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Showing posts with the label IP

Lodsys shifts in-app purchasing target to Android devs following Apple response

We figured Apple's firm response to Lodsys earlier this week regarding its claims against iOS devs would prompt the patent holder to move on to its next target, and sure enough, it looks as if said target has been selected. Unfortunately, a group of Android app devs have now found themselves in the Texas-based company's crosshairs, which is citing the same patent infringement that Apple recently addressed, relating specifically to in-app upgrade purchases. As was the case with the last round of letters, Lodsys is demanding licensing fees from small, individual developers, who don't have the resources to fight back. Lodsys appears to be maintaining its trend of ignoring media requests, so we're keeping an eye on the patent troll's blog to see if anyone comes up to the surface to defend this latest round of allegations. In the meantime, plugging your ears while humming and ignoring the mailman might not be such a bad idea... you know, if you do this kind of ...

Comcast will start testing an IPTV service at MIT, new Xcalibur guide coming your way sooner

According to a report by the  Wall Street Journal , Comcast will start testing a new video delivery system that is completely internet protocol based at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology in "the coming months." AT&T's U-verse uses IPTV already, while others use similar technology for video on-demand or some of the new initiatives that stream TV to the iPad. Comcast plans to let students watch by connecting TVs, computers or other devices to the campus network, followed by a test just for employees and eventually an all-IP service to run alongside -- but not replacing -- its traditional cable TV service. This could allow the company to deliver video to devices with no set-top box required and even potentially outside its current footprint. That however is unlikely given the headache just a move to multi-platform IP delivery might cause when it comes to negotiating broadcast rights. Being able to watch pay TV on whatever you want and potent...

The Protect IP Act: Google's Eric Schmidt squares off against RIAA and MPAA

Protecting intellectual property sounds like such a noble cause that you'd have to be a anarchistic free-market extremist to be against the idea, right? Actually, we don't think Google CEO Eric Schmidt is particularly  extreme  in any definable way, yet this past week he spoke with gusto, railing against the proposed Protect IP Act, which was designed to "prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property." If passed into law, it would give the government the right to shut down any "Internet site dedicated to infringing activities" -- "infringing activities" largely being of the sort that allows dude A to download copyrighted item B from dude C when it's unclear whether dude C has legal rights to be distributing B in the first place. So, you know, it's targeting the Pirate Bay and its ilk, giving government officials greater power to sweep in and snag the domains of such sites. Schmidt calls this approach a ...

Apple iMac hands-on, with dual 30-inch displays! (video)

One Thunderbolt port on your new MacBook Pro? Pah. The new 27-inch iMac has twice that many -- two. When we got ours out of the box we just had to do the natural thing: fire up as many pixels as possible. Two 30-inch Dell displays and a couple of dual-link DVI display adapters later and we have what you see above: a wide swath of LCD covering 11,878,400 pixels. Sure, any average desktop can do this, but how many all-in-ones can push that many dots? The iMac's 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,440, LED-backlit IPS panel is definitely a highlight, but flanked by another two monsters the combination is, honestly, a little overwhelming. We tried working this way but only made it about 30 minutes before retreating to smaller fields of view. Other tid-bits we've learned about the updated iMac: those who'd rather swipe than drag can now choose to order theirs with a Magic Trackpad instead of a Magic Mouse, though we're sure Apple would surely be happy to sell you both. Additionally, the 2...

Motorola and Huawei drop pending lawsuits, enter into new info-sharing agreement

After months of fighting on the playground, Motorola and Huawei have finally come to an agreement to settle their differences once and for all. Both parties have now dropped their pending lawsuits, with Motorola originally accusing Huawei of stealing trade secrets from its former employees, and later on Huawei getting all worried about Motorola leaking confidential information over their partnership to the rivaling Nokia Siemens Networks. The new agreement will now allow Motorola "transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei to NSN for a fee," which would then permit NSN use this info to service Motorola's networks that utilise Huawei's equipment. Aww, isn't it nice when money solves everything? Press release after the break. BGR