vulnerability, as well as the NSAs exploit tool, public.

The update was unusually large, taking over an hour on some computers.

Most noticeable changes after the update: Microsoft adds a mail icon to the toolbar (currently, more people use Google for mail); OneDrive is added to the tools menu; Windows Defender Security Center also added to toolbar. In “Apps & Features,” Microsoft OneConnect (paid Wi-Fi cellular) is added.” Techies have recommended the removal of OneConnect, which has been part of Windows “Pre-Installed Apps” for a while.

It also “installs” apps that you already have installed, so it is more difficult to find what things Microsoft actually added when you update. However, Windows installed a lot of new apps (their own) in this update.

Microsoft removed the option to set the program to open types of files with. Now, it only opens automatically with Windows new file viewing apps. (This can be corrected by going to “Default Apps” in Start Menu and selecting apps for media types.)

The First U.S. Offshore Windfarm Just Shut Down a Diesel Plant

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2017 marks the first offshore windfarm in the U.S.

The wind farm, located off Block Island, isn’t providing all of the island’s power, but whereas before the island’s grid was isolated from the mainland, the windfarm allowed Block to be connected to the New England power grid for the first time, and therefore the island’s 2,000 residents no longer need the diesel plant.

They burned around 1 million gallons of diesel per year.

China’s Solar Output Increased 80% in First Quarter

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China, the world’s biggest solar power market, added 21.4b kilowatt-hours in the three months before March 31, compared with a year earlier, according to the NEA.

It’s total installed capacity is now 85gw. Their increase is despite an unused capacity (congested transmission infrastructure) worth 2.3b kilowatt-hours in the first quarter.

1.3m Dodge Rams Recalled

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During a rollover, side airbags and seatbelts may not work properly due to a defect in the truck’s software so far blamed for one death.

The vehicles being recalled are the 2013-16 Ram 1500 and 2500 pickups, and the 2014-16 Ram 3500.

Fiat Chrysler said the recall covered 1m vehicles in the United States and 300k trucks in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.

The company recently recalled 1.4m Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler vehicles due to infotainment (remote) hacking. The new recall is a different problem, and doesn’t have to do with remote hacking, according to Fiat Chrysler.

Fragment of Massive Diamond Sold for $17.5m

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A piece of the world’s second-largest diamond, found 2 years ago by Vancouver’s Lucara Diamond company, just sold for $17.5m.

The big rock in question is the 1,109-carat “Lesedi La Rona.” They wanted $70m for it at the auction, but no one bid higher than $60m so they still have it.

The $17.5m diamond is a smaller piece that broke off of the “Lesedi.”

Microsoft Blaming NSA for WannaCry Malware Pandemic

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Microsoft President Brad Smith complained that various governments “stockpile vulnerabilities.”

In other words, governments and agencies find weaknesses in technology and then keep that information to themselves in case they want to use it.

Smith said the current WannaCry malware event was a very rare one, combining a piece of very sophisticated software (to do the exploit) with a simpler piece (to do the ransom), conducted by a criminal organization.

To accusations Microsoft didn’t do enough to alert people about the danger, Smith said, “Microsoft has the first responsibility.” He called it a “wake-up call for us,” and that “we should all learn from this.”

In response to questions about whether the NSA told Microsoft they had a tool that exploited the vulnerability, Smith said, “I don’t want to go into the specifics about how we learned this particular problem, or by whom or when. It is a public record that we provided a patch in March. There wasn’t a public statement until April.

“But what I think is also important: We need the global community to come together.”