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Galaxy Nexus pulled from Google Play store
The Galaxy Nexus isn't available on Google Play anymore.
(Credit: CNET)
Google today pulled the Galaxy Nexus smartphone from its Google Play store.
Customers can no longer buy the device from the store, which has replaced the purchase button with a note that says "coming soon." Below it is a form to sign up for e-mail alerts for when the phone becomes available. Electronista first spotted the change.
Google, however, confirmed that it would begin selling the Galaxy Nexus again next week. The phone will come with Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean.
The Galaxy Nexus is perhaps the most high-profile device affected by the legal squabbling between Apple and the various Google vendors. Samsung Electronics, which has been the most successful vendor with Android, has been one of the primary targets of Apple's patent infringement lawsuits.
Apple iPad 'Mini' rumors heat up; launch seen by year's end
Rumors of an Apple iPad "Mini" are starting to get some credible backing.
Apple's component suppliers are gearing up for mass production of a smaller-sized iPad in September, said The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg, meanwhile, similarly reported that a 7 or 8-inch tablet is in the works, and will debut by the end of the year.
iPad mini may not boast the Retina-display of the regular-sized iPad 3.
The Wall Street Journal's two sources --- who asked not to be named --- claim the new tablet will "likely come with a screen smaller than 8-inches," compared to the iPad's 9.7-inch screen. Since its launch in 2010, the iPad has not seen a screen size change, though the iPad 3 boasts a high-definition, pixel-packed Retina display.
Apple is said to be working with LG Display for the "iPad Mini" screens, according to one of the sources, while the other said Apple had signaled to manufacturing partners to prepare for mass production on the smaller tablet.
It follows earlier reports that the so-called "iPad Mini" would arrive in the third-quarter in time for the Christmas holiday, and corroborating recent rumblings that the technology giant is preparing to launch the production lines for the highly-anticipated device.
NPD DisplaySearch's Richard Shim told CNET on Tuesday that there was a "business plan" for a 7.85-inch iPad. He also noted how supply chain companies -- firms that make the components and build the end-product -- were gearing up the production lines, but noted that "plans can be altered."
Bloomberg reports the long-awaited "smaller, cheaper iPad" may be announced by October, but will lack the high-definition Retina display that the iPad 3 boasts.
Sterne Agee & Leache analyst Shaw Wu said the "iPad mini" will likely sell at a similar price tag to that of the Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 tablet.
Last week, Google debuted the 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet, selling at $199 -- the same price as the Android-powered Kindle Fire -- and will likely end up serving as the prime competition to Apple's anticipated 7-inch iPad.
Microsoft's Windows-powered Surface tablet, announced in June, has a larger 10.6-inch display, but pricing has yet to be announced. Windows division president Steven Sinofsky said the device will be "priced like comparable tablets."
Surface is also expected to debut on store shelves this fall in time for Christmas
Facebook Shifts Its Approach to Payments
It knows who you are. It knows what you like. Now it wants to make it easier for you to buy things, in your own currency.
Facebook on Tuesday signaled its ambitions to grow as a payment platform, with changes to how its users can buy goods and services without leaving its site. It is also a clear indication to Wall Street that the company is pushing to make more money. Concerns about the company’s revenue prospects have held back its shares since its public offering last month.
Until now, Facebook has had its own virtual currency, called Facebook Credits, which was used mainly to buy virtual goods in games like FarmVille. Facebook took a 30 percent cut from those sales, bringing in a hefty 15 percent of total revenue last year. The changes announced on Tuesday are designed to encourage companies well beyond game developers to sell their wares on the Facebook platform itself. It carries the additional benefit of potentially keeping Facebook users on the site longer and harnessing more data about what they buy.
The changes announced are twofold. First, Facebook users will be able to subscribe to services that require monthly payments. In the past, the service allowed one-time payments only. Second, users will be able to pay for things on Facebook in their own currency, rather than credits, which is vital for Facebook because it is a global network.
“By supporting pricing in local currency, we hope to simplify the purchase experience, give you more flexibility, and make it easier to reach a global audience of Facebook users who want a way to pay for your apps and games in their local currency,” Facebook said in a blog post for app developers.
The new system will allow users to plug in their credit card information once and store it on Facebook, just as they could to buy Facebook Credits. But now, with one click, they will be able to buy whatever is on offer, priced in their own currency: a magazine subscription in euros, say, or concert tickets in dollars or games in Indian rupees.
