Apple ordered to pay $533 million for infringing on gaming-related patents
A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay $533 million in damages after it found that the company’s digital media distribution services – including the iTunes Store – infringed on three patents owned by Smartflash LLC. The patents in question were allegedly used without permission in third-party games that were available from iTunes.
According to Bloomberg:
The dispute is over digital rights management and inventions related to data storage and managing access through payment systems. Smartflash claimed that iTunes used the inventions in applications such as Game Circus LLC’s Coin Dozer and 4 Pics 1 Movie.
The game companies settled out of court with Smartflash, with Apple deciding to go to court on grounds that the patents in question “were invalid.” Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, said:
Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented. We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.
Smartflash does not sell products itself, with its only source of income coming from the seven patents it holds, all of which are attributed to its co-founder Patrick Racz. The company sought $852 million in damages from Apple, a number arrived at calculating a portion of iPhone, iPad and Mac device sales. Apple said that the patents were worth $4.5 million at most, with general counsel Eric Albritton arguing that there was no valid reason for the hardware giant to pay royalties on device sales when the patent dispute is over a single feature. According to the lawyer:
It doesn’t make a lick of sense that one person would buy an iPhone and not make calls. People do not buy cell phones for the sole purpose of using apps.
Apple failed in its attempts to persuade the jury that the patents in question were not directly used by iTunes. The Cupertino giant also failed in its bid to get Smartflash’s patents invalidated.
With the Apple case coming to a close, Smartflash is going after Samsung next. The company also sued Google and Amazon over the usage of the same patents in their respective digital distribution services. You can view Smartflash’s court filing against Apple in its entirety here.
Source: Bloomberg
HTC One M7, Moto X (2014), Moto G (2013) now receiving Lollipop updates in Canada
We’re now in full swing for OTA updates of Android 5.0 Lollipop for a number of popular devices. But the majority of updates we’re hearing about are based out of either the US or Europe, and not too many out of Canada. A few weeks ago, we heard the HTC One M8 in Canada was receiving the update, and now it’s rolling out to a few more devices in the region. Starting today, the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop is rolling out to Canadian variants of the HTC One M7, Motorola Moto X (2014) and Moto G (2013) devices.
HTC Canada says that all Canadian carriers are rolling out the update to the M7 beginning today. If you have yet to see the update hit your phone, head to Settings>About device>Software update>Update to check manually.
Motorola is also sending out an update to their Moto X (2nd Gen.) and Moto G (1st Gen.) devices in Canada. Moto G (1st Gen.) users on Virgin, TELUS, Koodo, Videotron and WIND should be seeing the update to Android 5.0.2 later today. Unlocked Moto G devices should get the update today as well. Additionally, Moto X (2nd Gen.) users on WIND will get the update to Android version 5.0.1. The Lollipop update has yet to roll out on the Moto X (1st Gen.) and Moto E, but we can’t imagine it will take too much longer.
Are there any Canadian users out there getting the update? Let us know if you get it today!
Google is Adding Hangouts Chat with Businesses from Search Results
If you’ve ever wanted to contact an establishment from a Google search result, but didn’t have the time to wait for an email or the attention for a phone call, then Google has just what you need: Hangouts. Granted, Hangouts has been around for a while, but it has yet to be implemented in this way. Google has been testing the new feature with certain establishments, and thus far, the results look promising. The feature also comes with a estimated response time for each business so you can know when you can expect a reply.
Messaging businesses isn’t unheard of in 2015, but if Google starts to really pursue this feature, we can expect to see it really take off, especially if it ties-in well with Google Maps. Since it’s still in testing, we can’t know if it is a serious venture or not, but keep your eyes peeled for updates about Google’s progress on TalkAndroid.com
Source: TechCrunch
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Android snags 81% of the market in 2014 with over 1 billion units shipped
With 2014 in the books, we’re finally getting the numbers to see how each manufacturer and OS did over the past year. The good news for Google and Apple (and bad news for the likes of Microsoft and BlackBerry) Android and iOS accounted for a whopping 96.3% of all smartphones shipped. That leaves a very small 3.7% for Windows Phone and everything else that’s competing for scraps.
