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MCG Capital Corporation has closed a $23.7 million investment in Oceans Healthcare. MCG’s investment consists of a senior secured unitranche credit facility and revolving line of credit. Oceans Healthcare is a Louisiana healthcare company that specializes in the development and management of behavioral health services.

PRESS RELEASE

MCG Capital Corporation (Nasdaq: MCGC) (“MCG”) today announced the closing of a $23.7 million investment in Oceans Acquisition Inc. (“Oceans Healthcare”). MCG’s investment consists of a senior secured unitranche credit facility and revolving line of credit.

Oceans Healthcare is a Louisiana healthcare company that specializes in the development and management of behavioral health services. MCG’s investment is made in conjunction with the acquisition of Oceans Healthcare by General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital and growth equity firm with $2.2 billion under management. General Catalyst invests in both early and growth stage companies and partners with exceptional entrepreneurs who are building innovative companies and transforming industries.

About MCG Capital Corporation

MCG Capital Corporation is a solutions-focused commercial finance company providing capital and advisory services to middle-market companies throughout the United States. Our investment objective is to achieve current income and capital gains. Our capital is generally used by our portfolio companies to finance acquisitions, recapitalizations, buyouts, organic growth and working capital.

Forward-looking Statements:

Statements in this press release regarding management’s future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects may constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor protection under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “could increase the likelihood,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “is planned,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “will enable,” “would be expected,” “look forward,” “may provide,” “would” or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including those risks, uncertainties and factors referred to in MCG’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the section “Risk Factors,” as well as other documents that may be filed by MCG from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. MCG is providing the information in this press release as of this date and assumes no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Norwegian browser developer Opera has announced its first release of 2013. Opera 12.13 FINAL is a security and stability release with a couple of notable bug fixes. The release, also available as a separate 64-bit build for Windows 64-bit users, comes just 48 hours after Opera 12.13 RC2 was released for public testing.

Bug fixes include a resolution that saw no webpages being loaded on startup if Opera is disconnected from the internet, plus one that led to internal communication errors appearing on Facebook.

Linux and Windows users will also discover a new standalone update checker has been introduced in Opera 12.13 — this is part of a planned upgrade of the entire automatic update system. Windows users will also be pleased to discover that there’s improved protection against third-party hijacks of the default browser search, including a one-time reset.

The update also includes four security fixes: one where manipulation of DOM events could have been used to execute arbitrary code, another that saw the potential use of SVG clipPaths for executing arbitrary code and a third where CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) requests could omit the preflight request that was used as protection as Cross Site Request Forgery (XSRF) attacks. A fourth fix is described merely as a “low severity security issue”.

Opera 12.13 FINAL is available now as a freeware download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Windows 64-bit users may prefer to install Opera 12.13 FINAL (64-bit) instead.

On 24 August 2012, after a thirteen day trial and three full days of deliberation, a California jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on several Apple patents and awarded the American company $1.05 billion in damages. The jury also found that Samsung had willfully stolen design elements from Apple, a damning finding which could have seen the amount of damages significantly increased.

Fortunately for Samsung, following post-trial hearings held over the past few months, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh last night issued a ruling overturning the jury’s willful infringement finding, a move which prevents Apple from being able to seek additional damages.

“The Court cannot conclude that Apple has met its burden to show willfulness by clear and convincing evidence. In light of Samsung’s reasonable, if ultimately unsuccessful, noninfringement defense, Apple simply has not established that there was an objectively high likelihood that Samsung’s actions would constitute infringement,” she wrote in relation to patent D’677, which covers the design of the front of the iPhone. Her view was the same for other patents Samsung was found to have infringed. You can view the PDF copy of the ruling here.

So what does this mean for both tech companies? Well essentially it means Apple can’t ask for any more damages, and although the $1.05 billion award still stands, there’s a very real likelihood this could be reduced in light of the new ruling. It’s good news for Samsung, and bad news for Apple, but the American tech giant still remains the clear winner overall in this particular court battle.

