A decision in one of the many tech patent battles could severely limit the amount companies can charge in royalty fees. It’s a big step towards settling one of the key issues behind the patent wars. The case in question involves Microsoft violating Motorola patents when creating the Xbox and Microsoft smartphones. Since the dispute […]
Microsoft has asked suppliers to provide parts for use in a touchscreen wristwatch. But it’s not clear if this will go any further than exploratory designs. It certainly wouldn’t be alone in working on a wrist-based gadget. Apple is known to be working on something along the lines of an iWatch which would connect to […]
Google has vowed that any patents it files relating to open source software will only ever be used defensively. Meanwhile Microsoft has unveiled the full details of its entire patent arsenal. The Google promise is formally titled the “Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge.” It will only apply to specific designated patents, which will all relate to […]
Under the motto “You grew up, so did we”, Microsoft has created an ad for their new edition of Internet Explorer, complete with… SLAP BRACELETS! LISA FRANK! TAMAGOTCHIS! POGS! And maybe it’s because I’m still not okay being 27 – and I’m only a few months away from turning 28 – but I got goosebumps watching […]
So I read this article on The Verge and I thought I should check out this #windowsrage hash tag that seems to be getting everyone all atwitter. It would seem that Windows Phone decided to kick off a poorly thought out #droidrage marketing scheme: This was promptly met with outrage and posts like this: Which […]
A federal judge has made the first of several rulings in a case that could have a major effect on the patent wars that have plagued the smartphone and tablet markets. As we covered recently, the case between Microsoft and Motorola (now part of Google) involves patents that related to widely used technical standards. It’s […]
There’s quite a few Windows scrollbars missing from the picture. Hmmm, I guess this was put together by a Mac user! :) [Source]
The latest battle between Microsoft and Google could be more than the usual patent punch-up: it might set a precedent on the key issue of “reasonable” licensing terms. As we’ve previously covered, one of the main points of contention in the world of tech patents is “Rand” or “Frand” terms. That’s the widely agreed concept […]
This happened a little while ago, but it’s still awesome. Microsoft created a rather elaborate prank in order to promote the “live tile” feature, which has been a part of Windows phone systems for a while but only recently came to desktops with Windows 8. The idea is that a music “tile” was installed in […]
Yet more technology (like these real tractor beams) that seems inspired by the wonderful Star Trek Universe. It seems Microsoft have started developing a Universal Translator-esque system that outputs translated text in real time…in the voice of the speaker. Obviously, speech-to-text recognition software isn’t exactly brand new – Siri has become quite an established example […]