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Apple loses appeal versus Samsung

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 20 Oktober 2012 | 23.52

18 October 2012 Last updated at 07:15 ET

Apple has lost its appeal against a UK ruling that Samsung had not infringed its design rights.

A judge at the High Court in London had originally ruled in July that the look of Samsung's Galaxy Tab computers was not too similar to designs registered in connection with the iPad.

He said at the time that Samsung's devices were not as "cool" because they lacked Apple's "extreme simplicity".

Apple still needs to run ads saying Samsung had not infringed its rights.

The US firm had previously been ordered to place a notice to that effect - with a link to the original judgement - on its website and place other adverts in the Daily Mail, Financial Times, T3 Magazine and other publications to "correct the damaging impression" that Samsung was a copycat.

The appeal judges decided not to overturn the decision on the basis that a related Apple design-rights battle in the German courts risked causing confusion in consumers' minds.

"The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth," they said. "Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely."

However, they added that the move need not "clutter" Apple's homepage as it would only have to add a link entitled "Samsung/Apple judgement" for a one-month period.

A spokeswoman for Samsung said it welcomed the latest ruling.

"We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art.

"Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

Apple declined to comment. It can still appeal to the UK Supreme Court, otherwise the ruling applies across the European Union.

Registered design

Three judges were involved in the Court of Appeal review of the case.

Apple had reasserted its claim saying that the front face and overall shape of the tablets was the most important factor - rather than the overall design - because users would spend most of their time looking at a tablet's screen and holding it.

One of the judges - who noted he owned an iPad himself - explained why Apple had lost the appeal in his ruling.

"Because this case (and parallel cases in other countries) has generated much publicity, it will avoid confusion to say what this case is about and not about," wrote Sir Robin Jacob.

"It is not about whether Samsung copied Apple's iPad. Infringement of a registered design does not involve any question of whether there was copying: the issue is simply whether the accused design is too close to the registered design according to the tests laid down in the law."

"So this case is all about, and only about, Apple's registered design and the Samsung products."

Sir Robin noted that Samsung's decision to place its logo on the front of its devices distinguished them from Apple's registered design which said there should be "no ornamentation".

He also highlighted the fact that the sides of the iPad's design - which featured a "sharp edge" - were significantly different from those of the Galaxy Tabs.

In addition, Sir Robin wrote that Samsung's designs were "altogether busier" with a more varied use of colour on the devices' rear and their inclusion of a thicker section to house a camera.

International lawsuits

Apple has now lost a series of lawsuits against Samsung based on the design of their tablets.

These include cases in the Netherlands, Australia and US - despite sometimes winning temporary sales bans.

However, the California-based company has been more successful with other claims.

Most notably a US jury proposed Samsung should pay Apple a $1.05bn (£650m) fine for infringing several software patents, and the look and feel of the iPhone. Samsung is appealing the verdict.


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HTC and Sharp's next-gen screens

18 October 2012 Last updated at 12:23 ET

HTC and Sharp have unveiled devices featuring next-generation screens.

HTC's J Butterfly phone has a 5in (12.7cm) display offering an industry-leading 440 pixels per inch.

This offers 25-40% higher resolution - meaning more detail - than comparable devices from Samsung, Apple, Nokia and LG.

Sharp's new Aquos Pad tablet is the first to use its new Igzo technology which promises sharper images while using less power.

Sharp has previously said at least one of its customers also planned to incorporate the innovation in its devices.

Several device makers have signalled plans to announce new tablets over the coming weeks.

HD phablet

HTC's Android-based device is set to go on sale in Japan in December.

Its size places it somewhere between a typical smartphone and tablet in a category some term a "phablet".

The Taiwanese firm is marketing both the size and resolution of its screen as being ideal to watch 1080p movies.

Smaller, densely packed pixels mean users can hold a device to their face without being able to distinguish the individual blocks of colour used to make up an image.

HTC's 440ppi - pixels per inch - resolution offers a performance-boost over rival flagship devices including Samsung's similarly-sized Galaxy Note 2 with a 267ppi screen.

Apple's iPhone 5 offers 326ppi, Nokia's upcoming Lumia 920 332ppi and LG's Optimus G 318ppi.

To support the facility, HTC has included Qualcomm's top-end Snapdragon S4 Pro processor.

However, it has not yet disclosed what toll supporting the feature will have on its battery.

Longer lasting

Sharp's new tablet takes a more radical approach by being the first device if its kind to incorporate a new kind of LCD (liquid crystal display) technology.

