Google cleared for Motorola purchase after receiving Chinese regulatory approval
By Josh Ong
Published: 11:10 PM EST (08:10 PM PST)
Google and Motorola Mobility both revealed on Saturday that they have received Chinese regulatory approval for their proposed merger and expect to soon close on the deal.
After receiving permission in February to move ahead with the merger from the European Commission and U.S. Department of Justice, Google had been waiting for China as the final jurisdiction to sign off on the transaction. Chinese law requires that companies doing sales of more than $63 million domestic or and $1.5 billion globally must seek approve from its Ministry of Commerce.
We are pleased the deal has received approval in all jurisdictions, Motorola Mobility told Bloomberg in a statement that confirmed approval in China. We expect to close imminently.
Google said simply that its stance on the deal “has not changed” and that it is looking forward to completing the acquisition.
According to the report, China’s Ministry of Commerce declared that Google must keep its Android mobile operating system free and open for the next five years as a condition of the approval.
Google announced last August that it had agreed to buy Motorola for $12.5 billion in a move that would “supercharge the Android ecosystem” while allowing Motorola to continue to run as a separate business. Google CEO Larry Page also revealed that the acquisition was meant to “better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.”
Along with Motorola’s cache of over 17,000 patents, Google will also pick up Motorola’s legal disputes. As such, Google will face off against Apple once the deal is completed. Apple and Motorola are currently engaged in a complicated patent battle across multiple countries. Most recently, Apple succeeded in having a case against Motorola and HTC consolidated.
Apple again files for U.S. Galaxy Tab injunction after winning appeal
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 03:25 AM EST (12:25 AM PST)
Following a recently won appeal from the federal court, Apple on Friday filed a motion for injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 which could see the tablet pulled from U.S. shelves as soon as early June.
The motion filed late Friday was based on a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that found Apple’s iPad-related design patent was likely valid, overturning previous findings from a California court which originally barred the Cupertino-based company from seeking a preliminary injunction against the Samsung tablet, reports FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller.
Mueller notes that Apple’s second injunction attempt is likely to succeed given that at least one circuit court judge feels such relief is justified and went as far as to issue a dissenting opinion, saying that merely vacating the California ruling was not enough.
“Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley argued that the CAFC should have reversed the decision in order to provided Apple with immediate injunctive relief in light of the irreparable harm it is suffering,” Mueller writes. “But the majority of the judges saw ‘no reason to believe that there will necessarily be delay, or if there is delay that it will be unjustifiable.’”
Apple is asking Judge Lucy Koh, who denied the first injunction as well as two others regarding smartphone patents, to rule on the matter without a hearing. The request is seen as reasonable as the court already heard arguments over the issue in October.
Judge Koh is unlikely to grant the motion for preliminary injunction during the settlement talks scheduled for May 21 to 22, thus Apple has given Samsung until May 25 to respond.
Samsung will likely ask for a hearing on the Galaxy Tab inunction if and when the talks fail, and Judge Koh may schedule it on the same June 7 date as a separate injunction case involving the Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
While an injunction may not be a devastating blow to the Korean electronics giant, it would signify a publicity win for Apple and force Samsung to redesign the tablet as it did in Germany with the Galaxy Tab 10.1N.
Apple patents multi-point camera focusing system for multitouch-equipped devices
By Mikey Campbell
Published: 03:35 AM EST (12:35 AM PST)
Apple was awarded a patent on Thursday for a multi-point focusing system that integrates with devices capable of multitouch input, possibly pointing to future use of the technology in a next-generation iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
The awarded U.S. patent No. 2012/0120227 for “multi-point touch focus” describes a system that lets the user of a camera-equipped device select two or more areas of focus on a touchscreen which, when a picture is taken, are passed through a dedicated image processor to produce optimal sharpness and exposure for both regions.
The patent background mentions that as the capabilities of automated image capturing progresses, so do the “possibilities for capturing images not as desired by the photographer.” To solve this dilemma, Apple proposes a solution that combines multitouch input, live-preview imaging and advanced auto-focusing algorithms and tracking assets.
