Apple Marketing Chief Phil Schiller to Testify Again in Upcoming Apple vs. Samsung Case [iOS Blog]
Apple’s Chief of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, will be among the witnesses that both Apple and Samsung lawyers plan to call to the stand when the two companies return to court in March, reports PCWorld. The second trial will cover newer products that were not able to be included in the first jury trial.
Phil Schiller was first called as a witness during the initial patent dispute between Samsung and Apple in 2012, and again in a damages retrial that took place in November of 2013. Schiller told the jury Samsung made it “much harder” for Apple to market and sell its devices. Samsung made it “harder for us to get new customers and bring them into our ecosystem,” he said.
In the second trial, Schiller will be asked to testify on several different aspects of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, including design, development, and marketing.
“Mr. Schiller will be called to testify regarding design, development, promotion, marketing, advertising, consumer demand for, and sales of the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and other Apple products, including the features accused of infringing the Samsung feature patents, the smartphone and tablet markets, the Apple brand and Apple’s marketing and advertising efforts,” Samsung said in a filing Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Samsung also plans to call Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of engineering at Google, and Todd Pendleton, Samsung’s marketing chief for its U.S. telecoms division. As for Apple, along with Schiller, the company expects to call Tony Blevins, VP of procurement; Gregory Christie, VP of human interface; Bruce Watrous, its chief IP lawyer; and possibly Scott Forstall, Apple’s former SVP of iOS software.
Following the conclusion of the initial patent dispute that covered older devices from both Samsung and Apple and the subsequent damages retrial to redetermine a portion of the reward, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $890 million.
This second trial covers newer devices, such as the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the iPhone 4/4s/5, the iPad 2/3/4, and the iPad mini. As with the former trial, both Apple and Samsung are accusing each other of patent infringement, and laid out a list of asserted patents earlier this month.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics CEO Oh-Huyn Kwon are scheduled to attend a mediation meeting ahead of the trial, but if an agreement is not reached, the trial will proceed in March.
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Twitter hopes to grow by making it easier to follow your friends
You may have noticed that Twitter is very celebrity-focused; at least for awhile, it was more likely to suggest that new users follow a Kardashian than their friends down the street. That’s changing, however. CEO Dick Costolo tells those at a Goldman Sachs conference that he plans to revive the social network’s slowing user growth by encouraging newcomers to get involved. Twitter is reducing the number of steps it takes to sign up, and it’s suggesting people who are more likely to follow back, such as phone contacts. Not that Costolo is betting everything on that one approach, though. The company is also experimenting with more ideas, including additional cards and commerce. It’s too soon to tell whether or not the chief executive has the right idea, but it’s safe to say that he doesn’t want Twitter to stand still.
Filed under: Internet
Samsung Galaxy S4 on Sprint now getting Android 4.4 KitKat
Though Samsung kindly bestowed Android 4.4 KitKat onto the Google Play edition of its Galaxy S4 late last year, the TouchWiz variants of the same phone have not received the same attention, at least in the US. That ends today, however, as Sprint is finally rolling out said update to the Galaxy S4, making it the first US carrier to do so. This means that GS4 users on Sprint will finally get to enjoy the benefits of KitKat, such as better security, full-screen mode and of course, the new Hangouts. Sprint’s changelog also indicates that the update will add Zact Mobile compatibility to the phone. There’s been a sizable user demand for KitKat from GS4 owners, so hopefully this update shows that their phone is still relevant. Especially, you know, as there might be a successor coming up any day now.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Sprint
Cable companies and tech giants reportedly joining forces to push ‘WifiForward’
Time Warner, Comcast, Charter, Google, Microsoft and Motorola aren’t the most likely of allies, but it appears they’ll be teaming up to form the new WifiForward coalition. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group will be pushing to expand WiFi access, primarily by lobbying the government to free up more spectrum for unlicensed uses. Each of the companies has been pushing for such measures independently, but by joining forces they’re hoping to have more success. Increasing the available airwave space for WiFi transmissions will become increasingly important as the number of smartphones and over all data consumption in the US grows. Cisco Systems says that the average American consumed 1.4 GB of data per-month in 2013 and 57 percent of that was over WiFi. By 2018 that number could grow to 9 GB per-month.
