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<title>Haaze.com / nuingrebossmancur / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:37 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[SAE, IEEE partner on vehicle-to-smart-grid tech]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sae-ieee-partner-on-vehicle-to-smart-grid-tech</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sae-ieee-partner-on-vehicle-to-smart-grid-tech</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sae-ieee-partner-on-vehicle-to-smart-grid-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This is a sample SAE J1772 charging system and coupler, the standard connection for plug-in vehicles.(Credit:SAE International)Two of the world's leading technology standardization groups have signed an agreement to partner on vehicle-to-smart-grid standards.The memorandum of understanding has been signed by the IEEE-SA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association) and SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). It is essentially a first step to both organizations agreeing on future standards related to smart grids and vehicle electrification, including vehicle-to-grid communications, the organizations said today.The immediate effect is that the two groups will share draft standards on any technology relating to smart grids and &quot;vehicle electrification,&quot; with the opportunity for each to have input on those drafts.This is significant because the SAE, which includes the world's leading automotive manufacturers, has already developed 46 standards relating to electric vehicle technology and is currently developing over 30 more with the help of 24 &quot;ground vehicle electrification committees&quot; totaling over 780 members, according to the SAE.Most notably the SAE established the SAE J1772, a standard charging system and coupler for plug-in vehicles that was agreed to in 2009 and officially published in January 2010. Since then, it has been widely adopted by automakers including Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota.Meanwhile, the IEEE has more than 100 smart-grid standards in development, including 30 that will directly impact the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, according to the IEEE.The hope is that the collaboration will lead to definitive global technology standards for the development and use of the technology so that neither consumers nor manufacturers are inhibited by compatibility or safety issues and so that the technology can move forward faster.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[MIT: Hybrids cleaner than coal-powered plug-ins]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mit-hybrids-cleaner-than-coal-powered-plug-ins</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mit-hybrids-cleaner-than-coal-powered-plug-ins</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:10:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mit-hybrids-cleaner-than-coal-powered-plug-ins</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The technology to shift U.S. transportation from oil to electricity is basically ready to go, but political and infrastructure issues could stymie growth beyond a niche set of drivers, according to a study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.The report, put out today by the MIT Energy Initiative, said that the two main reasons for electrifying transportation are to lower greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce dependence on imported oil. The electric-car all-stars come out (photos) View the full galleryConventional hybrids lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to gasoline engines by about 33 percent, it found. If a plug-in hybrid were charged by carbon-free electricity, such as nuclear, biomass, and renewable sources, then the reduction would be 66 percent. However, a plug-in hybrid vehicle charged with coal-powered electricity has a slightly higher emissions profile than a hybrid, it found.&quot;The bottom line is that with coal-dominated power systems as we have in the U.S., the emissions gains are essentially already there with hybrid vehicles,&quot; said Ernest Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative, during a panel presentation today. &quot;Until we decarbonize, we will not gain the major emissions benefits.&quot;Beyond the environmental benefits, there are significant unknowns around how plug-in vehicles will be adopted, presenters said.It's not clear how consumers will take to plug-in electric vehicles--either plug-in hybrid vehicles or battery-electriccars--and how quickly the prices for batteries will go down. Also up in the air is how to pay for a public infrastructure and whether people can get more value from car batteries, either by selling them for grid storage after several years or getting paid for vehicle-to-grid services.On the policy front, most participants in the study agreed that a coherent federal energy strategy would be better than a patchwork of state programs and the current &quot;grab bag&quot; of federal tax credits, fuel efficiency standards, and direct spending on charging stations, said John Deutch, Institute professor at MIT who worked on the study .There was also agreement that aggressive spending on research and development would hasten the adoption of electric vehicles. Some also advocated for a policy to put a price on carbon emissions. But Deutsch said the current political environment does not look promising for a well-organized strategy.&quot;Coming to an agreement in our political system is probably going to be the major barrier to progress as anything to do with battery costs,&quot; he said. Battery pricesRamping up manufacturing of batteries is expected to lower the cost of batteries. But progress on price has outpaced predictions for the past 10 years, said Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor and also co-founder of lithium ion company A123 Systems. The price per kilowatt-hour of a car battery is between $500 and $600 right now and it's projected to be $300 to $400 as volumes scale up, he said.