From the patent abstract:
A camera includes a lens arranged to focus an image on an image sensor and a touch sensitive visual display for freely selecting two or more regions of interest on a live preview image by touch input. An image processor is coupled to the image sensor and the touch sensitive visual display. The image processor displays the live preview image according to the image focused on the image sensor by the lens. The image processor further receives the selection the regions of interest and controls acquisition of the image from the image sensor based on the characteristics of the image in regions that correspond to at least two of the regions of interest on the live preview image. The image processor may optimize sharpness and/or exposure of the image in at least two of the regions of interest. The image processor may track movement of the selected regions of interest.
As seen above, the patent calls for an image processor that continuously tracks the user-defined “regions of interest” in a combination of live image processing and auto-focus technology similar to that found in the iPhone 4S. Unlike the current handset, however, the focus will not be limited to center-weighting or face-detection and will in theory choose the best mix of camera settings to achieve the highest possible clarity in the multiple selected areas.
In order to facilitate the multi-point focus acquisition, the dedicated imaging processor calculates the two or more user-defined regions and adjusts the camera’s focus drive to change the distance between the image sensor and the rear element of the lens. In addition, the regions’ sizes can be changed on-the-fly by pinching the touchscreen, which will change how the imaging processor will weight the photo’s overall focus.
Also noted was the ability to perform exposure adjustments using the “regions of interest” multi-point method. Currently, the third-party Camera+ app allows users to spot-meter a live image, but Apple’s solution would take that functionality a step further by introducing multiple metering points.
Illustration of pinching to change “region of interest” size in Apple’s multi-point touch focusing patent.
Source: USPTO
Because the system requires a significant amount of computing power, the patent suggests that a dedicated chip be used to process the raw sensor data as well as control the camera’s operation. Past iDevices have all used the main SoC to process image data and a dedicated chip would likely yield quicker operation and higher quality pictures.
Apple took a giant step forward in mobile camera design with the 8MP unit found in the iPhone 4S. Reworked optics, a backlit sensor and an inline image signal processor are used to create images many consumers believe to be the best in the smartphone market.
It is unclear whether Apple will implement the newly patented technology in the next-gen iPhone rumored to debut sometime this fall, but the size of the imaging sensor, dedicated processing unit and new optics may be too large to fit into the expectedly thin chassis.
Steve Jobs biopic to begin filming in garage where Apple was born
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 08:35 PM EST (05:35 PM PST)
It was announced on Friday that the made for TV movie “jOBS,” which will chronicle the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is set to begin principal photography in the original garage that was the humble home to what would one day become the world’s most valuable tech company.
In an effort to be as accurate and authentic as possible, the early scenes of the film will be shot in Jobs’ old Los Altos home and garage where he and Steve Wozniak put together the first Apple computer.
A Friday release from the movie’s production company Five Star Feature Films said that production began immediately upon Jobs’ retirement in 2011 and involved extensive research that included interviews with friends, co-workers and mentors.
Producers hope to create an accurate and rousing depiction of what they call the “30 most defining years” of Jobs’ life in a film that is “dark, honest, and uncompromising.”
Thus far, only the film’s star Ashton Kutcher has been officially announced as being attached to the project, though it has been rumored that broadway actor Josh Gad from the “Book of Mormon” was approached to take the role of Wozniak.
Executive producer Mark Hulme said in April that he hopes to get the film completed in time for a fourth quarter 2012 release.
Director Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote) and Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter (Titanic) will bring tasked with bringing the defining moments of Jobs’ life to the small screen. The project is said to focus on the innovator’s tumultuous years between 1971 and 2000.
“jOBS” is set to start principal filming in June. | Source: TheJobsMovie.com
In an unrelated project, Sony is planning to make a major motion picture with its purchase of the movie rights to Walter Isaacson’s best-selling authorized biography. The book will be adapted for the screen by acclaimed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for his work on The Social Network. It was reported on Thursday that Wozniak had been brought on as a “tutor”, though it is unclear what duties that role entails. Sony has yet to announce a tentative release date.
Amazon planning to sell ads on Kindle Fire welcome screen
By Katie Marsal
Published: 02:14 PM EST (11:14 AM PST)
Amazon has reportedly begun pitching to advertising agencies the opportunity to advertise on the welcome screen of its Kindle Fire tablet for a price of $600,000.
