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Apple and Samsung in Court Again

Published on October 25, 2012 by in Patents

Once again Samsung and Apple are fighting it out in court.

In the latest of these Apple has won, partly, as a US International Trade Commission judge has stated that Samsung has infringed four od Apple’s intellectual property patents. However, this is only a preliminary hearing.

The specific patents include one relating to the front face of the iPhone and another for touch-screen technology. This is another win for Apple as they were awarded $1.065 billion in damages by a jury back in August.

Now that the judge has given his ruling the case will go in front of a full commission which is scheduled to conclude in February. The judge stated that four of Apple’s patents have been violated by Samsung but two others that had been listed by Apple had not been infringed.

Which Patents?

Of the patents that have been upheld are three for the software and one for the hardware. The Samsung products in question are not the latest models so this would not affect many of the handsets on sale. The International Trade Commission could enforce a ban on the import of the phones and Samsung have repeatedly argued that any ban would limit the choice and raise prices for consumers.

The two companies have been in legal cases in more than 10 countries each accusing the other of violating patents; this is due to them battling for market share.

But, will it ever end?

 
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Apple in Court Again

Published on August 29, 2012 by in Patents

Apple is trying to get Samsung into court over violations of its copyright laws.

Apple have given a US judge a list of eight Samsung products that they want to be removed from sale and banned from the US markets alleging that they have wilfully copied Apple’s technology.

Judge Lucy Koh asked for the list following a jury’s verdict in San Jose last week which saw Samsung being hit with a $105bn verdict for copying the technology from iPads and iPhones. Samsung is due to appeal this verdict.

Apple wants to banish the:

  • Galaxy S 4G
  • Galaxy S2 AT&T
  • Galaxy S2
  • Galaxy S2 T-Mobile
  • Galaxy S2 Epic 4G
  • Galaxy S Showcase
  • Droid Charge
  • Galaxy Prevail

As seen this would see the Samsung chain having to remove all the S2 models that they have on the market at present. This may be seen as a bad thing but they have upgraded to the S3 and S4.

On June the 26th the same judge banned the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the US market after concluding that it probably broke a design patent.

Samsung are seeking this ban to be lifted after the jury found that the tablet didn’t infringe that particular copyright, however it did find that the Tab did infringe three of Apples software patents. These patents copy the popular “bounce-back” and pinch-to-zoom features of their products.

The court will decide if the smartphones should be removed from the US market on 20th September.

 
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New iPad Due for Release 16th March

Published on March 8, 2012 by in iPad

New iPadIt was revealed yesterday that the ‘New iPad’ will be on sale from the 16th of March and it’s brilliant in every sense of the word.

Retina Display

The new iPad offers a Retina display which helps you see things how you have never seen them before. The new iPad has four times more pixels than the iPad 2 meaning images and films are even more crystal clear than ever before. This screen is 2048 by 1536 in resolution on the same sized screen as the iPad2.

Processor

The new iPad has the powerful A5X chip and has quad-core graphics processor. How does the new screen affect the battery life? Absolutely none! You still get up to ten hours of reading and playing time on the new iPad.

There is a new camera on the new iPad too. It has a 5 megapixel iSight camera. This lets you take still photos in 5 megapixel quality. Alongside this the camera records in full 1080p HD. Now for a tablet this is revolutionary. This all comes from the lens.

Built with the latest in wireless technology the new iPad lets you connect to data networks around you wherever you are in the world. This is upto 4G LTE speeds.

New iPad Features

Alongside the other features there are upgrades to the iOS, iCloud and now has similar technology to Siri on the iPhone. You can dictate emails, texts, search the web all through the power of your own voice.

There is a handy iPad smart cover on the new iPad. This protects the iPad from dust, scratches and more but also works in a way that can wake or put the iPad to sleep. It also doubles as a handy little stand.

Two Versions

There are two versions of the new iPad the Wi-Fi and the Wi-Fi + 4G both are the same size but the +4G version is 10g heavier. Both are available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB sizes which puts pay to the rumours of the 128GB size.