Judge Koh also denied requests from both Samsung and Apple for a new trial.

What’s your view of this latest development? Do you think Samsung has got off lightly here, or do you think Judge Koh was right to overturn the jury on this matter? Comments below.

Photo Credit: JustASC/Shutterstock

Well this is funny. A few weeks ago at CES, the CBC was at CES 2013 and interviewed the President of ooVoo with this statement:

Then, exactly 3 weeks later, ooVoo announces a BlackBerry 10 app and support that seems to go way beyond just BBM integration. Also, if they’re such a niche market, why are you now so excited? Either the CBC misinterpreted the President, or RIM’s dev relations team are amazing at changing companies’ minds about the platform. Either way, it’s a win for upcoming BlackBerry 10 users. Keep reading for the press release.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK and WATERLOO, ONTARIO – ooVoo, one of the largest independent social video chat provider with 66 million registered subscribers, and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced that ooVoo will bring its next-generation HD video communications service to the BlackBerry® 10 platform.

The BlackBerry 10 platform allows the ooVoo service to easily integrate with voice, video and the remarkably fast BlackBerry 10 browser, which will give BlackBerry 10 customers a multiplatform solution for video chat and instant messaging with friends, family and colleagues. With ooVoo, up to 12 contacts can connect at the same time, allowing customers to stay connected and share experiences.

“ooVoo serves more than one billion minutes of video each month to subscribers. By bringing ooVoo HD video chat to the BlackBerry 10 platform BlackBerry 10 customers will be able to video chat and share videos anytime with the millions of ooVoo’s daily active users on virtually any mobile or desktop platform,” said Jay Samit, President of ooVoo.

ooVoo will be integrated into the basic calling functionality in BlackBerry 10, making it easy for customers to flow directly from a voice call to an ooVoo video call. ooVoo’s cloud-based service provides remarkable video quality. BlackBerry 10 customers will be able to chat cross-platform, and take advantage of the social features that ooVoo provides, for free*.

“As a leader in communications, we understand the importance of bringing people together in an innovative way that is easy to use,” said Martyn Mallick, Vice President Global Alliances and Business Development at Research In Motion. “ooVoo will be a fantastic choice for BlackBerry 10 customers looking for a multi-user video communications service that can connect them to their contacts on virtually any computer or mobile device, and we are pleased to work with ooVoo to help bring their service to our customers.”

ooVoo’s innovative Watch Together™ feature allows customers to have group video viewing experiences within video calls. ooVoo’s customers can incorporate video calling with friends and family into their daily lives by, for example, bringing friends along on shopping trips through ooVoo to get real-time opinions on choices, or mommy group members showing the latest happenings – whether milestone or mysterious spots – for opinions in real-time.
Pricing and Availability

ooVoo is a free service, and will be offered for BlackBerry 10 smartphones on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront later this year.

On Thursday, learn more about President Obama’s vision for a 21st century immigration system as the White House hosts the next in an ongoing series of conversations with administration officials on Google+. Starting at 1:00 p.m. ET on January 31, Cecilia Muñoz, the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, will join the latest "Fireside Hangout"– a 21st century take on FDR’s famous radio addresses –  to talk about immigration reform.

The conversation will be moderated by Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and founder of Define American, and Ms. Muñoz will discuss the President’s proposal for comprehensive immigration reform with participants, which will include America Ferrera, Co-chair of Voto Latino's I'm Ready for Immigration Reform campaign and Jim Wallis, President and CEO of Sojourners. You can watch the hangout live on WhiteHouse.gov, or tune in to the White House’s Google+ page on Thursday, January 31 at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Earlier today, the President traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to speak about the need for a fair and effective immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. The President’s proposal for immigration reform has four parts. First, continue to strengthen our borders. Second, crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers. Third, hold undocumented immigrants accountable before they can earn their citizenship; this means requiring undocumented workers to pay their taxes and a penalty, move to the back of the line, learn English, and pass background checks. Fourth, streamline the legal immigration system for families, workers, and employers.

