Apple's performance in the market continues to be stellar, but its performance in the smartphone patent wars-which it had a hand in starting-continues to be mixed, at best. This week, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) had another setback, when the full International Trade Commission ruled that Kodak was found to not be infringing Apple's patents.
Apple's loss against Kodak comes on the heels of Apple's first real victory in the smartphone battles-a ruling late last week that Android-powered HTC phones infringe two Apple patents.
"Coke's involvement in Spotify is notable, as the soda marketer has tested the platform's various ad units repeatedly, while also helping to launch the digital firm's presence in Germany and Australia. Spotify has appeared on 100 million Coke bottles in Australia during the last five months, while receiving a similar on-package treatment recently in Germany.
The music upstart is now in 17 countries and goes head-to-head in the U.S. with the formidable Pandora. For its past, Coke seems to be in a music-based turf war of larger scale, battling rival Pepsi for high school and college-aged consumers. Both brands have sponsored various concert series, with Pepsi spending significant resources in the last three years at South by Southwest."
But if we have learned anything in the last few years, it is that traditional media are now only in charge of part of the story. There is a paucity of facts and an excess of processing power because everyone with a keyboard is theoretically a creator and distributor of content. Most of those efforts begin from behind a firmly established battle line, then row backward to find the facts that they need. Was that a dark spot on the back of George Zimmerman's head in the grainy police video, or evidence of a beat-down? We retweet and "like" what we agree with and dismiss the rest.
As if the overheated cable news debate weren't enough, social media are fueling the story with misinformation, along with incendiary calls to action. There is a Twitter account called "@killzimmerman" that suggested George Zimmerman needed to be "shot dead in the street." On Twitter, the movie director Spike Lee passed on what he thought was Mr. Zimmerman's address, but it was wrong and an elderly couple was forced to flee from their home. And what if Mr. Lee had gotten it right? (Mr. Lee has since apologized and reached a settlement with the couple.)
U.S. Army is partnering with the Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a fully functional sensor suite that could save the lives of soldiers in battle
Hulu has joined Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Inc. and the nation's five biggest cable service providers in a fight to stop Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH) from trademarking the term "TV Everywhere."
Tilt World partnered with non-profit WeForest -- points Tilt World players earn in the game help buy real seeds and trees to aid with reforestation efforts in Madagascar.
The Army's announced the winners of their first-ever mobile phone app development contest. And the general behind the program says some of the applications will be in the field "within a year."