'Ten most wanted' patent litigator gets busted
Acacia Research has been deemed a frivolous patent litigator for its repeated attempts to have its broad streaming media patents enforced in court. The holding company owns several patents on the process of transmitting compressed audio and video, a technique practically built into online multimedia; and it has been trying for the better part of the decade to license these patents out to a laundry list of multimedia companies, adult sites, and satellite and cable network operators.
Finally, after more than seven years in litigation, US District Court Judge James Ware invalidated the last of Acacia's claims, and called for a hearing on October 9 to close out the case and officially bust the patent. Acacia has been able to secure settlements and licensing agreements from hundreds of businesses, including a significant number of huge companies (Walt Disney, Playboy, T. Rowe Price, Bloomberg).
PSP Go will give first glimpse into download-only attach rates
Sony's latest handheld game console, the $250 PSP Go hit retail today -- the first major video game system that does not support physical media, with games offered only via download.
To kick start the device's life today, Sony has beefed up the catalog of downloadable games in the PlayStation Store with more than 100 titles ranging from $5 all the way up to $39.99, including the highly hyped Gran Turismo PSP. Sony will be giving away one copy with every PSP Go for the first ten days of its availability.
At least the app store model is thriving! Three stores to get major updates
Even though collective analysis shows that the iPhone hasn't done as well as peer marketers would have us believe, the iTunes App Store undoubtedly has. In the first nine months the App Store existed, more than a billion apps were downloaded. Five months later, another billion were downloaded. Naturally, less than half of this vast quantity is thanks to the iPhone, as Apple combines the tens of millions of iPod Touch users downloading apps with iPhone downloaders.
But regardless of the device doing the downloading, the app store model has proven sound and has created a multi-million dollar business. This "app gold rush" has compelled thousands of developers to try their hands at creating software for the iPhone and iPod Touch in hopes of making a fortune.
Windows Mobile 5 and 6 get a new interface
As smartphones gained popularity outside of the business world, a division formed between devices made for consumers (lifestyle smartphones) and those made for enterprise deployments (professional smartphones). Professional devices tend to be more integrable into bigger systems and offer more in the productivity department while lifestyle devices cater more to the individual's tastes and offer more in terms of entertainment.
Though Microsoft has plenty of consumer smartphones running Windows Mobile, the operating system has found itself on the far end of "Professional," struggling to appeal to consumers enamored with touch-based operating systems. So Microsoft has worked to make Windows Mobile 6.5 and future versions much more "finger friendly," without sacrificing their professional capabilities.
Verizon fails with The Hub
Verizon has reportedly discontinued the Verizon Hub VoIP phone/widget tablet a little more than six months after it debuted.
The short-lived Hub was intended for households with multiple Verizon Wireless phones, where it could act as a calendar, home messaging and management platform and VoIP base station. And though fixed-line telephony continues to dwindle as technologies such as Femtocell gain cachet among wireless carriers, both The Hub and Verizon's femtocell Wireless Network Extender suffered from the same problem: they weren't tied into FiOS.
TiVo/RIM partnership yields new BlackBerry app
Just about one year after announcing their partnership, TiVo and Research in Motion today have announced that the "TiVo for BlackBerry smartphones" application is downloadable today in BlackBerry App World or as a direct download.
The free app lets users schedule recordings on their Series2 or Series3 TiVo DVR from their BlackBerry (software v.4.2.0 and up), browse most popular shows or daily picks and view programming details such as title, description, runtime original air date and time and thumbnail. It also includes an advanced search function which lets users filter results by title, keyword, or by actor.
After thoroughly killing public interest, Garmin sets launch for Nuvifone G60
AT&T announced today that the first handset from navigation company Garmin, the Nuvifone G60, will finally be available on October 4 both in stores and online.
Officially announced at the beginning of 2008, and expected in the third quarter that same year, Garmin's Nuvifone had an extremely strong initial buzz. Unfortunately, the excitement significantly cooled when the device's launch date was pushed back twice.
Where America stands in broadband, according to the FCC
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the "broadband stimulus plan," included the proviso that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 2010.
With just under five months left before the plan is due before Congress, the FCC today used the results of its 26 broadband-related workshops and hearings and nearly 41,000 pages of comments to describe the current state of broadband and enable Commissioner/public feedback for review.
Coalition seeks to replace all of Google's closed source Android components
Last week, Google issued a cease and desist order to Android modder Cyanogen, whose popular Android ROM modification was downloaded more than 30,000 times, but included versions of closed source Google applications instead of purely the open source components.
In a blog explanation, Google said, "Unauthorized distribution of this software harms us just like it would any other business, even if it's done with the best of intentions."
No more 'on again:' Palm webOS update does not revive Pre's lost iTunes sync
Palm and Sprint today began rolling out an over-the-air update for the Palm Pre's webOS. While version 1.2 includes a number of noteworthy improvements, the iTunes sync feature broken by Apple's update to iTunes 9 was not fixed, summarily ending the cat and mouse game between Palm and Apple.
Many were anticipating iTunes syncability to return with the webOS 1.2 update, but an intervention from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) may have ultimately caused the end of the feature in the Pre. Palm had originally contacted USB-IF to report Apple for improperly using its own Vendor ID to specifically block the Pre, but the Forum saw Palm as the guilty party.
Labels and studios could have access to your YouTube metrics
YouTube Insight really is an amazing free tool. For users who have uploaded content to Google's popular video sharing site, YouTube Insight provides extremely concise metrics for a video's viewership. It includes maps that show where in the world your video has the most viewers, your audience's demographic makeup, and even a second-by-second audience attention metric.
Today, Google announced that YouTube Insight has been tied into YouTube's Content ID, the management tool that lets broadcasters, studios, labels, and individual copyright holders to identify videos uploaded to YouTube containing their intellectual property.
Orange to bring iPhone to UK, a majority of Apple's global presence
French wireless carrier Orange announced this morning that it will become the UK's second network to offer Apple's iPhone later this year, ending O2's two-year exclusivity on the line of smartphones.
O2, a subsidiary of Spanish operator Telefonica, secured a last minute deal with Apple for the iPhone in 2007, beating T-Mobile, Orange, and Vodafone for an exclusive contract.
Google Voice controversy continues with melee between AT&T and Google
In light of the coming revision to the United States' regulations on net neutrality, AT&T contacted the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau with a letter today which said that Google --"one of the most noisome trumpeters of so-called 'net neutrality' regulation"-- is violating the very net neutrality rules it claims to support.
But since Google is not a network operator, it is not subject to the same regulation that a company like AT&T is. Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president for federal regulations used today's letter to the FCC to make the case that Google Voice should be.
MMS for iPhone goes live, thousands stop complaining
As AT&T promised, iPhone 3G and 3G S users today gained the ability to send Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages.
To enable MMS, users must first have iPhone OS 3.1 installed, and then the AT&T carrier update v5.5 which is installed through iTunes. Once the update is in place, phones must be rebooted, and then the Messages app will feature a camera icon in the lower left corner, which triggers multimedia messages to be sent.
Is the Palm Pre still coming to Verizon?
A report from an unnamed source published on TheStreet.com last night claimed that the Palm Pre, despite all reports to the contrary, would not be coming to Verizon.
Previous statements from Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam somewhat spoiled Sprint's launch of the Pre, saying that Verizon would be bringing the Pre to Verizon within six months.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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