Google lawyer accuses rival companies including Apple, Oracle and Microsoft of running an anti-competitive strategy to stifle innovation and push up prices Google has accused Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and “other companies” of trying to make Android smartphones more expensive to consumers by running a “hostile, organised campaign” against it by using “bogus patents” acquired from the bankrupt Canadian company Nortel and their existing patent holdings. Its chief legal officer, David Drummond, alleges that the companies are effectively imposing a “tax” to push up the price of Android devices. “Microsoft and Apple have always been at each other’s throats, so when they get into bed together you have to start wondering what’s going on,” Drummond wrote in a blog post . But Microsoft has hit back, with its general counsel Brad Smith claiming on Twitter that Microsoft invited Google to bid jointly for the Nortel patents – and was turned down. Representatives from Apple and Oracle declined to comment. Drummond alleges that the rival companies are using an “anti-competitive strategy [which] is also escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they’re actually worth” and using them to stifle innovation. Drummond writes that “in this instance we thought it was important to speak out and make it clear that we’re determined to preserve Android as a competitive choice for consumers, by stopping those who are trying to strangle it”. He asserts that: “Microsoft and Apple’s winning $4.5bn (£2.7bn) for Nortel’s patent portfolio was nearly five times larger than the pre-auction estimate of $1bn. Fortunately, the law frowns on the accumulation of dubious patents for anti-competitive means – which means these deals are likely to draw regulatory scrutiny, and this patent bubble will pop.” A consortium including Microsoft, Apple and RIM won the bid for the Nortel patents , which cover a number of communications technologies, against a consortium of Google and Intel. Google had made a preliminary bid of $900m before the auction, but was eventually outbid despite having large reserves of cash. Drummond says: “A smartphone might involve as many as 250,000 (largely questionable) patent claims, and our competitors want to impose a ‘tax’ for these dubious patents that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers. They want to make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation.” Microsoft has sued HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Barnes & Noble, claiming that their use of Android infringes patents that it holds, while Apple has filed a number of similar suits asserting patent claims against other companies. HTC has admitted that it is paying Microsoft a set amount for each Android device it sells. The amount has not been disclosed but it believed to be between $5 and $15. Apple recently won a ruling in the US that HTC infringes patents covering the iPhone. And Oracle is currently suing Google in a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit alleging that Android infringes copyright relating to its Java programming language, acquired through the purchase of Sun Microsystems. Google launched its Android mobile operating system at the end of 2007, with the first phones appearing about a year later. It makes it available for free to handset makers, unlike companies like Microsoft which charges around $15 per handset using its Windows Phone software. Android phones have exploded in popularity, making more than a third of all smartphones sold around the world. The platform has displaced the former leader Nokia, which is abandoning its Symbian operating system in favour of Windows Phone. Apple and RIM have their own mobile operating systems which they do not license. Google has been hampered by a lack of intellectual property in wireless telephony, which has exposed it to patent-infringement lawsuits from rivals such as Oracle. Drummond says Google is looking to strengthen its patent portfolio; it recently bought more than 1,000 patents from IBM. It is also in talks to buy InterDigital, a key holder of wireless patents valued at more than $3bn, according to the Wall Street Journal. The most valuable patent that it uses covers its “PageRank” search algorithm used for organising its search results: it has an exclusive license on that from Stanford University, where Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed it. Though the PageRank patent is now available for licensing, Google has the rights to determine who can license it. Patent acquisitions are expected to accelerate, with IBM and Kodak often mentioned as shopping intellectual property on the market. Google Apple Computing Oracle Software Microsoft Smartphones Mobile phones Android Telecommunications industry Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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Bank of Japan sells more than one trillion yen to stem currency’s value Japan has followed in Switzerland’s footsteps and intervened to stem the strength of its currency, which has been boosted by investors seeking safe-haven investments. The Bank of Japan had spent more than one trillion yen (£7.7bn) before the close of trading in Tokyo on Thursday, according to local reports, in an effort to drive down the value of the yen. It sold yen heavily on the foreign exchanges, and also eased monetary policy by expanding its asset purchasing scheme and offering more cheap loans to financial firms to encourage them to keep lending. The latest move in the crisis that is gripping the financial markets came as shares in London and Europe were expected to rebound, following Wednesday’s widespread heavy losses . Financial spreadbetters expect the FTSE 100 index in London to open some 30 points higher, while Germany’s Dax is seen opening 70 points higher and France’s CAC up 40 points. The intervention came after days of official warnings that the yen had risen so much that it threatened to derail Japan’s recovery from the devastating tsunami and earthquake in March. On Wednesday, Swiss authorities moved to stem what the national bank called the “massive overvaluation” of the Swiss franc. The Swiss National Bank announced a surprise interest rate cut to ease buying pressure on its currency. Japan’s intervention pushed the yen beyond a two-week low of 79 yen, from 77.10 yen. Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda said Japan had consulted its international partners but acted on its own. “Japan is just in the process of recovering from a natural disaster so these currency moves are certain to have a negative impact on the economy and financial markets,” he said. Global economy Japan Economics Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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Three senior figures to be fired as country still struggles to cope with aftermath of earthquake and disaster at nuclear plant Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s administration has announced it is to sack three senior nuclear policy officials amid scandals suggesting Japan’s government had grown too cosy with the nuclear power industry. The move is the latest attempt by Kan and his cabinet to shake off criticism they have not dealt sternly enough with nuclear power operators and to show they can push reforms deemed necessary after Japan’s 11 March earthquake and tsunami touched off the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl at the Fukushima plant. The trade and industry minister, Banri Kaieda, said the shakeup will involve three senior officials: the head of the Energy Agency, the head of the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency and a vice-minister at the trade and industry ministry. “We want to refresh and revitalise the ministry,” Kaieda said. The three posts are under his supervision. Japan’s post-tsunami handling of the nuclear crisis has been hit recently by scandals over allegations that the government was too friendly with the nuclear industry and tried to secretly manipulate public discussions in favour of nuclear power at a number of seminars held before the current crisis began. The shakeup was seen as an attempt to calm that uproar. But Kan’s government continues to face a questions about its response to the crisis and even about how long Kan will be able to remain in office. The growing disarray in Kan’s administration was emphasised recently when his cabinet was unwilling to unify itself behind the PM’s call for Japan to completely wean itself off nuclear power. Kan had to later step back and explain the comment was a “personal” opinion. Kan, who faces a strong challenge from party rivals who want him to quit immediately, has said he will step down as soon as the country is on the recovery track. His top lieutenants have suggested that could be soon, but have refrained from setting a date. Kaieda, one of the most prominent faces in Kan’s Cabinet, is also expected to announce his resignation, but, again, has refused to say when. He recently broke down in tears under intense questioning in parliament and said he was willing to quit as soon as the proper time came. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Head of security service in northern Kunduz province assassinated, say police A car bomb has killed the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service in the northern Kunduz province, say police. The blast on Thursday morning is the latest in a string of high profile assassinations, a spokesman for the Kunduz police chief said. Three civilians were also wounded by the blast from the bomb planted in the car of Payenda Khan, head of the National Directorate of Security in Kunduz, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husaini said. More details soon … Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Head of security service in northern Kunduz province assassinated, say police A car bomb has killed the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service in the northern Kunduz province, say police. The blast on Thursday morning is the latest in a string of high profile assassinations, a spokesman for the Kunduz police chief said. Three civilians were also wounded by the blast from the bomb planted in the car of Payenda Khan, head of the National Directorate of Security in Kunduz, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husaini said. More details soon … Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