Don’t forget to tune-in on Thursday, January 31 at 1:00 p.m. ET on WhiteHouse.gov, or on the White House’s Google+ page. In the weeks and months ahead we’ll continue to host hangouts with key members of the President’s Cabinet on a range of second term priorities. Follow us on Google+ for updates from the Administration and opportunities to participate in upcoming online engagement events.

Yesterday was my 60th birthday. When I came to Silicon Valley I was 24. It feels at times like my adult life has paralleled the growth and maturation of the Valley. When I came here there were still orchards. You could buy cherries, fresh from the fields, right on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. Apricot orchards surrounded Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, where I flew in those early days because hangars were already too expensive in Palo Alto. My first Palo Alto apartment rented for $142 per month, and I bought my first house there for $47,000. I first met Intel co-founder Bob Noyce when we were both standing in line at Wells Fargo Bank.

Those days are gone. But that is not to say that these days are worse.

For almost 36 years people have asked me when is the best time to start a company and my answer has always been the same: right now. New technologies have yielded opportunities we could never have imagined and along the way lowered the cost of entry to the point where anyone with a good idea and a willingness to take risks has a chance to make it big.

These are the good old days.

And so it is time for me to move forward with my life and my so-called career. As a guy with three sons ages 10, 8, and 6, you see, my devil sperm has provided me the opportunity to work until I die. Or more properly it has determined that I must work until I am at least 76, when my last kid graduates from college. Whichever comes first.

A year ago I forecast my own retirement of sorts and so I’m here today to explain better what that means, because it certainly doesn’t mean I’ll stop working or that I’ll even go away.

Blogging no longer works for me as a career. As I’ve explained before, declining ad rates have led to this being no longer a viable occupation, at least for me. So while I’m not going completely away I have to assume even more duties that will limit, somewhat, my presence here. I hope you’ll understand.

One thing I am about to do is write a book — a very serious book for a very real publisher who has written a very substantial check with the assumption that I’ll deliver 120,000 words a year from today. I have to get it finished soon, you see, before book publishing dies in turn.

Then I have a new startup company — The Startup Channel — which I hope you’ll hear more of in coming weeks. We’re about to close our seed round and if we don’t then I’ll just pay for the thing myself, it’s that good an idea. I’m open to investment proposals, by the way, but only accredited investors need apply, sorry (that’s the law).

I’ll continue to blog as often as I can, though mainly about startups, somewhat like I did a few years ago when my startup was Home-Account.com and the topics were mortgages and economics.

So you’ll see more of me and less. I’ll be working harder than ever. But why not? There’ s plenty still to be done, and I don’t feel a day over 59.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Blocking malware before it manages to infect your PC is relatively easy. Your antivirus package scans the file, email attachment or whatever it might be, recognises the threat, and deletes it before any damage can be done: simple.

Should the malware bypass your protection, though, and manage to install itself, then it’s a very different story. Now the threat may be able to hide from your security software, prevent you running particular programs, reaching certain sites — and that can make removing it a very real challenge. Unless you’ve a copy of RKill on hand to help.

The program is small, simple and straightforward, and has one major purpose: to terminate any malware processes, so they’ll no longer be able to interfere with your security software. Temporarily, anyway. As RKill doesn’t remove the malware, even if it does manage to kill everything in memory, if you reboot the virus will just take control again.

Still, the program can be very helpful in certain circumstances. If your PC has been infected by malware, and that’s stopping you from accessing or properly using security software, then running RKill may be able to delete any malicious processes. And then you can try running a deep scan with your existing antivirus package, or perhaps using some other tool to try and detect and remove the threat (Malwarebytes Chameleon is a great tool for these situations, as we discussed earlier this month).

