Sony Settles with 3M in Battery Suit
Sony and 3M announced Tuesday they have reached a settlement to end a dispute involving patents related to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. 3M sued Sony, along with Lenovo, Hitachi and others in March for using cathode materials used inside their batteries.
3M claimed it took 10 years and $700 million to develop the cathode technology, which makes batteries last longer and give off less heat. Under terms of the settlement, Sony Corporation and Sony Electronics receive full licenses to the technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sony had few other options, as 3M had requested that the U.S. International Trade Commission block all imports of the infringing batteries, and any laptops using them.
Sony Sued Over PS3 Cell Chip Technology
Sony has been sued in federal court over the construction of its cell processor chip in the PlayStation 3, as a California company says the parallel processing technology infringes on patents it owns. Parallel Processing Corporation filed the suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on July 28.
The company claims Sony's cell chip infringes on a patent it received in 1991 that gave it rights to technology that governs "synchronized parallel processing with shared memory." Parallel is asking the court to impound and destroy any Sony product that infringes on its technology, as well as damages and attorney fees. Sony has declined to comment on the matter.
iTunes Sells Three Billionth Song
Apple said Tuesday that it had surpassed three billion songs downloaded from its iTunes Music Store, further extending its lead as the most popular online digital music store. Currently, iTunes contains about five million songs, plus about 550 television shows and 500 movies. It is also the third biggest music store overall, recently passing both Amazon and Target in music sales.
Apple has sold a billion songs in a little under seven months. It took eleven months to get from one to two billion, and several years to sell the first billion tracks. "We'd like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes.
US, EU to Have Common Sat Nav Signal Design
The European Union and the United States have agreed on a common signal design for their respective satellite navigation systems, representatives said Monday. The US' GPS system has been operational for several years now, while the EU's Galileo system is still in development.
By agreeing on a common signal design, it will pave the way for receivers to easily incorporate both navigation systems into a single design, resulting in better location-finding. "We are pleased by the adoption of this key improvement to the common civil signal design," U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Reno Harnish said. "The U.S.-EU collaboration that produced this innovation and led to its joint adoption reflects the strong working relationships that we have developed on GPS and Galileo."
Verizon Buys UNICEL for $2.67 Billion
Verizon Wireless has agreed to acquire Rural Cellular (UNICEL) for about $2.67 billion in cash, the two companies said on Monday. Rural serves about 716,000 customers across 15 states in New England, the Plains states, the Southeast, and the Pacific Northwest. Verizon service will cover an additional 4.7 million potential customers as a result of the transaction, and expand its coverage in rural locations, it said.
The deal is expected to close early next year. Rural uses both GSM and CDMA technologies. Those customers using GSM would be converted to CDMA, however Verizon plans to keep Rural's GSM network active in order to resell it for other GSM carriers to roam on. "Today, as the wireless industry continues to evolve, our Board of Directors has concluded that it is in the company's best interest to enter into a sale transaction with Verizon Wireless," Rural CEO president and CEO Richard Ekstrand said of the sale.
Beta Patches Hint at Vista SP1 Features
Microsoft has released to Windows Server 2008 beta testers two new hot-fix packs for Windows Vista, which improve performance and reliability, along with the operating system's compatibility with drivers and hardware. The 12MB worth of fixes are expected to make their way into Vista Service Pack 1 later this year.
Some of the changes noted by testers are better file copy performance, faster boot times, improved compatibility with newer graphics cards, and better performance in games with advanced visuals. According to some enthusiasts, these patches contain the fixes they have been waiting for. Microsoft has not commented on the now-leaked hot-fix packs, which are available for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista.
Italian Pens Novel Using Mobile Phone
In yet another sign of our increasingly mobile lifestyle, an Italian author has completed a 384-page science fiction novel without the use of a computer or pen and paper. Robert Bernocco wrote the entire book using his Nokia 6630 mobile phone by dividing the manuscript into short paragraphs.
Bernocco, who wrote in his native Italian, utilized the phone's T9 predictive text input designed by Tegic and formerly owned by AOL. He did not use shorthand and transferred the text to his computer only for proofreading. It took Bernocco 17 weeks to complete the novel, working mostly while commuting to and from work on the train. The book -- "Fellow Travelers" in English -- is available for purchase via Lulu.com, which serves as a marketplace for authors looking to self-publish their work.
Cisco Invests $150 Million in VMware
Following in the footsteps of Intel, Cisco will acquire 1.6 percent of virtualization company VMware from parent EMC for $150 million in cash. Unlike Intel, Cisco will not receive a board seat, but VMware said it would consider appointing a Cisco executive to its board in the future.
