Hardware Copyright Battles

Since 2011, the heated battle between Samsung and Apple has run wild, creating stirs in the internet community and the world. Apple sued Samsung for various copyright infringements including Samsung's Galaxy Tab and their Galaxy phones. In response to this attack on their validity, Samsung counter-sued them with similar claims of copyright infringments with Apple's Iphone and technologies. 

So, the last month the court drama came to a climax with final arguments and evidence being presented by both parties. Then, a few days ago the final verdict was given by the jury and Samsung was slammed with a 1 billion dollar damage payment for infringing on a lot of Samsung's best-seller mobile devices. This is surely a hard hit for Samsung, not only against their pockets, but also their reputation. 

The whole debacle has thrown copyright infringements back into the spotlight. Recently, and less in the news, was the Oracle vs Google infringement case. Oracle sued Google for allegedly infringing on Java patents with their Android operating system. 

For years, technology has been fragmented more than it is today in the sense of advancements, that made it a lot harder to infringe on existing patents. But in the past few decades, technology, and specifically computer technology has grown to include many standards. And the more standard something is, the closer it gets to being the same as another guy's own design. 

A few older cases comes to mind, such as Apple's claim against Psystar in 2008 for their 'hackintosh' systems that came loaded with Apple's OS.

It is the opinion of many a internet-blogger that Apple will be going after Google next, for various infringement they have committed against Apple's devices. Google has been going strong with innovation, but perhaps they are running out of ideas? More and more things they release are starting to feel like copies of other people's work. Such as their Android system's similarities to Java and other related mobile operating systems (such as Apple's own mobile OS, iOS). Apple has always been intent on their patents, and have been hunting copycats for years.

If there's one thing we have learned from this court drama between Samsung and Apple, its that you can only get away with blatent technology theft for so long. Don't get me wrong, I use a Samsung phone myself, which is like a small, less fancy iPhone. But in the end it is so close to Apple's phones that I agree with the verdict of the court on this matter. In my opinion, we might see more copyright lawsuits come up after this case, as it has set a precident for copyright infringement.

Microsoft RT and why you can't say 'metro' anymore

The line between Netbooks, Notebooks and Tablets are slowly merging into one gigantic pool of confusion. Recently, with the release of Windows 8, Microsoft also announced a version of their software that would run on ARM devices, which in essence will be in between a tablet and a laptop. But what is Windows RT as it is called, and what makes it different?

Windows RT is simply abbreviated letters for Runtime, which is the name of the engine that runs the "Metro" apps. Unlike the regular version of Windows 8, RT will be sold directly to manufacturers and will be preloaded on RT devices. Those will often have a detachable keyboard, but also a touch screen so that it functions both as a laptop and a tablet. It will only run apps downloaded from the Windows Store, similar to a tablet or smartphone.
RT Tablets will supposedly have longer battery life, faster gesture support, NFC(Near Field Communication) and better graphics than other tablets, according to an article on Cnet.

This effectively creates a new level of computing device that falls somewhere between the currently popular tablets, and the more powerful notebooks or laptops. Netbooks have all but died in the market with the tablet revolution currently in effect.

Dell, Lenovo and Samsung will be developing Windows RT computers, and Asus has already announced a RT tablet in the works.
One version of the Microsoft Surface, their own tablet, will also run Windows RT.

Windows RT will not include Windows Media Player, but have a RT version of the new office.

With all the hype in tablets, Microsoft is really putting out to fit the market, and in my humble opinion, they are not doing a bad job. They have been aiming high since Windows 8's announcement and so far they have not dissappointed where the big picture is concerned. We will have to wait and see if the Windows RT tablets are feasible in a market where Apple and Samsung already flies high.

While we are on the subject of Microsoft, they have recently changed the official naming of the 'metro'-style appearance of Windows 8 to simply calling it Windows 8. The reason for this is that they are stepping lightly around using the name after German retailer Metro AG supposedly implied that they were unhappy with Microsoft using the name. According to MS, the name was more of a code name that they would slowly change away from when the OS was finally released, but personally I think the name will stay with us forever. The dreaded Metro, so user-friendly that people like me will dislike it because it is too automatic for my taste.

Microsoft is busy this year, and many are waiting for the release of Windows 8 in October when RT, Windows Phone 8 and the Surface will make their appearances. We'll see how it all pans out in the end.

Curiosity has landed

Having been flying towards Mars at a steady pace for 36 weeks, NASA's Hi-tech, unmanned, planet-driving, automated explorer 'rover', dubbed Curiosity, landed this past Sunday on the red planet, and have already sent back images for the whole world to see.

The rover is as large as a car, and was carefully lowered using pinpoint calculations via a sky-crane and various complicated manoeuvres. Powered by nuclear power, and sporting dozens of different instruments, it is the largest rover to be used by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and its main purpose is to determine of Mars ever sustained or could sustain life.

It has landed in the Gale crater, which is believed to contain sediments of millions of years, and could provide valuable insight to the history of the planet.
The Curiosity has already sent back several images from its landing point, but in the coming few days or weeks the mast will be deployed which contains a high-resolution colour camera.

Some internet sources speculate that after this the next logical step would be to put a man or woman on the red planet. Whether this sci-fi thinking will become reality remains to be seen, but the whole operation is a credit to humanity and computers.