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The Droid Razr Maxx and other Motorola devices face a U.S. import ban for violating a Microsoft patent. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired

The U.S. International Trade Commission awarded Microsoft what could be a significant patent victory on Friday by deciding that all of Motorola Mobility’s Android phones and tablets should face an American import ban.

The proposed ban, which was first reported by the website Foss Patents, is the result of a December ITC ruling that Motorola’s Android devices violate a Microsoft-owned patent — patent 6370566 — that pertains to “generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device.”

Essentially, Microsoft owns a patent on enabling a mobile device to give users “the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself” by assigning the created meeting request, or “object,” by way of “a global identification number which uniquely identifies the object to other devices which encounter the object.”

The Obama administration has 60 days to review the ITC’s decision. If the government doesn’t overturn the ban, it will go into effect after the 60-day period is over. Motorola can get around the import ban by removing the feature from its devices or by reaching a patent licensing deal with Microsoft, as many other Android handset makers, such as Samsung, LG and HTC have done.

But, as HTC is discovering right now, software changes can still delay the shipment of new products as federal officials inspect devices to make sure they’re in the clear.

The ITC, which is made up of a six-member board of commissioners, also imposed a 33-cent levy on each device Motorola imports into the U.S. during the 60-day review period.

Motorola officials were unavailable for comment by press time. For its part, Microsoft said it attempted to strike a deal with Motorola before heading to the ITC with its complaint and is still open to a settlement of some sort.

“Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year,” David Howard, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel and a corporate vice president, told Wired in an e-mail. “We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.”

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/itc-motorola-android-ban-microsof/

Amazon could be stoking a bigger Fire. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com

If rumors are to be believed, Apple and Amazon are both working on tablets that would invade each other’s turf. The latest scuttlebutt has Amazon preparing for a 10-inch Kindle Fire: DigiTimes reports that “market rumors” are pointing to a 10-inch Amazon tablet launching in the third quarter of this year.

While Amazon is notoriously tight lipped about its sales figures, the Kindle Fire has been pegged as the number one selling Android tablet on the market, with a 54 percent share among a vast field of competitors. With such a commanding lead, it makes sense that Amazon would set its sights on expanding the Fire line, and taking on the iPad in the 10-inch tablet market.

The irony, of course, is that Apple is rumored to be working on a 7-inch iPad mini. The smallish 7-inch form factor — once blasted by Steve Jobs as being dead-on-arrival — is actually doing quite well for Amazon’s Fire, and conventional wisdom says Apple is finding the prospect of lucrative 7-inch iPad sales too hard to ignore.

Both companies’ tablets support robust digital ecosystems that make money on their own. Apple makes a tidy profit on all its iPad sales, but also takes a 30 percent cut of all iOS app sales. And of course Apple makes money on iTunes movie, TV show and music sales as well.

Amazon, meanwhile, takes a different route: It doesn’t make any money on its rock-bottom-priced, $200 Kindle Fire, but recoups everything on the back end (and then some) via all the digital and physical goods it sells via the tablet, a veritable gateway drug to rampant consumerism. Thanks to this pricing model, the company could effectively subsidize a 10-inch Kindle Fire, selling it for cost at between $300 and $350. At this price, consumers could wave off the iPad and its heady $500 entry fee, and save a bit of cash.

Of course, the 7-inch Kindle Fire isn’t in the same league as the current 10-inch iPad in terms of performance, U.I. and available apps. So, if Apple were to release a 7-inch iPad, Amazon could find itself up against a true competitor in the mini-tablet space. Apple has shown that it can sell hardware at a premium price and still garner a healthy profit.

With each company allegedly looking to drink from the other’s milkshake, the tablet market could get very, very interesting by the end of the year.

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/amazon-rumored-to-be-readying-a-10-inch-kindle-fire/

By Alexander George. This article was originally published on The Wirecutter, a “list of great technology” curated by Wired alum Brian Lam.

The iPhone’s camera is good, but we spent a good amount of time searching for the best gear to make it better.

On top of the homework, we also spoke to some friends from Instagram, like Jessica Zollman, one of the original members of Instagram’s community team. And photographer Cole Rise, a designer of some of the filters (including the “rise” filter) and the Instagram app icon itself.

