Patent Troll Hits Groupon And Yelp

Mobile Commerce Framework, an obscure company has sued Yelp and Groupon  over a mobile commerce patent. The same company filed a similar patent infringement suit against Foursquare earlier.
The patent involved, US Patent No. 7,693,752 issued by the USPTO and keeping up with it's ambigious patent award, is something that we are again left to wonder about, who reads these patents before being awarded.
The Mobile Commerce Framework is represented by the owner of x-patents.
The case documents and other information at PriorSmart.com, Groupon, Yelp.
Via TechCrunch

ITC Staff Now Advocates An Exception From Potential HTC 4G Android Device Ban.

ITC staff earlier concluded that banning HTC 4G Android devices would not affect the public, ""is not contrary to the public interest"" since there are other 4G devices in the market. But now they are suggesting a six month narrow exception to be allowed in the case of any exclusion order. So Apple will not be able to ban HTC Android device imports, at least for six months from such decision.

"In its opening submission, OUII recommended that, in the event a violation is found, a limited exclusion order should issue against the HTC Respondents. In OUII's view, the issue raised by the submissions of HTC and third parties (Google and T-Mobile) is not whether an exclusion order should issue, but whether any exceptions to such an order are appropriate based upon the public interest. As discussed below, OUII submits that, based upon the parties' and third-party submissions regarding the public interest, any exclusion order should contain a narrow exception to allow for the continued importation of HTC's 4G-capable devices for a limited duration."

The ITC staff have also concluded that such exception would not harm Apple, sighting that Apple does not have a competing 4G device. (I don;t know if ITC is trying to turn Steve Jobs in his grave);
"In contrast, the harm to Apple from an exception to the exclusion order is likely to be small. Apple currently does not have a competing 4G device. Additionally, the number of 4G HTC devices is fairly small at this time. Thus, Apple will still enjoy the benefit of an exclusion order that is limited , for the present, to only HTC’s 3G devices."
This decision might even affect the ruling of Apple vs Samsung, (request for injunction) soon to be decided in California.
Either way, I find this to be fair and I know, I will be trading my iPhone 4S for a 4G device soon, either from Samsung (most likely) or even HTC.
FOSS Patents has all the information on this issue and more.

Lodsys '565 Patent, 24 Claims Rejected : Non-Final Office Action

The patent troll that have been haunting app developers on both iOS and Android platforms, Lodsys has received first office action. Four independent claims and 20 dependent claims have been rejected leaving zero independent claims and 8 dependent claims.
The USPTO (The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) granted the reexamination of two Lodsys patents challenged by Google and has issued a first office action on the '565 patent.. Four independent and 24 dependent claims challenged by Google, the USPTO has rejected all four independent claims and 20 of the 24 dependent claims in this patent.
Earlier, USPTO rejected 28 claims of the other patent of Lodsys challenged, the '078.
You can read about all the legal stuff about this case at Groklaw, where they take confusion out of simple facts like "rejection of claims" whether it is Google's claim or the claims associated with the patent.

1TB Octane SSD From OCZ

Those spinning platters in your computers, called hard drives, may come to pass sooner than expected, now that SSDs are out with sizes to fit most needs with crazy fast hardware. The new Octane range from OCZ, which comes in sizes of up to one terabyte will be released in November for yet undisclosed prices. Anandtech expects the 1TB drive to be about $1300.

The Octane range has two flavors, first a SATA 2.0 version which will transfer data at up to 275MB/s (read), and the SATA 3.0 model with read speeds that reach 560MB/s.

I want one to replace my 750GB drive on my notebooks both PC (HP) and MAC (Macbook Pro)

OCZ Press release;

2011-10-20

New 2.5 inch High-Capacity Octane SSDs Leverage the Indilinx Everest Platform to Deliver Superior Performance and Endurance for a Wide Range of Workloads

SAN JOSE, CA - Oct. 20, 2011 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs), today launched the Indilinx Everest-based Octane SATA 3.0 and SATA 2.0 SSD series, striking the ideal balance between capacity, physical size, and speed. In addition to being the world's first SSD to achieve up to a 1TB capacity in a compact 2.5 inch format, OCZ's Octane SSD series combines high-speed data transfer rates with record-breaking access times to provide a superior user experience and improved application performance.

"OCZ has reached an important milestone in the development of its own controller technology," said James E. Bagley, Senior Analyst with Storage Strategies NOW. "The high sustained performance, even with compressed files, the rapid boot feature and high access speeds using SATA 3.0 protocol puts their controller technology in the major league."

"Until now SSDs have been tailored for specific applications, forcing users into a product which maximizes performance for a narrow band of applications, but is significantly lacking in others," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "The Octane Series solves this problem by providing the highest level of performance across varied workloads including mixed file sizes and mixed compressible and uncompressible data, all while nearly doubling NAND flash endurance."

The Octane series leverages the cutting-edge Indilinx Everest platform to deliver up to 560MB/s of bandwidth and 45,000 IOPS and is optimized for the complete spectrum of file types and sizes. In particular, the Octane's proprietary page mapping algorithms allow for steady mixed-workload performance, mirroring real world conditions across a wide range of applications. The Octane series also includes a number of advanced features unique to Indilinx, including innovative latency reduction technology, enabling both read and write access times as low as 0.06ms and 0.09ms respectively, the lowest of any commercially available SSD. This enhances application responsiveness and enables features such as "fast boot" in consumer applications.

Octane SSDs also come equipped with Indilinx's proprietary NDurance™ technology, increasing the lifespan of the NAND flash memory, ensuring the most consistent and reliable performance as well as minimizing performance degradation even after the drive's storage capacity is highly utilized. In addition, Octane series drives support AES and automatic encryption to secure critical data.

Octane Product Features:

- Dual Core CPU
- Up to 512MB DRAM cache
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models
- High sequential speeds:
Octane (SATA 3.0) Read: 560MB/s; Write: 400MB/s
Octane-S2 (SATA 2.0) Read: 275MB/s; Write: 265MB/s
- High transactional performance - Optimized for 4K to 16K compressed files
Octane (SATA 3.0) 45,000 random read 4K IOPS
Octane-S2 (SATA 2.0) 30,000 random read 4K IOPS
- Industry-low latency:
Read: 0.06ms; Write: 0.09ms
- Strong performance at low queue depths (QD 1 – 3)
- Up to 8 channels with up to 16-way Interleaving
- Advanced BCH ECC engine enabling more than 70 bits correction capability per 1KB of data
- Proprietary NDurance™ Technology: increases NAND life up to 2X of the rated P/E cycles
- Efficient NAND Flash management: Dynamic and static wear-leveling, and background garbage collection
- Boot time reduction optimizations
- NCQ support up to 32 queue depth
- End-to-end data protection
- TRIM support
- Industry standard SMART reporting

The OCZ Octane SSD Series will be available November 1st in models ranging from 128GB-1TB capacities throughout OCZ's global channel.

