We did wonder about the timing two weeks ago, when the first eReader with dual screens, one of them colour, appeared 24 hours before another eReader, also with dual screens, one of them colour.

Draw your own conclusions, but Spring Design, which launched the Alex on the eve of Barnes & Noble’s Nook, now says it has filed a lawsuit alleging “Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties’ non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex’s features into its recently announced Nook e-book.” Continue reading "Alex v Nook, legal duel for dual-screen eReaders"

Earlier this year we asked if Facebook was “monopolising the social networking market“.

An upstart social network aggregator, Power.com, had sued Facebook in California court, and it looked like the law might force Facebook to open up its walled-garden. Power was alleging that Facebook restricts users and stifles competition, and was in violation of California’s unfair competition laws and US antitrust laws.

The answer seems to be no. On Friday a judge dismissed the case. Power’s claims “contain no factual allegations,” wrote US district judge Jeremy Fogel. Continue reading "Facebook cleared of antitrust claims (Updated)"

In this week’s FT techtalk, whatever was under discussion, it was hard to avoid bringing Apple into the conversation.

A blow-out quarter, new products, fresh Android competition for the iPhone and Nokia launching a legal strike - Apple is in everyone’s sights.

We also looked at the latest eReaders (yes, we’re sure there’s an Apple one coming as well) and assessed whether they are ready to be bestsellers with consumers or end up in the remainders pile.

And we reported live as Microsoft issued its first-quarter earnings.

Read the multimedia transcript below and join us live again next Friday for FT techtalk, a multimedia chat with the FT’s tech correspondents. Continue reading "FT techtalk - We’ve an Apple for that"

Dailymotion, Europe’s biggest online video challenger to YouTube, on Thursday said it had raised $25m in a new funding round led by the French Sovereign Fund (FSI). The French strategic investments fund, which is 49 per cent owned by the government, contributed $11m to the round, with all the existing investors, Advent Venture Partners, AGF PE, Partech International and Atlas Ventures,  taking part.

Dailymotion chief executive Cedric Tournay also said the company had now hit break-even and expected to make a profit next year. The site now attracts around 60m unique users each month, up from 35m a year ago.  Although it is dwarfed by YouTube, it is doing well to survive and grow in a market where competitors like Joost and Veoh have had to retreat. Continue reading "Daily motion raises $25m to accelerate growth"

Social games are oft criticised for being little more than drivel. It’s a fair charge. After all, there’s not much intellectual value in games like Sorority Life and Mob Wars.

Nonetheless, they have become among the most popular activities for users of social networks. Zynga, the largest maker of social games, says it has 50m daily active users of its various games, most of those on Facebook. In turn, Zynga is raking in cash through the sale of virtual goods.

Now Zynga is trying to do a bit of good in the world. At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco yesterday, Zynga chief executive Mark Pincus said the company was now raising money for charities through “social virtual goods”. Continue reading "Social games to change the world?"

Nvidia today launched a “GPU computing in the cloud” service that will allow designers to manipulate and check photo-realistic environments in a fraction of the normal time it takes on a PC workstation.

The graphics chipmaker is combining “iray” rendering technology, from its mental images acquisition, with its high-end Tesla chips in a new RealityServer platform. It expects cloud computing providers to offer services based on the platform to designers of cars, aircraft, clothes, homes and office buildings. Continue reading "Nvidia cloud graphics offer reality check"

A compendium of digital book announcements for you today.

First, Spring Design has announced Alex (pictured), the first Android-based eReader, with full web browsing capabilities and patented dual-screen technology.

Second, Irex has announced that its DR800SG will have access to more than 1,200 leading periodicals through NewspaperDirect and LibreDigital when it goes on sale at Best Buy shortly.

Third, Plastic Logic has unveiled photos and details of its large-screen Que eReader, with availability and pricing to be announced in January.

Of course, only cynics would see any of these announcements as designed to upstage or slipstream Barnes & Noble’s launch of its eReader in New York on Tuesday.