Posted by: Luxury Homes

Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, has had quite a year. Last December the company he found, and which he currently helms, went public with much applause and bell-ringing, but since that time, Zynga’s stock has gone down in value by as much as 70 percent. Still, as a prominent captain of the online games industry, Pincus can still afford to shell out $16 million to move into the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. He might have had to sell two San Francisco residences along the way, but Pincus now owns Jane Newhall’s former mansion.

null
The house is expansive — reportedly 11,500 square feet — and it has seven bedrooms. Natural light comes into the four-story home through skylights and large wood-paneled windows that overlook the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Imagine sitting down for breakfast every day with views of the Bay. People compare the home’s interiors with those seen in the popular show “Downtown Abbey.” Woodwork of a quality not commonly seen is present throughout the house, and the master bedroom has a brick chimney.

The home had never before been in non-Newhall hands before. Jane Newhall lived in the home with Anita Guerra until her 97th year. She died in July 2011. Pincus will be living there with his wife and children.


Speaking from Ecuador’s Embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, spoke to the media and supporters expressing the need to put an end to the “witch-hunt” against his organization and its staff and supporters.

In facing extradition to Sweden, Assange spoke of the United States and its efforts against WikiLeaks, in saying, “As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of our societies. We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return to and reaffirm the values it was founded on? Or will it lurch off the precipice dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark?”

Assange, while speaking from the embassy, also thanked the Latin American country for asylum and also mentioned that he would not like to give political statements or face a nullification of his status.

Under the watchful eyes of about 100 policemen who has surrounded the embassy just in case Assange attempted to make an escape, he also said that the United States must ‘dissolve its FBI investigation’ but also make a pledge so as to not act against journalists who are trying to shine a light on rich and powerful people. He also thanked the people of the UK, US, Australia and Sweden for their support even though their governments have done otherwise.

In granting Assange asylum, tension between Britain and Ecuador have also escalated, and the British government has clearly stated that it will not allow Assange safe passage out of the country.


The highly publicized trial between Samsung and Apple draws to a close, where both companies have accused the other of infringing on its technology.

While Apple wants $2.5 billion from Samsung for replicating the look and feel of its products such as the iPhone and the iPad as well as its software features, Samsung wants $519 million from Apple for infringement on five of its patents on Apple’s portable devices mentioned above including the iPod.

Both sides went through the last few hours of the allotted 25 hours for clarifications and rebuttals and will now on to the next stage which involves closing arguments from both sides in order to sway the jury of nine in their favor.

Depending on which side the jury rules in favor of, the payouts would amount to millions if not billions apart from sales bans on products and software features that are deemed as infringements.

As of the last day of evidence, Apple had four hours to Samsung’s 46 minutes and the former spent time attacking the credibility of Samsung’s wireless patents while the latter weren’t granted extensions to fight back.

However, the tension that existed during the previous three weeks was not there as laughter prevailed during the testimony which was conducted at a quick pace.

With 100 pages of instructions that the jury and the two sides that have to agree on, it sure looks like that the option to settle out of court might not be ruled out completely, considering the risks involved in losing the lawsuit.