Supreme Court gives Microsoft small victory, say patent experts

Although the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Microsoft’s appeal of a four-year-old patent dispute, the company’s efforts were not wasted, legal experts said today, reports ComputerWorld. In an 8-0 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed lower court decisions that forced Microsoft to modify its popular Word program and put it on the hook for a $300 million payment to a small Canadian developer…

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Kindle books to be loaned from libraries later this year

Amazon said Wednesday that its popular Kindle e-reader will allow customers to borrow Kindle books from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries starting later this year, reports Computerworld. That feature has been possible with the Barnes and Noble Nook device since that device’s launch; its absence on Kindle, and with Kindle books read on other devices, has rankled many book enthusiasts, including librarians, who offered online book reading for years…

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Apple sues Samsung, says it copied iPad

Apple has sued Samsung for allegedly copying the iPad, iPod and iPhone with its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy handsets, Computerworld reports. Samsung copied Apple technologies, designs and even packaging with its Google Android-based products, according to a complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Apple is seeking a jury trial in the case…

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In Schmidt’s vision, Google will search before you even ask

In the not-so-distant future, you’ll be walking down the street and your phone will beep and offer you a few lunch suggestions just around the corner, or it might tell you that the museum across the street is having an exhibit of that artist you once Googled: That’s Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s vision of the future, Computerworld reports. In a keynote address at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Schmidt said that at some point in the future, Google’s search technology will be autonomous, meaning it will offer users search results even before they’ve looked for them. “While it sounds like science fiction to suggest that technology can help search for things you don’t even yet know you need, the opportunities to improve human discovery are very real in the future,” said Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Combining a person’s context — where they are, who they’re with — with their past opinions and actions, and the opinions and actions of others, can create tremendous value for people.” Autonomous search would take your past experiences, likes and dislikes and use them, along with geolocation information, to give you information about things that might interest you wherever you might be. Analysts say this kind of technology could be a reality within five years. However, it could be a big drain on the battery life of mobile devices.

But the bigger issue could be privacy. For this type of search technology to work, your phone and Google would need to know where you are all the time. And many people might have a big problem with that…

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Half of social networkers post risky information, study finds

More than half of all users of social networks in the U.S. are posting information that could put them at risk from cyber criminals, Computerworld reports. The data, which come from a Consumer Reports study released May 4, noted that 52 percent of adults who use social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, have posted information like their full birth date, which could be used to commit crimes against them. The magazine also noted that the number of American households using social networks has doubled in the past year. “Many people use social networking sites to share personal information and photos with their friends quickly and easily,” said Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports, in a statement. “However, there are serious risks involved, which can be lessened by using privacy controls offered by the sites.” The survey found that 42 percent of people on Facebook post their full birth date, 16 percent post their children’s names, 63 percent post photos of themselves, and 7 percent note their home address…

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