Court: Nintendo’s 3DS patents are not guilty of infringement

New York federal court judge Jed Rakoff announced his verdict in the appeal of Nintendo’s 3DS patent case against Tomita Technologies on Sunday. The judge found that the technology in question — specifically, that “relating to displaying stereoscopic images on-screen for viewing with the naked eye, i.e., without utilizing glasses or other devices” — performed differently in Nintendo’s system than in Tomita’s and did so in a manner which was not envisioned by the plaintiff’s original 2008 patent. As such he ruled in favor of Nintendo, reversing the lower court’s initial decision from 2013 and confirming the results of a 2015 retrial. What’s more the decision invalidates Tomita’s initial award of $30.2 million in damages.

Source: Nintendo (Businesswire)

Blizzard considers running classic ‘World of Warcraft’ servers

Do you miss the early, headier days of World of Warcraft, before endless changes turned it into a different beast? You’re far from alone — hundreds of thousands of people were playing on Nostalrius, a fan-run server that went back to basics, until Blizzard shut it down early in April over intellectual property jitters. However, the game studio isn’t deaf to your cries. It’s telling WoW fans that it has been mulling the idea of running its own “pristine” servers, without the boosts and tweaks that have slipped into the online role-playing title over the years.

There are no concrete plans in place, so don’t count on anything happening in the immediate future. However, this isn’t just idle talk. Discussions picked up dramatically after Nostralius went down, and Blizzard is even chatting with some of Nostralius’ operators. You might see a more official server pop up that shares at least some of what the community-made alternative offered.

It might seem counter-intuitive for Blizzard to consider a retro server when it normally wants you to experience the latest and greatest features. There is some logic to a possible move like this, though. WoW is now 12 years old, and its subscriber base is declining. Creating a throwback server might not only avoid thorny legal issues, but keep some veteran fans from cancelling their subscriptions. Although this probably won’t lead to a revival, it might help delay the inevitable.

Via: Polygon

Source: Battle.net

FBI Gave First Security Disclosure Under ‘Vulnerability Equities Process’ to Apple on April 14

On April 14, the FBI informed Apple of a security flaw in older versions of iOS and OS X, its first vulnerability disclosure to Apple under the Vulnerability Equities Process, reports Reuters, citing information obtained directly from the Cupertino company.

The Vulnerability Equities Process allows federal agencies to determine whether critical security flaws should be kept private for law enforcement use or disclosed to companies to allow them to patch major vulnerabilities.

The security flaw the FBI shared with Apple pertained to older versions of the iPhone and Mac and it was fixed with the release of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. It was not the vulnerability that was exploited to break into the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, which remains under wraps.

Apple says 80 percent of iPhones run a safe version of iOS and are not vulnerable to the security flaw shared by the FBI. Apple told Reuters it does not have plans to issue a patch for the older, vulnerable software.

According to Reuters, the FBI was motivated to provide Apple with information on an older vulnerability following a report suggesting it would not use the Vulnerability Equities Process to provide Apple with the method used to hack the San Bernardino iPhone.

The day after that report, the FBI offered information about the older vulnerabilities to Apple. The move may have been an effort to show that it can and does use the White House process and disclose hacking methods when it can.

The flaw the FBI disclosed to Apple this month did nothing to change the company’s perception that the White House process is less effective than has been claimed, said an Apple executive who declined to be named.

Earlier today, a report from The Wall Street Journal suggested the FBI has decided not to disclose the vulnerability used to access the San Bernardino iPhone. FBI Director James Comey has insinuated the FBI cannot provide details on the hacking method used on the iPhone because the security flaw exploited is owned by a private company.

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.

Tag: Apple-FBI
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Spigen is offering a variety of its HTC 10 cases for just $3 at Amazon with coupon

Spigen is offering a variety of its HTC 10 cases for just $2.99 at Amazon when using a coupon code. Since the HTC 10 is not even officially available yet, now is a perfect time to buy a case so that you have it when your phone arrives. Whether you are looking for something clear, thin or with lots of protection, there is an option for just about everyone here.

To make it even sweeter, Spigen is offering free shipping on these orders, even if you don’t have Amazon Prime. When making your purchase, you will want to make sure that you are selecting Spigen as the seller, not Spigen fulfilled through Amazon in order to get the savings here.

• Thin Fit – Gunmetal – $2.99 with coupon 001HTC10
• Rugged Armor – Black – $2.99 with coupon 002HTC10
• Ultra Hybrid – Crystal Clear – $2.99 with coupon code 003HTC10
• Neo Hybrid Crystal – Gunmetal – $2.99 with coupon code 004HTC10
• Neo Hybrid – Satin Silver – $2.99 with coupon code 005HTC10

These coupons won’t last long, so be sure to get your order in before it is too late! Which case did you pick up? Let us know in the comments.

How important is your phone’s camera?

It wasn’t so long ago that if you wanted photos of your life, it meant carrying around a separate camera with you. Now we’ve gotten to a point where we have access to an awesome camera right in our pockets. Plenty of people depend on the camera on their smartphone as the primary way they get photos, and many of those photos end up being really, really good.

That’s why in this week’s poll we want to know how important the camera on your phone is. Does an awesome camera make a phone, or is it just a fringe benefit if you get access to an awesome camera? This week you’ve got 5 choices in our poll: “very important”, “kind of important”, “not particularly important”, “not very important”, “not important.”

How important is your phone’s camera?

Is an awesome camera a must have feature, or do you overlook it? Drop us a comment and let us know how important the camera on your smartphone is!