&quot;There are events going on that make me optimistic that the technology will advance faster than we think. About three times the number of people are working on this compared to 10 years ago so the rate of innovation is much faster,&quot; said Chiang.The U.S. has lurched from different transportation energy policies in the past several years, favoring fuel cells and then biofuels and now electrification. How far electrification will go is still unclear but it is one of the best options now on the table, said John Heywood, MIT Professor Emeritus and former director of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory.Whether the cost of oil stays where it is or goes up significantly 15 or 20 years from now will largely determine how much electrification takes hold, he said. Right now, much of the demand for these cars is driven by California's emissions mandates but changes in the cost of batteries and oil could propel plug-ins beyond a niche market.California laws &quot;are the major driver for developing these technologies. It will take a realignment of the cost of batteries and petroleum to shift these into a genuine market pull&quot; [from consumers], Heywood said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Intellectual Ventures files three new patent suits]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Intellectual Ventures, founded by former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold, filed three patent infringement lawsuits today against nine companies in the security, memory, and chip markets. One lawsuit names as defendants Check Point Software Technologies, McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro and accuses them of infringing on four of its patents related to antivirus and Internet security, according to the lawsuit available for download here.  The second suit accuses Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor, makers of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and Flash memory, of infringing between five and seven of its patents. And the final suit alleges that three makers of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) logic chips--Altera, Lattice Semiconductor and Microsemi Corp., which recently bought Actel-- infringed upon between three and five patents. The lawsuits were filed in federal court in Delaware.  Representatives for the security companies said executives were reviewing or looking into the lawsuit filed against them and thus not able to comment yet. Calls or e-mails to the other defendants were not immediately returned.  Intellectual Ventures, a controversial company with plenty of muscle, has a business model based on developing or acquiring patents and then licensing the technology to others. The company says in the lawsuits that it approached the defendants offering to sell them licenses, but the firms declined. The company is based in Bellevue, Wash., and was founded in 2000 with a goal of investing in invention. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ask Maggie: Kindle vs. Nook, waiting for the iPad 2]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ask-maggie-kindle-vs--nook-waiting-for-the-ipad-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ask-maggie-kindle-vs--nook-waiting-for-the-ipad-2</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ask-maggie-kindle-vs--nook-waiting-for-the-ipad-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[E-readers and tablets may be the hottest gifts of the 2010 holiday season. And if you're having a hard time deciding which one is right for you or your loved one, you aren't alone.In this week's Ask Maggie, I offer my advice on whether to get the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes &amp; Noble Nookcolor. I also advise another reader considering theiPad to wait just a little longer for the new version of the iPad that's expected early next year. And I help another figure out a good electronic reader for her father in-law who has limited sight. Ask Maggie is a weekly advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. If you've got a question, please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put &quot;Ask Maggie&quot; in the subject header.Kindle or Nookcolor Dear Maggie,I want to get my husband an e-reader for Christmas. Which do you recommend: the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes&amp;Noble Nookcolor The iPad is just too expensive and all he really wants it for is to read books and maybe a few newspapers and magazines. I'm so torn.Thanks,Veronica Dear Veronica,If you had asked me six months ago, I would have told you that the Kindle 2 was the way to go. No questions asked. But then along came the Nookcolor. This latest version of the Nook, which debuted only two weeks ago, is a huge improvement over the original Nook, which went on sale a year ago.Unlike the Kindle 2, the Nookcolor has a color screen and it offers a touch screen, which makes it more iPad-like. The touch screen also makes it much easier to navigate than the previous version of the Nook. Also the color screen is great for reading magazines. This is lost on the Kindle, which is only in black and white.My colleague John Falcone from CNET Reviews recently put together a great buying guide for anyone interested in an e-reader or tablet. It's called Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy So make sure you check that out before you purchase.But this is an advice column, so I'm going to answer your question more personally. Even though I think the Nookcolor is a very cool device, I