News written by Rich Fiscus (October, 2011)

HP and Best Buy will be running a promotion to liquidate the remaining stock of 32GB TouchPads. They will be offered for $149.99 exclusively to customers who buy a HP or Compaq desktop or laptop computer.

After being discontinued in August and subsequently selling out at bargain basement prices, HP produced one last batch of TouchPads to fulfill supplier contracts. Some of them were offered to HP employees, while others were used to fulfill backorders.

Rather than simply taking a loss on the rest, HP has decided to use them to help drive PC sales.

Although the TouchPad comes with WebOS installed, thanks to the work of CyanogenMod developers, there should soon be a fully functional Android ROM available for it.

Barnes & Noble is expected to unveil the successor to their Nook Color a week from today, on November 7.

The Nook Color is an Android-based tablet marketed primarily as an eReader. Introduced in October of last year, it became the most popular eReader in the world in the first quarter of this year.

According to Business Week, Barnes & Noble has sent out invitations to a media event next Monday.

While the invitation is short on details, sources inside Barnes & Noble previously told The Digital Reader about a major revamp of their stores intended to showcase more than the current 2 Nook models currently available.

The success of the Nook Color was one of the biggest reasons Amazon decided to enter the tablet market with their Kindle Fire and start taking pre-orders more than a month before it was available.

Earlier today Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth announced plans to transform his company's Ubuntu Linux distribution into a universal platform capable of running on any type of device, including tablets and smartphones.

Shuttleworth made the announcement during his keynote address at the Ubuntu Developer's Summit in Florida.

In a blog post afterward, he wrote:

By 14.04 LTS Ubuntu will power tablets, phones, TVs and smart screens from the car to the office kitchen, and it will connect those devices cleanly and seamlessly to the desktop, the server and the cloud.

Unity, the desktop interface in today?s Ubuntu 11.10, was designed with this specific vision in mind. While the interface for each form factor is shaped appropriately, Unity?s core elements are arranged in exactly the way we need to create coherence across all of those devices. This was the origin of the name Unity ? a single core interface framework, that scales across all screens, and supports all toolkits.

Tomorrow Sony is expected to announce a plan to split their TV business into 3 separate divisions.

Sony has been under fire for their TV division's losses. Despite losing money for 8 straight years, Sony executives have insisted, as recently as August, they will not exit the TV business.

According to Reuters, their plan to split the business into 3 divisions will be announced tomorrow. Company spokeswoman Ayano Iguchi told them the goal is to, "make clearer the mission" of each.

The divisions will be LCD TVs, next-generation TVs, and outsourcing. Despite Sony's claim to the contrary, this seems like it might be a precursor to selling portions of their TV business.

They may already be planning to sell Samsung their stake in the joint TV manufacturing venture between the 2 companies, a move they have been trying hard to avoid.

Disney's ABC Television Group is increasing their presence in the US subscription streaming market via new deals with Netflix and Amazon.

The Netflix deal extends an existing agreement which gives Watch Instantly subscribers access to completed TV series like Lost and previous seasons of ongoing series like Desparate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Amazon's deal will match that for Amazon Prime customers.

Where the Netflix deal distinguishes itself is adding access to ABC TV shows just 30 days after they first air.

The Amazon deal, in particular, seems to indicate serious competition for Netflix streaming may be on the horizon. Amazon is one of several companies looking to take advantage of Netflix's weakened position after their recent price increase.

Amazon still has a lot of catching up to do if they want to be a serious competitor for Netflix. In particular, Netflix has a significant lead in streaming clients for smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and game consoles.

Google has announced version 2.0 of Google TV which will be available for Sony TVs next week and Logitech set-top boxes at some point in the future.

Google TV's revamped interface includes a home screen which you can populate with Android apps, better integration with YouTube, and content recommendations.

The selection of Android apps compatible with Google TV will be small initially. Most existing apps won't be compatible because of their reliance on the hardware found on mobile devices.

According to Google's announcement:

Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won?t be large ? apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won?t show up ? but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV.

During their Q3 earnings call today, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told analysts they expect the lifetime value of an iPhone customer to be 50 percent higher than for other smartphone users.

Although the iPhone was not available through Sprint until just after the beginning of Q4, meaning its impact isn't reflected in the Q3 numbers, Hesse and CFO Joe Euteneuer made a point of emphasizing the importance of the iPhone to their operations over the life of their 4 year deal with Apple.

Over that period, Sprint is obligated to spend a minimum of around $15.5 billion according to Eutenuer. This is nearly $5 billion less than was previously rumored.

Hesse predicted:

We expect the customer lifetime value of an iPhone customer to be at least 50 percent, yes at least 50 percent, greater than a typical smartphone user, driven primarily by more efficient use of our network and lower churn.

iPhone users are expected to use significantly less 3G than the typical user of a dual mode 3G/4G device. Even adjusting for more total new customers being added to the network, we believe we'll put less load on our 3G network than we would have if we did not carry the iPhone.

LightSquared, a US company intent on building a nationwide wholesale LTE network, has announced yet another proposed solution for the GPS interference issues which have delayed FCC approval of their service.

LightSquared's problems stem from their proposal to transmit terrestrial mobile data on frequencies normally reserved for satellite communication. The frequency range they would be using is directly adjacent to the frequencies used for high precision GPS.

Because they are terrestrial, rather than satellite based, LightSquared's signals would be significantly more powerful, resulting in them overpowering the GPS signals. This would render GPS units used for applications ranging from aviation to agriculture to military operations effectively useless.

Despite claims in the past that a new antenna design for their towers would alleviate the problem, testing by the government's National Telecommunications and Information Administration resulted in a different conclusion. FCC approval of their service is contingent on NTIA approval.