The Camera consists of:

  • 5-megapixel iSight camera
  • Autofocus
  • Tap to focus
  • Face detection in still images
  • Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
  • Video stabilization
  • FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second
  • Photo and video geotagging

Price wise though they aren’t cheap, as you would expect

For the Wi-Fi version it costs

  • $499 16GB
  • $599 32GB
  • $699 64GB

And for the Wi-Fi + 4G version you would be paying

  • $629 16GB
  • $729 32GB
  • $829 64GB

I can guarantee that the shops will sell out of these as soon as they are put in them so grab yours while you can.

 
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App Store Reaches 25 Billion Downloads

Published on March 6, 2012 by in Apps

With people adding apps to the app store thick and fast there is little wonder that the 25billionth download has happened so quickly.

To help the downloads Apple offered a $10,000 (£6,364.38) gift voucher to the lucky downloader. The company started a countdown last month and this could be seen on the Apple homepage. When they launched the countdown they also announced the prize.

On the 18th of February the countdown had recorded 24,338,612,000 which means that over 660 million applications went in just over two weeks, a whopping average of 48.6 million a day!

Reports from the Huffington Post suggest that the Android market sold 11 billion and Blackberry’s App World Store sold 2 billion in the same time. Thus showing that Apple and the App store are superior to their rivals.

The gift card will allow the winner to purchase items from the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store which could ultimately mean that the lucky person could get around 8000 songs (£0.79 a song).

As the 25billionth download has been and gone the winner has yet to be announced by Apple. The company has posted a thank you on their homepage with a note asking users to check back later to see if they are the lucky winner.

App store hits 25 billion downloads

The 25 billionth app download is just three years after the one billionth download was announced which shows the increase in this sector for companies. This is also due to the 300 million sales of iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.

With the imminent arrival of the iPad HD or iPad 3 (whichever they decide to call it) then the 30 billionth download won’t be far away either. The App Store is definitely the place to be at the minute if you want  to communicate to a mass audience.

 
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iPad 3 Press Conference and Release Date

Published on March 5, 2012 by in iPad

With Apple holding the first press conference on Wednesday about the release of the new iPad then there is most definitely a buzz surrounding the company.

There have been rumours for months about the specs for the new iPad. Some can be put to bed straight away but then other may have a hint of truth behind them. Sky Bet have stopped taking bets on the new iPad as if everything is correct for them then the case will be carbon fibre, it will not be called the iPad 2S and it will have 128GB of storage.

Some Rumours

So here are some of the other rumours surrounding the new iPad:

  • The Release Date – This is expected to be either March or April. They are having a press conference in two days and this is the day we expect the announcement to be made.
  • Processor – Expected to be much faster than the iPad2 with a huge quad core processor. The brand spanking new Apple A6 processor In fact.
  • HD Display – Is the display actually going to be a HD one? If it is then the films and games will be amazing on the new iPad compared to other hand held tablets.
  • Confusion of the Name – Will it be iPad 2S or the iPad HD? If it’s the HD then the screen will be given away however it could still be HD if named the iPad 2S.
  • Better Battery – With the Quad Core processor it will be power hungry and will need a much better battery than is in the iPad2.
  • NFC Chip – This could be breakthrough with the ‘Near Field Communications’ chip it could create better connectivity with other users.
  • More Storage – The 128 GB size that is expected is much larger than the iPad2’s large 64GB but if the display is HD then the need for more space for images and films will be apparent.
  • Camera – with the increase in power of the new iPad then there will be more storage for pictures taken and stored by users.
  • Carbon Fibre Anyone? – The rumour mill is that Apple has hired a carbon fibre expert to create a carbon fibre case for the new iPad but is this true? It would make it stronger.

So, we wait for Wednesday for the outcome of the iPad launch press conference and I expect that the world of technology will be holding their breath until this is announced.

 
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