Intellectual Ventures begins tech patent offensive, files three lawsuits against nine companies
December 9, 2010 No Comment
We’ve always wondered why former Microsoft CTO Nathan Mhyrvold was stockpiling patents at his new company Intellectual Ventures , and it looks like we’re starting to find out why: in addition to licensing the entire portfolio to HTC and Samsung , IV’s just filed its first three patent lawsuits against nine tech companies. Details are sparse, but the first suit is against Symantec, McAfeee, Trend Micro, and Check Point Software, the second names Elpida Memory and Hynix, and the third is against Altera, Lattice Semiconductor, and Microsemi. We’d assume the patents in question are all super-technical in nature, but it’s really not the specifics we’re interested in — it’s more the fact that IV is starting to flex some muscle in the tech world, and that means a lot of money could change hands real fast. We’ll see what happens. Intellectual Ventures begins tech patent offensive, files three lawsuits against nine companies originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …iTunes’ 90-second song previews go live, on select songs and US-only for now
December 9, 2010 No Comment
Apple’s flipped the switch on extending iTunes preview clips to the totally revolutionary length of 90 seconds. Only songs that last for two and a half minutes or longer and a limited number of artists are benefiting from this change — which seems to be of Apple’s unilateral doing — and it’s only effective in the US iTunes Store. Trust us, we checked our UK accounts and were met with those mediocre, entirely unsatisfying 30-second previews on everything. We reckon there’s still a little more intrigue left in this tale, particularly when it comes to propitiating the record labels and securing international deals, but we’ll leave those negotiations to the well shaven dudes in expensive suits — for you and us, there’s a whole load of Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West stuff to go and preview. iTunes’ 90-second song previews go live, on select songs and US-only for now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Calm down, everyone, please take your seats. Now, no one here is saying arsenic-bred life is impossible — they’re not saying that, so your science fiction novel (which should be beyond the outline phase and in rough draft form) is conceptually fine. But, as you might have heard, there are a number of scientists — including some that co-authored a 2007 paper that called for such arsenic-based research — who are calling into question the paper behind NASA’s big astrobiological announcement , noting what they see as “fatal flaws” and errors in methodology. Frankly, this kind of thing happens with most-to-all science papers, but given all the self-made hooplah surrounding the unveil, a public opposition seems poetically appropriate. Expect this toxic fight to propagate throughout an assortment of scientific journals, the initial test trialed numerous times over in hopes of recreating (and further verifying). Make no mistake, someone’ll be bringing a beaker to the test tube fight. NASA paper on arsenic-bred organisms finds phosphorous-based detractors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Much like graphene , carbon nanotubes seem to be hitting on all cylinders in the lab. Of course, we can count on one hand finger how many instances we’ve seen them making a difference in “the real world,” but we aren’t giving up hope just yet. Researchers from a cadre of universities have come together to solve one of the most nagging issues when dealing with carbon nanotubes — in prior studies, the bundling of these tubes resulted in a marked decrease in strength, which in turn led to a profuse outpouring of tears. But thanks to a new approach, which mixes in a nondescript polymer, they’ve managed to conjure up a “a high performance fiber that is remarkably tough, strong, and resistant to failure.” More specifically, the resulting material is said to be “tougher than Kevlar, meaning it has a higher ability to absorb energy without breaking.” Notably, this material isn’t stronger than Kevlar, as it’s resistance to failure isn’t quite up to snuff, but you can bet the gurus working on this won’t stop until it is. And then, friends, we will have officially arrived in The Future. Carbon nanotubes run into magical polymer, become ‘tougher than Kevlar’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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New Zealanders have been enjoying Epic Games’ visual stunner for a few hours now, as per usual, but the past has caught up with the present, so to speak. Infinity Blade is now available on the US iTunes store for both the iPad and the iPhone. Drop the gun, give the mutants a rest , and pick up the sword — cost of entry is $5.99 and the file size is a whopping 318.3MB. What are you waiting for? Infinity Blade takes a slice out of US iTunes store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Graphene . We hear of your achievements so often, but feel your benefits in our everyday lives so infrequently. We’d be remiss if we didn’t point out how unhealthy of a relationship this is, but hopefully Bor Jang and co. have a mind to mend it all. Bor, along with a number of colleagues at Nanotek Instruments, have just uncovered a graphene advancement that could put conventional Li-ion cells in a world of hurt. Of course, we’ve been hearing about so-called ” battery breakthroughs ” for the better part of our lives, but few have involved progress with ultracapacitors. For those unaware, ultracapacitors