At the moment, there isn’t a whole lot to buy on Facebook, though companies like Spotify, which offer music streaming, or Milyoni, which streams movies and concerts on Facebook, can take immediate advantage of the monthly subscriptions and seamless payments.
The changes will begin next month, the company said, and are designed to work on mobile devices as well.
Facebook is far from becoming iTunes, which is Apple’s online entertainment store. But the tweaks announced Tuesday are a nod to the Apple model, where you pay in dollars and cents, not a whimsical currency. It is also a window into how Facebook is seeking to bring in more revenue from sources other than advertising.
“They are showing us we care about driving revenue, and I think that’s great,” said Michael Pachter, an equities analyst with Wedbush Securities. “That’s what investors want to see.”
Microsoft Shows Off Payment Technology in New Phone Software
Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone, hasn’t made much of an impact on the phone market. But the company is far from giving up. It is investing even more in the software with a major upgrade set for release this fall. What’s it got that the iPhone doesn’t? A complete mobile payment system.
The new software, Windows Phone 8, will be built on the same foundation as Windows 8, the next version of Microsoft’s operating system for desktops and tablets, the company said on Wednesday at a conference for software developers in San Francisco.
Among other features, Windows Phone 8 introduces support for hardware with near-field communication, a technology that enables devices to exchange information wirelessly over very short distances, allowing smartphones to be used for payments. Accompanying that, Windows Phone 8 will include a wallet application to store credit cards, coupons, frequent flyer accounts and customers’ credit and debit card information.
That’s a bit better than what Apple offers for mobile payments. Apple’s new iPhone software, due out this fall, has a similar wallet app called Passbook. But its hardware doesn’t include near-field communication, so it relies on displaying bar codes to redeem purchases. (The addition of Passbook, however, hints that Apple may be preparing to add near-field to a future iPhone.)
Other than enabling payments, the technology will allow Windows phones to pull off some other nifty tricks. Tapping two phones together could exchange business cards, or link the phones to play a board game, said Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s vice president for the Windows phone program.
Windows Phone 8 will also add features like encryption to improve security and support for multicore processors, which would improve multitasking.
WP8 won't run on current Windows Phone, a problem for Nokia
Windows Phone 8, coming in the fall, won't run on existing Windows Phones, Microsoft said during the launch of the smartphone operating system Wednesday.
As a result, analysts expect sales of existing Windows Phone models to get battered in the coming months, creating acute problems for the ailing Nokia, which makes Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 7.5.
"Because Windows Phone 7 is not truly upgradeable to Windows Phone 8, this could have a negative impact on sales of existing WP7 smartphones, Nokia's Lumia devices in particular," said Malik Saadi, an analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, on Thursday.
Saadi said wireless carriers and users will hold off on purchasing smartphones running the Windows Phone OS until the new devices that run WP8 are on the market in the fall. "This will have a serious impact on Nokia's financial performance this quarter as the company relies strongly on Windows Phones as the main platform for its smartphones."
Nokia could not be reached for comment. A week ago, Nokia said it was laying off 10,000 workers amid poor sales of low-cost phones and its Symbian-based phones, while the share of its new Windows Phone sales was still small.
Some features of Windows Phone 8 will be part of upgrades to Windows Phone 7.0 and 7.5 devices, including the Lumia 900 and Lumia 800, with an interim version called Windows Phone 7.8. But WP7.8 will only "mimic Windows Phone 8 but will lack performance and functionality that will require a deep integration with the hardware," Saadi said in an email.
Part of the reason for the lack of integration is that today's Windows Phones run single-core processors. Microsoft is promising that WP8 will run on smartphones with multicore processors and high-definition screens that support more sophisticated video and gaming applications.
Aside from concerns over phone sales, Saadi said he considers WP8 a marked improvement over WP7, and a possible "game-changer" for the platform that could bring back key manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and LG. Microsoft on Wednesday said that Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Huawei are working on Windows Phone 8 smartphones.
For the most part, analysts say Windows Phone 8 brings the OS into parity with Android and iOS smartphones. WP8 will have near field communication (NFC) technology, a mobile wallet, an updated start screen, support for encryption and the "secure boot" specification, built-in Nokia Navteq map technology and a full Internet Explorer 10 browser with new HTML 5 features.
