Microsoft says it will provide affected users with an automatic one-month extension to the company’s Xbox Live gold service following an outage related to a Cloud Saved Games feature. Everyone impacted by the outage will get the free extension after the cloud feature dropped offline for many late last week. Following a two-day outage over the weekend, Microsoft’s engineers had “been working around the clock to get the issues resolved,” according to the company.
The Cloud Saved Games feature returned for all users earlier today, with a promise from Microsoft to discover the root cause for the issues. “We can assure you we’ll also be doing a thorough post mortem to help prevent this from happening again,” says Microsoft’s Xbox Live…
Russian hackers have discovered a security hole in Skype’s password recovery tool that allows a third party to take control of your account. All the hackers require is your Skype username and the email address that Skype account is registered to. With those details, they’ll be able to access your account and change the password in a matter of minutes. The Next Web has tested out the five-step hack and reports that the process worked across several accounts, something which we’ve independently confirmed. The site says it contacted Skype several hours before going public with the story.
It’s worth noting that your account is only vulnerable if the would-be hacker knows your email address. If you’re worried that your address may be common…
Apple has pulled down a legal statement on its U.K. website, posted after it lost an appeal in a U.K. court against a ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablets do not infringe the design of the iPad. It had been ordered to acknowledge the ruling in a public post. However yesterday, at another hearing at the U.K. Court of Appeal, Apple was criticized for adding “incorrect” and “untrue” information to the statement — and ordered to remove it within 24 hours, and replace it with a compliant notice within 48 hours. The original statement had the tone of a non-apology (see full statement below).
“I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this,” Bloomberg quoted Judge Robin Jacob saying yesterday. “That is a plain breach of the order.”
The statement was still on Apple’s U.K. website earlier today but has now been removed –
The court rejected Apple’s request yesterday for 14 days in which to post a new, compliant statement. The BBC quotes Lord Justice Longmore telling Apple’s lawyer, Michael Beloff: “We are just amazed that you cannot put the right notice up at the same time as you take the other one down.”
Another judge, Sir Robin Jacob, is reported to have added: “I would like to see the head of Apple [Tim Cook] make an affidavit about why that is such a technical difficulty for the Apple company.”
The court gave Apple 48 hours to repost a compliant notice. (Update: Apple has published a compliant version of the court notice in U.K. newspaper, The Guardian this morning — as spotted by TNW.)
The original web statement, with the offending paragraphs highlighted in bold, follows below
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic(UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do notinfringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the Highcourt is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.
In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:
“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”
“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”
That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.
After losing an appeal in a UK high court last week against a judgement that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablets do not infringe the design of the iPad because their design is just not cool enough, Apple has now published an acknowledgement of the court’s judgement on its U.K. website — in line with the court order. You can’t call it an apology — quite the opposite: Apple makes it clear it does not agree with the court’s decision by pointing out that it has had court wins against Samsung for the same design patent in Germany, and noting its huge win against the Korean gadget maker in the U.S this summer.
Apple also focuses on the judge’s reasons for dismissing its patent claim — quoting the judge’s detailed ruling on exactly what makes the iPad’s design so much cooler than the Galaxy Tab, in which he talks almost lovingly of the “extreme simplicity” of the iPad’s design; its “undecorated surfaces”; “crisp edge” and “combination of curves”.
Apple then contrasts that with what the judge had to say about the Galaxy Tab: “very thin, almost insubstantial” with “unusual details on the back” — and the conclusion: “not cool”.
Here’s Apple’s acknowledgment in full
Samsung / Apple UK judgmentOn 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic(UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do notinfringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the Highcourt is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.
In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:
“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”
“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”
That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.
The acknowledgement has not been published on the homepage of Apple’s U.K. website but there is a link to it — right at the bottom of the page, next to the notification about Apple’s use of cookies
In addition to the online acknowledgement of the court’s judgment, Apple is required to publish an acknowledgment as adverts in U.K. newspapers.
Microsoft’s Windows 8 Pro software will be priced at $ 199 after a promotional price of $ 69.99 expires on January 31st 2013, according to one source familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The software maker will also offer a Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro upgrade option at retail stores for $ 69.99 until January 31st when the price reverts to $ 99.99.
