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RT @Techmeme: DirecTV could also deploy ad skip technology (Reuters)

RT @Techmeme: DirecTV could also deploy ad skip technology (Reuters)

People familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that when its new iOS 6 software becomes widely available this fall, podcasts will have their own app, where users will be able to discover, download and play them on mobile devices. Users who access iTunes via laptop and desktop machines will still find them in that version of iTunes, though.

RT @BoingBoing: Apple I and Steve Jobs Atari memo sold at auction

support for Blu-ray, native 3D output and glasses, concurrent apps, and additional sensor and peripheral support. Alongside a promised 6x performance increase, there's also mention of true 1080p output with full 3D support and an "always on" state for the console. A slide on core hardware indicates that the next Xbox will be designed to be scalable in the number of CPU cores and their frequencies. Microsoft appears to have been debating whether to use six or eight ARM or x86 cores clocked at 2GHz each with 4GB of DDR4 memory alongside three PPC cores clocked at 3.2GHz each for backwards compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles.

So you wondered how Zynga was gonna make money off its $210 million acquisition of OMGPOP? How about this: Hit game title Draw Something will soon be at the center of a new primetime game show, according to a report by Variety. The show’s pilot, which was picked up by CBS after an apparent bidding war, will be produced by Sony Pictures Television, Ryan Seacrest Productions, and Embassy Row.

A $1.056 billion agreement that transfers about three-quarters of AOL's patent portfolio to Microsoft has been completed, the companies announced today. Over 800 of AOL's 1,100 patents now belong to Microsoft, and Microsoft has a non-exclusive license to the remainder. AOL will also retain a license to what it's sold. Microsoft will be using its new intellectual property in a deal with Facebook, building on a number of social networking inventions from AOL's earlier days as a web platform. Other patents cover advertising, search, mapping, media streaming, and security.

The founder of one of Europe’s former leading illicit movie streaming portals has been convicted. The man, known as Dirk B, received a reduced sentence after giving a full confession and apology for this activities on Kino.to, the site hit by a massive international police operation in 2011. Despite his overtures, Dirk B received a 4.5 year jail sentence and was ordered to forfeit $4.7m of the claimed $8m he earned from the site.

Samsung and Apple are the only smartphone makers really enjoying this growth. Combined, they took home 55 percent of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2012. More importantly, they’re walking away with 90 percent of the market’s profits.

Matt Rutledge, founder and CEO of Woot, and the grandfather of the daily deal, is stepping down from his position, two years after the website sold to Amazon.com. In an email sent to staffers, and subsequently posted to the community’s website, Rutledge said that he was resigning his position effective June 15th to “move on to future projects with fewer acronyms.”

The lawsuit, brought by five Facebook members, alleged the social networking site violated California law by publicizing users' "likes" of certain advertisers on its "Sponsored Stories" feature without paying them or giving them a way to opt out, the documents said.

The labels and Amazon aren't talking, but my sources say Amazon is expected to roll out new features for the company's cloud-music offering in the United States sometime in July. We reported on Tuesday that Amazon had wrapped up cloud deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI, and was in negotiations with Warner Music Group. Information is coming in now that Warner Music Group was actually among the first to sign.

The spokesman stressed that the agency continues to believe there is no evidence tying cancer, headaches, dizziness, memory loss or other health problems to mobile phones. But the inquiry would seek any scientific evidence that could warrant changes to the emissions standards

RT @CNET: 5 blunders that put Nokia in the hot seat

RT @hackernewsbot: How we gave colors names and it messed with our brains (part II)...

And it's not just an off-the-shelf stock build of Windows — Vizio embedded Microsoft engineers on its team to optimize Windows for its hardware. The result is that every Vizio PC will be a Microsoft Signature machine, running a specially tuned version of Windows 7 that Microsoft usually offers to regular PC owners for an extra $99. Microsoft will even provide tech support for Vizio's PCs on top of Vizio's own support, a second layer of reassurance for buyers wary of purchasing a machine from a new vendor. What's interesting is that Microsoft has offered the Signature program for about a year, but it hasn't seen much interest from consumers or PC makers. Matt says it was a “perfect idea, but it fell on deaf ears.” He's blunt about it. “Microsoft made this great commitment to a great image, and they have a vested interest in making sure people are having the best experience,” he tells me. “It drives them nuts that OEMs throw a bunch of other stuff on it and then people blame Windows for performance problems.”