OCZ

Samsung's 3G Patents Asserted Against Apple In 9 Countries.

This patent wars does not seem to end anytime soon and APple vs Samsung cases get filed all over the world. Sometimes it seems so ridiculous but business need to go on. I guess only litigation will remain at the end.
If Apple rightfully won the injunction against Samsung, it is only right if Samsung does the same. Some times I wonder, why these people can't talk. Then again, it is the lawyers who talk, not techies. It is always advantageous for lawyers to have cases, so it might be one reason these talks fail or do not exist.
FOSS Patents has researched and listed 13 patents that Samsung is asserting against Apple. You can read the write up and the rest of the patents, I have only listed first 5 patents here.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0252377

"Method and apparatus for reporting inter-frequency measurement using RACH message in a communication system" (link)

European equivalent (EP1720373) asserted in France and Italy

U.S. Patent No. 6,598,202

"Turbo interleaving apparatus and method" (link)

European equivalent (EP1097516) asserted in France and the Netherlands; local equivalent (KR100330234, application number KR1020000027143) asserted in Korea

U.S. Patent No. 6,928,604

"Turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data according to QoS" (link)

asserted in the Northern District of California; European equivalent (EP1005726) asserted in Germany, the UK, and Italy; Australian equivalent (AU722598) asserted in Australia

U.S. Patent No. 7,050,410

"Apparatus and method for controlling a demultiplexer and a multiplexer used for rate matching in a mobile communication system" (link)

asserted in the Northern District of California; European equivalent (EP1114528) asserted in Germany and the Netherlands; Australian equivalent (AU751376) asserted in Australia

U.S. Patent No. 7,200,792

"Interleaving apparatus and method for symbol mapping in an HSDPA mobile communication system" (link)

asserted in the Northern District of California

FOSS Patents

Another Patent Troll In Your WiFI Space, Innovatio

Innovatio IP Ventures, LLC (who does not innovate anything nor has any product even though their name suggests such) is going arround suing hotels and coffee shops who offer WiFi in their establishments. according to statements made by the lawyers of Innovatio it is possible that they come after home users as well, but they are too busy suing small business owners for small amounts to come after you, yes the home WIFI owner.

“Innovatio has made a strategic and business judgment at this stage that it doesn’t intend to pursue [lawsuits on the basis of] residential use of WiFi,” McAndrews, a lawyer representing Innovatio in these dubious lawsuits.

According to Patent Examiner. UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Project, they are basically blackmailing the small business users by suing for small amounts ($2300 to $5000) so that not defending in a courts against such lawsuits are not economically sound.
These patents have ended up with Innovatio through Broadcom, who refuses to divulge the information about the patents (31 of them) or why they are with Innovatio.
Cisco and Motorola are going against Innovatio and seeking a declaratory judgment calling for the Delaware federal court to rule that their products don’t infringe, and declare Innovatio’s patents invalid.
Patent Examiner (for more information and documents related to the case(s))

Apple Vs Samsung, Vs S3 Graphics, Vs Motorola Updates.

FOSS patents ahve put together a nice summaries about the on going patent wars between Apple and three rivals, Motorola, S3 Graphics, Samsung.
There seem to be strange developments in Australia in Apple VS Samsung case with matters I do not understand. But Samsung seem to be looking for settlement, at least for now. In the USA, Samsung is getting some support from Verizon and T-Mobile. iPhone 5 does not seem to make much difference, looks like. I like to see what APple has against those very attractive Android phones from Sharp, Panasonic and Dell that Softbank, the Japanese iPhone seller, is bringing out.
In Florida, the court denied Apple's request to stay the Apple vs Motorola Mobility case. Apple wanted to wait till Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google. Apple has a similar request in Wisconsin.
In the case of S3 Graphics vs Apple, there is a new twist. ATI is telling that it is the rightfull owner of the patents that S3 is using against Apple! Strange!
Read about all these at FOSS Patents.

IBM Overtakes Microsoft In Value, For The First Time In 15 Years!

Even though the Big Blue was THE tech company, it lost to Microsoft in market value, after Microsoft managed to beat it in the personal computer market.
Now IBM after 15 years has managed surpassing Microsoft, with market share of $211.4 Billion. Current market share of Microsoft stands at $211.3 Billion.
Apple which passed Microsoft last year stands at the top with $356.8 Billion and is the most valuable company in the world today.

Samsung Buys Android Protection From Microsoft!

In a bizarre acknowledgment of Android IP holes, and without waiting for Google protection, Samsung has gone and signed a deal with Microsoft. According to the agreement, "Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running Android" and Samsung will also work on Windows phones.
The major issue with this news is that it looks like Android ODMs are for themselves, rather than teaming up to be a force.
Microsoft press release;

REDMOND, Wash — Sept. 28, 2011 — Microsoft announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., to cross-license the patent portfolios of both companies, providing broad coverage for each company’s products. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform. In addition, the companies agreed to cooperate in the development and marketing of Windows Phone.

“Microsoft and Samsung see the opportunity for dramatic growth in Windows Phone and we’re investing to make that a reality,” said Andy Lees, president, Windows Phone Division, Microsoft. “Microsoft believes in a model where all our partners can grow and profit based on our platform.”

“Through the cross-licensing of our respective patent portfolios, Samsung and Microsoft can continue to bring the latest innovations to the mobile industry,” said Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, executive vice president of global product strategy at Samsung’s mobile communication division. “We are pleased to build upon our long history of working together to open a new chapter of collaboration beginning with our Windows Phone “Mango” launch this fall.”

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MS

Court Orders Third Mediation Talk Between Google And Oracle

Judge William Alsup, the federal judge presiding over Oracle vs Google case ordered case statements from both parties with three deadlines. FOSS Patents think that while still hoping for a settlement between the parties, (Court is bringing two parties together on October 1st for the third settlement talks), judge has not given up on October trail date. You can find much more detail about the statement and the case at FOSS Patents, follow the link at the end of the post.

First order is asking Oracle for;

"By NOON ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2011, counsel for Oracle America, Inc. shall submit a case management statement listing each patent claim it will actually assert at trial and shall explain why the total number of such claims is consistent with prior representations made to the Court. In stating the claims to be tried, counsel must remember that any claim not asserted will be deemed foregone as to all accused matters."

The second is towards Google;

"By NOON ON OCTOBER 3, 2011, counsel for Google Inc. shall state separately as to each such claim the full extent to which counsel concede any such alleged infringement but for any issues of invalidity and shall specify, claim by claim, any and all invalidity defenses to be asserted at trial."