And there’s no doubt RKill is easy to use. There’s no configuration, no options to consider, not even any interface, really — just launch the executable, and watch as a console window shows you what it’s doing (then a text report gives you a little more detail).

For all this, you should be careful about how and when you use the program, because it can cause problems in itself. In our tests we found RKill would regularly kill processes which weren’t malicious at all, for instance. Most of the time this shouldn’t cause any critical problems, because it’s not touching the application files, so even if your system crashes then you can always just reboot. But it’s hard to say precisely what will happen, so we’d still recommend you save any work and close all open programs before you give RKill a try.

As long as you keep this in mind, though, RKill could prove a very useful tool of last resort. And it’s probably a good idea to add a copy to your portable security toolkit, just so you’re prepared for any malware emergencies.

Photo Credit: bicubic/Shutterstock

All RPGs feature character progression to an extent. Modern RPGs have been streamlining progression, however, as more and more players don’t want to deal with the number crunching and item management involved. One stalwart against this trend of simplification is the strategy RPG. That trend will continue with Nintendo’s latest offering on the 3DS – Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Nintendo released a new trailer for Fire Emblem: Awakening today that details the character progression system in the title. Newcomers to the franchise can learn all about evolving their characters into the ultimate warrior or mage, while seasoned veterans can get a look at the changes being made to the game system in the newest installment.

Fire Emblem: Awakening will be made available on the Nintendo 3DS on February 4. It will retail for $39.99.

As promised last week, EA and Crytek today released the multiplayer beta for Crysis 3. The beta is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

The beta includes two different team-based multiplayer modes – Hunter and Crash-Site. Hunter mode sees two players don a nanosuit and team up to hunt down the other players using stealth tactics. Players killed by the hunters become hunters themselves, similar to the “zombie” modes seen in other shooters. Crash-Site sees players working in teams to attack and defend control points on a map. Both modes support up to 12 players on consoles and 16 on the PC.

Both modes are introduced in a new trailer for the beta test that was released today. The beta lasts for two weeks, ending on February 12, just one week before the launch of Crysis 3 in the U.S.

In September of last year, we brought you word that the European Union was working on a proposal called CleanIT to stop the spread of terroristic content online. The plan called for a number of outlandish proposals such as browser-level surveillance and requiring all Internet users to go by their real names when using online services. Since then, the plan has gone through some changes, including the removal of the more worrisome proposals.

Ars Technica reports that the final CleanIT report has been published ahead of its final conference on Wednesday. The report discusses methods in which the government, private companies and individuals can help reduce the proliferation of terroristic content on the Internet. The report suggests that EU member states work together to decrease the amount of terroristic content online, while Internet companies should “state clearly in their terms and conditions that they will not tolerate terrorist use of the Internet on their platforms.”

So, you’ve seen what the government wants itself and companies to do, but what should you, the model EU citizen, do? The report calls for a reporting mechanism to be built into Web browsers so citizens can flag terrorist content:

Challenge:
While content portals (like social networks, image or video portals) can offer ‘flagging’ opportunities, other platforms (like hosted websites) often lack such a mechanism. Moreover, there is not one international, user-friendly reporting mechanism available to all Internet users, irrespective of which part of the Internet they are using at the moment they notice what they think is terrorist use of the Internet.

Best practice:
A browser-based reporting mechanism could be developed to allow end users to report terrorist use of the Internet.

In essence, the CleanIT group wants to put a little panic button at the top right of your browser that’s for terrorist reporting. If you see a terrorist Web site, you click the button and the URL is sent away to the Internet police. What could possibly go wrong?

As Ars Technica puts it, “plenty” could go wrong. The main concern is that nobody can agree on what constitutes terroristic content. Is it a blog post of somebody using violent rhetoric? Is it the Twitter account of a known terrorist cell? Does anybody even have the right to remove such content, or does it fall under free speech protections? Can people abuse the reporting system to have content removed without due process? These are questions that the group will have to answer at its conference on Wednesday.

