Samsung and Microsoft attempt to ruin Android for everyone with patent sharing deal. Will this make all Google's base are belong to them?
>
Google's strategy of making Android available to developers for free has paid off extremely well. The operating system quickly mounted serious competition for Mac OS and Windows and emerged as the world's best-selling smartphone platform by the end of 2010. Naturally, that made Microsoft, still reeling from the end of Windows Mobile, and Apple, unhappy with anything less than Blofeld style world domination, feel somewhat uneasy. Both companies have long claimed that Android 'incorporates' significant aspects from their operating systems and have demanded that Google either pay them or change Android to remove the contested elements. The legality of those claims is still undecided and so far no litigation has resulted, but in a move that the Wall Street Journal notes may move that kind of activity forward, Samsung and Microsoft have reached a huge patent sharing deal.
Samsung will now pay royalties to Microsoft on its Android-based smartphones and tablets, and the two global supercompanies will collaborate to develop new phones and tablets based on Windows rather than Android. Window's stake in the deal is obvious, as it gives them official acknowledgment from the world's second largest smartphone maker that their claim against Android may have merit. It also provides leverage to pressure other cellphone makers to cut similar deals. But Samsung's reasons for pursuing the deal may have to do with more than simply protecting themselves from Microsoft's lawyers. The South Korean company is in the midst of a very bitter worldwide legal battle with Apple involving charges of patent and trademark infringement. Partnering with Apple's chief rival may provide them with an easy out, should they lose that battle and find their current slate of tabs and phones kiboshed.
As of this writing, Google has not made any official comment, but one imagines there are some very loud swear words being exchanged at the top of the company. In a month that has seen them taken to task for alleged anti-trust violations, this is one more headache they don't need.

source : http://www.tomshardware.com/

 

On Tuesday OnStar said that it has decided to reverse its proposed Terms and Conditions policy changes, and will not keep a data connection to customers’ vehicles after the OnStar service is canceled.

The about-face arrives just under a week after the company updated its Terms and Conditions with the right to sell the GPS-derived data it pulls from OnStar systems in an anonymous format. The new terms enabled the company to keep a constant connection to an installed system even after the customer canceled the subscription. Naturally this caused a rush of negative feedback, especially since the policy meant OnStar could track the vehicle's movement and speed, and then possibly sell the info to local law enforcement.

According to OnStar, the new policy wasn't expected to kick in until the beginning of December, but the company began sending out emails last week announcing the new change in terms. Yet even during the aftermath following the new policy's exposure, OnStar pointed out that prior customers could actually call in and request that OnStar halt its unwanted connection. But that simply wasn't enough to keep consumers from lighting up torches and burning their contracts, so the company reverted back to its original Terms and Conditions.

"We realize that our proposed amendments did not satisfy our subscribers," OnStar President Linda Marshall said on Tuesday. "This is why we are leaving the decision in our customers’ hands. We listened, we responded and we hope to maintain the trust of our more than 6 million customers." She added that if OnStar ever offers the option of a data connection after cancellation, it would only be when a customer opted-in, not by force. Even then, OnStar would honor customers’ preferences about how data from that connection is treated.

Last week an OnLive spokesman said that the post-subscription connection was kept alive in order to make it easier for consumers to renew their subscription. But Tuesday Marshall said that the constant data connection was to allow OnStar to provide urgent information about natural disasters and vehicle recalls to the former customers. Sounds like mixed messages, to be honest.

 "We regret any confusion or concern we may have caused," Marshall said.

Apple said on the invitations that next week's event is about the iPhone. Most have assumed that this means Apple will finally launch the iPhone 5 (and perhaps the iPhone 4S). However, the fall event is typically for iPods and iTunes, and Apple hasn't given any inclination that it will be devoting even a small portion of the press conference to music. Instead, it appears as though the end may be near for a couple of the iPod models.

The latest scuttlebutt is that Apple will be killing off some of the iPods we know so well. According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle will both disappear this year. The site didn't name its source, but said that the reasons behind killing off these two versions were to do with numbers (iPod sales make up just 8 percent of Apple revenue) but also the fact that they're kind of out-dated and unnecessary; the Shuffle is basically a Nano without a screen, while the Classic is devoid of flash memory, instead relying on a platter-based HDD.

The news comes hot on the heels of a report from CNet that Apple might kill the entire iPod line. Don Bell writes that, while the it used to be a big money-maker for Apple, now is "really not a bad time for Apple to stick a fork in the iPod."

"For starters, this year (October 24) marks the 10-year anniversary of the iPod," he writes. "That's quite an achievement, but it's also a nice place to bookend things. I can imagine Apple saying, 'It had a great run, now go buy an iPhone.'"

Bell also refers back to Steve Jobs' 2006 advice to Nike CEO Mark Parker. Jobs told him to just "get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff." So has the iPod, when compared to the iPhone and the iPad, become 'crappy stuff'?

Do you think the iPod line is past its sell-by date, or do you think that Apple just needs to trim the fat and get rid of one or two models? Let us know in the comments below!