And the third is regarding the reexamination of Oracle patents and stay of the case.

"By NOON ON OCTOBER 4, 2011, both sides shall update the Court on the status of each re-examination pending for each such claim and shall explain why the case should not be stayed in whole or in part until the re-examinations are completed. Counsel are expected to honor their full duty of candor as officers of the court."

With all the judges work towards a settlement, which seem not to be working, case looks like ready for trial. If it will be stayed or not will be the next juicy bit of information.
You can find FOSS Patents post on the issue here. All the court statements above came here via FP as well.

SDSC Cloud, World;s Largest Academic And Research Data Storage Service From San Diego Supercomputer Center.

SDSC's Academic Cloud Storage offers a new and unique storage service to any educational and affiliated industry through an object-based storage system. SDSC cloud storage provides a highly scalable solution with flexible access methods and enhanced sustainability. Since there are no data transfer costs, the SDSC Cloud provides exceptional performance compared to other industry offerings, utilizing 10GB connectivity at a very low cost, $3.25 per 100GB per month. (See more information in the press release)
Any size or number of files can be stored on SDSC’s Cloud, and are instantly replicated by an infrastructure of multiple servers which continuously scan the system to ensure file integrity. With the option to add off-site replication, users can achieve unparalleledfile durability.
Customizable permissions allow users to effortlessly and instantly share data with other cloud clients or publicly via HTTP or API integration.
Technical Information;

• Initial 5.5PB Raw Storage
• 10Gb Arista Connected – Up to 8GB/s aggregate I/O
• OpenStack based with Rackspace and S3 APIs
• AES 256-bit encryption available

Usage and Applications

HPC Compute data staging and Storage,
Backups, including SDSC Commvault back services
Application integration using supported APIs
Web Application and site hosting
Streaming Data services, images/videos
Data collections and published data sets

Press Release;

SDSC Announces Scalable, High-Performance Data Storage Cloud

Web-based System Offers High Durability, Security, and Speed for Diverse User Base

SDSC Cloud

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, today announced the launch of what is believed to be the largest academic-based cloud storage system in the U.S., specifically designed for researchers, students, academics, and industry users who require stable, secure, and cost-effective storage and sharing of digital information, including extremely large data sets.

"We believe that the SDSC Cloud may well revolutionize how data is preserved and shared among researchers, especially massive datasets that are becoming more prevalent in this new era of data-intensive research and computing," said Michael Norman, director of SDSC. "The SDSC Cloud goes a long way toward meeting federal data sharing requirements, since every data object has a unique URL and could be accessed over the Web."

SDSC's new Web-based system is 100% disk-based and interconnected by high-speed 10 gigabit Ethernet switching technology, providing extremely fast read and write performance. With an initial raw capacity of 5.5 petabytes – one petabyte equals one quadrillion bytes of storage capacity, or the equivalent about 250 billion pages of text – the SDSC Cloud has sustained read rates of 8 to 10 gigabytes (GB) per second that will continually improve as more nodes and storage are added. That's akin to reading all the contents of a 250GB laptop drive in less than 30 seconds.

Moreover, the SDSC Cloud is scalable by orders of magnitude to hundreds of petabytes, with aggregate performance and capacity both scaling almost linearly with growth. Full details about the new SDSC Cloud can be found online.

Conceived in planning for UC San Diego's campus Research Cyberinfrastructure (RCI) project, the initiative quickly grew in scope and partners as many saw the technology as functionally revolutionary and cost effective for their needs. At launch, users and research partners include, among others, UC San Diego's Libraries, School of Medicine, Rady School of Management, Jacobs School of Engineering, and SDSC researchers, as well as federally-funded research projects from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes for Health, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"The SDSC Cloud marks a paradigm shift in how we think about long-term storage," said Richard Moore, SDSC's deputy director. "We are shifting from the 'write once and read never' model of archival data, to one that says 'if you think your data is important, then it should be readily accessible and shared with the broader community.'"

"UC San Diego is one of the most data-centric universities in the country, so our goal was to develop a centralized, scalable data storage system designed to meet performance, functionality, and capacity needs of our researchers and partners across the country, and to evolve and scale with the needs of the scientific community," said Dallas Thornton, SDSC's division director of cyberinfrastructure services. "Developing this resource in-house atop the OpenStack platform allows for highly-capable and flexible, yet extremely cost-effective solutions for our researchers."

OpenStack is a scalable, open-sourced cloud operating system jointly launched in July 2010 by NASA and Rackspace Hosting, which today powers some of the largest public and private cloud computing services using this scalable and proven software.

Durability and Security
Data stored in SDSC's new cloud is instantly written to multiple independent storage servers, and stored data is validated for consistency on a round-the-clock basis. "This leads to very high levels of data durability, availability, and performance, all of which are of paramount importance to researchers and research organizations," said Ron Joyce, SDSC's associate director of IT infrastructure and a key architect of the system.

The SDSC Cloud leverages the infrastructure designed for a high-performance parallel file system by using two Arista Networks 7508 switches, providing 768 total 10 gigabit (Gb) Ethernet ports for more than 10Tbit/s of non-blocking, IP-based connectivity. The switches are configured using multi-chassis link aggregation (MLAG) for both performance and failover.

"This network configuration allows us to unshackle extreme-scale/extreme-performance storage from individual clusters and instead make data available at unprecedented speeds across our university campus and beyond," said Philip Papadopoulos, SDSC's division director of UC systems. "In addition to incredibly fast data transmission speeds, our goal was to build a high-performance storage system right from the start that was completely scalable to meet the evolving needs and requirements of the campus, as well those within industry and government."

The environment also provides high-bandwidth wide-area network connectivity to users and partners thanks to multiple 10Gb connections to CENIC (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California), ESNet (Energy Sciences Network), and XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment). This allows huge amounts of data, such as sky surveys or mapping of the human genome, to be rapidly transported simultaneously to/from the SDSC Cloud.

