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Another Kodak Moment: ITC Agrees to Investigate Apple, RIM

John Paczkowski — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:02:37 +0000

The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed to investigate claims that Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry infringe on Kodak’s intellectual property. At issue here: Two patents generally covering image preview and processing, which Kodak claims have been used illegitimately in the iPhone and BlackBerry. At stake for Apple (AAPL) and RIM (RIMM): A ban on imports of both devices.

In announcing the investigation, the ITC made it clear that it has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case. But the fact that it has agreed to pursue it at all must be worrisome to both companies, particularly since the agency ruled in Kodak’s (EK) favor last year in another case against Samsung involving the same patents. Ultimately, that squabble resulted in a settlement and cross-licensing deal. My guess is that things will play out in a similar manner here.

A Priceless Kodak Moment for Apple and RIM

John Paczkowski — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:30:22 +0000

Emboldened by the settlement it won from Samsung in a recent digital camera patent dispute, Kodak is seeking similar arrangements from Apple and Research in Motion. In a handful of lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, Kodak accuses both companies of illegally leveraging its digital imaging patents in the iPhone and BlackBerry.

Specifically at issue here is Kodak’s technology for previewing photos and processing images of different resolutions. A separate action brought against Apple alone claims the company has infringed on patents that allow a computer to “ask for help” from another application to complete certain functions.

In a statement, Kodak (EK) said it tries to avoid lawsuits “whenever possible,” but had no other choice but to pursue legal action after years of failed attempts at negotiating agreements with both Apple (AAPL) and RIM (RIMM).

“Kodak has a long history of digital imaging innovation and we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars creating our industry-leading patent portfolio,” Kodak chief intellectual property officer Laura Quatela explained.

“In the case of Apple and RIM, we’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement,” Quatela added. “In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology.”

The company is dead serious about this; not only has Kodak filed suit against Apple and RIM, it has filed complaints with the U.S International Trade Commission that, if successful, would ban the two companies from shipping iPhones and BlackBerries to the U.S.

Businesses Take Another Look at Virtual Desktops

William M. Bulkeley — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:14:25 +0000

As companies look for new ways to squeeze costs out of their technology budgets, some are deciding that the next PC they purchase need not be a PC at all.

Instead, they are rolling out virtual desktops–a set-up consisting of a screen, keyboard and small connector box that ties into a powerful server in the computer room that has all the software, storage and processing capabilities that each desktop user needs.

Maryland Auto Insurance Fund, an insurance company in Annapolis, Md., says it plans to replace at least two-thirds of its 600 user desktops within 18 months with virtual PCs.

Cindy Warkentin, the company’s chief information officer, estimates that the move will save costs by allowing the company to replace fewer PCs every year.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

D7 Tech Demo: Siri

Oliver J. Chiang — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:00:37 +0000

Many would-be augurs have been trying to pinpoint the moment the artificial intelligence overlord known as Skynet gets it start: Some may one day point to the launch of Siri. Siri is a virtual personal assistant for your iPhone or computer, with a pedigree: It originated at the Stanford Research Institute and was spun out as an AI project financed by DARPA. Now, as an alternative to search, Siri is supposed to carry out tasks like finding your next flight out or ordering a pizza by crawling the Web and conversing with the user, processing requests, responding and learning from the interaction. It will do this via a combination of technologies, including speech recognition, natural language processing and semantic Web search.

Demo Highlights

[ See post to watch video ]

