Google Buys 1,000 Patents From IBM

Google recently lost out to a consortium of companies, which included Apple in the recent sale of various Nortel Patents, Google originally offered around $900 million for the Nortel patents, which eventually sold for $4.5 billion.

Now it would seem that Google has found to some patents to add to their arsenal, and have recently purchased over 1,030 patents form IBM, which cover a wide range of things including the fabrication and architecture of memory and micro processing chips, and much more, the purchase was originally uncovered by SEO by the Sea.

Google purchased the 1,030 patents in early July, there are no details as yet on how much the company paid for them, but they did release the following statement.

“Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business,

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Apple Wins Dispute Over iPods.com Domain Name

Back in May Apple filed a complaint with the WIPO (world Intellectual Property Organization) over the domain name ‘ipods.com’, and now it would appear that Apple will be getting their hands on the domain without having to pay they owner millions of dollars.

The WIPO has ruled in favor of Apple and have ordered for the ipods.com domain name to be transferred to Apple, and we could see similar things happening in the future with other domain names.

When Apple releases or announces a new product, many people look to capitalize on this by purchasing the domain name for that product, Apple has in the past paid out large amount of money to get their hands on the domain name.

Now the company may go after a number of other domain names which include iPad.com, Macs.com, iPhones.com and many more domain names.

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Apple Suppliers Foxconn To Replace Workers With 1 Million Robots

Foxconn the manufacturers who build a wide range of products for Apple, including the iPhone and iPod employs 1.2 million people in China has announced that they intend to replace some of their workers with robots.

The company currently has over 10,000 robots, and have said that they will expand to over 300,000 robots next year and over 1 million robots within the next 3 years.

The robots will be used for a range of tasks within the company from assembling devices to spraying them, and this is bound to have some sort of effect on the number of people the company employs.

They haven’t as yet said how many employees will be replaced by the robots, but we suspect it will be a large amount of the workforce if one million robots are introduced.

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Digi Launches Xbee 802.11n Wi-Fi Modules

Digi has unveiled a new range of Xbee modules that now support 802.11n Wi-Fi and allow Arduino developers to easily add 802.11n Wi-Fi support to their creations with the addition of the new modules now available from the Digi website.

The new XBee Wi-Fi embedded RF modules provide simple serial to IEEE 802.11 connectivity, and share a common footprint with other XBee modules allowing different XBee technologies to be drop-in as replacements for each other.

Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Digi International explains:

“XBee modules offer developers tremendous flexibility and are extremely easy to use,” – “By adding a low-power Wi-Fi module to the XBee product family we give customers the fastest and most flexible way to get Wi-Fi up and running on their systems.”

XBee Wi-Fi development kits are available now for $149. For more information about the XBee Wi-Fi, visit the Digi website.

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Google’s Chrome Browser Overtakes Firefox In The UK

oogle’s Chrome web browser has be a great success for Google, and it is becoming more and more popular every day, and now here in the UK Google Chrome has become the second most popular web browser and has overtaken Mozilla’s Firefox.

According to a recent report by Statcounter, Google now has 22 percent of the UK’s browser market share, whilst Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still in the top slot with around 45 percent, although it continues to lose market share to both Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox.

This compares with Google Chrome being in third place worldwide with an overall market share of 20.65 percent, and we suspect it wont be long before we see Google’s Chrome in the second spot in the worldwide figures as well.

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New 802.22 Wi-Fi Standard Provides 62 Mile Range From A Single Base Station

f your 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi connection keeps dropping out in certain parts of your house just at the most critical times when surfing the web. You will be pleased to know that a new Wi-Fi standard 802.22 is currently under development, providing a 62 mile range. Which should be plenty even for the largest of estates.

The 802.22 standard uses the new broadcast spectrum that became available when analog TV’s came to an end. The new 802.22 operates in ranges from 54MHz to 698MHz which are perfect for long distance transmissions.

The new longer distance transmissions now mean that speeds of up to 22mbps can be sent over 62 miles, from just a single base station.

Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) takes advantage of the favorable transmission characteristics of the VHF and UHF TV bands to provide broadband wireless access over a large area up to 100 km from the transmitter. Each WRAN will deliver up to 22 Mbps per channel without interfering with reception of existing TV broadcast stations, using the so-called white spaces between the occupied TV channels.

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Facebook Expands In The UK

The worlds largest social networking site is expanding its presence here in the UK, the company is moving to new offices in Covent Garden in London, and it will be renting a 36,000 square foot listed building in the area.

Facebook will be moving into its new UK offices in January of next year, this comes four years after the company opened its first office in the UK, and Facebook will also be recruiting new staff to add to its already 70 strong UK based team.

The UK operation of Facebook focuses mainly on sales of advertising and the company is looking to expand this operation in the UK, and obviously looking to increase their advertising sales.

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iStrike Stylus Digital Match For Capacitive Screens

If you are looking for a stylus a little different from the norm to use on any of your iOS devices, this funky digital match stylus might be worth a look.

The iStrike Stylus from Fred Flare has been created to work with any capacitive touchscreen device and has been designed to offer precision when using art and drawing applications. Also helping to keep your iPad screen free from finger prints and smudges.

So if you are looking for something a little different to the more traditional iPad stylus the new iStrike Digital match stylus will be arriving soon to purchase for $9.99.

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George Lucas Red Tails MovieTrailer (video)

George Lucas’s new World War II movie Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen the first corp of African-American fighter pilots in the United States military, is now reportedly ready for an early 2012 release.

