Apple vs Samsung patent trial kicks off in Australia

Apple and Samsung have been locked in an acrimonious battle across 10 countries involving smartphones and tablets since April 2011, with the Cupertino, California-based company filing a suit in Australia saying the touch-screen technology used in Samsung's new Galaxy 10.1 tablet violates Apple patents.

The quarrel has triggered expectations that some of the pair's $5 billion-plus relationship may be up for grabs. Samsung counts Apple as its biggest customer and makes parts central to Apple's mobile devices.

While any decision in the Australian case is unlikely to have a substantial impact in other jurisdictions like Europe or the United States where the technology giants are also suing each other, the trial proceedings could reshape the legal strategies employed by Apple and Samsung in other countries, lawyers say.

Mark Summerfield, a patent lawyer and senior associate with Melbourne-based law firm Watermark, said "there's no doubt there's a strategic and psychological effect" attached to the Australian case. "Courts in other countries will watch what is happening here," he said.

Apple and Samsung representatives declined to comment on Monday at the hearing.

The Australian case arose in April 2011 when Apple said Samsung copied the design of some of its tablet and smart phone devices. Samsung has since launched a counterclaim in Australia alleging that Apple infringed a number of South Korean technology firm's data-transmission patents.

The lawsuits from both companies are being heard as one case in the Australian federal court.

Samsung won an early round of the Australian litigation when it succeeded in overturning an injunction on the sale of its Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia just before Christmas last year.

But Apple won a heavyweight U.S. round when a judge banned the sale of both Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablet and the Galaxy Nexus phone ahead of a formal trial there. Patent cases are also pending in Britain and Germany.

Summer field said that unless the two companies come to a global settlement, the Australian case is likely to run until well into 2014 as an appeal to any ruling at the end of the current trial "is a 100 percent certainty."

(Reporting By Jane Wardell; Editing by Matt Driskill)

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Nokia lumia 920

The Finnish technology company Nokia has many dreams about the success of its forthcoming Windows Phone 8 handset Nokia Lumia 920. To be true, it is among top smartphone going by specs and Nokia has tried to make it as competitive as Samsung’s Galaxy S3 or Apple’s iPhone 5.

So far Nokia was let down by a great mobile operating system and now Nokia and technology analysts believe that with Windows Phone 8, Nokia’s handicap in this regard is going to be history.

Nokia is all geared to launch not just Lumia 920, but its cheaper Windows Phone 8 sibling Lumia 820 early November. A Wall Street Journal report has published full details of its launch schedule in Europe, though US launch still remains a tightly kept secret.

Nokia has been receiving a lot of positive press lately. There are many reasons for this; the excellent maps application which has led to a deal with Oracle, a new parking app, iPhone 5’s totter, which opens up the passage for Nokia’s comeback etc, , but mostly it has to do with the introduction of Lumia 920.

The Lumia 920 – a successor to the Lumia 900 – has garnered a lot of attention. It is Nokia’s second bet at cracking the smartphone market, and one on which Nokia’s hopes of survival as a handset maker rests. The Lumia 920 is a Windows Phone 8 device. Going by what we have seen of the OS so far, Windows Phone 8 is going to be a huge step up from Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.
The fact that Windows Phone 8 supports higher clock speeds more cores, and higher resolutions, (earlier versions of the OS could only support upto 1.4 Gzh single core chips), has sort of unshackled Nokia. The new Lumia phone, 920 has a dual core 1.5 Ghz processor, and has a IPS  display with 768 x 1280 pixels which gives it a pixel density at 332 ppi. It should be remembered that one of the big reasons that the tech press was not so happy with Lumia 900 was that it had a lower resolution and less processor cores than rivals from Samsung and HTC.

Apart from a refreshed OS, the Lumia 920 will feature many custom apps from Nokia, including an augmented reality  app called City Lens. It would also feature a vastly improved camera. Nokia claims that its camera tech would blow away the competition, especially in low light situations. After a brief fiasco over a faked video, a tech website went to Nokia to test out the claims of a better camera, and lo and behold Nokia’s claims, at least about the low light performance was proved right.

But we have not yet talked of the looks yet. The Lumia 900 is one of the nicest looking phones on the market, with its unibody polycarbonate construction, bright hues, and sharp cuts. Nokia decided not to mess with a good thing, and so the 920 also comes with nearly the same look. Only, this time the finish is glossy (except on one model, the grey one). It has added more colours, and at 4.5 inch across, the screen is bigger. All together, the design looks simply awesome.

