December 2012

FTC Slams Google for Seeking iPhone, iPad Ban

The Federal Trade Commission is backing Apple in the company’s battle with Google over standard-essential patents (SEP), arguing that any attempt to ban a product for allegedly infringing an SEP “risks harming competition, innovation, and consumers.”

In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the trade agency argued that a district court was right to dismiss a request by Google’s Motorola Mobility division for an injunction against sales of the iPhone and iPad in the United States. The patents Motorola had attempted to assert against Apple were SEPs, which it is obligated to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. And in the FTC’s eyes, using the threat of SEP-based injunctions to demand higher royalties or other favorable licensing terms is bad business. It’s a “patent hold-up,” to quote the agency’s term. “Hold-up and the threat of hold-up can deter innovation by increasing costs and uncertainty for other industry participants, including those engaged in inventive activity,” the FTC said in its brief. “It can also distort investment and harm consumers by breaking the connection between the value of an invention and its reward — a connection that is the cornerstone of the patent system.”

T-Mobile USA Getting Some Apple Mobile Products Next Year

Deutsche Telekom said that its T-Mobile USA subsidiary will at long last get its chance to sell some Apple mobile products next year, but declined to offer much in the way of specifics. The carrier is investing billions in a move to first make its 3G network iPhone compatible and then to deploy a next-generation LTE network sometime next year. Along with that, the company has recently stepped up an effort to get existing iPhone owners to bring their devices over to T-Mobile’s network. T-Mobile is also in the process of acquiring prepaid carrier MetroPCS.

Samsung lawyers file copy of Apple patent settlement with HTC

Apple and HTC announced a surprise settlement to their patent litigation last month, but the details were kept tightly under wraps. Then a federal judge this week granted a motion by lawyers for Samsung requesting that they be able to see a copy of the settlement.

Apple complied, and Samsung lawyers filed a copy of that settlement with a U.S. Federal District Court. The 140-page document, however, is heavily redacted.

The agreement forbids HTC from making and selling mobile devices that copy what is described as the 'Distinctive Apple User Experience." The 'slide to unlock' feature at the bottom of the screen of some Apple devices, for example, could qualify as a distinctive Apple user experience, while the 'pinch to zoom' functionality does not, and will not be considered a 'cloned feature.' Disputes over cloning are to be referred for arbitration, if company executives fail to arrive at a resolution. HTC may be required to remove the cloned feature in its design within 90 days.

Trade groups agree on steps to cut the pay-TV power bill

The digital video recorders that have proliferated in US homes over the past decade may be a boon to TV viewers, giving them the ability to time-shift programs, record multiple shows at the same time and pause live broadcasts. But they're also gluttons for electricity, consuming almost as much power after they've been turned off as when they're on. They're about to go on a power diet. The Consumer Electronics Assn. and the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. announced an agreement to switch to significantly more energy-efficient set-top boxes, with the first steps starting next month.

Although the agreement is voluntary, 15 top cable, satellite and telephone companies and their set-top box makers that serve more than 90 million U.S. homes have pledged to abide by it. The trade groups projected that the moves could cut consumers' power bills by $1.5 billion annually once the agreement is fully implemented. Most of the savings will come from new set-tops that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star 3.0 standards; those devices consume about 45% less power than conventional models. The agreement calls for 90% of the set-tops purchased and deployed by pay-TV providers after 2013 to meet Energy Star 3.0, but it doesn't compel them to replace the boxes that are already in consumers' homes. As a result, it will take years to achieve much of the savings envisioned by the deal.

Do Democrats Have the edge in Tech Skills?

Many Republicans say that there is a skills gap between the two parties, based on neglect within their own ranks and advances on the Democratic side.