Another new feature -- a removable micro-SD card -- will allow users to expand storage. Apple doesn't have expandable storage in its iPhone, and the feature would help set the Windows Phone apart, analysts noted.
"Differentiating WP8 from the iPhone by adding SD card capabilities is ... a positive move," said Al Hilwa, an analyst at IDC.
However, Saadi said IT managers might be concerned about losing corporate data when a micro-SD card is removed from a WP8 phone and obtained by someone not authorized to have the data. "An external SD card makes operators and IT managers quite nervous," he said. It isn't clear whether WP8's encryption capabilities could be applied to the SD card data.
EBay Plans Data Center That Will Run on Alternative Energy Fuel Cells
EBay plans to build a data center to handle its billions of dollars in retail transactions that will draw its power from alternative energy fuel cells rather than the national power grid, which is heavily dependent on coal plants.
Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy servers. The company will provide the cells for a new data center that will handle eBay’s retail transactions.
It will be the first major tech company to use alternative power as a primary source for energy-hungry data centers, although the new center will connect to the electricity grid for backup. Environmental groups have issued a series of rebukes to Internet companies because of their heavy reliance on coal-fired power to run their centers.
Some companies already use alternative energy to run the data centers that power social networks, stream entertainment or manage commercial transactions, but only as a supplemental source.
EBay plans to use about six million watts of power generated on-site by fuel cells, which are a substantially cleaner and more efficient source of energy than coal, in its new data center in South Jordan, Utah. The company also operates PayPal, the online payment service, out of the South Jordan site. Bloom Energy, a private company in Sunnyvale, Calif., will make the fuel cells.
The new center will double the size of an existing data center there, which will still be on the grid. The grid will serve mainly as a backup power source for the new center. Even so, the fuel cells will account for less than 15 percent of the energy needs of all eBay data centers around the country — a clue that the industry is likely to remain deeply dependent on the grid and its energy mix indefinitely.
“Does it have risk? Sure. Did it require investment? Sure. But it’s an investment and a risk that is worth taking,” said John Donahoe, president and chief executive of eBay. Mr. Donahoe and KR Sridhar, co-founder and chief executive of Bloom Energy, confirmed the fuel cell plans. EBay signed an agreement this week with Bloom for the fuel cells.
Haresh Kamath, program manager for energy storage and distributed generation at the Electric Power Research Institute, said that it was still unknown how the fuel cells would hold up.
“Purely from a power-reliability standpoint, it’ll be interesting to see how this proceeds,” Mr. Kamath said. “I’m glad that somebody is trying to do this.”
Mr. Sridhar sought to dispel those doubts, saying that the Bloom cells were specifically designed so that no simple string of failures could bring a system down. Thirty Bloom cells will be installed at the eBay data center.
Arrays of various sizes are in use by more than 20 major organizations, including FedEx, Wal-Mart, AT&T and Kaiser Permanente. But Peter Gross, vice president of mission critical systems at Bloom, said that nothing was comparable to the data center redesign undertaken by eBay. That redesign, Mr. Gross said, is “an extraordinary step to do something that has never been done before.”
Dean Nelson, the vice president of global foundation services at eBay, who is in charge of data centers, said that the shift demanded a radical redesign, since nearly all data centers now draw their main power from the grid and must have complex backup systems — absent in the new concept — available in case of a blackout.
“It is really throwing out the way people have done it in the past,” Mr. Nelson said. “You can build a better mousetrap.”
The cells are essentially large batteries whose charge is maintained by the hydrocarbon energy contained in natural gas. Fuel cells by various manufacturers have become more economically competitive with grid power in recent years as the price of natural gas has plummeted.
Although the Bloom cells function at high temperatures internally, the charge is maintained by chemical reactions, not combustion, so the efficiencies are much higher than at an ordinary power plant. The reactions produce mainly carbon dioxide and water. By generating power on-site, the fuel cells also save energy that is normally dissipated as electricity runs though transmission lines.
The Bloom cells can also run on so-called biogas, a byproduct of landfills and animal waste at large industrial farms. Annie Lescroart, an eBay spokeswoman, said that in another bow to the environment, the company would pay a premium to enable the production of biogas somewhere in the United States in amounts comparable to its gas usage in South Jordan.
