TechEye |  |
- Inverted world as jury finishes Samsung versus Apple case
- Lenovo polishes the Chrome
- AMD gets ambidextrous with one ARM
- Met cops abuse their computers
- Blu-ray is a Norwegian blue
| Inverted world as jury finishes Samsung versus Apple case Posted: 06 May 2014 04:57 AM PDT The jury in the Samsung verus Apple case finished off its sentencing and presented a final bill to Samsung of $123.6 million and for Apple of $158,400. While this might seem a lot, we would have thought that it represented a huge win for Samsung, which could have faced a bill of $2 billion if Apple had got its way. Remember that Samsung had expected to pay something for the patents, it just did not want to pay the $2 billion that Apple was insisting it got. But this morning it seems that the Tame Apple Press is packed full of stories claiming that Apple had won and Samsung was moaning about the state of the US jury system had now it was going to appeal. Ubergizmo said that it seemed that "Samsung's pockets have been hit yet again due to the legal ramifications of their patent case with Apple, where a federal jury performed a recalculation on the amount that Samsung needs to pay Apple". Ars Technica reported how Samsung was insisting that even six percent of what Apple wanted was too much, " Of course we're pleased that the jury awarded Apple six percent of what they were asking for. But even that can't stand, because Apple kept out all the real world evidence and didn't produce anything to substitute for it, so you have a verdict that's unsupported by evidence—and that's just one of its problems. In post-trial motions and on appeal, we will ask the judge and the federal circuit to cut the six percent verdict to zero, which is where it should end," one un-named Samsung lawyer was reported to be saying. This would suggest that Samsung would appeal the settlement and the war would continue, something we do not think is that likely. The rest of the evidence from this case seemed to indicate that Samsung had a jury which was on its side and actually listened to the evidence. Thomas Dunham, a retired IBM supervisor from San Martin who had the only tech and patent expertise on the jury told the Mercury News that the case was decided on the evidence that was presented to it. Jurors said they went back and forth on the damages claims, and simply did not agree with Apple's view that it was entitled to more than $2 billion for patent violations. Samsung had urged the jurors to award no more than $38 million if they sided with Apple. "We didn't feel either one was fair and just compensation," Dunham said of Apple and Samsung's vastly different damages figures. The jury rejected many Apple claims, and decided that no iPad technology was infringed by Samsung's Galaxy tablet. And the jury found that Apple violated one of Samsung's patents, for camera folder technology, and ordered it to pay $158,000 in damages. For the jury, the deliberations left many unanswered questions, particularly dealing with Google and its central role in the trial. Dunham said that after Apple revealed that Google had agreed to pay the cost of some of Samsung's legal defence if it lost it "woke us all up". Dunham said that ultimately it was the consumer who was the loser in all this and he would have liked to see Apple and Samsung find a way to settle. He hoped the verdict encouraged them to pull their fingers out. |
| Posted: 06 May 2014 04:54 AM PDT The maker of the Stinkpad, Lenovo has thrown its considerable weight behind Google's Chromebook plans and announced it is putting a few of its own into the shops. Lenovo has stayed out of Chromebooks and watched while its rivals tried the concept out, but now it seems that it thinks that there is "gold in them thar hills". Lenovo's launching two consumer Chromebook models, including a traditional clamshell N20 model and a multimode N20p featuring Laptop and Stand modes. Both models have an 11.6-inch display with a 1366x768 resolution but the N20p has 10-point multi-touch support. Other features include an unidentified Intel Celeron processor, integrated Intel graphics, up to 4GB of DDR3L memory, up to 16GB of eMMC storage, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.02, 1MP webcam, stereo speakers, audio combo jack (headphone and microphone), two USB ports, HDMI output, 2-in-1 memory card reader, and up to 8 hours of battery life. The N20 is lighter at 2.8 pounds while the N20p weighs 3.1 pounds. The N20P is hyperflexibile. Rather than stop at 120 degrees as most clamshell laptops do, the N20P can continue to curl back upon itself—a full 300 degrees—until its keyboard half is lying face down and acting as a stand for the 10-point, touch screen. Dilip Bhatia, vice president, worldwide marketing and design, PC Group, Lenovo said that the company's first consumer Chromebooks were packed with thousands of apps. They were both fast, secure and incredibly simple for anyone to use and manage. Lenovo says the N20 will be available in July starting at $279 and the N20p in August starting at $329. |
