A US appeals court ruled on Friday that a lower court should reconsider a sales ban against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 won by Apple in a patent dispute with the South Korean electronics maker.
The injunction was put in place ahead of a month-long trial that pitted iPhone maker Apple against Samsung Electronics in a closely watched legal battle that ended with a resounding victory for Apple last month on many of its patent violation claims.
However, the jury found that Samsung had not violated the patent that was the basis for the tablet injunction and Samsung argued the sales ban should be lifted. US District Judge Lucy Koh said she could not act because Samsung had already appealed.
In its ruling on Friday, the Federal US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said Koh could now consider the issue.
App Store gets new feature
After apologising for issues with the new Apple-driven Maps app in iOS 6 and mentioning some alternative map options available to users, the tech firm has also added a new featured section to the App Store highlighting some of those map alternatives. A host of alternative apps ranging from free to Magellan's $49.99 "RoadMate USA" are available from such brands as Waze, Mapquest, Garmin, Bing, and MotionX. Apple's embrace of alternative map options seems to be a sign that the company is taking criticism of its own offering seriously, although directing users to downloads through the App Store is still of benefit to Apple.
Interior mobile maps for retailers
While mobile maps have made it easy for people to find their way to a store or shopping mall, the options are limited once they’re inside. Now, a new breed of cartographers are venturing indoors to help consumers find where products are shelved. One startup that develops interior maps for retailers is Point Inside, which recently raised $3.2 million from private investors. The Bellevue, Washington-based company plans to hire at least a dozen software engineers in the next three months as it rolls out two big retail partnerships and expands into grocery stores, said Chief Executive Officer Josh Marti.
Quantum computer: Oz in lead
Competing teams of Australian scientists have given that country a significant lead in an increasingly intense international competition to build a working quantum computer. A team of scientists, led from the University of New South Wales, reported that they had constructed one of the basic building blocks of modern quantum computing by relying on manufacturing techniques, used by the modern semiconductor industry. Quantum computing will potentially lead to a new generation of supercomputers that are not intended to replace today’s machines but will instead open new computing vistas, from drug and material design to code breaking, by offering speed to address a new class of problems.
Facebook’s gift-giving feature
Facebook Inc unveiled a gift-giving feature that will let users buy and send items to their friends without leaving the site, as the owner of the world’s most popular social network seeks new ways to add revenue. The gift service is starting off in the US, and will have hundreds of options with more added daily from partners such as Starbucks Corp and 1-800-Flowers.com, the company said. Facebook, which acquired gift-giving application Karma earlier this year, will share an undisclosed percentage of the revenue with partners..