When you break the numbers down between Android and iOS, though, Android came out a clear victor in the market share battle. Android devices accounted for 81.5% of all phones shipped, finally breaking the 1 billion mark for smartphones. Compared to those 1 billion Android smartphones, Apple shipped 192 million phones for 14.8% of the market.
In the Android camp, Samsung still pulled in the most market share among Android OEMs. Samsung actually shipped more than the next five vendors combined, which is a phenomenal amount of devices. However, growth year-over-year was nearly non-existent, while smaller manufacturers saw quite a bit of growth.
It’s nearly set in stone that Android is going to stay the top dog, at least when it comes to global market share. The next big battle will be between Samsung and everyone else in 2015.
source: IDC
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AMD’s next laptop processor is mostly about battery life
Intel isn’t the only chip giant championing battery life over performance this year. AMD has revealed Carrizo, a processor range that’s focused heavily on extending the running time of performance-oriented laptops. While there will be double-digit boosts to speed, there’s no doubt that efficiency is the bigger deal here. The new core architecture (Excavator) is just 5 percent faster than its Kaveri ancestor, but it chews up 40 percent less energy at the same clock rate — even the graphics cores use 20 percent less juice.
Not that this is the only real trick up AMD’s sleeve. Carrizo is the first processor to meet the completed Heterogeneous System Architecture spec, which lets both the CPU and its integrated graphics share memory. That lets some tasks finish faster than they would otherwise (since you don’t need as many instructions), and it could provide a swift kick to both performance and battery life in the right conditions. You’ll also find dedicated H.265 video decoding, so this should be a good match for all the low-bandwidth 4K videos you’ll stream in the future.
The new chip is pretty promising as a result. With that said, its creator will undoubtedly be racing against time. Carrizo is expected to reach shipping PCs in the second quarter of the year, or close to Intel’s mid-year target for its quad-core Broadwell processors. You may find shiny new AMD and Intel chips in PCs at around the same time — that’s good news if you’re a speed junkie, but it’s not much help to AMD’s bottom line.
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, AMD
Via: PCWorld
Source: AMD
How Upcoming ‘Modern Family’ Episode Was Shot Entirely on iPhone and iPad Cameras [iOS Blog]
Last week, it was announced that the February 25 episode of Emmy-winning sitcom “Modern Family” would take place solely on a MacBook screen and only be shot with cameras from iPhones and iPads. BuzzFeed News got in touch with the episode’s director and series co-creator Steven Levitan to find out how they shot the episode.
In a video originally provided to BuzzFeed News, and now available for download on iTunes [Direct Link], Levitan explains that all of the iPhones were kept in holsters held by cameramen. To avoid making the shot look like it was being filmed by a floating device, the actors were told to hold their arm near the cameramen’s arm.
Initially, Levitan and the crew wanted the actors to hold the phone throughout film, but they found it wasn’t as east to control and that actors would misplace the devices as well as shoot off-set.
The episode took over three months to complete, with a lot of time dedicated to post production as the special effects team had to rebuild OS X Yosemite from the ground up, mimicking its animations and art style while also taking artistic license to make certain things better suited for the story they wanted to tell.
While the episode’s format isn’t the same as the standard “Modern Family” format, Levitan says there have been other instances during the show’s six year run where they’ve used iPhones to shoot certain scenes. For instance, instead of staging a basketball game for a scene where a character dresses as a mascot, Levitan shot his son’s basketball game on his iPhone and used special effects to splice the character into that basketball game.
The episode, which is called “Connection Lost” airs Wednesday, February 25 on ABC.
LG G Flex 2 commences global rollout
Ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, LG announced that its latest curved screen phone, the G Flex 2, is rolling out globally. The handset will be available from major carriers in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Germany and the U.K.initially, with other markets across Asia, North and South Americas and Europe getting access to the device in the weeks following MWC.
OnePlus One Lollipop update delayed to March
Although you can run Android 5.0 Lollipop on your OnePlus One right now by flashing a nightly build of CyanogenMod 12S, those looking for a more stable verison have to wait until March. That’s according to OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, who revealed on Twitter that the Lollipop update would be available for both the global variant, which would receive a stable build of CyanogenMod 12S, as well as the Indian model, which will get the vendor’s own OxygenOS.
