Technology - Google News

Qualcomm seeking $31 million in damages from Apple in latest patent suit - 9to5Mac

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 01:26 PM PST

Apple and Qualcomm headed back to court this week in San Diego. Today, Qualcomm has demanded that Apple pay $31 million in damages over the alleged infringement of three patents.

Yesterday, it looked certain that Apple lost its star witness in this lawsuit. Apple’s former engineer Arjuno Siva was originally set to testify on Thursday, but didn’t end up boarding the flight for San Diego. Apple’s counsel then alleged Qualcomm’s defense of witness tampering and called Siva a “tainted witness.”

In a fast turn of events, Siva retained a new attorney and today Apple shared that he will end up testifying next week after all.

Now, we’ve got more details via CNET about the case. For the alleged infringement of three patents, Qualcomm is seeking $31 million in damages from Apple, or roughly $1.40 per iPhone.

The damages are for iPhones sold from July 2017 and contain chips used by Intel, which replaced Qualcomm as a components supplier. In 2016, the company started using Intel modems in some models of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Now, Apple has opted for Intel’s modems over Qualcomm’s in all its latest phones.

The three patents include one that enables a smartphone to quickly connect to the Internet after it’s powered on, one that involves how a modem and processor work together to handle downloading apps, and one that covers graphic processing and battery life.

Notably, the biggest (separate) suit between the two companies will head to court next month that will center around Qualcomm’s alleged antitrust practices.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Let's block ads! (Why?)

The Google Assistant Just Got A Lot More User Friendly - Forbes

Posted: 09 Mar 2019 04:00 AM PST

it will listen for a follow-up after it responds to your first query. You can keep the conversation going for as long as you like without repeating the wake-up phrase. Wait for eight seconds or say "thank you" and the Assistant shuts down.

In the earlier article I wrote,

Continued Conversation may not sound like much, but it makes an enormous difference in ease of use. Repeating the wake-up phrase before every interaction when you have a series of information requests or a sequence of smart home commands becomes a tedious chore that you'd just as soon avoid. Eliminating the wake-up phrase turns the experience into a conversation that gets you what you want quickly and easily.

An unobtrusive Google Home Hub.Credit: Google

It didn't take long before we found ourselves using Continued Conversation all the time. With a Google Home Hub and a Lenovo Smart Display, we also found that smart displays can be much more useful than smart devices that don't have a display. The problem was that Continued Conversation only worked on the basic Home unit and the Home Mini. If you were in the middle of something in a room with a smart display and wanted continuous information from the Assistant to help you along, you had to stop and move to a different room. Not good.

But that was then, and this is now. Google is rolling out Continued Conversation for its Home Hub, the Lenovo Smart Display, the JBL Link View and the LG XBOOM AI ThinQ. Our Home Hub and Lenovo displays have already updated and it's a safe bet we'll be replacing our basic Home and Home-minis with smart displays the next time they're on sale.

Continued Conversation is toggled off by default. To turn it on, open the Google Home app and tap Account > Settings > Assistant > Continued Conversation. Now, if Google would just let users choose their own wake-up calls, both of my wishes for a more user-friendly Assistant will have been fulfilled.

" readability="41.694831829368">

Google Home HubCredit: Google

Last month I wrote about two small changes would make the Google Assistant a lot more user friendly. Ask and you shall receive. Google just added Continued Conversation to Assistant-powered smart displays.

Continued Conversation lets you interact with the Assistant without having to begin every command or request with the “Hey/OK Google” wake up phrase. Activate the Assistant with the wake-up phrase and it will listen for a follow-up after it responds to your first query. You can keep the conversation going for as long as you like without repeating the wake-up phrase. Wait for eight seconds or say “thank you” and the Assistant shuts down.

In the earlier article I wrote,

Continued Conversation may not sound like much, but it makes an enormous difference in ease of use. Repeating the wake-up phrase before every interaction when you have a series of information requests or a sequence of smart home commands becomes a tedious chore that you’d just as soon avoid. Eliminating the wake-up phrase turns the experience into a conversation that gets you what you want quickly and easily.

An unobtrusive Google Home Hub.Credit: Google

It didn’t take long before we found ourselves using Continued Conversation all the time. With a Google Home Hub and a Lenovo Smart Display, we also found that smart displays can be much more useful than smart devices that don’t have a display. The problem was that Continued Conversation only worked on the basic Home unit and the Home Mini. If you were in the middle of something in a room with a smart display and wanted continuous information from the Assistant to help you along, you had to stop and move to a different room. Not good.

But that was then, and this is now. Google is rolling out Continued Conversation for its Home Hub, the Lenovo Smart Display, the JBL Link View and the LG XBOOM AI ThinQ. Our Home Hub and Lenovo displays have already updated and it’s a safe bet we’ll be replacing our basic Home and Home-minis with smart displays the next time they’re on sale.

Let's block ads! (Why?)