The draft Radio Equipment Directive outlines a range of harmonized rules for bringing “radio equipment,” which includes mobile phones and modems, on the market. The rules aim to make sure that the increasing range of devices don’t interfere with each other and respect health and safety requirements. Part of the directive focused on reducing waste.

MEPs called for a renewed effort to develop a common charger for certain categories of radio equipment—particularly mobile phones. They amended the draft law to stipulate that the ability to work with common chargers will be an essential requirement for radio equipment. It will be up to the European Commission to decide which specific types of radio equipment will have to meet the requirement.

Rapporteur Barbara Weiler said that the directive is “an efficient tool to prevent interference between different ratio equipment devices.”

“I am especially pleased that we agreed on the introduction of a common charger. This serves the interests both of consumers and the environment. It will put an end to charger clutter and 51,000 tonnes of electronic waste annually,” she said.

The proposed design for a universal charger uses a Micro USB connector—already used by many mobile manufacturers, including Samsung and Nokia.

More: EU Votes in Favor of Universal Mobile Charger

Thanks to AndreiF7’s excellent work on discovering it, we kicked off our investigations into Samsung’s CPU/GPU optimizations around the international Galaxy S 4 in July and came away with a couple of conclusions:

1) On the Exynos 5410, Samsung was detecting the presence of certain benchmarks and raising thermal limits (and thus max GPU frequency) in order to gain an edge on those benchmarks, and

2) On both Snapdragon 600 and Exynos 5410 SGS4 platforms, Samsung was detecting the presence of certain benchmarks and automatically driving CPU voltage/frequency to their highest state right away. Also on Snapdragon platforms, all cores are plugged in immediately upon benchmark detect.

More: AnandTech

We started piecing this data together back in July, and even had conversations with both silicon vendors and OEMs about getting it to stop. With the exception of Apple and Motorola, literally every single OEM we’ve worked with ships (or has shipped) at least one device that runs this silly CPU optimization.

Just days after Apple’s new gold iPhone 5s went on sale, Samsung has announced the new Galaxy S4 “Gold Edition,” though the back of the device retains the same plastic design as other models.

More: Samsung Follows Apple’s Lead, Announces New Gold Edition of Galaxy S4

I’m sure they made this decision out of the blue. No reason to think that they saw the sales figures for the gold iPhone 5S… The timing is just purely coincidental. And people complain that Apple is too aggressive with it’s copyright infringement lawsuits. Sheesh.

Dyson is suing Samsung Electronics over claims that the South Korean company “ripped off” its vacuum cleaner technology.

The British engineering company, which also pioneered “blade” hand dryers, has accused Samsung of copying its technology in the steering system on its latest vacuum cleaner.

Dyson said Samsung’s Motion Sync vacuum cleaner used technology found in two Dyson appliances, the DC37 and DC39, which have been on the market for two years.

“This looks like a cynical rip-off by the giant Korean company Samsung,” said company founder, Sir James Dyson. “Although they are copying Dyson’s patented technology, their machine is not the same. Samsung has many patent lawyers so I find it hard not to believe that this is a deliberate or utterly reckless infringement of our patent.” Samsung dismissed the claims as “groundless”.

More: Dyson Accuses Samsung of Vacuum Cleaner ‘Rip-Off’

What a shocking piece of news. Not. Samsung’s motto must be, “If you can’t innovate, then rip off those who can.”

So Phil Schiller gave a second eve-of-Galaxy-S4-launch interview, this one to Reuters reporter Poornima Gupta. The headline (“Apple’s Schiller Blasts Android, Samsung on Galaxy’s Eve”) is spot-on, but here’s the second paragraph:

The marketing chief’s rare attack on a rival, on the eve of the Galaxy S4’s global premier in New York, underscores the extent of the pressure piled upon a company that once stood the undisputed leader of the smartphone arena, but ceded its crown to Samsung in 2012.

