A Netherlands judge has banned the sale of three Samsung smartphones deemed to be infringing on Apple patents. The Samsung Galaxy S II, Galaxy S and Galaxy Ace may no longer be marketed or sold by Samsung’s Netherlands-based companies in numerous countries across the European Union as a result of the ruling, FOSS Patents reports. The judge also noted that other Samsung devices — the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Tab 10.1v — violate Apple patents, though it is currently unclear if Samsung’s latest ta...

Verizon Wireless is seemingly following AT&T’s lead and taking action against subscribers who make use of unauthorized tethering apps. ReadWriteWeb reports that one of its writers was using a “jailbroken tethered Verizon Motorola X” with an unauthorized third-party app, rather than paying for Verizon Wireless’ mobile hotspot solution as its contract terms require. According to the report, the writer was blocked from accessing webpages on devices tethered to her DROID X on Friday,...

The Russian government is considering disallowing the use of Apple’s iPad tablet within government agencies due to security concerns, Russian-language business news site RBC Daily reports. Instead, it is investigating various alternative tablet options including RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, Android-powered tablets or even a new device created by a Russian agency. Government security experts are reportedly looking for more “cryptographically secure tablet PCs” than Apple’s iPad tablet, and ...

Though the move has yet to cause Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to storm out of an interview, India’s Economic Times reported on Thursday that the country’s government has barred Nokia’s upcoming push email service. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has relayed directives to the Department of Telecom stating that Nokia’s new push email product should not be permitted to launch in India until a system is put in place that will allow the government to monitor communications sent a received on...

India’s government reiterated its stance on Research In Motion and other companies providing officials with access to to monitor encrypted data. “It’s not a question of their giving access. Under law, they have to give access, everybody has to give access,” federal Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai told reporters on Tuesday. “Whoever gives access will be allowed to operate. Whoever does not give access will not be allowed to operate.” The Indian government notified several co...

We should have known it was too good to be true. Just hours after mobile web browser Skyfire landed in Apple’s iOS App Store, it was gone. For reasons only known to Apple, the iDevice company has deemed the alternative browser unworthy of a place in its famed App Store. Skyfire’s claim to fame is in its ability to remotely convert Flash video into HTML5 video that is then viewable on the iPhone. We’ve reached out to Skyfire for comment and will update the post if they respond.Thanks, CDeeRON...

It’s not every day Google dusts off the trusty old ban hammer and squashes an Android app. After all, the Android Market is an open one, where any developer can bring any app to the masses — almost. Mobile developer DLP Mobile launched an app earlier this week that performed a pretty questionable function; it allowed users to spy on SMS messages by having them automatically and secretly forwarded from a host phone to their own cell phone. The app, dubbed Secret SMS Replicator, was added to the Android...

Across the pond in the UK, they do in fact have something very foreign to us here in America called advertising standards. Apparently, in some cases at least, companies are actually held accountable for claims made in their advertisements. Crazy, we know. The body responsible for ensuring that advertising is up to par with UK standards, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), was none too happy with a recent iPhone 3G commercial and ended up banning it from UK airwaves. Apparently it received complaints fr...