At first HTC told Apple to eeff off and learn to compete, but it seemed like the International Trade Commission may not agree with HTC’s point of view. The ITC has just made an initial determination in the ongoing patent infringement case between HTC and Apple and it’s not looking great for HTC. The judge ruled that HTC had infringed on two of the ten patents in question, and if this ends up flushing through, it’s possible that select HTC products would be banned from ever arriving in the US.

Of course, it’s more likely, however, that a settlement would be implemented between the two at war, with HTC forking out untold quantities of greenbacks in exchange for Apple backing away from the blockade trigger. ‘Course, it’s hard to say how negatively this will impact other Android handset makers, many of which may run into the same sorts of legal hurdles. Naturally, HTC is already saying that it’ll appeal the ruling, while Cupertino’s legal team is remaining mum.

If this works out, I’m pretty sure Apple will be scouting around for another Android manufacturer to bring to court, because Apple is already fighting with Motorola over the same issue.

HTC general counsel Grace Lei stated the following: HTC will vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC Commissioners who make the final decision. We are highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible.”

All Things D is reporting that the two patents in question are 5,946,647 and 6,343,263, the former of which is said to be “fundamental to Android.”

SOURCE via CNET

Many analysts and market watchers were expecting a strong Q2 earnings report from Sony Ericsson today, but the company took them by surprise, posting a net loss of some €50 million (about $70.5 million), compared with a net gain of €12 million (around $17 million) at the same time last year. The manufacturer also sold only 7.6 million phones during the quarter, marking a 31 percent year-on-year decrease, while overall revenue fell from €1.76 billion (about $2.5 billion) last year to €1.19 billion (almost $1.7 billion) during Q2 2011. CEO Bert Nordberg attributed much of the decline to the Japanese earthquake, which disrupted the venture’s supply chain, resulting in the loss of around 1.5 million devices. The report comes after Sony Ericsson launched a widespread cost-cutting campaign and re-focused its efforts on smartphone production, which comprised more than 70 percent of all sales during Q2, compared with just 40 percent at the end of last year.

SOURCE via Yahoo!News

We’ve seen plenty of 3D movies hitting the silver screen, and also television manufacturers are pushing 3DTVs and Blu Ray players that support 3D, but has 3D really taken off? Well, the only number we have to refer to is 3.5 million.

If that’s the number of a new laptop or smartphone or even camera, then that’ll be awesome, but that’s not the case here. That’s the number of 3D Blu-ray discs sold in the US, and half were included in the box with a Blu-ray player, which doesn’t sound very good indeed. Those numbers are based on an IHS Screen Digest estimate, tallying US sales beginning in June of 2010 and ending last month, though many larger titles didn’t make their debut until later in the year.

Still, if those results are even in the ballpark of official (unreleased) numbers from BD distributors, then things really aren’t looking up for 3D. With fewer than 100 titles even available on Blu-ray, however, we’re not really surprised that discs aren’t exactly flying off the shelves.

Obviously, as a growing number of movies are filmed in 3D we’ll see BD title availability increase as well, but with the technology’s lackluster beginnings over the last year and no sign that consumers are ready to spend more to embrace that new dimension, 3D may continue its slow crawl toward the mainstream for some time to come. If only we have the numbers for the international market.

SOURCE via TG Daily

Our world has changed a lot, and we know that. We used to write on papers, send slow mail, and travel by rocky paths, but now people uses tablet for schools, and send emails, and travel by high speed bullet trains. But what’s funny is this news. Kids used to dream of becoming doctors, engineers, well probably some will say Indiana Jones and Rocky Balboa. But the peeps these days are slightly different, in a big way.

Apparently being a presenter on the hit TV BBC show Top Gear is the dream job of nearly a third of British men isn’t surprising in the least. After all, what red-blooded male wouldn’t relish the opportunity to drive the very latest (and often enough, the very fastest) automobiles every single day of their lives? And who wouldn’t love to travel to the most distant and beautiful places on the planet while acting out a slew of ridiculous stunts all involving cars, trucks or motorcycles? And, naturally, who wouldn’t want to be paid good money to do it? Read more…

People of this generation really love touchscreens, and their tastes aren’t going to change anytime soon. That’s the takeaway from a new report from market research firm DisplaySearch, which predicts that revenue from touch panel sales will hit the $13.4 billion mark by the end of this year, before soaring to nearly $24 billion by 2017. Shipments of capacitive touch displays, in particular, are expected to increase by 100-percent over last year, accounting for a full 70-percent of all tactile revenues. The mobile market still accounts for most of this industry-wide growth, but demand for touch-based tablets is accelerating considerably, with more than 72 million panels expected to ship this year, and 100 million projected in 2012.