Live Blog

Siri CEO Dag Kittlaus comes out. He introduces himself and the product. It’s been many years of work in the making, he says.
Siri is about making interactions between the Web and user much simpler. It is focusing on mobile first. He shows the interface on an iPhone with both a Google screen and Siri screen side by side. Dag types in a flight query to both.
Siri figures out what you mean. Dag asks it a question, compares the results between Siri and Google (GOOG). Walt: Google is terrible! Dag: It gets really interesting when you ask it do a service. Walt: Can’t Bing do this?
It can take actions on your behalf too. For instance, “Il Forniao [Italian restaurant] reservations tonight for 3 at 5pm.” Siri takes your information and pulls up the reservation function for the restaurant.
Siri is sort of a giant mashup of services, Dag says.
It’s “Carol Bartz,” not “Sheryl Bartz,” Dag. Now let’s try asking for a movie. Siri returns the closest location and time for “Angels and Demons.” Siri has an API.
“Get red sox yankees tickets in boston”–this is one for Walt, says Dag. $1,649–the price is wrong? But Siri delivers. Shows a map of the stadium and seats/tickets.
Walt: so Google is constantly stupid, we see that now. But is it only good for certain services? How about ballet? Dag: It learns, we break it out into various areas of expertise. Right now, for instance, it doesn’t do TV listings. Siri has a Q&A function. Dag asks a question to the True Knowledge Web service. Kara: Ask it “How old is Kara?” Siri’s answer: “Dag, it’s not polite to ask about women’s ages.” It’s arguably broken Asimov’s Second Law already. Someone get John Connor, just in case.
Now Dag is demoing on the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, speaking into the phone. Voice recognition is pretty good. He tells it: “Find a plumber near my house.” Siri pulls up a list of nearby plumbers. Kara: Do you have to have a voice like yours for it to work? Dag: It gets pretty good, it learns. Kara: I like.
Walt: Will it be in the App Store? Dag: This summer, and it will be a free app. Walt: Revenue stream? Dag: Tie-ins with the other platforms, i.e., OpenTable. We’ll start with mobile and then build it out.
Walt and Kara: Thanks; that was really cool.

iPhone 3 Rumors Upgraded to Outperform

John Paczkowski — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:07:59 +0000

Apple’s (AAPL) plan to preview iPhone OS 3.0 tomorrow is a sure sign that the company is on track to debut the next iteration of the phone on which it will run this summer. That’s the word from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who has high expectations for the OS and device both. “In the past two weeks Apple has introduced new Mac hardware and a new iPod shuffle, for which the company simply issued a press release,” Munster wrote in a research note. “The fact that Apple is hosting an event for the iPhone OS 3.0 shows that it will likely involve meaningful changes to the iPhone feature set. Apple may be settling into an annual summer hardware refresh cycle with the iPhone, similar to the iPod’s fall refresh cycle.”

Just what does Munster mean by “meaningful changes”? Like others, he anticipates the addition of universal search, background processing/multitasking and the long pined-for cut and paste.

Incidentally, Munster says he doesn’t expect Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is on medical leave from the company until June, to attend tomorrow’s event. Tim Cook will be filling the Jobs role for the time being, he says–as much as possible, anyway. Said Munster, “During Jobs’ absence, the pace of innovation at Apple has continued, which we believe will reassure investors. Increasingly, we believe investors are considering the future of Apple under Cook’s leadership as a positive.”

Transferring Data to an iPhone

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:00:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I am thinking about buying an iPhone to replace my Palm Treo. However, I have an extensive contact list and calendar within my Palm software. How would I transfer them to the iPhone?

There are a number of cumbersome methods, but a simple approach would be to sync the Treo to Microsoft Outlook, which can then later be synced to the iPhone.

You say Vista’s graphical interface works best with a separate, or “discrete,” graphics card that has its own memory. You add that some “integrated” graphics systems work fine, too, but they claim some of your main memory. So, if I get an extra 1 GB of main memory, will that compensate for not getting a dedicated video card?

Buying extra memory can help overall performance on systems with minimal standard memory and integrated graphics, which do drain memory. So I’m all for that. But the superiority of discrete graphics cards for Vista goes beyond the fact that they have their own memory. In general, they are more capable than integrated graphics at doing the actual graphics processing. So adding more memory to a system with integrated graphics doesn’t give it all the ability of one with a discrete card.

Is there any program or easy way of transferring email addresses when you change your ISP? Everybody I have talked to says it is a mess.

Although I haven’t tested it in some years, a service called TrueSwitch, at trueswitch.com, is in business to do exactly that. It copies over your address book, and even notifies your contacts of your changed email address, if you wish. When I did test it, it worked fine.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.