Latest news

Court decides not to impose immediate sales ban in the Netherlands.

Apple targeted Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Netherlands, hoping to get an injunction against its import and sale placed on the South Korean electronics giant. Samsung will go to court in Germany on August 25 in an attempt to get an injunction overturned there.

Apple accused Samsung of slavishly cloning the iPad with its Galaxy Tab 10.1, and its iPhone models with the line of Galaxy smartphones. It filed legal actions against Samsung in the United States, Australia, Europe and South Korea.

It specifically targeted the Netherlands because Samsung's European distribution center is located there. A court at The Hague declined to impose an immediate sales ban and will reach a decision by September 15. If it sided with Apple, it would mean an injunction would come into effect on October 13.

Samsung has complained that Apple's model registrations, which are a central part of its evidence against Samsung, are far too general. It points out, for example, that a lot of products which pre-date the iPad, featured a similar design, such as its own SPF107H 10-inch Digital Photo Frame.

Announces partnership with SCEE to sell digital titles in stores in the UK and across Europe.

Europe's leading PC and video game retailer, GAME, announced a partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to sell a range of digital games in its stores. Initially, a range of digital titles will be available in 42 GAME and gamestation stores in the UK, expanding to 620 with over 50 titles by the middle of next month.

The range will include full game downloads, game add-ons, and subscriptions to the PlayStation Network (PSN). The partnership with SCEE means that GAME will become Europe’s biggest retailer of digital games, with the widest range of digital titles in the largest number of stores.

It follows the announcement in July 2011 that GAME had extended its range of digital pc titles to 1,200 stores across Europe.

"This is a significant step forward in our digital strategy. For the first time, gamers will be able to browse a wide range of digital titles for the PlayStation Network in our stores, alongside a variety of other digital and physical products," said Ian Shepherd, GAME Group CEO.

"This is important because it offers customers more choice, more advice and more control than they can get online. Our partnership with SCEE means that we can offer customers an unbeatable range and great value across all the gaming channels."

id Software's John Carmack puts PlayStation 3 (PS3) in second place.

For game developers, having a console with plenty of computational power and with high data capacity available per title is certainly an advantage. For id's John Carmack though, these selling points don't seem to be as important as the development tools available for the platform.

Carmack gave a speech at Quake Con earlier this month, in which he seemed to be leaning away from the PS3 console and toward its main rival, Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. RipTen's Dave Oshry got a chance to talk to Carmack sometime later about the industry, and he decided to ask him about his preferred console.

“Well, it's the second best console ever made," Carmack responded when asked what he really thinks about the PS3 console. When asked the obvious follow-up question of which console he thought was the best, he replied, "The 360."

He admitted that there are parts of the upcoming RAGE title where the PS3 has had an easier time due to the extra computational power under the hood, compared to the Xbox 360, but Carmack said it is not so much about the difference in hardware, it's more the dev tools that push him toward the Microsoft console.

Interpublic Group has sold out part of their small stake in the social networking giant, valuing the company at $65 billion.

The ad company bought a 0.5 percent stake in 2006, when Facebook was a toddler, and the company has sold half of that today for $133 million.

Because they bought in so early, the company says it expects a "pre-tax gain of $132 million" on the transaction.

Says Interpublic:

Interpublic formed a strategic relationship with Facebook in 2006 that allowed us to fast-track the growth of our social media offerings on behalf of clients.

Facebook has since become a part of daily life for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Its ubiquity has meant the strategic value of our initial investment has moderated, while the financial value of that stake appreciated significantly. As a result, when an attractive opportunity to divest a portion of our position recently presented itself, we decided that it made sense to do so.

Today, we've agreed to sell half of our stake for approximately $130 million. Simultaneously, our board has authorized an increase in our share repurchase program by $150 million. We see this as an opportunity to further enhance shareholder value, and reflects our confidence in the long-term prospects for our company.

Apple has allowed the Cinemax "Max Go" app into the iOS app store this week.

