News Byte

Judge Orders Apple and HTC to Talk It Out

John Paczkowski in News on May 17 at 1:43 pm PT

With their patent war raging on, Apple and HTC have been ordered into face-to-face mediation talks to settle their legal differences. Issued by the U.S. District Court of Delaware on Thursday, the order requires counsel and key decision makers from both companies to attend a session on August 28, 2012. It follows by a single day the enforcement of an International Trade Commission import ban on two HTC smartphones won by Apple in December of 2011.

News Byte

T-Mobile Expands No-Contract Mobile Broadband Plans

Bonnie Cha in Product News on May 17 at 12:15 pm PT

Starting on May 20, T-Mobile will offer four additional no-contract data plans for its 4G tablets and mobile broadband devices, including laptop sticks and mobile hotspots. The new Mobile Broadband Service Passes expand on the carrier’s current offerings, starting at $15 per week for 300 megabytes of data, and $50 for five gigabytes per month. To take advantage of the no-contract plans, you will, however, have to pay full price for a mobile broadband device, which run between $175 and $650.

News Byte

Twitter Enables “Do Not Track” Feature Across Supporting Browsers

Mike Isaac in Social on May 17 at 9:59 am PT

Twitter users on Mozilla’s Firefox browser can now opt out of being tracked by third-party sites and cookies by enabling the “Do Not Track” feature, Mozilla announced via tweet on Thursday morning. Since Mozilla first introduced the feature for Firefox last year, the company claims nearly 10 percent desktop-user adoption of DNT, and almost 20 percent on Firefox for mobile.

News Byte

First White House Cyber-Security Coordinator to Retire

John Paczkowski in News on May 17 at 8:47 am PT

Howard Schmidt, the first-ever White House cyber-security coordinator, is leaving the post he’s held since 2009. Schmidt, who has spent the past two-and-a-half years working on protections for the country’s critical infrastructure, will step down at the end of this month; he’ll be succeeded by Michael Daniel, chief of the White House budget office’s intelligence branch.