Techmeme: Microsoft Mulls a Stylus for Any Screen (Tom Simonite/Technology Review)

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July 21, 2012, 10:40 PM

Top News

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Google Says Some Apple Inventions Are So Great They Ought to Be Shared — Patent wars, Apple CEO Tim Cook once said, are “a pain in the ass.” Few more so than the one the company is waging against Google's new Motorola Mobility division and the new argument the defendants are making around standards-essential patents (SEPs).

More: Open Gardens, The Loop, SlashGear, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, Android Phone Fans, Macgasm and AppleInsider

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple and Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility both appeal Judge Posner's ruling — When Judge Posner dismissed an Apple v. Motorola Mobility patent infringement lawsuit in Chicago about a month ago, I analyzed his decision in detail and agreed with him in many ways, though I also predicted …

More: Computerworld, CNET and Bloomberg

Rian van der Merwe / Elezea:

The real reason we're upset about Sparrow's acquisition — When the news hit that Sparrow has been acquired by Google, you could almost hear the collective sigh from those who use and love this wonderful iOS and Mac OS X email client. Many people (myself included) took to Twitter to voice …

More: Scripting News, Matt Gemmell, Matthew Panzarino, Gadgetsteria, Marco.org, eWeek, Softpedia News, The Verge, Droid Life and Bits. Tweets: @tapbot_paul

Harry McCracken / Techland:

Why Google or Facebook Buying Your Favorite Startup Means It's Probably Toast — When I learned this morning, via Twitter, that the small company behind Mac/iOS e-mail app Sparrow was being bought by Google, I almost didn't need to read the startup's announcement to know the upshot.

More: Daemonic Dispatches, Boing Boing and Selligy Blog

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

‘Sparrow for Windows’ was never an official Sparrow client, not even close to ‘weeks away’ — We've just heard from sources close to Sparrow that the man behind “Sparrow for Windows,” Panos Tsimpoglou, was never hired by Sparrow CEO Dom Leca, and was never officially associated with the company's brand.

Panos Tsimpoglou / IM.Everydaypanos:

Shh.. Sparrow for Windows was just a few weeks away. — First of all, this is NOT a whining post. I just want to share some thoughts. — Almost a year ago I emailed Dom telling him I would love to do Sparrow for Windows. Begged really. He replied positively and a few days later …

More: Gadgetsteria, The Verge and Gadgetsteria

Tom Simonite / Technology Review:

Microsoft Mulls a Stylus for Any Screen — Adding a camera to a stylus could let it interact with any device—even one without a touch screen. — Microsoft is considering whether to release a stylus that could, after a software upgrade, interact with almost any existing display or device.

More: parislemon, Redmond Pie, Neowin, SlashGear and CNET

Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:

Kodak Loses Patent Case Against Apple, RIM — Eastman Kodak Co. has lost a patent case against Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd., dealing a blow to the onetime film giant's efforts to raise billions of dollars by selling off its intellectual property. — Kodak filed a complaint …

More: AppleInsider and CNET

Robert McMillan / Wired:

Darpa Funds Hack Machine You'd Never Notice — PwnieExpress' all-new Power Pwn. All Images: PwnieExpress — If you saw this bad boy under your desk, would you say anything? — It may look like a surge protector, but it's really a remote access machine that corporations can use to test security and log into branch offices.

More: PC Magazine, DVICE, The Verge and Boing Boing

Anna Heim / The Next Web:

Audio brand Beats buys back 25% of its own shares from HTC — Audio equipment brand Beats is buying back 25% of its shares from HTC, the smartphone manufacturer announced today. As you may know, the brand is best known for its “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones.

More: Engadget, The Verge and Android Phone Fans

Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:

Instagram For The Web Coming Soon? Online ‘View Profile’ Link Spotted In The Wild — Instagram became a billion dollar company with a service that existed entirely within the realm of mobile apps. But it's looking like the social photo-sharing juggernaut may be about to unveil its own bridge to the web, too.

More: PC Magazine, Mashable!, CNET, App Advice, WebProNews and Instagramers.com

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