Hasta La Gadget!

20th Century Fox is dipping its downloading toes into the 21st century’s waters, releasing movies on Android in addition to good, old-fashioned Blu-ray. According to the Financial Times, retail discs of X-Men: First Class will direct owners to a website where they can sideload a digital version of the film onto their Android device of choice. Apparently some of the suits over at Fox caught wind of how popular Android tablets are getting, and now see them as complementary, not cannibalistic (remember that industry buzz kill?) Sure, right now you shouldn’t expect any Netflix-sized library of titles, but perhaps we can all agree this is a step in the right download-to-own direction. Residents of the US, UK, Germany, and France will get the first crack at downloading the films. The rest of you can just stream and wait.

[Image credit via 20th Century Fox]

20th Century Fox to offer digital downloads for Android devices, Blu-ray purchase required originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look at the chart above and you’ll see two things happening. First, Apple has overtaken Symbian to become the top smartphone platform in the UK (with a 27 percent market share). And secondly, Android has grown 634 percent year-over-year to shoot into second place, with less than half a percentage point keeping it from the top spot (other reports already place it ahead). As you might expect, much of that growth isn’t coming from folks switching from one smartphone to the other, but from new smartphone users — Comscore found that 42 percent of all mobile users in the UK used a smartphone in May of this year, compared to just 27 percent a year ago. Of course, that also means that 58 percent of UK cellphone users are still potential smartphone users (to say nothing of those that still don’t have a cellphone at all), so there’s certainly still plenty up for grabs for all involved.

Comscore: Android’s UK market share explodes as Apple overtakes Symbian originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angry Birds-maker Rovio is the most recent target in Lodsys' patent trolling disputes. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

The mighty hand of Lodsys, a patent firm suing mobile app programmers, continues to come down on iOS and Android developers. Now it’s targeting a major and much-beloved player: Angry Birds.

In the lawsuit, Lodsys claims Rovio has infringed upon “at least claim 27” of their patent, which covers in-app billing technology. Lodsys wants 0.575 percent of any U.S. revenue obtained using the technology.

The lawsuit currently extends to 11 other defendants, including big league app developers like Electronic Arts, Atari, and Square Enix.

Lodsys began sending letters to iOS app developers in early May for including an “upgrade” button or allowing users to make purchases within the app using Apple’s in-app billing infrastructure.

Patent disputes are common among large technology corporations fighting to defend their intellectual property, including Apple, Google and Microsoft. However, it’s rare to see a small patent firm such as Lodsys go on a lawsuit spree against a laundry list of companies big and small.

Lodsys explained the reasoning for their actions in a blog post to Apple: “The scope of [Apple’s] current licenses does NOT enable them to provide ‘pixie dust’ to bless another (3rd party) business applications [sic],” Lodsys wrote. “From Lodsys’ perspective, it is seeking to be paid value for rights it holds and which are being used by others.”

Apple supported its developers with an official response from its general counsel Bruce Sewell (.pdf). In it he says, “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patent and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license. Apple intends to share this letter and the information set out herein with its App Makers and is fully prepared to defend Apple’s license rights.”

The Texas-based Lodsys recently began filing lawsuits against Android developers for violating their patents, as well.

Many developers have responded to the company’s patent trolling by removing the offending features of their app (the in-app purchasing ability) or just plain removing their app from the market entirely.

The EFF explains that the patent system is intended to support innovation, but in instances such as this, it’s doing the opposite.

We spied a mystery FCC listing just the other day, filed under a no-name company but bearing some unmistakable Lenovo markings. Now we have another unidentified device bearing the same branding and, according to our friendly neighborhood tipster, this is the company’s 7-inch IdeaPad, which might be (internally) dubbed the A1-07. It’s said to be powered by a TI OMAP3621 processor (which also drives the Nook Color), features a 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a Broadcom GPS unit, 3G wireless with a SIM slot, and room for a microSD card as well. A 3,700mAh battery supposedly keeps things juiced, both front- and rear-facing cameras are on offer, and it’s all wrapped in a glossy plastic styling that makes it look a little like a TouchPad with some bare metal highlights. It also features three buttons up front that we’re hoping don’t mean it’s been relegated to Android 2.x. Now, the image above (and the second one, below) have obviously been crudely modified to hide something, and we can’t be sure of what we’re looking at here, but it’s interesting enough for us to pass these along. Have a gander and let us know what you think in comments.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading Lenovo’s 7-inch IdeaPad caught by Mr. Blurrycam?

Lenovo’s 7-inch IdeaPad caught by Mr. Blurrycam? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you thought Lodsys was done making a spectacle of itself and dragging app developers to court, you were sorely mistaken. The king of the patent trolls has amended its original complaint against mobile devs, removing one company, but adding five new ones — all of them big names. Rovio, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Atari, and Take-Two Interactive have been added to the list of defendants in the suit filed back in May. Vietnamese company Wulven Games has been dropped from the complaint, but Lodsys has more than made up for it by directly targeting possibly the largest mobile title out there — Angry Birds. You can find the completely amended filing at the source link and, if you’re in the mood for a bit of a refresher, check out the more coverage link.

Lodsys adds Rovio, Atari, EA and others to patent suit, makes birds even angrier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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