Maximum PC - News

Acer Initiates Legal Action Against Former Chief Lanci for Joining Lenovo

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:35:34 +0000

The breakup between Acer and its former Chief Executive Officer, Gianfranco Lanci, was mildy tense, but swift and free of any drama when the two parted ways almost a year ago. And it probably would have stayed that way too, except Lanci accepted a gig with Lenovo, a move that prompted Acer to file a lawsuit in Italy for an alleged breache of a non-compete clause Lanci signed with his former company.

Lanci joined Lenovo as a consultant in September of last year, and then was brought in on a permanent basis in January 2012 to head the company's new Europe, Middle East, and Africa division. None of that has been sitting well with Acer, which claims Lanci was bound by a 12-month non-compete agreement, the Financial Times reports.

Acer brought Lanci on board in 1997. Over the course of the next decade and beyond, Lanci proved instrumental in Acer's rise to the near top. But things came to a head when he and Acer's board disagreed on a product strategy in the emerging mobile handset landscape, and specifically the amount of focus that should be put on smartphones and tablets.

"On the company's future development, Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members, and could not reach a consensus following several months of dialog," Acer said in a written statement.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich Gets Delicious Chrome Topping

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:46:10 +0000

Depending on whose market share numbers you believe, Google Chrome is the second or third most popular browser on the desktop, by a hair either way. Now you can download Chrome on your Android smartphone or tablet, but only if you're running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It's available as a beta app in the Android Market, and just like the desktop version, Google said it focused on speed and simplicity.

Chrome for Android sports the same V8 JavaScript engine found in the desktop build, but was constructed from the ground up for mobile devices.

"We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet," Google said in a blog post. "You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the Web."

Chrome for Android makes clicking on links easier by zooming in and presenting a "Link Preview." If you sign in to Chrome, you can sync your bookmarks and view tabs you have open on your computer. And of course there's the ever popular Incognito mode for, uh, shopping surprise gifts for your significant other.

You can download Chrome for Android here.

Image Credit: Google

Oracle Scoffs at $272 Million Award from SAP, Seeks New Trial

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:59:59 +0000

Oracle wants no part of a court-ordered $272 million award levied against SAP AG for copyright infringement and will the roll the dice on a retrial instead. The $272 million verdict is a little more than a billion dollars less than what Oracle was originally owed until U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton cut the original $1.3 billion award in September of last year, calling it "grossly excessive."

"Oracle’s objective is to obtain clarification of the law and, if it is right about what the law is and what the evidence supports in this case, to vindicate the verdict of the jury and Oracle’s intellectual property rights as a copyright owner," Oracle attorney Geoffrey Howard said in a federal court filing yesterday, Bloomberg reports.

SAP said it was "disappointed" with Oracle's decision to start the whole legal process anew rather than accept the multi-million dollar verdict. Oracle, meanwhile, claims it was backed in a corner where it had "no choice but to elect a new trial, as accepting the remittitur would force Oracle to risk waiving its right to appeal the Court's decision."

At issue is a "hypothetical" license Oracle wants to charge SAP. Oracle convinced a jury that SAP's now defunct TomorrowNow business illegally downloaded code, and it sought up to $4 billion in damages. SAP was thinking something in the range of $40 million, plus another $120 million for legal fees. Oracle was willing to accept the $1.3 billion verdict, but not the reduced figure of $272 million because it doesn't add up to what a valid license would have run if TomorrowNow obtained the software legally.

Image Credit: icanhascheezburger.com

Microsoft to Sell Lumia 800 Unlocked in $899 Bundle

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:52:55 +0000

If you’re got a hankering for a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone and don’t want to wait for the Lumia 900 to drop on AT&T, Microsoft might have you covered very shortly. Microsoft will reportedly be selling Lumia 800 bundles in its retail stores on February 14th for a whopping $899. While that’s a big number, users get more than the phone in the deal.

The Lumia 800 is the international Nokia flagship device. The screen is slightly smaller than the 900, and it lacks a front-facing camera, but the 800 will be unlocked in the bundle. In addition to the phone, buyers will get a Nokia Play 360 wireless speaker, a Purity HD headset, and a Bluetooth earpiece. Unlocked devices regularly clock in at $600 or more, so it’s not that bad of a deal for those interested in a contract-free unlocked device. 