Details on the program were shared this week by an executive at an ad agency with Ad Age. Amazon was said to have pitched the new advertising program to the agency, offering more ad inventory and the opportunity to be included in an Amazon public relations campaign if they spend $1 million on Kindle Fire ads.
Amazon already sells ad-supported versions of its e-ink-based Kindle readers, which are advertised as “Kindle with Special Offers.” On those devices, advertising-driven screen savers will display when the hardware is not in use.
It’s unknown whether Amazon plans to offer a new ad-supported Kindle Fire at an even lower price than the hardware’s current $199 cost, or if it plans to place ads on the welcome screens of existing Kindle Fire owners. However, Ad Age did state the $600,000 minimum ad buy-in would be a high price “for an ad unit on a device that currently has no distribution,” suggesting the ads will be displayed on current models.
Agency executives who spoke about Amazon’s pitch to them off the record declined to participate the in-the-works advertising program. They expressed concern over the fact that Amazon isn’t guaranteeing the number of devices the advertisements will reach, because Amazon “hasn’t decided whether the ads will start popping up on devices that have already been purchased or just on new devices.”
Amazon is already believed to be taking a loss for selling the Kindle Fire for just $199. At that price, the touchscreen tablet sells for half the price of Apple’s $399 iPad 2.
Earlier this month, new data from IDC showed that shipments of the Kindle Fire saw a “steep drop” in the first quarter of 2012, allowing Apple’s iPad to grow to 68 percent of tablets shipped worldwide. The Kindle Fire fell from a 16.8 percent share of shipments during the fourth quarter of calendar 2011 to just 4 percent of shipments in the first quarter of 2012, suggesting demand weakened significantly after the holiday shopping season.
Reports have suggested that Amazon plans to launch a larger Kindle Fire with a 10.1-inch display later this year that would more directly compete with Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad. The new, larger Kindle Fire is believed to be in development under the code name “Coyote.”
Rumor: Apple in talks to build Russian R&D facility
By Mikey Campbell
Published: 05:19 PM EST (02:19 PM PST)
Apple and a handful of other tech companies are said to be in talks with Russia’s Skolkovo Innovation Centre about building research facilities in the organization’s “Technopark,” which is at the heart of a larger initiative looking to bring high-tech innovators into the country.
Russian language news outlet Izvestia reported on Friday that Skolkovo representatives are looking to bring industry heavyweights Apple, Google, Facebook, Symantec and others to the technology park in hopes of creating a high-tech research community (machine translation) akin to California’s Silicon Valley.
Companies already signed on to the project include Microsoft, IBM, General Electric, Cisco among others, though more investors are needed to fulfill the over $60 million needed to build the multi-building RD center.
Skolkovo Operating Director for Key Partners Roman Romanovsky notes that the program has to include 30 to 50 large companies for the technology park to be successful.
Despite the standard “no comment” from Apple representatives, Romanovsky said that both parties are interested in negotiations, and the same goes for Google, Symantec and Facebook.
The Skolkovo IT research facilities will be one of six “clusters” in the technology park, the five others being RD centers for nuclear tech, space tech, biotech, energy efficiency and post start-up. Located near the six clusters are central retail spaces and a separate shared laboratory facilty. Combined, the clusters will take up 90,000 square-meters of space.
Artist rendering of Skolkovo RD clusters. | Source: Skolkovo
Romanovsky estimates that the participating companies will bring in about 5,000 researchers who will be housed in the Skolkovo center’s condos and housing complexes which are interspersed throughout the grounds. Over 190,000 square-meters of land has been allotted for condo space, houses and villas.
Skolkovo is an immense undertaking and will be a city unto its own complete with a public square, retail plaza, multi-use event halls and even an indoor ice skating rink. Most of the buildings in the “smart city” will be giant glass structures that are connected by wide landscaped walkways.
While it is unclear if Apple will be taking part in the Russian venture, the company has shown interest in international RD with its 2011 acquisition of Israel-based flash memory maker Anobit. A recent report noted that Apple was actively recruiting new hires for the the firm’s research arm after axing a number of sales, marketing and administration employees.