Making that news notable is the fact that the app allows for streaming of Cinemax's more "adult" TV shows, the after-hours "Skinemax" programming.

Apple normally does not allow any adult programming in the app store, and the app even has a warning on the open that there are "frequent/intense sexual content or nudity" not suitable for those under 17.

The adult content is in the "Max After Dark" tab of the app.

Critics of Apple claim the company gives preferential treatment to larger companies in terms of app submission, even with apps that clearly "bend" the rules like the Max Go app.

TabCo is Fusion Garage.

Fusion Garage created the unsuccessful "joojoo" tablet in 2009 which the CEO admits could not live up to the hype surrounding it. Company will send all joojoo owners the new tablet, for free.

The company is calling their 10 inch tablet the Grid10, because it uses the new "Grid" OS. Grid is built from scratch on top of the Android kernel.

FG says the device will ship with Tegra 2 processor, 1366x768 resolution, Grid 1.0.

Grid Desktop is syncing program and brings all content directly to the Grid10. Coolest feature shown off is the Grid homepage, which is one full page, not separate home pages for "Clusters" of apps (social, music, movies, business) etc.

GridStore and Amazon Android store for apps, native email, gallery and more with split-screen capability in the browser. All of it looks very sleek, including movie playback.

Priced at $500 for Wi-Fi only, with September 15th release date. $100 more if you want 3G.

According to analyst Tim Bajarin, Amazon's mysterious upcoming tablet will likely sell for under cost, but still be wildly profitable over its lifespan.

Bajarian says talks with component makers have the Amazon tablet with an estimated cost of $300. The e-tailer will then likely sell the tablet for just $250, undercutting all other tablets on the market and selling under cost.

Despite taking a $50 loss per unit on the initial sale, Amazon will make up the difference in videos, songs, cloud storage and books sold, with Bajarian saying the company will "reap a profit of anywhere from 10 to 30 percent on the tablet over the last 18 months of the device's accounting period."

The analyst goes further and says, "when measuring by units shipped, this method could make Amazon the king of Android tablets very quickly. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it could 'own' the Android tablet market."

If rumors prove true, Amazon will release a dual-core 7-inch tablet and a quad-core 10-inch tablet sometime later this year.

AT&T has hired investment bankers to advise it on the sale of spectrum and possibly customers, assets that could be worth $8 billion.

The dump of assets will be one of many concessions expected of the company in its effort to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion.

AT&T gave a standard response (via Cnet):

As we said on the day we announced the merger with T-Mobile USA, we anticipate there will be some divestitures, as we have had in past mergers, but any speculation about the amount of divestitures is premature.

Regional carriers, like US Cellualr and MetroPCS will eagerly buy up spectrum if it becomes available, as will behemoth Verizon.

Last week, a partially-redacted document accidentally posted by a law firm under contract for AT&T leaked online, via the FCC website revealing that what AT&T has been saying about job gains and network investment with the T-Mobile deal are just untrue. Read that here: Leaked AT&T letter puts damper on potential T-Mobile acquisition

Weeks after pictures and video of the unauthorized Apple store in China (including fake Geniuses) made international headlines, the fake store has changed its name to "Smart Store," to avoid any issues with Apple China.

Authorities in the city of Kunming revealed last week that they had found 22 more Apple stores that have not been licensed by the company. Each of the stores have been ordered to stop using the Apple logo anywhere in their stores, and Apple China has accused the stores of unfair competition and trademark infringement.

The re-branded "Smart Store" was facing a shut down if it did not remove Apple trademarks by August 10th, and other stores are facing similar deadlines.

Most likely, each of those stores will change their name and remove the Apple logo from their stores, then continue with business as usual.

Last month, a blogger living abroad revealed the pictures and video of the store, which was so elaborate that the workers even believed they were working for the 'real deal.'

Following a furious ad campaign (below), the question remains, Who is TabCo?

We will answer that question when the tablet is launched in 2 hours.