At this time, Microsoft has not plans to sell the Lumia 800 sans bundle deal. If $899 is too steep, you’ll have to pick up a Lumia 900 from AT&T on contract, or wait for the price to come down. Anyone biting on this?

Special Edition Star Wars Xbox 360 Coming This Spring

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:07:06 +0000

On April 3rd of this very year, we know exactly where you can find the droids you’re looking for. Microsoft is releasing a special edition Xbox 360 console done up to look like the iconic droids from the Star Wars movies. The system was first teased at last year’s Comic Con. The bundle comes with the system and a few Kinect-related extras for $449.

Buyers will get a 320GB console painted to resemble R2-D2, and a controller with a C-3PO gold finish. The box also includes a Kinect sensor and two games; Star Wars Kinect and Kinect Adventures. The latter has been around for since the Kinect launched, but Star Wars Kinect has five game modes plucked from the Star Wars saga. There are podraces, lightsaber duels, Galactic Dance-off (for some reason), and more. 

The Xbox 360 is coming toward the end of its life cycle, so the wisdom of getting a new console now is dubious at best. Although, if you’re going to get one, this might be justifiable for the Star Wars fans out there. 

$35 Home Theater-Friendly Raspberry Pi PC To Start Shipping Soon

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:45:49 +0000

The delay of the Raspberry Pi PC has had geeks hankering for some serious on-the-cheap computing action pulling out their hair in frustration. The charity foundation offering the $25/$35 Pi has been teasing us with videos of its awesomeness for months, showing off the PC's chops at playing 1080p video and Quake 3, shifting media via AirPlay technology, running XBMC and loads more. Unfortunately, the Pi missed its initial launch window. But don't worry: the Raspberry Pi foundation just committed to a new manufacturing date and even released a datasheet for the Broadcom SoC powering the Pi.

The first round of 10,000 Raspberry Pi PCs are set to finish manufacturing in China on February 20th. After that, they'll be shipped to the U.K, where the foundation hopes to start shipping out orders by the end of February. The reason for the delay? The quartz crystals used in the Pi were readily abundant in England, where the PC was designed, but a newer, cheaper crystal had helped to dry up supplies of the component in China. The team reports the problem is now taken care of and everything is ready to go.

The foundation also coaxed Broadcom into releasing a 205 page datasheet detailing nitty-gritty about the BCM2835 SoC that supplies the brawn for the Raspberry Pi. Dive in here (PDF) if you want, but be warned: the water's deep, dense and difficult to swim through if you don't know the tech inside and out.

Be sure to check out this article showing Raspberry Pi in action, and thanks to Geek.com for pointing this out!

MIT Scientist Offers $100k Prize To Anyone Able To Prove Quantum Computing Is Useless

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:17:01 +0000

We've heard you snickering in the corner. Quantum computing is definitely a solid theory; scientists have been able to make a couple of electrons dance to the same proverbial tune for a while now. But what use is that? Critics say that quantum theory is mostly a mind exercise and will never be able to scale up for useful applications. Well, one MIT quantum scientist is sick of hearing that crap, and Scott Aaronson is putting his money where his mouth is in the form of a $100,000 prize to anyone able to demonstrate that "scalable quantum computing is impossible in the physical world."

Basically, you'd need to prove that quantum computers will never be able to do anything useful.

Critics have already jumped out of the woodwork to accuse Aaronson of the equivalent of trying to disprove Bigfoot, but he disagrees. "To me, though, that completely misses the point," he writes. "Whether Bigfoot exists is a question about the contingent history of evolution on Earth.  By contrast, whether scalable quantum computing is possible is a question about the laws of physics."

Scientifically disproving the scalability of quantum computing would be a gargantuan task -- and it would also render Aaronson's ongoing work moot. Still, Aaronson isn't worried. (If he was, he wouldn't be ponying up $100k of his personal money.) Plus, he notes, if this inspires someone to scientifically cast quantum computing into the fires of Mordor, Aaronson's cash will be a drop in the bucket compared to the Nobel prize money the recipient would likely receive for one of the most important physics discoveries in a long time.

