Here’s another round up of last week’s
gotta know things about gadgets and technology.
The
Organic LED collaboration
Sony and Panasonic collaboration rumors
turned out to be true as the two companies announced that they will be working
together to manufacture OLED panels to develop a new generation of OLED
technology which will enable the mass production of large, high-res OLED TVs
and monitors.
If all goes according to plan, the two
companies will share their resources and tap into each other’s expertise to
fast track R&D efforts for OLED panels. The production of the first set of
this new generation of OLED TVs is scheduled to start in 2013 and will be sold separately
by each brand using different chipsets.
Lawsuits
and Legalities
Facebook quietly pulls out their “Find
Friends Nearby” feature and claims that it was just a test for a new feature
they wanted to add in their mobile app. Friends Nearby, which was first called
as “Friendshake” according to Facebook developers aims to use your device’s GPS
to locate known friends that are near you which in Facebook’s mind will help
people in setting up impromptu hangout sessions.
However, another company called Friendthem,
who makes a similar app that uses the same GPS technology in finding friends,
threatened Facebook with a lawsuit for possible patent infringement a
day after the feature rolled out. According to Friendthem CEO, Charles
Sankowich, the company is still planning to pursue legal actions against the
social networking giant even though the feature was already removed in
Facebook’s mobile app.
On other legal related news, Google’s
thunder at Google I/O was abruptly stolen as US District Court Judge Lucy Koh,
granted Apple the preliminary injunction in an ongoing patent battle with
Samsung. This effectively blocks the sale of the Jelly Bean powered Samsung
Galaxy Nexus in the United States. As a consolation prize for Google, the
injunction is only temporary and was only made possible after Apple posted a
$96 million bond to cover for possible damages Samsung might have incurred from
loss of sales in case the ruling favors the Nexus.
Nevertheless, it just proves how Apple sees
Google’s Nexus brand as a big threat to their iOS devices and their dead
serious in winning this legal patent battle.
Profit
Loss and Possible Collapse
Canadian smartphone and tablet
manufacturer, Research in Motion (RIM), suffered once again a big loss last
Thursday as their Quarter 2 reports showed a jaw-dropping 48% loss in sales
compared to the previous quarter which also translates to a 28 cent loss per
share.
And if that’s not enough, RIM CEO Thorston
Heins, also announced that the release of their BlackBerry 10 smartphone line
will be delayed until next year. And on top of that, financial analyst are also
predicting that in order for RIM to get back on the game, an estimated 5,000
employees might need to be sacked in order to save enough money to keep the
company afloat if their sales won’t change for the better.
Localization
and Local News
On local news, Apple has made the iTunes
available to several Asian countries including the Philippines. This
localization has given iTunes users as well as iOS device users the power to download
multimedia content such as songs and videos from iTunes itself. It also
provides the iMatch feature that was once only available to iOS and iTunes
users abroad.
HTC on the other hand officially welcomed
three new models to its Android smartphone line. The product launch was held at
The Block in SM North EDSA in Quezon City and featured the HTC One S which
completes the current HTC One family alongside the One X and One V.
The Desire family also added new members to
its roster with the HTC Desire C and the Desire V. All three models will come
with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as well as HTC’s own Sense UI v4. The One S
will have an SRP of Php25,000+, while the Desire C and Desire V will start at
Php10,000 and Php16,000 respectively.
And that concludes this week’s episode of Tech Tuesdays! Tune in again next week for the hottest and latest news in the tech world. See you next week. Sayonara!
