Qualcomm is working on a new device called the FLO TV according to a source with Gdgt. The FLO TV is a portable digital TV that will be introduced in the near future. The size of the device will be about the same size as an iPhone. The FLO TV will have the ability to tune into broadcasts from Qualcomm’s own terrestrial digital TV service.
The FLO TV service has already started appearing on several mobile devices manufactured by Samsung, Motorola, and LG. Qualcomm decided to pursue the design of a device using a terrestrial TV broadcasting service because it has the ability to stream better quality than a 3G connection would.
frog design in California helped create the idea behind FLO TV. Features will include a touchscreen with swipe and gesture driven user interface. The memory size will be 4GB. There will also be built-in speakers, 300 hour standby battery life, 5 hours of TV, and 15 hours of music. No word yet on price or availability.
Last week I wrote about how Broadcom made an unsolicited $764 million offer for Emulex. Fortunately for Broadcom, they have won a patent lawsuit which will require Qualcomm to pay them $891 million to settle. The payout will occure over the course of 4 years. This is the second time Qualcomm is being forced to pay Broadcom to settle a lawsuit.
However this settlement will dismiss all of the litigation taking place between both companies which includes all patent infringement claims made by Broadcom. Both companies have also agreed not to sue each other in the future regarding chip products and other services.
1. Google gave us CADIE, upside down YouTube videos, and GMail autopilot.
2. TorrentFreak told us that Warner Brothers plans to acquire The Pirate Bay.
3. Arrington announced that he is looking for a date from readers and that General Mills has acquired CrunchGear.
4. CenterNetworks announced the CN51 Startup Conference.
5. SocialBlade claims they cracked the Digg algorithm.
6. The Guardian claims they are killing print version of their site and is going Twitter only.
7. Woot.com is selling a bag of crap for $3.00 and $1 million shipping.
8. Opera announced face-gestured web browsing.
9. Car and Driver is reporting that President Obama wants “a complete withdrawal from America’s premier racing series is expected to save more than $250 million between GM and Chrysler, a substantial amount considering the drastic measures being implemented elsewhere.”
10. Qualcomm stated that their convergence program has implemented tiny base stations into thousands of pigeons. They also stated that these are no ordinary pigeons but a hybrid wolfpigeon.
11. SlideShare told their users that they are Rockstars.
12. Funny or Die wrote that they have been acquired by Reba McEntire and is now called RebaOrDie.com.
13. AOL Radio was considering playing Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up all over AOLRadio.com.
14. Amazon.com launches brand new cloud computing service called Floating Amazon Cloud Environment (FACE).
More to be added as they are discovered…
These were all good, but I think out of all them, Reddit had the best April Fools prank. They replaced their entire user interface to look just like Digg as you will notice in the above screen shot.
ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, Kyocera, and LG Electronics for infringing on their GPS patent. The lawsuit was dated March 23 and it was filed at the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. ITT stated that Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group Plc is infringing their patent by selling mobile phones that assist with GPS technology and the phone can automatically detect the user’s location.
The patent in question is #5,365,450, “Hybrid GPS/data line unit for rapid, precise, and robust position determination.” ITT asked the court for a permanent injunction against violation of the patent except to the extent to support 911 emergency services. ITT wants damages equivalent to a “reasonable royalty” and interest.
A Nokia spokesperson stated that the company “will vigorously defend itself in this matter and ensure its rights are fully protected.” Other companies related to the lawsuit were not available for comment.
Obopay.com is a mobile service that allows people to transfer money through text messages. The Redwood City-based company was founded by Carol L. Realini and John Tumminaro. Nokia Corporation wanted to get in early on the company’s success so they invested $70 million into the company. The deal was primarily in exchange for preferred stock.
Obopay currently works in the U.S. and in India. Some of Obopay’s competition includes PayPal Mobile, TextPayMe, and Mpayy.
Now Obopay is over $139 million in funding. The previous round was $69 million from Qualcomm, Essar Communications Holdings Ltd., Alliance Bernstein, ONSET Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Richmond Management, Richmond Global Cellular, Citi, Societe Generale, Promethean, and Olayan America Corporation.
Qualcomm is generally known for building mobile devices, but now they are officially in the video game console market. Qualcomm has partnered with Tectoy S.A. to build a video game console called Zeebo. Zeebo is intended to be a console made for the middle class in developing countries, or the “video game console for the next billion” as they describe it.
The console will be available for purchase in Brazil next month for $199 and other countries throughout the year. The console is light and will use digital video game downloads rather than disks. The console isn’t intended to compete against beefy consoles such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and the Wii. It
Zeebo attaches to TVs and use a fraction of the electricity of other consoles.
EA, THQ, and Activision Blizzard Inc. have agreed to produce games for the console. Games will sell for cheap prices too. The cost of the games in Brazil will be roughly $10. Next year the company aims to drop the retail cost of the console to about $149.
Telecommunications company Qualcomm stated this week that they have named Paul E. Jacobs as the new Chairman of the company. Paul is currently the CEO of the company. Paul will be replacing his father Irwin Jacobs. Irwin will remain on the Board of Directors of the company. Paul became CEO of Qualcomm in 2005. Paul has been with the company since 1990. Irwin is 75. Irwin Jacobs is one of the original founders of the company. Paul has been with Qualcom since 1990.
Mobile company Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) has bought IPTV and mobile video company Digital Fountain (DF). Digital Fountain is located in Fremont, Calif. DF stated by providing technology to national defense companies and then moved to mobile devices. One of DF’s most popular products is the DF Raptor. The Raptor allows mobile devices to send digital media over CDNs.
DF’s customers include Cisco, Sirius XM, Sony, Nokia, Adobe, etc. Qualcomm will keep seven key engineers on board from the company to maintain support for DF’s customers. The team will be moved to Qualcom’s Santa Clara, Calif. officers. Mike Luby, a DF founder and the former CTO, will report to Qualcomm’s CTO Roberto Padovani.
