Tech Today w/ Ken May

Back in April when it was just a bunch of harsh words and vicious threats, the beef between Samsung and Apple was pretty entertaining. But things are only funny until someone gets hurt, and this time it’s Europe that will feel the pain. In its never-ending tiff with the South Korea-based Samsung, Apple won a temporary injunction to block sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 within the entirety of the European Union, minus the Netherlands.

What’s weird is that Samsung seems to have had no idea any of this was going down until it was too late. Specifically, the order was given “without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung,” according to Samsung spokesman Kim Titus, who confirmed with Bloomberg. Apparently this is pretty normal in Germany — plaintiffs must only prove that infringement occurred to get an injunction rolling, either preliminary or permanent, with no requirement to inform the other party. However, the court often only grants a preliminary injunction (like this one) when it believes that a subsequent permanent injunction will be granted, as well. If it’s not and Apple loses, the Cupertino-based company will most certainly owe damages to Samsung.

According to German news service dpa, the injunction is entirely related to design and intellectual property right, rather than software- or hardware-related patents. Apple made it clear long before anything went down in Europe that it wasn’t pleased with the look and feel of the GalTab 10.1, and even went so far as say that Samsung copied Apple-style packaging, too. The word “slavishly” comes to mind. But there’s still a little sliver of hope for our European friends who’ve been just dying to play around with Samsung’s 10-inch slate. Galaxy Tabs still in stock will continue to sell until the current inventory is gone. So if you need one, just leave now. Don’t even keep reading.

I mean it… Go!

Anyway, Samsung has responded to the injunction, promising to “act immediately to defend our intellectual property rights through the ongoing legal proceedings in Germany and will continue to actively defend these rights throughout the world. [We will] take all necessary measures to ensure Samsung’s innovative mobile communications devices are available to customers in Europe and around the world.”

Meanwhile, Apple seems to have moved on to yet another competitor, reports SlashGear. Motorola and Apple have been entwined in litigation for the past few months, but only after digging into the Galaxy Tab news was it uncovered that Apple has already filed a complaint in Europe regarding the design of the Honeycomb-powered Xoom. Since Samsung had no idea the injunction had gone through, it’s pretty likely that Motorola is only becoming aware of this now, as it spreads across the web. Speculation suggests that Apple is going straight for a permanent injunction with Motorola, since the Xoom has been around long enough to warrant it.

More here:
Apple Blocks Sales Of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 In EU, Motorola’s Xoom Next?

Do you live in Paris and frequently stumble out of bars at 2AM with a craving for a bite of baguette? If so, you’ll be totally psyched to learn that French baker Jean-Louis Hecht recently installed two bread-dispensing vending machines outside his boulangeries. Yes, that’s right: For just one euro (and a bit of dignity), you can now enjoy a warm loaf of French bread 24/7. [via Grub Street] More

Motion capture is one of those technologies that seems all hi-tech and futurey, until you see a grown man walking around a studio in a onesie with a bunch of ping pong balls stuck to him. Disney’s about to change that. More

Digital Tools offers a selection of the demos on show at Assembly 2011 Summer. For the uninitiated, demos are short multimedia hits similar to music videos, originally intended to demonstrate the potential of a computer’s media capabilities. Pushing the limits of specific platforms’ processing power and limited memory made for an enduring and highly competitive art scene—procedurally-generated textures and chiptunes ahoy! Pictured above is my favorite so far, Fairlight and Alcatraz's Uncovering Static, programmed so elegantly that it fits in a 64kb executable file. That’s roughly equivalent in size to one frame of the YouTube video of it embedded above.

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The brilliantly-programmed graphic demos of Assembly Summer

Lots of Verizon technicians are very angry at their employer—around 45,000 of them. And it appears some of them are pissed enough to sabotage Verizon's fiber optic network, the Boston Globe reports—they're slashing cables. More

Google hinted its educational tool, App Inventor for Android, may become an open source project for classroom teachers. More

How many people have heard of MediaPortal?

Many people have heard of Windows Media Center, or other media center software, but few realize MediaPortal offers a free alternative, with more features and options than any other Windows media center available today.

Even those who have heard about MediaPortal are often not aware it has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year or two and has become a very stable, feature-rich application.

Walmart is pulling the plug on its MP3 downloads store, but it will continue to support DRMed tracks that it sold before the store went DRM-free. The news comes via a leaked memo to Digital Music News—later confirmed by a Walmart representative—which told music licensing partners that the store would close on August 28, 2011.

“After eight years in business, the Walmart Music Downloads Store located at mp3.walmart.com will close on August 28, 2011. All content in the Store will be disabled and no longer available for download from the store,” reads the memo. The also company reassured its partners that the sale of physical media through Walmart would be unaffected.

Walmart’s music store started out as a DRMed venture in 2004, but went DRM-free in late 2007 (as it was the fashion at the time). Though Walmart was one of the first major names to get into selling DRM-free music, it never really caught on—Apple soon became the number one music retailer in the world, and Amazon has managed to push its way to number two thanks in part to its own MP3 music store. Both Amazon and iTunes offere a better user experience too, with software for multiple platforms and a large built-in user base. Let’s face it: for mainstream music, why would anyone choose Walmart over the competition when it comes to music downloads?

Alas, Walmart’s memo to its partners doesn’t go into detail as to why the company decided to shut down, but it seems obvious that Walmart just couldn’t compete without something more to offer. The company did say, however, that DRMed music files that were purchased before the store went DRM-free would continue to function even after the MP3 store shut-down. The company had attempted to kill its DRM servers in 2008—leaving its previous customers out in the cold if they were to need re-authorization—but later decided to leave the DRM servers online after receiving bad customer feedback.

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Walmart pulling the plug on its MP3 store, but not its DRM servers

The official blog of Research in Motion was hacked today by Team Poison. The Canadian company had earlier promised to help British authorities track down BlackBerry users suspected of involvement in the local unrest. From AFP:

“If you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, GPS locations, customer information and access to peoples’ BlackBerry Messengers, you will regret it,” said the post.

The message went on to say a hacked database containing the names, addresses and phone numbers of RIM employees would be made public and “passed onto rioters” if RIM did not comply.

“Do you really want a bunch of angry youths on your employees doorsteps?” it warned. “Think about it.”

RIM officials in Britain offered Monday to assist authorities “in any way possible.”

I doubt this will be much help to anyone worried by RIM’s presumed eagerness to hand over its secure messaging system for state inspection.

CNN reports that there are further demands to completely shut down the network.

Some London public officials have asked RIM to shut down BlackBerry Messenger temporarily to stem further unrest. A representative for RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What next? Facebook and Twitter?

Originally posted here:
U.K. officials call for BlackBerry network shutdown; RIM hacked after offering help to authorities

If there’s anything worse than being in a California state penitentiary, it’s not being able to check if you’ve been tagged in any photos lately. This dual fate of horror is now a reality for CA inmates, NBC reports. More