Technology - Google News

Snapchat will launch a gaming platform, now that its rivals have copied everything else - BGR
Qualcomm defeats Apple in iPhone patent case - 10News
Android Q might let users customize the lock screen & AOD clock [Gallery] - 9to5Google

Snapchat will launch a gaming platform, now that its rivals have copied everything else - BGR

Posted: 15 Mar 2019 08:07 PM PDT

After being hampered by stagnant growth as its rivals relentlessly copy and repurpose its core features, the next era in the story of Snapchat is apparently at hand. And it will have gaming at its core.

The popular ephemeral messaging app is reportedly set to host a summit for content creators and developers in Los Angeles on April 4, during which the company will formally unveil what it’s been referring to internally as “Project Cognac” — a gaming platform that includes a slew of new games for Snapchat users to play that were developed by outside creators.

That news comes via a report from Cheddar, which notes that Snapchat’s parent company Snap seemed to pave the way for this with its $8.6 million acquisition last year of the Australian gaming studio Prettygreat. One of that studio’s partners, we should note, also created popular smartphone games like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride.

Snap so far hasn’t commented on word of the impending games platform launch. Even so, this news should come as no surprise, as regular users of the app will have noticed the presence of augmented reality-based games to the far left of the face lens carousel since early last year. They’re games built around simple interactions that are meant to get you playing with friends and thus spending more time within the app — which has seen its user growth stall in the wake of Instagram copying Snap’s core “Stories” feature and baking it into the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app.

That has proven so successful a move that the number of people who use Instagram Stories alone outnumbers the entirety of Snapchat’s user base.

Nevertheless, the smaller social app is pressing forward, making a number of moves along these lines behind the scenes including teaming up with Chinese tech brand Tencent.

It’s the company behind hit games like “League of Legends,” and in late 2017 it took a 10 percent stake in Snapchat — noting at the time it wanted to work with the company on mobile games. No word yet, though, on whether we’ll see any fruits of such a collaboration when Snapchat’s gaming platform is launched just a few weeks from now.

Image Source: Shutterstock

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Qualcomm defeats Apple in iPhone patent case - 10News

Posted: 15 Mar 2019 01:20 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego-based Qualcomm won a $31 million decision Friday against Apple in a patent infringement case involving iPhones.

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, and X infringed Qualcomm’s patents.

One of the patents enables "flashless booting”, eliminating the need for separate flash memory. It also allows a smartphone to connect to the internet quickly after being powered on, according to Qualcomm officials.

The other two patents allow smartphone apps to access internet data quickly, and enable high performance and graphics while increasing battery life, Qualcomm said in a news release.

Qualcomm was awarded $31 million in damages from July 6, 2017, the date the lawsuit was filed, through the end of the trial.

"Today's unanimous jury verdict is the latest victory in our worldwide patent litigation directed at holding Apple accountable for using our valuable technologies without paying for them," said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel for Qualcomm. "The technologies invented by Qualcomm and others are what made it possible for Apple to enter the market and become so successful so quickly. The three patents found to be infringed in this case represent just a small fraction of Qualcomm's valuable portfolio of tens of thousands of patents. We are gratified that courts all over the world are rejecting Apple's strategy of refusing to pay for the use of our IP."

Courts in Germany and China also ruled in favor of Qualcomm in similar legal disputes in the past six months.

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Android Q might let users customize the lock screen & AOD clock [Gallery] - 9to5Google

Posted: 15 Mar 2019 04:14 PM PDT

Android Q will see five more betas in the coming months before its public release. In that ensuing development period, Google will polish Android, add new features, and remove others. An upcoming one could be the ability to customize the clock that appears on your lock screen and AOD.

Beta 1 already introduces a number of Always-on Display tweaks, like moving the battery indicator to the top-right corner and travel ETAs, as well as Calendar events, to a new pill at the bottom. Those last two changes also appear on the lock screen, while the AOD now displays your currently playing song.

Furthermore, Google might let users customize how the clock appears. XDA today spotted three new designs in development that can be enabled via ADB commands.

“Bubble Clock” and “Stretch Clock” are analog takes on the time with the latter being quite conventional. There are hour and minute hands at the center of the screen, but it does retain a slightly smaller digital time on the lock screen. The former is more avant-garde — harder to read — with a circle (hour) and oval (minute) for hands.

The “Text Clock” will likely be a favorite, with users able to just read the time. “It’s” is themed in a light peach color, but the rest is white. All three clocks feature some color, but at the moment is generically set and does not adapt to a user’s wallpaper.

Like the standard clock, all appear on the Always-on Display. Bubble and Stretch will even move the digital time to the top-left corner.

Given that ADB commands from XDA are required to enable (the first one reverts users to the default), this customization is clearly not finished. Additionally, the date and weather widgets do not appear when any of the three new clocks are enabled. Hopefully, Google will launch this feature and let end users customize from the Settings app.