Igzo (indium gallium zinc oxide) screens have higher translucency than standard TFT (thin film transistor) LCDs, meaning they are better at letting light pass through them.

As a result devices that use them need fewer LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to provide backlighting, allowing the screen to take up less room and use less power.

Sharp boasts its new Aquos Pad SHT 21 tablet can last two and a half times longer than its predecessor.

The company also suggests it has better touch accuracy than rivals, making it easier to write notes with a stylus.

The product has a 7in screen, but Sharp has said that it would also make panels in 10in and 32in varieties, suggesting its use in other tablets and desktop computers.

Continue reading the main story

23 Oct: Apple (San Jose)

Expected to unveil a 7-8in iPad

24 Oct: Samsung (New York)

Will give details of US launch of Galaxy Note 2

25 Oct: Microsoft (New York)

Launch event for Windows 8 which goes on sale, alongside Surface tablets, the next day

29 Oct: Google (New York)

Android-themed event, may include new Nexus devices

29 Oct: Microsoft (San Francisco)

Launch of Windows Phone 8 operating system

30 Oct: Arm (London)

Mobile device chip designer and "partners" announce news

The firm said its new tablet would launch in Japan in December, but has not released details of plans elsewhere.

Battery drain

The announcements come ahead of a flurry of new releases.

Over the next fortnight Microsoft, Apple and Google have all scheduled major product launches.

Several Windows 8 tablets - including Microsoft's own Surface - have already been unveiled and will go on sale next week. There is also the expectation of an "iPad Mini" and new Nexus-branded devices.

One analyst said that with so many competing products on offer, display quality was become a deciding factor for some consumers.

"Screen resolution has become a differential point for many manufacturers," Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe, told the BBC.

"Given that many people now use their devices to stream video, having a high-resolution that can best show off HD video is far more important than it was two years ago.

"There is still a trade-off though as some of these displays consume more power as a result, and battery technologies have not kept pace with other advances. Since screens are the biggest power drain on mobile devices, that's why a lot of research is going into how to reduce their energy needs."


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Google threatens French media ban

18 October 2012 Last updated at 12:44 ET

Google has threatened to exclude French media sites from search results if France goes ahead with plans to make search engines pay for content.

In a letter sent to several ministerial offices, Google said such a law "would threaten its very existence".

French newspaper publishers have been pushing for the law, saying it is unfair that Google receives advertising revenue from searches for news.

French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti also favours the idea.

She told a parliamentary commission it was "a tool that it seems important to me to develop".

Ad tax

Google France had said earlier that the plan "would be harmful to the internet, internet users and news websites that benefit from substantial traffic" that comes via Google's search engine.

It said it redirected four billion clicks to French media pages each month.

Print newspapers have seen their incomes gradually eroded in recent years as consumers and advertisers turn to the web.

Previously the French government has considered introducing a tax on online advertising revenues but it later dropped the plan, worried it would hurt small local companies more than global internet giants.

"France has a track record of enacting laws to protect its local media interest that seem out of step with the conventional wisdom in other markets," said Adrian Drury, an analyst with research firm Ovum.

"The question is whether by returning a search result Google is infringing the copyright of a site. The publishers will continue to contest this, but the general consensus is that it is not," he added.


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Error sees Google stock suspended

18 October 2012 Last updated at 16:47 ET Continue reading the main story

Trading in Google shares was suspended for two-and-a-half hours after the internet giant released its third-quarter results early by mistake.

Its quarterly profits fell 20% from a year earlier to $2.18bn (£1.35bn) - below analysts' expectations.

Google blamed financial printing firm RR Donnelley for filing an early draft of the results, which had been expected after the closing bell.

Shares in Google were down 9% when trading in the stock was suspended.

When trading resumed, the shares recovered slightly to end the day 8% lower.

Google chief executive Larry Page apologised to analysts on a conference call after the market closed.

"I'm sorry for the scramble earlier today," he said, adding that the company had had a strong quarter.

'Pending Larry quote'

In a statement after the inadvertent release, Google said: "Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorisation.

"We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalise the document. Once it's finalised we will release our earnings, resume trading on Nasdaq and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PST."

Continue reading the main story

Ben Thompson Business reporter, New York


While Google's results are disappointing, coming in well below analyst expectations, it was their early publication that spooked investors. Shares slumped 9%, wiping $19bn off the value of Google before trade was suspended, and only managed to claw back a small proportion of those losses when trade resumed.

