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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Kindles this Week?

September 4, 2012 by

It is sounding like Intel is finally landing a major, known customer for its microprocessors targeted at the smartphone space. It is being reported that Motorola Mobility and Intel will be making a joint announcement on Sept. 18.

Actually it had already been announced that they were working together but now we finally get to see the fruits of their joint labor. According to PhoneArena the companies are now starting to send out invites for the event.

Amazon to dump Google Maps
It looks like competition in the tablet business has lost Google another customer for its popular maps program. Apple has already shown that it will not be including Google Maps as a standard feature in its next generation iOS and now Amazon is following its example.

According to a report in Rueters Amazon will instead be using technology from Nokia Oyj as the mapping technology of choice in its next generation Kindle Fore, a device that could be available as early as the end of this week.

Sony launches upgraded tablet
Missed amid preparations for Labor Day last week was news that Sony upgraded its tablets and has rebranded them under the Experia name, the same as it uses for its smartphones. The company also recently showed a trio of Experia smartphones including the Experia T with a 4.6-inch display.

Delays on iPhone 5 due to lack of screens?
http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/08/31/sharp.experiencing.production.glitches.with.in.cell.display.tech/
The Wall Street Journal via Electronista is reporting that Sharp, one of three display manufacturers tapped to provide displays for Apple’s next generation iPhone has been experiencing manufacturing issues.

This is not the first time that Sharp has had issues deploying next-generation technology, and it has hurt the company at its bottom line as its recent $1.2 billion loss testifies to. The lack of these displays could lead to a constrained supply of the phone when it is released.

Apple and Samsung agree on something
Apple and Samsung have agreed that any payment or bond that Samsung may need to make can be put off for at least a few months according to Foss Patents. It seems that since Apple buys significantly more than the amount of the fine from Samsung on a regular basis it sees no reason to burden its partners.

The author speculated that the issue also was influenced by the fact that with cases pending against each other in 10 countries it makes sense to waive posting bonds rather than being forced to do so in a variety of jurisdictions.

While the two are agreeing on some things at the same time Apple is seeking to add both the popular Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Galaxy Note to the list of eight other devices that it is seeking to have banned from import and sale in the United States.

Apple and Google in Patent talks
In some of the least secret talks in recent years, if true, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Google’s CEO Larry Page are having talks about how to settle the patent disputes that have been an ongoing bone of contention between the two companies, and in Google’s place the licensees of its Android operating system.

While neither side is admitting to the talks it has been reported by multiple sources that they talked via phone last week and have additional talks scheduled. It has been viewed that Samsung, Motorola Mobility and HTC, all of whom are fighting Apple in a variety of courts around the globe are simply serving as Google’s proxies in the battle.

Amazon to double its fun with two new Kindle Fire tablets
There have been reports for weeks that Amazon planned to beat Apple to the punch by delivering a next generation Kindle Fore prior to Apple’s expected release of a 7-inch iPad, commonly called the iPad Mini. Now reports are emerging that Amazon will release two new Kindles, and possibly by Friday this week.

Cnet is saying that the company will have a pair of 7-inch Kindles available on Sept 6th, and that contrary to some earlier reports Amazon will not be going with a 10-inch model to take on Apple and others in the larger screen format space.

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Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, HTC, Intel, iOS, Lawsuit, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Sony, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Replacement Refs Make the Cut, Apple/Motorola Bury the Ax, Sort of

August 31, 2012 by

ESPN pays out $5.6 billion for MLB broadcast rights
ESPN will remain the broadcaster of choice for Major League Baseball for Sunday, Monday and Wednesday night baseball as the broadcast giant has inked a new deal with the league for $5.6 bn according to the Sports Business Journal.

The eight year deal will work out to be approximately $700 million per annum, more than double the current deal. Other broadcast rights are still in the process of being bid and baseball may have many windfall years ahead. I wonder what this will do to the luxury tax in the league, although I am sure that it is already covered in the CBA.