AT&T Lumia 830 with Fitbit Flex is now available for free on-contract
The AT&T Lumia 830 bundle – which includes a Fitbit Flex activity tracker – is now free with a new two-year contract on the Microsoft Store. If you’re looking to purchase the bundle outright, you can do so for just $399, which is great value considering the Fitbit Flex in itself retails for $90.
Meet the Devs – DJantel Ware
Welcome back to our Meet the Devs segment! In this piece we take a little time to get to know the people who really make Android what it is today and that is the app developers. In this week’s developer interview, we are talking to Daniel and Janina Knittel of DJantel Ware.
Name: Daniel and Janina Knittel
Developer Name: DJantel Ware
Country: Germany
Website: Official website
Social Media Profile/Page: Google+
How many people on your team? 2
Apps
About your company?
We are a two man team from Germany. Actually we are a man and woman team, as me and my wife decided to try the life of indie game developers. We both studied at the University of Hamburg, where we gathered a lot of knowledge that comes to good use in our projects. We have several games in the making, and we released our first game (Nightmare Defender) several days ago.
What level of experience do you have with coding and development?
Both of us studied computer science at the University of Hamburg, we developed countless “traditional” desktop tools during our studies, for work and for my thesis. Plus we have several app projects in the making. So the coding part is very well covered.
What level of experience do you have with design?
Me (Daniel) is interested in art since I can hold a pencil. I have a long history of creating graphics for games and for flash movies.
What apps have you made?
We have several games that we still work on, the only finished project so far is Nightmare Defender. We have one very big project with the working title “Living in Hell”, where your objective is to survive in a zombie apocolypse not by simply killing everything that moves, but also thinking about gathering food, building up a home and keeping it zombie free. But this is something for the future.
How do you monetize your apps?
Our current approach is to show ads. We will see how this works out.
Do you consider yourself successful?
Nope, not by now. It is too soon to make conclusions like that.
How difficult is it to make money as a developer?
Pretty difficult. Getting visibility in the Google Play Store is very hard, and downloads are the only thing that can generate money for you.
What can Android do to improve?
This is hard to tell. One point would be to improve the synchronization frequency of the store. The numbers shown to the people and to the developer are horribly wrong. Sometimes it takes days so that the users can see the proper ratings the app got, ratings that may have conviced people who already left because of the lack of any download numbers or reviews.
Why did you choose Android? Do you develop for other platforms? What are the differences between them?
I developed for iOS as well during my studies and for a client I once had, but having no Apple device for my personal use (and you need apple to “be allowed to” develop for apple) this is not an option for us at the moment. But it is definitely a market we want to concer in the future. One of my side projects is an engine based on libgdx, which basically ports Cocos2D/AndEngine concepts over to the libgdx framework, enabling us to develop cross platform apps. But lacking any apple device (and the money to invest :D), this is also something for the “far away future”.
Android is something that we can do with our equippment and we both personally prefer android phones.
What are your thoughts on iOS and Windows 8?
Windows 8 is not an option and at the moment. Their market is just too small. Read the previous question to get my thoughts about iOS :).
What do you think of the Android design guidelines?
Not much.
What are your favorite apps?
WhatsApp is definitely an app I would miss.
What has been your experience been like working with Gooogle?
We have not that much experience with Google by now. They made the app available pretty fast, which is a good point. The developer console and the numbers in the store are horribly wrong, which is a bad point. In general we are grateful that Google made all of this possible in the first place.
What does the future of development look like?
Well, everything is getting faster and easier. It is already amazing that one or two man teams can produce pretty big and advanced games and apps. As the technology ripens, we can expect even greater things to come.
What tips do you have for aspiring developers?
If you do not like it, change it. Do not compromise. Every time I thought “oh, I will let it be like it is” I always had to come back later and change it anyway, having far more trouble than I would have if I changed it right away. If you have a clear goal in your mind, do not mess with it by compromising.
Anything else you’d like to share?
We would like to thank AndroidAuthority for this amazing opportunity to introduce ourselves and our game Nightmare Defender. Indie game development is really hard, getting visibility even harder. And thanks to anyone reading this. It would be really awesome if you gave our game a try.
Developer interview wrap up
We want to thank Daniel and Janina for chatting with us in this week’s developer interview! If you’re a developer and this looks like something you’d like to do, check out our Meet the Devs form! We look forward to hearing from you!
AIVAnet 