Apple vs Samsung ( & Google?)!

 

 

So if you guys didn’t know, Apple & Samsung have been at it again, Round Two in the Battle of The Patents. After winning Round 1 in The Battle, Apple were awarded $1 billion in damages, eventually reduced to $929 million.

 

This time,  Apple was seeking $2.2 Billion in damages from Samsung over 5 patents, and for the judge to stop Samsung selling their devices in the US.

 

As unlikely as this was to happen, the lawsuit was still a pain in Samsung’s butt and wallets. What made it a little easier? Google offered to help Samsung cover their costs.

 

According to reports from Windows IT Pro Blog, Apple’s lawyers showed a video during testimony in which a Google attorney confirmed that there were email messages between Google and Samsung where Google offered to help cover Samsung’s legal expenses and maybe even damages fees.

 

This kind of financial assistance, known as indemnification, is covered by Google’s “contractual obligations” to Samsung, because they are the hardware partner that sells the most Android phones.

 

Basically, because Samsung are the biggest hardware partner that uses Google’s apps and operating system, they want to help there guy out, right?  And so they do it with offers of money and offers to defend some patent claims Samsung says is covered by Google’s Android Operating System.

 

Samsung was also claiming a smaller $7 million for Apple infringing two of its patents.

 

Today, the unanimous jury verdict was reached after three days of deliberation, finding that Samsung willfully infringed on two of the 5 patents involved in the suit. Samsung has been ordered to pay $119.6 million, which whilst still a win, is not exactly what Apple had hoped for, especially knowing that Google might be helping Samsung out by throwing some cash their way!

 

Apple in turn were ordered to pay Samsung $158,400. Mere pennies! What we’re all wanting to know though is,

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Digitaltrends & Sodahead

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categories Apple, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 | | datetime May 2, 2014 4:42 pm | comments Comments (0)

New MacBook Airs released!

 

Apple just launched updated MacBook Airs! The good news? The main gist is that they’re faster and cheaper. Sweet deal, right?

 

All new standard MacBook Airs will feature faster 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processors and will come at a price $100 less than previously. The battery is also said to last up to 1 hour longer on the 11 -inch and 2 hours on the 13-inch.

 

Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice president of WorldWide marketing has said this about the updated Airs:

 

“With MacBook Air starting at $899, there’s no reason to settle for anything less than a Mac. Macs have never been more popular, and today we’ve boosted the performance and lowered the price of MacBook Air so even more people can experience the perfect everyday notebook.”

 

Here are the new specs:

 

 

 

You can get your hot little hands on an updated MacBook Air RIGHT NOW through Apple’s retail or online stores.

 

A hot tip courtesy of the good guys over at Macrumors.com – Refurbished MacBook Air computers have dropped to incredibly low prices, with an 11-inch 2012 model available starting at $599 and 2013 models available starting at $719.

 

And from the guys at Slickdeals –  People are picking up some great deals. Like this one: “Just picked up the mid-2013 macbook for $705 Open box. It’s $750 New w/ student discount ( if you have a .edu email address). ”

 

Super awesome deals to be had!

 

Images courtesy of Apple & 9to5mac

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categories Apple, Cool Features, New Releases, Upgrades | | datetime May 1, 2014 9:38 am | comments Comments (0)