In addition to large storage capacity and high-speed transmissions, the SDSC Cloud provides:

* Cost advantages: Standard "on-demand" storage costs start at only $3.25 a month per 100GB of storage, and there are no I/O networking charges. A "condo" option, which allows users to make cost-effective long term investment in hardware that becomes part of the SDSC Cloud, is also available. Users will soon have the option to have additional copies of their data stored offsite at UC Berkeley, one of SDSC's partners in the project.
* Anywhere, anytime accessibility and wide compatibility: Every data file is given a persistent URL, making the system ideal for data sharing such as library or institutional collections. Access permissions can be set by the data owner, allowing a full spectrum of options from private to open access. The HTTP-based SDSC Cloud supports the RackSpace Swift and Amazon S3 APIs and is accessible from any web browser, clients for Windows, OSX, UNIX, and mobile devices. Users can also write applications that directly interact with the SDSC Cloud.
* Enhanced security: Users set their own access/privacy levels. Users know and can coordinate precisely where their data is stored in the cloud, including replicated copies. In addition, a HIPAA and FISMA compliant storage option launches on October 1st in partnership with the Integrating Data for Analysis, Anonymization and SHaring (iDASH) program at UC San Diego, a National Center for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) project funded in 2010 under the NIH Roadmap for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

Working in Tandem with Other SDSC Storage Systems
The SDSC Cloud is configured to work in tandem with other innovative storage technologies at the supercomputer center. One is the Data Oasis system, a Lustre-based parallel file system designed primarily for high-performance, low-latency scratch and medium-term project storage, ideal for researchers conducting data-intensive operations on SDSC's Triton, Trestles, and Dash high-performance computing (HPC) systems.

SDSC's Data Oasis is currently capable of speeds of 50GB/s, meaning that researchers can today retrieve a terabyte of data – or one trillion bytes – in less than 20 seconds. By early 2012, Data Oasis will be expanded to serve SDSC's Gordon, the first supercomputer within the HPC community focused on integrating large amounts of flash-based SSD (solid state drive) memory. As Gordon enters production in January 2012, SDSC will double the speed of Data Oasis to 100GB/s, making it one of the fastest parallel file systems in the academic research community. While Data Oasis is used for in-process HPC storage, the SDSC Cloud is designed to accommodate any storage needs either prior to or afterward, delivering durable, secure storage that can be shared within SDSC or across the country with ease.

About SDSC
As an Organized Research Unit of UC San Diego, SDSC is considered a leader in data-intensive computing and cyberinfrastructure, providing resources, services, and expertise to the national research community including industry and academia. Cyberinfrastructure refers to an accessible and integrated network of computer-based resources and expertise, focused on accelerating scientific inquiry and discovery. SDSC supports hundreds of multidisciplinary programs spanning a wide variety of domains, from earth sciences to biology to astrophysics to bioinformatics and health IT. With its two newest supercomputer systems, Trestles and the soon-to-be-launched Gordon, SDSC is a partner in XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment), the most advanced collection of integrated digital resources and services in the world.

Media Contacts:
Jan Zverina, SDSC Communications, 858 534-5111 or jzverina@sdsc.edu
Warren R. Froelich, SDSC Communications, 858 822-3622 or froelich@sdsc.edu
Related Links:
SDSC: http://www.sdsc.edu/
SDSC Cloud: http://cloud.sdsc.edu
UC San Diego: http://www.ucsd.edu/
Arista Networks: http://www.aristanetworks.com/
OpenStack: http://www.openstack.org/

S3 Graphics Goes After Apple With Two Patents Related New ITC Complaint And A Federal Lawsuit

Soon to be part of HTC, S3 Graphics, sued Apple over two patents in new IYC Complaint and Federal lawsuit yesterday. The rift of Apple vs HTC is getting complicated and larger everyday.
Goth the complaint and the lawsuit revolves around two patents owned by S3. S3 targets iPhone and iPads among other devices in the lawsuit;

"certain electronic devices and components, [for example], the Apple iPhone, iPad, an[d] iPod Touch mobile devices, Apple Mac desktop and notebook computers, alone or in combination with associated system and application software sold or distributed by Apple"

and the ITC complaint is covering;

"Electronic Devices with Graphics Data Processing Systems, Components Thereof, and Associated Software"

The patents involved in the case are;

U.S. Patent No. 5,945,997 on "block- and band-oriented traversal in three-dimensional triangle rendering" (applied for by S3 in 1997)
U.S. Patent No. 5,581,279 on "VGA controller circuitry" (applied for by Cirrus Logic in November 1993, granted by the USPTO in December 1996 and sold to S3 in 1998;

Again FOSS Patents explain this incident and more. More meaning all the existing case

Cablevision Did Not Violate Verizon's Set-Top Box Patents

ITC, the U.S. International Trade Commission has terminated the review of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)'s complaint against the set-top models used by Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC).

Earlier an ITC judge ruled that Cablevision had violated U.S. Patent No. 6,381,748, which describes an "Apparatus and methods for network access using a set-top box and television," from among five Patents Verizon sighted.

The ITC, informed via a notice (PDF) issued Wednesday, about termination of the review and also found Cablevision not to be in violation. The ITC cited the results of another case involving the patent in question. A judge in that case, argued in a Virginia court between Verizon and ActiveVideo Networks Inc. (one of Cablevision's video technology vendors), invalidated two Verizon patents, including the '748 patent.

It is possible that Verizon appeal the ITC's decision.

Via Lightreading

Samsung Counter Sues Apple In Australia, Plans To Appeal German Injunction.

Looks like there will not be any calm between the patent battle between Apple and Samsung. After suing Apple in France for Samsung UMTS (3G) patent violations, Samsung has counter-sued Apple in Australia, where Apple seek to stop sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Samsung announced on Saturday that it has filed a case against Apple in Australia for it's violations of multiple mobile patents.

"To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents," Samsung Electronics spokesman Nam Ki-yung said.

Samsung has also filed an appeal against a recent court ruling in Dusseldorf, Germany. where it upheld the ban of the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany.

Apple and Samsung are involved in court cases all over the world and analysts believe that the two companies would come in to a technology sharing agreement.

260MW, Is What It Takes To Power Google!

Google has given us a bunch of firsts over the years and now has become the first Internet giant to let us know how much power it uses. Those servers, computers and everything else uses 260MW continuously.
With all the major companies in the world, Google has stepped up to reveal how much energy it needs to run it's engines, big and small. In addition to providing you and me with mind blowing numbers, these figures also shed light on how much the the massive expansion of Internet is affecting the global power usage, thus helping policy makers and other people involved in understanding the facts.
The 260MW power used by Google in it's entirety is enough to power a small city of about 200,000 homes and most of this energy is used in it's data centers. This is after all the efforts Google has employed to reduce power usage. Like custom build data centers that uses various methods to increase efficiency.
Google's Data center in Finland uses sea water to cool it's innards cutting down on electricity usage. Over all, according to a professor at Stanford University, J.Koomey, Google is relatively energy efficient and uses only 1% of electricity for it's data centers worldwide. Google owns about 3% servers world wide.

It has abother side as well, companies hosting their email with GMail, or in the cloud, saves and as much as 80% energy efficient than running an in house system.
Google also reported that it uses as much as 25% energy from renewable sources and plans to increase it to 30% this year.
Official Google Blog: How our cloud does more with less

ITC To Review S3 Graphics VS Apple! Will HTC Have A lever Here?

