Hasta La Gadget!

The Apple-Samsung saga continues, folks. Today, a Dutch court has now banned several Samsung Galaxy devices from selling in the Netherlands. Apple has been rewarded the ban from the court because Samsung was accused of infringing on an Apple patent relating to the navigation interface in photo galleries.

Apple and Samsung have already been through this dance once before on the same exact patent issue last year. Samsung was accused of implementing the same “bounce back” feature as iOS when scrolling through images, so Samsung replaced it with a blue flash that would appear on the edges of images. However, Samsung has refused to “sign a declaration of abstinence committing to not infringing the patent,” but Samsung claims that the issue had been fixed in the Netherlands, and that its Galaxy products used Samsung’s own technology.

The ban only applies to Galaxy products that run Android 2.2.1 and higher, and that don’t use Samsung’s proprietary photo gallery software. The court ordered Samsung to inform Apple how much net profit it made from sales of its infringing Galaxy products since June 27, 2011. From there, a different court will determine how much of that profit Samsung must give to Apple. If Samsung continues to infringe on Apple’s patent, the company will be required to pay Apple 100,000 euros ($129,000) for every day it violates the ban.

A Samsung spokesperson said that the company was disappointed with the court’s ruling, and Apple did not respond to a request for comment. In another lawsuit between the two companies in the Netherlands, the court ruled that Samsung does not infringe on a multitouch patent from Apple, and this coming January, the court is set to place their verdict in another Apple-Samsung lawsuit dealing with tablet design rights.

[via Computerworld]

Apple gets Samsung Galaxy devices banned in the Netherlands is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple’s new iMac will go on sale on Friday, November 30, the company has confirmed, with the 21.5-inch all-in-one computer available in-store the same day, while the 27-inch iMac will follow on in December. Announced back in October, the new desktop will be priced from $1,299 for the smaller model and from $1,799 for the larger version, with a choice of Core i5 or Core i7 processors.

There will be two basic specs of each size. The 21.5-inch iMac will come with a 2.7GHz quadcore Core i5 processor (up to 3.2GHz Turbo Boost) and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics; a $1.499 version will have a 2.9GHz quadcore Core i5 (up to 3.6GHz Turbo Boost) and GeForce GT 650M graphics. Both will have 8GB of 1600MHz memory and a 1TB hard-drive.

As for the 27-inch iMac, that will kick off with a 2.9 GHz quadcore Core i5 (up to 3.6GHz Turbo Boost) processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics. For $1,999 there’s a 3.2 GHz quadcore Core i5 model with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX graphics.

Options will include Core i7 chips and Fusion Drive storage, the latter pairing 128GB of flash memory with traditional hard-drives for a mixture of speed and high capacity. More details in our hands-on.

Apple: iMac arrives November 30 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia has revealed its first “Facebook phone”, the Nokia Asha 205, along with a colorful candybar, the Nokia 206, borrowing the Lumia colors for a budget market. The new Asha 205 features a full QWERTY keyboard and a dedicated Facebook button, as well as forty free EA games, while the 206 comes in the same black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and white as Nokia’s Lumia Windows Phone 8 handsets, and offers up to 47 days of standby time. Both the Asha 205 and the 206 are available in single- or dual-SIM versions, each keeping both SIMs active simultaneously, and feature Nokia’s new Slam file-swapping system.

Unsurprisingly, given Nokia is pricing them both at $62 (SIM-free and pre-subsidy), neither phone has 3G nor any particularly complex features. There’s a 1.3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth, with the latter being used for “Slam” – that uses the strength of a Bluetooth connection to automatically select the nearest phone to you for photo, music, or other transfer. It’ll work on the Asha 205 and 206, as well as send to any other S40, Asha, or Android device (the proximity detection is the new part; regular Bluetooth is used for the transfer). However, not Windows Phone at present; Nokia says that will follow on in time.

In practice, Slam cuts down on a couple of button presses. Choose to send “via Slam” and have the two devices near each other, and it automatically identifies the other phone; there’s no passcode to punch in, just an accept-transfer dialog on the other device. When we tested it versus the regular Bluetooth transfer, the only real difference was that we needed to pick the right Bluetooth recipient from a list.

The Asha 205 comes preloaded with the Facebook app, eBuddy Chat, Twitter, email support, and access to the Nokia Store for other titles. It supports up to 37 days or standby (on the single SIM model; up to 25 on the dual SIM) and up to a 32GB microSD card. The Facebook button simply acts as a launcher to the Facebook app – it can’t be remapped to, say, Twitter, and unlike the button on HTC’s Salsa and ChaCha Android handsets, doesn’t automatically trigger a Facebook share of, say, the photo you’re currently viewing. In the hand, it’s light but a little thick, but the keyboard is easily used.

As for the 206, that’s a classic form-factor with a surprisingly effective and modern design. Gloss-finish on the front, and easily-gripped matte on the back, it feels solid despite the $62 price tag, and the buttons are clicky and tactile. Nokia is positioning it as an ideal – and distinctive – phone for emerging markets as well as those users simply looking for a basic talk and text device, particularly those who might prefer a large, clear 2.4-inch display and sizable keypad.

Both the dual-SIM variants of each phone use Nokia’s EasySwap, which keeps both of the SIM cards active at the same time. That’s handy for travel, when you might want your home SIM active for emergency calls, but a local SIM present for cheaper service; alternatively, you can set up each SIM to be active only for voice, data, SMS, or MMS, or a combination of the four, depending on what tariff you have for each line.

