Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells private island

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells private island for $8 million

Olympia, Washington: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has sold a private island in northwestern Washington state to undisclosed buyers for $8 million, his real estate agent said on Monday.

The 292-acre (118 hectare) Allan Island - not named for its former owner - had been on the market for nine years and sold on Friday for well below its original asking price of $20 million, according to selling agent Wally Gudgell of Windmere Real Estate.

Allen wanted to ensure that the buyers would maintain the essential natural integrity of the mostly undeveloped property, which lies east of the San Juan Island chain about 80 miles (129 kilometers) north of Seattle near Anacortes, Gudgell said.

"It was important to the seller what the buyer was going to do to the island," Gudgell said. "We had some pretty wild buyers looking at it."

The eventual buyers of the property plan to build roughly eight homes on the island and use it as a retreat, said buying agent Tere Foster, also of Windmere.

"They hope to basically live off the grid," Foster said. "It's a 'be-one-with-the-environment' kind of a thing."

The island, which Allen bought in 1992, has one log cabin, a small landing strip and a network of walking trails. Foster said she was not sure whether the buyers would keep the log cabin or raze it.

Samsung invest over Rs 350 crore in electronics plant India

Samsung invest over Rs 350 crore in electronics plant India

Korean major Samsung plans to invest in India about Rs 350 crore within a year to ramp up its electronics production, according to government sources.

"Electronics manufacturing policy has been attractive.

Samsung has again proposed to invest about Rs 350 crore in its electronics plant. This is in addition to about its Rs 400 crore investment made for the mobile phone facility," a government official told PTI.
The company plans to invest this amount in production of flat panel TVs and washing machines, he added.
No comments were received from Samsung on the matter.
Samsung has gained following a government decision in August to impose 36 percent import duty on flat panel TVs that were brought into India as part of baggage by passengers from abroad, the source added.
As per industry body Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association, about 1 million TVs were coming in as accompanied baggage in a year, which constitutes about 20 percent of the total market size of the country.
The production of flat panel TV in the country has grew by about 39 percent in September and 20 percent in October on annual basis.
In July, Department of Electronics and IT cleared Samsung proposal of Rs 406 to invest in handset manufacturing.

BlackBerry cancels phones before release

BlackBerry cancels phones before release The struggling smartphone maker drops plans for two phones, reportedly code-named Café and Kopi, before they have a chance to hit the market.

BlackBerry had to cancel more than its conference this year. Fearing poor sales, the beleaguered company also had to cancel two phones that were still in development.

"The company also made the decision to cancel plans to launch two devices to mitigate the identified inventory risk," reads BlackBerry's third-quarter earnings report published Friday. The Wall Street Journal came across the buried tidbit Monday.

The two phones were code-named Café and Kopi, and BlackBerry had plans to market them as low-cost devices, unnamed sources told the Journal.
The news coincides with BlackBerry's announcement that it's canceling its annual BlackBerry Live conference. The company last week reported third-quarter losses of $4.4 billion and said it sold only 1.9 million smartphones last quarter, a sharp decline from the 3.7 million the previous quarter.