Found 145 articles
01
Nov
judgejudy-002

UK Judge To Apple: Your Apology Is Bogus, Rewrite It (Or, How Not To Deal With A Court Order)

Posted by in Legal, News

It seems Apple is getting far more than it bargained for in its failed iPad lawsuit in the UK, having been ordered by a judge there to run statements in both print and on its website clearly stating that Samsung's Galaxy Tab had not copied the company's own tablet. Of course, when Apple ran the apology on its UK website, it was one paragraph of acknowledgement of the judgment, and four paragraphs of reasons why that judgment was stupid, essentially. Which is not what the court order told Apple to do.

So, Samsung brought that up with the judges at the UK appellate court, and they aren't happy.

26
Oct
gavel

New DMCA Exemptions Allow Rooting Phones (But Not Tablets), Unapproved Phone Unlocks Will Be A Thing Of The Past

Posted by in Legal, News

Good news, bad news, and really bloody ridiculous news, Android fans. Today, the latest round of DMCA exemptions has been passed and if you've ever jailbroken or rooted a phone, you'll be happy to know that this will continue to be legal. At least, for your phones. If, however, you want to gain su access to your tablet, you're fresh out of luck. Also, phones purchased after January 2013 cannot be legally unlocked for use on a carrier that didn't give you explicit permission. Yeah, it's kind of a mess.

Wait, What Are DMCA Exemptions?

A brief intro, for the uninitiated: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law in 1998, has a certain set of rules concerning circumvention of DRM.

23
Oct
BU001683

Apple's Rubber-Banding Patent Is Invalid - Here's What That Actually Means, And Why It Was Invalidated

Posted by in Legal, News, Samsung

In perhaps its soon to be most-publicized decision in decades, FOSS Patents is reporting that the USPTO has issued an initial finding of invalidity on every claim in Apple's patent for "rubber-band scrolling," that is, the scroll bounceback patent which anyone with half a brain knows is about as patent-worthy as any purely aesthetic user interface element is.

The claims were rejected on findings of prior art from two sources - an AOL patent, and a patent previously filed by Apple. All of the claims of the '381 patent were either rejected as being anticipated (previously described) by prior art, or being obvious in light of it.

21
Oct
2012-10-21_15h49_30

The Playground Is Open Again: What To Expect From Google's Android Event On October 29th

Posted by in Android OS, Features, News

After seeing a deluge of rumors, leaks, and hoax after hoax this season, it looks like we're finally starting to wind down. With Google's Android event a mere 8 days away, it's time to clear away the muck and take a look at what we expect to make an appearance just a couple days before Halloween. Let's start with the stuff we're most confident in and work our way down, shall we?

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

We were already fairly confident that the next version of Android would not be 5.0. While Google is inconsistent with its naming and number scheme, The company does tend to at least save full number releases for big changes (2.0 brought a huge face lift, Navigation and the Droid, 3.0 introduced tablets, 4.0 brought tablets and phones together under the biggest UI change yet).

19
Oct
Manta_birostris-NOAA

Nexus 10 Tablet Appears In Our Server Logs, Photo EXIF Data - Is This The Official Name Of The "Manta"?

Posted by in Android OS, News, Rumors

About two weeks ago, we published some clues from our own server logs indicating that there were two as-yet unidentified Nexus devices cruising the web. One, the Occam, is believed to be a phone. That device remains unidentified (it is not, as some speculated, the Nexus 4, which is called "Mako"). Our guess is still that it's a Motorola RAZR Nexus device, but who knows if or when we'll actually see it.

There was another, though: the Manta. Lacking the "mobile" flag in its UA string, we have to assume this is a tablet. And now, we're seeing something else quite interesting populating our traffic logs:

Linux; Android 4.2; Nexus 10 Build/JOP14
Linux; Android 4.2; Nexus 10 Build/JVP15B
Linux; Android 4.2; Nexus 10 Build/JOP12D

There's nothing specific in these UA strings that makes us think that this is the Manta - except for the fact that it's not often you see a probably-tablet running an unreleased build of Android.

18
Oct
gavel

Apple Still Required To Run 'Samsung Didn't Copy Us' Ads In The UK After Appeals Ruling

Posted by in Legal, News, Samsung

It may be pretty hard for Apple to get away from the ruling that it has to state publicly on its website and in advertisements that Samsung didn't copy the iPad. An appeals court has ruled that the previous sentence should still be in place. The judges stated that, if Apple wasn't the one to clear up the confusion, the damage caused by the lawsuits all over Europe would be irreparable to Samsung.

Said the judges:

The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth. Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely.

The one thing the appeals court did change is that the web-based disclaimer doesn't need to take up a large amount of real estate on Apple's homepage, and instead a simple link to "Samsung/Apple judgment" will suffice.

17
Oct
Doing-it-wrong

Verizon Is Selling Subscribers' Personal Data; FTC Busy Scoping Out Google For Patent Abuse And Search Dominance

Posted by in Editorials, News

Warning:NSFW language.

Bad news for Verizon subscribers: Verizon isn't just raping you on your bill, they're really getting you up the pooper because they're making a few more dollars off of you by selling your personal data. Things like where you are, what you're doing on your phone, your gender, age, and personal details like whether you're a "sports enthusiast, frequent diner, or pet owner."

Meanwhile, the FTC is investigating Google for possibly "abusing its dominance of internet search in violation of antitrust laws" and - get this - "misusing patent protections to block rivals' smartphones from coming to market." What?

11
Oct
gavel

Apple's Patent-Based Injunction On The Galaxy Nexus Overturned By US Appeals Court

Posted by in Galaxy Nexus, News, Samsung

Justice may be sweet, but when it comes to patents, it's not usually swift. In the case of Apple's multiple, far-reaching patent disputes with Samsung, it took them a few weeks to get an injunction on the Galaxy Nexus based on the controversial results of the billion-dollar patent infringement suit. After Samsung took its case to the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, the higher judiciary power has sided with the Korean manufacturer. The judge in the case accepted their claims that the relatively low sales numbers of the Galaxy Nexus didn't pose a threat to Apple's business, and that sales of the device couldn't be directly connected to the offending patent feature (universal search).

07
Oct
01A_AndroidPolice-logo-with-bg-242x242_thumb_thumb1_thumb4

[The Android Police Week In Review] The Biggest Android Stories Of The Week (9/30/12-10/7/12)

Posted by in News, Week In Review

Welcome to the Android Police Week In Review - your source for the biggest Android stories of the week. Don't forget, you can catch a lot of these stories (and more) on our weekly podcast.

Features

05
Oct
01A_AndroidPolice-logo-with-bg-242x242_thumb_thumb1

[The Android Police Podcast - Now With Video] Episode 30: Reverse Cowgirl And More Gooder Guts

Posted by in Podcast

Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 28. Don't forget - the Android Police Podcast's live broadcast is every Thursday at 5PM PST (www.androidpolice.com/podcast).

Subscribe to the Android Police Podcast:

The Cast

  • Matthew Smith, Host
  • Bob Severns, Editor, A/V
  • Cameron Summerson, Co-host
  • David Ruddock, Co-host
  • Eric Ravenscraft, Co-host

THE OUTLINE

Carrier 411

  • T-Mobile is acquiring MetroPCS, but really, MetroPCS is acquiring T-Mobile, and Deutsche Telekom will be the majority shareholder, but it'll still be called T-Mobile, and the networks will be operated separately, but also together. Got it?

Rumor Roundup

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