In September the company announced the development of a filter which could be used to retrofit existing GPS equipment to filter out LightSquared's signal, but only offered to pay for the cost of modifying those units used by the federal government.

A version of PROTECT IP, the bill designed to allow the government or copyright holders to effectively shut down websites accused of IP infringement via blacklisting, has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.

Note: This bill has since been renamed SOPA, or The Stop Online Piracy Act

If you thought PROTECT IP was bad, you're really going to hate the House version, called The E-PARASITE Act. It expands on the language in PROTECT IP, which would already give private IP holders get court orders blacklisting websites and forcing ad and payment providers to suspend their accounts.

E-PARASITE includes language allowing those private entities to demand ad and payment providers cut off alleged infringers without involving the courts at all. What's worse, this right would apply to any website which:

is taking, or has taken deliberate actions to avoid confirming a high probability of the use of the U.S.-directed site to carry out acts that constitute a violation of section 501 or 1201 of title 17, United States Code.

Sony has succeeded in their bid to buy out Ericsson's share of their jointly owned Sony Ericsson handset and mobile device company. The deal will cost Sony $1.05 euros and also include a patent cross-licensing deal.

More importantly for Sony, gaining full ownership of Sony Ericsson will clear the way to integrate the company's devices into Sony's online entertainment network and offer a broad range of Sony owned content from companies like Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment.

According to a statement from Sony Chairman, CEO & President Howard Stringer:

We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment. This includes Sony?s own acclaimed network services, like the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network,

An Australian appeals court has granted Samsung's request to take another look at the preliminary injunction barring sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country as soon as possible.

The ban was ordered 2 weeks ago in Apple's patent infringement case. Previously Apple rejected a last minute licensing agreement offered by Samsung in an attempt to get the tablet on store shelves before Christmas.

According to The Australian, Federal Court Justice Lindsay Foster ruled that the hearing will take place, "on a date or dates to be notified to the parties by the court as soon as practicable."

Meanwhile, Apple is also taking their fight directly to online resellers who continue to sell the tablet to Australian customers. Although the ban only applies to Samsung, it does open the door for Apple to get separate injunctions against individual retailers.

Apple has just been granted yet another patent on basic touchscreen technology in the US. Their latest patent, granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), is for the swipe-to-unlock feature they first used on the iPhone.

This patent is an extension of one granted by the USPTO last year which covered locking devices until an appropriate swipe gesture was performed. This latest patent adds the specifics of Apple's iOS GUI:

• movement of the unlock image from the first predefined location to a predefined unlock region
• wherein the moving comprises movement along any desired path
• wherein the moving comprises movement along a predefined channel from the first predefined location to the predefined unlock region
• further comprising displaying visual cues to communicate a direction of movement of the unlock image required to unlock the device
• wherein the visual cues comprise text
• wherein said visual cues comprise an arrow indicating a general direction of movement
• A portable electronic device... wherein the unlock image is a graphical, interactive user-interface object with which a user interacts in order to unlock the device; and to unlock the hand-held electronic device if the unlock image is moved from the first predefined location on the touch screen to a predefined unlock region on the touch-sensitive display

A Joint Committee of MPs and Lords in the UK has issued a report recommending website operators get additional protection from liability for content posted by their users.

Under current UK law website operators are considered secondary publishers of information posted by people using their services. That is, if you operate a forum, social media site, or other service where users may contribute content, and someone writes something defamatory, you can be held liable for its publication.

The committee is recommending changes to those rules which would create a notice and take down process. Any website operator who complies with the procedure would be immune from liability as a secondary publisher.

Under their proposal, 2 sets of rules would be created. One would apply to content posted by someone under their real name, while the other would cover content posted anonymously or under a pseudonym.

For the first category, where the poster could be readily identified, their proposal would require a notice to be attached to the content:

a) Where a complaint is received about allegedly defamatory material that is written by an identifiable author, the host or service provider must publish promptly a notice of complaint alongside that material. If the host or provider does not do so, it can only rely on the standard defences available to a primary publisher, if sued for defamation. The notice reduces the sting of the alleged libel but protects free speech by not requiring the host or service provider to remove what has been said; and

Read more...

A biography of Steve Jobs, set to go on sale Monday, goes into detail about his near obsession with Android.

Walter Isaacson worked on the book for more than 2 years, interviewing Jobs multiple times, as well as numerous friends, family members, colleagues, and competitors of the visionary, and sometimes abrasive, Apple co-founder.

According to an AP article on the book, it paints a picture of Jobs as a man dedicated to destroying Android. He described Android as, "a stolen product."

Jobs recounted turning down an offer from Google's Eric Schmidt to settle an Android related lawsuit. He told Schmidt:

I don't want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want.

Picasso had a saying. He said, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal," and we have, you know, always been shameless about stealing great ideas.

It appears AT&T may be have been the biggest beneficiary of a record iPhone launch last weekend. Sales of the new Apple smartphone topped 4 million units in the first 3 days.

Yesterday AT&T said they had already activated more than 1 million iPhone 4Ses already. The announcement came during their quarterly earnings call.

Although they haven't released specific numbers, Sprint reported record sales less than half way through the day the new iPhone went on sale.

Verizon also hasn't released sales figures, but we should know more after their earnings call which is scheduled for today. Don't be surprised if those numbers are less impressive.

Unlike AT&T, who was the exclusive US iPhone carrier until last February, Verizon sold their first iPhones earlier this year. That should translate into fewer immediate upgrades from the iPhone 4, and obviously none from earlier iPhones.

That may, however, be a good thing for Apple. It could mean steadier US iPhone sales through next year, with Verizon customers upgrading later.

A New Mexico software company is suing Research In Motion for trademark infringement over the name of their new mobile OS.

BASIS International develops and sells a programming language called BBx. BBX is also the name chosen for the new RIM OS which merges their older BlackBerry OS and more recent QNX.