ITC, United Stated International Trade Commission has issued a notice of a Commission determination to review the initial determination made investigating S3 Graphics' patent infringement complaint against Apple by a Administrative Law Judge.
While the investigation, initial determination found some of the claims to be valid and some not now it is back to the point one as the commission has decided to review the case in it's entirety and either party could gain.
If S3 Graphics, gain, HTC which is in the process of acquiring S3 Graphics will have some leverage against Apple in it's Android patent case, even though S3 Graphics case is only involved in Macintosh computers, not iOS devices.
According to FOSS Patents, depending on the outcome, it could benefit HTC but nothing is clear cut as there are pathways for Apple to by pass the infringements, if there are any.
ITC (PDF) via FOSS Patents

Oracle, Google Willing To Discuss Settlement In Court - Google Android Lawsuit

The federal Judge presiding over the Oracle Android law suit has requested both the parties, Oracle and Google settle in court and today was the last day to submit a reply.and Oracle has already responded, well before the deadline.Perhaps playing the upper hand that Oracle feels that it has;

Oracle President Safra Catz, and Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Oracle Product Development.will represent Oracle and Andrew Rubin, Senior Vice President, Google Mobile and Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel of Google will represent Google.
Google also requested a magistrate Judge who is not involved with the case to be the mediation judge.

"    Oracle concurs with the Court’s view that an additional attempt at settlement of the case through mediation before a United State Magistrate Judge is warranted. Oracle has found previous efforts at settlement, including private discussions between the parties, frustrating for lack of follow-through, and believes that those efforts have not exhausted the possibilities for resolving the case.

    As suggested by the Court, Oracle considers it essential that both parties bring top-level executives. Accordingly, Oracle’s executive representatives in the mediation before the Magistrate Judge will be Safra Catz, President of Oracle Corporation, and Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Oracle Product Development.

    Oracle will strive to make its representatives available as necessary and proposes that the mediation occur before the end of September. "

Here is the Google response;

Google welcomes the Court's suggestion that the parties participate in a mediation of this case before a Magistrate Judge. Google does not object to participating in a mediation before a Magistrate Judge who is not otherwise involved in this case.
Google recognizes the importance of having top executives of the parties attend the Court-ordered mediation. Google proposes that Andrew Rubin, who is Senior Vice President, Mobile and reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, attend for Google together with Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel of Google. Mr. Rubin's executive responsibilities include all of Google’s mobile business, of which the Android business is a part. Mr. Rubin is knowledgeable regarding the issues in this case and he is fully empowered to resolve this matter on reasonable terms.
Google also understands from counsel for Oracle that they propose that Safra Catz and Thomas Kurian attend on behalf of Oracle -- and Google agrees with this choice. Ms. Catz is one of two Presidents of Oracle who, like Mr. Rubin, reports directly to Oracle's Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rubin and Ms. Catz were involved in previous discussions involving the subject matter at issue in this case.

Thanks to FOSS Patents, we get to read these stuff before everyone else and I am waiting for the Google response. Might be interesting.

Oracle - Google Android Lawsuit Surfacing Interesting Facts. Open Source Java!

It is fascinating to read about this lawsuit. In an email by Android boss Andy Rubin to Google's Sergey, Larry Page and some other Googlers, reveals that Google could have had an annual Java license for $100 million and the group agreed to decline it. If ever Oracle manages to get a injunction over Android, costs of getting a new license will be million folds of the 100 million.
Another fact that coming out is the SUN proposed  a Redhat style Android distribution with Open Source Java. Yes hind sight is 20/20 but it is not too late to learn more about these facts.It IS fascinating.
Read more at FOSS Patents.

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) Passes 93-5 In Senate.

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) has passed the Senate as expected. The Act is slated to become a law as soon as President Obama signs it.
The act was passed earlier in the Senate and another version in the House earlier but the differences in the versions passed sent the act back to the Senate and it passed after the Senate came back from the anual recess in August.
Basically we are not getting much out of this law but all the politicians, both the sides, will get some ride on it saying it will create 200,000 new jobs. But the general understanding is it will not which has even has been answered by a survey.
PatentlyO explains this much better than I could;

To be patentable, an invention must still be new, useful, and fit within one of the statutory classifications.  The primary difference on that front will be that the inventor’s pre-filing activity becomes even less important and third-party activity just prior to the filing date becomes more important.  Innovative companies will need to rethink filing strategies to fit the new rules, but this will not normally be CEO level strategic rethinking - but instead general counsel and chief patent counsel planning. The law of patentability will be more complicated and unstable for the next decade as we go through the transition, but the dust will settle and the patent system will remain.

You can read more at PatentlyO

Tech Pier In SF, Pier 38 To Be Emptied By September 30th! America Cup Anyone?

After weeks of speculations and other stuff, San Francisco Port Authority has declared the pier to be unsafe for public.(the pic above was taken by Robert Scobble) One of our colleagues spent two good years of his life in this pier located on the San Francisco water front (map) and I have been to  Pier 38 last week.
Pier 38 houses a collection of tech companies including Automatic (Wordpress), DogPatch Labs (responsible for many startups housed here), Polaris Ventures, True Ventures, 99 Designs, EGG HAUS and a bunch more.
There are no real reasons or news yet but the fact that these companies will have to move and the question remains to where?
Perhaps Port Authority need the space for America Cup, just speculating!
Via TC

Brother Announces AiRScouter, Its See-Through Head-Mounted Display (Video)

Brother has announced that it is bringing out AiRScouter, a head-mounted and transparent transmissive liquid crystal display. When worn, the device creates the impression of a 16-inch screen that’s about one meter away from user’s eyes.

Brother Industries Ltd. (President: Toshikazu Koike, hereinafter BIL) has announced the commercialization of its "AiRScouter" see-through type head-mounted display.

Brother has already secured an agreement with NEC Corporation (President: Nobuhiro Endo, hereinafter NEC), which will adopt the product as the display for its own business-use wearable computer "Tele Scouter®". And from this autumn Brother Sales, Ltd. (President: Shunsuke Katayama, hereinafter Brother Sales), a subsidiary of BIL will start the shipment of AiRScouter to NEC.

Brother Sales will also start its own sales activities focusing on companies specializing in systems development or architecture and aim to expand the sales for industrial use including assembly support in the factory.

AiRScouter is a head-mounted, see-through type display that allows images from computers and smartphones to be viewed by the wearer. Images appear as if they were in front of the user. The technology includes a high-definition liquid crystal panel, with mirror reflected light making the image visible, as if they were shown on the translucent display.

Head Mounted

• Users can use both hands whilst viewing the image. They do not need to move or change their eye directions to get sources they want to see.
  Therefore, operational efficiency is improved.

