Take that, Apple!

Stephen Hawking has recently sent a letter to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in which he said: “My speech input is very, very slow these days. Is there any way Intel could help?” Intel tasked a few groups to see what can be done to help Stephen, and they’ve built him a custom system based around the Lenovo X220 tablet.

The computer features an Intel Core i7 processor along with a forward-facing webcam, which Stephen uses to place phone calls using Skype.

 

Underneath the wheelchair is the black box, which contains an audio amplifier, voltage regulators and a USB hardware key that receives the input from the IR sensor on Stephen’s eyeglasses. The hardware voice synthesizer sits in another black box on the back of the chair and receives commands from the computer via a USB-based serial port.

Naturally, the PC runs Windows 7, because that’s what brilliant people require.

via freepress.intel

One of the world’s most loved tech giants, Microsoft, has just patented a GPS design which will allegedly offer users high quality information for pedestrian routes. Among the high quality features are options to avoid open areas with harsh temperatures and an option to avoid unsafe neighborhoods — aka ghettos.

The GPS technology was created for Windows Phones and will use the latest crime statistics and weather data in its route calculations.

Now I’m just guessing here, but I’m assuming that if the option to avoid unsafe neighborhoods is selected, the GPS map for Detroit will just show a circling road around the whole city.

via cbslocal

The MPAA and RIAA have recently tried to portray MegaUpload as one of the world’s leading “rogue” sites, saying that it steals American content, money, jobs and damages the economy. However, P Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, The Game, Mary J Blige , Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather and Jamie Foxx disagree with that. And they’ve made a song to prove just how much they love MegaUpload!

Best “screw you!” message of the year.

PS: Of course all of these artists were paid to do the jingle, but it’s still cool that they’ve agreed to do it!

It looks like Apple won’t be making big bucks in Europe this holiday season.

The Mannheim Regional Court in Germany has just granted Motorola Mobility an injunction against all Apple products infringing one of its core cellular technology patents. This gives Motorola the right to immediately ask for a Europe-wide sales ban on the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, the original iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. The iPhone 4S probably includes the offending technology, too, so you can add that to the list as well. The reason why it’s not in the official list is because the lawsuit was filed back in April, when the 4S didn’t exist.

If Motorola Mobility decides to enforce the ban immediately, it will have to pay a $134 million bond — in case the verdict is overturned in appeal.

The ruling states that Apple could modify its products by removing the patented feature so as to steer clear of further infringement. It remains to be seen whether this is a commercially viable option for Apple. This feature could be somewhat fundamental to wireless data transfers in general.

 

Apple is certainly going to appeal this ruling to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court and to request a stay for the duration of the appellate proceedings. Such a suspension may or may not be granted. If there’s no stay, Motorola will have to decide whether to bear the risk of enforcing a ruling that might be overturned later. Apple asked for a €2 billion ($2.7 billion) bond, but the court agreed with Motorola that a much lower amount — in this case, €100 million — was warranted.

 

Apple might also make efforts to procure a license to the patent-in-suit. Apple made an offer to Motorola to take a license on FRAND terms going forward, but, as I’ll explain further below, Motorola’s lawyers developed a theory that enabled them to reject Apple’s offer while fully preserving their client’s entitlement to injunctive relief according to the decision taken by the Mannheim court. Since the ruling adjudicated a new question of law, it’s of particular significance.

If you’re an European looking to stuff some socks with Apple shinies, buy them while you still can!

Below you’ll find a copy of the court ruling. You won’t understand any of it unless you speak both German and Legalese, though.

11-12-09 Mannheim Ruling for MMI Against Apple

via fosspatents.blogspot

After two consecutive quarters of net losses, Acer CEO J.T. Wang has announced that his company will stop making cheap crap in order to focus on ultrabooks and hopefully return the company to profitability.

Coming up next, a quick look at the decision that put Acer out of business.

via allthingsd

Despite the fact that it looks a little awkward and tiresome, playing Skyrim this way seems to be a lot of fun!