Author: Dan Graziano

Samsung (005930) has issued a public apology for the fatal gas leak at one of its semiconductor plants that left one contract worker dead and four others injured. In late January as much as 10 liters of hydrofluoric acid leaked from the company’s primary semiconductor factory in Hwaseong City and is believed to have endangered thousands of people who live and work in the area. Police are still investigating whether Samsung violated the law when reporting the incident. Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that Samsung will “fundamentally change” its environmental safety system and revealed plans to launch its own investigation into the cause of the accident.

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A petition asking the Obama administration to reverse a decision made by the Librarian of Congress last fall to deny consumers the right to unlock their phones and bring them to different carriers recently garnered more than 100,000 signatures, prompting a formal response from the government. The White House on Monday came out in support of the petition, noting that consumers ought to be allowed to unlock their devices if they so choose.

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iFixit on Thursday published a list of the best and worst tablets based on their respective repairability scores. While no slate scored a perfect 10, the company found that the Dell (DELL) XPS 10 was the easiest tablet to repair thanks to its accessible case, color-coded screws and labeled cables. At the bottom of the list was Microsoft’s (MSFT) Surface Pro and Apple’s (AAPL) iPad and iPad mini. The Surface Pro scored a 1 out of 10 and was said to be difficult to open without shearing the display cables, while the iPad scored a 2 out of 10 for its excessive amounts of adhesive. The Surface RT didn’t fare much better and scored a mere 4 out of 10, compared to Android tablets such as the Nexus 7, which scored a 7 out of 10, and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, which garnered at score of 8 out of 10.

Kim Dotcom could be packing his bags and heading to a U.S. courtroom in the near future. The accused Internet piracy king has been fighting an extradition motion seeking to move him from New Zealand to the United States to face trial. New Zealand’s Court of Appeal on Friday overturned an earlier decision that required U.S. authorities to hand over evidence it planned to use in the high-profile extradition trial set to take place in August, The Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities will now only be required to provide the defense with a summary of the evidence it intends to use. Dotcom has vowed to fight the ruling, stating that he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

Following the seemingly tepid launch of Windows 8, critics were told to wait until after the holiday shopping season was over to properly assess Microsoft’s (MSFT) newest operating system. The latest monthly numbers from analytics firm Net Applications are in and Windows 8 usage remains low. After two months into the new year, the operating system only accounts for 2.67% of web traffic, a small increase from 2.36% in January. Windows 8 continues to lag behind Windows Vista (5.17%), Windows XP (38.99%) and Windows 7 (44.55%). Last month also marked the end of Microsoft’s deep discount on Windows 8. The operating system now costs a whopping $119.99, making it even more difficult for the company to entice consumers to upgrade.

Best Buy (BBY) on Friday announced that it did not receive an offer from founder Richard Schulze for a proposed buyout. Schulze originally planned to take Best Buy private for $24 to $26 a share last August, however he failed to secure financing and make a bid for the retail giant prior to the February 28th deadline. Talks between the two parties reportedly ended after Schulze and his private-equity investors sought three board seats in exchange for acquiring a minority stake in the company, according to Bloomberg. Best Buy will now continue to focus “on its transformation for the benefit of all of its stakeholders.”

Since the launch of Apple’s (AAPL) iPad mini in the fall of 2012, LCD panel shipments have shifted dramatically to smaller screen sizes. Display Search found that shipments of 9.7-inch screen panels have fallen a whopping 6.1 million units from December, while 7-inch and 7.9-inch panels grew from 12 million units to 14 million. It’s interesting to note that while the iPad mini seems to be cannibalizing sales from the full-sized iPad, shipments of 10.1-inch displays have actually increased since December.

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A Japanese court on Thursday ruled in Apple’s (AAPL) favor in a recent patent infringement lawsuit filed by Samsung (005930). The company had alleged that Apple infringed Samsung’s 3G wireless patents in various iPhone models, however the Tokyo District Court ruled that Apple did not use Samsung’s data transmission technology, The Times of India reported. Apple and Samsung are currently engaged in a patent infringement dispute across 10 countries on five different continents. A Samsung spokesperson said the company was “disappointed by today’s court decision,” but it will continue to “take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights.”

The team behind the $99 Ouya video game console have announced new details regarding the device’s launch date. The Android-powered system is scheduled to begin shipping to customers who preordered the device from Kickstarter on March 28th with a full launch slated to follow sometime this summer. The company also revealed that Kim Swift, a former employee at Value who previously worked on hit games such as Portals and Left 4 Dead, will begin developing an exclusive game for the system along with her team.

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