Facing increased competition from Microsoft and newcomer Parallels, the investments will help VMware maintain its lead in the marketplace. Through Intel, VMware now has closer ties to the hardware it virtualizes, and Cisco will work with the company to develop virtualization products designed for networking and datacenters. Both Intel and Cisco stand to gain from the transactions as well once VMware goes public.
Microsoft Agrees to Acquire AdECN
Microsoft said Thursday that it had agreed to acquire AdECN, a company that deals with the buying and selling of display advertising. The Redmond company says the acquisition was a key part of its overall strategy to provide a comprehensive package of search and online display advertising to Microsoft's clients. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
"We believe the addition of AdECN to the Microsoft portfolio is a perfect fit and will create more efficiency for the industry by forming a more robust marketplace between advertisers and publishers, aggregating more supply and demand. This is good for the whole advertising industry," Microsoft's Platform and Services president Kevin Johnson said.
Ballmer: 1 Billion Windows PCs by Next Year
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer boldly touted the success of Windows at the company's annual Financial Analysts Meeting Thursday, saying that the number of PCs with Windows installed will surpass 1 billion by the end of Microsoft's next fiscal year on June 30, 2008.
"There will be more PCs running Windows than automobiles at that point," Ballmer suggested. He also provided some guidance on sales of Windows Vista, announcing that 60 million licenses of the new operating system have been sold. 20 million copies of Vista were sold after mid-May, when Microsoft announced 40 million licenses sold in the first 100 days.
Microsoft Hungary Subsidiary Raided
Hungarian authorities have raided the offices of Microsoft Magyarorszag, the Redmond company's subsidiary in the country. Regulators believe Microsoft abused its position in the market to force computer makers sell only Office and no competing products.
"The GVH sensed that (Microsoft) likely applied a system of conditions and benefits -- rewards for loyalty -- for the most significant software distributors which gave no incentive to these distributors in selling other products competing with Microsoft Office software," the agency said on its Web site, according to Reuters. Microsoft has not commented on the news.
Dell Signs Retail Agreement in Japan
Dell said Thursday that it had signed a deal with Japanese retailer Bic Camera to sell several notebooks and a desktop model in its 22 stores across the country in August. The Round Rock, Texas computer manufacturer had a preexisting relationship with Bic, but only for kiosks in the stores where customers could order PCs from the manufacturer directly.
Dell's deal in Japan follows a similar deal the company struck with Wal-Mart in the US to sell its computers in 3,400 stores across the country and in 500 Sam's Club locations, and another deal with Carphone Warehouse LLC in the UK earlier this month.
Google To Team With Sprint on WiMax Portal
Sprint said Thursday that it will partner with Google to develop a portal that takes advantage of the company's planned WiMax network. The Mountain View, Calif. Search giant provides various tools for the site, including e-mail, chat, and other applications. The features that Google provides are enhanced by Sprint's network, including network bandwidth, location detection and presence capabilities.
"This collaboration brings what will be the best mobile Internet network together with the leading Internet search company," Sprint's 4G chief Barry West said. "It allows us to capitalize on the powerful mobility and Internet trends, and create wireless services and applications that take advantage of each company's history of product development innovation." Sprint also announced that it is providing APIs for others to build applications that take advantage of its WiMax network capabilities.
PS2 Still Most Played Game Console
Despite the war of words going on over next-generation game console sales, not much has changed when it comes to which device is actually being played most. According to Nielsen GamePlay Metrics, the PlayStation 2 still accounts for 42 percent of game use in the US.
The original Xbox holds a distant second place with 17 percent, while the new Xbox 360 is played by 8 percent of households. Behind the Xbox 360 is Nintendo's GameCube at 5.8 percent. Although it may be bringing in major revenue for Nintendo, the Wii accounts for only 4 percent of video game use. Sony's PlayStation 3 trails far behind at 1.5 percent. Nielsen used a sample of 12,000 U.S. households with around 33,000 individuals to accumulate its figures for June.
Target to Push Blu-ray Over HD DVD
Sony has scored another win in the war for high-definition dominance, signing a deal with Target to promote Blu-ray players and movies exclusively in its retail stores. Sony is paying a fee to have Blu-ray featured in end-of-aisle displays, and Target will not carry the $179 HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360.
Target will continue to offer HD DVD products on its Web site, and did not specify why it had selected Blu-ray only for its brick-and-mortar locations. The HD DVD Promotional Group said the move by Target was not important, as its Toshiba players are already featured at Circuit City and Best Buy. It's also not clear if Target customers, who are typically not high-end shoppers, will be willing to spend $499 for Sony's Blu-ray player with HD DVD players available elsewhere for $299.
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