Samsung and Kodak end patent dispute

Samsung and Kodak have been fighting a long and hard battle — not to mention costly battle — over patents. Now the two firms have agreed to end the fighting, and have reached an agreement which includes a technology cross-license, allowing each to access the other’s portfolio. We got the full press release after the break.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) announced today that it has entered into a technology cross license with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. that will allow each company access to the other’s patent portfolio.

The license agreement, which provides significant benefits to both companies, is royalty bearing to Kodak. The company received a payment from Samsung in December that has been credited toward its royalty obligation. Additional financial details were not disclosed.

The companies also entered into an agreement to file joint requests for the termination of patent infringement proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission, and to settle their patent infringement lawsuits against each other, which are pending in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York and in the German courts. Both the settlement of the litigation and the license agreement become effective upon approval by the International Trade Commission of the joint requests for termination. The ITC is expected to make its determination by the end of January 2010.

“We are pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial arrangement that advances the interests of Kodak and Samsung and which validates the strength of Kodak’s intellectual property portfolio,” said Laura G. Quatela, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company.

Motorola Brute i680

Motorola has announced a new cellphone named Brute i680 which is specifically made to be used and abused in extreme conditions. Since it meets the Military Specification 810F for dust, shock, low and high temperature, humidity, and other aspects - it can be considered a real tuff and rugged clam shell type of mobile phone.

In the inside of the Motorola Brute i680 you can find a 2-megapixel camera with flash, GPS, a big battery, stereo bluetooth, and also the Nextel Direct Connect service for easy and instant one-to-one push-to-talk communication.

Other features of the i680 include the support of 8GB microSD memory card, a few pre-loaded applications like NFL Mobile Live and TeleNav Navigation.

New LG GW990 presented at CES2010

LG has presented a cool smartphone at CES2010, it is codenamed GW990 and as you ca see on the image it has a good looking form and design.

The LG GW990 runs the Mobline operative system and comes with a 4.8-inch touchscreen that has a resolution of 1020×480 pixels, it also boasts a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus + flash LED + being able to record HD video. Other goodies of this top-notch smartphone include an internal memory of 16GB, GPS, 3D gaming, an Intel Atom 45nm Processor, and a slot for microSD memory cards.

One of the good details of this smartphone is that it is suppose to consume much less (10 times less) energy than previous devices that use the Intel Atom processor.

Otterbox Case For Palm Pre

Otterbox is a popular creator of cell phone cases and at CES 2010 they presented a new range of covers for the Palm Pre named Tandem.

The Tandem case is made of silicon and polycarbonate and consists of 2 parts: one for the front that can be easily attached, and another to cling on the back. To make it easy to use you can still use the cellphone with the protective cover, which means no more scratches and a new protection against impact. The only parts that stay visible when using the cover is the screen, the microUSB port, and the camera + flash.

At this moment there is no information about the price of the Tandem cover for Palm Pre.

D-Link presents new wireless adapter DWA-121

D-Link has created what they consider to be the world’s smallest 11n Wi-Fi adapter which is codenamed DWA-121.



The D-Link Compact Wireless N USB Adapter is pretty small, the size of a dime, and it can connect a computer to a WiFi network making it faster and having more coverage than a wireless G connection. It is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

AJ Wang from D-Link, comments:

With its sleek compact design and unmatched performance, this ultra-portable USB adapter is hardly noticeable when inserted into a laptop or desktop PC, making it an ideal choice for setting up a secure, high-performance wireless connection.

Xtreme Mac InCharge Home

Xtreme Mac had a lot of stuff on display for CES 2010, and most of it was related to their InCharge Home. This unit is a dual USB iPhone/iPod wall charger that features a low-profile design that allows charging of any two USB devices and easy access to the second outlet.

The InCharge Home costs about $29.99. The InCharge Home Plus has international adapters for worldwide use and costs $39.99. The InCharge Portable is a rechargeable battery pack with a wall charger adapter and viewing stand for power anywhere on the go. It costs about $79.99. Then there is the InCharge Mobile, a rechargable battery pack and protective case for the iPhone with ultra-thin, low profile design for up to four hours of extra talk time. It also costs $79.99. Oh, by the way, there is the InCharge Auto, a one-piece ultra compact car charger with an extendable coiled cord for $19.99.

Knocking iPhone app for live video transmissions

I think we should live in an age where everyone should take their mobile phone, turn on its camcorder feature, and have that live footage beamed directly to another person’s phone. This is exactly what Knocking, the First Ever Live Video App for the iPhone is designed to do.

I discovered Knocking at Lunch at Piero’s, a lunch meeting held during CES. It works for the iPhone 3GS and 3G and it is available at the App Store, from Pointy Heads Software. Click here for more info on it from the Pointy Heads Newsroom.

