Who knew Fish Bucks, Pouches of Stars and Smurfberries could cause such trouble? Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit from parents alleging the company lets minors purchase virtual goods in app games without parental approval. Though Apple recently changed its policy to require passwords each time an in-app transaction is made, the lawsuit contends that Apple continues to profit unfairly from the sale of in-app goods. These games, downloaded for free, are known as “freemium” games. They often offer the opportunity to purchase virtual currency, that, despite the silly names, cost real money. “The targeting of children by Apple and inducing them to purchase without the knowledge or authorization of their parents, millions of dollars of Game Currency is unlawful exploitation in the extreme,” the complaint says. Previously, children had been spending chunks of their unsuspecting parents’ money on things like Smurfberries, in the game “Smurf’s Village.” For the first fifteen minutes after download, no password is required to buy items. Even after the update, that fifteen-minute window still exists after the password is entered upon opening an app. Garen Meguerian, who filed the suit, found that his 9-year-old daughter had purchased around $200 in virtual goods from free games including “Zombie Cafe” and “City Story,” without his knowledge. “Such games are designed to induce purchases,” the complaint says. “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more.” At issue is Apple’s complicity in the sale of these goods. The suit alleges that Apple is deliberately exploiting minors to make millions of dollars. “Apple supervises and controls the function and operation of the Apps it sells,” the complaint states, going on to note that “the sale of the App and/or any Game Currency is a transaction directly between Apple and the consumer.” Because Apple is the one charging the credit card, Apple, and not the third-party apps providing the games, are the ones to blame, according to the suit. The complaint illustrates the issue by describing the set-up of the game “Smurf’s Village,” where users enter a virtual world with the object of building a village. The game, while free to download, offers bundles of Smurfberries, which are important in achieving the aim of the game. A bundle of 1,000 Smurfberries is 59 dollars. “Apple offers many games that use the same bait-and-switch business scheme as Smurf’s Village,” the complaint alleges. “Apple entices the child with a free download of a gaming platform that then offers the sale of irresistible Game Currency in order to enjoy the game as it was designed.” The Federal Trade Commission had started to look into the issue of minors purchasing in-app goods before Apple instated the password-check change. “Smurf’s VIllage” has also added a warning that in-app goods cost real money to its iTunes page. The suit comes at a time where the profitability of such virtual games seems poised to explode. A survey by Urban Airship predicted that in-app purchasing would rise from 8 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in 2011. Further, research firm Distimo discovered that 34 percent of revenue generated by the top 100 apps comes from “freemium” apps, despite the fact that less than 2 percent of all apps follow such a model.
Continue reading …Who knew Fish Bucks, Pouches of Stars and Smurfberries could cause such trouble? Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit from parents alleging the company lets minors purchase virtual goods in app games without parental approval. Though Apple recently changed its policy to require passwords each time an in-app transaction is made, the lawsuit contends that Apple continues to profit unfairly from the sale of in-app goods. These games, downloaded for free, are known as “freemium” games. They often offer the opportunity to purchase virtual currency, that, despite the silly names, cost real money. “The targeting of children by Apple and inducing them to purchase without the knowledge or authorization of their parents, millions of dollars of Game Currency is unlawful exploitation in the extreme,” the complaint says. Previously, children had been spending chunks of their unsuspecting parents’ money on things like Smurfberries, in the game “Smurf’s Village.” For the first fifteen minutes after download, no password is required to buy items. Even after the update, that fifteen-minute window still exists after the password is entered upon opening an app. Garen Meguerian, who filed the suit, found that his 9-year-old daughter had purchased around $200 in virtual goods from free games including “Zombie Cafe” and “City Story,” without his knowledge. “Such games are designed to induce purchases,” the complaint says. “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more.” At issue is Apple’s complicity in the sale of these goods. The suit alleges that Apple is deliberately exploiting minors to make millions of dollars. “Apple supervises and controls the function and operation of the Apps it sells,” the complaint states, going on to note that “the sale of the App and/or any Game Currency is a transaction directly between Apple and the consumer.” Because Apple is the one charging the credit card, Apple, and not the third-party apps providing the games, are the ones to blame, according to the suit. The complaint illustrates the issue by describing the set-up of the game “Smurf’s Village,” where users enter a virtual world with the object of building a village. The game, while free to download, offers bundles of Smurfberries, which are important in achieving the aim of the game. A bundle of 1,000 Smurfberries is 59 dollars. “Apple offers many games that use the same bait-and-switch business scheme as Smurf’s Village,” the complaint alleges. “Apple entices the child with a free download of a gaming platform that then offers the sale of irresistible Game Currency in order to enjoy the game as it was designed.” The Federal Trade Commission had started to look into the issue of minors purchasing in-app goods before Apple instated the password-check change. “Smurf’s VIllage” has also added a warning that in-app goods cost real money to its iTunes page. The suit comes at a time where the profitability of such virtual games seems poised to explode. A survey by Urban Airship predicted that in-app purchasing would rise from 8 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in 2011. Further, research firm Distimo discovered that 34 percent of revenue generated by the top 100 apps comes from “freemium” apps, despite the fact that less than 2 percent of all apps follow such a model.