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Leader of Commons says ignoring topics raised by new scheme allowing submissions would be unfair to public MPs must not shy away from debating the restoration of capital punishment if a groundswell of voters backs a petition demanding it, the Commons leader has said. Sir George Young warned that it would damage democracy to ignore strong opinions among members of the public “or pretend that their views do not exist”. He spoke out ahead of the publication on Thursday of the first submissions to a new e-petitions scheme which could see the most popular appeals discussed in parliament. Among the most prominent is one calling for legislation allowing child killers and those who murder police officers to face execution. It has been presented by Paul Staines, who writes the libertarian Guido Fawkes blog, and has already been backed by several MPs. If it is signed by the required 100,000 supporters or more, then the cross-party backbench business committee will decide whether it will be debated. Young played down fears about airing the subject – which was effectively abolished as a sentence for murder in the UK in 1965. “The site has been widely welcomed as a realistic way to revitalise public engagement in parliament,” he wrote in the Daily Mail. “But there have been some who have been concerned by some of the subjects which could end up being debated – for example, the restoration of capital punishment. “The last time this was debated – during the passage of the Human Rights Act in 1998 – restoration was rejected by 158 votes. But if lots of people want parliament to do something which it rejects, then it is up to MPs to explain the reasons to their constituents. What else is parliament for? “People have strong opinions, and it does not serve democracy well if we ignore them or pretend that their views do not exist.” Tory MP Priti Patel said such a debate was long overdue and that she favoured restoring capital punishment “for the most serious and significant crimes” – a position echoed by party colleague Andrew Turner. Another Conservative, Philip Davies, told the newspaper he would like to see all murders punishable by death. Young said hundreds of petitions had been submitted on subjects “from setting up an English parliament to ensuring Formula One remains free to air”. Any petition deemed to be libellous, offensive, duplicates existing open petitions or is not related to government will be rejected. Moderators will also block any that concern honours and appointments. Capital punishment House of Commons George Young guardian.co.uk
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‘Explosive device’ strapped to 18-year-old daughter of wealthy businessman turns out to be fake An Australian teenager who was trapped in her Sydney home after a stranger in a balaclava reportedly attached a suspicious device around her neck turned out to be the victim of an elaborate hoax. The deception was only discovered, however, after a 10-hour ordeal. Madeleine Pulver, 18, the daughter of a wealthy business executive, was released after police, taking advice from the British military, managed to remove the device, described as “very elaborate, very sophisticated”. New South Wales state police assistant commissioner Mark Murdoch said this morning that the device was “a very, very elaborate hoax”. “But it was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device,” he said outside the high school student’s home at Mosman in Sydney. “We had to treat it seriously until we could prove otherwise and that’s exactly what we did and that’s why it took so long.” The alarm had earlier been raised at 2.30pm Australian time on Wednesday and streets were closed to traffic near the home of William Pulver, chief executive of the technology company Appen, and his wife Belinda in the wealthy north shore suburb of Mosman. Murdoch said it was too early to say whether the device had been placed as part of an extortion attempt. “It was affixed to her by a chain or something similar, which took us a fair while to remove … and that added to the trauma that Madeleine experienced,” Murdoch said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “There were some instructions left by the offender at the scene and those instructions will provide us with further lines of inquiry,” Murdoch told ABC radio. The teenager was reunited with her parents, who had been kept out of the house during the rescue for their own safety. She was taken to hospital for an examination and released at 3am local time. “She’s good. She’s been kept in a very uncomfortable position. She has been and will be uncomfortable for a little while to come,” he said. “The family are at a loss to explain this,” said Murdoch. “You would hardly think someone would go to this much trouble if there wasn’t a motive behind it.” It was, he added, one of the most bizarre cases he had seen in his career. The investigation was being led by the robbery and serious crime squad. The Australian newspaper reported that police confirmed the teenager had “interaction with the person who was responsible” for placing the device. There were unconfirmed reports that a man wearing a balaclava had broken into the house and strapped a device he claimed was a bomb to the teenager’s neck or wrist. One report said he told her he could trigger it by remote control, and that it had a microphone attached enabling him to hear what she was saying. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported that police believed a ransom note was attached to the girl’s neck, but bomb disposal officers had been unable to read it. Friends of Pulver, who is believed to attend a private school and to be taking her Higher School Certificate, were said to have gathered at the police cordon during the incident. Appen, the company her father works for, provides linguistics technologies to companies including Microsoft, Google and Nokia. The family are reported to be among the wealthiest in Sydney. Australia Caroline Davies Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk
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The vote, which required approval by all 15 council members, resulted in Lebanon dissociating itself The UN security council has added its weight to growing international outcry over Syria by condemning the attacks on civilians by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Syrian tanks have stormed Hama under heavy shelling on the fourth day of their offensive, taking over a main square at the heart of the city and cutting off electricity, water and phone lines. The UN security council’s presidential statement on Syria carries less weight than a resolution, but it still becomes part of the council’s record. The vote, which required approval by all 15 council members, put Lebanon in a difficult position. Instead of blocking adoption of the UN statement, Lebanon invoked a procedure last used 35 years ago and dissociated itself from the text. In other steps, Hillary Clinton met with US-based Syrian democracy activists on Tuesday as the Obama administration weighed up new sanctions against Syria. Congressional calls also mounted for action against Assad’s regime. Opposition figures and activists accused the regime of striking hard at a moment when world and media attention were distracted by the trial in Egypt of former president, Hosni Mubarak. “Hama is being collectively punished for its peaceful protests calling for the downfall of Bashar Assad,” said Suheir Atassi, a prominent pro-democracy activist. Like many other Syria-based activists, Atassi has gone largely into hiding and communicated via email. “The Syrian regime is committing crimes against humanity,” she said. “Where are the free people of the world?” At least three tanks took up positions in Hama’s central Assi square, which in recent weeks had been the site of carnival-like demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of protesters calling for the downfall of President Assad’s regime. Activists reported a new military push into the city early in the day, with fresh explosions, fierce shelling by tanks and machine gun fire heard in many parts of the city. Clouds of smoke hung over many of its rickety apartment buildings. “We are being subjected to shelling, machine gun fire, sniper fire, everything you can think of,” said activist Omar Hamawi. Activists and residents said military sweeps, raids and door-to-door arrests also continued in many parts of the country. About 1,700 civilians have been killed since the largely peaceful protests against Assad’s regime began in mid-March, according to tallies by activists. Syria Bashar Al-Assad Lebanon Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest United Nations Protest guardian.co.uk
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All eyes turn to US employment figures due out on Friday after Dow narrowly avoids ninth day in red It hasn’t happened since Jimmy Carter was in the White House and Abba ruled the charts. But US stock markets threatened to end trading down for the ninth day in a row, as worries about the state of the world’s largest economy continued to terrify the financial markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Wall Street index of leading US companies, was down more than 100 points at lunchtime and set to continue a losing streak that has lasted even longer than the trough in October 2008 after Lehman Brothers went bust and the global financial crisis began. In the event a last minute rally helped it narrowly avoid the ignominious record. After Lehman collapsed, the Dow fell for eight days in a row, but with investors worried about weakening economies in the US and Europe and political uncertainty in Washington and abroad, the Dow was on course on Wednesday to clock up a ninth day in the red – a run unseen since 22 February 1978, when the US was suffering a recession, an energy crisis and sky-high inflation. The comparison will be an uncomfortable one for Barack Obama. Some of his critics have taken to drawing parallels with Carter, whose one-term presidency was handicapped by financial crisis. Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said investors had already assumed a deal would be done, and that markets were being driven lower by fears that the economy is again weakening. “Now that the debt deal is done, people are focussing their attention on the economy, and the recent figures have been disappointing,” he said. Recent reports on gross domestic product and consumer spending had all been poor, he said. “The fundamentals are weak. It’s all about the economic data,” he said. Dales said all eyes were now on US employment figures due out on Friday. He said those numbers would be “pivotal”. “If those are weak then this slide will continue; if the numbers are strong, then it could ease fears,” he said. The US news and Europe’s continuing debt crisis spooked investors around the world. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 2.3% to close at its lowest point since November last year, and markets in France and Germany suffered similar falls. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said: “Investors no longer believe we can rely on Washington to cushion the blow. We have had 30 years of [Federal Reserve chairmen] Greenspan and Bernanke cutting interest rates when the economy looked soft. Now the government is spending to create jobs, and it’s not working. Now we are in a situation where we have to let the chips fall where they may. That’s a very daunting prospect.” US economy United States Dow Jones Stock markets Global economy Economics Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Ah, Autumn, my favorite season. The temperature drops to a pleasant cool; warm apple cider is served all over the countryside; and the leaves on the trees change colors almost as rapidly as the supposed release date for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5, we were told, was definitely coming in September. The Wall Street Journal had sources saying