EBay relies on large amounts of computing power to carry out its mission of connecting buyers and sellers among its 102 million active users. The company estimates that through its services, a men’s necktie is sold every 25 seconds, a pair of women’s jeans every 17 seconds, and a piece of golf equipment every 7.1 seconds. It handled $69 billion in transactions in 2011.
In all, Mr. Nelson said, transactions flow through eBay’s computers at the rate of roughly $2,000 a second. Those computers use large amounts of energy. Ebay estimates that its data centers will consume an average of 43 million watts in 2012. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that in the United States, 1 million watts powers about 600 homes.
Particularly on the Utah grid, that energy is supplied mostly by coal power, according to the research institute. “The energy mix there is what it is, and it’s not pretty,” said Gary Cook, an information technology analyst at Greenpeace who has assessed the industry’s energy appetite.
Moving some of that load to fuel cells from the grid, Mr. Cook said, would be a major shift. “Other companies would be wise, if they’re serious about their carbon footprint, to do so as well,” he said.
Google+ chat allows to chat with anyone who exist in mutual circles!
When we polled for favorite features few months ago, Google+ chat surprisingly came as one of the most popular features in Google+.
With chat being more important, more features were added to chat and more ways to connect through the chat feature.
We’ve compiled a shortlist of new features
- Now chat with anyone on Google+ by typing their name in chat section of Google+ (with one condition, that person must have you in one of their circles [mutual circles]. previously only if you know their email address, add and confirm you’ll be able to chat)
- Google+ chat list will show only users you had recent conversations with instead of showing all the contacts (Type a name in the search within chat to talk to a person)
- When both of you have in each others circle, you’ll be to chat across other google products like Gmail, Google+, Orkut and GTalk client
Also try these secret chat emoticons on Google+ chat (a.k.a Google+ chat Easter eggs)
“:3″
“:(:)”
“:(|)”
“V.v.V”
“<@%”
“~=[,,_,,]:3″
“:(:)”
“:(|)”
“V.v.V”
“<@%”
“~=[,,_,,]:3″
note: please ignore the double quotes
Enjoy!!!
New army attack game on google+
New army attack game has been released on google+ social games, command your army and lead to victory.
Looking for variety in games? Here is the new game…
Army attack game screen on google+
Enjoy the new game on google+.
Google+ android app version 2.6 released with brand new look and experience
Few days ago google+ iphone app released with a major UI overhaul and new features. Yesterday they have released version 2.6.0.30400255 of the android app with similar features.
Do we need a voice plan anymore? newly designed Google+ android app let’s you to start ahangout right from your mobile phone and rings people you have invited to the hangout. If they missed the ring they can always join back later (make sure your phone has a front facing camera to start a hangout).
Newly designed navigation ribbon in google+ android app
Gorgeously designed incoming stream of posts that lets to go through posts like viewing a gallery. One problem we found was it is kind of hard to figure out where each post ends i.e the separator. Although it gives a seamless experience of browsing through posts, they should improve the separator between posts.
The old boring icons of launching features in the application is gone and replaced with a nicenavigation ribbon (refer image above) that allows to quickly navigate to stream, profile, messenger, photos and circles.
New features
- Start a hangout right from your phone
- Fine control of instant upload settings
- Newly designed navigation ribbon
- It is fast and very responsive
- Ability to download photos and turn into wallpaper
- Edit posts inline
- and many more
Overall this is a great release and heads the android app in a whole new direction designed for better experience. Great job guys!
The new google+ android app is readily available for download on android play store or just update if you have already installed.
- Main stream in android app
- Communication and notification settings
- Instant upload settings
- Newly designed navigation ribbon in google+ android app
- What’s hot stream in android app
- Incoming stream from All Circles
Google+ sms posting now available in 43 countries and 9 languages
Google+ allowed to post via SMS right from the beginning but this feature was available only in 2 countries i.e United states and India. Now this feature is available in around 43 countries.