am still leaning toward the Kindle. And here's why:First, the Kindle 2 is so incredibly cheap right now, that it almost becomes a no-brainer. You can get the latest model for as little as $139. Amazon has also been offering special deals on its second-generation Kindle. On Black Friday it was only $89. At these low prices, it means that even if you decide you really want the iPad in six months, you won't feel as guilty about the Kindle purchase (because we know you're going to get the iPad anyway).The Nookcolor is a pricier endeavor. It costs $249. And even though this is reasonable and it's still cheaper than the iPad, which starts at $500, it's still not chump-change. And if you decide to get a tablet down the road, it might be a harder pill to swallow.Plus, when it gets down to it, I'm cheap. And I'd rather save the $110 and get the Kindle 2 instead of the colorful Nookcolor. Second, I find that reading on a backlit LCD screen hurts my eyes. I sit at a computer screen all day typing and reading and after a long day the last thing I want to do is look at another screen. So when I read for pleasure I want it to look more like a book, which is why I prefer the e-ink. Of course, not everyone has the same preference. A lot of people complain that e-ink screens are slow to refresh. And the e-ink is only in black and white. The third and final reason that I say go with the Kindle is that I truly believe that Amazon will win the e-book wars. And eventually, I believe Amazon will dominate all book publishing. (For more on this, read Ken Auletta's piece in The New Yorker from April 26, 2010.)What does this have to do with whether you should get a Kindle or a Nook If I'm looking at which platform I want to be tied to for the long term, I'd rather have my library consist of books on a format associated with the winner in the publishing war rather than a possible loser. This isn't to say that I think Barnes &amp; Noble is going out of business tomorrow. I'm just saying that I think Amazon is going to become increasingly more important and dominant in the book publishing world. And I'd rather build a library of e-books that I know will be around for years.While Kindle and Nook books can be read on other devices, such as an iPad,iPod, or Android phone or tablet, they cannot be read on each other's e-reader or by each other's applications. This means that if you are buying books from Barnes &amp; Noble for the Nook, you won't be able to easily switch those books over to a Kindle eReader if down the road B&amp;N implodes.Maybe this is a bit pessimistic of me, but as someone who lived through the record to 8-track to cassette tape to CD to MP3 era, I am tired of buying the same content multiple times. I know some people never reread books, but occasionally, I do. And it would really annoy me if I had to buy &quot;A Prayer for Owen Meany&quot; yet again. I've already bought R.E.M's album &quot;Eponymous&quot; three times.iPad now or waitDear Maggie,I was all set to purchase an iPad for this holiday season. But I read some rumors saying that the new model will be out early 2011. I'm not really sure if I should buy one right now or just wait. As well, which one would be better, an iPad or MacBook AirRegards,Steve Dear Steve,Unfortunately, Steve Jobs does not have me on speed-dial on hisiPhone, so honestly, I can't tell you with any degree of certainty when the new iPad will come out. But I have read the same rumors that you have heard. And if you look historically at Apple's product introduction cycle, they tend to come out with new models of products about every year. So it's likely that it will introduce a new iPad in the first half of 2010. Will it be in January or sometime in the first quarter of next year I can't say for sure. But you can bet something new will be introduced relatively soon. So if you can wait a few months, you might want to suck it up.  The new version of the product will no doubt be better than the original. Some things that many people are hoping for include a thinner design, front-facing camera, better display, and a USB port. As for the MacBook Air, my CNET Reviews colleague John Falcone said last week in the Ask Maggie column that he thinks the new 11-inch ($999-$1,199) MacBook Air is a better alternative to the iPad, even if you already have a full-size MacBook. And the reason is simple: It's very light, great battery life, but still a &quot;real computer.&quot; So there you have it. Good luck! The best e-reader for someone with limited visionDear Maggie,My father in-law has limited vision. He loves to read the local paper which is online, but he is not computer literate. What can we do I thought an iPad might work. The font is large enough and I don't think it is hard to use. He lives in West Virginia. Not a great place to get help locally. Thanks,Kathy Dear Kathy,Any of the e-readers on the market will allow him to make the font larger so that he can read the print. But if a backlit LCD screen might bother his eyes, you should consider an Amazon Kindle. It uses e-ink, which looks more like paper. And it's much easier on the eyes. It's not difficult to use and certainly doesn't require anyone to be a computer whiz. It's also a lot less expensive than the iPad. You can get a new Kindle 2 for $139. And Amazon was offering the previous version for $89 on Black Friday, so you might be able to get a deal. That said, if you are willing to pay a bit more, and you want to be able to add apps to the device, the iPad may also be a good choice for him. The iPad is easy to use and it will allow him to do things in addition to reading the paper. And if his eyesight worsens, he may even be able to download an application that will read the paper to him. I saw a demonstration recently at the AT&amp;T labs of an application that reads aloud children's storybooks. The