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Podcasts are safer after the EFF helps gut a patent troll
Personal Audio has been threatening the podcast world for a while -- the longtime patent troll claims that it invented the concept of podcasting, and has insisted that some bigger productions (such as Adam Carolla's) either cough up licensing money or face lawsuits. You may not have to worry about your favorite series going off the air in the future, though. US patent officials have nixed some of the core claims of Personal Audio's "podcasting patent" after the Electronic Frontier Foundation pointed out podcast-like shows that were running before the patent even existed. Some aspects of episodic online audio are just too obvious to be patentable, according to the finding.
Personal Audio strikes again, has the Kindle Fire in its patent trolling sights
'Tis the season for reflecting upon our many gifts in life and giving thanks for them. If you're Personal Audio, however, once you've thanked your lucky stars that you own a patent on musical playlists, you then file an infringement suit against Amazon. That's right folks, Personal Audio is up to its old tricks again in the Eastern District of Texas, but instead of alleging iPods are infringing its IP, the Kindle Fire is squarely in the company's sites. The patents in question are number 6,199,076 that generally claims an audio player, and number 7,509,178 which claims the aforementioned downloadable playlists. Who knows if Amazon will settle out like Apple did, but as the web retail giant will move a ton tablets (among other things) this holiday season, it should have no shortage of cash do so.
The iPod turns 10, celebrates a decade of destroying physical media
It's hard to believe, but it's been exactly ten years since the iPod was first unveiled, ultimately changing the music industry forever. The iPod wasn't the first, it wasn't the smallest, it didn't have the largest hard drive, but it did have an iconic style and simple to use interface that led march away from CDs. When the history of Apple is written the iPod (perhaps more than the iMac, OS X or the iPhone) will be credited with helping spearhead the company's second coming. Over the years the music player has seen countless iterations and redesigns, and an expansion of the product line to include smaller devices and touch screens -- but for most it's the scroll wheel and white earbuds that define the iPod. Sure, what is now called the iPod classic hasn't seen a serious update since about 2007, but it still holds a special place in our hearts, especially for those of us who don't measure their music collection in a few dozen iTunes downloads.
Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 land on shelves, deliver Gingerbread without the phone
Right on schedule the Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 have made their way into retail channels and are ready to deliver their particular brand of phone-less Gingerbread right to your greasy little fingers. Both devices sport a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, which can be expanded via a microSD slot as well as the usual bundle of Sammy customizations, like TouchWiz and Media Hub. The only difference between the two PMPs is size and price, with the 5-inch model coming in at $270 and the 4-inch a more modest $230. You can pick both up at your local electronics retailer, such as the one that claims to be the best, right now.
Philips Fidelio for Android speaker docks get your little green robot bumpin'
Philips' line of smartphone-connected sound systems has been all up on iOS for quite sometime, but now Fidelio's ready to show Android some love. The outfit just outed three new Android-ready speaker docks -- the AS851, AS351 and AS111 -- and is set to debut the flossy Fidelios at IFA this week. These new docks are so anxious to get close to your Android handset, that they're rocking a micro-USB connector that adjusts in three dimensions to allow just about any phone to stand tall in portrait or kick back in landscape. Either way, the phone syncs the jams via Bluetooth and a dedicated app. The biggie of the bunch, the AS851, promises "lifelike, distortion-less music" and 30 watts of RMS power, while the smaller AS351 lets you take the show on the road with both AC and battery options and bumps 10 watts of RMS. The smallest of the three, the AS111, is dubbed as a bedside companion. There's no word on pricing or when the docks will have your Android getting up with the get down, but we do have full PR for you after the break.%Gallery-132393%
Judge shoots down Personal Audio's second Apple infringement case
Talk about swift justice. It's been less than a week since we reported on Personal Audio's second infringement suit against Apple, and an East Texas judge has already put an end to the litigation. In a statement regarding the company's complaint that the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and latest generation iPods infringed on the same patents put forth in its initial suit, Judge Ron Clark said the $8 million already awarded to the plaintiff should do just fine. He went on to deny the company's request for a second trial. It may not be the last we hear of Personal Audio, but it is a refreshing change of pace from the usual goings on in Eastern District courtrooms.
Personal Audio sues Apple again, targets iPhone 4, iPad 2 and newer iPods
Thought the Personal Audio / Apple brouhaha was over? Think again, because everyone's favorite patent licensing company is back, hitting Cupertino with another suit. You'll recall an earlier ruling by a federal jury in Eastern Texas found the CE maker guilty of infringing upon PA's playlist-related IP with an assortment of older iPods. This new filing alleges that newer Apple devices, like the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and modern day iPods -- which weren't part of the original 2009 case -- also violate that same IP, in a move we'd surmise serves to pad Personal Audio's coffers. Not like Apple's apt to feel the pinch should Personal Audio snag another victory, but hey....
Apple coughing up $8 million to Personal Audio in iPod playlist settlement
Ah, the Eastern District of Texas. Home to tumbleweeds, free range cattle and boatloads of patent trolls. Personal Audio, a patent licensing company with a highfalutin' facility in Beaumont, Texas has become the latest outfit to claim victory over a major CE company, with Apple being asked to hand over $8 million to settle a tiff involving iPod playlists. Bloomberg reports that a federal jury in the Lonestar state found that Cupertino's iPod players infringed on patents for "downloadable playlists," right around two years after Personal Audio initially filed the claim for a staggering $84 million. We're told that the inventions cover "an audio player that can receive navigable playlists and can skip forward or backward through the downloaded list," and while Apple unsurprisingly stated that it wasn't actually using those very inventions, that hasn't stopped the courts from disagreeing just a wee bit. Now, the real question: are Sirius XM, Coby and Archos -- also named in the original suit -- going to be facing similar circumstances?
Apple to pay $8M in damages over iPod playlist patent suit
An Eastern Texas District Court judge has ordered Apple to pay US$8 Million to Personal Audio LLC, after ruling that the iPod manufacturer infringed upon patents for downloadable playlists. Specifically, the court determined that Apple violated two generic patents with its support for downloading playlists on the iPhone and the iPod. According to Bloomberg, one of the patents addressed an "audio program player including a dynamic program selection controller" while the other was for "audio program distribution and playback system." Note that, while eight million bucks is nothing to sneeze at, it's less than the $84 million Personal Audio initially sought in 2009. That initial suit also included Archos, Coby, and Sirius XM, all of whom settled in 2010, after concluding that they wouldn't be able to finance a challenge of the final verdict.
Sonos recounts its successes, dishes on future plans but not Android support
Amid the doom and gloom of the economic... whatever it is we're stuck in at the moment, it's nice to look at a success story. Sonos is such a tale and GigaOm has taken the time to profile the upstart, which started in 2002 and has gone on to produce a series of high-end docks, networked audio players, and an iOS controller app that ties it all together. Sadly, users of non-Apple devices have been left out in the cold and, while Sonos VP of Sales Tom Cullen wouldn't say when other versions are coming, he did at least say "We can see a handful of other potential platforms, and we want to see which one has the biggest concentration of music lovers." We say why choose one? Plenty of music lovers exist on them all. Moving back to hardware, Cullen indicated that a person's music largely moves with them these days, and so the company is looking to moving into the car and personal audio areas, meaning we could see some Sonos-branded headphones and head units in the not too distant future. This could be in addition to what looked to be a potential move into proper home theater. These are crowded spaces compared to the world of wireless audio that the company currently plays, but another quality option is certainly not a bad thing. Update: Just got a note from Sonos indicating that "at no point in the near future does Sonos plan on moving into cars." So, it looks like you're stuck with any of the dozens of other alternatives for now.