Continue reading …Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us? Hardly. They’re taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam — and even send him a check, if necessary. The joke’s on us, folks. GE and tons of other corporations will have a tax bill for 2010 of ZERO. GE had $14.2 billion in profits in 2010. Yet they will contribute NOTHING to the federal government while every last dime is soaked from us. In the latest budget deal, our politicians could have tackled the deficit by stopping the flow of these ill-gotten billions to corporations. Instead they cut billions from “wasteful” programs that do “wasteful” things, like create new jobs, drive economic growth, and help the needy and our nation’s children. It’s democracy in reverse and it sickens me. GE spends $20 million a year to lobby Congress to throw themselves this party. But do you know what speaks louder than $20 million? 20 million votes! 20 million people, and more, standing together and taking to the streets. That starts now, with you. This coming Monday, April 18th, is Tax Day — and that’s the day when “we the people” will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country. You can find the nearest event to you here. MoveOn members — along with union, community, and environmental allies — will gather outside the headquarters and local offices of the biggest corporate tax dodgers to deliver tax bills from the American people. And we’ll demand that our leaders make these corporate deadbeats pay. We’re doing this because we don’t buy into the Big Lie: that greedy teachers caused the crash on Wall Street! That the selfish firefighters sent millions of jobs overseas! That pregnant woman, infants, and children are sending us into deficit! No, it was the big corporations that did this. It was the CEOs and the top 1 percent of the country. THEY brought on the mortgage crisis. THEY made off with trillions of dollars from our economy. THEY are systematically destroying the middle class. And THEY have bought and sold the very people elected to represent us! On Monday, we will have something to say to Exxon, Chevron, and the big banks that crashed our economy and got billions in bailouts, like Citigroup and Bank of America, who pay little or no federal income tax. In fact, the IRS will likely give them a tax REBATE. If that doesn’t boggle your mind then nothing will. The Tax Day events are about sending this message: We are coming after you, we are stopping you, and we are going to return the money, jobs, and homes you stole from the people. This is your tipping point, Corporate America. And I, for one, am glad it’s going to happen this Monday. If you’ve never been to an event like this before, this is the time. And don’t go alone, because none of us can win this fight by ourselves. Plus, it’s more fun and exciting to go along with friends and family to be part of real democracy in action — not the store-bought kind Big Business gets on Capitol Hill. I really hope you can make it. This is our chance, my friends. Take the time on Monday to make your voice heard. I can guarantee you I will. Please join me.P.S. In case you missed this story in yesterday’s New York Times: “In Financial Crisis, No Prosecution of Top Figures.” It exposes how the leaders in both parties made sure no one on Wall Street was going to jail after the collapse of 2008.
