Google bids $900 million for Nortel's patents to protect against litigation trolls

Nortel, once one of the biggest telecoms company in the world but now in the death throes of bankruptcy, has selected Google's $900 million bid for its patent portfolio as the stalking horse bid. This doesn't mean that Google will automatically win Nortel's massive array of telecoms patents, but it does mean that Google is the preferred buyer.

Google, which has a history of lobbying for patent law reform, has been the target of many patent litigation suits. Google's relative infancy means that it has a lot less patents in the vault than big-hitters like Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, and buying Nortel's portfolio of 6,000 patents could provide better protection against patent litigation in the future. It's worth noting that both Apple and RIM have showed interested in the portfolio, too.

Mashable speculates that the patents -- which are nearly all telecoms-related -- will be used to defend against Oracle's attacks on Android's use of Java. We reckon that Google is simply looking to cover its future endeavors in the world of networking. In the absence of patent law reform, and continued threats to net neutrality, owning a bunch of telecoms patents sounds like a very sensible move.

Google bids $900 million for Nortel's patents to protect against litigation trolls originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/google-bids-900-million-for-nortels-patents-to-protect-from-li/

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This Edible Lamp Is Actually Good Enough to Eat

This lamps looks good enough to eat. No, really: it's made from a biodegradable plastic derived from vegetable glycerin and agar, which means that when it reaches the end of its natural life you can actually chow down on it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/sRtw3BYeDOE/this-edible-lamp-is-actually-good-enough-to-eat

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LittleBits Releases Holiday Kit, Encourages More DIY Hardware Hacking

LittleBits Releases Holiday Kit, Encourages More DIY Hardware Hacking
Open source hardware company littleBits has released its Holiday Kit and launched a campaign to encourage people to build their own projects during the consumption-heavy holiday season.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/littlebits-holiday-kit/

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Russian technology firms agree to avoid poaching each other, keep salaries in check

Russian technology firms agree to stop poaching each other, keep salaries in check

American companies that reach no-poaching agreements do so behind closed doors, as it's considered illegal and anti-competitive. No such reservations appear to exist in Russia, as several of the country's top technology giants have openly admitted to reaching an unprecedented verbal deal: Acronis, Epam, Kaspersky Labs, Parallels and Yandex have all promised not to actively recruit each other's staff. They contend to CNews that it's a way to prevent salaries from getting out of control as staff are lured away, and that fear isn't entirely without justification -- there's a well-known salary war between Facebook and Google in Silicon Valley, for example, that makes it tough for smaller companies to attract the same talent. Whether or not the pact stands may be another matter. There's no history of Russian court action versus anti-poaching deals, but concern exists that the truce may not be strictly above-board.

[Image credit: Jennifer Boyer, Flickr]

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Via: The Next Web

Source: CNews (translated)


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Samsung to get a look at Apple's settlement with HTC

Samsung to get a look at Apple's settlement with HTC

Samsung will be able to look at the settlement between Apple and HTC. Samsung will reportedly use the content of the settlement to determine if they need to halt sales of any of their products after their billion-dollar loss to Apple in a US court in August. Apple had previously sought to keep the specific dollar amount of its settlement with HTC private while providing the rest of the settlement terms for Samsung to view, though Samsung didn’t find this sufficient. Bryan Bishop of The Verge reports:

Apple's attorneys had previously agreed to share a version of the agreement that redacted the financial terms of the settlement; in a hearing today Samsung argued that the fees HTC is paying Apple indicate how much consumer demand there is for those features covered by the patents. While Judge Grewal did write that he was "more than a little skeptical" of Samsung's argument, he nevertheless ordered Apple to turn over the document.

Samsung feels that if Apple is licensing patents to HTC, then Apple is fine with someone using the intellectual property covered by those patents as long as they are paid for its use. Since Apple will be recieving a settlement from Samsung based on August’s verdict, Samsung believes that an injunction is unjustified. Whether this will be enough to satisfy the court is up for debate, because licensing agreements typically involve a contract to use intellectual property, and while Samsung will indeed pay Apple a large sum of money, they still used the intellectual property without permission in the eyes of the law, having made no contract with Apple on the use of their intellectual property. The hearing for a possible injunction against Samsung’s products will being on December 6th.

Source: The Verge

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Wii U Wii U Rock You

Nintendo's next-generation video game console system, the Wii U, will arrive at stores on Sunday and is expected to sell out quickly. This could leave many holiday shoppers unable to find one as Nintendo will be unable to meet the demand. In many ways this is a replay of the 2006 launch of the Nintendo Wii, which was a smash hit -- so much so that it took years for supply to reach demand. Nintendo is expected to sell 3.5 million Wii U units worldwide, according to IHS Screen Digest, but many fans will simply have to wait until production meets up with demand.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/25aa34a9/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C766530Bhtml/story01.htm

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Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads

google chrome malicious download
Google Chrome already sports a number of security-minded features, from Incognito mode to a software sandbox which makes exploiting the browser a Herculean task. Now, Google has announced additional protection for Chromium and Chrome users.

Built upon the Safe Browsing API, the new feature introduces protection against malicious downloads. If a download link appears in the Safe Browsing blacklist, Chrome and Chromium will warn users against downloading -- a save button is still presented, of course, in case you're convinced a file is perfectly safe to download.

We'd like to see something a bit more eye-catching than the red warning icon -- like perhaps painting the entire bar red. Many of the people a feature like this aims to protect probably won't notice the icon or change in wording as they'll be focused on clicking the save button.

Google is initially making download protection available to Chrome dev channel users, and you'll likely see it in Canary and Chromium snapshot builds as well. After thorough testing, beta and stable users will be next in line.

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/google-chrome-and-chromium-add-protection-against-malicious-down/

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What to watch out for if you're buying a cheap Android tablet today

Android Central

Today's Black Friday in the U.S., and across the country, turkey-filled Americans will hitting the stores looking for bargains. If previous holiday sales are any indication, there are sure to be plenty of low-cost Android tablets looking to lure buyers in with the promise of a big-screen Android experience on the cheap.

Just because a tablet doesn't cost the earth, doesn't make it bad. The Nexus 7 has proved that you can get a decent Android-powered tablet without breaking the bank. Nevertheless, there are some things you'll want to watch out for if you want to avoid being sold a dud. We went through some of these points a few years back in a post-Christmas tablet guide, but it's time we brought it a bit more up-to-date.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/xbmUDCKj7zk/story01.htm

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You Can Buy a Fake New iMac Before Apple's Has Even Gone on Sale

Apple's new iMac is taking its time to arrive in stores. But if you're bored of waiting, you can already get a dodgy Chinese fake of the sleek new computer—before anyone has managed to get their hands on the official product. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YOZeP0uoNL4/you-can-buy-a-fake-new-imac-before-apples-has-even-gone-on-sale

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KMyMoney Is as Simple to Use as Quicken

KMyMoney is a comprehensive finance-tracking application that does not require an accounting degree to use effectively. Linux provides several hearty checkbook and banking programs. Among the more well-known are GNUCash, Grisbi, Skrooge and MoneyDance. Each of these contenders for your attention have their own unique look and feel. GNUCash is as much of a standard among Linux users as was MSMoney for Windows users before Microsoft dropped that application.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/25d052eb/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C766740Bhtml/story01.htm

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