Apple ordered to pay $533 million for patent infringement

A federal jury in Texas found that its iTunes software infringed three patents owned by patent licensing firm Smartflash.

Apple Inc has been ordered to pay $532.9 million after a federal jury in Texas found that its iTunes software infringed three patents owned by patent licensing firm Smartflash LLC.

Though Smartflash had been asking for $852 million in damages, Tuesday night’s verdict was still a blow to Apple.

The jury, which deliberated for eight hours, determined Apple had not only used Smartflash’s patents without permission, but did so willfully.

Apple, which said it would appeal, said the outcome was another reason reform was needed in the patent system to curb litigation by companies that don’t make products themselves.

“We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system,” Apple said in a statement.

Smartflash sued Apple in May 2013, alleging its iTunes software infringed its patents related to accessing and storing downloaded songs, videos and games.

“Smartflash is very happy with the jury’s verdict, which recognizes Apple’s longstanding willful infringement,” Brad Caldwell, a lawyer for Smartflash, said in an email.

The trial was held in Tyler, which over the past decade has become a focus for patent litigation.
Smartflash’s registered office is also in Tyler.

It was also in Tyler federal court that a jury in 2012 ordered Apple to pay $368 million to VirnetX Inc for patent infringement. A federal appeals court later threw out that damages figure, saying it was wrongly calculated.

Apple tried to avoid a trial by having the lawsuit thrown out. But U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, who presided over the case, ruled earlier this month that Smartflash’s technology was not too basic to deserve the patents.

Apple had asked the jury to find Smartflash’s patents invalid because previously patented inventions covered the same technology.

Smartflash’s suit said that around 2000, the co-inventor of its patents, Patrick Racz, had met with executives of what is now European SIM card maker Gemalto SA, including Augustin Farrugia, who is now a senior director at Apple.

Smartflash has also filed patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, HTC Corp and Google Inc.

The case is Smartflash LLC, et al v. Apple, Inc, et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 13-cv-447.

Incredibly Genius Inventions To Make Your Life Easier - The Tile App

Tile allows you to place a tag on anything you might lose to help you find it with your phone.

    https://www.thetileapp.com/

Incredibly Genius Inventions To Make Your Life Easier - Rechargeable USB batteries

There are just some things in life that are too difficult to handle, like getting out of bed on a cold winter morning when you've been bundled like a burrito for eight hours or trying to grab a Pringle with your normal-sized adult hands which for some reason don't fit in the can made for ants. These neat little inventions will make you want them with a fiery passion because why not make your life a little bit easier if you can?

Rechargeable USB batteries

 

 

What way you will use in your Smartphone with Advance Science....! Full Access..

Smartphones are becoming more and more ubiquitous in this day and age. So, it is absolutely essential that you get some sweet devices and accessories to pair up with your own phone. Obviously, I'm not talking about just buying a protective case (though it is important to have one of those too). I'm talking about radical new ways to enhance your life, all controlled by your phone.

1.) Environment Sensoring

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Sensordrone is a sensor computer that harvests vital information around your environment, such as air quality, gas leaks, temperature, humidity, practically anything that can be sensed!

2.) Locating Lost Items

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Hone is the app designed for people who are constantly losing things. The setup is easy – just tie the device to your key and press the Find button on your iPhone. The device will light up and emit a sound to indicate its position.

3.) Payments

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Square is the revolutionary way to accept payments via your phone. It takes the advantage of the smartphone’s mobility to let you accept any credit card payment anytime, anywhere. The buyer signs on the smartphone to authorize payment and avoid potential fraud, and the information is encrypted before any processing initialize.

4.) Cars

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Make the Mercedes-Benz owner envy you with Viper SmartStart. SmartStart is a device that allows you to perform regular tasks your remote key can do. For example, you could lock the door, honk the car and release the trunk, all by pressing a button on your smartphone.

5.) Thermostats

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Not only can you control the Nest thermostat from anywhere with your iPhone –– it connects to the Internet via wi-fi –– it also learns what temperatures you like your house to be at different times and on different days.

6.) Child Tracking

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Going on a big shopping trip with the little ones? This device will send notifications to your smartphone if the person or thing (i.e., your child) wearing the gadget wanders too far away from you.

7.) Credit cards and gift cards

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Geode can convert all your physical credit cards, loyalty cards, and membership cards into digital information. To use the cards, you can transfer the card information to the provided Geode card temporarily. Flick to activate the card, say a credit card, then swipe it through the terminal as normal. Boom, it's like magic.

8.) Lights

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Wemo is an app from Belkin allows you to control your lights from literally anywhere in the world. All you have to do is download the app and replace your light switches with Wemo ones. Just think of the pranks you could play on your neighbors!

9.) Digi-pets

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Ever hand your phone off to a child in an effort to keep them occupied? Well, this device is built to keep your phone safe and to also entertain the children playing with it. The included app is built with both educational features and also a recording feature. You can record your own voice (say, reading bedtime stories) and the digi-pet will play it back for your child.

10.) Locks

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Lockitron (great name) not only lets you unlock the door with just a touch on the smartphone, but also notifies you when someone is knocking at the door. With the right customization, you can even set your door to unlock whenever you get near the door.

11.) Health

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Misfit Shine helps you track your physical activities on-the-go. Upon equipping it on your body, Shine will track your physical activities and inform you at the end of the day that if your body movements are well enough to keep you fit.

12.) Pet Feeding

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Too lazy to get up and feed Fido? Pintofeed is an app that monitors your pet's feeding schedule and dispenses food accordingly. The best thing about this device is that it allows you to feed your pet when you’re not at home.

13.) Baby Monitoring

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After the installation, the Smart Baby Monitor will start sending live streaming audio and video through a secure connection. The monitor gets even more awesome with the WithBaby app that let new parents check on their baby via wireless connection.

14.) Remote Controlled Devices

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The iPhly device allows you to control most remote controlled devices such as TVs, air conditioners, garage door openers, or even your toy cars/planes.

15.) Cameras

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With the EOS app from Canon, you won't have to worry about timers or who has to take that family photo again. You can just handle it all from your smartphone.

16.) Crashes

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Your life will be safer with the ICEdot’s Crash Sensor. All you need to do is mount the device on your helmet before you take off to any of your extreme sports or cross-country races. The device will notify your emergency contacts and send GPS coordinates to initiate rescue attempts should an accident occurs.

17.) Projections

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Instead of carrying around a heavy projector or a TV screen, you can just use this projection app to take what is on your screen and project it to any surface. The comes with a 60″ viewing area with sound-boosting effect.

These additions to your life will make it more simple, more hassle-free, and all around better. (Although, you might feel a little ridiculous tracking your child via your iPhone.) The future is now, people. Learn to live with it, no matter how strange it seems.

Apple iPhone 6 customers complain about misaligned front camera

With the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple has faced the wrath of many Apple faithful. The launch of the phone has opened a can of beans, and this time around consumers are complaining about a misaligned front camera.

Users took to Reddit to complain about the issue. According to some users the front camera gets misaligned after some use, and it is a defect suffered by few iPhone 6 units.

One user claimed that Apple had not yet zeroed-in on the issue but said that Apple store employees offered to either change the front panel which also includes the camera or replace the phone altogether.

The front camera of the iPhone 6 has a 1.2-megapixel resolution, which admittedly is not high, but it does get the job done.

This comes after issues like bend gate where users claimed that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were fragile to a degree where they could be bent easily.