Twitter buys 900 IBM patents

Twitter has bought 900 patents and signed a cross-licensing agreement with IBM.

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter has bought 900 patents and signed a cross-licensing agreement with IBM, making peace with Big Blue and bulking up on its intellectual property portfolio as it takes on larger rivals Google and Facebook. 

The agreement comes after International Business Machines accused Twitter in November - on the eve of its high-profile initial public offering - of infringing three of its patents. At the time, it underscored how few patents the six-year-old social media company possessed in relation to more established rivals.

A cross-licensing agreement will help safeguard Twitter against similar claims in the future. 

IBM is one of the industry's largest research spenders and stockpilers of intellectual property, a consistent leader in US patent filings and the owner of some 41,000 patents. 

Twitter is following on the heels of Facebook, which itself faced similar claims before its own 2012 IPO. The world's largest social network has since gone on a patent-buying spree, acquiring intellectual property from tech bellwethers, including Microsoft Corp and IBM. 

"This acquisition of patents from IBM and licensing agreement provide us with greater intellectual property protection and give us freedom of action to innovate on behalf of all those who use our service," Ben Lee, Twitter's legal director, said in a joint statement with IBM on Friday.

Credits:-www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Obama: I care deeply about net neutrality

Obama says the US is exploring options for keeping the internet free and open after a federal court set aside rules designed to do so.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says the US government is exploring options for keeping the internet free and open after a federal court set aside rules designed to do just that. 

A three-judge panel earlier this month set aside rules intended to ensure that the transmission of internet content be treated equally, without priority given to some types of traffic over others. Obama says it's an issue he cares deeply about, partly because his campaign was powered by an internet that was free of commercial barriers. 

He says a court's decision must be respected, at least initially, but that the Federal Communications Commission is examining its options. Those options include appealing the court's decision or coming up with a new set of rules. 

Obama commented on Friday during a chat on Google Plus Hangout.

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Google: Not liable to pay taxes for Indian operations

NEW DELHI: US multinational Google has submitted to Delhi High Court that it is not liable to pay any taxes in India for its internet activities, as it is not providing any taxable services or earning income from here nor does it have a permanent establishment in the country. 

The submission has been made in an affidavit filed by the website in the High Court which is hearing a plea by a former BJP leader seeking protection of children from online abuse and recovery of taxes from the websites on their income from operations in India. 

The website's claim has been opposed by the petitioner, KN Govindacharya, who in his affidavit has contended that sites like Facebook and Google are liable to pay taxes as they generate huge revenue through agreements with Indian advertisers as well as sale of games and applications to internet users here. 

The case is slated to be heard tomorrow by a bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed. 

Google India has contended in its affidavit that it "is not providing any taxable services in India, neither has a permanent establishment in India nor is it earning any income which is arising from or accruing in or deemed to be arising or accruing from India. 

"Furthermore, Google is not receiving any payment in the nature of 'royalty' which may be taxable either under the relevant Indian laws or under the Double taxation Avoidance Agreement between India and USA." 

In his affidavit filed through advocate Virag Gupta, Govindacharya has alleged that the website has "incorrectly" submitted before the court that no tax is payable by them in India. 

Govindacharya has also alleged that the tax department has "failed to initiate penal provisions" or "demanded the outstanding taxes for previous year(s)" from the websites "which has caused irreparable loss to the Indian economy and exchequer."
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Apple trying to intimidate US retailers, telcos: Samsung

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Samsung sought to defeat Apple's bid for a permanent sales ban against some Samsung smartphones, arguing in court that Apple's request was an attempt to instill fear among telecom carriers and retailers that carry Samsung's products.

At a hearing in federal court in San Jose, California, Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan told US district Judge Lucy Koh that the injunction would give the iPhone maker an opening to come back to court quickly and argue that newer Samsung products should also be banned.

"An injunction would create fear and uncertainty for the carriers and retailers with whom Samsung has very important customer relationships," Sullivan said.

Apple attorney William Lee said that a jury has already found that nearly two dozen phones infringed Apple patents, and that Apple has lost sales to a direct competitor.

"The natural, inexorable result is an injunction," Lee said.