Tabco is Fusion Garage. Check it here: Fusion Garage unveils Grid10

Ex-Oasis fading star crying heart out again over violent video games.

The world watched as parts of British society tore their own cities apart in three days of senseless rioting and looting. Ever since, there has been an ongoing debate about why these regrettable events took place in the UK, and why many of the rioters were clearly very young.

The media has asked politicians, community organizers, psychologists, ex-gang members and even the rioters themselves for their opinion on the disturbances. Of course, who didn't think that eventually video games would be blamed?

Enter Noel Gallagher, the ex-Oasis star currently pursuing a solo career. We wrote about Noel's opinion on Britain's knife crime over three years ago. "People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it," he said in June 2008.

"If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they come so desensitised to crime because they're playing these videogames, it's really, really scary."

Three years later and Noel is pointing his finger of blame at video games once again, this time as part of the cause for rioting in the UK that claimed several lives, destroyed homes and diminished livelihoods in an already jittery economic climate.

Search giant agrees to buy Android partner for $40 a share.

Google Inc. and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. announced this morning that Google will acquire its Android partner in a deal worth $12.5 billion. The board and directors of both firms unanimously approved the deal, which will see Google paying $40 a share, a 63% premium over the closing price of Motorola Mobility on Friday, August 12.

Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of the Android operating system, and Google has said that the OS will remain open. It will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business. The deal is subject to shareholder approval, and will require some regulatory approval in the United States, the European Union and elsewhere.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, or possibly early 2012.

Larry Page, Chief Executive Officer, Google Inc.
"Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."

EA puts tremendous amount of faith in "Star Wars: The Old Republic."

EA has invested more than $100 million in the development of the online Star Wars title, which it hopes will gain similar success to World of Warcraft. Activision Blizzard's mega-popular online game boasts more than 12 million subscribers.

"We think it should be a very attractive season for Electronic Arts as we have quite a few blockbusters in the pipeline," said EA's Jens Uwe Intat, head of sales and distribution, Europe. No launch date for Star Wars has yet been announced by the developer.

"We have lots of people who have been subscribing to newsletters and webpages so we are actually feeling very bullish about the game," Intat said, adding that they were still in the process of fine tuning services for the game.

EA also has the launches of Battlefield 3, another Need for Speed iteration and Sims Pet to look forward to. FIFA 12 has also already taken record-breaking pre-orders ahead of its end-of-September launch.

The company has also expanded its avenues of potential revenue online. It is focusing on Facebook games which are free to play, but gain revenue from items sold in-game to enhance the experience. To boost its position in social gaming, EA is turning to its heavyweight franchises, with "The Sims Social" being a perfect example.

Focuses on upcoming 2K Games title, The Darkness II.

The heads of the Christian Police Fellowship have taken aim at violent video games, singling out an upcoming title from 2K games, The Darkness II. Its complaint about the video game is that it will create a distorted perspective of police officers for younger gamers.

The group drafted a letter for politicians and game developers explaining their objections to violent content in many video games. It pushed for lawmakers and publishers to stop the same of games with violent content immediately.

"For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is quoted in the letter, lifted from the Bible.

2K Games responded to the group, telling GameSpot that, "Reported stories regarding police officers in The Darkness II were erroneous. To be clear, there are no police officers in the game."

The Darkness II is due to be released on February 7 next year in the United States.

Man accuses Microsoft of charging him for a two year subscription without consent.

The plaintiff, Ryan Graves, claims that he had left his Xbox Live subscription lapse, leaving old credit card details on his account. Upon updating his details while buying a new subscription, he was charged twice. One charge was for the new subscription as planned, and the second was renewal of the expired subscription.

Graves argues that the two year subscription was against his wishes, and that Microsoft refused to refund him for the extra year subscription it charged.

He filed a lawsuit against Microsoft seeking unspecified damages.

"Plaintiff asserts claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, conversion, and violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), 15 U.S.C. § 1693, et seq., on behalf of himself and similarly situated Xbox LIVE Gold members," the legal complaint reads.