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Justice Igor Judge told Joanne Fraill — the first juror in Britain to be convicted for using the Internet during a trial— that she would get a prison term when she is sentenced later in the week. The maximum sentence for contempt is two years in jail

Prosecutors say Fraill and defendant Jamie Sewart communicated on the social networking site during the trial last year, with Sewart asking Fraill for details of the jury's deliberations.

Sewart, 34, was acquitted at that trial but later charged with contempt.

Fraill pleaded guilty to contempt, acknowledging that she communicated with Sewart and also researched the case online while serving on the jury.

According to The Guardian newspaper, in one exchange Sewart asked Fraill how deliberations were going and Fraill replied: "Cant get anyone to go either no one budging pleeeeeese don't say anything cause jamie they could all miss trial."

Defense lawyer Peter Wright said 40-year-old Fraill was "distraught at what she had done, wholly contrite and remorseful."

He said she contacted Sewart because she felt the two had a lot in common.

"Her conduct, though reprehensible, was not calculated or designed by her to subvert the trial process, although it is conceded that that was an inevitable consequence of it," Wright said.

Sewart had denied contempt but was found guilty Tuesday by judges at London's High Court.

While Fraill is going to prison, Sewart was told she would receive a suspended prison sentence because she has a young child, from whom she was separated during her original trial

The panel of three judges also will hear an appeal by one of the convicted defendants, who wants his sentence overturned on the grounds of jury misconduct.

Jurors in British trials are warned not to talk to anyone about their case, or to research it on the Internet.

The attorney general's office said the case was Britain's first contempt prosecution involving use of the Internet by a juror.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

1. Turkish police say they have detained 32 suspected local members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective, which was recently protesting Turkish censorship of Net activities by attacking government websites. Spanish authorities arrested local members last week, and Anonymous seems to have then retaliated by attacking the Spanish police force's website and successfully bringing it down for a period. Will Turkey suffer similar return attacks?

2. Nokia and Apple have settled all of their extant patent battles, in Nokia's favor. Apple will pay a one-time fee and undisclosed ongoing royalties. Nokia failed catastrophically to innovate in the smartphone wars, leading to its position tumbling in the market but it did patent a number of key technologies--resulting in a pitched court battle with Apple. No wonder CEO Stephen Elop is quoted as saying he's "very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of licensees."

3. LulzSec, a pro-active hacker collective associated with Anonymous, has revealed it hacked the U.S. Senate's network, providing proof it successfully accessed data on the public-facing web servers, and prompting a review of Senate web security. LulzSec teased it was "just for kicks" to expose weak security and asks if it's an "act of war" under new Pentagon guidelines. LulzSec also attacked game publisher Bethesda Softworks.

4. Apple has broken with tradition and is selling unlocked iPhones directly to U.S. consumers via its website. The phones can be used on any compatible GSM network, but since they carry no carrier subsidy, they come at a steep $649 for the 16GB model--in line with sales practices in other nations where carrier subsidies are rarer. It's being seen as another sign the iPhone 5 isn't due for a month or two, and a way for Apple to clear its inventory.

5. A juror in a British trial could face contempt of court charges, and a possible jailing of up to two years, for searching about information concerning one of the (acquitted) plaintiffs on Facebook before the entire suite of charges had been given a jury verdict. The two are alleged to have communicated via Facebook's messaging system, in what's possibly the first time Facebook has been embroiled in a controversy like this.

( Source: Fast Company )

Concerned over the spate of injuries to its top players, the BCCI is in talks with IT Major Infosys for preparing an exhaustive injury-database.

"Anil Kumble (former India captain and current chairman of the National Cricket Academy) is in touch with Infosys to develop a software for injury management of players. But the talks are informal and at a very preliminary stage," said BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty.

"We have been using the infrastructure of Infosys like their ground at Mysore on a regular basis," Shetty added. The spate of injuries to leading players has robbed the Indian team of the services of some key players during ongoing tour of the West Indies.

Regular openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, are out of action following shoulder injuries sustained ahead of the Caribbean tour.

Pacers Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth were recently ruled out of the second half of the tour, involving a three-Test series, against the hosts because of injuries.

Zaheer, earlier rested for the T20 one-off tie and the five-match ODI series currently underway, has a right ankle problem while Sreesanth injured in his right elbow. Both the players will require some time off for rehabilitation.

Hard up for money, Illinois is considering of selling advertising space on its state license plates.

The idea is to allow corporate sponsors to put their business logos on the plates, which would be offered to drivers at a discount.

Lawmakers voted last month to have the secretary of state study the pros and cons of corporate plates. The study, meant to gauge interest and potential revenues, should be finished by Jan. 1.

Sen. John Mulroe, D-Chicago said he hopes corporate plates will be a way to bring in more money without raising taxes.