application was downloaded onto an iPad and it used synthesized voice technology to read the story of &quot;Goldilocks and the Three Bears&quot; aloud. The application highlighted each word as it was read with each character speaking in a different voice. While the voices in the story still sound somewhat mechanical, the goal is that over time, the voices will match the intonations and speech patterns of natural voices. This technology could be adapted to read newspapers or magazines aloud as well. Before you decide on buying a tablet or an e-reader, check out this e-book reader buying guide from CNET Reviews editor John Falcone. It is a good resource that compares each product on the market. And if your father in-law is near a Best Buy, you might want to take him there to play around with the different e-readers, and then you can see which one best meets his needs.          Marguerite Reardon     Full Profile E-mail Marguerite Reardon   E-mail Marguerite Reardon If you have a question or comment for Marguerite Reardon, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Will Microsoft lead the charge to bring apps to video game consoles]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-microsoft-lead-the-charge-to-bring-apps-to-video-game-consoles</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-microsoft-lead-the-charge-to-bring-apps-to-video-game-consoles</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-microsoft-lead-the-charge-to-bring-apps-to-video-game-consoles</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the app economy. Next stop, video game consoles.A new advertisement by Microsoft suggests that applications running on itsproprietarySilverlight framework are headed to the XBox 360 a4&quot; a feature that&amp;'s certainly been a long time coming.Video game consoles are becoming increasingly popular as media centers, rather than just being used to play video games. Pretty much every console already carries Netflix&amp;'s streaming video service. Most offer Facebook and Twitter connectivity. And with its newest controller, the Kinect, the XBox 360 dashboard is turned into a kind of futuristic launchpad that owners can navigate using just their voice.Televisions are also becoming more open to an app ecosystem. On top ofa line of &amp;''smart&amp;'' TVs, there are products like Google TV and Apple TV that will sport applications (Apple doesn&amp;'t do that just yet). The development community is still in its infancy, and it isn&amp;'t clear whether it will take off. But given the popularity of the app ecosystem on mobile devices, it&amp;'s pretty likely.The next logical step would be to introduce an app development ecosystem to a media center that is basically screaming for it. There are already development communities for independent video games that don&amp;'t fly under the banner of the larger publishers like Activision-Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The XBox 360 dashboard is a particularly slick media center that could be made much better with the inclusion of independently developed apps.Microsoft&amp;'s Silverlight app development framework is already in place on Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has also said there will be a high level of connectivity between Windows Phone 7 and XBox Live. That means it wouldn&amp;'t be much of a stretch to see applications on Windows Phone 7 popping up for the XBox 360 dashboard because it&amp;'s run on the same development infrastructure.The video game console is a dominant piece of the living room already. Microsoft&amp;'s move is pretty timely, now that a number of other companies trying to find their way into the living room. Slapping applications onto the media center would all but secure its presence as a necessary device plugged into home televisions. This would give Microsoft the jump on other consoles as well a4&quot; particularly with the advantage the Kinect brings to its media center.Next Story: RIM throws out popular chat application Kik &amp;8212' offering no good explanation Previous Story: Support Local Businesses and You Could Earn $25!PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: apps, dashboard, Kinect, Microsoft XBox 360, silverlight, xbox 360Companies: Cisco, Microsoft, Netflix, nintendo, Sony          Tags: apps, dashboard, Kinect, Microsoft XBox 360, silverlight, xbox 360Companies: Cisco, Microsoft, Netflix, nintendo, SonyMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Former Yahoo Engineers Shed Light On Why Delicious And Other Acquisitions&nbsp'Failed]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=former-yahoo-engineers-shed-light-on-why-delicious-and-other-acquisitionsnbspfailed</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=former-yahoo-engineers-shed-light-on-why-delicious-and-other-acquisitionsnbspfailed</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=former-yahoo-engineers-shed-light-on-why-delicious-and-other-acquisitionsnbspfailed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As we&amp;'ve written a number of times over the past few days, Yahoo appears to be in complete disarray. Following layoffs  at the company this week, a leaked memo revealed that Yahoo is &amp;''sunsetting&amp;'' a number of products includes Delicious (bought by Yahoo in 2005), MyBlogLog (bought by Yahoo in 2007), Yahoo! Bookmarks, Yahoo! Picks. Other products are planning to be &amp;''merged&amp;'' such as Upcoming (bought by Yahoo in 2005), Fire Eagle, and others.  