What's on my mind this morning? Litigation. Like, Paul Allen suing everybody. And everybody suing Facebook.

What's up with that? Has the economy gotten so bad that the world is looking to lawyers to boost buisness activity?

In other news:

Genzyme rejects Sanofi bid (Wall Street Journal)

Intel to buy Infineon's wireless outfit for $1.4B (CNN Money).

Blackberry gets a stay in India (BBC). Quick -- figure out how to let people spy!

HP authorizes $10B buyback (Bloomberg). Bidding wars, buybacks -- who needs all that cash, anyway.

Government to propose new fuel economy stickers (USA Today). They'll come with pretty new graphics! Yay, now that's what I call bureaucracy at work...

Most people don't want to be located (NY Times). Especially me. Right now.

Google plans pay-per-view films (Financial Times).

Cisco is reportedly trying to buy Skype before its IPO (TechCrunch).

Well, who doesn't like to say, "I told ya so?" I certainly do, which is why I'm pointing out that Intel has settled (again) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), promising to stop using bundled pricing to keep down the competition. On June 24 we pointed out that a variety of sources were expecting a settlement soon, with a minor wrist slap for Intel.

It has turned into a complete non-event. Investors today reacted with a yawn, as Intel shares in afternoon trading were exactly flat, at $20.71. 

In other news:

• BP says it has the oil spill solved (Washington Post). Really. No, this time, you should believe them.
• Apple rumor mills are already cranking up for the fall, with speculation over the iPhone 5 and iPad mini (CNET). Also coming: iPad Double-mini, iPhoneMiniPad, the iPodPad, the iToilet, and the iToldYaSo.
• Why the UAE is done with the Blackberry (WSJ).
• ISM service index expanded in July (Bloomberg). Apparently, there was a surge in sales of Big Macs.
• Billionaires like Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are pledging more money to charity (WSJ).
• Time Warner revenues and earnings increased (TheStreet.com). Just in case it sounds foreign, let's repeat that: Time Warner revenues and earnings increased!
• ADP sees slight uptick in jobs (Forbes). Apparently that Big Mac surge forced McDonalds to hire.
• Priceline and Electronic Arts helped boost tech stocks (MarketWatch).
• Toyota's back with $2.2B in profit (Detroit Free Press). I don't know why I used the DFP link. Mildly sadistic, I guess.
• Senators are taking for-profit education to the woodshed (Reuters). Fifteen schools investigated.

 

There are wide-ranging reports, including this one from the San Jose Mercury News, that Intel and the Federal Trade Commission are in settlement talks and a resolution may be imminent.

Given the history of the FTC and technology companies, this is not surprising. They aim for settlement and wrist-slaps as opposed to brack-beaking fines, unlike the Euro trade commission, whose goal is often to slow down as many American technology companies as possible with gigantic fines. Intel was fined $1.5 billion by the EU last year. 

The basic claim is that Intel used customer rebates and discounts, as well as other tactics, to unfairly compete with competitors AMD and Nvidia.

Gleacher & Company is out with a report today saying they do not expect any big fireworks in the settlement, but rather a consent degree that is already priced into Intel's stock. Gleacher says a settlement could be more of a "tailwind" for AMD than Nvidia.

"The FTC is unlikely to issue a fine in the same way the EU did. It is likely to issue a consent decree, whereby INTC is required to comply with certain practices as outlined by the FTC; non-compliance could result in criminal prosecution," says the Gleacher note, issued by analysts Doug Freedman and Ian Eng.

Overall, Gleacher expects the market to react favorably to a settlement for AMD, negatively for NVDA. It has a favorable opinion of Intel going forward.

I realize I have been commenting incessantly about how fast this year appears to be going but really it is remarkable that it's now 1/12 done. The pressure is on to get things done in 2010. And the pressure is on for the economy to mend, the politicians to stop bickering, and for China and the United States to figure out how to work together. I think this is crucial to world happiness. China-U.S. relations were the big items I saw in the news today. The Apple iPad hype is subsiding like the coed crowd at Fort Lauderdale on the last day of spring break, leaving behind a pile of media trash. I feel quite a hangover, was it worth the party?

• U.S.-China relations hit a bad patch (BBC). They're angry we're selling arms to Taiwan. Which is right next door to them. And which they consider part of China. Can you blame them? Wouldn't this be like China selling arms to Florida? Oh wait... Florida is still part of America... and Miami is already fully stocked up on arms.
• Arms deal chills U.S.-China ties (Wall Street Journal). More on this. Only because, it matters.
• $3.8 Trillion (Bloomberg). Is it just me, or does that seem kinda lika lotta dough?
• I was up late last night reading this New Yorker article on Education Secretary Arne Duncan. A good read. If only I was invited to play basketball with them.
• The first Amazon-Apple publishing skirmishes. It's only the beginning. This should be fun. Competition is good.
• Steve Jobs sh*ts on Google (Apple Insider).  Allegedly says Google's "don't be evil" pitch is bogus and predicts the demise of Adobe Flash. Who's evil now?
• Intel, Micron to announce world's densest flash memory (Computerworld).
• U.S. sets a record in wind energy production (TMCnet). No, they are not talking about Congress.
• Swiss warn UBS bank could collapse (AFP). If you read the fine print, you discover they think this because everybody is picking on them.
• Did you know you can run Windows 7 on an iPad? (PC World) Not sure why this is exciting though, as to me it sounds like drinking decaf espresso.
• How to hate the iPad (ReadWriteWeb). I can't think of a more solid idea for a headline.
• Facebook COO: 175 million people log on every day (TechCrunch).
• How videos are found and consumed online (TechCrunch). You mean, it's not through my mother-in-law's e-mail spam?

Well, that's it for today. A little slow this morning. February feels different.