SOURCE via Display Search

In the near future, we won’t have tablets, netbooks and notebooks. Well, at least that’s what Intel says. But what will we humans be using? Or maybe, Skynet has already taken over the world?

During his keynote address at the SEMICON West conference in San Francisco, vice president of Intel’s architecture group Rama Skukla said that the lines between a netbook, laptop and tablet are disappearing faster than today’s designers can even realize. That said, it’s quite possible that these form factors will be gone within ten years.

“It’s going to be very difficult to see where one device goes and the next one takes off,” he told the audience. Even today, the concept of PCs is already outdated. He added that future PCs will probably serve as “personal companions” instead of bulky devices, synchronizing around the owner in an individual cloud of information that users will be able to share with others or keep private. Read more…

PayPal has announced a new phone-to-phone NFC payment application at MobileBeat 2011, offering Nexus S owners the ability to request and transfer funds between handsets. As of now, the functionality is quite limited because, as you’ve already guesses, there’s just a single smartphone with the hardware capabilities to take advantage on this planet, and there’s no phone-to-anything not a phone supported as of now. In other words, this is definitely something for the sued folks at Google to pay attention to. We’re also hearing that P2P transactions through PayPal are gratis “if using a bank account or existing balance in the customer’s PayPal account,” but no one’s coughing up details on what’ll be deducted in the form of fees when using a different method of payment. A video demo of the 48 second transaction awaits you after the break, but sadly, there’s no detail on how soon it’ll be made available to the public.

Read more…

Apple’s lawyers in its lawsuit against Samsung are an impatient bunch. First, they asked the court for an accelerated discovery process so they could get their hands on Sammy’s forthcoming products ASAP. Then they filed a motion to trim the time until trial and asked for an order shortening the time to file the briefs for that motion. Yesterday, the court told Apple to slow its roll by denying its request to compress the briefing schedule. In doing so, the judge cited Apple’s knowledge of Samsung’s alleged infringement for more than a year and the fact it engaged in license negotiations with the Korean company during that time — which the court thinks undermines Jobs and Co.’s argument that they’ll suffer substantial harm without a hurried hearing schedule. It’s a minor ruling in the grand scheme of things, but it indicates that Apple’s cries to condense the time until trial may fall upon deaf judicial ears. Looks like the folks in Cupertino may have to look to the ITC if they want the rocket docket treatment.

SOURCE via FOSS Patents

And what’s so special about this return? Well, once Pastebin’s new Twitter account reels in 75,000 followers, LulzSec will launch a “mystery operation”. Sounds like a marketing strategy.

Like some 80s hairband reuniting for one last time to perform at a benefit concert, the notorious hacker group LulzSec is reportedly getting back together to launch one final assault in the name of Pastebin.com and its follower count on Twitter.

According to reports, Pastebin.com administrators finally obtained the @pastebin Twitter account after previously using @pastebincom. “From now on http://t.co/elGKocV will use the Twitter username: @pastebin,” the site said on Twitter. “We managed to claim that today. Victory! ”

Read more…

Don’t look down on the casual gaming industry today, what may seem like a company that develops simple games like the famous Bejeweled, or better known as Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook, could actually worth up to USD$1.2 billion. It has been reported that Electronic Arts might be acquiring PopCap, the developer for Bejeweled, for USD650 million plus stock and earn-outs which could add up to as much as USD$1.2 billion.

The deal is not finalized yet though, it is expected to close in August. Earlier, EA already acquired Playfish, a game developer for Facebook. Last year, EA bought Angry Birds’ publisher Chilingo for USD$20 million as well as Firemint, an iOS game maker, earlier this year.

“EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries and more channels.” – John Riccitello, CEO of Electronic Arts.

With all these  acquiring of gaming companies and together with the five-year deal with Facebook signed late last year, it seems like EA is all prepared to go heads on with Zynga, the developer for the most popular games on Facebook including Farmville, Cityville and many more.

SOURCE via Mashable