A host of other features make the Lumia 920 a compelling device. The ability to charge wirelessly, better visibility under direct sunlight due to PureMotion HD technology, offline maps, and the ability to interact with the touch screen with your gloves on being some of them.

Nokia has priced its flagship device at slightly less than iPhone 5, but higher than Galaxy Nexus 3, the flagship Android device. It is clear from the interest the phone has generated that it will sell much better than Lumia 900. But how well? Well enough to rival the sales of Android phones? Well enough to take Nokia out of the woods? That, we have to wait and see.

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Android Jelly Bean and Windows Phone 8 come with great features

 










Android Jelly Bean and Windows Phone 8 come with great features. Windows Phone 8 handsets will be launched in the market in November intensifying the competition in the market in the days t come
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 is a powerful system, but perhaps it still has work to do to catch up with Jelly Bean. On the other hand it should excel in the tablet space, where Android is still to find purchase despite the success of Nexus 7.

It is difficult to say how Windows Phone 8 will impact the market – the software is not out yet. But going by the previews, there are a few points worth making.

a) Jelly Bean Project Butter is merely playing catch up with Windows 8, which has always been exceptionally smooth and fast system. With dual cores Windows 8 phones should see a performance boost.

b) There is at least one space where Windows 8 should be ahead of Android: the tablet space. Windows 8 just seems more suited and tuned as a tablet platform. What’s more, it is made to interact smoothly with a mouse and keyboard, things that users might want to add if they are looking to turn their tablets into productivity devices.

That said, both systems are quite good.

Interface
It is tough to decide which the better interface between Jelly Bean and WP8. While WP8 offers live tiles, which also doubles up as your notification hub, widget and app shortcut, Jelly Bean offers you the ability to stick whichever widget you want on your home screen. While Jelly Bean is more customizable, WP8 also offers some customization by way of reducing or increasing the size of the tiles on the home screen.

As far as looks go, both are pretty good. Perhaps the WP8 is slightly ahead here, because of the live tiles. They are just better integrated.

Voice Commands
Jelly Bean offers perhaps the best voice assistant on the market, though Siri gives her tough competition. While WP8 also has voice commands, it is not quite as thought out as Google Now, or Siri, nor does it provide as detailed functionality.

Voice calls
Jelly Bean wins here because WP8 still does not support a ‘Do not Disturb’ function or a instant reply through messaging function. Though it has extensive filters.

Video Calls
Jelly Bean has Hangouts. Hangouts work with other Android phones but not on iOS or WP devices. WP8 has Skype integration. Skype has apps on all iOS and Android devices. WP8 wins this hands down.

Messaging
Jelly Bean has an excellent messaging platform which uses Gchat to push messages to other Android devices. And of course there is the traditional message built in too. WP8 is no sucker either. You can send Facebook messages, Skype Messages, and texts from a single window. Here too, it is a tie.

Social
WP8 has Facebook integration from day one. It is very well done. It is one of the best implementation of Facebook on any platform. Now there is Twitter integration too. But Jelly Bean offers more integration. There is Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, Picassa, Google+. This one then goes to Jelly Bean.

Maps
Google maps are excellent. Nokia Maps are awesome. Both have turn by turn navigation. Both allow you offline maps, (though Nokia has a better solution on this one), both have 3D views, though Nokia lacks  Google’s Street View. Result? It is a tie. Let’s move to the next item.

NFC, Wallet
Jelly Bean has NFC, which it uses through Google Wallet. WP8 has payments, passes, coupons everything in one place called – yes you guessed it – wallet. The noteworthy difference is that the security features of the NFC are integrated into the SIM, so Microsoft itself has limited control. This way perhaps it would be able to get more people on board. Here too, WP8 gets some points, but we have to see how many join its mobile payment system.

In short, it is as we said before; both are great systems. Jelly Bean though has more apps , is more customizable, has Google Now, and has better calling facility. WP8 is also promising to beat others in many areas, but we have to wait and see it actually happen.

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Motorola Droid Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD landing October 18

The company locked down pricing and availability for both models. The Motorola Droid Razr HD will run from $199.99 ,while the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD will cost a steeper $299.99. Both devices feature large 4.7-inch HD AMOLED screens and access to Verizon 4G LTE.