On the surface, it seems like BASIS' trademark infringement claim is shaky. Trademark protection isn't universal. It extends only to products which compete in the same market.

BASIS Chairman and CEO, Nico Spence claims the two products are, in fact, in the same market. In a statement released the day after RIM's announcement, he said:

We have thousands of product licenses installed worldwide with the 'BBX' prefix that run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other proprietary UNIX OSs from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and SUN, with mobile clients running Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Mobile. We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement.

Since yesterday the web has been full of reports that Samsung may have become the top smartphone manufacturer in the world. Before you buy into the hype, there are a few things you should consider.

Without a doubt, Samsung is the fastest rising star in the smartphone market. Their Galaxy S II Android phone has generated more buzz than any non-iPhone handset in recent years.

Now The Wall Street Journal is reporting Samsung shipped 20 million smartphones in Q3, beating both Apple and Nokia. That's impressive to be sure, but does it really make them the market leader?

The most obvious problem with that assumption is that shipments aren't sales. Based on Apple's recent financial report, we know they sold just over 17 million iPhones in the same period.

If Samsung had actually sold more smartphones than Apple in the third quarter, it seems likely they would have said so. Since they haven't made such a statement, it's probably safe to conclude that's not the case.

Google Senior Vice-President of Social Business Vic Gundotra told an interviewer at the Web 2.0 Summit that support for pseudonyms in Google+ is coming at some point in the future.

In July, at about the same time Google+ reached 20 million users, the company began suspending accounts where people weren't using their real names as Google+ user IDs.

They defended this by pointing out their terms of service specifically require users to go by their real names:

To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of those would be acceptable.

It was largely an issue of development priorities. It's complicated to get this right. It's complicated on multiple dimensions. One of the dimensions it's complicated on is atmosphere. You know if you're a woman and you post a photo and Captain Crunch or Dogfart comments on it, it changes the atmosphere of the product. And so we wanted the product to be a product where you could discover people you know. And they're not called Captain Crunch. They're called Lisa Adams, and that's how you discover the people that you know.

Read more...

France's 3 strikes law to combat file sharing may not be making any more money for musicians, but it has, apparently been used to line the pockets of some online scammers.

The law, commonly known as HADOPI, the name of the agency tasked with policing the Internet for copyright infringement, involves sending out email notices to suspected infringers.

The scam took advantage of that by sending out notices which appeared to be legitimate but contained a link to a phishing site apparently setup by hacking the server of a legitimate online retailer. The page, which has since been taken down, instructed visitors to either send text messages or place a phone call to premium numbers, resulting in a payment to the scammers.

According to TorrentFreak, the SMS numbers have been identified as the same ones used in another scam.

This is the second online scam which has taken advantage of the HADOPI program. Just over a year ago a phishing scam was uncovered which used fake notices instructing the recipient to visit a website to pay a fine.

In Windows 8, Microsoft continues to refine the Start Menu search feature first introduced in Windows Vista according to the latest entry on the Building Windows 8 blog.

In Windows 7, Start Menu searching was expanded to include Control Panel apps and email messages and contacts. Since few email developers added support for this functionality, Windows 8 is dropping that feature.

What you will get from the Start Menu Search in Windows 8 is the option to search for Apps, Settings, or Files. Also, unlike Windows 7, the results will all be displayed in the Start Menu, instead of having a 'See more results' option to see the complete list in Windows Explorer.

A number of iPhone 4S buyers have complained that the screens on their new phones don't look right. They say the displays appear washed out and have a yellowish tint.

Based on posts from Apple's official support forum, the problem appears to be most common on black iPhones, although some people also report seeing it on white models as well.

Last year, many early iPhone 4 buyers had issues with yellow patches on the display, which Apple explained was because they had been put together very recently and the glue needed time to finish drying.

The problem this time around appears to be different, as it affects the entire screen, not just small areas.

While some people are suggesting this is an intentional calibration change on Apple's part, that wouldn't explain why some iPhones don't seem to have the problem at all and others appear to have either a blue or green tint, rather than yellow.

Others have speculated it's a result of Apple getting displays from multiple manufacturers. It may be that the screens are the component which was causing the rumored production shortages last month.

In less than a year, the Galaxy S II has taken the world by storm. It was the first in a long line of so-called iPhone killers which appeared to live up to the title.

But along with all the hype and rave reviews came a campaign of lawsuits from Apple asking for Samsung phones and tablets running Android to be banned in nearly every major market in the world.

While most companies use their patents to extract licensing fees from their competitors, Apple has made it clear they have no intention of allowing other companies access to theirs.

Clearly that has led to a shift in strategy from Samsung. According to Korea's Yonhap News Service, Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung's mobile division, told reporters his company took great pains to ensure the Galaxy Nexus doesn't infringe on any Apple patents.

On Monday, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, US Senator Ron Wyden was interviewed by Jon Heilemann of New York Magazine about a range of legislative issues, including his opposition to the PROTECT IP Act.

PROTECT IP is a bill which would mandate the creation of a domain name blacklist based on accusations from law enforcement and private companies accuse of copyright infringement. ISPs would be required to use DNS filtering to prevent their customers from reaching those domains.

In part, PROTECT IP is simply pointless since it's trivially easy to simply change your computer's DNS settings to route around the affected servers. At the same time, it would set a dangerour precedent by giving private companies law enforcement powers and dealing a significant blow to due process.

Wyden is no stranger to laws which pit content producers against Internet services. In the 1990s he was one of 2 US legislators to get language inserted in Communications Decency Act to shield Internet service providers from liability for their users' actions.

Last year it was thanks to Wyden that a bill nearly identical to PROTECT IP called COICA (Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeits ACT) was killed. Just last week, it was Wyden who sent a letter to President Obama demanding the ACTA agreement be submitted to the Senate for ratification since it is effectively a treaty.