Apple's request for the permanent injunction stems from the companies' legal fight over various smartphone features patented by Apple, such as the use of fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen and design elements such as the phone's flat, black glass screen. Apple has won US jury verdicts against Samsung Electronics totaling about $930 million.

Koh had previously rejected such a sales ban, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered her to reconsider in November.

Even though Samsung no longer sells the older-model phones targeted by the injunction request, Apple has argued in court documents that such an order is important to prevent Samsung from future copying with new products "not more colourably different" than the defunct models.

Sullivan, the Samsung lawyer, argued that the injunction would allow Apple seek other bans on new products on a much faster timeline than through traditional patent litigation, which can take years.

Koh did not say when she would rule on the request.

The chief executives for Apple and Samsung have agreed to a mediation session, which will take place by February 19. The two companies are scheduled to begin another trial in San Jose in March over a separate batch of patents that involve Apple's Siri search technology.

Samsung's phones use the Android operating system, developed by Google. Samsung and Google announced a global patent licensing deal this week.

The case in US District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, 11-1846.
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Samsung: 820ppi screens coming in 2015

NEW DELHI: Samsung is widely expected to use display panel with 2K resolution (2560x1440p) in its upcoming Galaxy S5. While the company's first smartphone with 2K resolution is still awaited, it has already started working on screens with 4K resolution.

At the Semiconductor and Display Technology Roadmap Seminar 2014 in South Korea, the company announced that it will unveil mobile displays with 2K resolution this year. This will be followed by 4K resolution screens in 2015.

2K displays offer twice as many pixels in the same area as HD screens (1280x720p), whereas 4K displays offer four times as many. Samsung has said that its mobile screens will offer pixel density of 820ppi, nearly twice that of the current crop of full HD displays.

In November last year, Samsung announced that it will launch handsets with bendable screens in 2014 and foldable screens by 2016-17. It has already shown a prototype of such a display, called Youm, at Consumer Electronics Show 2013. The company is also the first in the world to launch a smartphone with curved screen. Credits:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/hardware/Samsung-820ppi-screens-coming-in-2015/articleshow/29546624.cms

Apple going Samsung way? Gets patent for stylus

NEW DELHI: One of the distinguishing features of Samsung's Galaxy Note range of smartphones and tablets is the stylus and arch rival Apple may be looking to 'copy' it.

The iPhone maker has been granted a patent for stylus orientation detection by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent describes means of detecting orientation when the stylus makes contact with surfaces like touchscreens and then calculating relative orientation between the two.

This is, however, not the first patent for a stylus that Apple has been awarded. According to a report by Patently Apple, the company already holds patent for recording the text written using the stylus, pressure and texture input, gesture recognition etc.

The focus on a stylus for mobile devices gives more credence to rumours of Apple making its first big-screen smartphone, with display measuring 5.7-inch. It is also said to be working on a 12.9-inch iPad, and a stylus may be a useful tool for professional-grade tasks.

Samsung made the stylus popular among smartphone users in 2011 with the launch of its Galaxy Note phablet. The model was a hit and was later followed up by two more phablets; the South Korean manufacturer also added tablets to its Note range.

Steve Jobs - Apple's iconic founder and former CEO - once famously dismissed the stylus as an input tool, saying that the human finger is a much more accurate medium of interacting with a touch-enabled display. Though Apple devices do not come with styluses, there is a huge market for third-party styluses - mainly for the iPad - as writing or drawing on a big screen becomes more convenient.

Why hackers are difficult to track

PUNE: The strictly virtual nature of underground hacking groups makes it difficult for cops to trace their physical whereabouts, said experts. These groups are in thousands and deal in people's credentials, which means that when paid, they could leak almost everything online, be it bank credentials to email passwords to credit and debit card information.

Experts said that another possible way these underground networks manage to get passwords is by figuring out a way to access back-end servers using insider help. "Underground communities are virtual and we do not know where they operate from. It is not about India or Pune. They are in thousands and spread across the globe," said a cybersecurity expert.