Only the Razr Maxx HD will boast the massive 3,300 mAh battery, which powered the legendary Razr Maxx. We hope the updated Droid Razr Maxx HD will turn in a similar run time, which came close to a full 20 hours of call time. Stay tuned for our full reviews soon.

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iPhone5

The good: The iPhone 5 adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S: 4G LTE, a longer, larger screen, free turn-by-turn navigation, and a faster A6 processor. Plus, its top-to-bottom redesign is sharp, slim, and feather-light.

The bad: Apple Maps feels unfinished and buggy; Sprint and Version models can't use voice and data simultaneously. The smaller connector renders current accessories unusable without an adapter. There's no NFC, and the screen size pales in comparison to jumbo Android models.

The bottom line: The iPhone 5 completely rebuilds the iPhone on a framework of new features and design, addressing its major previous shortcomings. It's absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smart phone universe.

 The iPhone 5 is the iPhone we've wanted since 2010, adding long-overdue upgrades like a larger screen and faster 4G LTE in a razor-sharp new design. This is the iPhone, rebooted.

The new design is flat-out lovely, both to look at and to hold, and it's hard to find a single part that hasn't been tweaked from the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 is at once completely rebuilt and completely familiar.

 I've had the chance to use the iPhone 5 for nearly a week, and have been using it for nearly anything I can think of. Is it as futuristic or as exciting as the iPhone 4 or the original iPhone? No. Does this change the smartphone game? No. Other smartphones beat it on features here and there: if you want a larger screen, go with a Samsung Galaxy S3. If you want better battery life, go with a Droid Razr Maxx.

But, if you want a great, all-around, beautifully engineered smartphone that covers all bases, here it is. Just like the MacBook is to the world of laptops, the new iPhone is one of the top three, if not the best-designed, smartphone around. It's better in all the important ways.

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Palm-sized Star Trek tech may be closer than you think

In the Star Trek universe, the tricorder is a handheld device used by Kirk, Spock, and various red-shirted crew members to make detailed scans of unfamiliar planets and even less familiar life-forms. It can be used in sick bay to diagnose intergalactic patients, and in engineering to find which part of the warp core is missing.

One small device that can do all that must be total science-fiction, right? Well thanks to recent advances in x-ray technology, the tricorder might be much closer that you think.

[Hey Tweeters! Like this video? Here's a short code: http://yhoo.it/HBpE23. Don't understand what that last sentence meant? Go find a neighborhood kid and ask them. Orrrr...you could click here.]

When many of us hear of X-rays, the first thing we think of is a visit to the doctor's office.  We're led into a big room, covered with a lead apron while the intended area is shot with those powerful, yet invisible rays.  Or perhaps we think of a trip to the airport, where X-rays are used to check baggage and passengers before boarding a plane.  But aside from that, X-rays tend to be - literally - out of sight, out of mind.

But that may be changing.  The scientists at Tribogenics have found some creative ways to advance a technology that doesn't seem to have evolved much in the past 130 years.  CEO Dale Fox and Chief Scientist Dr. Carlos Camara are taking advantage of an amazing scientific phenomenon similar to what occurs when light energy is created as an adhesive is peeled (try it yourself with some Scotch tape in a dark closet).  They are harnessing that energy to create usable and portable X-rays.

Dr. Camara hard at workDr. Camara hard at work

For us non-scientists out there the technology is quite complicated, but the implications are not.  Since the X-ray source is small, that means devices can be made smaller as well.  Contrast this with the big and bulky machines we're used to seeing.  These new machines are portable enough to carry around in a pocket and focused enough to limit dangerous, unnecessary exposure.  Simply put, the possibilities are endless.  X-ray devices could soon be used to scan virtually anything.  It could suddenly be much easier to find a wall stud, diagnose a bone fracture in the battlefield or even detect the metallic composition in jewelry.  From making everyday tasks easier to literally saving lives, this technology has tremendous potential.

As you can see, it is definitely tiny.As you can see, it is definitely tiny.

The Tribogenics team says they're on the verge of making these possibilities become a reality.  And if they do, they won't just be changing the way we think about X-rays, they might be changing the world too.

Video produced by Will Lerner and Jennie Josephson. Production by Chun Ming Huang, John Boyd, and Mike Baum. Editor: Nolan Cooper. Sound editor: John Adams. Graphics by Todd Tanner, Matt McDonald and Howard Kim for Yahoo! Studios.


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