Notably absent from the list of companies are the mobile carriers. AT&T and Verizon in particular have invested heavily in building robust LTE networks. The less traffic traveling over those wireless frequencies, the less money the companies are generating — and the percentage of mobile data sent over WiFi is only increasing. Google has invested heavily in WiFi across the country, and the major cable providers have joined forces to share their roughly 250,000 hotspots. Now these big players need to figure out how to take the next step.
Filed under: Wireless, Microsoft, Google
Source: Wall Street Journal
Angry Birds Stella could be the next big hit for Rovio
Following Rovio’s announcement on Twitter that a big adventure was coming, they have just announced that the next big thing for the Angry Birds franchise is the introduction of a new character called Stella.
Stella and her friends bring players of the popular game to a part of Angry Birds that Rovio claims are yet to be seen.
“Angry Birds Stella is breaking the mold by introducing strong, passionate characters who really stand for something, while adding plenty of action and reality into the mix”,
Angry Birds Stella is about inspiration, empowerment, and other real issues, according to Rovio.
“The Angry Birds Stella story will live and evolve across physical and digital, bridging them in fun and innovative ways. Stella and her friends are here to stay, with plenty of adventures ahead of them.”
The Stella extension to Angry Birds is said to be delivered through a variety of games, animation, toys, books, and other retail products.
As to what Stella is exactly is purposefully left vague, but it seems that big adventure Rovio were hinting at previously revolves a whole lot around a new character called Stella.
The post Angry Birds Stella could be the next big hit for Rovio appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Motorola CEO confirms departure in blog post
Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside has confirmed his intentions to take on the role of COO at Dropbox. A post on Motorola’s blog today tells us that he’ll step down on March 31 and will be replaced by “longtime Googler” Jonathan Rosenberg.
I’m excited about what the next chapter in Motorola’s storied history will bring under the new ownership of Lenovo. While Google imbued simplicity and software sensibility into the company, Lenovo will bring it the scale it deserves. I have no doubt the two companies together will be a force for good in the mobile industry.
Woodside is deservedly proud of his achievements and time with Motorola but also understands there’s work to do. We get the sense, however, that he’s confident in Lenovo’s direction and abilities.
The post Motorola CEO confirms departure in blog post appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Muzei Live Wallpaper: The best live wallpaper we’ve ever used
Dashclock Widget creator Roman Nurik is back with a beautiful live wallpaper for your Android phone.
The appropriately named Muzei (or “museum” in Russian) sets a piece of art or custom photo as your phone wallpaper, rotating every night. The default setting adds a slight blur effect to the painting, blending in nicely with whatever you have on your homescreens. If you double tap an empty space on anywhere on your homescreen, it will toggle the blur, turning it back into a full-fledged piece of artwork.
The wallpaper hasn’t even been in the Play Store for more than two days, and it already has upwards of 50,000 installs. Seeing as how it is so popular already, we are going to take a look at just how great it is.
Featured Art
The big feature in this app is the “Featured Art” section. This rotates famous pieces of artwork as your wallpaper, chosen by Nurik and his fiancé. The rotations usually happen at around 9PM ET every night and so far we’ve seen work from Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. There are definitely a lot more to come.
Custom photos
If classic artwork isn’t your thing, you can always choose custom photos to rotate every few hours. You can select entire galleries or just a handful of your favorites.
When I take pictures from my phone, I take a lot at one time. I tend to come back to the gallery and choose the best one, and leave all the others to be forgotten. The custom photo selector is a subtle way to remind you of pictures you once forgot about. Take a look at the original compared to the one with the blur effect.
It’s not a very good photo… at all. But with the slight blur effect that Muzei uses, it doesn’t look half bad. I almost want to go as far as saying that bad quality photos aren’t nearly as annoying to keep in your gallery anymore. Try this feature out – you’ll probably love it.