See-through

• Users can see an transparent image without impacting the field of view.
  Therefore, it improves certainty of operation and ensures security.

Letters are clearly viewed in full color

• The size of the image viewed by a user is the same as one viewing a 16 inch full color display at a distance of 1m.
  It is possible to read down to 12-point font with AiRscouter and suitable to read instruction manuals.

Small size and light weight

• AiRScouter is compact and the display weighs approximately 64g. By using titanium as a material of frames the overall weight including the display, glass, frames and cables is approximately 106g.

Low power consumption

• Electricity consumption of AiRScouter is about 1/20 of one consumed by a standard 16 inch LED display. Therefore, AiRScouter contributes to the reduction of environmental burdens.

Others

• Users can wear AiRScouter with a helmet or cap.
• When combined with a camera, headset and communication system, it can facilitate operational support from a remote place.
• Frames for people who wear glasses are provided.
• Users can adjust the focus point from approximately 30cm to 10m, using an adjustable dial attached on the display.
• Users can adjust the display to the best position using a position adjustable system which slides the display from side to side and up and down.

From above feature, BIL foresees potential needs on AiRScouter at various different worksites, such as product assembly, products and parts picking, and maintenance and repair, where operators need to read instructions as they work.

The Brother Group will focus on developing and expanding the new business under its Mid-Term Business Strategy "CS B2015".

Brother

The Nikon COOLPIX S1200pj, A Camera With A Builtin Projector.

The COOLPIX S1200pj: Share with Flair
Building off of the award winning innovations from its predecessors, the COOLPIX S1200pj encourages a new level of content sharing with a powerful and brighter 20-lumen built-in projector. For added versatility, the COOLPIX S1200pj works with an iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® allowing users to project images and movies stored on these devices as well as online content. In addition, the camera maintains the ability to project content from a computer, such as presentations of multimedia content. The COOLPIX S1200pj also offers improved operability including illuminated icons and raised controls for easier access, even in the dark. Projecting an image up to 60-inches wide, the COOLPIX S1200pj helps make a big impression, whether in front of clients during a business meeting or at the center of a party.

The COOLPIX S1200pj includes must-have features to help capture great photos and movies including 14.1-megapixel resolution, 5x Optical Zoom, HD (720p) movie capture with stereo sound and a 3.0-inch LCD screen display to help compose at the touch of a finger. The user can also add their artistic touch to their images with a variety of Special Effects and Filter Effects. Compact enough to slip into a pocket, the COOLPIX S1200pj goes wherever life takes it.

The COOLPIX S1200pj will be available in mid September 2011 for an estimated selling price*** of $429.95 in black and pink.
The Nikon COOLPIX S1200pj, A Camera With A Builtin Projector.

MSN Hulu Using SuperCookies To Track You (How To Remove Included)

While ago MyAdlets showed you how to remove supercookies using flash to track you and now there are two more reasons for you to check your computers, be it PC, MAC or Linux.
It was revealed that Microsoft's MSN and Video site HULU has been tracking users using SuperCookies.
These hard to remove supercookies are used to monitor the info of those who visit these sites and can provide significantly more information than standard cookies. For instance, they can suck up your entire browser history.
Microsoft has said they did not know why the supercookies were used (yes we believe you M$) and has removed the code once informed.
Hulu which used Kissmetrics code to create their superCookies, say that they are investigating the matter. Perhaps while they are investigating, you can find other video sites.
You can use MyAdlets link above to remove and block flash SuperCookies.
If you are a Firefox user, you can use Betterprivasy extension to protect against SuperCookies. Also CCleaner can remove SuperCookies from Windows Computers. Mac users have Flush.app

Via Gizmodo

Tie And Die Google Map Of Berkeley! Thanks To Rorschmap

One half of the Kaleidoscopic Berkeley

Ever wonder what what Google Maps will look under the influence of drugs that makes one go kaleidoscopic? Now you can do that without needing the harmful drugs, thank to Rorschmap This Google Maps mashup by James Bridle so much fun I had multiple kaleidoscopic views of Berkeley CA. You can easily send your own location on a trip!

Rorschmap via Kottke

Protecting Users From Malware Using Knowledge Gained From Data

You may have seen an unusual sign if you visited Google recently, like in the image above. That is Google and power of data acting together with security engineers to protect you.

If you see the message, your machine is infected with a strange variant on malware.

Google was able to detect that computers infected with this strain of malware is sending traffic to Google via a set of proxy servers.

Google expect to help out users with eradicating these malware by warning users when traffic is coming from these proxies. Users are directed to a special help page to work with antivirus software to remove infections.

So far this is what Google / we know about these infections;

• The malware appears to have gotten onto users' computers from one of roughly a hundred variants of fake antivirus, or "fake AV" software that has been in circulation for a while. We aren't aware of a common name for the malware.
• We believe a couple million machines are affected by this malware.
• We've heard from a number of you that you're thinking about the potential for an attacker to copy our notice and attempt to point users to a dangerous site instead. It's a good security practice to be cautious about the links you click, so the spirit of those comments is spot-on. We thought about this, too, which is why the notice appears only at the top of our search results page. Falsifying the message on this page would require prior compromise of that computer, so the notice is not a risk to additional users.
• In the meantime, we've been able to successfully warn hundreds of thousands of users that their computer is infected. These are people who otherwise may never have known.

Official Google Blog: Using data to protect people from malware

Lithro, Light Field Camera, Focus Free Digital Camera That Brings Point And Shoot To Point And Shoot!

I have had my share of cameras, from Medium format manual camera to Latest Canon DSLR wonder. But Many a times I have sighed because of the focus, or contrast or my inability to take proper photos.

But the news of Litro, a light field camera, a brain child of Dr. Ren Ng, is putting a large smile on my face and those photo blues are vanishing like bay area fog fronted by sun.

Basically the Litro allows you to Point and shoot. Once that is done, you can focus on any area of the photo!

There is no other way to explain but play with the simulation provided by Litro! Click on any where on the photo below to focus. See more examples by following the link after the jump!

This is more than Great, I am waiting for the camera!
Litro

Final Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, An Epic Feat.

 After 30 years of triumph and tragedy, NASA’s space shuttle era is drawing to a close as Space Shuttle Endeavour took it's last flight. Then again Youtube, Google PBS News hour and NASA is presenting you with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of this special moment.YOU can ask NASA Crew Questions for a LIVE Interview From Space. Follow the link after the video.

PBS Newshour at Youtube

REDHAT Is Fooling FOSS And Feeding Patent Trolls!