Google is working to add some additional privacy in the form of a secure search page.

As they roll it out, people signed into Google accounts will find themselves redirected to an SSL encrypted page for searching by default. If you are not logged into a Google account, you will still be able to access their secure search by typing https://www.google.com into your browser's address field.

Make sure you include 'www' in the address or else it will send you to the normal (unencrypted) Google search.

This is intended primarily as a measure for people using unsecured Internet connections, such as public Wi-Fi, where your communications are particularly susceptible to being intercepted without your knowlege.

However, it will also affect what information is available to websites you visit via Google searches.

According to Evelyn Kao, product manager at Google:

When you search from https://www.google.com websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools.

A promotional video released for Google and Samsung's new Galaxy Nexus smartphone seems to confirm it will be coming to Verizon some time soon.

The Galaxy Nexus will be the first phone to run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and is expected to be available some time next month.

At one point there was speculation that Verizon might be the only US carrier to get the new phone, but thanks to the announcement of both LTE and HSPA+ versions, it could very well come to AT&T and T-Mobile eventually.

Sprint is currently the only US carrier completely out of the running as they bet on WiMAX as the next generation data standard and won't have their replacement LTE network in place for quite some time.

What we can tell for sure from the video is that a Verizon version is in the works for sure. At one point, when the new notification screen for Android 4.0 is shown, you can clearly see that the phone is a Verizon handset.

Watching an interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, you could easily get the impression Google is struggling to compete in cloud computing and smartphones.

According to Ballmer, when it comes to the competition for enterprise cloud services, Microsoft is "Winning, winning, winning, winning, winning."

You certainly wouldn't guess Google's smartphone OS was a market leader based on his comments. He said Android is too complicated and the handsets too cheap.

"You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows phone," said Ballmer, "and I think you do to use an Android phone." He called Android handsets "inconsistent," and complained that they "don't look alike." He added, "the cheapest phones on the market this holiday will still probably be the Android phones - the very rock bottom cheapest."

And how does Windows Phone stack up? According to Ballmer it will attract consumers because the phones will look good and feel nice in your hand. But primarily, he says, they will succeed because Windows Phone is "putting your information front and center," instead of "seas of icons."

Bill Gates is expected to be testifying in another antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over Windows. Although the lawsuit filed by Novell only dates back to 2004, the allegations go all the way back to the mid-1990s.

In their suit, Novell accuses Microsoft of deliberately misleading competing software vendors to reduce the competition for software on computers running Windows 95 and then pressuring OEMs to bundle Microsoft Office, rather than WordPerfect, with new computers.

Specifically, they say Microsoft conspired to kill the WordPerfect productivity software Novell had purchased for nearly a billion dollars. Less than than 2 years after buying it, Novell sold WordPerfect to Corel in 1996 for just over $100 million.

In his opening statement yesterday, Novell lawyer Jeff Johnson cited a number of Microsoft emails about Windows 95 development, including some from Gates, and alleged, "Microsoft seriously crippled Novell's ability to produce a competitive product in a timely manner."

Now that the iPhone 4S has been released it seems the never ending cycle of iPhone rumors is spinning up again.

Speculation is already flying about the next iPhone, which was supposedly Apple founder Steve Jobs' last project for the company.

According to CNET, multiple sources have indicated Jobs intended the iPhone 5 to be the major overhaul to the platform many people expected this time around, including a larger screen and LTE support.

It will, reportedly, be redesigned on the outside and be introduced at Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) next year.

The idea of Apple introducing a new iPhone so soon seems a little strange, but keep in mind every iPhone launch before this year has been at that event. In fact, it's entirely possible the timing of this year's iPhone launch had more to do with manufacturing difficulties than anything else.

Keep in mind this is nothing more than rumor and speculation for the moment, but of course, given Apple's policy of strict secrecy, that's about all we can expect until a new iPhone is officially announced.

Viacom's appeal of their lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement started today with oral arguments from both parties.

They are appealing a summary judgement issued last June in which a federal judge sided with Google (owner of YouTube) on the key point of what constitutes "red flag" knowledge of copyright infringement. Under the DMCA, a service provider is responsible for taking down content which they is obviously infringing due to so-called red flags.

In the 2010 decision, Judge Louis Stanton found that Viacom's reading of the law in a way that would make YouTube responsible to determine which videos are infringing didn't match either the legislative history or judicial precedent of the DMCA. General knowledge that copyright infringement is occuring, he said, does not constitute a red flag.

Viacom lawyers took up that argument again today. Their arguments are essentially built on around comparing YouTube to Grokster.

Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless have officially unveiled the DROID RAZR Android smartphone. It will be go on sale to Verizon customers next month for $299.99 with a 2 year contract.

It will run Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) and have a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a 4.3 inch Gorilla Glass display. In addition, it has an 8 megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording capability and a front facing camera for video chat.

The two companies are emphasizing the phone's thin profile - just 7.1mm, Kevlar body, and water resistant coating.

"DROID RAZR by Motorola is a testament to the innovation and design possibilities that stem from a strong partnership between Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless," said Sanjay Jha, Chairman and CEO, Motorola Mobility. "We set out to design the best smartphone on the planet and delivered DROID RAZR which is thinner, smarter, stronger than any device on the market."

A more interesting aspect of the DROID RAZR is an array of accessories which will be available for it, including a number of different docks and a wireless keyboard and trackpad.

The docks include 2 different laptop-style units, one with a 14" screen and another with a 10" screen. There will also be docks designed for connecting the phone to external displays (including HDTVs) and speakers, as well as a vehicle navigation dock for mounting it in a car.

HTC's patent claims against Apple in the US have been dealt a blow by the International Trade Commission. An ITC judge released a preliminary decision finding that Apple devices do not infringe on HTC patents.