But why is that accidental publication so damaging? Largely because it doesn't give Google the opportunity to explain the figures or manage market expectations. In normal circumstances, earnings reports come with a whole series of conference calls and briefings between the firm's management and investors, traders and journalists. Without the briefings, the numbers are left to speak for themselves.

There's also the old saying that markets don't like surprises. Results being published three hours early counts as one of those surprises. So Google is now on the back foot, trying to reassure the markets and give some context to the figures.

The company's draft results statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, was published at 09:30 Pacific time (16:30 GMT), three-and-a-half hours ahead of schedule.

It says "PENDING LARRY QUOTE" at the beginning, referring to chief executive Larry Page and indicating that it was not ready for publication.

Its final results statement, published at 12:00 Pacific time (19:00 GMT), included the following quotation from Mr Page: "We had a strong quarter. Revenue was up 45% year-on-year, and, at just fourteen years old, we cleared our first $14bn revenue quarter.

"I am also really excited about the progress we're making creating a beautifully simple, intuitive Google experience across all devices."

Net revenue rose to $11.3bn from $7.5bn, but was still below forecasts.

Including websites that generate traffic for Google's ads, revenue rose 45% to $14.1bn.

'No time'

The slide in Google's share price took the company's market value back down below that of Microsoft, which it had overtaken earlier this month.

Joe Saluzzi from Themis Trading said, "you can't make those mistakes any more".

He added: "Mistake or not, the earnings are earnings. The problem is when this happens in the middle of the day, there is no time for a conference call to massage it, there is no time for analysts' questions and for an evaluation."

Google completed the purchase of the loss-making mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn earlier this year and has been struggling to turn the firm around.

Costs related to the acquisition - for employee stock compensation and restructuring charges - knocked Google's overall results, as did the strong dollar.

The company said that if foreign exchange rates had been unchanged, its revenue would have been $136m higher.


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Windows 8 skews Microsoft results

18 October 2012 Last updated at 18:22 ET

Microsoft has reported a 22% fall in quarterly profits, after deferring some revenue ahead of the upcoming releases of its Windows 8 operating system and its latest version of Office.

Net profit for the three months to September fell to $4.47bn (£2.79bn), from $5.74bn a year earlier, and missed expectations.

Total revenues fell 8% to $16bn.

PC sales fell as consumers either put off new purchases in a tight economy or opted for tablet devices instead.

Microsoft deferred a total of $1.36bn of revenue, which it will regain in the following quarter.

This included $783m in licence fees for PCs pre-loaded with Windows 8, because it cannot recognise the revenue until the units go on sale on 26 October.

It also deferred $384m for PCs that shipped with Windows 7 but are eligible for a $15 upgrade to Windows 8, and $189m for PCs that shipped with the new version of Office or are eligible for an upgrade.

Microsoft shares fell 3% in extended trading.


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Apps help save on car insurance

Dan WhitworthBy Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat reporter
Traffic jam viewed through a wing mirror

Millions of drivers could potentially save money by using smartphone apps that monitor how safely they drive, according to insurance industry bosses.

Getting a car insured can often cost thousands of pounds.

Now several companies have released apps which use GPS technology to track things like speed, braking and cornering.

The safer someone drives, the more money they get off their premiums or back from their insurer.

In the last couple of months two apps have been launched which track drivers over a set distance of 200 or 250 miles.

One from Aviva is offering new customers discounts if they drive safely.

Mike Skuse Mike Skuse, 22, used a smartphone app to get money back from his insurer

Twenty-two-year-old Mike Skuse downloaded one from Confused.com which offered drivers money back if they proved to be a good driver.

"It tracked me for 250 miles and based on things like my speed and my braking it gave me a score out of 100," he said.

"Once you got that, in my case, I got £25 back."

Although the two apps are still in the trial and development stages around 20,000 people have downloaded them.

'Benefit everybody'

Unlike telematics, so-called black boxes, the idea works by adapting technology millions of people already have in their smartphones, so there's no need for drivers to get extra equipment fitted to their cars.

Graeme Trudgill, from the British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba) said: "There's a lot of interest [in this] from the insurance community.

Continue reading the main story

It goes on your smartphone and that's with you all the time but that does mean it's open to people cheating the system

Mike Skuse, 22, from Swindon

"If it can reduce the claims made to insurance companies, if it can make the roads safer for drivers, then that's going to benefit everybody."

