Apple Seeks $2 Billion From Samsung in New Patent Trial

Apple is seeking an additional $2 billion in damages from Samsung in a new patent trial starting this week that will see Google make a courtroom appearance.

This will be the same courtroom in which Apple won it's first major $1 billion victory against Samsung in 2012. The jury award in that case has been adjusted down slightly to $992 million.

This time, Samsung plans on calling Google to help it argue that the software was created independently. Google executives, including Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice-president of engineering for Android, are expected to describe how they built the mobile operating system.

Apple is accusing Samsung of infringing on five utility patents that cover narrow software features such as auto-correct, slide to unlock, universal search, and others. Samsung is also counter-suing Apple for two utility patents that cover wireless video transmission and a method for organizing digital photos.

While Apple is seeking $2 billion in damages, Samsung is only seeking $22 million. Which may be a strategy to make Apple's demands seem excessive.

Weekend poll results: Smartwatches, winners and losers

Last week we asked you what you thought about smartwatches – there sure are plenty of them in the news recently and Google is finally taking them seriously with the dedicated Android Wear OS (perhaps because Google Glass didn’t exactly explode).

We have one clear result, while the others were much closer calls.

The big winner is the Motorola Moto 360 – we may know next to nothing about this smartwatch, but it’s round, metal and pretty, which seems good enough for people. Over 90% of votes went in its favor, not to mention that this poll collected the most votes overall, making the Moto 360 the clear winner this week.

Samsung Galaxy S5 get opened

It was going to happen eventually, but somewhat surprisingly it has happened before the actual market launch. The Samsung Galaxy S5 has undergone the teardown treatment. This time though, it wasn’t executed by iFixit, but Russian tech site Ferra.

Nevertheless, the teardown revealed all of the Galaxy S5′s internals. According to the person that did the teardown, the screen is quite tricky to remove and you have to heat the phone quite a bit in order to get the glue holding the display to melt and let go. In fact, the phone had to be heated to 150C and the whole operation of taking the screen from the phone took about an hour.
We guess there aren’t that many ways to achieve IP67 certification, so there’s no surprises why the Galaxy S5 isn’t the easiest phone to take apart. There are two main boards on the phone with one of them holding the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8974AC chipset.
Now, with the phone taken apart, we imagine it won’t be long until its bill-of-materials gets out.

Samsung Galaxy S5 features a baby monitor

Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5 comes with a host of new features that includes a heart rate sensor and a fingerprint scanner. Now it has been discovered the device also packs a unique option called baby monitor, which alerts the parents when a child starts crying.

The distinctive attribute, which most of us never knew about is hidden inside the accessibility menu of the Galaxy S5. The baby crying detector option emits vibrating alerts on a paired Galaxy Gear along with a notification when your little one starts to cry. Samsung says that the features works best when the device is placed within 1 meter from the baby with no background noise.
Baby monitor in the Galaxy S5 is surely one of those apps that can be used as a parenting aid and to make sure that you are with your infant when they need you the most.

Google cracks down on dubious in-app ad practices

Have you ever used a free application in Android, and then found yourself clicking on an ad in the app, even though you could have sworn you never touched the foul pop-up?

Well that’s because there are some applications that give you the illusion of choice when it comes to not selecting an ad; they register any press on the screen as an ad-click. Google wants to put an end to that and other tricky in-app add practices.

Samsung unveils LED Smart Bulb that works over Bluetooth

Not to stay too far behind its domestic rival LG, today Samsung unveiled a smart LED bulb of its own. It’s called simply “Smart Bulb” and unlike most of the competition, it’s utilizes Bluetooth in order to connect to smartphones and tablets.

Samsung says you can control up to 64 bulbs via the dedicated app without any additional equipment or set-up. The bulbs can be dimmed down to 10% and lasts up to 15,000 hours or 10 years if used normally.
Home automation is possible if you use a ZigBee Bluetooth hub, but Samsung doesn’t seem to be including it in the bulb’s package. The Smart Bulb has already been awarded a Design Plus award by iF Design, which is noteworthy if you care about the design of your bulbs.