Samsung wireless earbuds and Gear Fit 2 pop up in leaked photos

It looks like Samsung is cooking up some new Gear-branded accessories, and a set of leaked photos may have given us an early look. Revealed by prolific leaker Evan Blass in a report at VentureBeat, the images below provide a look at both a set of wireless earbuds, as well as what is reported to be the Gear Fit 2 — a follow-up to 2014’s Gear Fit wearable.

There aren’t many concrete specs to go off of, but the report does note that the Gear Fit 2 should improve on the original with a dedicated GPS chipset for tracking purposes. The Gear Fit 2 is also said to sport a 1.84-inch Super AMOLED display.

As for the earbuds, they’re said to carry the Gear IconX moniker and work both as a fitness tracker and lone music player with 4GB of storage. The completely wireless earbuds are also said to be both dust and water resistant, and feature simple touch controls.

As is always suggested, it’s best to take leaked images and specs with a giant grain of salt until we hear something official from Samsung.

Here’s what the Samsung Gear Fit 2 and Gear IconX cordless buds look like

Samsung is getting ready to bulk its Gear line of products.

The company is working on a follow-up to 2014’s Gear Fit tracking band, and it’s developed an entirely new device called Gear IconX. That last bit is actually a pair of cordless buds. Thanks to leaked images from Venture Beat’s Evan Blass, we know how both of these upcoming Gear accessories will look.

Starting off with the Gear Fit 2, the supposed name of the second-generation Gear Fit, it is rumoured to be “slightly more curved and ergonomic”. VentureBeat didn’t have specs, though it said the tracker should come with a dedicated GPS chipset and might be priced similarly to Gear Fit. So, $200.

The Gear IconX are touch-controlled earbuds, with the touch aspect working much like the Bluetooth headset Gear Circle. These are Bluetooth-enabled and wireless buds that are dust and water resistant and come in a charging case. Another interesting aspect is that they’ll work as a fitness tracker.

They’ll further work as a standalone digital music player too, as one of the bud’s contain 4GB of flash memory. Unfortunately, there’s no word on how much the IconX will cost, nor when the buds will release.

FilmStruck is TCM and Criterion’s new streaming service launching this year

This autumn will see the launch of yet another movie-streaming service, though this one is unique because it’ll be all about the oldies.

According to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, Turner Classic Movies, an American cable network known for airing classic films, has teamed up with The Criterion Collection, an American video-distribution company that focuses on “important classic and contemporary films”, to develop a streaming service specifically designed for film aficionados.

The upcoming streaming service will be called FilmStruck and should allow subscribers to access more than 1,000 films and other content in the classic and contemporary film genres. Those include movies like Seven Samurai, Break Morant, Blood Simple, and Mad Max. You can apparently expect the service to be advert-free, but it’ll have a monthly premium.

Word on the street is that FilmStruck will cost less than $9 a month. Pricing details have yet to be determined, however. Keep in mind that when the movie-streaming service does kick off later this year, likely in the autumn, Hulu fans may find that they no longer have access to some Warner/Criterion movies, as those could become FilmStruck exclusives.

We at Pocket-lint are huge Criterion Collection fans, so we’re excited about the possibility of being able to easily stream those films in the US (it’s unclear if FilmStruck will be available elsewhere, such as in the UK). But at the same time, the thought of shelling out more cash on yet another monthly streaming service is just blah. No good.

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Sling TV, HBO Now… there’s simply way too many movie-streaming services eating up our paychecks at this point.

iSafe Drive clears space on your iPhone, fast

From photos to videos, games to podcasts and beyond, iPhone storage space diminishes faster than we’d like.

Enter iSafe Drive Lite, a compact drive that plugs straight into your iOS device and offers an extra 32GB of storage space – as well as 256-bit AES encryption to keep private documents secure. For a limited time it’s just £47.91 (U.S. $69) on Pocket-lint Deals, with a 64GB option as well.

iSafe is the perfect solution for those of us who aren’t crazy about putting our sensitive data in the cloud, or who would rather not suffer sluggish operation due to our sizable music libraries.

iSafe Drive Lite lets you carry music and photos in your pocket! Your iSafe device has a Lightning connector on one end and a USB port on the other for connecting to your Mac or PC. You can transfer data to and from the stick at 8MB per second, flicking the switch to choose which port should be active.

The first-ever MFi-certified storage drive built for iOS, iSafe also shares Apple’s sleek design aesthetic, with a minimalist shell that can easily fit in your pocket.

Pick up the iSafe Drive Lite now to save 25 per cent from Pocket-lint Deals.

Tech giants push Congress for K-12 computer science education

A coalition of tech industry heavy-hitters and scions of corporate America have joined forces with a bipartisan group of governors and educators to push Congress for federal funding that would give every K-12 student in the country the chance to learn how to code. The group, a partnership between the Computer Science Education Coalition and Code.org, is petitioning Congress for $250 million in federal funding for the effort.

Among those pledging their support are Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook COO (and bestselling author) Sheryl Sandberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, IAC Chairman Barry Diller, Walmart CEO Doug McMillion. The tech names are joined by California Governor Jerry Brown, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and 26 other state governors, evenly split across party lines. The educators on board include Oakland schools Superintendent Antwan Wilson, NYC Department of Education Chancellor Carmen Fariña, and NAACP President and CEO Cornell Brooks, among others.

“The breadth of support shows that computer science isn’t just a tech problem anymore, it’s an America problem,” Code.org founder Hadi Partovi explained to TechCrunch.

“And it’s not just a Democrat issue, it’s the most bipartisan issue in the U.S.”Earlier this year, President Obama also hoped to reignite the country’s “spirit of innovation,” calling for $4 billion to improve computer science curriculums in every K-12 school across the country. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Microsoft and Google have also pledged a combined $48 million for coding education across America.