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Foxconn has confirmed the sale of numerous communications technology patents to Google, although figures were not disclosed.

The major Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for building the most popular devices in the world, including the iPhone, iPad and Sony PlayStation consoles. Less known about Hon Hai (the parent of Foxconn), is its significant patent portfolio, which is now above 64,000.

Google, another one of the world's largest patent holders, is always in the market to bolster their portfolio, especially from ongoing legislation from other giants like Microsoft and Apple. The search giant purchased head-mounted display patents from Foxconn last year, and has a good business relationship.

As part of their press release, Foxconn says it will continue to invest in R&D and "transforming such investments into valuable intellectual property assets."

The FCC has come under fire this past week with the emergence of proposals to allow Internet Service Providers to charge fees for access to 'fast lanes' on their networks.

It was as recent as December 2010 when the FCC put forth its proposals to preserve the free and open Internet by way of regulation that would, undoubtedly, nip any such two-speed system in the bud. U.S. service providers would like to be able to charge bandwidth-hungry services like Netflix to provide them with prioritized access to their network's users, and it seems that until now the FCC has been completely opposed to such access fees.

The FCC's Open Internet Order, dated December 23, 2010, spells out three basic rules which were Transparency, No blocking, and No unreasonable discrimination.

"Fixed broadband providers may not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic," it reads.

The key word may be "unreasonably", but later on in the same document, the FCC makes clear its disagreement with the main arguments in favor of paid prioritization (e.g. that third party paid prioritization would aid network investment, while regulating against it would hurt investment) and states that, "it is unlikely that pay for priority would satisfy the 'no unreasonable discrimination' standard."

Netflix appears to be hiring an engineer to help the company at least begin testing using a massive scale peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture for streaming video.

The senior software engineer would be working on Netflix's Open Connect content delivery network and helping to explore the P2P route.

Reads the job posting: "Netflix seeks a seasoned Senior Software Engineer with a special focus in peer-to-peer networks. Duties include: Research and architecture of large-scale peer-to-peer network technology as applicable to Netflix streaming. Liaise with internal client and toolkit teams to integrate P2P as an additional delivery mechanism. Design and develop tools for the operation of peer-to-peer enabled clients in a production environment. The successful applicant is required to have 'At least five years of relevant experience with development and testing of large-scale peer-to-peer systems.' Preferred qualifications include 'Knowledge of and proven experience with P2P, CDN/HTTP cache/proxy technology.'

The streaming video service Hulu has begun blocking users accessing the site through VPNs in an effort to block international users from seeing videos available only in the U.S.

As of this weekend, VPN users, including Americans trying to access the Web legitimately, will receive an error message.

The message reads: "Based on your IP-address, we noticed that you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you're in the U.S. you'll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu,"

Hulu's updated blocklist covers a huge range IPs from of all major VPN providers.

While such a move makes sense for Hulu and other streaming companies that do not want give unlicensed access to domestic shows, American users have rightful complaints as many are using the VPN to browse more securely, and not to see unauthorized content.

Apple has launched a new replacement program for users that have an iPhone 5 with a faulty sleep/wake button.

Says the company: "Apple today launched a program to replace the sleep/wake button on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models where the button may stop working or work intermittently. Apple will offer the service free of charge to iPhone 5 customers with models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number."

In addition, Apple revealed a new Web site with details on how to get your device fixed, if you are one of the few unlucky ones.

Apple noted that this is free even if the phone is out of warranty.

Source:
The Loop

Another key executive has left the struggling Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC.

Scott Croyle, the company's head of design for the One smartphone line, will be leaving to build his own projects. HTC says the move will be a "long-term transition" where the exec will still stay involved with product design over the coming months.

"HTC remains at the forefront of smartphone innovation. Scott Croyle will be focusing on special projects and dedicated on next generation developments," adds the company.

The day to day responsibilities will likely fall to lieutenant Jonah Becker and the company also promoted Drew Bamford to head of HTC software and services. The executive was previously head of the Sense user experience.

"Drew Bamford is an experienced and talented leader at HTC with solid track records in leading and building our user experience team. Effective immediately, in addition to his current duties in product development and user experience, Drew will lead HTC Creative Labs and focus on innovative new products and user experience strategies," read an emailed statement from HTC.

Tech giants Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe have settled and will pay $324 million over accusations that the companies conspired to keep wages/salaries down in Silicon Valley.

Had the companies not settled, a trial would have begun next month and damages could have potentially been higher.

The class action lawsuit was filed in 2011 by tech employees who accused the companies of conspiring to "refrain from soliciting one another's employees" in order to keep salaries down and avoid bidding wars that would have raised wages.

In the suit, the plaintiffs were seeking $3 billion in damages, and that figure could have ballooned to $9 billion if it was determined that the group violated antitrust law.

The case was based mainly on emails from Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and others that revealed the companies would not court employees from rivals. One such example showed that a Google recruiter tried to solicit an Apple employee and former Google CEO Schmidt told Jobs the recruiter would then be fired. Many of the emails were even worse.

In 2008, WREAL LLC created a porn streaming set-top box called the FyreTV, along with a dedicated website at FyreTV.com.

This week, the company has sued Amazon for five counts of alleged trademark infringement, following the release of the new Fire TV set-top media streamer. The company claims the trademarks were registered six years before Amazon unveiled their new hardware.

Almost comically, the company's court documents claim that "Amazon's continued use of the "Fire TV" moniker has caused, and will continue to cause, serious irreparable harm to Wreal's established business, necessitating this action."

In their complaint, WREAL claims both products are identical (for the most part) and that the "FireTV is nothing more than a proprietary STB that performs a substantially similar, if not identical, function to the proprietary STB marketed under the FyreTV trademark."