Microsoft previously announced its $ 39.99 Windows 8 Pro upgrade pricing for existing Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 users — a price available exclusively online for those wishing to download the software without a DVD option. Retailers will stock a $ 69.99 Windows 8 Pro option in stores, one that may be offered as a traditional full version of Windows for those without a previous copy. Both…
This video shows a demonstration of a simple gradient following scenario using Pheromone Robots. These small robots provide emergent group behavior as a result of simple local interactions. In gradient following, members of a robot swarm propagate a “virtual pheromone” signal to one another to establish a gradient. Another robot then follows this gradient toward the originatig source. This work is described in the paper “Progress in Pheromone Robotics” HRL Labs
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Microsoft revealed this week that it had “addressed a reset function” in Hotmail that allowed hackers to reset passwords on the webmail service. Researchers first discovered the flaw on April 6th, alerting Microsoft to the problem two weeks later on April 20th. YouTube videos show that some hackers were exploiting the vulnerability on April 6th, with details of the flaw spreading “like wild fire across the hacking community” according to one report.
Hackers reportedly used a Firefox add-on to intercept HTTP requests and modify data to bypass Hotmail’s token-based password reset system. Microsoft says it fixed the flaw on April 20th, but the company has not revealed how many of its 300 million users were affected by the temporary glitch….
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We rarely meddle with stock news around these parts, but this was a pretty significant piece of meat to chew on. After Research in Motion introduced Thorsten Heins as the new CEO last night and again in a conference call this morning, the company’s stock price tumbled a whopping 8.47 percent. When it comes to what kind of difference the transition will make for the struggling company, we haven’t had a high amount of confidence; while we hope for the best and want to see RIM turn things around, the falling stock appears to indicate that we’re not alone in expressing concerns about this morning’s events. Here’s some food for thought: when rumors that Samsung was interested in purchasing RIM flooded the internet, the latter company’s stocks spiked by nearly ten percent.
RIM stock falls eight percent following CEO transition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft this morning announced that it has signed a patent licensing agreement with Android device manufacturer LG, its eleventh deal of the kind.
Microsoft says effectively 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the United States today are covered under its patent portfolio, not mentioning the fact that they’re also suing Motorola Mobility and NOOK maker Barnes & Noble over their Android devices.
Continuing a tradition that we hope will stand the test of time, Microsoft’s head of communications, Frank Shaw, took to Twitter to taunt Google.
First, Shaw tweeted “Hey Google – we are the 70% #anotherandroidlicense” with a link to their press release, and later said:
Can we just agree to drop the patents-as-weapons meme? When effective licensing enables companies to share IP, the metaphor falls apart
— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) January 12, 2012
The second one is of course a bit disingenuous, since pretty much every player in this industry employs patents as weapons, will at some point, or wishes they were in a position to do so.
Shaw isn’t alone in his endeavor to try and get a response out of the Google camp, by the way.
Here’s Brad Smith, Microsoft’s EVP and General Counsel, tweeting:
It's time to recognize that in #patent world, lawsuits are the 1%; license agreements are the 99%. #anotherandroidlicense
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) January 12, 2012
And here’s Horacio E. Gutiérrez, Corporate VP and Deputy General Counsel, tweeting:
How should the smartphone industry resolve IP disputes in the software stack? Let’s try licensing
— Horacio Gutierrez (@horaciog) January 12, 2012
We love this stuff. We want more. Come on, Google, it’s your turn. Keep this going.
DPReview reports that Sony has resumed production of its SLT and NEX cameras, which may include the NEX-7 and A65 cameras, after two of its three main manufacturing plants in Thailand were hit by extreme floods nearly a month ago. The impact was enough to make a sizable dent in the company’s financial outlook and force it to establish a new plant further south in the country. There’s apparently still no confirmation of when products will start shipping, but as long as the conveyor belts are rolling and people are back in employment, we’re not complaining.
DPReview reports that Sony has resumed production of its
Sony starts making NEX and SLT cameras again, following Thai floods originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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