Aaronson's blog has all the details, and he's been very responsive to answering questions from commenters. Or, if you want to brush up about recent happenings on the QC front, feel free to check out our articles about the "World's First Programmable Quantum Photonic Chip," entangling ions with microwaves, or breaking the laws of single-particle physics with ultrapure gallium arsenide semiconductor crystals. Oh, and thanks to Popular Science for pointing the contest out!

Image credit: cacm.acm.org

The Legality Of "Used" MP3 Sales Is Headed To Court

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:27:37 +0000

Courts have said it again and again: consumers have the right to resell their used physical media. That's why used game sales are booming at GameStop and you can pick up old Michael Jackson CDs at a buck a pop down at your local flea market. But do those same rights apply to digital versions? Can you "resell" an iTunes track? We'll know soon enough, as the concept is slated to have its day in court soon.

At the heart of the matter is a lawsuit EMI tossed at ReDigi, CNET explains. ReDigi resells digital music tracks; if you want to ditch a song, ReDigi peeks through your hard drive, copies the track, and wipes the original from your PC. In return, you're given 20 cents worth of credit towards buying "used" music through ReDigi, which normally cost $0.79 a track.

ReDigi doesn't offer new music of its own; the only tracks available for purchase are "used" tracks uploaded by users. When a "used" MP3 is sold, it's wiped from ReDigi's servers. Because of that, ReDigi claims its sales are protected by the "First Sale" doctrine that allows you to legally sell your Wilco vinyl back to your indie record store.

EMI claims that First Sale doesn't apply here because ReDigi isn't selling the original music file, but what EMI asserts is an illegal copy of the original file. The company was hoping the court would issue an injunction to immediately bar ReDigi from conducting business, but the presiding judge declined and said that he wants the "fascinating" issue to hit trial. He said the trial would decide whether the sale of "used" MP3s is legal or "just Napster with an in-between step," the New York Times reports.

What do you think? Should you be able to sell "used" iTunes tracks, or is EMI correct in calling the files illegal copies?

Image credit: redigi.com

RIM's App World Numbers Not as Great as Reported

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:38:08 +0000

At RIM’s BlackBerry DevCon in Amsterdam today, new CEO Thorsten Heins made a bit of a splash by throwing out some statistics on BlackBerry App World. According to Heins, RIM’s app ecosystem is not in such bad shape after all. The problem is that the numbers were presented in a way that allowed misinterpretations, and that’s just what happened. Let’s clear that up really fast.

It was reported that App World was more profitable for developers than the Android Market or the App Store. What Heins actually said, was that a higher percentage of App World devs make over $100,000, 13% in all. This is what you would expect with a smaller pool of developers for users to buy from. The other number that caught people off guard was the assertion that there are 43% more daily downloads per app on BlackBerry than on iOS. This was reported as ‘43% more app downloads,’ but it’s only saying that each app is downloaded 43% more often. Again, this is what you would expect in a smaller app store with fewer choices. 

Despite the fuzzy reporting, the numbers cited do at least show that App World isn’t withering on the vine. It’s not as big as the App Store or Android market, but developers can still make a living making BlackBerry apps. For how long we cannot say.

Motorola Droid 4 Drops at Verizon on Friday for $200

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:02:04 +0000

With such a steady clip of Droid devices marching into the smartphone marketplace, eventually you're bound to find the Droid you're looking for. Maybe it's Motorola's Droid 4 you've been holding out for, a 4G LTE smartphone with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, five-row QWERTY keyboard, and a 4-inch qHD display with scratch and scrape resistant glass. If so, you only have to wait a few more days.

The Droid 4 lands at Verizon on February 10, 2012 for $200 with a two-year service agreement. In addition to the above mentioned specs, the Droid 4 also boasts an 8MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture, 1.3MP front-facing camera for video chat. 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot for up to an additional 32GB of storage space, a generous heaping of 1GB of RAM, and the usual assortment of goodies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

So what's the verdict, is the Droid you've been looking for, or are you waiting on something else?