HTC was asking for a ban on importing Apple devices. The complaint was in response to Apple's own patent lawsuits against the Taiwanese handset maker.

In a statement to Rueters, HTC general counsel Grace Lei downplayed the decision. She wrote, "This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings. We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property."

The decision will not be final until it is reviewed by the full commission in February. It does not cover the additional complaint from HTC regarding the patents acquired from Google earlier this year.

This decision may actually end up being irrelevant thanks to HTC's purchase of S3 Graphics earlier this year. S3 already has already won a preliminary judgement against Apple, which is also waiting to be heard by the commission.

Apple appears to be having problems meeting demand for the iPhone 4S, at least for Apple Store customers.

Rumors of production problems started circulating last month. It was even suggested they might result in the new iPhone not being available until the end of October.

Although the iPhone 4S launched on schedule last Friday, there are signs those rumors may have been accurate.

If you are ordering an iPhone online, the process is the same as always. But if you plan to buy an iPhone 4S from an Apple Store, you will need to reserve it the night before from Apple's website.

A US legislator is asking Amazon to answer some questions about potential privacy implications related to their Kindle Fire tablet.

Representative Ed Markey sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking for detailed information about data the company plans to collect via the Kindle Fire's Silk web browser. Silk will use a new Amazon cloud service to speed up browsing.

In order to make that service to work, Amazon will collect data on user behavior in order to make an educated guess about what content they may request next.

In a New York Times article which sparked Markey's interest, Jenna Wortham pointed to concerns being voiced by some technology experts about the implications of Amazon's data collection. She mentioned comments by Apple's Chris Espinosa, who wrote:

People who cringe at the data-mining implications of the Facebook Timeline ought to be just floored by the magnitude of Amazon's opportunity here. Amazon now has what every storefront lusts for: the knowledge of what other stores your customers are shopping in and what prices they're being offered there. What's more, Amazon is getting this not by expensive, proactive scraping the Web, like Google has to do; they?re getting it passively by offering a simple caching service, and letting Fire users do the hard work of crawling the Web. In essence the Fire user base is Amazon's Mechanical Turk, scraping the Web for free and providing Amazon with the most valuable cache of user behavior in existence.

A new service for musical acts will help them sell merchandise, tickets, and music downloads through YouTube.

In their announcement, YouTube was vague about the details, but did say it will be rolled out around the world in the next few weeks.

On the official YouTube Blog, they wrote:

Fans will be able to buy artists' merchandise, digital downloads, concert tickets and even unique experiences like meetups. These features are made possible through affiliates like Topspin for merchandise, concert tickets and experiences; Songkick for concerts; and iTunes and Amazon for music downloads.

RIM will be giving away free apps with a total value of more than US $100 to BlackBerry owners affected by an outage of the the company's services for more than 3 days last week.

Unlike other smartphone makers, RIM's business is built in large part around their own service offerings which include messaging and email servers. They primarily cater to businesses, which is why they were the number 1 smartphone platform in the US before the iPhone came along.

In a statement, RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said:

We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We've worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we're committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.

• SIMS 3
• Bejeweled
• N.O.V.A.
• Texas Hold'em Poker 2
• Bubble Bash 2
• Photo Editor Ultimate
• DriveSafe.ly Pro
• Drive Safe.ly Enterprise
• iSpeech Translator Pro
• Nobex Radio Premium
• Shazam Encore
• Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant

More than 4 million of the new iPhone 4S have been sold already according to Apple. This matches a prediction on Friday by Bloomberg.

While sales have beat every other iPhone launch, it's important to keep things in perspective. The iPhone 4S was launched simultaneously in 7 countries, compared to just 5 for the iPhone 4.

In the US, this is also the first time the iPhone has launched on 3 of the 4 national carriers compared to just AT&T for previous models.

Apple is arguably facing bigger obstacles to selling iPhones today than ever before. Besides increased competition from other handset makers, the number of people who already have a smartphone has also increased dramatically.

In the past, there was an overwhelming public perception that Android vendors were playing catch up with Apple. Increasingly, people are questioning whether Apple is falling behind in areas like display size and processor speed.

Those may be valid concerns, but keep in mind Apple is still competing primarily with themselves. Any other company would be thrilled with the kind of success the iPhone 4S has had to this point.

An injunction barring Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia doesn't mean consumers can't get their hands on one.

In a story reminiscent of the German Galaxy Tab ban handed down earlier this year, an Australian court granted Apple's request for an injunction preventing Samsung from selling the tablet. And just like in that case, consumers still have access to the tablet thanks to a steady supply coming from outside the country.

According to the Australian portal for GetPrice, a shopping comparison service, Australians can buy the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from more than a dozen different online sources.

Meanwhile, Samsung continues to file what can only be described as nuisance lawsuits against Apple. These suits, requesting the iPhone 4S be banned, revolve almost entirely around wireless patents which are covered by FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) licensing obligations.

A Dutch court has rejected Samsung's request for an injunction barring sales of the iPhone 4S for patent violations.

Samsung filed for the injunction in reaction to Apple's barrage of patent lawsuits over various Galaxy smartphones and tablets around the world. Unlike Apple's lawsuits, Samsung's claims revolve around technology essential to mobile phone communications.

Ultimately, that was the reason for the judge's decision. Owners of patents for technology essential to mobile standards are required to offer FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) licensing terms to any and all manufacturers.

According to AFP, a panel of judges found that Samsung is "obliged to grant a licence to Apple according to the terms of FRAND for the patents."

Ultimately, this is the same decision expected in other jurisdictions where Samsung has filed similar lawsuits. In fact, lawsuits of this type are exactly the reason FRAND licensing exists.

Apple has made some changes to the AppleCare extended warranty plan for the iPhone 4S which you should understand before you buy one.