A day later, Yahoo announced that it would be finding a new home for Delicious, passively aggressively blaming the press for the way that users found out about the news. There have been many more fumbles, which you can read here. So how did it get to this point A Quora thread with posts by a number of former Yahoo engineers and employees sheds some light on why the acquisitions of web services startups like Delicious and Upcoming failed at the company. Neil Kandalgaonkar, a former engineer at Upcoming writes:  If they were supposed to revitalize Yahoo, they weren&amp;'t treated that way. They weren&amp;'t all combined into any one thing, even though they all relied on social networking and shared the same kind of userbase. Instead they were parcelled out to different parts of Yahoo where they were subordinate to the existing hierarchy and agenda. (Flickr was the exception though, in that they carved out a separate role for themselves, and absorbed Yahoo Photos rather than the other way around.) Arguably the Upcoming acquisition is the only one that &amp;''revitalized&amp;'' anything as Leonard Lin made it his mission to work on Yahoo&amp;'s culture.But others counter that Flickr isn&amp;'t as independent as one would think and faced administrative obstacles from Yahoo. Longtime Flickr engineer, Kellan Elliott-McCrea (who now works at Etsy), wrote that from his conversations 15% of the large projects they the Flickr team &amp;''tackled over the last few years (internationalization, video, various growth strategies, etc) went into building the feature, whereas 85% of the time was spent negotiating and dealing with Yahoo. Elliott-McCrea writes: I recently pulled up a worklog I was keeping in 2008-2009, and I found 18 meetings scheduled over a 9 month period discussing why Flickr&amp;'s API was poorly designed and when we&amp;'d be shutting it down and migrating it to the YOS Web Services Standard.As for bookmarking service Delicious, Dave Dash, former Yahoo engineer for the product writes, Yahoo! lacks vision.  It had Delicious for years, but didn&amp;'t properly place it in its eco-system.  It ignored the founder for the most part, and switched the management team above it repeatedly.While all of this is anecdotal, it does provide a picture of a company that bogged its acquired-startups down in its company&amp;'s administrative BS. As Chad Dickerson, former Yahoo developer evangelist and the current CTO of Etsy comments, &amp;''In my experience, entrepreneurs moving into Yahoo! often got stuck doing PowerPoints about &amp;''strategy&amp;'' instead of writing code and shipping products.&amp;''That seems to some sum it up in one sentence folks. If you haven&amp;'t read it already, take a look at the entire thread, including comments.CrunchBase InformationYahoo!Information provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Have the location-based patent wars begun]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=have-the-location-based-patent-wars-begun</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=have-the-location-based-patent-wars-begun</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=have-the-location-based-patent-wars-begun</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Popular location-based check-in application Foursqaure was slapped with a lawsuit today for supposedly infringing on a patent from little known company Mobile Commerce Framework, as first reported by TechCrunch.The lawsuit was filed yesterday by Mobile Commerce Framework&amp;'s legal representation Jonathan Hangartner in the Southern District of California and is claiming financial damages as well as the withdrawal of all products by Foursquare to be impounded or destroyed.The claim is that Foursquare&amp;'s application infringes the patent by allowing users to search and find information on merchants by location or merchant type. A very broad statement, which most patents tend to follow and could be applied to many of the applications available today.Don&amp;'t think that Foursquare is going to be shutting down anytime soon, the company itself may own its own patents that could be used in defense. Like the one cofounder Dennis Crowley used to own from his days at Dodgeball titled a4ALocation-based social software for mobile devices.a4Other services dealing in location-based services also have unique patents, including Facebook Places, which could be used in defense called a4ASystems and methods for automatically locating Web-based social network members&amp;'' filed in 2007.The lawsuit may be the first of many to come to Foursquare by a variety of companies.  Unfortunately, it appears that Mobile Commerce Framework isn&amp;'t an active  participant in the location-based services space defending one of their  products, but rather just looking for a quick buck from a company that  appears to be doing the best in the space. Why do we think this Well,  the company doesn&amp;'t even have a website or any other real information  available.Hopefully, the location-based patent wars haven&amp;'t begun and the space can continue to grow. We&amp;'ve emailed Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley for comment, and will update when we hear back.Next Story: Disqus CEO not worried about Facebook comment threat Previous Story: Japan&amp;'s 8.9 quake puts cloud data at risk, stresses mobile servicesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: check-in, Facebook Places, lawsuit, location, location based services, location-based, patent, patent infringementCompanies: Facebook, Foursquare, Mobile Commerce FrameworkPeople: Dennis Crowley          Tags: check-in, Facebook Places, lawsuit, location, location based services, location-based, patent, patent infringementCompanies: Facebook, Foursquare, Mobile Commerce FrameworkPeople: Dennis CrowleyCody Barbierri is a social and digital media consultant. He works for Piehead and blogs about social media at Social Tab. (None of his posts are about clients or their competitors.) Reach him at Cody@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Cody on Twitter. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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