Texas already allows corporate plates, which are produced by a firm called My Plates. The companies that have signed up include the Re/Max real estate business and a hamburger chain called Mighty Fine Burgers.

"License plates are like little billboards running around the state of Texas advertising your company," My Plates spokeswoman Kim Drummond said.

My Plates has sold 489 corporate plates since it started producing specialty plates for Texas in November 2009. Most of the sales were within the last year. Their sale has raised $51,805 for the state's general revenue fund, Drummond said.

Illinois already offers more than 70 specialty plates that do everything from honor the military to promote colleges and nonprofits.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Super 8' ruled the box office this weekend, grossing $38 million, far more than industry-watchers expected.

And this is just the first of a slew of movies Steven Spielberg's involved in that will hit theaters this summer and over the course of the year.

In fact, thirty years after Raiders of the Lost Ark, we'll see an unprecedented number of films connected to the legendary filmmaker.

Unlike the slew of summer sequels, Paramount's 'Super 8' didn't have the benefit of a familiar franchise or big brand to draw viewers. Instead, Spielberg's name, as Executive Producer, served as the big brand, along with Director J.J. Abrams. Considering how the trailer and marketing campaign kept so much about 'Super 8' top secret, the promise of Spielberg and Abrams legacy was key to draw audiences. And Spielberg's original fan base turned out in force-- 71% of Super 8's audience is over age 25, far older than a typical Sci-Fi Film.

Spielberg is also the Executive Producer on two other films expected to rule the summer box office. In July both Paramount's third "Transformers" film and "Cowboys and Aliens," which Universal's distributing, hit theaters.

People may think of Spielberg as a director, but as these three big films indicate, he has far bigger reach in Hollywood as a producer and executive producer. The 24 movies Spielberg Directed have grossed $3.8 billion in the U.S. alone. But his producing career is far more massive - he's produced 56 movies which have grossed $5.3 billion in the US.

Then there's Spielberg's production company, DreamWorks Studios, which he co-runs with Stacey Snider. We're about to see the first big crop of films from the studio since it restructured in 2008 with financing from India's Reliance Entertainment and a new distribution deal with Disney [DIS 38.75 0.38 (+0.99%) ]. DreamWorks Studios is launching four films between August and December, and it's quite an eclectic mix - horror film 'Fright Night, man vs. robot boxing epic 'Real Steel,' movie-with-a-message 'The Help' and World War I epic 'War Horse.'

Spielberg really is everywhere this summer - he's the executive producer on TNT's alien invasion TV series 'Falling Skies' which starts on Sunday.

But Spielberg certainly hasn't given up directing - he directed 'The Adventures of Tin Tin' which Paramount is releasing December.

( Source: CNBC )

Below is the News Release:

(PRNewswire)

RiT Technologies (NASDAQ: RITT), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure management solutions, today announcedthat it has formed a strategic partnership with Samsung Fiber Optics under which Samsung Fiber Optics will market, sell and distribute RiT's PatchView™ intelligent infrastructure management (IIM) solution on an OEM basis.

As the partnership's first project, Samsung Fiber Optics has deployed a cutting-edge PatchView™ IIM system in one of Korea's largest convention and exhibition centers. This highly visible installation demonstrates the growing traction of the managed infrastructure concept throughout Korea, a market where managed infrastructure systems are becoming ubiquitous in residential, enterprise and commercial settings.

"We are extremely excited about this milestone partnership. The new relationship has already contributed its first significant deal and we believe it will make a strong impact on our sales success in the future," commented Eran Ayzik, RiT's President & CEO.

"The fact that this industry player feels the need to add IIM to its portfolio reflects a sharp rise in market demand, especially in its home market of Korea. This is an encouraging trend for RiT, which is recognized as the most experienced IIM player by far, with reliable, field-proven technologies and support capabilities."

Mr. Ayzik concluded, "We are committed to work closely with Samsung Fiber Optics to bring PatchView's proven benefits to its top-tier customers. In parallel, we will continue working to establish additional partnerships as the key for expanding our reach into additional high-potential regions."

About Samsung Fiber Optics

Samsung Fiber Optics began as a optical fiber/fiber optic cable business division of Samsung Electronics, and spun off from the parent company in 2004 as a fiber optics specialist. Today, Samsung Fiber Optics offers a broad line of fiber optic cable products, and also components for mobile phones and touch panels. As a global leader of fiber optics industry, Samsung Fiber Optics supplies its products to more than 60 countries around the world, and holds a share of approximately 30% of the broadband network market in Korea.

http://www.samsungfiberoptics.com/En/main.aspx

RiT is a leading provider of intelligent solutions for infrastructure management, asset management, environment and security, and network utilization. RiT Enterprise solutions address datacenters, communication rooms and workspace environments, ensuring maximum utilization, reliability, decreased downtime, physical security, automated deployment, asset tracking, and troubleshooting. RiT Carrier solutions provide carriers with the full array of network mapping, testing and bandwidth qualification capabilities needed for access network installation and service provisioning. RiT's field-tested solutions are delivering value in thousands of installations for top-tier enterprises and operators throughout the world.