Before I got to that final clause, I thought Gupta was on the cusp of making a salient point with regard to what’s going on with Apple and the news media today. Like most first-generation Apple products, the original iPhone was greeted by much skepticism. Needs a keyboard. Needs a removable battery. Costs too much. Only on AT&T. Then, after a few years, it became obvious that the iPhone was in fact the way all modern smartphones should work — a touchscreen with very few hardware buttons and an app-based system, more computer-with-phone-features than phone-with-computer-features. And Apple had no serious competition. None. This is the period, from 2009-2011 or so, where Apple’s stock rose coincident with its profits, at a steady consistent pace. But as time goes on, I’m ever more convinced that many observers — including investors and reporters (especially those in the business press) — developed three bad assumptions:

More: Daring Fireball: Ceding the Crown

According to the latest research from our Handset Country Share Tracker (CST) service, Apple’s iPhone 5 overtook Samsung’s Galaxy S3 to become the world’s best-selling smartphone model for the first time ever in the fourth quarter of 2012. A rich touchscreen, extensive distribution and generous operator subsidies have propelled the iPhone 5 to the top spot.

Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphone model shipped an estimated 27.4 million units worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2012. The iPhone 5 captured an impressive 13 percent share of all smartphones shipped globally and it has become the world’s best-selling smartphone model for the first time ever. A rich touchscreen design, extensive distribution across dozens of countries, and generous operator subsidies have been among the main causes of the iPhone 5’s success. In addition to the iPhone 5, Apple shipped an estimated 17.4 million iPhone 4S units for 8 percent smartphone share globally in Q4 2012. Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S are currently the world’s two most popular smartphone models.

More: Apple iPhone 5 Overtakes Samsung Galaxy S3 to Become World’s Best-Selling Smartphone Model in Q4 2012

Sounds like Apple is doomed. Doomed!

pcmag.com

Samsung is reportedly prepared to sue Apple over the iPhone 5 should the new smartphone include 4G LTE capability.

According to a report from the Korea Times, Samsung will sue Apple for infringing on a patent for 4G LTE connectivity. Citing industry sources, the paper said Samsung will target Apple in Europe and the U.S.

A Samsung spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Apple is scheduled to unveil its next-generation iPhone at a Wednesday press event in San Francisco. It’s very likely that the new device will have 4G LTE connectivity; Cupertino’s new iPad $629.00 at walmart.com included the functionality when it was released in March.

Samsung, however, has had limited success when it comes to battling Apple on patents. Last month, Apple won a $1.05 billion judgment against Samsung in California court, where Samsung was found guilty of infringing on Apple utility and design patents with its smartphones and tablets.

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technewsworld.com

Despite the acrimony that has grown between Apple and Google over patent infringement allegations — mostly related to Android — the companies apparently are open to talking through some of their differences. Or perhaps they’re just setting up the appearance of good-faith negotiations in advance of a no-holds-barred legal slugfest.

The great patent showdown expected to eventually take place between Apple and Google in some courtroom, somewhere, may never happen. The two companies are in talks on a range of intellectual property issues, according to an exclusive report by Reuters that specifically cites the issues the two companies have with each other over mobile patents.

To date, the talks have consisted of a phone conversation between Google CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook, supplemented by lower-level executive discussions, according to Reuters.

Of course, the uber conglomerates may wind up in a courtroom despite the outreach. Certainly, neither company would be cowed by the prospect of huge legal fees if it comes to that.

Apple has just scored an unmitigated victory against Samsung and has many reasons to press forward, not the least of which is Steve Job’s legacy. Jobs was never one to shy away from a patent fight, especially against Google.

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pcmag.com

This is a disaster for Apple no matter what Samsung does to its interface and its rounded corners. The case and its results, because of Apple testimonies, make it sound as if Apple was suing because a better product evolved.

Will the public stick with the iPhone just to be loyal to the creator of the modern smartphone concepts? In a down economy where every penny counts, it’s doubtful. Samsung is not only a cheaper alternative but has many more models. Combine this with the scandals at Foxconn, Apple’s manufacturer, and Apple is in trouble.

Really? This article almost reads as if it were published by the Onion. Dvorak even mentions Foxconn, which is an especially salient point, because as we all know, Samsung has no manufacturing issues in China.

bbc.co.uk

Apple’s legal motion to have some Samsung mobile phones banned in the US will now be heard in court in December.

A jury on Friday ordered Samsung to pay Apple more than $1bn (£664m) after ruling it had infringed several of the iPhone maker’s patents.

The judge had originally suggested that Apple’s request would be heard next month, but now says that a hearing will take place on 6 December.

Shares in Samsung rose 3% on Tuesday on news of the delay of the hearing.

The South Korean firm had $12bn wiped off its market value on Monday as its shares suffered their biggest drop since October 2008.