Microsoft offers SkyDrive for Android
Although it sounds vaguely like the plot for Terminator 4, it is simply Microsoft offering its SkyDrive cloud storage service as an app for Android users and they can go over to the Google Play store and pick it up. While it can run on early versions of the Android operating system it is optimized for version 4.0.

Apple’s win a loss for standard-essential patents?
While I write a good deal about patent issues due to the seemingly constant state of litigation that is ongoing in the mobile and handheld space, I am far from an expert on the topic, and do not pretend to be so. An interesting look at some of the after affects from Apple’s win over Microsoft can be found at this piece from Reuters.

An interesting conclusion I gain from the piece is that the host of patents that Google gained in the Motorola purchase may not have quite the value that the company believed that it would have, and that could make the deal a lot less valuable than previously believed.

ESPN’s top college football markets
Ever wonder why a game is on and how well it did in terms of viewership? Well ESPN did not release all of its market data but it has provided a look at the top 25 markets, but from last year and going back 12 years.

There is a lot of interesting data in there, mined quite well to show you the shifting interest in teams , regions and leagues. The only two areas that stayed in the top 5 over the entire span were Birmingham and Columbus, Ohio.

Motorola and Apple bury the ax in Ge

rmany
Peace at last? That is probably too much to ask but at least one bone of contention between the two has been buried as Motorola Mobility and Apple have agreed on a FRAND licenses in Germany. An earlier attempt had failed when Motorola asked for 2.25% revenue rate.

Apple called the deal “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” and will call for Apple to pay Motorola an unspecified sum for all previous use of Motorola technology, Foss Patents reports. It also said that the deal is probably a result of the ruling in the Apple/Samsung case.

Images of next generation Sony tablet leaked
As the release date for Windows 8 nears more news about the hardware developers plans appear to be leaking out, intentionally or unintentionally. Sony is the latest with a very interesting looking tablet called the VAIO Duo 11.

Sony’s efforts in the tablet space have been met with less than open arms but the image shows a tablet that has a built-in, fold out keyboard in a sharp looking industrial design. The tablet appears to be running Microsoft Office, meaning that it uses an Intel or AMD processor.

NFL Replacement Refs to start season
Well one group made it through the pre-season without getting the chop and that is the NFL’s replacement reps. Not happy with this since I am pretty sure I saw a couple of 17 yard penalties marched off last week.

I suspect that no matter how well they actually do, fans for half of the teams will be blaming the refs on everything from their teams’ loss to costing them in the points category in their Fantasy Football league. I wonder how long this will go on or will the NFL change its mind in less than a week?

Samsung shows five pending Windows 8 phones
Samsung took the floor at the IAF trade show in Berlin and backed the truck up with a wide range of new and future devices including the Galaxy Note II, hybrid PCs and a new high end camera. It also previewed five smartphones that will be using Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

The devices, with info on them here from Gizmag, will all carry the brand name ATIV as the company appears ready to use that moniker to cover aa wide range of next generation devices including PCs and phones. The official launch of Windows 8 is in late October and expect to see more details from all of the players adopting Microsoft’s Windows 8 for a variety of products.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, ESPN, Google, Intel, Microsoft, NFL, Samsung Tagged With: , , , ,

Intel Extreme Masters Video Game Tournament Crowns New Champions

August 20, 2012 by

Cebit 2012

There was a championship tournament, the Intel Extreme Masters, which I would have loved to have participated in, ten years ago. Unfamiliar with the IEM? So was I until I stumbled upon a report about the video game tournament held in Cologne, Germany.

I have been aware of video gaming tournaments for some time, commonly called eSports, but have not really given them much thought until I saw that the IEM was expected to draw 250,000 fans for the weekend event, and those numbers are closely matched by other tournaments. Prize money can run into six figures.

Almost as surprising to me w

as the fact that the IEM has just completed its sixth season. For this season the overall prize money was $643,000. I certainly do not recall Intel mentioning the event at the many Intel affairs I have attended. I could have been a contender! Well, probably not but you can always dream

The IEM is part of the Electronic Sports League (ESL) and is just one of many events that ESL hosts. It has three different types of leagues within the Electronic Sports League: Advanced Ladder, ESL Amateur Series (EAS) and the ESL Pro Series (EPS). Teams can advance via winning matches against rivals.