For more information, please visit our website: http://www.rittech.com

In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use the words "believe,""anticipate," "expect,""plan,""intend, ""estimate", "forecast", "target", "could" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For example, when we discuss a field trial which could lead to a multi-million dollar Carrier deal, we are using a forward looking statement. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 20-F, which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: our ability to raise additional financing, if required; the continued development of market trends in directions that benefit our sales; our ability to maintain and grow our revenues; our dependence upon independent distributors, representatives and strategic partners; our ability to develop new products and enhance our existing products; the availability of third-party components used in our products; the economic condition of our customers; the impact of government regulation; and the economic and political situation in Israel. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

COMPANY CONTACT:

Ben Carmi

VP Product Management & Business Development

+972-3-766-4217

benc@rit.co.il

Comcast subscribers: In the future, believing that the TV is talking to you might not be a sign of insanity. You may be getting a Skype video call.

Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable company, is set to announce Tuesday that it plans to bring Skype calls to TV sets later this year.

Subscribers will then be able to rent a kit from Comcast that includes a webcam and an adapter that plugs into the TV. A new cable box remote will include a keyboard on the back, for typing chat messages.

Philadelphia-based Comcast hasn't yet figured out what to charge for the kit, according to Catherine Avgiris, general manager of communications and data services.

Financial terms of the partnership between Comcast and Skype were not disclosed. Comcast wouldn't say whether Skype would get some of what Comcast charges for the kit.

Subscribers will get notifications of incoming calls on their TVs and will be able to answer calls with full-screen video or in a window while watching TV.

Comcast plans to start trials of the system in the next few months. It has 17.4 million Internet subscribers.

Many high-end TVs already come with the ability to conduct Skype calls. Buyers usually have to add a Webcam for $150, but neither the TV maker nor Skype charge a monthly fee.

"We've seen an explosion, already, in the use of Skype in the living room," said Neil Stevens, general manager of consumer services at Skype.

Cisco Systems Inc. launched a home videoconferencing device and service last year, but quickly had to cut the $599 price and $24.95 monthly fee, apparently because of weak demand. It later scaled back its marketing plans too, as part of a companywide shift away from consumer devices.

Comcast's Skype adapter won't work with Skype services that let users call phone numbers, or receive calls to a phone number. Instead, Comcast plans to bundle a limited version of Skype's offerings with its own phone service, for which it charges $20 per month and up, to the adapter, so subscribers can place and receive phone calls through the TV set. That's a feature it plans to add later, according to Comcast spokesman Peter Dobrow.

Skype, which is based in Luxembourg, has agreed to be bought by Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, for $8.5 billion in a deal expected to close by the end of the year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Strip clubs that serve non-alcoholic drinks have to pay taxes on fees charged for lap dances and admission to the clubs, a state court has ruled.

The four Appellate Division justices agreed with a Tax Appeals Tribunal that dances onstage or in private rooms at Nite Moves in suburban Albany don't qualify for the tax exemption as "dramatic or musical arts performances."

Nite Moves contested a tax bill of $124,921.94 plus interest. Tax officials said the sales taxes were paid only on drinks. House fees that dancers pay to the club are not taxable.

The club's attorney said Friday they probably will appeal, maintaining they had made the case that Nite Moves is entitled to the tax exemption that also applies, for example, to the theater performances of ballet.

W. Andrew McCullough said the impact probably won't be widespread since most places with exotic dancers as entertainment are bars mainly selling alcohol where other tax rules apply.

"We admit the ballet is a little different and maybe a little more finely tuned," McCullough said. Their expert, a cultural anthropologist who has studied exotic dance and visited Nite Moves, testified that these too are choreographed performances that should qualify for the exemption.

The club had to pay the tax bill, which followed a 2005 audit, and has a later, larger bill it is also challenging, McCullough said. "They're in business and they'll stay in business."

"There is no question that the club qualifies as a place of amusement under the expansive definition set form in Tax Law," the court said.

"Hence, the issue distills to whether the club's admission and private dance fees constitute charges for admission to a `live dramatic, choreographic or musical performance.'"

The tribunal concluded Nite Moves didn't present sufficient proof that it deserves an exemption. It noted the dancers were not required to have any formal dance training, that a DVD of onstage dances did not by itself show they qualified as choreographed performances and that the anthropologist didn't actually see the backroom couch dances at Nite Moves.

"It was purely and absolutely a value judgment," McCullough said, citing First Amendment issues about free expression and adult entertainment. "The state didn't put on any evidence of anything."

( Source: Associated Press )