Continue reading …Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us? Hardly. They’re taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam — and even send him a check, if necessary. The joke’s on us, folks. GE and tons of other corporations will have a tax bill for 2010 of ZERO. GE had $14.2 billion in profits in 2010. Yet they will contribute NOTHING to the federal government while every last dime is soaked from us. In the latest budget deal, our politicians could have tackled the deficit by stopping the flow of these ill-gotten billions to corporations. Instead they cut billions from “wasteful” programs that do “wasteful” things, like create new jobs, drive economic growth, and help the needy and our nation’s children. It’s democracy in reverse and it sickens me. GE spends $20 million a year to lobby Congress to throw themselves this party. But do you know what speaks louder than $20 million? 20 million votes! 20 million people, and more, standing together and taking to the streets. That starts now, with you. This coming Monday, April 18th, is Tax Day — and that’s the day when “we the people” will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country. You can find the nearest event to you here. MoveOn members — along with union, community, and environmental allies — will gather outside the headquarters and local offices of the biggest corporate tax dodgers to deliver tax bills from the American people. And we’ll demand that our leaders make these corporate deadbeats pay. We’re doing this because we don’t buy into the Big Lie: that greedy teachers caused the crash on Wall Street! That the selfish firefighters sent millions of jobs overseas! That pregnant woman, infants, and children are sending us into deficit! No, it was the big corporations that did this. It was the CEOs and the top 1 percent of the country. THEY brought on the mortgage crisis. THEY made off with trillions of dollars from our economy. THEY are systematically destroying the middle class. And THEY have bought and sold the very people elected to represent us! On Monday, we will have something to say to Exxon, Chevron, and the big banks that crashed our economy and got billions in bailouts, like Citigroup and Bank of America, who pay little or no federal income tax. In fact, the IRS will likely give them a tax REBATE. If that doesn’t boggle your mind then nothing will. The Tax Day events are about sending this message: We are coming after you, we are stopping you, and we are going to return the money, jobs, and homes you stole from the people. This is your tipping point, Corporate America. And I, for one, am glad it’s going to happen this Monday. If you’ve never been to an event like this before, this is the time. And don’t go alone, because none of us can win this fight by ourselves. Plus, it’s more fun and exciting to go along with friends and family to be part of real democracy in action — not the store-bought kind Big Business gets on Capitol Hill. I really hope you can make it. This is our chance, my friends. Take the time on Monday to make your voice heard. I can guarantee you I will. Please join me.P.S. In case you missed this story in yesterday’s New York Times: “In Financial Crisis, No Prosecution of Top Figures.” It exposes how the leaders in both parties made sure no one on Wall Street was going to jail after the collapse of 2008.
Continue reading …Liberal media members better learn that if they step onto a set with CNBC's Becky Quick, they better bring their “A” game when talking about business and finance or they'll end up looking foolish. Such was the case on this weekend's “The Chris Matthews Show” when Andrew Sullivan called Wall Street a “parasite class…producing nothing” only to be forcibly corrected by Quick (video follows with transcript and commentary): BECKY QUICK, CNBC: [Wall Streeters] have clout in this [budget] debate because they’re the people who are running businesses, businesses that are employing so many people across the country… ANDREW SULLIVAN, DAILY BEAST: Well, Wall Street isn’t. QUICK: Well, Wall Street isn’t, but if you talk to corporate chieftains… SULLIVAN: Wall Street’s a parasite class. QUICK: If you talk to, well… SULLIVAN: They’re not Ayn Rand’s heroes. They’re producing nothing. QUICK: That’s not true. It’s not a parasite class. People who are financing everything else. SULLIVAN: They’re playing around with money. They’re not actually creating goods. QUICK: There are some terrible things that happened, but yes the finance comes to a point where if you’re a company and you want to hire people, you have to go to Wall Street to make sure you can get the loan to do it. SULLIVAN: Sure, but the person whom Ayn Rand would presumably support would be the businessman not the financier. QUICK: Sure, but if you’re asking what corporate leaders are thinking, yes, they have a lot of clout because they’re the ones who are hiring. We’re at a terrible situation where you’ve got nine percent unemployment. Nicely said, Becky. As readers know, Wall Street bashing has been all the vogue the past few years since the 2008 financial collapse with some good reason. However, most presidents throughout this country's history have known that our system of capitalism is very much based on banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies, and that our economy cannot grow without a strong financial services industry. Irrespective of his obvious socialist leanings, even Barack Obama understands the importance of Wall Street, as he was one of many Democrats to vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008 along with his current Vice President Joe Biden and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact, what might be surprising to Sullivan is that more Democrats in the Senate voted for TARP than Republicans. Despite their posturing and finger-pointing at Wall Streeters, when push came to shove in the fall of 2008, even Democrats realized the first thing needed to prevent a total meltdown of our economy was a stabilization of the financial services industry. Sullivan has either forgotten that or is ignorant. Nice job by Quick to remind him. Brava!