The new plan is called AppleCare+, and is the only extended warranty option available from Apple for the iPhone 4S. This is separate from any replacement plan which may be offered by your carrier.

The primary reason you will need to understand how AppleCare+ works before buying your phone is you can't wait until later to purchase it.

Every new iPhone comes with a limited warranty on the hardware for 1 year and 90 days of technical support. Previously you could purchase AppleCare for your iPhone any time during that first year.

With the iPhone 4S you won't have that option. AppleCare+ must be purchased with the phone.

There is an exception if you pre-ordered the iPhone 4S. In that case, you will have until November 14 to buy an AppleCare+ plan for your new iPhone by calling 1-800-275-2273.

Not every mobile provider will offer AppleCare+ plans to subscribers. An Apple rep told PCMag.com you will still be able to buy a plan directly from them, but you should make sure not to wait until after your phone is activated.

The FCC has sent a letter to AT&T asking for more details about the number of US jobs which would be created and eliminated by their proposed buyout of T-Mobile USA.

AT&T, the number 2 wireless carrier in the US, is attempting to buy the number 4 carrier from corporate parent Deutsche Telekom. The deal is opposed by the Justice Department on antitrust grounds.

In their letter, FCC commissioners complain that AT&T has "produced almost nothing" in response to their request for details about the affect on jobs in both operations.

Certainly there is reason to be concerned about the matter. AT&T has made a big deal about planning to bring 5,000 call center jobs back to the US which had previously been outsourced to other countries.

At the same time, one of their promises to shareholders was a savings of $10 billion in support costs, which includes call centers, over the next 3 years.

The obvious question, then, is how they plan to save money while increasing payroll. That appears to be exactly what the FCC is looking to answer.

The bidding for Hulu has ended with the company's owners deciding not to sell.

The saga of Hulu's quest for a buyer began in June with an unsolicited offer from Yahoo. In the weeks that followed, other companies, including Google and Amazon got involved.

Eventually Yahoo dropped out of the deal, thanks to the recent corporate shakeup which resulted in the firing of CEO Carol Bartz over the phone.

When the dust settled, the 2 top bidders were reportedly Dish Network and Google. Google offered the most money, but demanded longer guarantees for content than Hulu's controlling owners, News Corp, Disney, and Providence Equity Partners, were interested in.

Dish Network was willing to agree to their terms, but offered significantly less money. In the end, both offers were rejected.

Today a statement was released on the official Hulu blog stating:

Samsung will not be selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia in the foreseeable future now that Apple's request for an injunction barring sales of the the tablet has been approved.

The injunction is the latest development in Apple's patent lawsuit filed in April over touchscreen technology. Samsung had agreed to delay the Australian launch of the tablet until Justice Annabelle Bennett ruled on the matter.

The ruling, which prohibits sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 pending a conclusion to the lawsuit, comes less than 2 weeks after Samsung offered Apple a temporary settlement. That offer was rejected last week.

While not the end of the lawsuit, it does appear to have put an end to Samsung's plan to sell the tablet in Australia before Christmas.

Samsung seems to be hoping to change the focus to their own lawsuit against Apple, whom they accuse of violating wireless communications patents. According to the Sidney Morning Herald, a statement from Samsung said:

Senator Ron Wyden has sent a letter to President Obama protesting the signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) as an executive agreement.

The secretly negotiated intellectual property agreement was signed by representatives of 8 countries, including the United States, on October 1. A few parties to the negotations, including the European Union, have yet to add their signatures.

In his letter, Wyden accuses the president of overstepping his authority by entering into an agreement which covers international trade and intellectual property. He explains that authority for both are explicitly assigned to Congress by the US Constitution.

His criticism also extends to the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), who negotiated ACTA on behalf of the US, for misleading statements about its legality.

He wrote:

The USTR long asserts authority to enter ACTA as a "sole executive agreement" with no congressional authorization or approval. In its latest explanation on this topic, the ISTR stated:

ACTA is consistent with U.S. law and does not require the enactment of implementing legislation. The United States may therefore enter into and carry out the requirements of the Agreement under existing legal authority, just as it has done with other trade agreements.

Read more...

Google+ may end up being just another failed experiment in social networking if recent traffic figures are any indication.

Even before the beta of Google+ opened to the public last month, there were signs of trouble. Traffic had already been stagnant since July for the invitation-only version of the service.

There was a traffic spike of more than 1000 percent after Google+ opened to the public, but it wasn't clear whether that would last.

It's one thing to generate interest for a new product. It's another entirely to truly compete with a market leader like Facebook. Even with their September gains, Google+ wasn't even a blip on Facebook's radar.

According to Chitika, an advertising analytics firm, that spike was short lived. In fact, it appears the influx of new users had absolutely no long term affect on traffic, which later returned to a level similar to the private beta phase.

Motorola Mobility and Verizon will be holding a press event next week in New York City where they may be unveiling 4 new products.

A new video on Motorola's official YouTube channel includes a comment promising "Four reasons to get excited." The video is ambiguous about nearly everything but the date of the presentation scheduled for October 18.

One of the images in the video, a razor blade, seems to hint at one of the devices to be officially announced. Pictures of the Droid RAZR, also rumored to be called the Droid HD or Droid Spyder leaked last month.

A primary focus of the event could be Motorola's upcoming tablet, the Xoom 2. Like the Droid RAZR, pictures of a tablet believed to be the Xoom 2 have appeared on the web recently.

The Xoom 2 is believed to be 9mm thick, compared to almost 13mm for the original version. That would explain the video's allusion to something thinner.

According to research set to be published in the November-December issue of Marketing Science, DRM drives some consumers to piracy but doesn't affect those who were already predisposed to it.