We started out with a list of a few dozen accessories, but since most of the value of the iPhone comes from its apps, there are very few accessories that will really improve your shots, and honestly, only the Olloclip — first up in our gallery, and described below — is the must-have device in this list. The rest are good, useful and novel, and if you have a specific need in mind, proven technology.

Continue reading →

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/iphone-photo-accessories-which-gadgets-are-best/

Nokia’s share prices from May 2007 to today. Image: Google Finance

Curious about how to burn through $2.5 billion in less than a year? Nokia might have some suggestions. According to a Reuters poll of analysts, Nokia is on track to lose 2 billion euros, or $2.5 billion, of its cash pile in the next three quarters — after already losing $2.7 billion of its cash reserves in the past five quarters.

And that’s not even the most pessimistic of outlooks.

More bullish analysts predict that the Finnish mobile company will wipe out the entirety of its 4.9 billion euro, or $6.2 billion, cash pile by the end of 2012. It’s a worsening outlook for Nokia, which suffered a $1.7 billion loss in Q1. And less than a month ago, the once-largest mobile handset company lost its position to Samsung and had its bonds downgraded to “junk” status.

“I would not rule out the possibility of Nokia being downgraded further,” Nancy Utterback, credit strategist at Aviva Investors, told Reuters. “The company is in a negative spiral that will be hard to reverse.”

Nokia declined to comment on the poll’s findings.

There is, however, still hope for Nokia, according to the 30 banks and brokerages polled by Reuters. The poll found that, on average, analysts believe Nokia will end the year with an actual cash buffer, albeit a small one, of 2.9 billion euros, or $3.6 billion.

It’s a significant loss compared to the company’s 2007 cash pile of more than 10 billion euros, or $12.7 billion. But at least there’s a sliver of hope that Nokia can survive longer than a couple of years.

And Nokia still has the potential to bounce back with its Lumia line of smartphones and the growth of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. The polled analysts predict that Nokia will sell a total of 46 million smartphones next year, more than double the expected 20 million units for this year.

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/analysts-say-nokia-will-burn-through-2-5-billion-by-years-end/

An ad-supported Kindle Fire could spur impulse buys. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Whether we like it or not, advertising pays for a bunch of stuff we enjoy. Network TV, magazines and web sites that don’t have multi-billion-dollar IPOs all depend on advertising dollars to make their profit margins — or even survive. And now Amazon is pondering an advertising subsidy for its Kindle Fire tablet.

Ad Age reports that Amazon has been pitching Kindle Fire welcome-screen ads to ad agency executives. For a paltry $600,000, companies can purchase an Amazon “Special Offers” ad to run for two months on the best-selling Android tablet around.

The agencies were unable to determine if the ads would be served to current Kindle Fires, or on an upcoming, subsidized Kindle Fire model. In the Ad Age report, one agency executive expressed concern that adding ads to the current Kindle Fire would upset owners: “You’re already paying a premium for the product and then having that unexpected ad experience makes for a worse consumer experience.”

It’s also unclear what exactly the welcome screen is on the Kindle Fire. Is it the lock screen? Or is it screen that appears when the Fire it started up?

Understandably, the ad agencies that spoke with Ad Age declined to sign up for the Amazon ad buy.

If Amazon is planning on an ad-supported Kindle Fire, the savings could be significant for consumers. Amazon has been selling ad-supported Kindle e-readers for a while now, offering hardware price reductions to consumers willing to suffer a few static ads. Ad-supported Kindles are on average approximately 30 percent cheaper than their ad-free counterparts. If Amazon were to knock 25 percent off of the price of the Kindle Fire, the tablet would sell for $150.

That is if Amazon can sell the ads.

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/amazon-pitching-kindle-fire-welcome-screen-ads-for-600000/

I’ve never seen a ninja on a bicycle.

Then again, if a ninja did ride a bicycle, would I see him? Stealth is kind of important for those guys.

So, if you asked me to find the best bike for a ninja to ride, I’d pick this one: BMC’s UC01 city bike.

This thing has stealth in spades. Its matte black paint job is dressed with black decals, and there are just enough red highlights to make it mysterious. But the real stealth feature is the silent Gates carbon belt drive that replaces the typical chain.

