Weekly News Round Up
13th January, 2012
Microsoft Signs Patent Agreement with LG; Now Covers 70% of US Android Market
In what comes as a boost to Microsoft's efforts for making money from the success of Android, the Windows maker has signed a patent agreement with LG.
Under the terms of the agreement, LG will get access to Microsoft's broadband patent portfolio for tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices based on Google Android or Chrome OS platform.
With this new deal, Microsoft now covers 70 percent of the Android market in the United States. In exchange for letting LG access its patents, Microsoft will get a royalty fee for each Android and Chrome OS device that LG sells.
The companies failed to disclose the financial details of the agreement.
"We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft.
LG now joins the long list of Android device manufacturers that Microsoft has struck a patent licensing agreement. This includes Samsung, HTC and Acer, which are among the 10 Android and Chrome OS device makers which have signed on for MIcrosoft's IP licensing program.
With its weak patent portfolio, Google has not been able to provide adequate protection to its OEM partners who are using the Android and Chrome OS.
Mobile phone charger that runs on water invented for 'people who spend time away from the electricity grid'
A Swedish company has invented a charger for mobile phones, cameras and GPS devices that can power-up your electronic gadgets with little more than water. The PowerTrekk has been designed for people who 'who spend time away from the electricity grid' and do not have access to conventional power in remote locations.
The charger needs just a tablespoon of water to produce around 10 hours of phone battery life.
It works via a chemical reaction. The water reacts with PowerTrekk's special ingredient, sodium silicide, to produce hydrogen gas.
Sodium silicide is a new chemical powder that has been developed by 'green' energy company SiGNa Chemistry, based in New York. PowerTrekk is the first commercial product that has used sodium silicide.
The invention works with any device that has a USB port and with almost any type of water, including salt water. It can even run on puddle water providing it isn't thickened with mud or any other sediment. The product was first glimpsed last year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but a modified version of the technology has been on show at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
It is scheduled to hit the European market in May or June with a recommended price of 199 euros (£165), with replacement sodium cells costing around two euros (£1.60). 'PowerTrekk has a competitive edge over traditional portable chargers,' said Björn Westerholm of myFC, the company behind PowerTrekk. 'Fuel cell power is generated immediately and charging is not impacted by weather or the position of the sun, as for solar panels. 'Compared to battery powered travel chargers, PowerTrekk offers reliable charging as the fuel packs do not deplete as batteries do.'
The process easy for users. The sodium is stored in a small round container called a PowerPukk, similar in shape to a hockey puck or shoe-polish tin. The PowerPukk slots into one half of an outer container. In the other half is a tiny water tank, into which you pour the water. Once the lid is sealed on the outer container the chemical reaction begins automatically and the PowerTrekk is ready to use. The chemistry process is said to be safe and eco-friendly, and the only by-product is a little water vapor. The portable battery pack can either be used as a charger or as a ready source of power; you can plug a torch or lamp into it.
Apple may bring Siri to older iPhones, iPad and iPod Touch
Plenty of fans were miffed with Apple when the company decided to confine its sassy new voice assistant, Siri, to the iPhone 4S. And there were some half-hearted comments about hardware requirements that we refused to pay any heed to.
But there has been a general belief that Apple will release Siri to all iOS devices once it has extracted enough marketing mileage for iPhone 4S, and the latest developer release of iOS, 5.1 beta 3, further fuels these claims.
Under the spotlight is small new section in the keyboard menu in the versions of the iOS for iPod Touch and iPad, called ‘About Privacy and Dictation’. It displays the same legal disclaimer that iPhone 4S shows for Siri capabilities.
Now, this may be for the next generation iPod Touch or iPad 3, or the poor little section could just be stuck where it is not supposed to be. We’ll know for sure in the near future, but right now, we’d like to hope that Apple is finally coming to its senses and letting us get Siri on our older iOS devices.
BlackBerry launches 5 new 7 OS smartphones
Research In Motion announced early this week the launch of five new BlackBerry smartphone models based on the BlackBerry 7 Operating System (OS) in the Philippines. The latest additions to the BlackBerry 7 product lineup are BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860, and BlackBerry Bold 9900 in Pure White.
Availability of the five new smartphone models from carriers and authorized retail channels in the Philippines began yesterday. “The new BlackBerry 7-based smartphones offer customers a truly outstanding mix of communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features,” said Hastings Singh, RIM vice president for South Asia. “We are excited to expand the BlackBerry 7 portfolio with the launch of five new models, providing Philippine customers with a broader selection of handsets to match their lifestyle,” he added.
True to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new Bold 9790 is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold.
With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the Web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32GB of additional storage.
The finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380, meanwhile, is the first touch-screen smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2-inch high-resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), Facebook, Twitter and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience.
This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues. The third new Blackberry smartphone builds on the popular design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800. The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 is faster and more fluid with high-performance hardware features and the new BlackBerry 7 OS delivering an enhanced multimedia experience.
HTC Ville heading to T-Mobile
The rumored HTC Ville Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich handset will be heading to T-Mobile, according to PocketNow sources. HTC had just unveiled the Titan II for AT&T, but was otherwise quiet at CESsuggesting it may have major news saved up for Mobile World Congress. Upcoming announcements are expected for the HTC Ville, HTC Edge, and a new feature called HTC Family.
We’ve recently seen the HTC Ville in a leaked press image, which revealed an ultra-slim smartphone said to measure less than 8mm thin. It’s expected to feature a 4.3-inch qHD display, running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor. HSPA+ connectivity, Beats Audio, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p, are all expected to be in tow.
Besides smartphones, HTC is also expected to introduce a new service called HTC Family that will complement the company’s other services such as HTC Read and HTC Play. The HTC Family feature offers more convenient ways to stay connected with loved ones, allowing users to easily leave messages for each other and coordinate events. It also supports a geolocation feature that lets families keep track of one another.
