CrunchGear |  |
- Apple FTW, German Court Upholds Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales Ban
- Smart Bar: Japan Gets Another Special Android Handset
- SCINTIREX: Japanese Company Develops Radiation-Detecting Plastic
- Video: Vortex-Powered Wall-Climbing Robot Parachutes To Safety
- Nike’s Mag Sneakers Unveiled, Due For Letterman Appearance Tonight?
- Contour Adds Low-Cost Roam Camera To Its Helmet-Cam Lineup
- Samsung’s New Windows 8-Powered Tablet May Debut As Early As Next Week
- Add Chumby To Your TV With NeTV
- Daily Crunch: Laceless
| Apple FTW, German Court Upholds Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales Ban Posted: 09 Sep 2011 05:15 AM PDT  Apple and Samsung have toured the globe over the course of their patent war, leaving a number of loose ends in their wake. We’re still unsure just what could happen in Japan, Australia, and even here in the U.S., but in Germany a conclusion has finally been reached. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still banned in Germany, as a Dusseldorf court upheld the EU-wide preliminary injunction granted on August 9. Here’s the deal: The German court decided a week after that hearing that it may not have jurisdiction over a Korea-based company and what it sells to all the other European countries. Thus, the injunction was partially lifted, banning only Samsung’s German unit from selling the tablet within Germany. The Korean parent was, and is, still allowed to offer the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in other European nations, reports Bloomberg. This case has everything to do with Apple’s Community Design 000181607 for the iPad. According to a judge, Samsung’s slate just doesn’t differentiate itself enough from the iPad, and there are plenty of other design options they could’ve chosen from. “The court is of the opinion that Apple’s minimalistic design isn’t the only technical solution to make a tablet computer, other designs are possible,” said presiding Judge Brueckner-Hofmann. “For the informed customer, there remains the predominant overall impression that the device looks [like Apple's design].” If you happen to recall our recent coverage of the Nintendo/ThinkOptic case, I mentioned that the Eastern District Court of Texas tends to strongly favor the patent holder. European patent expert Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents says this of the German court: “The Düsseldorf district court has a reputation for being our equivalent of the Eastern District of Texas in terms of a strong tendency to favor the interests of right holders over those of alleged infringers.” And look what happened! Apple, the right holder, won. Now, I don’t mean to imply that Apple didn’t deserve the win. I can’t make judgement calls like that, as I’m not Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann. All I’m saying is that Apple did its research when picking and choosing battlefields. For example, the same court ordered an injunction forcing Samsung to pull its Galaxy Tab 7.7 from its booth at the IFA conference in Berlin last week. This happened for one of two reasons: Either Apple easily won itself another injunction (due to the extreme similarity between the GalTab 10.1 and the GalTab 7.7), or Apple asked the court to penalize Samsung for contempt of the original injunction. Samsung’s statement on the matter doesn’t offer much clarity: “We have decided — on a current occasion — to replace the product with our other IFA highlight product, the Galaxy Note, since, as the press reported, we weren’t going to offer the product for sale in Germany anyway, so we want to show our customers the other product — the [Galaxy] Note — more closely.” With other cases still ongoing across the world, it’s worth wondering how this decision may affect the others, if only in perception. When Judge Annabelle Bennett of Australia or Judge Lucy Koh of Northern California step up to the mic, will they remember how Brueckner-Hofmann ruled? Samsung said it would appeal the court’s decision, which "severely limits consumer choice in Germany" and "restricts design innovation and progress in the industry," the company said in a statement. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...
|
| Smart Bar: Japan Gets Another Special Android Handset Posted: 09 Sep 2011 02:19 AM PDT  First KDDI’s iida INFOBAR, then Sharp’s clamshell Android phone HYBRID oo7SH, and now the so-called Smart Bar [JP]: Japan is getting more and more specially designed Android handsets. As you can see on the pictures, the Smart Bar adopts the “traditional” candy bar form factor but is actually powered by Android Gingerbread. The device is manufactured by Huawei and will be distributed in Japan by mobile carrier eMobile. Targeted mainly at female users, the phones comes with a 3-inch WVGA touch display (LCD), 512MB RAM and ROM, a 5MP camera, a microSDHC slot, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, IEEE802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (tethering for up to 5 devices is possible), IrDA SIR infrared, GPS, and W-CDMA/GSM support. It’s just 51mm slim and weighs 114g. eMobile plans to start rolling out the Smart Bar in Japan on September 22 (price: US$390).