There are three regions with leagues; the Americas, Europe and Africa, Asia and Oceania. They play in Global Challenges and the top teams and players will be invited to the World Championships. There will be 12 League of Legends teams and 24 StarCraft II players. At the currently completed championships Counter-Strike was also a main title but it is not listed, yet, for the seventh season.

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Filed Under: Electronics Sports League, Intel, Intel Extreme Masters Tagged With: , ,

Lenovo Unveils its Windows 8 Tablet Early

August 9, 2012 by

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2

I guess it is never too early to get a jump on your competitors and with that in mind Lenovo has unveiled the specifications and look of its new ThinkPad Tablet 2 that will be running Windows 8 from Microsoft.

The tablet, which will not be available until late October when Microsoft officially makes the new operating system available to the public, is one of the first to be shown prior to the event, but we expect a number of others to show off their wares prior to the October 26 launch.

It is powered by an Atom processor from Intel code-named Clover Trail, and will run the Windows 8 Pro version of the operating system. Both are major changes from last year when Lenovo debut its first generation ThinkPad Tablet that ran on an ARM processor and used Google’s Android operating system.

The tablet is expected to weigh in at 1.3 pounds and will be available in either a 3G or 4LTE version. It will include a 10.1-inch display that has 1366 x 768 display, a front facing 2MP camera and a 8MP rear facing camera and is expected to have a 10 hour battery life. A few nifty options will also be available including a keyboard, dock and a digitizer that enables pen input. Pricing has not been released

Lenovo has previously said that it will target businesses as much or more than it will consumers with its tablets, which is the reason for going with both the Intel processor and the Windows OS. This will enable backward compatibility with existing x86 apps and documents, something that the ARM/Android combination does not.

There is a host of developers that will be releasing products into this space in the upcoming weeks, from Microsoft itself with its Surface tablet to Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer, among others. On the non-Windows front there is also a new Kindle expected soon as well as a refresh in Apple’s iPad family, so the options for a user looking for a new tablet continue to improve with more choices.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: X Games Coming, Soccer Corruption in China, Bike Lojack

June 22, 2012 by

ESPN’s annual summer X Games will begin next week on June 28 and run until July 1. Fans and athletes will descend on Los Angles for the events that will start with the X Fest that runs from noon until 7 pm on the opening day.

ESPN will be spreading the 21 hours of live broadcasting, both on-air and online, between a number of its properties: ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC will have the on-air duties with HD handled by ESPN 3D. For online, the games will also be digitally streamed on XGames.com and WatchESPN.com.

Intel buys InterDigital patent portfolio
Intel has reached an agreement to purchase approximately 1,700 patents and applications from wireless technology developer InterDigital for $375 million. The patents primarily are in the areas of 3G, LTE and 802.11 technologies.

Intel said that the move will be a benefit to its development efforts in the mobile segment, and the unspoken part of the deal is that it will no doubt provide ammunition in the ongoing legal spats over patents that are common in the mobile space as well.

Vungle creates App Fund for developers
Vungle, a startup that seeks to provide a variety of advertising and promotional avenues aside from the traditional pop-up ads has moved to draw more players to its platform. In a very interesting turn the company, which just closed a $2 million venture round last month will use half of that money and create a fund for other developers.

The purpose of the move, according to TechCrunch, is to lure developers to its platform and so gain a boost for its approach to alternative advertising for mobile apps. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Corruption in Chinese soccer — who knew?
The New Yorker, where I often go for my sporting news, had an interesting piece on corruption in the world of Chinese soccer. League executives, players and refs have all been hauled away and imprisoned due to an apparent widespread match fixing epidemic.

It seems that it has been ongoing for several years and that one top referee received $128,000 to fix seven matches. The country, which is seeking to win the rights to host the World Cup in the future, is cracking down to show that it will not tolerate this type of blatant corruption. What impact that will have on FIFA I am not sure.