Google+ via SMS numbers list
Google+ sms numbers (for 43 countries)
The list of 43 countries, carriers supported and their SMS numbers are listed in the table below (Source: Google+)
| Country | Carrier | SMS number(s) |
| Afghanistan | AWCC | 2125400 |
| Afghanistan | Etisalat | 8080400 |
| Afghanistan | Roshan | 4664400 |
| Algeria | Nedjma | +213558996400 |
| Angola | Unitel | 46645400 |
| Bahrain | Viva | 87700400 |
| Bahrain | Zain | 94004400 |
| Benin | Moov | 95650400 |
| Cambodia | Smart | 1000400 |
| Cameroon | MTN | 8741400 |
| Cameroon | Orange | +23798008301 |
| Congo, Democratic Republic | Vodacom | +243822063400 |
| Congo (DRC) | Vodafone | +243822063400 |
| Cote D’Ivoire | MTN | 4442400 |
| Cote D’Ivoire | Orange | 2258500 |
| Cote D’Ivoire | Moov | 41918400 |
| Egypt | Mobinil | 34400 |
| Ghana | MTN | 1980400 |
| Ghana | Tigo | 8300 |
| Ghana | Airtel | 5400 |
| Guinea | Orange | 500000400 |
| India | All carriers | +919222222222 |
| Indonesia | Axis | 71400 |
| Indonesia | Hutchison | 4665400 |
| Indonesia | Indosat | 367400 |
| Indonesia | Telkomsel | 4664400 |
| Indonesia | XL Axiata | 94640400 |
| Iraq | Zain | 2601400 |
| Israel | Orange | 1000400 |
| Israel | Pelephone | 10400 |
| Jordan | Umniah | 99813400 |
| Jordan | Zain | 909070400 |
| Kazakhstan | GSM Kazakhstan | 30400 |
| Kenya | Airtel Kenya | +254786100400 |
| Kenya | Safaricom | +254700999400 |
| Kenya | Yu | +254754001400 |
| Kenya | Orange | 10400 |
| Kuwait | Viva | 5078400 |
| Kuwait | Wataniya | 1971400 |
| Kuwait | Zain | 898400 |
| Kyrgystan | Megacom | 46245400 |
| Liberia | Cellcom | 8400 |
| Malawi | Airtel Zain | +265991903400 |
| Malawi | TNM | 80400 |
| Malaysia | Digi | 222350400 |
| Malaysia | Maxis | 260060400 |
| Maldives | Dhiraagu | +9604664400 |
| Maldives | Wataniya Maldives | 4645400 |
| Morocco | Inwi | 333400 |
| Mozambique | Vodacom | 8418400 |
| Niger | Orange | 91995268 |
| Nigeria | Airtel | +2348021600400 |
| Nigeria | Glo | 20202400 |
| Nigeria | MTN | 40700 |
| Nigeria | Starcomms | 33166400 |
| Nigeria | Visafone | 610400 |
| Pakistan | Mobilink | 2434400 |
| Philippines | Globe Telecom | 2662400 |
| Philippines | Smart Communications | 4664400 |
| Philippines | Sun Cellular | 22020400 |
| Saudi Arabia | Mobily | 611011400 |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Telecom Company | 88555400 |
| Saudi Arabia | Zain | 710466400 |
| Senegal | Orange | +221774699400 |
| Senegal | Tigo | 22408400 |
| Sierra Leone | Comium | 60400 |
| Sri Lanka | Dialog | 4664400 |
| Sri Lanka | Mobitel | 89000400 |
| Sri Lanka | Etisalat | 103200400 |
| Tanzania | Tigo | 46400 |
| Tanzania | Vodacom | +255766790400 |
| Thailand | DTAC | 42662400 |
| Thailand | TRUE | 47640400 |
| Tunisia | Tunisiana | 871222400 |
| Tunisia | Orange | 871818400 |
| Uganda | MTN | 902801400 |
| Uganda | Orange | +256790791900 |
| Uganda | Uganda Telecom | +256715887400 |
| United States | All carriers | 33669 |
| Uzbekistan | Ucell | 45400 |
| Vietnam | Vinaphone | 9666400 |
| Zambia | Zamtel | 3566400 |
Besides 43 countries, sms commands are supported in 9 languages i.e english, french, spanish, portuguese, arabic, hebrew, swahili, indonesian and thai.
There are millions of smartphones that have the capability to access google+ via browser and google+ app on iphone and android phones. But at the same time there are billions of devices which are not smartphones that have SMS / texting capability. This Google+ sms feature would give them the opportunity to connect with the world and share their thoughts.