The proposals will also face some serious scrutiny at the conference as it has already been reportedly criticized by lawyers, civil rights groups, and even the peer reviewers that evaluated the final report. One of the peer reviewers criticized the CleanIT report saying that it “does not clearly explain how the objective is to be reached… Therefore I have substantial doubts if it possible to achieve the desired objective this way.”

As the peer reviewer points out, stopping the flow of terroristic content on the Web, or any content for that matter, is incredibly difficult. The U.S’s Bipartisan Policy Center said just as much in a report it published last year about terroristic content online. The report said that the best chance of stopping terrorism online is to reduce the supply and demand for such content. Drawing attention to it, which CleanIT’s proposal may very well do, is only going to further the cause of those who use the Internet to recruit and communicate with other terrorists and ne’er-do-wells.

Google took to its public policy blog today to make sure everyone (including governments) know where it stands when it comes to immigration in the United States. The company has discussed this topic in the past on its official blog, and with President Obama speaking about it today, the company has weighed in again.

Google SVP, People Operations Laszlo Bock writes:

Our experiences here at Google and in the tech sector show us that immigrants to the U.S. are a powerful force for entrepreneurship and innovation at every level, from startups to multinational corporations. Immigrants have founded 40 percent of companies in the tech sector that were financed by venture capital and went on to become public in the U.S., among them Yahoo, eBay, Intel, and Google. And according to a recent Kauffman Foundation study, nearly a quarter of the engineering and technology companies founded in the U.S. between 2006 and 2012 had at least one key founder who was foreign-born. In 2012, these companies employed roughly 560,000 workers and generated $63 billion in sales.

Still, at a time when the U.S. economy needs it most, our immigration policies are stifling innovation. The 2013 cap for the H-1B visas that allow foreign high skilled talent to work temporarily in the U.S. was exhausted by June 2012, preventing tech companies from recruiting some of the world’s brightest minds. Additionally, the severe backlog of green card applications has forced many foreign-born, U.S. educated entrepreneurs to look elsewhere to start their businesses. Other countries, like Chile and Canada, have responded with immigration policies and programs that welcome these innovators who have been turned away from the U.S.

Here’s the White House’s press release highlighting the president’s proposals.

Chris Brown has landed himself in the headlines once again for violence, this time after an altercation with fellow entertainer Frank Ocean.

“Deputies talked to witnesses who stated that Chris Brown and the victim were involved in an altercation over a parking space,” read a statement by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. “The altercation allegedly led to Chris Brown punching the victim.”

Now the media is focusing on a photo Brown uploaded to Instagram which features a painting he did of a crucified Jesus. The caption? “Painting the way I feel today. Focus on what matters!”

Brown has garnered several comments on the photo, which are a mix of negative (“You are not MJ, much less Jesus. All the BS that happens to you could be easily avoided by YOU”) and positive (“Stay positive love. Do not listen to negativity. Try & stay closer to God. He will protect you from all of this ❤”).

Since Brown’s arrest following a violent altercation with then-girlfriend Rihanna which left her beaten and bloody, he has gained some vocal supporters and detractors. And while many celebrities would rather not give their opinion on the singer, Justin Bieber recently said he thinks Brown is talented, and that’s what matters.

“His music is really good. That’s what they should focus on: the music.”

Amazon announced its Q4 earnings today, which included a 22% increase in net sales, but a 45% decrease in net income, year-over-year for the quarter. The company’s numbers disappointed Wall Street analysts.

CEO Jeff Bezos said, “We’re now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting. After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast – up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We’re excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle and our ever expanding ecosystem and selection.”

The repot also includes full-year numbers, including a 27% net sales increase, a 22% operating income decrease, and a $39 million net loss (compared to a $631 million net income the previous year.

Here’s the release in its entirety (slightly edited for formatting):

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012.