Troll

Afternoon News: FBI Billboards, Radiohead Webcast, and Patents, Patents, Patents

• The FBI wants to install 150 digital billboards in 20 US cities in the next few weeks to show fugitives, missing people and gadget bloggers. [Network World]
• Oft-discussed Radiohead will have a live webcast concert at midnight on January 1. It's almost cool to stay home on New Year's Eve now. [Pitchfork]
• Google is stuck in patent troll hell with Hyperphase Technologies, LLC. The company claims it holds patents on certain parts of AdSense technology. [The Register]
• Yahoo filed a patent for "smart drag-and-drop" technology, which means "displaying drop targets in proximity to a drag-able selected object." Too bad everything from MS Excel to Apple Mail to Adobe Flash all use similar technology already. [Ars Technica]
• Vonage finalized their settlement with AT&T over the former infringing on the latter's VoIP patents. The settlement is believed to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $39 million. [CRN]

4:00 PM on Thu Dec 27 2007
By Benny Goldman
1,252 views, 10 comments

Latest by DJJS: HA! cant wait.. till someone hooks up there Wii or Ps3 And Plays on this Screen that would be SWEET! more »

apple

iMac 20 and 24-inch Touchscreen Systems

For those of you who conscientiously object to using Apple products with a mouse—balancing out that karma for Xerox—Troll Touch is now offering 20 and 24-inch iMacs with touchscreens. While the new models look almost no different than conventional iMacs, the screens do operate through one of the iMac's external USB ports. But just like when your hands get too frisky at work, it'll cost some money: More »

10:48 AM on Tue Dec 4 2007
By Mark Wilson
9,599 views, 13 comments

ace attorney needed

Apple and AT&T Sued Over Visual Voicemail Patents, Will Probably Lose

Klausner Technologies, a patent holding firm founded by the inventor of the PDA, is suing Apple and AT&T for $360 million for infringing on its patents with visual voicemail. Its patents cover selectively retrieving messages from a menu displaying the caller's name, number, etc. Yes, they have on patent on that entire concept. Lending credibility to their claim, the suit's filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the McDonald's of patent suits, complete with a drive-thru window. More »

5:40 PM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By Matt Buchanan
6,348 views, 28 comments

Latest by n/a: As I recall, NeXT (Steve Jobs' post-Apple-pre-Apple company) shipped with an email client that included a voice message from the man himself. If that's not prior art, I don't know what is! more »

politics

Obama Would Make Chief Technology Officer a Cabinet-Level Position

In preparation for his visit to Google headquarters today, presidential candidate Barack Obama released a nine-page statement outlining his plan to improve technology (if elected). His first order of business would be to appoint a Chief Technology Officer, a new government official who makes sure Obama's ideas are put into action. More »

4:15 PM on Wed Nov 14 2007
By Benny Goldman
5,944 views, 32 comments

trolllll

Wi-LAN Sues Everyone and Their Mom (Really) Over Dubious Wi-Fi Patents

Another day, another Wi-Fi patent entanglement. Today the ~~troll~~ plaintiff suing practically the entire industry is Wi-LAN, whose two patents—"related to Wi-Fi and power consumption in DSL products"—are apparently violated by anyone making or selling anything from routers to notebooks. The suit, launched in the capital of patent infringement suits, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, targets Acer, Apple, Belkin, Best Buy, Broadcom, Buffalo, Circuity City, Dell, D-Link, Gateway, HP, Infineon, Intel, Lenovo, Marvell, Netgear, Sony, TI, Toshiba, Westell and 2Wire. More »

5:00 PM on Thu Nov 1 2007
By Matt Buchanan
3,341 views, 17 comments

Latest by Repton: Shame they didn't sue IBM. I'd like to see them run up against IBM's patent portfolio.. more »

patents

Buffalo Banned from Selling 802.11a and 802.11g Gear in the US

Australia-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has won a patent infringement suit against Buffalo in a US district court, enjoining sales on all 802.11a, g and n products made by Buffalo as of Oct. 1 (full list here). CSIRO is apparently suing the entire wireless LAN industry, so Buffalo has the quite the list of friends filing briefs on their behalf: Microsoft, 3COM Corporation, SMC Networks, Accton Technology Corporation, Intel, Atheros Communications, Belkin International, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel Networks, Nvidia Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP AG, Yahoo, Nokia, and the Consumer Electronics Association. If Buffalo doesn't win its appeal, it clears the way for CSIRO to take on the rest of the industry, which could result in licensing fees being tacked on to all 802.11a, g and n products. Booooo fees. [Buffalo via Wi-Fi Networking News, Flickr]

6:39 PM on Tue Oct 30 2007
By Matt Buchanan
3,004 views, 14 comments

Latest by RichardBronosky: @rewind: "wii-mote over nunchuck" AKA: Hand over Fist. HA! Brilliant! more »

software

Why Vista Will Suck in 20 Bullet Points or Less

I know were getting nasty about Vista—actually, it's just me, but I speak for the trees, etc.—but this very long article puts that haterage and disappointment into quite a few words. More »

12:49 PM on Fri Jun 2 2006
By johnb
318 views, 23 comments

Gizmodo

Lightning Review: Maximo iMetal iPhone Headset

Gizmodo Team

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