Microsoft has closed a patent licensing deal with ZTE, one of the top five manufacturers of Android smartphones.
The deal is Microsoft’s first with a leading Chinese company, marking an important milestone in the software giant’s multi-year campaign to squeeze licensing revenues out of smartphone vendors and manufacturers.
“Experience has taught us that respect for intellectual property rights is a two-way street,” said Horacio Gutierrez, general counsel for Microsoft, “and we have always been prepared to respect the rights of others just as we seek respect for our rights.” Read more
A new technology platform needs new apps. And new apps need funding.
So it is that two of Silicon Valley’s best-known venture capital firms – Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz – have got together with Google Ventures to offer money to developers working on ideas for Google Glass. According to Kleiner partner John Doerr, this “goes well beyond the the world of websites, documents and mobile apps”. Read more
Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to turn Facebook into a “mobile first” company faced an important test on Thursday as the company unveiled what was expected to be its own mobile software platform: a version of the Android operating system that puts the social networking service front and centre.
But would it be enough to give Facebook a firmer foothold in a smartphone world increasingly dominated Apple, Google and Samsung?
Sony is rightly mounting a competition for a cuter name for the SRS-BTV5, first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and available this month in black, white or pink for $70 (£55).
I like to roll this small audio ball of a wireless speaker in the palm of my hand and pet it like an executive toy, before tucking it away in its string bag for travelling. Read more
As iPhones and iPads have become normal accessories for upper middle class professionals, so too have new and hand-me-down cellphones and tablets become essential school supplies for their children.
Teachers have responded to the trend, incorporating the gadgets into their daily lesson plans. But that is widening the educational gulf between students and schools that can afford to keep up with the latest digital technologies, and those who cannot, according to a new report.
A survey of 2,500 US middle and high school teachers by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project revealed 52 per cent of teachers in upper-income schools say their students use their personal cell phones in class to look up information and complete assignments, compared to 35 per cent in low-income schools. Read more
HP has sol
d its webOS operating system, developed by its Palm acquisition for smartphones and tablets, to LG Electronics, which plans to adapt it for consumer electronics devices such as smart TVs.
The move comes as little surprise – HP had abandoned development of webOS-based products and announced an Android-based tablet at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the weekend. Read more
The spike in tech investment by celebrities over recent years has been seen by some as another sign that Silicon Valley’s hype is getting ahead of reality. But Ashton Kutcher, soon to appear on screen as Steve Jobs, has made some canny investments, including Skype and Airbnb, while even Justin Bieber got a payday when Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo bought Stamped, a mobile startup he helped finance.
So while it may be easy to mock will.i.am – Black Eyed Peas star, hip hop producer, reality TV show judge and sometime Olympic torchbearer – and his new ₤300 iPhone case, don’t write him off too quickly. Read more
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