Apple and Motorola get chance to push claims
The Apple vs Motorola litigants had the opportunity to speak their piece to US Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner. Apple apparently does not want Motorola to pay royalties but wants it to change its design and also claims that since Motorola’s patent is never used it has no value. Motorola obviously does not agree with either position.

Oracle taking Google lawsuit to next level
Oracle has agreed to accept zero damages for the copyright infringement claims that it ‘won’ in its case versus Google over Java technology. Oracle had been seeking big money in the case, claiming that it suffered up to $6 billion in loses.

However this is not the end of the affair. Oracle has said it will appeal its claims in the case once again, including both the patent infringement and whether its APIs can be copyrighted, to the Ninth Circuit appeals court.

Amazon App Store goes International
I have to say that I was surprised when I read that Amazon had not really extended its App Store to other countries and that it was primarily focused on the US market, a short sighted deal since one of its top developers of Android running devices Samsung is so strong internationally.

But anyway that looks to be a thing of the past as the company has now started opening it up and now developers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain can release games and apps designed specifically for those markets and the company has promised that more nations will be opened up to the joys of apps in the near futire, according to Cnet.

Ever had your bike stolen? SpyBike GPS could track the next one
SpyBike is a product developed by Integrated Trackers that is designed to look like a normal headset cap. It is designed to be activated when the bike is locked and you use a simply arming key and if the bike is moved it starts sending out data via a GPRS message and uses GPS to locate the bike. If GPS fails it has a fall back technology to help locate it.

The device does not come cheap, at $153 as well as a per message charge. The company said that it costs a fraction of a penny per message, but that varies by country. It features a rechargeable battery that can hold a charge of months.

Microsoft is on a roll, but is it a good one?
PC Mag is reporting that the company only gave some of its top OEMs a few days notice prior to announcing its Surface tablet platform earlier this week. As a number of them have made a major investment in developing for the underlying operating system, Windows 8, this seems a bit shortsighted.

Then later in the week it talks about its Windows 8 for smartphones and reveals that customers that buy the current family of smartphones will not be supported by Windows 8. I am sure that cheers up Nokia which has made a major investment in promoting Windows Phone technology.

Filed Under: ABC, Amazon, Android, Apps, Dell, ESPN, ESPN3, FIFA, Intel, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, Smartphone, Soccer, Surface, WatchESPN, Windows 8, X Games Tagged With: , , , ,

Apple Details New iOS 6: Releases Mountain Lion and New Notebooks

June 11, 2012 by

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference began this week in San Francisco, and a good example of the excitement it generates among the faithful is the fact that the 5,000 tickets that went on sale for $1,599 sold out in less than two hours, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reports are that some are now being scalped in front of the Moscone Center.

The joy of this event to me is that we get to see how the rumors about the event match up with the actual announcements. New operating systems, iPads, iPhones, new TV and more have all been promised by a variety of outlets, now we get to see what is true.

The company introduced two different OS at the show starting with the next generation iOS, iOS 6.0 with 200 new features including new map app, shared photo streams and very tight Facebook integration. Expect this in the late fall.

Also the latest Mac operating system, code-named Mountain Lion, which will be available next month for $19.99. Interesting notes from the keynote include Apple working with some big name auto manufacturers to incorporate Siri into their entertainment systems. Expect to see results from this in a year or so and brands include BMW, GM and Jaguar. Siri will also now be able to launch apps.

Lots of upgraded or new hardware on the PC side including an 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.7 GHz processor starting at $1,099; a 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8 GHz processor starting at $1199, and 256GB of flash storage starting at $1,499.

Also some new MacBook Pro models including a 13-inch with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor starting at $1,499, a 15-inch MacBook Pro with either a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor starting at $1,799; or with a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor starting at $2,199. The 15-inch displays will feature high resolution Retina technology.

Some stats from the show
iMessage has 140 million users
Apple users send 1 billion messages daily
650,000 Apps of which 225,000 for iPad
Asia Pacific soon to be largest revenue geography for company

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Facebook, Google, Intel, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,
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