For non-ninjas, a quiet ride isn’t really a feature worth salivating over, even though the startling silence of the bike is enjoyable on the occasions when you find yourself away from the noisy traffic of the city. But where the carbon belt really shines is in its practicality. Developed for industrial use (think saws, drills, and other machines with fast-moving drivetrains) and increasingly found on motorcycles, carbon belt drives require almost no maintenance, repel water, dirt and mud, and supposedly last about twice as long as metal bike chains.

Gates’ CenterTrack system, which puts a small ridge down the centerline of the drivetrain, keeps the belt from wiggling from side to side as you pedal. And because the belt doesn’t require oil or lube, you don’t have to roll up your pant leg — a perk I appreciated more than I thought I would. BMC has kept the bike even more low-maintenance by wrapping the belt around an 11-speed Shimano Alfine internally geared hub. Those 11-speeds gave me a wide enough range for all but the steepest climbs here in San Francisco.

One drawback of an internally geared hub is weight, and the UC01 wasn’t immune. The triple-butted aluminum frame and carbon fork are lightweight, and the added heft of the hub is enough to make it noticeably tail-heavy. Between that and the straight bars, the bike is great for cruising along at speed, but doesn’t give a ton of power when accelerating away from a stoplight.

BMC has years of experience building traditional racing bikes — the Swiss company sponsored 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans — but is making its first foray into belt-driven bikes with the UC01. The company has been bringing UC01s on tour for its racing team to use when they want to tool around in town before and after races. (They even produced a special model for Evans’ home use: the super-light MC01.)

To spec out the UC01, BMC mostly uses Shimano’s Alfine components — the company’s high-end “comfort” line — and they don’t disappoint. The hydraulic disc brakes gave great stopping power, but retained sensitivity even in the rain. The slick Shwalbe tires, also standard, are fast yet cushy, and the Fizik grips and saddle are both stylish and comfortable.

These are premium parts, and the bike’s price tag reflects that. The model I rode was the European version of the UC01, which sells for 1,900 euros, or about $2,420. (Later this year, American customers will see a model using the same frame but with slightly different specs priced at $2,000.) You really feel like you’re riding a luxury machine. It’s obvious BMC didn’t skimp anywhere except the pedals, though a lot of bikes don’t even come with pedals to begin with.

One oddity with my test bike was the 26-inch wheelset — the European version of the UC01 I rode comes with the smaller, mountain-bike-sized wheels. The bike is consequently a bit squirrelly until you get used to it. An optimist would call it “nimble,” and that it is, especially in traffic.

The aforementioned, less-expensive American version will sport a more road-friendly 700c wheelset as an option, and will come with an 8-speed hub. Also, the American version of the UC01 only comes with a silver paint job for now, though we’ll have the option of buying the same black-on-black version with the 11-speed hub next year.

So no stealth bikes for us just yet. But then, we can’t all be ninjas.

WIRED Smooth ride, smooth style. High-end parts. Belt drive is as slick and silent as can be. Braze-ons for rear rack mounting. Internal hub offers plenty of options, and you can shift gears even when you’re stopped.

TIRED Frame design is not conducive to acceleration. Aggressive posture may alienate some cyclists. Pricey. Wheelset, gearing and color choices are limited by geographical location.

Photos by Jon Snyder/Wired

Article source: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/05/bmc-uc01/

A GT500CR surveys its less-lucky friends at Plakos Scrap Processing in Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Anthony Barbato

I sat staring at Carroll Shelby’s signature on the passenger-side dashboard of my GT500CR tester.

It was just days before the legendary Texan left us for that big racetrack in the sky. Shelby rocked automotive culture more times than most folks move apartments in his 89 years on earth — from winning Sports Illustrated‘s “Driver of the Year” award in 1956 and 1957 to building the Ford-powered AC roadster that defeated the then six-time champion Ferrari team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two years straight.

And there I was, getting ready to drive a replica of his souped-up 1967 Mustang many have come to affectionately know as “Eleanor.” Reflecting on my experience now, a week after his passing, I can’t help but feel as if I were fated to drive the car.