Ritesh Chopra, country manager, Symantec Corporation, said, "The motivation of cyberattackers has moved from fame to financial gain and malware has become a prevalent tool to plant financially motivated attacks making it a successful criminal business model with billions of dollars in play. Given that India ranks number 1 in spam and number 2 in virus attacks (according to Symantec's Internet Threat Report), it's evident that hackers and cybercriminals are eyeing India's online citizens for their personal information and monetary gain."

Jagannath Patnaik, director, Channel Sales (South Asia), Kaspersky Lab, said, "It is mandatory to change the password frequently at least once in a week/fortnight and also make sure to delete all the mails in 15 days and empty the inbox so that in case your account is hacked, the hackers can't have access to all your data. If you want to keep some important mails, then archive these and save them in an encrypted format in a folder on your PC or laptop,"

Cyber Crime Investigator Sagar Rahurkar said email service providers have many security features like two-way authentication and linking your phone number to email account which users can use. "Also check your 'last account accessed' feature periodically. It will give an idea about the IP address using which your account was last accessed," he said.

It is mandatory to change the password frequently at least once in a week/fortnight and also make sure to delete all the mails in 15 days and empty the inbox so that in case your account is hacked, the hackers can't have access to all your data.
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MTNL users to get home Wi-Fi at public places

MUMBAI: Ailing state-owned telecom company MTNL plans to launch high speed Wi-Fi servicesin Mumbai and Delhi that will provide internet services to customers at locations apart from their homes. 

MTNL will be tying up with malls, coffee chains and food courts to provide this unlimited Wi-Fi service to its customers. 

"We are planning to provide our customers Wi-Fi services at indoor locations such airports, cafes, food courts, apart from their homes. We will be offering 8Mbps speed," MTNL executive director Peeyush Agarwal told reporters over the weekend. 

On the tariff side, he said a customer will have to use a line-bonding modem to avail of this service, adding that customers already using theMTNL Wi-Fi services on mobile devices will be charged an additional Rs 50-100 apart from their existing monthly rental. 

He said MTNL, which operates only in Mumbai and Delhi, has already tied up with city's new terminal T2 to provide this Wi-Fi service and is in talks rest of the two airports for the same. 

MTNL will be targeting the Mumbai and New Delhi airports and all the food courts and malls for this service. 

Agarwal said an MTNL customer who uses Wi-Fi on multiple devices like laptop, mobile, personal computers and tabs at home will also have access to internet on such locations. 

A customer will have to register himself at such places, and just by using his unique login ID and password can have access to internet there, he added. 

He said there are certain authentication process required before launching the service and as soon it gets complete, the service will be launched. MTNL has partnered with C-bot to provide this Wi-Fi service. 

MTNL which currently has 6 lakh broadband customers, sees addition of another 2 lakh to its customer base once this service is launched.
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Google to offer $2.7 million prize at hacking contest

NEW DELHI: Search engine giant Google will offer $2.7 million to researchers who can hack its browser-based operating system Chrome OS as part of its Pwnium hacking contest to be held in March this year. 

"Security is a core tenet of Chromium, which is why we hold regular competitions to learn from security researchers. Contests like Pwnium help us make Chromium even more secure," Google said in a blogpost. 

This year, Pwnium 4, will be hosted in March at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, Canada. 

"With a total of $2.71828 million in the pot, we'll issue Pwnium rewards for eligible Chrome OS exploits at $110,000 for browser or system-level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page," it said. 

Google will also pay $150,000 for providing an exploit to be able to persistently compromise an HP or Acer Chromebook, ie hacking the device to retain control even after a reboot. 

The earlier editions of Pwnium competitions focussed on Intel-based Chrome OS devices, but this year Google will allow researchers to also choose from ARM-based Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11 (Wi-Fi) and the Acer C720 Chromebook (2GB Wi-Fi) based on Intel's Haswell microarchitecture. 

Last year, Google had put $3.14159 million in the pot for Pwnium 3. 

Google said it would consider larger bonuses this year to researchers who demonstrated what it called a "particularly impressive or surprising exploit." 

"New this year, we will also consider significant bonuses for demonstrating a particularlyimpressive or surprising exploit. Potential examples include defeating kASLR, exploiting memory corruption in the 64-bit browser process or exploiting the kernel directly from a renderer process," it said.
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