are energy storage devices that can “absorb and release charge in minutes,” and they’re pegged as cheaper / safer alternatives to batteries for electric vehicles. The only problem? Mainstream versions today hold just five percent of the energy held by Li-ion batteries. Nanotek’s crew has figured out that the use of graphene electrodes “could lead to ultracapacitors with more than five times the energy density of commercial devices,” but as these things always go, no one’s coming close to producing a hard release date. We’ll just assume it’s undergoing lab tests for now, and in 2022 we can all weep at what could’ve been. Prove us wrong, whiz kids. Graphene electrodes promise 5x energy storage boost for ultracapacitors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Sebastian Merchel, the same bloke responsible for the SweetSpotter , is back, and he’s out to invade your SO’s stocking. The above pictured AR-Tee is exactly what it purports to be: a t-shirt with ingrained augmented reality superpowers. Simply pop one on (in your size, naturally), connect your webcam, and visit the link down there in the source. With a couple of mouse clicks, you’ll be watching content on your chest, becoming the star of this year’s holiday party and blowing grandma’s mind. Simultaneously . Grab yours today for the tidy sum of €27.90, or around 37 of America’s strained, deflated dollars. Demonstration vid is just past the break, just so you know. Continue reading AR-Tees brings augmented reality to a t-shirt, on sale now (video) AR-Tees brings augmented reality to a t-shirt, on sale now (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The Noun Project: public domain pictograms for designers, the illiterate
December 9, 2010 No Comment
OK, this might not be much to look at — a page full of Dingbats, essentially — but the premise behind the Noun Project is sound and, in this increasingly complex world, important: by creating a visual collection of downloadable public domain symbols representing things like escalators, fast food, and customs checkpoints, the website hopes to promote a visual language “that can be understood by all cultures and people.” And since we’re sticklers for good, clean design , projects like this are especially dear to us. Hit up the source link to see for yourself. The Noun Project: public domain pictograms for designers, the illiterate originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Intel’s Otellini says 35 Atom-based tablets coming in 2011, but smartphones get pushed back (again)
December 9, 2010 No Comment
It’s been a long, hard road for Intel in the mobile space, but it looks like things are about to get brighter: speaking at the Barclay’s Capital Global Technology Conference today, CEO Paul Otellini said that some 35 Moorestown tablets running a mix of Windows, Android, and MeeGo would arrive in 2011. (No wonder the company just formed a tablet and netbook division .) What’s more, he provided a handy chart showing the OS breakdown by vendor: Toshiba, Dell, Fujitsu are going Windows-only, while Asus and Lenovo are building both Windows and Android products, and Acer’s going straight MeeGo. (Remember, Acer’s using AMD in its Windows tablet.) That’s pretty much right on schedule , and we’d expect to see several of these at CES, but not all the news is so rosy: Otellini also said that Medfield -based smartphones won’t arrive until “mid-2011,” which is a bit of a delay from the “first half of 2011″ we’d been told in June . Sure, it doesn’t sound like the end of the world, but ARM-based competitors like Qualcomm , TI , and NVIDIA continue to push ever farther ahead with multicore designs, and Intel can’t very well catch up with delayed parts. Then again, if Intel can really deliver the performance and efficiency it’s been promising it might not matter — we’ll see what CES has in store. Intel’s Otellini says 35 Atom-based tablets coming in 2011, but smartphones get pushed back (again) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LG pulls back, ‘will evaluate’ upgrading Optimus series to Gingerbread when specs and source code are public
December 9, 2010 No Comment
You might remember yesterday’s brouhaha over LG’s seemingly false claim that Android 2.3 Gingerbread requires a 1GHz processor or better, using it as a justification for keeping an official upgrade out of the hopes and dreams of Optimus One owners around the globe — but the good news is that it appears to have been a misunderstanding. Here’s the official statement from LG: “LG released information prematurely regarding the minimum processor upgrade requirements for the LG Optimus. Google recently announced the Gingerbread platform and has not yet published the Gingerbread Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) or the public branch open source code. Once the CDD and the source code is public, LG will evaluate the upgradability of the Optimus Series. We apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding. We will alert you as soon as more information on this topic is available.” So they’re taking responsibility for jumping the gun and have committed to “evaluating the upgradability” of the Optimus line once Google’s published Gingerbread’s official requirements and turned loose the source code. Of course, it’s possible they’ll ultimately find another reason for keeping the phones stuck on Froyo — but for now, we’ve got a sliver of hope. LG pulls back, ‘will evaluate’ upgrading Optimus series to Gingerbread when specs and source code are public originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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