Hasta La Gadget!

Trouble looked to be brewing for Apple last April: an International Trade Commission judge made an initial ruling that Apple infringed on a standards-essential Motorola WiFi patent, raising the possibility of a trade ban if the verdict held true. The fellows in Cupertino may have caught a big break. A Commission review of the decision on Friday determined that Apple didn’t violate the patent, and it upheld positions that exonerated the iPhone maker regarding two others. Apple isn’t entirely off the hook, however. The ITC is remanding the case to the judge to review his stance that Apple hadn’t violated a non-standards-based patent, which still leaves Apple facing the prospect of a ban. However, having to revisit the case nearly resets the clock — we now have to wait for another ruling and a matching review, and that likely puts any final decision well into 2013. Google-owned Motorola isn’t lacking more weapons in its arsenal, but any stalled proceedings take away bargaining chips in what’s become a high-stakes game.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

ITC decides Apple didn’t violate Motorola WiFi patent after all, tosses case back to judge originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Although they’re called hearing aids, they can sometimes be as much of a hindrance as a help. Catch an unfamiliar accent and the attention might be on just parsing the words, let alone moving the conversation forward. Apple is applying for a patent on a technique that would take the guesswork out of listening by smoothing out all the quirks. The proposed idea would convert speech to text and back, using the switch to remove any unusual pronunciation or too-quick talking before it reaches the listener’s ear. Not surprisingly for a company that makes phones and tablets, the hearing aid wouldn’t always have to do the heavy lifting, either: iOS devices could handle some of the on-the-fly conversion, and pre-recorded speech could receive advance treatment to speed up the process. We don’t know if Apple plans to use its learning in any kind of shipping product, although it’s undoubtedly been interested in the category before — and its ambitions of having iPhone-optimized hearing aids could well get a lift from technology that promises real understanding, not just a boost in volume.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

Apple seeks patent for hearing aids that deliver speech at an even keel originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BMW kicked off its DriveNow car sharing service in its home country last year to see if urban EV rentals would catch on. Something must have clicked in Germany, as the automaker is exporting the concept to the San Francisco Bay Area as of September. DriveNow’s initial fleet of 70 ActiveE vehicles will rely on a different business model after getting its American visa: the service drops the strictly by-the-minute model of the German operation in favor of a $12 base fee for a half-hour’s trip, with a 32 cents per minute rate kicking in only during longer drives. Travelers will have to drop off the cars at specified stations, too. There’s a consolation for the trouble through a ParkNow reservation service, which locks in a parking space at a guaranteed rate and navigates there through an iPhone app or the web. Just be aware that those spaces will be limited — only eight DriveNow stations and 14 ParkNow lots are active, which doesn’t afford a lot of free roaming even after discounting the lack of immediate plans for other US cities. We’re nonetheless glad that Bay Area locals without their own ride will have an easier time staying green for their cross-city jaunts.

Continue reading BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit

Filed under: Transportation

BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maxthon has long since escaped the days when it was chiefly a customized version of Internet Explorer on the desktop, and nowhere is that more apparent than its just-launched version of the normally WebKit-based browser for the iPhone and iPod touch. All the core features of the app carry over from earlier Android and iPad versions, such as an Opera-like grid of favorite pages, a download manager and a unified address bar, but it’s arguably more useful than the iPad edition: conventional browser tabs aren’t coming to smaller-screened iOS devices in a future mobile Safari build anytime soon. Bookmark syncing and an optimized reading mode also persist to reduce the chance that Maxthon users drift back towards the official Apple browser, even after iOS 6 rolls around. With that all-important “free” price tag, there’s every reason to give it a try — let others know in the comments if Maxthon is enough to take precedence over comparable iOS alternatives like Chrome.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Maxthon web browser arrives in bite-sized form for iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We hope you didn’t think that Motorola would fight a purely defensive patent war against Apple after Google’s acquisition closed. Just days before a final ruling on its initial complaints, the RAZR maker has filed another dispute with the International Trade Commission that accuses Apple of violating patents through some iOS devices and Macs. Exact details of the dispute are under wraps for now; Motorola, as you’d imagine, only contends that it has no choice after Apple’s “unwillingness to work out a license.” While Apple hasn’t said anything about the subject, we already know how much it disagrees with Motorola’s previous licensing strategy — it’s unlikely Apple will just roll over, no matter what’s at stake.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops

Post-acquisition Motorola files fresh ITC complaint against Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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