Continue reading …Liberal media members better learn that if they step onto a set with CNBC's Becky Quick, they better bring their “A” game when talking about business and finance or they'll end up looking foolish. Such was the case on this weekend's “The Chris Matthews Show” when Andrew Sullivan called Wall Street a “parasite class…producing nothing” only to be forcibly corrected by Quick (video follows with transcript and commentary): BECKY QUICK, CNBC: [Wall Streeters] have clout in this [budget] debate because they’re the people who are running businesses, businesses that are employing so many people across the country… ANDREW SULLIVAN, DAILY BEAST: Well, Wall Street isn’t. QUICK: Well, Wall Street isn’t, but if you talk to corporate chieftains… SULLIVAN: Wall Street’s a parasite class. QUICK: If you talk to, well… SULLIVAN: They’re not Ayn Rand’s heroes. They’re producing nothing. QUICK: That’s not true. It’s not a parasite class. People who are financing everything else. SULLIVAN: They’re playing around with money. They’re not actually creating goods. QUICK: There are some terrible things that happened, but yes the finance comes to a point where if you’re a company and you want to hire people, you have to go to Wall Street to make sure you can get the loan to do it. SULLIVAN: Sure, but the person whom Ayn Rand would presumably support would be the businessman not the financier. QUICK: Sure, but if you’re asking what corporate leaders are thinking, yes, they have a lot of clout because they’re the ones who are hiring. We’re at a terrible situation where you’ve got nine percent unemployment. Nicely said, Becky. As readers know, Wall Street bashing has been all the vogue the past few years since the 2008 financial collapse with some good reason. However, most presidents throughout this country's history have known that our system of capitalism is very much based on banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies, and that our economy cannot grow without a strong financial services industry. Irrespective of his obvious socialist leanings, even Barack Obama understands the importance of Wall Street, as he was one of many Democrats to vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008 along with his current Vice President Joe Biden and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact, what might be surprising to Sullivan is that more Democrats in the Senate voted for TARP than Republicans. Despite their posturing and finger-pointing at Wall Streeters, when push came to shove in the fall of 2008, even Democrats realized the first thing needed to prevent a total meltdown of our economy was a stabilization of the financial services industry. Sullivan has either forgotten that or is ignorant. Nice job by Quick to remind him. Brava!
Continue reading …Type: eBooks Title: The Duchess’s Tattoo: Thoughts on THE AMERICAN HEIRESS See all customer reviews Product Description: “Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn’t?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind.” –Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It and I Think I Love You “For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn’t always buy them happiness.” —DAISY GOODWIN IN THE DAILY MAIL Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. In “The Duchess’s Tattoo”, Cora Cash is desperate to be a fashionable lady of society. Despite her title and her wealth, she finds that English society is not that welcoming to “The American Duchess.” When Cora spies a distinctive snake tattoo on her mother-in-law’s wrist, she decides that she must have one as well. It is up to the talented tattoo artist to save “The American Duchess” from herself. In addition to the short story, “The Duchess Tattoo”, this also contains a letter from the author, Daisy Goodwin, on writing THE AMERICAN HEIRESS, an excerpt from “Titled Americans”, an authentic quarterly publication from 1890 which listed all of the eligible titled bachelors still on the market, and an excerpt from AN AMERICAN HEIRESS, a moving and brilliantly entertaining debut novel coming from St. Martin’s Press in June. See the details
Continue reading …Report: Brooke Mueller Refuses Court-Ordered Drug Test (omg … The Countdown To Brooke Mueller’s Drug Test – Will She Make It? 3 readers Charlie Sheen’s soon to be ex-wife Brooke Mueller, 33, is scheduled to do a drug test at 6PM tonight. That is in less than three hours and rumor has it she is no … Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? Is Charlie Sheen?s soon to be ex-wife Brooke Mueller looking for pee so she can pass a mandatory drug test? I know it sounds well desperate and crazy but t. Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? Uncategorized @ 17 April 2011. Is Charlie Sheen?s soon to be ex-wife Brooke Mueller looking for pee so she can pass a mandatory drug test? I know it sounds well desperate and crazy but … kathyhagus: Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? Is Charlie Sheen?s soon to be ex-wife Brooke Mueller looking for pee so she can pass a mandatory drug test? I know it sounds well desperate and crazy but there just might be some truth to … Brooke Mueller Drug Relapse and Looking for Pee? – kathyhagus's blog Is Charlie Sheen?s soon to be ex-wife Brooke Mueller looking for pee so she can pass a mandatory drug test? I know it sounds well desperate and crazy but there just might be some truth to it! According RadarOnline, who claims to have … ThomasGossip says: Brooke Mueller Refuses Drug Test! Charlie Sheen To Challenge Custody Agreement Next Week! http://bit.ly/gAnb3i
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