Shelby raced, designed and collaborated on countless track and street machines during his illustrious campaign, but among his more widely known works are the snarling GT350 and GT500 Mustang mash-ups manufactured between 1965 and 1970.

Eleanor was one of these beasts. But of course, I wasn’t driving the real thing. My tester was a “restomod,” a version of the original metal that’s been restored accurately, but also upgraded with modern components.

According to Jason Engel, founder of Classic Recreations, the Oklahoma-based company officially licensed to build the Shelby GT500CR, a restomod is often better than the real thing. Technology and auto design have advanced considerably since the muscle cars’ heyday of the late ’60s and early ’70s, and such a machine shows its age today.

“The steering, suspension, skinny tires, heavy motor and dated cooling system mean it’s great for car shows or a quick cruise around the neighborhood, but not much fun to drive on a regular basis,” Engel says.

Restomod shops keep the vintage look, but update the suspension, the steering and the brakes, and also add things like fuel injection and A/C. The finished product has all the charm and appeal of a vintage ride, but with the reliability and driving experience of a modern vehicle. There’s certainly no denying that the restomod GT500CR possesses the soul of original, but I still wouldn’t recommend one of these babies for daily grinds to work in rush-hour traffic.

“Restomod buyers want something representative of history that actually works,” says Tom DuPont, founder of DuPont Registry, a marketplace for fancy, expensive cars, ‘bots and other luxury lifestyle accoutrements. “You want to satisfy that nostalgic urge with a current version of the real thing. Think of it as a practical car you don’t mind leaving out in the rain at the country club.”

Classic Recreations is licensed by Shelby American to build ’66 and ’67 Shelby continuation vehicles. Each one is fitted with an official Shelby serial number that’s included in in the Shelby Registry. CR has been building these cars for only a few years — it picked up the business after the previous licensee, Texas-based Unique Performance, had its door busted in by the police during a fraud investigation for VIN irregularities in 2007.

CR starts with a real ’67 steel Mustang body (not a GT500 body), stripping it down to its skivvies and stuffing it with all manner of modern upgrades: coil-over-shock suspension in the front and rear, cross-drilled and zinc-washed brakes, a Mass Flo fuel-injected 7-liter engine with 545 hp and 5-speed Tremec transmission. Any sheet metal that’s been damaged or allowed to rust over the last 45 years is replaced, and the overall structure is reinforced to handle the extra power. (The engines in ’67 Mustangs varied dramatically, running either 6 or 8 cylinders and starting as low as 115hp.) Shelby-licensed body panels — listed in the brochure as “authentic Carroll Shelby Exterior Fiberglass enhancements” — and signature accessories and gauges complete the look. And, boy, does it look real.

In all, a dozen skilled craftsmen spend some 2,500 hours — about four months — building each one.

Safety cables keep the hood closed so it doesn’t blow off at 110 mph. Photo by Anthony Barbato

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Article source: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/05/shelby-gt500cr/

Steve Jobs at the 2010 iPad event in San Francisco. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

J.Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler revealed some never-before-heard insights into Steve Jobs’ plans and goals at Fast Company‘s Innovation Uncensored conference last month. Apparently, Jobs had dreamed of one day taking Apple onto our public roadways with a sleek, well-designed car.

“Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who is designing the cars?” Drexler said. “Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.”

What an Apple car would look like, we’ll never know. Drexler said Jobs never ended up designing the dream vehicle. Apple’s CEO did help design a few other vehicles, though, including a luxury superyacht and a private jet (not to mention having a hand in iconic Apple products like the iMac, iPhone and iPad).

Drexler also made a statement that could potentially corroborate the seemingly endless supply of Apple television rumors: “The living room they’re dealing with at some point in the near future.”

Of course, Apple’s already got a living room presence with its Apple TV set-top box, so Drexler’s ambiguous statement could reference that — or just about anything else.

Watch excerpts from Drexler’s conference appearance below.

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/steve-jobs-dreamed-of-icar/

Our new fave in the Android realm. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

The HTC One X is one of the best smartphones on the market, and the best Android phone you can buy right now, period.

It’s fast, it’s gorgeous, it’s lightweight and it has a stellar battery that lasts all day. The camera is also outstanding. It’s the best I’ve seen on an Android phone, though it falls just short of the camera on the iPhone 4S.

