Category Archives: Mobile

Recent rulings show tide may be turning against patent trolls

Patent Case Rulings Analysis
Patent trolls’ days of effortlessly rolling into court and collecting licensing fees for products they don’t produce may be coming to an end. The Washington Post reports that courts have been increasingly citing the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case Parker v. Flook, which is the strongest ruling that the court has ever made against patents for abstract ideas such as algorithms. Given that courts are applying the Parker v. Flook precedent more often in software patent cases, it seems that courts are starting to reassert control over what can and cannot be patented. The Post acknowledges that “not every citation of Flook means that a patent was invalidated” but says that “it’s at least a sign that the courts are wrestling with the limits the high court articulated more than three decades ago.”
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Nokia’s 41-megapixel Lumia rumored for July launch

Nokia Lumia EOS Release Date
A new report suggests that Nokia is preparing to launch its 41-megapixel Lumia smartphone, codenamed EOS, this coming summer. According to MobileGeeks, the handset will launch during the second week of July, on or around July 9th. The most recent rumors claim the Lumia EOS would be similar to the Lumia 920, with a polycarbonate case and a 4.5-inch 720p display. The biggest differentiator will reportedly be the smartphone’s 41-megapixel rear camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and Nokia’s new “Pro Camera” application. Earlier reports suggested the Lumia EOS would arrive on AT&T in the United States sometime this summer.
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BlackBerry, Nokia, Apple could be hurt by flood of ‘good enough’ Android phones

Android Cheap Handset Analysis
While strong early sales for the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One have been making news lately, the real story for Android may be how well it does with lower-cost handsets in emerging markets. Barron’s points us to a new note from Nomura Equity Research analyst Stuart Jeffrey, who thinks that many consumers in emerging markets will start upgrading to smartphones primarily because of “the increasing affordability and improved distribution of ‘good enough’ Android phones.” But Jeffrey thinks that what’s good for Android vendors is likely bad for non-Android vendors and notes that Nokia could find the emerging market transition from feature phones to smartphones particularly challenging.

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HTC Desire 600 Announced

HTC has announced a new smartphone, one that seeks to bring some premium features to the top-end of the mid-range market.  Called the HTC Desire 600, it pairs some sweet specs to go with the latest of HTC’s proprietary software on it. Easily the best handset to come out of the Desire range, it runs Android Jelly Bean along with the latest HTC Sense 5 UI.  It comes complete with many of the new features [...]
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Don’t expect Google Fiber to come to your town anytime soon

Google Fiber National Rollout
Google Fiber has taken the United States, and the world, by storm. Google is looking to shake things up with extremely fast Internet speeds available at reasonable prices, while at the same time pressuring traditional industry players to adapt. But millions of Americans will be forced to settle with the mediocre speeds provided by their current Internet service providers, unfortunately. A recent report from market research firm IHS iSuppli suggests that Google is unlikely to deploy Fiber on a nationwide level. The firm believes the cost of building a national Fiber infrastructure will be too high for Google and the company is expected to remain a minor player in the U.S. broadband market.

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Microsoft confirms indie developers can’t self-publish games on Xbox One

Microsoft Xbox One Games
Independent game developers who are excited about selling new games on the Xbox One got some bad news on Wednesday. Microsoft confirmed to ShackNews that independent developers cannot self-publish their own games on Xbox Live Arcade, and are instead required to partner with Microsoft Game Studios or a third-party publisher. The policy is completely different from those employed by Sony and Nintendo. Sony embraces independent developers and welcomes them to create and self-publish content on the PlayStation Network. Microsoft’s upcoming console matches up with Sony’s PlayStation 4 on paper, however there are still some questions that have been left unanswered, such as the ability to play used games.
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Samsung, LG reportedly rush back to LCD TVs after OLED investments fizzle

Samsung LG OLED Investment Failure
OLED television sets are supposed to be the wave of the future, but early OLED adopters LG and Samsung have found that the future can be very expensive. Bloomberg reports that LG and Samsung’s big bets on OLEDs haven’t panned out so far and the two companies “are now pivoting, with plans to boost output of LCD sets to maintain their dominance of the industry.” The issue for both companies has been how to produce OLED TVs at a low enough cost where they become attractive to consumers. Given that LG’s first OLED television released earlier this year costs around $ 10,000, it’s safe to say that consumers are looking for much lower price points before they buy in. In the meantime, Bloomberg says that rival manufacturer Sony has the perfect opportunity to swoop in and grab market share while Samsung and LG retool their plans.
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Vermont puts foot down on patent troll that targeted charities

Vermont Patent Troll Lawsuit
Earlier this year we learned about a patent holding firm that came up with a novel way of making money by threatening to sue small businesses that allegedly infringed upon its scanner technology patents by using scanners in their offices. Yes, you read that correctly: An entity called “Project Paperless LLC” really has been sending out letters to small and medium-sized businesses demanding licensing fees for using office scanners capable of sending PDFs via email. Ars Technica has now provided us with an update to this story and has found that Project Paperless is just one of roughly 40 shell entities owned by a company called MPHJ Technologies that’s been sending threatening letters out to small businesses demanding that they pay $ 1,000 per employee for the right to use office scanners.

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Xbox One supports Ultra HD 4K gaming

Xbox One Ultra HD 4K Gaming
New details continue to trickle out following Microsoft’s Xbox One unveiling. Some new tidbits answer burning questions and some simply raise new questions, but there are also a few key features being discovered that Microsoft was oddly quiet about during its presentation but happily confirmed after the show. For one example, Forbes’ Matt Hickey was able to learn after the presentation that the new Xbox One will indeed support “Ultra HD” gaming at 4K resolution. “The video and interface portions, absolutely,” Microsoft marketing boss Yusuf Mehdi responded when asked whether or not the new Xbox would offer 4K gaming. It looks like games will be 1080p at launch, though 4K games will certainly be available down the road once Ultra HD TV sales pick up.
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Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4: PS4 wins on specs

Xbox One Vs PlayStation 4
With the first round of announcements behind us, the only thing that’s clear in the inevitable and perpetual Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4 battle is that there is no clear winner. Microsoft finally unveiled its next-generation video game console on Tuesday and once all the dust settled, Anandtech’s Anand Lal Shimpi took a step back and laid out everything we know about these two beastly consoles. Lal Shimpi’s analysis is extensive and thorough, as always, but it boils down to this: Based on what we know at this point, Sony has the edge in terms of specs and raw power.

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