Both the Nokia Asha 205 and the Nokia 206 will begin shipping before the end of the year.

Nokia Asha 205 “Facebook phone” and $62 206 hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft is working on its own Google Glass alternative, a wearable computer which can overlay real-time data onto a user’s view of the world around them. The research, outed in a patent application published today for “Event Augmentation with Real-Time Information” (No. 20120293548), centers on a special set of digital eyewear with one or both lenses capable of injecting computer graphics and text into the user’s line of sight, such as to label players in a sports game, flag up interesting statistics, or even identify objects and offer contextually-relevant information about them.

The digital glasses would track the direction in which the wearer was looking, and adjust its on-screen graphics accordingly; Microsoft also envisages a system whereby eye-tracking is used to select areas of focus within the scene. Information shown could follow a preprogrammed script – Microsoft uses the example of an opera, where background detail about the various scenes and arias could be shown in order – or on an ad-hoc basis, according to contextual cues from the surrounding environment.

Actually opting into that data could be based on social network checkins, Microsoft suggests, or by the headset simply using GPS and other positioning sensors to track the wearer’s location. The hardware itself could be entirely self-contained, within glasses, as per what we’ve seen of Google’s Project Glass, or it could split off the display section from a separate “processing unit” in a pocket or worn on the wrist, with either a wired or wireless connection between the two.

In Microsoft’s cutaway diagram – a top-down perspective of one half of the AR eyewear – there’s an integrated microphone (910) and a front-facing camera for video and stills (913), while video is shown to the wearer via a light guide (912). That (along with a number of lenses) works with standard eyeglass lenses (916 and 918), whether prescription or otherwise, while the opacity filter (914) helps improve light guide contrast by blocking out some of the ambient light. The picture itself is projected from a microdisplay (920) through a collimating lens (922). There are also various sensors and outputs, potentially including speakers (930), inertial sensors (932) and a temperature monitor (938).

Microsoft is keeping its options open when it comes to display types, and as well as generic liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) and LCD there’s the suggestion that the wearable could use Qualcomm’s mirasol or a Microvision PicoP laser projector. An eye-tracker (934) could be used to spot pupil movement, either using IR projection, an internally-facing camera, or another method.

Whereas Google has focused on the idea of Glass as a “wearable smartphone” that saves users from pulling out their phone to check social networks, get navigation directions, and shoot photos and video, Microsoft’s interpretation of augmented reality takes a slightly different approach in building around live events. One possibility we could envisage is that the glasses might be provided by an entertainment venue, such as a sports ground or theater, just as movie theaters loan 3D glasses for the duration of a film.

That would reduce the need for users to actually buy the (likely expensive) glasses themselves, and – since they’d only be required to last the duration of the show or game – the battery demands would be considerably less than a full day. Of course, a patent application alone doesn’t mean Microsoft is intending a commercial release, but given the company’s apparently increasing focus on entertainment (such as the rumored Xbox set-top box) it doesn’t seem too great a stretch.

[via Unwired View]

Microsoft’s Google Glass rival tech tips AR for live events is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

MeeGo refugee Jolla has demonstrated its new Sailfish OS today, as well as announcing a deal with ST-Ericsson to run the platform on its mobile chips, and a carrier deal with Finland’s DNA. Revealed back in October, Sailfish focuses on “effortless multitasking” with the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously and even interact with them directly from the homescreen view. It also attempts to cut down on the taps, swipes, and pulls involved in checking status updates and notifications, and promises easy compatibility with Android apps.

The homescreen-level interaction, Jolla suggests, means Sailfish will be the most streamlined and speedy OS for users to navigate through. For instance, they’ll be able to pause a song or end an ongoing call without having to open the respective apps themselves: you can swipe a finger across the music player app thumbnail to the left to pause playback, or to the right to skip to the next track.

Sailfish also has a so-called “Pulley Menu” for “fast and effortless interaction” and the open-source SDK is already being fleshed out. It consists of components including Qt, the Mer Core, and the Linux kernel, and can turn its hand to duties on smartphones, tablet, smart TVs, in-car systems, and other applications. Jolla will have a copy of the version shown off today “very soon.”

According to Jolla, many Android apps will run on Jolla devices with no modifications. However, there’ll need to be tweaks made if best use of Sailfish is desired “If you want to take advantage of all UI and other features of Sailfish OS and make yourapplications fast,” the Sailfish SDK wiki explains, ”you can port your applications to native QT/QML.” That’s the full version of Qt, too, along with HTML5, though there won’t be DRM support.

Jolla also has its first carrier onboard, with DNA set to get the first Sailfish-based devices and be part of what the company says will be “a network of partners” around the OS “during the coming year.”

Jolla isn’t content with just one chipset partner, however. “ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor platform combined with Sailfish OS will enable vendors to bring highly competitive mobile products to the market. We welcome other players in the mobile industry to join and contribute to this game changing movement” Jolla CEO Marc Dillon said today. “We also target to announce other chipset provider partnerships soon.”

Update: MTV3 has a hands-on video demo of Sailfish here. [Thanks Kote!]

Jolla’s Sailfish spills its MeeGo-reborn secrets: Carrier & chip deals inked is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.