Extensions
Openness seems to be a common trend in Nurik’s app design philosophy. For anyone who hasn’t yet tried Dashclock, the app comes with a basic set of useful extensions by default. The API is open to other developers, so they can create their own extensions. So far, before hitting the two day mark in the Play Store, Muzei already has countless extensions.
Some of the notable extensions so far are Reddit, APOD, and 500px. Muzei seems to have a bright future already, and let’s hope it’s as popular as Dashclock has grown to be.
Bugs
This app is new… very new… so we are definitely going to expect some bugs. There have already been a few reported issues, but nothing that would completely turn anybody away from using it. And actually, Nurik has already addressed many of them, pushing out an update to the Play Store. We’ll have to see as time passes, but so far there haven’t been any huge issues.
You should download this.
This is usually the part where we review what we liked and didn’t like about the app. But I’m not going to do that. Muzei is too young to gripe about any substantial bugs, especially because it doesn’t have many at all. This app is gorgeous, and is filled with a huge amount of customization options. It’s still very early in the process to make any suggestions or improvements, but what I do know is this – If you want a beautiful and customizable live wallpaper for your phone, the Muzei Live Wallpaper is for you.
The post Muzei Live Wallpaper: The best live wallpaper we’ve ever used appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Windows 8 sales pass the 200 million mark, still trail Windows 7’s success
Back in May, Microsoft announced over 100 million sales of Windows 8, but how much progress has the software made now that we’re in 2014? Today the company reported shipment of more than 200 million Windows 8 licenses. As usual, Microsoft didn’t specify whether or not that figure includes Windows RT licenses as well.
Naturally, those numbers mean nothing without context. Compared to Windows 7 sales a few years back, the latest-gen operating system is lagging. Windows 7 passed the 240 million mark within its first 12 months on the market, while Windows 8 is just hitting 200 million after more than 15 months of availability. Several reasons factor into Windows 8′s slower pace — among them lackluster sales of Microsoft’s Surface tablets and a shortage of touch- and tablet-optimized apps. The company hasn’t said much about the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1, but rumors point to better compatibility with budget tablets and an interface that favors the classic desktop over the Start screen. Look for that update to hit the market in April.
Filed under: Desktops, Tablets, Software, Microsoft
Source: ZDNet
This new, low-end AMD graphics card’s meant for budget-conscious PC gamers, and maybe Steam Machines, too
Not every gamer has the desire means to get the latest and greatest graphics hardware. Fret not budget-minded PC aficionados, for AMD’s rolling out a new, more powerful low-end GPU that should suit your financial constraints. Called the Radeon R7 265, it brings twice the memory bandwidth of its predecessor, the R7 260x, which AMD claims translates into a 25 percent performance boost. It’ll cost $149 when it goes on sale in late February, and with its debut, AMD’s also dropping the cost of the aforementioned 260x to a scant $119.
Naturally, those meager price points will appeal to cost conscious consumers, but AMD’s announcement could have an effect on Steam Machine OEMs, too. We saw AMD’s higher-end R9 graphics in several of the Steam Machines at CES, and we’ve been playing with a working iBuyPower prototype packing an R7 260x for awhile now. So, it stands to reason that the 260x and 265 will prove awfully attractive options to manufacturers trying to hit the all-important sub-$500 price point needed to compete with other gaming consoles. And, who knows, maybe these new (relatively) inexpensive options will help drive down the prices of both more powerful cards and the GPUs being offered by AMD’s competition.
Source: AMD
Biggest-ever solar thermal power plant goes online in California
Solar power just hit the big time in the US — BrightSource Energy has confirmed that the world’s largest solar thermal plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California, is up and running. The array, also backed by Google and NRG Energy, produces a total 392MW of power through 173,500 multi-mirror units. That’s enough to power 140,000 nearby homes, and it represents 30 percent of all the solar thermal energy in the US. The Ivanpah harvester has its drawbacks; with roughly 5.5 square miles of solar panels, it’s creating trouble for birds and other nearby wildlife. Even so, it represents an important breakthrough for delivering clean energy on a grand scale.
Filed under: Household, Science, Google
Via: The Verge
Source: BrightSource Energy
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