Microsoft nabs Samsung Android Royalties

Microsoft’s chief legal counsel has used a patent royalty deal it struck with smartphone giant Samsung to shoot down Google’s claim that patent enforcement will kill innovation.

The agreement will see Samsung pay royalties to Microsoft for its smartphones and tablets running Android, which should avoid the need for Samsung to alter its devices to escape similar litigation battles to those it faces with Apple.

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Apple Confirms October 4 iPhone Event

The October 4 iPhone event date has been confirmed by Apple, as has the rumored location of Apple's Cupertino campus. There's no question what the star of the event will be: the event is called, "Let's Talk iPhone."



Although it's expected that Apple will launch other products on October 4, in particular, it's the iPhone that will be the focus for consumers, tech gurus, and analysts.

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Kinect's New Trick To Be In The Operating Room?

The next proving ground for Microsoft's Kinect? It might not be where you expect. After taking over the living room and exciting gamers across the world, the Kinect has made the move to all sorts of other categories. Everything from making music videos to PC-based hacks have been seen, but for the most part, nothing on a professional level has surfaced. That's all changing now, as the Kinect slides over into the operating room. Doctor's at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, Canada are hoping that the Kinect could soon help them out during sophisticated surgeries.

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The Breaking the Rules on Google+ Gets you Google -

Google+ may be a brand-new service, but there has already been at least one case of a user breaking the rules and getting the banhammer.

Google, in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, requires its users to be at least 13 years old. Last week, Alex, a 10-year-old boy from the Netherlands, created an account on the Google+ social network. Google promptly responded with a punishment after he entered his date of birth.

In return for violating the terms of service for the social network, the boy was kicked off of all Google services, and, as his father wrote in a blog post, will have his account across all services deleted within a month unless he can provide some proof of being old enough to use the services.

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1000 days left for Windows XP Support

Microsoft has begun counting down the last 1000 days of support remainining for aging stalwart Windows XP as it urges companies to upgrade.

The software giant would stop supplying security patches and hotfixes for all versions of 11-year-old operating system on April 8, 2014, potentially making it vulnerable to issues that may arise after that time.

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Analysts Cast Doubt on Turnbull's NBN

Telco analysts have expressed caution on the Coalition's latest claims that it could provide a national broadband network faster than Labor's $35.9 billion project.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull talked up the Coalition's broadband proposal at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) lunch this week.

The Coalition's plan would include immediate cessation of the NBN build pending a six-month cost-benefit analysis of the network and possible alternatives.

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Vint Cerf calls for clarity in NBN cost data

Google chief internet evangelist Vint Cerf, credited in some quarters as the “founder of the internet”, has called on the Australian Government to provide a full and frank breakdown of the costs of building the National Broadband Network.

A detailed report on the costs, provided at the conclusion of the project, could greatly aid and inform attempts by other countries to build national network, Cerf said in a new interview.

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