The new movie may be a little closer to earth than the Star Wars Epic George Lucas is so well known for,  but the dog fighting scenes within the new film Red Tails have a halmarks of Lucas. Watch the trailer for the new film after the jump.

1944. World War II rages and the fate of the free world hangs in the balance. Meanwhile the black pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program are courageously waging two wars at once — one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home.

Source: TG Daily

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Rumored iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 Price Cuts at Target

Rumors are flying that Target stores will be cutting the price of the existing iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS smartphones. The assumption is if the cuts are accurate that this may be the ramp up to clear stock ahead of the iPhone 5 launch. According to the rumors, the price cuts aren’t that huge.

Target is rumored to be selling the iPhone 3GS for only $19.99 with a new contract. That makes the iPhone 3GS hands down the best deal around. The rumor also claims that the iPhone 4 will see prices cut as well.

The 16GB version is said to be selling for $149.99 and the 32GB is selling for $249.99 in Verizon form only. All of the new prices would require a new contract. There is also another promotion to save more. Those that trade an iPhone 3GS for the iPhone 4 will get $100 off the iPhone 4.

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Sony Lending Out PS Vita Dev Kits To Indie Developers

Looks like the whole PSN hacking incident has been a transformative experience for Sony, slowly drawing out its more charitable side. Either that, or it’s found a fairly cheap way of banging out the dents in its PR, but for whatever reason one grateful indie developer is reaping the benefits.

“On the basis that you can’t put the cat back in the bag, I can confirm that Sony was generous enough to loan us some kit, and that’s one of the many reasons why I big them up every opportunity I get,” according to managing director Paul Johnson.

“They really do seem to have gotten behind smaller developers, based on my own experience and from talking with other small devs, and I think they should be saluted for it,” he went on. Proof, if it was needed, that Sony know full well the importance of getting the name of your console, no matter how stupid, out there in the headlines.

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Valve Confirms Dota 2 For 2011

Imagine if you will that some years ago Garry’s Mod would have gotten so big and successful that it completely overshadowed Half Life 2 to the extent that Valve wouldn’t even have bothered to release Episode 1 and 2. Not the perfect analogy, mind you, but we’re willing to bet that’s what Warcraft 3 fans who don’t particularly enjoy World of Warcraft feel like. Or would feel like if they actually existed.

Valve is adding a new chapter to its Dota romance by announcing both a firm release date and a Dota contest at Gamescom. “The International is the first public DOTA 2 event and will give the tens of millions of gamers playing Dota around the world their first look at the new game,” said Valve president Gabe Newell.

“I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary.” And if they’re even half as dedicated as the Dota players we’ve met, so are the levels of obsession with the game in question.

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Cut The Rope 2 Confirmed

Ropes and the digital cutting thereof has been a feverish pastime of far too many people possessed of fingers and iPhones for this here announcement to carry any surprise. For the multitudes who are no doubt cutting ropes as we speak, however, it is practically guaranteed to carry an exquisite  payload of sheer, unadulterated joy.

Little is known about the sequel apart from the addition of a mysterious character called the Professor, and what IGN have managed to pry from the bits and pieces they have in their possession, like the fact that protagonist Om Nom is going to be a free frog.. er, bug… um, we’ll just stick with thing, in the sense that he will be leaving his box. In more ways than one, as the imminent release of a Cut The Rope graphic novel indicates.

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Nokia 500 Symbian Anna Smartphone Announced

okia has added another smartphone to its range with the launch of the Nokia 500, and it will come with Symbian Anna and features a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels.

The Nokia 500 features a 1GHz processor and a five megapixel camera on the back, plus 2GB of built in storage, plus a microSD card slot which can take up to 32GB cards.

The Nokia 500 comes with the latest Symbian Anna OS, offering a refreshed UI, a better browser and split-screen messaging. As you’d expect, preinstalled you’ll find the latest version of Nokia Maps for free drive and walk navigation, plus you can download every other app you might need from the Store.

The Nokia 500 also come with b/g WiFi, plus bluetooth 2.1, it will go on sale in quarter three for 150 Euros before taxes.

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iPhone 5 Clones Appear In China

Apple hasn’t even announced the new iPhone 5 yet, which we are expecting to happen some time in September, but it would seem that the iPhone counterfeiters in China have a crystal ball as they have already started producing iPhone 5 clones, even though we don’t know exactly what the iPhone 4 will look like.

We presume that counterfeiters have been reading many of the rumors over the past few months on what the iPhone 5 will look like and feature and they have come up with the following design.

The iPhone 5 clone is currently available in China for about $108 and it comes with a Java based OS, WiFi and MP3 playback, we wonder how long it will take the counterfeiters to change their design when Apple officially announces the iPhone 5.

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Sarcos XOS 2 Exoskeleton Turns You Into Iron Man (Video)

Some of our readers will remember the Sarcos XOS 2 Exoskeleton suit that we featured on the site last year, the manufacturers of the suit have now said that they should be putting it into production within the next five years.

The video belows Actor Clark Gregg who starred in Iron Man 2 as Agent Coulson testing out the Sarcos XOS 2 suit and from the looks of the video the suit has improved since the last time we saw it.

Who knows in five years time these sorts of suits could be used every day by the military, we suspect it may be a few years before they become as functional as the actual Iron Man suits featured in the movies.

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