Motorola Quantico Cell Phone Review–Another Great Phone

When I first saw the Motorola Quantico, I had to laugh a little.  Just a little, though–I mean, Quantico?  Isn’t that the training center for the FBI?  What does THAT have to do with a cell phone?  But then I picked it up, tried it out a little bit, and discovered, much to my surprise, that the Motorola Quantico had a lot to it.

The Motorola Quantico is a submersible cell phone, capable of lasting thirty minutes submerged in three feet of water.  It also offers a 1.3 megapixel camera with 8x optical zoom–surprising for a small scale digital camera, music and video capabilities with multiple playable formats, a battery capable of 5.8 hours of talk time, Bluetooth connectivity, USB connectivity, a phone book with room for a thousand names and numbers, a push to talk (walkie talkie) option, compatibility with microSD memory cards, calculator and alarm clock.

There’s enough here to make this a good cell phone no matter what it looked like, but considering that it still looks good besides, well, the Motorola Quantico is just a good phone.

The Good

Waterproof

Submergible

Loads of fantastic options

The Bad

Weird name

Would’ve liked to see GPS in here

Score 9/10

MSI X-Slim Notebook, the X420

MSI really put out their best foot forward when it came to computers. The Wind Top AE 2220 Desktop was the first, and a series of ultra-portable notebooks was next. This was the X-Slim series that features Intel’s power saving CULV platform, and an updated Intel Core 2 Duo dual core processor.

One of these is the X420, a notebook with a 14-inch screen. It has a distinctive keyboard with raised keys, as well as MSI’s color film print technology that provides unique design. The X420 supports both 3.5G and WiMAX, and is available in Cappaccuino Brown.

Samsung Star cellphone dedicated to Hello Kitty

Samsung has announced a new version of their Star cellphone, which will now be dedicated to the popular Hello Kitty.

This new version is called Samsung Star S5230 Hello Kitty Edition and obviously comes colored in pink. The technical specifications are the same as the original Star cellphone, which means the device has a 3.2-megapixel camera, FM radio, Bluetooth, MP4 Player, and the TouchWiz Interface.

At the moment the Hello Kitty cellphone from Samsung is available in Spain and Belgium.

MSI Wind Top AE2220

CES 2010 was definitely the launching point for MSI’s new flagship all-in-one computing system, the Wind Top AE2220. The AE2220 has a 16:9 21.5 inch screen with 1080p resolution. It also has a 5.1 channel SRS Premium Sound, and is perfect for running HD movies, and even 3D movies. It is powered by NVIDIA ION graphics and the latest Intel Core 2 Duo/Pentium Dual Core processors.

It also supports the multitouch capability of Windows 7 operating devices. It is available for a price at $749.99.

Motorola HS1001

You would think that this new phone from Motorola would be some new kind of mobile, right? Wrong! It is a digital cordless phone, and it certainly looks like it is made to stay inside.

The HS 1001 has a digital answering machine with 15 minutes of recording time, caller ID and picture caller ID, MP3 Ring melody an contact transfer via SD card, and speaker on handset (mono) and base (stereo). Not only that, this is equipped to run Wi-Fi and Android 1.6! It also has a 2.8 inch resistive touchscreen (QVGA).

FastPencil Mobile App for iPhones

For the authors,bloggers and writers who have an iPhone or iPod Touch, here is an app that should come in handy. The FastPencil Mobile app is an authoring application for people who may be aching to write something wherever they may be.

FastPencil’s mobile app lets on-the-go authors use their iPhone to easily capture and organize inspiration within their FastPencil book projects and edit their books anytime. This app is free for download to anyone and is now available at the iTunes app store.

Wedding Photography Studio App for iPhones Announced

Here is something handy for the people who have taken photography to another level. Ideal for the wedding photographers, the SmartStudio app for the iPhone helps photographers manage payments across multiple bookings and payment milestones, capture prospective clients, manage bookings and the details for each booking. While it looks more like a management tool, big time wedding photographer groups should find this app handy to avoid haggard bookings and tracking transactions and most of all payments! The app comes from the Gorilla Group.

Samsung T569 for T-Mobile?

There are rumours about a new cellphone that might go directly for T-Mobile’s lineup, it’s the good looking Samsung T569 which can be considered basic and simple - it doesn’t mean it’s bad.

The Samsung T569 can be seen as an entry-level cellphone and will boast a display screen with 200×400 pixels as the resolution, bluetooth, SMS & MMS, and MyFaces service. The cellphone will make use of v1.5 of the Dolphin Browser so you can surf the internet on the best way possible.

So if you want a simple with normal features the Samsung T569 might be a good bet…

Samsung cameras and digital frames to use LTE technology

Samsung has a couple of cool products at CES 2010 and some of them use the LTE technology which will be launched by Verizon during this year. In case you don’t know, LTE is directly related to the upcoming 4G wireless data network that is faster than the rest.

While most people were waiting to see cellphones with LTE, the news are related to a Samsung Camera codenamed ST1000 and a digital photo frame, as well as a MID dubbed Pionner.