Critics, though, say while higher risk drivers - typically young men - would stand to benefit the most, they are the least likely to use the app.

There are also concerns that it would be easy to fix the results by giving smartphones to safer drivers while their driving is tracked before handing them back.

"I think they're a good idea to start with," added Mike Skuse. "I certainly saved a bit of money.

"It goes on your smartphone and that's with you all the time.

"But that does mean it's open to people cheating the system".


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Developers quit Kickstarted game

19 October 2012 Last updated at 06:58 ET

Development on a video game funded by the crowdsourced funding site Kickstarter has stopped as all its programmers have quit.

More than 1,200 people backed Haunts: The Manse Macabre when it ran a funding campaign via Kickstarter in June 2012.

It pledged to produce a horror game but that has been mothballed after running out of cash and staff.

Experts said it could be first of many shelved and showed the perils inherent in the making of video games.

Haunts sought $25,000 (£15,590) from Kickstarter but the project proved popular and meant the game's developers got $28,739 (£17,895) to fund completion of the game. Prior to the funding appeal Haunts creator Mob Rules Games had spent about $42,500 getting the basics of the title completed.

The end result was supposed to be a haunted house horror game in which players could take on the role of the house's inhabitants or intruders investigating what lived within it.

Now Mob Rules Games boss Rick Dakan has revealed that the game's development has prematurely halted.

"The principal cause for our dire condition is that there are no longer any programmers working on the game," said Mr Dakan in a blogpost updating backers.

Bug testing

Haunts' lead programmer was only contracted to work for Mob Rules for a year, said Mr Dakan, and having returned to Google has no spare time to keep working on the game.

In addition, Mob Rules second lead programmer has quit and no longer wants to work on Haunts.

Before the pair left, said Mr Dakan, they all but finished the game but it would need extensive bug testing and refinement before backers could get at it.

Continue reading the main story

It's a real shame to see Haunts struggling"

End Quote John Walker

Unfortunately Mob Rules has no-one available to do this work. In addition, Haunts has been written in the Go programming language which is not widely used and will limit its chances of hiring new hands to complete the work.

In his blogpost, Mr Dakan apologised for how Haunts has turned out and pledged to refund any backer who wanted their money back out of his own pocket.

"My obligation to all of you generous Kickstarter backers is foremost in my mind and I have not served you as well as I should have," he said.

Risky business

John Walker, from games news site Rock Paper Shotgun, said there was always a danger that something like this would happen with projects funded via Kickstarter. There was a chance that bigger projects could go the same way, he said, and anyone using Kickstarter should be aware of the risks.

"Most people pledge at the level that promises them the final product, and so of course don't view their act as a philanthropic one, but as a purchase," he said.

Funding problems, delays and disappearing developers were all problems that games studios had to weather, he said.

"That's all part of games development, and now individuals are learning of the risks publishers take when they fund a project by the traditional models," he said.

"It's a real shame to see Haunts struggling," he said. "They've done exactly what Kickstarter suggests - being open and frank about the issues they've faced, how they've spent the money, and their attempts to resolve them."

Mr Dakan did add that zero developers, an obscure programming language and dwindling cash did not mean the game was entirely dead.

He was in talks with another games studio that might take the title on and invited anyone who might be able to help to get in touch.

"We're going to make this game, and if you can hang on for what looks to be a long road ahead, we will get it finished," he said.


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Battery inventor Ovshinsky dies

19 October 2012 Last updated at 07:06 ET

Stanford Ovshinsky, a self-taught American physicist who designed the battery now used in hybrid cars, has died aged 89 from prostate cancer.

The electronics field of ovonics was named after Mr Ovshinsky, who owned over 200 patents and has been described as a "[Thomas] Edison of our age".

He introduced the idea of "glass transistors" in 1968, which paved the way for modern flat-screen monitors.

He and his first wife Iris set up a firm called Energy Conversion Devices.

The firm specialises in manufacturing the nickel-metal hydride batteries he designed, which are still used in hybrid vehicles, and also produces large thin, flexible sheets of solar panelling also invented by Mr Ovshinsky.

He received various honorary degrees and awards but had no formal education after high school. He claimed to have taught himself science by using the public libraries of Ohio where he grew up.

His son Harvey said he was "determined to change the world".

"My father worked tirelessly 24-7, even up until he got sick, to change the world and its attitude toward sustainable energy and alternate platforms for information," he added.

