USPTO frowns on dynamic web patents

The USPTO has upheld the Public Patent Foundation's requests for a formal review of the 'dynamic web' patents owned by EpicRealm, which have been used as the basis for infringement proceedings against tens of companies. PUBPAT put forward bodies of prior art that the USPTO had not previously been aware of when the patents were initially granted in an attempt to invalidate the patents. If the prior art is found to invalidate the patents they will be revoked and EpicRealm will find it difficult to sustain related lawsuits - tough times for a company that thrives solely on its patent portfolio. ...more

Intel puts the surf into surfboard

When you think of California what comes to mind? Images of high-tech Silicon Valley technology, or surfers on Pacific waves? Well, put the two together and you would come up with the very improbable Intel Wireless Technology Surfboard. This rather unique Centrino-based piece of kit will be appearing in the UK for the 2004 GoldCoast Oceanfest, held in Devon 18-20 June. The solar powered board contains a Rock T200 tablet laptop, with a 1. ...more

Sony on a chip

Joint venture to produce system-on-a-chip processors tailored to Sony's application requirements. IBM has signed multi-year agreements to license out its semiconductor technologies to Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba to develop high performance, low-power chips. IBM's expertise with process technologies, including silicon-on-insulator transistors and copper wires, will push the scale down to 50nanometres, less than half that used by Intel, which recently moved to a 0. ...more

Spyware coming to Mac OS X near you?

Research firm Gartner has warned businesses to be aware of the potential for spyware on Mac OS X. 'Although it is almost nonexistent on the Mac platform today, problem spyware could emerge.' according to Martin Reynolds, vice president of the research firm's Dataquest organisation. ...more

05-05-2001 Essential news of the week

Brought neatly together and presented on a plate, here is a roundup of some of the week's main news stories from the world of IT. Microsoft guns for Open Source BT tries to speed up ADSL, industry unconvinced 60GB hard drive with free video editing Apple to stop selling CRT displays BT moves out of Japan, sells to Vodafone XML solidifying as a standard Microsoft patches IIS buffer overflow flaw New faster, lighter, sleeker iBooks Ensure you're paying the cheapest phone bills Reptiles will always survive, why not IBM systems? Don't forget, we welcome your comments. Just click on a story and go for the 'Comments' link on the right-hand side of the screen. ...more