11ac chip with NFC, Bluetooth unveiled by Marvell
The next generation of Wi-Fi -- the superfast IEEE 802.11ac standard -- will integrate a range ofwireless technologies on the same chip, as Marvell showed this week at Taiwan's giant annual Computex show. The semiconductor vendor announced a chip that will include 11ac with Bluetooth and near-field communications (NFC).The integrated system-on-a-chip, part of Marvell's Avastar line, will reduce components, costs and time to market for the consumer mobile devices that are the product's target market, according to Bart Giordano, director of product marketing at Marvell, of Santa Clara. More importantly for end users, the chip's two 11ac data streams will deliver a data rate of over 860Mbps, compared to 300Mbps for a comparable 11n chip.BACKGROUND: Speedy 802.11ac Wi-Fi set for fast, wide rolloutIn both cases, useable throughput is about one-third to one-half less. Even so, 11ac represent a huge boost for Wi-Fi connectivity. [For the high end of today's three-stream 11n products, see Network World's Clear Choice Test on "Three-stream Wi-Fi hits the mark"] The speed of 11ac should impact the efficiency and capacity of Wi-Fi connections. "I can transport data two times as efficiently [compared to 11n], so I spend less time on the [Wi-Fi] link transmitting or receiving," Giordano says. That can translate into more availability and capacity for clients.As with announced plans for rival products, the Marvell 11ac chip will connect with the full range of existing Wi-Fi radios.NFC is a very short-range wireless technology that's used in an array of computerized smartcards, generally for what's called "contactless" transactions: A card or other NFC-equipped device, like a smartphone, can be waved near a reader, and a bank account or other payment system is triggered to make an electronic purchase. It's long been touted as the basis of using a cellphones as electronic or mobile wallets.But Marvell sees its first really widespread use, and that of Bluetooth 4.0, as companion technologies for Wi-Fi, to make Wi-Fi connections as seamless and effortless as cellular. Both NFC and Bluetooth can be used as "out-of-band" channels to set up and authenticate Wi-Fi connections, for example between two handsets."Today, the user has to search for a network, enter a pass phrase and so on," says Giordano. "With NFC, you just bring the smartphone near the connection, and the out-of-band NFC channel can be used to authenticate and then pair them."Bluetooth is finding a growing role in consumer electronics, as a radio alternative to infrared, according to Giordano. In home media centers, Bluetooth can provide connectivity for remote control devices, 3D glasses, and an array of audio streaming applications. Here again, NFC could be used to pair these devices automatically without user input.
Apple tries to stop US sales of Samsung's Galaxy S III
Apple has asked a court in California for a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone, ahead of its U.S. launch, claiming the device infringes at least two of its patents.
Samsung said earlier this month that the Galaxy S III will be available in the U.S. starting this month from five carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. The smartphone was launched in May in the U.K.
Apple obtained the Galaxy S III sold in the U.K., and found that it infringes at least two of four Apple patents at issue in a preliminary injunction motion filed by the company against the earlier Galaxy Nexus, Apple said in a filing on Tuesday before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division.
These are U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 relating to an universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system, and Patent No. 5,946,647 regarding a system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data.
"Given the extent to which the Galaxy S III infringes and will cause immediate and irreparable harm to Apple, it is imperative that this Court have an opportunity to consider and rule upon Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction before the Galaxy S III is launched in the United States," Apple said in a filing while adding to its original complaint against the Galaxy Nexus.
Apple said it requested Samsung to confirm that it would not launch the Galaxy S III in the U.S. until the court has had an opportunity to consider and rule on Apple's motion for preliminary injunction. Samsung refused, stating that Apple's pending preliminary injunction motion will have no bearing on the release date of the Galaxy S III, Apple said.
It is too late to add new products to the pending motion for a preliminary injunction, Samsung said in its opposition to Apple's motion on Wednesday. Apple has not provided an explanation for waiting until the eve of the hearing on the motion to enjoin a new product when Samsung will have no opportunity to investigate the issues or to prepare a response, it added.
A hearing on Apple's motion for preliminary injunction is scheduled for Thursday.
Apple's motion to supplement rests on the flawed premise that the two Samsung smartphones are fungible and thus no discovery or briefing about the product it seeks to enjoin is necessary, Samsung said in its filing.
David Ho Highlights Launch of Bio-IT Asia Conference
Ten years after the launch of the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo series in Boston, the conference made its debut in Asia in the sparkling Marina Bay Sands convention center.
The trio of speakers who opened the three-day meeting was veteran HIV researcher David Ho, bio-IT consultant Chris Dagdigian, and AstraZeneca bioinformatician Yaron Turpaz.