Mr Ovshinsky is survived by his second wife Rosa, brother Herb, seven children and six grandchildren.


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Twitter cuts anti-Semitic tweets

19 October 2012 Last updated at 09:26 ET

Twitter has agreed to remove a flood of anti-Semitic tweets circulating on its service in France.

The offensive messages are circulating labelled with the #unbonjuif (#agoodjew) hashtag.

The tweets are being removed following the threat of legal action by a Jewish student group.

The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) was planning to get a court injunction to make Twitter remove the offensive tweets.

The decision to remove the tweets emerged from a meeting between Twitter's senior management, the UEJF president Jonathan Hayoun and the group's legal representatives. During the meeting the UEJF handed over a list of the posts it wants removed.

Over the past few days the #unbonjuif hashtag has been one of the most popular phrases on Twitter among French-speaking users of the service. Many of the tweets bearing the tag contain offensive comments.

The UEJF had scored an "important victory" over Twitter on the issue, Stephane Lilty, the student body's lawyer told AFP. It has also pressed Twitter to reveal the names of those abusing the hashtag. Twitter has yet to issue an official comment about the matter.

The decision to remove the messages comes soon after Twitter shut down an account used by a German neo-Nazi group based in Hanover. The block was imposed at the request of German police. Facebook and YouTube have also agreed to block the group's accounts.

The block was carried out using a novel feature called "Country Withheld Content" it introduced earlier in 2012. This means users in Germany will be unable to see messages posted by the account but they will be visible in other nations.


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Cash offered to teach computing

19 October 2012 Last updated at 11:32 ET By Judith Burns Education reporter, BBC News

High-flying graduates are to be given a £20,000 golden handshake to train as computer science teachers.

Ministers have asked Facebook, Microsoft and IBM to help design the training for the new teachers.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said current information and communications technology (ICT) teacher training courses would be axed from next year.

The move "could not be more welcome or more necessary", said Prof Steve Furber of the Royal Society.

Major changes to the teaching of computing in English schools are already in the pipeline. Mr Gove announced plans to scrap the existing schools ICT curriculum back in January, calling it "demotivating and dull" with pupils learning little more than basic digital literacy skills such as word processing.

Continue reading the main story

If we want our country to produce the next Sir Tim Berners-Lee... we need the very best computer science teachers in our classrooms"

End Quote Michael Gove

At the time he called instead for pupils to learn computer coding so that they could produce simple animations or their own smartphone apps.

A recent report by the Royal Society also found that computer education in English schools was "highly unsatisfactory" and highlighted a shortage of teachers capable of teaching computer science with only 35% of England's ICT teachers being subject specialists.

About 50 scholarships will be handed out in the first year and up to 500 existing ICT teachers will also be retrained to teach computer science.

Students who graduate from university with at least a 2:1 degree will be eligible for a £20,000 scholarship to train on one of the new courses, which have been set up with leading industry experts.

To qualify the candidates will need a good understanding of computer science concepts such as algorithms, logic, data networks and the internet, according to the Department for Education.

'More needed'

Prof Furber told BBC News: "Computer science was a backwater in many schools... but this is an extremely clear signal that the government is taking the problem seriously, that even in times of austerity they have heard the message and are sorting things out."

Prof Furber said the number of new computer science teachers was small and would go only part of the way to solving the problem. Ideally, he said, he would like to see one or two computer science teachers in each of England's 4,200 secondary schools.

He said existing ICT teachers "would need lots of help" to become adept in computer science, but added: "Of course there are already some excellent teachers out there doing all the right things. We are not starting from zero."

Mr Gove indicated that computer science could be added to the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) list of key academic subjects that teenagers are encouraged to study at GCSE. He said: "Computer science is not just a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject. It is also vital to our success in the global race.

"If we want our country to produce the next Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the internet, we need the very best computer science teachers in our classrooms. They need to have the right skills and deep subject knowledge to help their pupils."

Mr Gove was referring to the concept of a global system that would allow researchers anywhere to share information which was first proposed by Sir Tim while he was working at the Cern particle physics laboratory in Geneva in the 1980s. Sir Tim later named it the World Wide Web.

Labour questioned how effective the changes would be. Stephen Twigg MP, the shadow education secretary, said: "Michael Gove has developed an analogue curriculum in a digital age. His outdated EBacc places no value on subjects such as computing.

"If we are to remain competitive, we need to instigate a computer science revolution, starting with getting primary school children to learn coding."


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