“We’re not policemen. We’re not going to be able to get anything done if we have to ask people if they’re wearing sunglasses or computer glasses and if their watch is a computer,” Mr. Martin said. “My hope is that we will get some relief from the F.A.A., but I don’t expect them to step up and be prepared for these issues in a timely fashion. Technology is clearly 10 years ahead of the F.A.A.”

The truth of the matter is that if private companies are in charge of public transit and they have vested interests in pushing their own (or partner’s) apps then they have little to no incentive in providing GTFS data to Google. One might think that easy availability of routing info via Google maps might increase these transit companies’ income, but at least the two big Austrian transit authorities do not seem to agree.

Leo's tool

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) has won a U.S. patent for a method for disabling fast-forward and other trick mode functions on digital video recorders.

“The bottom line though is now clear: There’s something there which looks like a Higgs is supposed to look,” wrote mathematician Peter Woit on his blog, Not Even Wrong. According to Woit, there are rumors of new data that would be the most compelling evidence yet for the long-sought Higgs. The possible news has a number of physics bloggers speculating that LHC scientists will announce the discovery of the Higgs during the International Conference on High Energy Physics, which takes place in Melbourne, Australia, July 4 to 11.

“The parties are currently engaged in settlement negotiations to resolve this dispute,” Kevin Smith, a Yahoo lawyer, said in the filing. “The parties believe that a further extension will facilitate settlement.”

SEOUL—A Dutch court gave Samsung Electronics Co. AAPL -0.28% its first victory in a global patent dispute with Apple Inc., AAPL -0.28% a decision that analysts said was largely symbolic but may help bring the companies closer to a settlement of their sprawling legal tussle.

After a video of a middle school students attacking 68-year-old bus monitor went viral on Reddit, the site's community raised more than $48,000 to send her on a "vacation of a lifetime." This isn't the first time that outrage over a relatively unknown event has snowballed into a major philanthropic campaign on Reddit. Since the site's launch in 2004, Redditors have contributed more than $1.7 million to multiple causes, often involving an injustice or bullying.

(CNN) -- Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has bought 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lana'i, according to a statement from the governor of Hawaii.

Apple has overtaken Microsoft (and Google) in operating margin percentage. This is an astonishing statistic as Apple is still largely perceived to be a “hardware company” while Microsoft is a “software company” and Google is a “services company.”

Microsoft Surface is not fundamentally about Microsoft needing to control the entire integrated product in order to compete with the iPad on design. It’s about Microsoft needing to sell the whole thing to sustain its current profitability.

Starting at the bottom of the range, there's "Rio," featuring a 4-inch WVGA display, 14.4Mbps HSPA, and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture. There's only 512MB on board, but the processor isn't bad — expect a Qualcomm MSM8227, a member of the company's Snapdragon S4 Plus line. One step up from Rio is the "Accord," which swaps in a 4.3-inch 720p Super LCD 2, an 8-megapixel sensor with 1080p capture, 42Mbps HSPA+, NFC support, and 1GB of RAM atop a slightly beefier dual-core processor (tentatively an MSM8260A, though that may change).

What cost approximately $1,700 last year is something that you can get this year for $999, and the performance is still pretty good even when comparing against the highest-end 2012 Core i7 MacBook Air. The highest-end 2012 machine certainly performs well on all tests, but the numbers are only about 20 percent (give or take) higher than what you could get out of the low-end 2012 machine or the high-end machine from 2011. If you already have a high-end MacBook Air from 2011, you may not actually notice a significant improvement if you upgrade to the equivalent high-end Air of 2012.

The watchdog added: "In the absence of such an indication, for example #ad, we considered the tweets were not obviously identifiable as Nike marketing communications and therefore concluded they breached the [advertising] code. The ads must no longer appear. We told Nike to ensure that its advertising was obviously identifiable as such".