David Ho, who was born in Taiwan and is currently director/CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, presented a broad overview of current trends in HIV research and vaccine development. He left the audience in no doubt as to the continuing plague caused by AIDS. For example, the lifetime risk of contracting HIV among teenagers in Botswana is 50%, and 33% in South Africa.
On the other hand, Ho said that nearly 30 drugs are currently available to combat HIV infection—more drugs to treat HIV infection than all the other viruses combined—including the familiar reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors, as well as more recently developed entry and integrase inhibitors.
Ho talked about the “big bang” of HIV dissemination. Comparison of two of the oldest isolates of the virus, from 1959 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and another sample dated to 1960, revealed a surprising diversity of sequence. Modeling studies suggest that the virus probably arose in the late 1800s/early 1900s in Western Africa, only emerging as a pathogen when the virus left Africa decades later.
Ho is not hopeful for vaccine development “anytime soon,” because of the “swarm of diverse viruses” that are mutated HIV that a vaccine would need to target; superinfection any given patient due to multiple virus strains; and the glycan envelope that hampers antibody defenses. Advances in prevention (feted by Science magazine as its ‘breakthrough of the year’ in 2011) include the use of prophylactic antiretroviral drugs, but getting patients to take the drugs not just for a week but potentially for long periods is very difficult.
Data Connections
Chris Dagdigian, a founding scientist at the BioTeam, gave a review of IT trends that he and his colleagues have observed over the past year. While it was natural to envy the resources of genome centers such as the Broad Institute, the Sanger Institute, and BGI, Dagdigian recommended that others to benefit from their experience. When it came to metatagging and data storage, for example, better for smaller organizations to shamelessly copy larger organizations’ adopted solutions after a year or two, he said.
Amazon is still the infrastructure-as-a-service- leader, he said, but there are welcome signs that other cloud competitors, forced to innovate to capture any sort of market share, are producing some exciting new technologies.
“It will be a MapReduce world. Get used to it. There’s no need to roll your own Hadoop,” he said. As for moving large volumes of data over the Internet, while Dagdigian still likes Aspera, he was impressed with the number of users reporting success with GridFTP, which he called “a fantastic piece of software.”
Yaron Turpaz worked in Singapore for several years with Eli Lilly before assuming his current position as vice president of informatics and information sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca. The pharma industry is under a lot of pressure to develop drugs more quickly, Turpaz said. Not only are there financial pressures and patent pressures, but the patients are waiting. “I believe that informatics has a key role in the opportunities to accelerate the system and accelerate our pipeline,” he said. He also highlighted the role that Asia and Asian researchers would have in this acceleration, and the importance of collaborations and conversations within Asia.
He discussed several initiatives in data sharing. One called PharmaConnect, for research literature and clinical data, had recruited more than 1,000 internal users over just 3 months. Not as successful as a YouTube viral video, but promising nonetheless.
AstraZeneca has seen demands among its own scientists that mimic requirements across the industry, Turpaz said. AstraZeneca now has its own app store, having developed internal mobile apps for scientists to access their data, and public apps for physicians and patients around specific indications. Real time modeling and simulation tools are also in demand. Scientists want their data to be computed yesterday, Turpaz said.
Finally, Turpaz encouraged a diversity of mindsets and ways of thinking in drug discovery because we often miss the things we were not specifically looking for (a video example). Open innovation or pre-competitive collaborations such as the Asian Cancer Research Consortium, Pistoia Alliance, and the Galaxy-based platform CISTROME, and others can bring together different perspectives and truly accelerate our pipelines.
Facebook will host 'SimCity Social' starting this month
The "SimCity" franchise will break ground in Facebook later this month as they roll out a free version of SimCity Social.
When your game has "city" in the title, multiple players interacting makes sense. So Electronic Arts announcedSimCity Social for Facebook at the game convention E3, adding to The Sims already available on Facebook. Players are expected to enjoy "an all-new deeply social experience" starting in a few weeks.
Fans of Zynga's Cityville may feel targeted, and many reports believe this new partnership between Facebook and Electrnic Arts means trouble for Zynga, which is almost totally reliant on Facebook. But since Cityville has been the largest game on Facebook for the past year, no immediate impact is expected. But for virtual builders of cities, SimCity is the original. Whether Facebook users will fall in love to the point of purchasing the game for off-line use when released in February 2013 is the gamble for Electronic Arts.
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