Acceptance, and adapting to overcome the deficit, will be critical to rebuilding the Grand Old Party. It's impossible to deny that President Obama's campaign ran the far superior technological operation. The technophiles who built a start-up-like atmosphere of 40 or so programmers and data crunchers are achieving something approaching a mythical status in postelection media coverage. In the space of less than two years, they created groundbreaking voter-identification tools, turnout models, and a get-out-the-vote system that helped squeeze every last ballot out of the Democratic coalition. Mitt Romney's team and the Republican National Committee, put simply, did not equal those efforts. The early scapegoat after Election Day was something called Project ORCA, a voter-turnout system the Romney campaign planned to use to make sure their voters headed to the polls. That system failed on several fronts. No one beta-tested the product; passwords given to volunteers didn't work; the program crashed on Election Day.

US spends 35 percent more time using apps in 2012, while web usage drops

When it comes to entertainment, watching television is still where those in the U.S. primarily turn on a daily basis: on average, we watch TV for almost three hours per day. But mobile app usage continues to grow at a pace that is coming closer to rivaling television, according to new data released by mobile analytics firm Flurry.

We spend more than two hours a day using apps on our phones or tablets, which suggests that eventually what is now considered the “second screen” is inching closer to overtaking the first screen. Between December 2011 and December 2012, while we watch TV for 168 minutes per day (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics latest stat, which is from 2011), the firm’s own data shows that we spend 127 minutes per day using mobile apps — either playing games, shopping, checking social media feeds, etc. The 127 minutes is a significant step up from the data measured between December 2010 and December 2011, when we were averaging just 94 minutes per day in smartphone or tablet applications. That’s an increase of 35 percent.

How telcos are using big data to set prices and maybe make bills better

Big data can make lives better, but it can also ensure bigger profits. That’s the pitch that Guavus, a real-time data analysis platform is sharing with mobile operators. If they show Guavus the data, the software can help them optimize pricing and capacity spending.

Cable companies ordered to support HD content streaming within homes by 2014

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered cable operators (and TiVo) to update their cable boxes to include support for high definition streaming over home networks to devices like PCs, smart TVs, and tablets. In addition to video streaming, cable boxes must also allow HD video recording on external devices through home networks. By June 2nd 2014 the vast majority of set top boxes will have to support an open standard, although cable companies with fewer than 400,000 subscribers have been given an extra three months to implement the changes.

Sprint-Softbank, T-Mobile-MetroPCS linkups are not 'gamechangers'

Softbank's planned $20.1 billion investment in Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA's intended merger with MetroPCS are "significant transactions," but that does not mean the deals will alter the competitive landscape in the U.S. wireless industry, according to Standard & Poor's Rating Services.

S&P said Sprint's agreement to give up a 70 percent stake in itself in exchange for Softbank's multi-billion-dollar investment resulted from future financing needs rather than efforts to build scale or leverage synergies. Any competitive benefits of the Sprint-Softbank combination, such as cost savings on handsets and network equipment, "would likely take time to emerge, and would likely result from Sprint's greater financial flexibility allowing consistently higher investment in the business," said the firm. The combination of MetroPCS and T-Mobile is being viewed a bit differently in that it is a merger of rivals, and the combined company could benefit from having larger scale, which would give it greater operating efficiency, better equipment pricing and more spectrum to accommodate an LTE upgrade, said S&P.

Frontier questions broadband grants in West Virginia

West Virginia's largest Internet provider is questioning whether the state Broadband Deployment Council should distribute $3.15 million in grants to make broadband service available to an estimated 2,600 homes in rural communities.

The $1,200-per-household cost is about $500 more than what a federal grant program spends to subsidize broadband expansion in rural areas. One Pocahontas County broadband project recommended for state funding would cost about $10,000 per household. "Clearly West Virginia taxpayers have an interest in the prudent use of their funds," said Frontier Communications executive Dana Waldo, who also serves on the Broadband Council. "Cost should be a concern." Waldo also predicts the grants could discourage private investment. Telecommunication firms might choose not to expand broadband service on their own, if they believe the government plans to subsidize competitors, he said. "State code cautions that the council should respect market forces and avoid duplicating or displacing existing service or getting involved in projects where companies will serve the market in the reasonably near future," said Waldo, senior vice president and general manager of Frontier's West Virginia operations. But council member Lee Fisher, a Braxton County farmer, said Frontier's objections shouldn't stop the board from handing out grants to the company's competitors next week.

Benton

Search