Technicolor, the iconic French company that invented the process that enables color movies, is looking for large patent payoffs from major mobile vendors, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company holds more than 40,000 video, audio and optics patents, and reportedly employs a team of 220 people who dissect every new smartphone and tablet from vendors such as Apple, Samsung and HTC. The team is responsible for locating patent infringements within each device. “We usually send manufacturers a big file, with...

The Canadian variant of the Samsung Galaxy S III will scrap the quad-core Exynos processor found in the European version and instead feature a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. The Canadian handset, like the Japanese model, will also receive a RAM boost from 1GB to 2GB. It has already been confirmed that the Galaxy S III would be equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor on U.S. carriers with 4G LTE networks. It is unclear, however, if U.S. devices will also receive the RAM increase, although it does se...

Samsung’s recent run of television commercials depicted iPhone owners as mindless hipster sheep who line up for days just to get their hands on a boring incremental update. While Samsung and its advertising firm had some fun poking at Apple and its legions of dedicated fans, the truth was made known during an interview earlier this year with Samsung marketing boss Younghee Lee: Samsung wants people to be obsessed with its products just like they are with Apple’s products. (more…)

Samsung on Tuesday announced the arrival of its new Music Hub service. The all-in-one mobile music service launched in various European markets with the Galaxy S III smartphone. Music Hub is based technology from mSpot, whom Samsung recently acquired, and allows users to store, purchase, and stream millions of songs in one place. Music Hub also has the ability to scan and match a users music in a method similar to iTunes Match. Not only will the service rival Apple’s iTunes, but it will also compete dir...

Google and Samsung on Tuesday announced a new Chromebook and Chromebox computer. Both machines are powered by Google’s cloud-based Chrome OS and are built for speed. Samsung’s newest Chromebook, the Series 5 550, features a 12.1-inch display, an Intel Core processor, 4GB of RAM, an HD Camera, two USB 2.0 ports and six hours of continuous battery life. The Chromebox resembles Apple’s Mac mini, and adds four additional USB 2.0 ports. Both come equipped with built-in dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/...

Samsung’s flagship smartphone for 2012 is now available in 28 countries around the world but unfortunately, the United States is not one of them. The Galaxy S III Android smartphone saw record demand ahead of its launch, and now the handset is available in more than two dozen markets globally. First announced at a press conference in London earlier this month, the Galaxy S III features an ultra-thin design that was inspired by nature. Spec highlights include a quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor, a 4.7-in...

Both Samsung and Sony, two of the world’s largest television makers, have begun enforcing minimum prices on their HDTV sets, in an effort to preserve profit margins, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan could also protect retail chains such as Best Buy and Target from being undercut by online merchants such as Amazon. The new policy prevents U.S. retailers from advertising or selling televisions in stores or online for less than a certain price set by the manufacturers. The move comes after HDTV p...

Samsung’s Galaxy S III hasn’t even launched yet and it’s already setting records. News of the high demand among carriers for the upcoming flagship Samsung smartphone emerged last week, and now U.K. carrier Vodafone has confirmed that it has received a record number of end-user preorders for the Galaxy S III ahead of its launch later this month. A Vodafone spokesperson wouldn’t confirm numbers while speaking with The Inquirer, but the company did say preorders of Samsung’s latest ...

As previously reported, after a less than stellar unveiling at Mobile World Congress in February, Samsung delayed the launch of its Galaxy Note 10.1 in order to make revisions. The original Galaxy Note 10.1 featured a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800-pixel display, a dual-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.4GHz, 1GB of RAM and a 3-megapixel rear camera. The slate utilized Samsung’s S-Pen stylus, however unlike its “phablet” counterpart, the device lacked a slot to store the nifty stylus. Samsung has a...

After two days of settlement talks between the chief executives of Samsung and Apple, the two companies failed to reach an agreement that would end their on-going legal battles over mobile patents, The Korea Times reported on Wednesday. According to a Samsung official, the two technology giants could find no clear agreement during the talks. Both companies remained firm with their arguments, with Samsung demanding Apple pay royalties for using its wireless transmission technology and Apple insisting that Sam...

Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III smartphone won’t be available in the United States until this summer, but the unlocked international version of the phone is now available for preorder from Amazon in both blue and white. The phone costs $799.99 and it will not support Verizon Wireless or AT&T’s 4G LTE networks, instead relying on AT&T’s HSPA+ network or slower GSM networks for service. The device will feature Samsung’s quad-core Exynos processor, however, which will likely be ...

Samsung has accused Apple of calling expert witnesses that exhibit “slavish adoration” to the company during an ongoing patent trial between the two consumer electronics giants. As noted by patent expert Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, court documents filed by Samsung in California seek to exclude testimony made by a number of Apple’s expert witnesses on the grounds that they were biased. (more…)

Samsung’s mobile boss JK Shin on Sunday confirmed to reporters that the South Korea-based consumer electronics giant is making new efforts to end its patent war with Apple. While Shin did admit that there is still much work to be done, he said there are a number of possible resolutions that the companies will consider. “There is still a big gap in the patent war with Apple but we still have several negotiation options including cross-licensing,” Shin told reporters at the Seoul airport while...

Samsung said earlier this year that is hoped to sell 10 million units of its smartphone-tablet hybrid, the Galaxy Note, in 2012. End-user sales reached 5 million units in March, putting Samsung well on its way to achieving the lofty goal. If 10 million is a magic number for Samsung, the company is undoubtedly pleased with pre-sales performance of its next-generation flagship smartphone, which may reach 10 million units before the smartphone even hits store shelves. South Korea-based newspaper Korea Economic ...