September, as did John Paczkowski of All Things Digital, as did Boy Genius Report, as did 9to5MacRumors. Basically, a lot of people close to Apple — suppliers, parts makers, AT&T employees, etc. — assured a lot of bloggers that September 2011 was the month of the launch. “Yes,” all of these informants nodded in anonymous unison, “It certainly looks like September 2011.” Which is why I’m going to bet it will be a little frustrating for you all to hear that the latest rumors have the iPhone 5 coming out in October. YES, THAT’S RIGHT: OCTOBER … WAIT, OCTOBER? John Paczkowski of All Things Digital was the first writer to predict, all the way back in April, that the iPhone 5 would be released in September. He is now also the first writer to predict, all the way back on Monday, that the September reports are “wrong,” and that October is now the month. Boy Genius Report, meanwhile, joined the October crowd in part, saying to expect the new iPhone on October 1 — in Canada. They stand by their original claim that the iPhone 5 will be out in the United States in September, while Gizmodo sourced an anonymous tipster working for AT&T who told them that AT&T retail employees were banned from taking vacation during the last two weeks of September, which of course can only mean that the iPhone 5 will be released late in that month. Paczkowski responds to this tipster in his most recent post, saying that his Apple source told him that Gizmodo’s AT&T source was incorrect, and that if AT&T employees really were forbidden from vacation in the last two weeks in September, then it wasn’t because of an iPhone 5 release. Oy. Vey. As iTunes-approved punk rockers Green Day sang, wake me up when September ends. It’s a lot of work wading through all of this Dookie. Despite a lot of white noise, we are essentially no closer to knowing the release date of the iPhone 5, as Apple spokespeople aren’t confirming or acknowledging any of it. WHICH IS TOO BAD, BECAUSE PEOPLE REALLY, REALLY WANT ONE What we do know about the iPhone 5 is that consumers are incredibly, some might say irrationally, excited for it. A recent survey by online shopping store PriceGrabber showed that one-third of Americans are going to buy the next iPhone, no matter what it looks like or how it is upgraded. And according to an unrelated survey by consulting firm Piper Jaffray, Verizon users aren’t going to buy a new iPhone until it’s a new iPhone — that is, an iPhone 5, or an update to the iPhone 4. Target and Radio Shack fueled the crazy iPhone 5 speculation by cutting prices on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS in an apparent inventory cleaning, and 9to5Mac reported that the 3GS might be discontinued as soon as the iPhone 5 is inevitably available. AND WHAT, MIGHT YOU ASK, IS THIS iPHONE 5 GOING TO LOOK LIKE? While we don’t know much about the newest iPhone beyond the fact that it exists (prototypes have been shipped out to English carriers, according to The Guardian tech blog), we do have a whole mess of rumors that we can wade through. We already told you about the reports of the stronger rear-facing camera and the slimmer and thinner body; since then, even more anonymous tipsters and supposed spottings-in-the-wild have come forward. For grainy pictures of what may be the iPhone 5 being tested out by developers and carriers, you have to do some Web-hopping. A Vietnamese blogger claims to have a white iPhone 4s — a cheaper version of the iPhone 5 to be released simultaneously with its more expensive cousin — which he said (according to Google translate) runs faster, has a wider screen, and has a plastic rather than a glass screen. On the other side of the world, 9to5Mac has a picture snapped on a train in San Francisco, apparently of an Apple employee playing with his new unreleased iPhone, with wider screen, thinner back and more rounded edges than the iPhone 4. This squares (no pun intended) with the Nickelodeon-Gak green iPhone 5 covers 9to5mac thought they had found in — well, somewhere in Asia. And hey, speaking of Asia: Despite the iPhone 5 not yet being released anywhere, the knock-offs are already out there! Photos and video of a fake iPhone 5 made in a factory in Shenzhen have been circulating lately, thanks to the tech blog Gizchina. And since Apple phones are built in Shenzhen, China, who better to design a perfect replica of the phone than citizens of Shenzhen themselves? The “iPhoney” is thinner than the iPhone 4 and has the rounded glass that 9to5mac’s covers hinted at, but, unfortunately, it’s not an exact replication, as it only costs $108, which I think we all know won’t be the case for the iPhone 5. Shaw Wu, an Apple analyst with financial services firm Sterne Agee, meanwhile, added that the next-generation iPhone will be thinner and have a wider display, and will not run on 4G. So there’s that, too. WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS Whether the new iPhone is wider, thinner, fatter, or shaped like an octagon, or whether it is released in September, October, November, or Decembruary, is still anyone’s guess. Most people are still pegging an official announcement to Apple’s annual Fall Media Conference (the first week in September), so we will only have to deal with this rampant, sometimes silly, speculation for another month or so. Though there is not much agreement on what the iPhone will look like or when it will be available in America or elsewhere, one thing remains consistent: The Apple hype-machine keeps rolling its sleek white tires, riding silently as ever toward that announcement in September. Or October.
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