What’s the use of LTE on a camera and digital photo frame? After shooting a photo or recording a video, the content is quickly sent to the photo frame.

iType is a QWERTY keyboard for the iPhone

Popular manufacturer of iPhone accessories - ION - has recently presented their new product called iType which is basically a full QWERTY keyboard that almost transforms the iPhone into a simple Mac.

There is only one problem: since the iPhone isn’t able to recognize the keystrokes from the iType, you must use another iType application to write everything you want, and afterwards send the content via email or do a normal copy/paste.

At the moment there isn’t an exact price for the iType keyboard, but rumours mention a price tag of $100.

Samsung Jitterbug now in Red

Samsung has a simple and yet good cellphone named Jitterbug, and they decided to launch a new version of the device that will only have one color - red - and will be named “Jitterbug J in Red”.

This initiative to launch the Jitterbug cellphone in red is for a good cause, it’s to collaborate with a movement called “American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women”.

Besides the new color there aren’t any new specifications. The Jitterbug J in Red will become available later this month.

Palm adds video-recording to webOS devices

Until a few days ago there was no way to record and share videos in webOS devices, but Palm has made an announcement that will change that deficiency.

Starting in February all the webOS devices will be able to record and share videos with other devices of the same kind. Think of the editing video tool that exists on the iPhone, because that’s what the webOS is going to have.

With that being said, users will be able to upload the video to YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites, as well as editing the video on the device.

Google lauches “Near Me Now” feature for iPhone and Android

Google has recently launched a new service named “Near Me Now” specifically for the iPhone and Android. As the name suggests, this service lets people find POIs - points of interest - which are near the location of the user.

One of the good details of this recently launched feature is the inclusion of a “category search” which makes it easy to locate movie theaters, malls, and other POIs.

The “Near Me Now” feature is compatible with iPhones that run the v3.0 (and up) and also with Androids running v2.0.1 and up.

Parrot to create flying helicopter for iPhone

Parrot is a popular manufacturer of bluetooth accessories and other products, but it looks like they are trying anther route because they just announced at CES their next intention, which is to create a helicopter (toy) that can be controlled via an iPhone.

The supposed helicopter will be connected to the iPhone via WiFi and comes with two cameras - one to calculate the speed and another to display the vision on the iPhone screen.

On top of this new helicopter project, Parrot also wants to released games with augmented reality.

LG GT540 at CES 2010

LG GT540 is the codename of the cellphone that was unveiled at CES 2010 a few days ago, and it’s also the third LG phone that runs on the Android system.



The GT540 is not a top-notch phone, it can be considered medium and features a touchscreen display with a resolution of 240×400 pixels. It includes various Google services, DivX support so you can watch videos easily, a slot for MicroSD memory cards, a 3-megapixel camera with face tracking, and HDSPA connectivity.

At the moment there is no information about the price of the LG GT540 that will become available in Europe later this year.

Motorola Milestone getting Android 2.1

Motorola Europe has revealed plans of updating the Android OS to version 2.1 on the very popular Milestone, but first, the device will receive a 2.01 update of the OS, which would hit in a few weeks, while the 2.1 update is two months away, according to Motorola.

HP Pavilion dv4i

HP has released a new laptop on the Pavilion series, more specifically the dv4i which is a 14.1-inch notebook with an Intel Core i5 processor in the inside.

The HP Pavilion dv4i can have up to 8GB of DDR3 memory RAM, as well as a hard-drive with 500GB of storage capacity, and an optional ATI Radeon 4550 with 512MB. The display screen of the latest HP Pavilion has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, and you can opt for a DVD burner or a Blu-ray drive.

Other goodies of the dv4i include an optional HDTV tuner, webcam + mic, stereo speakers, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, 3 USB ports, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and another optional deatil which is the fingerprint reader.

This laptop runs Windows 7 Home Premium and is already available at the online store of HP for $800.

Inrix Traffic Pro

Inrix has announced the price of their application - Inrix Traffic Pro - for the iPhone and it will cost $10 per year, or in case you are planning to use it for more than one year the best choice is t pay $25 for a lifetime subscription.

The Inrix Traffic Pro application provides an easy way to save and display your usual routes/destinations, and can also show you the view from different traffic cameras so you know exactly what to wait for…

One of the best details of Inrix Traffic Pro is the “Best time to leave” feature, which like the name suggests tells you the best time to go from one point to another without getting “hit” by traffic.

MobileNavigator for Android: pretty soon…

Navigon has announced that their popular application also known as MobileNavigator will soon become available for Android systems located in the USA. In case you don’t know, their system uses preloaded maps which means you don’t have to worry about network coverage when using it.

The Navigon MobileNavigator for Android phones will come with a few interesting features:
- Reality View Pro;
- Lane Assistant Pro;
- Speed assistance with audio-visual warning;
- day and night mode;
- automatic switch between portrait and landscape format;
- text-to-speech;
- and more…

At this moment there isn’t exact information about the price or release date of the application.