I am very happy that just a few weeks ago, I made a decision not to buy Readhat product and instead went with CentOS and private local support for a project requiring Linux servers.
The answer to why? is in the lengthy post by Florian Mueller revealing what Redhat is doing behind the closed doors.
Through  examining a series of a lawsuits, negotiations with patent trolls, litigations, Florian shows how  Redhat managed to fool FOSS community and feed the Patent troll at the same time. In this particular case, Redhat has paid 4.2 Million to the patent holders.

Red Hat coughed up $4.2 million in June 2008 to settle a patent infringement suit that had been brought by FireStar Software.

The content is too vast to summarize here but what matters is that
While patent license agreements are just a routine deal for traditional IT companies, the significance of this finding lies in how it reflects on Red Hat's credibility:

• In political and regulatory contexts, the market-leading Linux distributor insists on the false claim that open source licenses (especially the GPL) are absolutely incompatible with the payment of patent royalties (while this simply depends on the specific terms and conditions of a deal).
• The GPL also serves as Red Hat's pretext for refusing to offer its customers implementations of patent-encumbered standards such as the popular AVC/H.264 video codec.
• Another important credibility issue is that the world's largest open source company actually fails to be open about its patent-related dealings and positions, a fact that others have criticized before. It hides behind self-imposed confidentiality obligations and employs legalese terminology that in the eyes of many laypeople will appear far more favorable to Red Hat than a straightforward representation of the facts would.

If you are involved in FOSS, it is very important to learn these facts so I urge you to visit the source and read the article in it's entririty.
Thanks Florian.
Red Hat feeds the patent trolls and fools the FOSS community

The Document Foundation ( LibreOffice ) Raises €50,000 In Eight days!

If you are a LibreOffice user, you can be rest assured that good news is covering the The Document Foundation, which is responsible for the LibreOffice, the free personal productivity suite.
I have been a OpenOffice user for a very long time but I have moved over to LibreOffice because, unrestricted freedom it offers.
It is very good news in many a fronts, one way we assured that LibreOffice and The Document Foundation will continue to operate and provide the valuable service. But most important is that people like you and me, trusts and supports The Document Foundation. If OpenOffice allowed you to be free of clutches of M$, now you can soar free with OpenOffice, Please visit.
Even if you cannot make a financial contribution, please help by spreading the word and introducing people to the LibreOffice.
Following is a exact post on the Document Foundation blog;

The Community around LibreOffice, the free personal productivity suite, has accomplished the next major milestone in establishing The Document Foundation as a legal entity. In just eight days, some 2,000 donors from all over the world contributed €50,000 for the capital stock necessary to set-up the legal entity in Germany.
“We still can’t believe it,” says Florian Effenberger, Steering Committee member. “It happened in such a short period of time and was beyond our wildest expectations. You all really rock! On behalf of the Community, the Steering Committee would like to thank all the donors for their generous support.”
The €50,000 collected will form the Foundation’s paid-up capital, ensuring a permanent future for the organization after the legal paperwork is complete, based in Germany. The capital will be frozen assets for the Foundation: the funds cannot be spent, and we will be able to avail just the annual interest. All money donated from now on will actually bankroll our ongoing running costs for things such as marketing, hardware, infrastructure, attending trade shows, initial financing of merchandising material and, of course, developing new and exciting ideas.
“So we still need your support: Every donation helps to pay for our future operational running,” Effenberger adds.
Details on how to donate to The Document Foundation and how the money will be spent are available at http://challenge.documentfoundation.org
Information about LibreOffice can be found at http://www.libreoffice.org
The home of The Document Foundation is at http://www.documentfoundation.org
About The Document Foundation
The Document Foundation has the mission of facilitating the evolution of the LibreOffice community into a new, open, independent, and meritocratic organization over the next few months. An independent Foundation is a better reflection of the values of our contributors, users and supporters, and will enable a more effective, efficient and transparent community. TDF will protect past investments by building on the achievements of the first decade, will encourage wide participation within the community, and will co-ordinate activity across the community.
Media Contacts
Florian Effenberger (Germany)
Mobile: +49 151 14424108 – E-mail: floeff@documentfoundation.org
Olivier Hallot (Brazil)
Mobile: +55 21 88228812 – E-mail: olivier.hallot@documentfoundation.org
Charles H. Schulz (France)
Mobile: +33 6 98655424 – E-mail: charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org
Italo Vignoli (Italy)
Mobile: +39 348 5653829 – E-mail: italo.vignoli@documentfoundation.org

Google Code Jam Africa and Arabia 2011!

Google Code Jam is a coding competition in which professional and student programmers are asked to solve complex algorithmic challenges in a limited amount of time. The contest is all-inclusive: Google Code Jam lets you program in the coding language and development environment of your choice.

Want to match wits with coders across the continent, test your skills on some tough algorithmic problems, or win a prize? Register now for Code Jam Africa and Arabia!

Interested in Google internships? Register now and let us know! Outstanding performance in Code Jam Africa and Arabia 2011 may be considered if you apply for an internship at our European Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Need even more coding? Ready to take on the world? Join Google's global Code Jam 2011!

Do you enjoy solving tough problems and grappling with technical challenges? You can practice on our past contests. If this is your first time competing in a Code Jam event, take a look at our Quick-Start Guide to learn the basics of how to compete.

Take a trip To Cowboys Stadium In 3D

“Cowboys Stadium, Arlington TX In 3D” 
Everyone knows it is cold in Texas, specially for us here in Cali, with weather reaching 70s! :) . But cold or not, in two days, the Cowboys Stadium will be the center of the earth for us football fans.
I am not lucky enough to be in the stadium, not even near it, but we are all stacked up with beer and other drinks food and we are going to enjoy the 76 degree weather on Sunday.

But the good news is that, Google Earth can take us to the center of the earth mentioned above in 3D.
Just click on "The center of the earth" and you will be taken there.
If you have Google Earth PC, Google Earth iPhone or Google Earth Android, installed search for “Cowboys Stadium, Arlington TX”
Enjoy the Super Bowl, have fun!
Never mind what any one says, Thank God for America, Thank God for Football!
Google LatLong: Take a trip to the Super Bowl with Google Earth

Copyright Troll, Drops 670 John Doe Porn-downloading Case.

Mick Haig Productions, an adult video company has dropped its lawsuit accusing 670 John Does, Internet users, of illegally downloading pornography. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Citizen (PC) are counsel for the anonymous defendants at the request of the court.

"Copyright owners have a right to protect their works, but they can't use shoddy and unfair tactics to do so," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "When adult film companies launch these cases, there is the added pressure of embarrassment associated with pornography, which can convince those ensnared in the suits to quickly pay what's demanded of them, whether or not they have legitimate defenses. That's why it's so important to make sure the process is fair."

Mick Haig Productions dropped the case just 48 hours after EFF and PC demanded that it withdraw subpoenas Mick Haig's lawyer apparently issued while the question of whether the court should allow the subpoenas at all was still under consideration by the court.

