Google and Cisco sign cross-license patent deal
Google and Cisco today announced a new deal which sees the two benefiting from playing nice with each other. The two companies will license patents to the other in an attempt to promote innovation and freedom of operation. Rather than fight it out in court and waste time with litigation and damages, the pair are essentially strengthening their respective portfolios.
“Our agreement with Cisco will reduce the potential for litigation, letting us focus instead on building great new products…We’re pleased to enter into this cross-license, and we welcome discussions with any company interested in a similar arrangement.”
More at Cisco
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Air Wireless refreshes no-contract offerings
Aio Wireless on Tuesday rolled out new, no-contract service plans for customers. Effective immediately, the three plans range from $40-$60 per month, however all of them include unlimited voice and messaging. In addition to these affordable rate plans, customers who sign up for automatic payments (Auto Pay) can save $5 per month on their wireless bill.
- Basic Plan: $40 ($35 after Auto Pay credit) unlimited voice/text/data, including 500MB of high speed data (same price as before but double the data)
- Smart Plan: $50, ($45 after Auto Pay credit) unlimited voice/text/data, including 2.5 GB of high speed data ($5 less/month plus an extra half GB of data)
- Pro Plan: $60, ($55 after Auto Pay credit) unlimited voice/text/data, including 5 GB of high speed data ($10 less/month with 5 GB of data)
In terms of hardware, Aio is offering new customers some great prices on devices. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Amp is $49.99 (normally priced at $129.99) while the Samsung Galaxy Express costs $199.99 (normally priced at $249.99). The Samsung Galaxy S4 is also on sale, selling at $529.99 instead of the normal price of $579.99.
Aio Wireless is a subsidiary of AT&T Inc with retail locations in Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Washington, Michigan, and New York.
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Amazon guarantees $1.50 CPM banner ads in Amazon Mobile Ad Network for March, April
Listen up Android developers! Amazon just announced a really great revenue opportunity for those who have yet to take advantage of the Amazon Mobile Ads API. Indeed, you’ll be able to earn $1.50 for every 1,000 ad impressions delivered in March and April.
Existing apps already sending ad requests do not qualify. Existing developers who integrate the Amazon Mobile Ads API into another app for the first time will qualify. Qualifying apps may be distributed through other Android stores as long as they are distributed through Amazon.
First launched in 2013, the SDK helps developers monetize their apps with ad partners such as Duracell and Philips. If you’re a developer looking to boost your earnings, be sure to check out the tools available today. To qualify for the guaranteed earnings you’ll need to have your ad deliver its first impression between February 3rd and April 30th. Do note that this is for new apps that have yet to employ the API’s.
Read the full details at Amazon’s developer blog.
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Pebble appstore beta now available for Android, finalized version coming soon
Pebble promised to release its new appstore to the public Monday and it kept its word… sort of.
If you’re on an iOS device, you can download the updated Pebble companion app from iTunes that has the appstore baked in, but Pebble is still fine tuning a few things before releasing the final version for Android.
If you’re okay with a buggy version though, the company has released a beta appstore for Android through its developer blog and says that with everyone’s help, they should be able to finalize the app quickly.
Some known issues are with the pairing process, an app or watchface cannot be configured if it’s running on your Pebble, Android developers might have Android dev options of “Limit Background Processes” and “Don’t Keep Activities” checked that need to be unchecked or disabled to use the Pebble app and the mobile app shows a “Settings” icon for all JavaScript apps, even if they are not configurable.
If you do download the beta, or get it once the final version is available through Google Play, you’ll see that the store is laid out in different sections for apps and watchfaces, and has subsections under apps for Tools & Utilities, Notifications, Remotes, Fitness, Games, and “Daily” applications. This should make it much easier to find and install apps than before, when you had to sideload or use third-party app stores.
Hit up the link below for more information about the Android appstore beta.
via Pebble
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Don’t look down: LG tests its robotic vacuum cleaners at extreme heights
When LG wants to show off the spatial awareness of its robotic vacuum cleaners, it doesn’t just set them off in a dummy living room. No, instead, the company has taken its latest Roboking to the roof of a skyscraper to prove that, when left to its own devices, the hardware can go right to the edge of a surface without diving off the side. Even when playing a quick game of rooftop soccer, the vacuum managed to stay in one piece and make the tiles look pristine. In another test, LG balanced the cleaner on a metal plate, hanging 100 meters off the ground, a challenge that was met with ease. Most people’s living rooms aren’t half as dangerous as this, of course, but if you enjoy watching robots skirting with death, you’ll be well catered for by the videos below.