|
| SCINTIREX: Japanese Company Develops Radiation-Detecting Plastic Posted: 09 Sep 2011 01:43 AM PDT  Japanese chemicals company Teijin has developed a plastic that emits a blue light when exposed to radioactivity (pictured). Named SCINTIREX, the company expects the polyester-based resin to be used as a scintillator, a core part in radiation meters (radiation quantity can be calculated based on the level of luminescence). Teijin developed the plastic in cooperation with Kyoto University and Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Science (NIRS) and plans to market it to makers of radiation detectors wanting to push their costs down. According to Teijin, the production cost of scintillators could be reduced by over 90% if makers of these devices started using SCINTIREX. The material is not only said to offer better formability but also to be “superior to conventional scintillators in terms of luminescence, refractive index and density”. SCINTIREX will be made available as early as this month.
|
| Video: Vortex-Powered Wall-Climbing Robot Parachutes To Safety Posted: 08 Sep 2011 05:15 PM PDT  The huge variety of robots is a thing to marvel at. Just a few years ago, the best they could do was roll around or walk stiffly on poorly-hinged limbs. Now we have robots that gallop, slither, and fly like a bird. This mode of transportation is totally new to me, though. The Paraswift climbs up walls by generating a suction, then gets itself safely down by jumping off and deploying a little parachute. Why not, right? Check out the video. The action happens about halfway in. Paraswift is a collaboration between Disney Research and the Swiss Federal Research Institute. This demonstration took place during the International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots, held at the University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris. It generates the suction by creating a vortex “like a mini tornado” in a central tube; the vortex has a low-pressure center, and this pressure gradient, through a process known as sorcery, causes the robot to stick to the wall. Only the wheels need to be in contact with the climbing surface, which makes it much more useful for climbing surfaces like stone and concrete, which can be difficult to form a vacuum seal around. Once it’s had enough climbing, the little wings deploy, spreading the glider/parachute, and it jumps to relative safety. I say relative because it looks like there’s a bit of a bump at the end there. They’ll work that out in version 2. Unfortunately, the first use I can think of for these things is setting them to climb up apartment buildings and assassinate the fleshy humans within. So this one gets filed under Robocalypse.
|
| Nike’s Mag Sneakers Unveiled, Due For Letterman Appearance Tonight? Posted: 08 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT  Nike made a legion of sneaker geeks’ dreams come true when they sent out their Back To The Future-themed invitations, but the official word has now come down from on high: the Nike Mag is real, and they’re all going on eBay tonight. First things first: the Mags sadly don’t auto-lace. Aside from that, only subtle changes have been made from the original, film-friendly reference design, but it’s likely all for the sake of comfort. Retro-future aficionados will be glad to know that the tri-color, LA Gear-esque lights remain true to the original, as does the electroluminescent Nike logo embroidered on the side. The limited-edition kicks will only be produced in a small 1,500 unit run, but hopefully that scarcity will up drive up demand a bit. While we normally enjoy a good deal around here, all of the proceeds will be going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease Research. Speaking of the fantastic Mr. Fox, he’s currently scheduled to make an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight — the timing seems almost too good to be true, so keep your eyes peeled for a surprise appearance. This reveal has been a long time coming for Nike fans, who have obsessively been tracking the shoe from the grassroots campaign that inspired everything to its more recent appearances. One of the first big clues to the shoe’s existence came from an EA Sports interview with Tinker Hatfield, one of Nike’s most prolific sneaker designers. At about 13 minutes into the video, an assistant tosses Hatfield the shoe just after the interview changes focus onto Nike’s future. Video of a commercial being filmed in the style of the original film’s classic mall parking lot scene also popped up on YouTube back in June, making today’s announcement the culmination of a whole lot of work.