Currently, FireTV.com redirects to FyreTV.com, so there are likely some consumers who have been unwittingly led to a porn-based site when looking for more information about Amazon's set-top. The market for the original FyreTV is likely non-existent, and the hype from Amazon may have possibly even helped bring awareness to the porn box.

Unlucky owners of Samsung's shiny new Galaxy S5 have reported a major problem with the device, which renders the 16 megapixel camera disabled.

As usual, the first reports of the flaw emerged on Internet forums and social media and all seem to be the same story, including a message being displayed on the device reading: "Warning: Camera Failed." After receiving the error, the Galaxy S5 camera is disabled permanently. DIY solutions, such as flashing new software, have failed to fix the problem.

Owners have been taking their phones back to stores and have, in cases, received replacement devices to rectify the problem.

"Samsung is committed to providing the best experience for customers. We have learned that a limited number of Galaxy S 5 devices may have an issue that causes 'Camera Failure' pop-up error message. We ask that customers affected call 1-888-987-4357 or visit their carrier for service under Samsung's standard limited warranty," Samsung said in a statement obtained by Droid-Life.

Verizon Wireless has acknowledged the issue and urged affected customers to get in touch.

Facebook has acquired the popular Moves fitness app for iOS and Android, according to developer ProtoGeo Oy.

Moves tracks your physical activity throughout the day, telling you how many steps you have taken, how many minutes you cycled for and how far you ran, and so forth. It is intended to offer a clean activity diary, and has been downloaded over four million time.

"We're joining Facebook's talented team to work on building and improving their products and services with a shared mission of supporting simple, efficient tools for more than a billion people," a blog post on the Moves app website reads.

It promises users that the Moves experience will not be changed and will continue to operate as a stand-along app.

As of now, there are no plans to change that stance of commingle data with Facebook.

Satya Nadella welcomes the Nokia Devices and Services business to the Microsoft family as the multi-billion deal announced in September 2013 is completed.

Nokia shareholders had previously given the nod of approval to the deal, and regulatory bodies around the world also signed off on it. Stephen Elop, who served as President and CEO of Nokia, is the executive vice president of Microsoft Devices Group, overseeing an expanded devices business that includes Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products, and accessories.

"Today we welcome the Nokia Devices and Services business to our family. The mobile capabilities and assets they bring will advance our transformation," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

"Together with our partners, we remain focused on delivering innovation more rapidly in our mobile-first, cloud-first world."

As announced previously, Microsoft will not acquire the factory in Masan, South Korea, and the factory in Chennai, India, will stay with Nokia due to the tax liens on Nokia's assets in India that prevent transfer.

Microsoft will continue to provide support for feature phones, the Asha family, and the Nokia X family of devices, announced at the Mobile World Congress in February.

According to a report, Amazon will pay $300 million over three years to stream several of HBO's older, successful shows.

Amazon and HBO announced a deal that will bring some of HBO's catalog of shows to Amazon's Prime service from May 21 this year, marking the first time the premium cable channel has licensed its programming to a third party.

Included in the deal are past hits like "The Sopranos," "The Wire" and the first seasons of current hits like "True Blood." For Game of Thrones however, that will still be limited to HBO Go.

According to a report from Re/code, the deal will cost Amazon $300 million over a three year period, which is well within Amazon's reach having generated sales of $75 billion last year.

Amazon is reportedly spending at least $1 billion per year to build up its streaming choices for customers, as it battles for a larger share of the space.


Sources and Recommended Reading:
HBO's Amazon Haul Is Big -- But Not as Big as You Might Think: www.recode.net

Google has given a refund to Android users after a paid Anti-Virus app in the Google Play store was shown to do nothing.

Virus Shield claimed to offer one-click virus protection for Android users, promising to prevent the installation of malicious or risky apps on a device. It climbed up the downloads chart with over 10,000 downloads.

However, when Android Police decompiled the app and had a look at what it does, it turned out to be completely useless. For $3.99, the app only switched to a new icon when it was activated, and did nothing else.

"We're reaching out to you because you recently purchased the 'Virus Shield' app on Google Play," Google wrote to buyers of the dud app, via e-mail.

"This app made the false claim that it provided one-click virus protection; in reality, it did not. Google Play's policies strictly prohibit false claims like these, and in light of this, we're refunding you for your 'Virus Shield' purchase. You should see funds returned to your account within the next 14 days."

In addition, Google will give affected customers $5 credit to be used in the Google Play store.


Sources and Recommended Reading:
Google refunding buyers of fake anti-virus app: www.bbc.com/news/
Virus shield is 'a total scam': www.androidpolice.com

Earlier today, consumers got a rush when it appeared that Google Glass headsets were available to the public, without need for an invite.

The page remained up allowing for would-be owners to purchase the glasses without signing up for the Explorer program, at the standard Explorer price of $1500.

Unfortunately, later in the day Google apologized for the mistake, saying they just neglected to pull down the URL from the April 15th one-day sale. The site should be down soon, they added, and anyone who ordered will most likely not get a device as the search giant noted that any customer not already "in the pipeline" will not receive a unit.

Google has not set a release date for the device, which has received rave reviews from techies but criticism from the media.

If you want to get notice of when the devices will really be available to all, check here.

Source:
Engadget

Earlier this week, Google made their smart thermostat Nest available for sale via the hardware Play Store.

The learning thermostat is selling for $250 and will ship within 2 business days, according to the page.

Nest's Learning Thermostat "programs itself and automatically helps save energy when you're away. And you can control it from anywhere using your smartphone." It does so by creating a personalized schedule based on the temperature adjustments you make and continually adapts to your changing life. The whole process takes just a week.

The device features a 320x320 LCD display.

Google acquired Nest Labs in January for over $3 billion.

Check the device here: Nest Learning Thermostat at Google Play Store