|
|
kcnm Banks, brokerages dogged by e-mail regulations
Guro Sticking up for standards groups
The war of words over whether Microsoft is part of a organized, hostile, anti-competitive patent campaign against Google just got nastier. Microsoft has released an email it says was sent by Google general counsel Kent Walker to h vasos stanley is counterpart at Microsoft, Brad Smith, showing that Google politely declined to partner with Microsoft to purchase patents mdash; patents that Google now claims are being used against it. The nastiness started yesterday, when David Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, wrote in a blog post that Microsoft was part of a hostile, organized campaign against Androidhellip;waged through bogus patents. Among the evidence Drummond cited was an attempt by a consortium, including Mic stanley becher rosoft, to buy a big portfolio of Novell patents for $450 million. The U.S. Justice Department stopped the sale, saying it would be anti-competitive. Instead of a sale, it became a licensing deal. It turns out, though, that Google was asked to participate, along with Microsoft and others, in buying the patents. So last night Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith claimed in a tweet: Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no. Twisting the knife was Microsoft public rela polene bags tions executive Frank Shaw, who tweeted: Free advice for David Drummond ndash; next time check with Kent Walker before you blog. : Included Knwd Windows 8.1 Blue preview: Well, it beats Windows 8
PHOENIX mdash; Gee whiz! Though there wasnrsquo;t as much of this sentiment as in previous years, some distinctly original concepts and produc polene borsa ts were sho polene bag wn at the Demo 2002 conference.The REAL Pocket PCThe most intriguing device was the prototype Metapad from IBMrsquo Watson Research Laboratory in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Ken Ocheltree, exploratory devices manager, explained that IBM had separated the computer into two parts: the core computing and storage function and all the interactive I/O elements that relate to that core see story . The Metapad has an 800MHz TransMeta Corp. processor, 128MB of memory, a 5GB to be 10GB by the time this report appears hard drive, and video and s stanley uk ound circuitry. Itrsquo the size of a pack of 3-by-5-inch cards just three-quarters of an inch thick, with but one connector on it. And this is a prototype. If it becomes a product, it would likely be smaller yet. So what do you add to this Metapad One device was a small touch screen that became a powerful handheld personal digital assistant. Another was a simple and inexpensive desktop dock with keyboard, display and network connections. A third was a laptop screen, keyboard, battery into which the Metapad could be inserted. Other potential devices using the Metapad could be built into a car, for example.But perhaps the most appealing idea about this device was this: Instead of lugging home your laptop for the evening or weekend, you just take the Metapad and stick it into your shirt p |
|