Dinah Vernik from the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University along with Devavrat Purohit and Preyas Desai of Duke's Fuqua School of Business came to a number of conclusions which directly contradict entrenched positions in the entertainment industry.

If you have ever read or heard a statement from an executive at a record label, movie studio, or book publisher, you're likely familiar with the set of assumptions:

1. Piracy is the biggest threat to sales
2. Deterring piracy will mean higher profits
3. DRM restrictions reduce piracy

Yesterday FCC Chairmain Julius Genachowski outlined a plan he says will increase broadband Internet penetration in rural parts of the US, delivering service to 18 million people.

The plan he is proposing would involve major changes to rules for the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Intercarrier Compensation (ICC) system, both of which were created to subsidize rural phone service.

Explaining his position on the current USF rules, he said:

USF is outdated. It still focuses on the telephone, while high-speed Internet is rapidly becoming our essential communications platform not only for voice, but for text and video, and is an indispensable platform for innovation and job creation.

Like USF, the current ICC system is unfair to American consumers: It forces hundreds of millions of consumers across the country to pay higher bills to subsidize monthly local telephone bills as low as $8 for other consumers. The current ICC system is also creating substantial uncertainty and widespread disputes, which are being fought in courthouses and state commissions throughout the country, about the proper treatment of Voice over IP traffic for ICC purposes. And ICC hasn't adapted to technology and marketplace changes, creating competitive distortions and loopholes that companies have exploited in devious ways to game the system.

Samsung and Google have postponed the much anticipated unveiling of the new Nexus Prime smartphone.

Although they were a little vague on the details, a statement from Samsung indicates they have cancelled the entire Samsung Mobile Unpacked event where the new phone was set to be unveiled in San Diego. Based on its wording, most people are speculating Samsung felt it would be inappropriate to have a big product announcement so soon after the news of Steve Jobs' death.

Samsung's statement on the postponement reads (via BoyGeniusReport):

Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We would ask for the understanding of our clients and media for any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.

Sony's offer to buy Ericsson's stake in the two companies' joint handset operation for a reported $1.3 billion may hint at plans for smartphone content offerings.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications was founded 10 years ago as a joint venture between the two companies, combining the handset divisions from both. They are currently engaged in scheduled negotiations over the company's future.

One analyst believes Sony's intent is to create better synergy with their other divisions. According to Reuters, JP Morgan's Yoshiharu Izumi said, "Up to now Sony's products and network services have all been separate. Unifying them would be positive."

Sony is the only company in the world to be a major player in nearly every aspect of movie, television, and music production, as well as selling nearly every type of device you might use to consume their content.

Despite that apparent advantage, they have generally done a poor job of creating synergies between those different divisions for content distribution. For example, Sony lagged significantly behind Microsoft in offering movies and TV shows through their game consoles.

An Australian judge may rule on Apple's request for a preliminary injunction barring sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 next week.

Since April of this year, Apple has waged a campaign of lawsuits around the world seeking to ban the sales of various Samsung products, claiming they infringe on touch screen patents and "slavishly copy" designs for the iPhone and iPad.

It was speculated the ruling could come this week after arguments were wrapped up on Tuesday. According to Reuters, it is now expected next week, perhaps as early as Monday.

Last week Samsung offered a temporary licensing agreement with Apple which would have allowed them to release the tablet with minor modifications, but still utilizing some of the disputed technology. Apple turned down the deal, saying they prefer to "maintain the status quo."

Reactions to a Q3 earnings estimate released today illustrate just how important the tablet and smartphone markets are to Samsung. Strong sales in those categories have partially offset reduced revenue from displays and memory by the electronics giant.

As of today, the iPhone 4S is available for pre-order US carriers AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. If you prefer, you can also buy directly from Apple.

Pre-orders will be delivered on October 14, the same day as the official US launch. Prices start at $199 for the 16GB model. For $100 more you can get a 32GB version, and the new top of the line model with 64GB of storage costs $399.

Of course, the release of a new iPhone normally means discounted prices for the previous model are on the horizon. Currently AT&T and Verizon are both selling the 8GB iPhone 4 for $99, the 16GB model for $149, and the 32GB model for $199.

Those prices will likely drop some time after the iPhone 4S is actually available. AT&T is currently giving away the iPhone 3GS with a 2 year contract.

In fact, while Apple has been criticized for failing to add a low end phone to their lineup, market research from earlier this year suggests the previous year's model fills that niche already. At that time, sales of the iPhone 3GS in the US were second only to the iPhone 4.

Samsung has been relatively quiet about their loss to Apple in German court which resulted in a sales ban on their flagship Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

While they did immediately appeal, statements from the company have focused more on other patent fights between the two companies around the world. That may be because they're waiting for the results of a challenge to Apple's Community Design rights for the iPad.

Speaking to the Korea Times about a pending application to nullify Apple's Community Design, a Samsung representative said "Apple claims that the iPad's design is exclusively its own, but the design existed long before the iPad." Samsung filed their challenge with the EU Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market in August.

In case you haven't seen them already, these images from Apple's Community Design filing sum it up:

Click on a thumnail to see a larger image

If figures reportedly leaked from Amazon are accurate, Amazon has already received pre-orders for at least 250,000 Kindle Fire tablets. Previously another source reported Amazon sold 95,000 on the first day alone.

The Kindle Fire is a 7" Android tablet announced at a press event last week, along with the latest Amazon Kindle e-readers. It is based on the same design as RIM's PlayBook.

Cult of Android claims to have gotten their hands on actual sales figures from Amazon showing 250,000 Kindle Fire tablets have already been pre-ordered. That seems like an impressive statement on the Amazon brand if you consider it won't even begin shipping until November 15.

Before we leap to the conclusion that the Kindle Fire is the iPad killer Android fans have been waiting for, it's worth stepping back to take a look at some alternate explanations.