Watch the Samsung Galaxy S5 go under a meter of water

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has an IP67 certification, which officially means “dust tight” and surviving up to 30 minutes at 1m underwater. That seems a little abstract, it’s much better to see the device actually make the dive.

Here’s a video of the Galaxy S5 being submerged to a meter underwater and even starts ringing with an incoming call.
It doesn’t stay the full half hour, but it comes out completely unscathed. The incoming call can be seen at 8:30, at 10:50 you can even see a Galaxy Gear still connected to the Galaxy S5

LG grabs 33 Red Dot awards, G Flex pronounced Best of the Best

LG is going to celebrate today, as the company took home 33 Red Dot product design awards, including two “Best of the Best” ones for the LG G Flex and Smart 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema system.

LG has managed to make its way to the top out of 4,800 entries at this year’s Red Dot Awards. Last year, the company had 27 of its devices recognized, with one “Best of the Best” award for its Curved OLED TV. This is a strong year for the G Flex, which in the beginning of the month grabbed the 2014 IF Design Award as well.
The LG G Flex is the first smartphone to feature a 6″ curved OLED display and packs very thin bezels. It takes after the LG G2 design and features its Power/Lock and volume rocker keys on the back.

The Secret Room Where the Original iPhone's Software Was Born

The WSJ has posted a photo of the secret room at Apple where the original iPhone's software was born.

The secret meeting room where most of the design decisions for the original iPhone’s software were made is “hallowed ground” to Greg Christie, who designs the software interface for Apple products and one of the first members recruited to work on the device in 2004.

BlackBerry Sues Its SVP of Software to Prevent Him From Going to Work for Apple

BlackBerry sued its SVP of Software Sebastien Marineau-Mes preventing him from leaving the company to go work for Apple, reports iMore.

A ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reveals that Marineau-Mes began discussing the move from BlackBerry to Apple in September 2013. He was offered the position of VP of Core OS in December and accepted, giving a written resignation to BlackBerry with two months notice on December 23rd.

Western Digital Introduces First Portable Thunderbolt-Powered Dual-Drive Solution

WD today introduced My Passport Pro, the first portable, Thunderbolt-powered dual-drive solution. For Mac systems, My Passport Pro has user-selectable RAID functionality to deliver needed performance for the most demanding applications in the field, without the need for power adapters or extra cables. My Passport Pro is available in 2 TB and 4 TB capacities.

“The only Thunderbolt dual-drive solution that’s bus-powered, WD’s My Passport Pro enhances the workflow of mobile creative professionals by providing fast transfers and data protection for the large amounts of digital content they generate outside the studio,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president of branded products and worldwide sales, WD. “From photographers, videographers and musicians to graphic designers and architects, people who depend on portable storage for their livelihood will find My Passport Pro defines a new level of performance, reliability and especially portability.”

Russian Government Drops iPad for Samsung Tablets

Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, according to the country's telecoms minister.

The AFP reports that journalists spotted the change at a cabinet meeting and minister Nikolai Nikiforov confirmed the switch "took place not so long ago." Nikiforov said that the Samsung tablets were "specially protected devices that can be used to work with confidential information."

Samsung having production issues with the Galaxy S5!!!!

There have been some rumors about production issues with Samsung's Galaxy S5. First, one of their factories caught fire, damaging some of their stock and production equipment.
Now, there are reports indicating that Samsung is having difficulty with properly centering the optics in the S5's 16MP ISOCELL camera sensor.
On top of this, Samsung is facing stability issues with the coating process for the S5's lens module. Although they are making good progress in fixing these errors, the Korean tech-giant has definitely taken a hit as a result.
Because of the setbacks, Samsung will only have 4-5 million S5 units available at launch, as opposed to the 5-7 million devices they originally anticipated.
Anyone who is looking forward to the S5, are you a little anxious as to whether or not they'll be able to get the phone at launch? Or do you have doubts that the phone will hit its target date? Let us know in the comments!