Source: LG (Translated)
Super Bowl sets new record for live streaming, barely
At first glance, Fox Sports’ viewership numbers for its Super Bowl stream are impressive, but when compared to data from previous games, they lose a bit of their luster. This year, an average of 528,000 people tuned into the stream per minute compared to 2013′s 508,000 viewer total. The increase is enough for the broadcaster to say the game is the “most-viewed live stream ever for a single sports event in the US,” (phew!) but the extra eyes only bumped the number by about four percent. How long people streamed the game increased by 25 percent this year, averaging around 48 minutes total. What’s more, Fox says that on Sunday its Sports Go app was the number one most downloaded sports app for iPhones and iPads, and the number two iPad app overall. Peak viewing time was in the third quarter when 1.1 million simultaneous users tuned in — you know, when the Seahawks’ victory was all but guaranteed.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Fox Sports (PDF)
Toshiba’s new drive could take the headaches out of networked storage
There aren’t many network-attached hard drives for the home, and those that exist aren’t always easy to use… not unless you enjoy drive mapping, anyway. Toshiba may just make the experience simpler with its just-shipped Canvio Home, though. This sequel to the Canvio Personal Cloud takes some of the guesswork out of setting up and finding your storage on your home network; if you just need to drag-and-drop files, you could be up and running within minutes. The Canvio Home also introduces official Mac support. As before, you can access the Canvio Home from anywhere (including Android and iOS apps), and it will stream media to local DLNA-capable gadgets. Toshiba is selling a 2TB version of the new disk for $200, while its 3TB sibling costs $260.
Apple Pledges $100 Million in Equipment to President Obama’s ConnectED Initiative for Schools
U.S. President Barack Obama today is announcing $750 million in corporate commitments for his ConnectED initiative to provide students with greater access to high-speed Internet connections. Apple is a key member of the group and has pledged $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools, according to an Associated Press report.
Apple is pledging $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools. AT&T and Sprint are contributing free Internet service through their wireless networks. Verizon is pitching in up to $100 million in cash and in-kind contributions. And Microsoft is making Windows available at discounted prices and offering 12 million free copies of Microsoft Office software.
Obama was to announce the commitments Tuesday at a middle school in the Maryland suburbs near Washington. Also in the pipeline: an addition $2 billion that the Federal Communications Commission is setting aside from service fees over two years to connect another 20 million students to high-speed Internet.
During the recent State of the Union address, President Obama mentioned that Apple and other tech companies would be providing the hardware and software needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to the Internet in the next two years. Apple confirmed its role in the project in a statement provided to The Loop, but did not offer any specific details on its role at that time.
These corporate contributions will help fulfill ConnectED’s goal of connecting 99 percent of U.S. students to the Internet within five years. When President Obama announced this goal last June, only one in five students had access to a broadband Internet connection.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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North Korea’s Official ‘Red Star’ Operating System Borrows Heavily From OS X [Mac Blog]
Screenshots from the latest version of North Korea’s home-grown “Red Star” Linux operating system reveal a striking resemblance to OS X, as shown in a new report from IDG News Service. The new look seen in version 3.0 of the software replaces the Windows-inspired design of version 2.0.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, might the folks in Cupertino be pleased when they see the latest version of North Korea’s home-grown operating system?
Version 3.0 of Red Star Linux presents users with a radical refresh of its desktop design, one that closely resembles Mac OS X.
Screenshots of the operating system were provided to IDG by Will Scott, a visiting professor at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) who bought the OS in Pyongyang from a local Korea Computer Center (KCC) dealer. KCC is the government’s information research technology center and has been in charge of developing Red Star Linux for more than a decade.
Red Star OS is the official operating system of North Korea and is localized for the country. It features Naenara (‘My Country’), a version of the Mozilla Firefox browser that connects to the country’s nationwide intranet. Version 3.0 shown above was released last year, but has until now not received significant attention outside of North Korea due to the country’s relative isolation from the world community.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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LG confirms optical image stabilization for G Pro 2
Korean smartphone maker LG announced that the upcoming G Pro 2 will feature optical image stabilization (OIS) in the camera. The 13-megapixel shooter should provide less shakiness in pictures and videos; the front-facing 2.1-megapixel camera is reportedly improved as well. Other features detailed in LG’s blog post tell us the camera will be able to capture bursts of up to 20 images in a row with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution as well as HD-quality slow motion videos.
It’s unclear if LG plans to spill more information on the G Pro 2 ahead of its release, but we’ll not complain if they do. LG has already gone on record as having the smartphone ready to roll for a Mobile World Congress debut.
LG (translate)
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