|
| Contour Adds Low-Cost Roam Camera To Its Helmet-Cam Lineup Posted: 08 Sep 2011 12:38 PM PDT  The Contour family of cameras, which competes with GoPro and other small, hardened imaging devices, has a new member. The Roam rounds out the range at the low end, providing the primary functions of the adventure-proof camera for $200, far less than the latest addition and $100 less than the GPS model. Let’s run down the specs. The focus of the Roam is on ease of use and waterproofing. While the other versions of the camera can handle rain or a splash, the Roam is actually waterproof, and is certified to… well, only a meter underwater, but for half an hour. Realistically speaking (though Contour can’t promise it because of the way these things are certified), the pressure difference isn’t going to crack this thing open if you go into the deep end of the pool or kick down to 10 feet to check out a cool eel. Operation has been simplified, too. They wanted this one to simply be recording or not. So you slide the big top slider forward and it records, slide it back and it stops. The button on the back lights up the battery indicators and fires a laser level for keeping your shots straight. The one I’ve got seems skewed a bit counter-clockwise, so you might want to check that before you record. The battery is built-in, which means you won’t be able to quickly switch it out, but hey. The lens is still nice and wide and fairly flush with the body (helps water and dirt off it), and it rotates 90° in one direction and 180° in the other, meaning it can pretty much be mounted anywhere. So what do you give up for this lower price? Well, you can’t use Contour’s cool Bluetooth pairing app that lets you see what the camera sees live. And the image processor and lens aren’t of the same quality as the other cameras. Less configuration options. And there’s no GPS. That said, the construction feels as solid, and the video must be as good as the version I reviewed a while back, which is to say over-compressed but sharp and colorful. It’s shipping today. Pick one up at Contour or your local electronics place.
|
| Samsung’s New Windows 8-Powered Tablet May Debut As Early As Next Week Posted: 08 Sep 2011 11:13 AM PDT  Though Windows 8 is slated for a Fall 2012 release, we may get our first official taste of it next week. Samsung is reportedly building a new tablet based on the Windows 8 operating system, which is set to be unveiled at Microsoft’s BUILD developers’ conference. The conference will be held September 13-16 in Anaheim, California. According to the Korea Economic Daily source (as relayed by the AFP), “this new product manufactured by Samsung will be the company’s first collaboration with Microsoft in its hardware devices.” ThisIsMyNext speculates that Samsung may give the device away to attendees based on an earlier statement by Microsoft, and also suggests that NVIDIA’s new Kal El quad-core processor may be tucked away inside the Samsung slate. Samsung’s extension into Windows turf is likely a product of two things. First, the Googorola deal. Samsung will probably remain a heavily Android-based hardware developer, but a little diversity can’t hurt. Motorola is one of Samsung’s largest competitors both with smartphones and tablets (ish) and their new-found agreement with Google is hardly comforting. Secondly, Apple is on a patent-propelled rampage, looking to kill Samsung as a rival manufacturer, and Android as a rival OS. If Samsung continues to build glossy black, 10-inch tablets in rectangular form, it still may not be able to circumvent Apple’s Community Design 000181607 for the iPad. At least not in Apple’s opinion. Still, the more distance between Samsung and Android, the less attractive Samsung becomes as a target for Apple. As far as Windows 8 goes, here’s what we know so far: There will be a new interface, which will include Windows Phone-style live tiles and replace the standard “Start” menu. Windows 8 will be backwards compatible with all Windows 7-compatible hardware and software, and support tablets and all-in-ones alongside laptops and desktops. Unfortunately, that’s all we have for now, but we’ll probably have plenty more where that came from after BUILD next week. Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of...
|
| Add Chumby To Your TV With NeTV Posted: 08 Sep 2011 06:46 AM PDT  Remember Chumby, the huggable, widget-powered alarm clock that everyone wanted but just couldn’t figure out what to do with? Well it’s back and it wants to mate with your TV. The NeTV is a Chumby that sits inline with your TV and powers a Webkit browser and RSS/social media feed right on your screen. The device is powered by a small remote or an Android phone and it works with most Android photo apps. The tiny device runs an 800MHz CPU and it connects to your network via Wi-Fi. The open source device is under development right now (availability is up in the air) but it really points to some interesting work being done on a device that, at least in terms of hype, has fallen into a trough of interest.
You can watch a video of the device here and we’ll let you know when it’s available.
|
| Posted: 08 Sep 2011 01:00 AM PDT  Here are some of yesterday’s posts on TechCrunch Gadgets:
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch » Gadgets To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