Facebook Acquires Oculus VR for $2 Billion

Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Oculus VR, a virtual reality technology company, for a total of approximately $2 billion. This includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share). The agreement also provides for an additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the achievement of certain milestones.

Oculus is the leader in immersive virtual reality technology and has already built strong interest among developers, having received more than 75,000 orders for development kits for the company's virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus' existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas. Given these broad potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.

Apple Has Now Sold Over 500 Million iPhones!!!!!!

Apple has now sold over 500 million iPhones, taking less than 7 years to do so, reports Forbes.

Apple reached 400 million in iPhone sales around the end of July, 2013. Entering this quarter Apple had sold 472 million iPhones. Depending on how well sales are going this quarter, it is estimated that Apple would have sold its 500 millionth iPhone on around March 8th.

BlackBerry CEO calls iPhone users ‘wall huggers’ due to poor battery life

BlackBerry’s newly appointed CEO John Chen isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers. Last month he penned an open letter regarding T-Mobile’s ‘ill-conceived’ iPhone promotion, and this past week he went after the iPhone users themselves.

Speaking at the Oasis Montgomery conference, Chen was asked for his thoughts on the surging popularity of the iPhone. And his response was ‘I call you guys wall huggers,’ suggesting the handset is unable to last a full day on a single charge…

Yahoo Finance has more on Chen’s comments from last week (via TUAW):

What Men and Women Want From a New Phone [Chart]

A Nielsen survey looks at the key features of mobile phones that appeal to both men and women, which aren't always the same.

Globally, while more men gravitate toward tech-savvy mobile phone attributes like operating system (48% men vs. 41% women), battery life (48% vs. 44%), screen size (38% vs. 34%) and processor speed (41% vs. 31%) when shopping for a new device, more women are influenced by price (72% women vs. 67% men), service contract terms (27% vs. 25%) and camera capability (32% vs. 30%).

Mashable and Statista have compiled the Nielsen data into a nice chart which can be seen below.

Take a look. Do you agree with their findings?

Did you know Facebook Messenger for Windows to shut down on March 3

 According to the notification, the Messenger will stop working on Monday, March 3.

There is no explanation why Facebook decided to kill its standalone messenger app, but it isn’t unexpected.
The Facebook Messenger installer for Windows has disappeared completely from Facebook’s website a while ago. Even its Help articles on the website were hard to find, so it was clear back then Facebook will be dropping support for the tool in the future.
Well, it is time. The app will stop working on March 3. The help section is available now and explains how to uninstall the Messenger off your PC.
As a user who really got used to the app, I am quite disappointed. I guess my only option now is to rely on the dedicated Metro/Modern Facebook app. Bugger!

Apple has over 3 million iPhone 5c units collecting dust

Apple’s stockpile of the iPhone 5c has reached over 3 million units, confirming what most already know: it isn’t exactly a hot seller.

2 million units are at Pegatron, the manufacturer of the 5c, with the rest sitting on shelves hoping someone will take them home.

Corning SVP says Gorilla Glass is cheaper, harder to break than sapphire

At a Morgan Stanley conference when asked by analyst James Fawcett about the puts and takes of sapphire versus glass Senior Vice President at Corning (the company that makes Gorilla Glass) Tony Tripeny has a lengthy response.

The question came in regards to “one large handset and device maker” looking into sapphire for its devices. That maker is Apple and as we know the company is heavily investing into sapphire and will probably use the material for the displays of its upcoming smartphones and, possibly, smartwatch. In defense of its Gorilla Glass the Corning exec had this to say.

Sony has sold over 6 million Playstation 4!!!!

In just four months, Sony has sold over 6 million Playstation 4 consoles.

Microsoft’s Xbox One, on the other hand, has sold 4.8 million units. But both consoles should see a steady increase in sales due to new pricing and availability developments.

Coming soon: BBM to allow photo and file transfers in multi-chats

Blackberry’s Messaging service, BBM, has been made available for non-blackberry devices for a while now.

Now the application will be packing some new features that may bring in some new users and keep current ones excited.