Light Start – Samsung payments, Bugatti’s yacht, and Mission E
Brett Venter
Samsung to pay Apple, at last – $548 million that they might want back later
Apple and Samsung have been in court together for the last few years, though you wouldn’t know it if you weren’t following the patent battle. In public they’re like two people who can barely stand each other being forced to share a room, but in court… Anyway, Samsung have revealed that they will be paying Apple $548 million of the court-ordered cash that the South Korean company owes, upon receipt of a receipt. But there’s a catch. Samsung will be reserving “…all rights to reclaim or obtain reimbursement of any judgment amounts paid by Samsung to any entity in the event the partial judgment is reversed, modified, vacated or set aside on appeal or otherwise, including as a result of any proceedings before the [United States Patent and Trademark Office] addressing the patents at issue or as a result of any petition for writ of certiorari filed with the Supreme Court.” In other words, if Samsung wins out in court at the end of the day, they want their money back. Seems fair.
What would your world be like if you owned a Bugatti yacht?
We’re not going to be buying one of these any time soon but you have the option to have a Bugatti yacht at your command. If you have the stupid amounts of cash for it, that is. But don’t get too hyped up, this trio of watercraft, called the Niniette, actually come from yacht-maker Palmer Johnson who have just licensed the Bugatti name. And used carbon fibre, titanium and the car-maker’s trademark blue. The engines, perhaps thankfully, are not ripped from the supercar. These yachts will hit a top speed of 38 knots (70km/h), a far cry from the insane land speeds. But these tubs will set you back at least 2 million euro (over R31 million) for the 43-foot Niniette and there are 63- and 88-foot yachts available as well…
Porsche’s all-electric Mission E is going into production
You remember that Mission E concept car from Porsche? How soon we forget. The concept is going to become a reality, entering production now and making it to market by the end of the decade, according to an announcement from Porsche. They’ll be creating at least 1,000 new jobs, investing a metric crap-ton of money (700 million euros) in their Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen facility, while building a new paint shop and assembly plant but those aren’t the details we’re after. We’re more interesting in the 500km range and the 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds that the Mission E will be capable of. Oh and the 0 to 80% charge in about 15 minutes thanks to Porsche’s custom-created 800 volt charger. We can has 2020 now?
