The launch of a new iPhone model historically has caused “major depreciation" in the resale value of older iPhones, said uSell.com, which calls itself the “leading online marketplace for used gadgets.” With Tuesday’s expected launch of the iPhone 6, uSell.com examined thousands of used iPhone sales on its platform after the launch of previous new models, it said. It found that two weeks after a new iPhone launch, old iPhones lose about 11 percent of their resale value. After four weeks, they depreciate about 15 percent, it said. By the seventh week, an old iPhone will have lost 21 percent of its value, it said. In a bit of opportunism, it suggested locking in a sale price before Tuesday’s iPhone 6 launch, as many platforms like uSell.com offer 30-day price guarantees. That way, “consumers can substantially increase the value of their old phones,” it said. It also suggested a “savvy consumer could lock in a sale price before the iPhone launch, but then wait to ship their old phone until right after they get their new model."

Dish Network added an ESPN Fantasy Football app that delivers fantasy stats directly to customers’ TV screens. It lets customers follow their fantasy players’ performances and other features “all while watching live or recorded TV,” Dish said Friday. The L-shaped layout automatically resizes the viewing screen to display fantasy league stats without obstructing the live game, it said. The app became available on the Hopper Whole Home HD DVR beginning NFL opening weekend.

Six major app developers signed on to build connected car apps through the AT&T Drive platform. The developers are AccuWeather, Glympse, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Streetline and Tribune Digital Ventures, AT&T said Friday. The platform allows automakers and developers to implement their own innovative and customized connected car systems, it said. Apps include one from AccuWeather that warns against inclement conditions, and another from Glympse that allows connected car drivers “to share their dynamic location in real-time with anyone,” AT&T said.

Four technology companies asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s rejection of their proposed $324.5 million settlement over hiring practices, in a Thursday filing (case No. 11-cv-2509). Adobe, Apple, Google and Intel were accused in a 2011 lawsuit of colluding to stop intercompany employee poaching. In filings Thursday, Koh suggested a jury trial to begin Jan 12. The companies have requested a stay pending the 9th Circuit decision.

The FCC opened a docket seeking comments on mobile device theft, supplementing work by the Working Group on Mobile Device Theft Prevention, formed under its Technological Advisory Council. The docket number is 14-143. “The new docket will allow industry and consumers to share information to supplement the efforts of the working group,” said an agency public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/1qlqhHB).

Seiki Digital, the supplier of ultra-low-price Ultra HD TVs, will use Digital Power Station (DPS) audio technology from Bongiovi Acoustics in all its new HD and Ultra HD TVs, the company said Friday. Including the technology is part of Seiki’s “ongoing product development plans to introduce new technology and improve overall quality of its display products,” Seiki said. Seiki and Bongiovi happen to have booths just several feet apart in Hall 25 at IFA. DPS “represents a genuine breakthrough in audio processing,” Bongiovi said. “The unique and powerful digital audio signal processor was developed by a team of audio engineers with more than 40 years of experience in the music and motion picture recording industries. Audio is digitally restored in real time, adding missing harmonics, improving clarity, presence and bass resonance."

Though not an exhibitor at IFA, Microsoft chose the second of two IFA media days Thursday to hold its first global event for Nokia Lumia smartphones since taking over the Nokia Devices and Services business in the spring (CED April 28 p5). The venue, a weddings and conference center called Kaufhaus Jandorf, is seven miles east of the Messe Berlin fairgrounds, so the event’s 10 a.m. start time of the event ensured that no one attending the Microsoft event could also make it to an 11 a.m. Samsung news conference at Hall 7.3 on the IFA grounds. In the end, Samsung devoted its news conference to Ultra HD TVs and home appliances, not to smartphones and tablets (See the separate report in this issue). But Chris Weber, Microsoft corporate vice president-mobile device sales, missed no opportunity at the event to compare smartphones from competitors Apple and Samsung unfavorably with Nokia Lumia devices. The rival products carry “an expense premium,” Weber said. Photos taken in low light with a Galaxy phone “were not worth the PowerPoint space” when compared with similar shots taken with a new Lumia 830 phone, he said. Microsoft hailed the Lumia 830 as an “affordable flagship that delivers high-end innovations such as optical image stabilization and PureView imaging to more people.”

CEA on Thursday hailed President Barack Obama’s appointment of Megan Smith as U.S. chief technology officer and Alexander Macgillivray as deputy CTO. “Smith became known for pursuing next-generation projects such as balloon-borne Internet service, drone delivery and solar-powered automobiles” while at Google, CEA President Gary Shapiro said. Macgillivray is a “well-known advocate for an open and uncensored Internet” based on his time at Google and Twitter, Shapiro said.

Local Corp. settled its patent infringement case against Fry’s Electronics, Local said Wednesday. The terms of the settlement are confidential, it said. Local Corp. sued Fry’s in 2012 for its alleged infringement of Local’s U.S. Patent No. 7,062,453, which covers “'methods and systems for dynamic networked commerce architecture,'” it said. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Central California, said a Local Corp. spokeswoman. “We are very pleased with the outcome of this settlement, and we believe this further validates the significant unlocked value of our robust patent portfolio,” Local Corp. CEO Fred Thiel said. Fry’s didn’t comment.

Qualcomm said its Qualcomm Atheros subsidiary expanded distribution with Arrow Electronics for the U.S. and China and Codico for Europe in an effort to broaden support for QCA4002/4004, its low-power Wi-Fi platform designed for the Internet of Things. Qualcomm Atheros is offering an IoT development kit to enable low-power Wi-Fi in a range of connected products including light bulbs, home automation devices and security systems, it said. The kit includes support for AllJoyn, an open-source software and services framework from the AllSeen Alliance; a hosted mode for designs that pair the QCA4002/4004 with a microcontroller; 21emetry’s IoT platform, ThingFabric, which provides secure communication between devices and the cloud; peer-to-peer connectivity via Wi-Fi Direct; and Green Transmit to dynamically adjust output power, Qualcomm said Thursday.