It’s not just the hardware — the One X runs version 4.0 of Android, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, which is overlaid by HTC’s own Sense skin. It’s fast and easy to use. Combine that with the excellent hardware and you’ve got a handset worthy of being a flagship device for both HTC and ATT (even though you might have to wait a bit to get one).

In fact, the one thing I really don’t like about the One X is its exclusivity to ATT, the only carrier that sells the phone in the U.S. It’s a shame this phone isn’t available on T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.

Android handset makers don’t have the same leverage as Apple when it comes to dealing with telecommunications companies, so they continue to pump out a few slightly different versions of every phone, each one exclusive to a different carrier. It’s unnecessary and insane — HTC produced more than 50 different handsets last year alone.

The One X, being a stellar phone, serves as a testament that Android handset makers should go the iPhone route and make fewer phones of higher quality available through multiple carriers. The hardware companies would of course gain from this, but the payoff for the consumer would be huge as well.

To wit: Nearly every quibble I had with the T-Mobile-exclusive One S — a fine mid-range handset being sold at a flagship price — was fixed in the One X.

My biggest complaint with the One S was its display, and the feature I enjoyed most on the One X was — you guessed it — the display.

The One X has a 4.7-inch, 1280×720 IPS LCD touchscreen, covered in Corning’s durable, crystal-clear Gorilla Glass. The viewing angles on the screen are some of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone. Colors are bright and accurate, producing consistently true-to-life images across websites and apps. Pixel edges are indistinguishable with the display’s density of 316 pixels per inch.

Let me put it this way: The One X’s screen is on the same level as the iPhone’s Retina display. I love looking at it, and it blows away the PenTile displays found on the One S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (my former favorite Android handset).

Beneath the fantastic touchscreen, the One X is a beast, with a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (the same set-up found in the One S). Performance is blazing-fast, and though the ATT handset doesn’t pack the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor found in Europe and Asia’s One X, it doesn’t feel any less capable. The U.S. model is just as good and just as impressive as what HTC is offering overseas.

The U.S. version of the One X, unlike its overseas counterpart, runs on ATT’s 4G LTE network, which is only available in a small number of cities right now. In San Francisco, the One X downloaded and uploaded data quickly, whether connected to ATT’s 4G LTE, 4G HSPA+ or 3G service.

But despite performing like a beast, the One X is also a beauty.

The 0.36-inch chassis is made of a single piece of polycarbonate, giving the handset a sophisticated look free of seams or gaps, as seen on past HTC hardware. Given its size, the phone is also surprisingly light, weighing in at 4.6 ounces.

The One X is a handsome, well-designed phone. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

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Article source: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/05/htc-one-x/

On this week’s edition of the Gadget Lab Show, the gang takes a gander at the Nook Simple Touch e-reader and the Pebble Smartwatch, the most successful Kickstarter project ever.

Gadget Lab editor Jon Phillips and Reviews editor Michael Calore open up the show with a look at the Barnes Noble Nook Simple Touch E-Ink reader. It’s been updated from last year’s model to include an LED backlight that illuminates the screen from behind, making it easier to read at night. It’s still got a touch-sensitive screen. The light adds $40 to the price, making it $140. If you’re on the fence as to what e-reader to buy, Michael advises not to look at the e-reader itself, but the platform it belongs to.

Next up, staff writer Alexandra Chang joins Jon to talk about the Pebble Smartwatch, which she got to check out first-hand in Palo Alto, California. The display is a memory LCD, which is easy to read in bright sunlight, and refreshes more quickly than similar-looking E-Ink displays. The Pebble team sold 85,000 watches, and reached $10.2 million in their Kickstarter campaign. Pebble Smartwatches should begin shipping to the original Kickstarter backers in September.

To close the show, Michael joins Jon again to go hands-on with the new Big Jambox from Jawbone. Its design apes the original Jambox, but the speaker is about 10 inches long, and bigger in every dimension. For those who aren’t familiar, the original Jambox is an uber-popular $200 Bluetooth speaker. This larger model is $300, and works exactly the same as the original, but is way louder and has better audio quality all around.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.

Or listen to the audio below:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #151

Article source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/show-nook-pebble-jambox/