| AMD gets ambidextrous with one ARM Posted: 06 May 2014 02:59 AM PDT AMD is trying to make "ambidextrous" the new buzz-word for computing. It announced its roadmap of near- and mid-term computing stuff which it says include the best characteristics of both the x86 and ARM "egosystems". Apparently ambidextrous has nothing to do with which hand you hold your biro in, but is the mix of AMD gear with ARM. The cornerstone of this roadmap is the announcement of AMD's 64-bit ARM architecture licence for the development of custom high-performance cores for high-growth markets. Rory Read, AMD president and CEO claimed AMD was the only company in the world to deliver high performance and low-power x86 with "leadership graphics". Now it was boldly going to provide high-performance 64-bit ARM and x86 CPU cores paired with world-class graphics, which no one had done before, "Our innovative ambidextrous design capability, combined with our portfolio of IP and expertise with high-performance SoCs, means that AMD is set to deliver ambidextrous solutions that enable our customers to change the world in more efficient and powerful ways," he said, in a statement that makes little sense at all. AMD is predicting that the market for ARM- and x86-based processors is expected to grow to more than $85 billion by 2017. He claimed that this was the first time a major processor provider has created the IP path to allow others to leverage innovation across both ARM and x86 egosystems. On the roadmap is Project SkyBridge which is a design framework, available in 2015, and will feature a new family of 20 nanometer APUs and SoCs that are expected to be the world's first pin-compatible ARM and x86 processors. The 64-bit ARM variant of "Project SkyBridge" will be based on the ARM Cortex-A57 core and is AMD's first Heterogeneous System Architecture ("HSA") platform for Android; the x86 variant will feature next-generation "Puma+" CPU cores. The "Project SkyBridge" family will feature full SoC integration, AMD Graphics Core Next technology, HSA, and AMD Secure Technology via a dedicated Platform Security Processor (PSP), Read said. Another landmark on AMDs roadmap is K12 which is a new high-performance, low-power ARM-based core that takes deep advantage of AMD's ARM architectural licence, extensive 64-bit design expertise, and a core development team led by Chief CPU Architect Jim Keller. The first products based on "K12" are planned for introduction in 2016. AMD also demonstrated its 64-bit ARM-based AMD Opteron™ A-Series processor, codenamed "Seattle," running a Linux environment derived from the Fedora Project. I'll go to the foot of my stairs. |
| Met cops abuse their computers Posted: 06 May 2014 02:55 AM PDT The Metropolitan Police has been misusing the force's computers including some who were passing information to criminals. More than 300 cops and staff have been caught with some leaking intelligence to a gangster linked to firearms, passing on information about drugs, and obtaining computer data 'to assist in criminality'. One copper made 'inappropriate sexual comments about children' on a website, searched for pornography on Met networks, or signed up to a sex website on their office PC. Former Tory leadership contender David Davis said: "The extent to which police officers have used confidential police information for criminal ends, and abused individuals' private information for their personal benefit, is astonishing." We should say - as an aside - it is a law of the internet that the amount that a person genuinely believes what they are saying is inversely proportional to their use of the word "astonishing." According to Metro more than 300 breaches of the Data Protection Act happened between January 2009 and October last year. Of the 300 cases, 208 led to formal action being taken – including criminal prosecutions or disciplinary action. The number of them that led to prosecutions is unknown. The remaining 92 cases resulted in stuff like retirement or resignation, written warnings, management action and, in two cases, nothing. Around one in five of the total led to the sacking or retirement of an officer. What is a little scary were cases where violent or sexual offenders used an officer to provide 'data to assist in criminality'. Another officer provided information 'of a significant level to a prominent criminal with links to firearms'. Apparently the Met took action against a detective chief inspector who committed 'offences contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act', it said. In another case, a candidate for a police driving exam was sent the answers by a colleague. |
| Posted: 06 May 2014 02:51 AM PDT Once touted as the saviour of the content industry, Blu-ray is being killed off by video-on-demand and downloads. Sony has warned of heavy losses primarily due to its exit from the PC business and because "demand for physical media is contracting faster than anticipated. A report released earlier this year by Generator Research showed revenue from DVD and Blu-ray sales will likely decrease by 38 percent over the next four years. Online movie revenue is growing 260 per cent from $3.5 billion this year to $12.7 billion in 2018. Paul Gray, director of TV Electronics & Europe TV Research at market research firm DisplaySearch, told Computer World that people are now used to the instant availability of online media, and "the idea of buying a physical copy seems quaint if you're under 25". What might finally kill off Blu-Ray is the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) video compression standard, which doubles the amount of data that can currently be streamed while keeping the "high-definition" format. HEVC can support 8K Ultra-High Definition content with resolutions up to 8192x4320. Blu-ray never did as well as DVD, which dominated the home entertainment world in 2004 with $21.9 billion in sales representing a whopping 96 percent of home entertainment spending. DVDs still have respectable sales figures, and many consumers see DVD as good enough. Optical media might survive as a form of back-up of personal data because it will end up being more reliable than cloud storage. However, for anything else, it will be toast. Blu-ray was officially introduced in 2006, backed by Sony and other manufacturers, had a slow take up and indeed only had any success because of its integration with Sony's PlayStation 3. Last year, about 124 million Blu-ray discs were sold in the U.S., a 4.2 per cent increase over 2012, according to IHS Technology. Even so, because of reduced pricing for the format, revenue only increased 2.6 per cent. DVD sales, which have been plummeting for years, dropped 13.6 per cent last year. |
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