"This dismissal is wonderful news for the 670 anonymous defendants in this case, but troubling questions remain about the behavior of Mick Haig Productions," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Given the extremely invasive power of subpoenas, plaintiffs have a duty to ensure that subpoenas are not misused. EFF is committed to ensuring that litigants are held accountable for taking shortcuts around the due process rights of their opponents, especially in cases such as this one where the very act of obtaining someone's identity could be improperly leveraged into pressure to settle a claim."

Copyright Troll Gives Up in Porn-Downloading Case
Another Copyright Troll, Drops 670 John Doe Porn Cases

Github Follows Google, Lists DCMA Takedown Notices Like Sony Online.

When I saw Matt Cutts tweeted this news, I was surprised but happy to see the news that Github, inspired by Google is disclosing DCMA takedown notices by companies like SONY. You can see a takedown notice, the first, by Sony here.

I hope SONY relaizes that Android is an open source OS and also hope they will not infect the perfect OS with DCMA laden code.
Oh Why worry, those fake SONY blogs did not work and we have not forgotten about those Sony root Kits either. We steer away from the likes.
Thanks Github for being informative and Google for setting the trend.

"Inspired by Google's DMCA policy, this repo contains various DMCA takedown notices we've received here at GitHub.For more details on our own policy, please see this page."

I Want To Ride The Freeway (Highway) Train, SARTRE Vehicle Platooning

First demonstration of SARTRE vehicle platooning.
Platooning may be the new way of travelling on motorways in as little as ten years time and the EU-financed SARTRE project has carried out the first successful demonstration of its technology at the Volvo Proving Ground close to Gothenburg, Sweden.
This is the first time the EU-financed development teams in SARTRE try their systems together outside the simulators.

"We are very pleased to see that the various systems work so well together already the first time," says Erik Coelingh, engineering specialist at Volvo Cars.
"After all, the systems come from seven SARTRE-member companies in four countries. The winter weather provided some extra testing of cameras and communication equipment." "This is a major milestone for this important European research programme," says Tom Robinson, SARTRE project coordinator, of Ricardo UK Ltd.

"Platooning offers the prospect of improved road safety, better road space utilization, improved driver comfort on long journeys and reduced fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions. With the combined skills of its participating companies, SARTRE is making tangible progress towards the realization of safe and effective road train technology".

Safer and more convenient ;Vehicle platooning, as envisaged by the SARTRE project, is a convoy of vehicles where a professional driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles. Each car measures the distance, speed and direction and adjusts to the car in front. All vehicles are totally detached and can leave the procession at any time. But once in the platoon, drivers can relax and do other things while the platoon proceeds towards its long haul destination. The tests carried out included a lead vehicle and single following car. The steering wheel of the following car moves by itself as the vehicle smoothly follows the lead truck around the country road test track. The driver is able to drink coffee or read a paper, using neither hand nor foot to operate his vehicle.

Platooning is designed to improve a number of things:

Firstly road safety, since it minimises the human factor that is the cause of at least 80 percent of the road accidents.
Secondly, it saves fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions with up to 20 percent.
It is also convenient for the driver because it frees up time for other matters than driving.
And since the vehicles will travel in highway speed with only a few meters gap, platooning may also relieve traffic congestion.

The technology development is well underway and can most likely go into production in a few years time. What may take substantially longer are the public acceptance and the legislation where 25 EU governments must pass similar laws.

"It is great to see that all systems work so well together. We develop the communication between the vehicles, today using a vehicle-to-vehicle specified radio frequency. Our next step will be to develop a parallel system, probably using 3G, so there is a built-in back-up if the primary communication fails," says Erik Hedin at SP.

About the SARTRE project: The SARTRE project stands for Safe Road Trains for the Environment. Part-funded by the European Commission under the Framework 7 programme, SARTRE is led by Ricardo UK Ltd and comprises collaboration between the following additional participating companies: Idiada and Robotiker-Tecnalia of Spain, Institut für Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (IKA) of Germany, and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Technology of Sweden. SARTRE aims to encourage a step change in personal transport usage through the development of safe environmental road trains (platoons). Systems are being developed in prototype form that will facilitate the safe adoption of road trains on un-modified public highways with full interaction with non-platoon vehicles. The project is addressing the three cornerstone transportation issues of environment, safety and congestion while at the same time encouraging driver acceptance through the prospect of increased "driver comfort". Read the full story »
http://goodnews.ws/2011/01/20/system-designed-for-stress-free-road-driving-tests-are-a-success/

Library of Congress Gets A New Home Page.

One of the worlds largest knowledge portal has got a new home page.
Oncowikia Blog: Library of Congress, A portal To Knowledge, Gets A New Home Page.

Big Victory for Consumers' First Sale Rights, EFF Wins Against Universal Music Group (UMG)

San Francisco - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has shot down bogus copyright infringement allegations from Universal Music Group (UMG), affirming an eBay seller's right to resell promotional CDs that he buys from secondhand stores and rejecting UMG's attempt to claim that a sticker on a CD created a license agreement forbidding resale.
Troy Augusto, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the law firm Durie Tangri LLP, was sued by UMG for offering promo CDs for auction on eBay. At issue was whether the labels on the CDs, some of which stated that they were "promotional use only, not for sale," trumped Augusto's right to resell the CDs that he bought. Copyright's "first sale" doctrine prevents a copyright owner from restricting further sales or uses of a work once title has passed.
In an opinion issued today, the appeals court held: "UMG transferred title to the particular copies of its promotional CDs and cannot maintain an infringement action against Augusto for his subsequent sale of those copies." The court noted that UMG did not maintain control of the CDs once it mailed them out, did not require the recipients to agree to the "conditions" it sought to impose with the not-for-sale label, and did not require return of the CDs if the recipient did not consent.
"This ruling frees promotional CDs from the shadow of copyright infringement claims, which is good news for music lovers," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "But it also has broader ramifications. The court flatly rejected the argument that merely slapping a notice on a copyrighted work prevents the work from ever being sold. It eliminates the risk of copyright infringement claims against later recipients -- regardless of whether they paid for the work."
"The Ninth Circuit recognized an important principle: that you can't eliminate consumers' rights just by claiming there's a 'license agreement,'" said Joe Gratz of Durie Tangri, lead counsel for Mr. Augusto. "Once a copyrighted work is freely given, the copyright holder isn't in charge anymore. The copyright owner can't stop you from selling it or lending it to a friend."
For the full opinion in UMG v. Augusto:
https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/umg_v_augusto/UMGvAugusto9thCircuitOp...
Contact:
Corynne McSherry
Intellectual Property Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
corynne@eff.org