The big question is whether Kindle Fire buyers actually think of it as a tablet. It does, after all, carry the Kindle brand. To many people that means it is primarily an e-reader.

An effort by US royalty collection society ASCAP to have music downloads classified as performances has ended with the Supreme Court declining to hear their appeal of a lower court ruling.

The judge in the original case concluded a download doesn't meet the legal definition of a performance under US law. A separate ruling in the same case which affected streaming royalties wasn't being challenged by ASCAP.

ASCAP's appeal to the Supreme Court was opposed by the Justice Department who were represented by US Solicitor General Don Verilli. Before working for the Obama administration, Verilli was a prominent Washington DC entertainment industry lawyer.

In the original ruling, the judge ruled:

The fact that the statute defines performance in the audio-visual context as "show[ing]" the work or making it "audible" reinforces the conclusion that "to perform" a musical work entails contemporaneous perceptibility. ASCAP has provided no reason, and we can surmise none, why the statute would require a contemporaneously perceptible event in the context of an audio-visual work, but not in the context of a musical work.

Read more...

Samsung has put an end to speculation over whether they would sue Apple to block sales of the iPhone by announcing plans to do just that in France and Italy.

For months Samsung has been engaged in a patent war with Apple. Apple is seeking the ban of Samsung tablets and phones in major markets around the world, including the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

Initially Samsung didn't seem to take these lawsuits too seriously, possibly considering them a prelude to licensing negotiations. With their Galaxy Tab 10.1 already being banned by a German court and its introduction threatened in Australia, their strategy has shifted from defense to offense.

According to a statement from Samsung (via Reuters):

Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free-ride on our technology. We will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.

Apple stock price took a hit yesterday after they showed off the iPhone 4S. Following Apple's announcement, their stock price lost almost $20 before recovering to close down just over $2 for the day.

While some people are making a big deal about this, it's important to remember that historically it has been iPhone sales, not announcements, which have pushed stock prices higher. The biggest factor for those sales, at least initially, will be how many current iPhone owners will be upgrading to the latest model.

Coverage of the iPhone 4S seems to be concentrating on what it doesn't have, such as a bigger display or redesigned exterior. But that's not necessarily a new thing either.

The iPhone 3G, for example, was mostly identical to the original iPhone, but with the addition of 3G data support, improved GPS, and some minor tweaks to the case design. Pricing was also improved significantly thanks to strategic changes by Apple.

With many early iPhone buyers opting for the 4GB model, there was a built in demand for the 8GB and 16GB 3G models, which were significantly cheaper (in the US) than the previous year's model.

The iPhone 3GS came out with a faster processor, more RAM, faster data capabilities, an improved camera with video recording capability, and a digital compass. The addition of a 32GB version probably convinced more than a few iPhone owners to upgrade.

Adobe will be launching a family of tablet software in November which they're calling Abode Touch Apps.

The new apps were announced yesterday at the company's MAX 2011 technology conference, along with a new online service called Adobe Creative Cloud. Creative Cloud will be include hosted services, collaboration tools, and synchronization between devices.

The new apps, which will be released for Android tablets on November 12, when Adobe Creative Cloud is launched, include:

• Adobe Photoshop Touch - A scaled down version of Adobe's flagship photo processing software.


• Adobe Collage - An app for combining images which also includes basic support for drawing and adding text.


• Adobe Debut - A presentation app sith support for opening files from a variety of Adobe products, including Photoshop and Illustrator.


• Adobe Ideas - A vector based drawing app.


• Adobe Kuler - A tablet version of Adobe's color theme tool.


• Adobe Proto - A website prototyping tool

Apple has turned down Samsung's offer of a licensing agreement for Apple patents in an Australian lawsuit over the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple wants the tablet banned from the Australian market, claiming it infringes on an Apple touchscreen patent. Samsung has already agreed to change the tablet to address two other patents cited in Apple's suit.

Samsung's offer for a preliminary settlement, made last week, would have involved paying Apple an undisclosed amount to license the remaining patent before the lawsuit is decided.

Samsung's goal is getting the tablet on the Australian market in time for Christmas.

Apple lawyer Steven Burley explained to the court, "The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch (of the Galaxy tablet) and maintain the status quo."

That statement may be a harbinger of future problems for Apple. As the tablet market grows, Apple will have to be careful about statements that give the appearance their primary goal is blocking competition.

Rhapsody is buying Napster from Best Buy. Details of the deal weren't disclosed, except that Best Buy will be getting a minority stake in Rhapsody.

Based on statements from Rhapsody executives, it appears this may mark the end of the Napster brand..

Rhapsody President Jon Irwin said:

This deal will further extend Rhapsody's lead over our competitors in the growing on-demand music market. There's substantial value in bringing Napster's subscribers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody as we execute on our strategy to expand our business via direct acquisition of members and distribution deals.

This is a 'go big or go home' business, so our focus is on sustainably growing the company. We're excited to welcome Napster music fans to the best on-demand music experience anywhere. Our new members will have more places to connect to the music they love and to discover new favorites, guided by Rhapsody's rockstar editorial team and the tastes of other Rhapsody members via our innovative social features.

The entertainment industry would get veto power over new technology under a provision in ACTA, the intellectual property treaty signed on Saturday in Japan.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a treaty which has been negotiated in secret over the course of nearly five years. It was signed by the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, and Morocco.

As various draft versions have been leaked, the language has been watered down significantly, but major problems still remain.

Arguably, none of the text is more troubling than what amounts to a mandate for copyright holders to have the right to veto any new technology which could be used for infringement:

In order to provide the adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies
referred to in paragraph 5, each Party shall provide protection at least against:

(b) the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a device or product, including computer programs, or provision of a service that:

is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing an effective technological measure; or

has only a limited commercially significant purpose other than circumventing an effective technological measure.