Jurors in a Utah court failed to reach a verdict in an antitrust lawsuit filed against Microsoft more than six years ago. Software firm Novell filed a complaint against the Redmond-based personal computing giant in 2004, alleging that it reneged on a deal that cost Novell $1.2 billion. The Utah-based software company’s word processing software, WordPerfect, was supposed to be included with the Windows 95 operating system but Microsoft claims that it dumped plans to bundle the program when Novell failed to deliver a stable build in time. Novell argues that Microsoft pulled the plug on its WordPerfect plans to gain market share with its own competing software, Microsoft Word. Jurors were reportedly close to a verdict early on Friday but after continued deliberation, they informed the judge presiding over the case that they were deadlocked, the Associated Press reported on Saturday. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz proceeded to declare a mistrial, and attorneys for Novell told reporters that they would seek to retry the case with a new jury.

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Samsung has again delayed the launch of its GALAXY Tab 10.1 Android tablet in Australia amid an ongoing patent dispute with Apple. This time, Samsung has stated in court that it will not market or sell its 10-inch Honeycomb tablet until September 30th at the earliest. While the repeated launch delays are no doubt victories for Apple, which claims the Tab 10.1 infringes on multiple Apple-owned patents, Samsung won’t stick to a defensive stance for much longer. Samsung in a statement confirmed that it “intends to file a cross claim against Apple Australia and Apple Inc regarding the invalidity of the patents previously asserted by Apple and also a cross claim against Apple regarding violation of patents held by Samsung by selling its iPhones and iPads.” The next hearing in Apple’s case against Samsung in Australia is scheduled for September 26th.

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British Airways is currently running a trial during which it is providing its flight attendants with iPads, hoping the Apple tablets will enhance customer service and improve safety. According to Mashable, the iPads are preloaded with British Airways safety documents, including manuals, as well as information about each plane’s passengers. Flight attendants will be able to find out locate specific passengers, determine who they are traveling with, their Executive Club status, meal requests and more. British Airways has already tested the iPad with 100 members of its flight crew and has plans to deploy it to all of its senior flight crew members in the coming months. This is not the first time an airline has used a tablet; American Airlines began distributing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to first class passengers on several of its overseas flights in June.

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Mobile payments collaborative Isis has announced its first trial market, Salt Lake City. The group, which is comprised of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, plans to bring its contactless payment system to the Utah merchants in “early to mid-2012.” Isis also announced a working agreement with the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to enable Isis payments throughout the entire public transportation system. “By working with the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake Chamber and Salt Lake City-area merchants, Isis is bringing the mobile commerce vision to reality,” said the group’s CEO, Michael Abbott. ”Salt Lake City consumers will experience a new way to shop, pay and save.” The announcement comes one day after a report suggested Sprint would develop its own mobile payment solution for future use. The full Isis press release is after the break.

Isis Advances Mobile Commerce with First Market

Isis Rolls Out Mobile Commerce Program in Salt Lake City and Partners with Utah Transit Authority to Make Entire Transit System Isis-Enabled

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, today announced it will pilot the Isis mobile commerce program in Salt Lake City in early- to mid-2012. Isis has also entered into an agreement with Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to make the entire UTA transit system Isis-enabled, marking the deployment of Isis as the first commercially available mobile transportation fare payment program in the U.S. Additionally, Isis is investing in the necessary infrastructure to enable mobile commerce on a nationwide basis and will be available to all merchants, banks, payment networks and mobile carriers.

“By working with the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake Chamber and Salt Lake City-area merchants, Isis is bringing the mobile commerce vision to reality. Salt Lake City consumers will experience a new way to shop, pay and save,” said Michael Abbott, chief executive officer at Isis.

Salt Lake City: The Place You Can Leave Your Wallet At Home

Isis, which announced its formation in mid-November 2010, is focused on bringing mobile commerce to Salt Lake City using mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases through the use of near-field communication (NFC) technology. The Isis system will evolve to offer customers a highly secure and convenient way to pay, redeem coupons and store merchant loyalty cards, all with the tap of their phone.

The Isis mobile payment program will roll out in 2012 and allow consumers to use their Isis-enabled mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases at retailers across the Salt Lake City area and on UTA transportation.

“On behalf of the residents of Salt Lake City & County, Mayor Corroon and I would like to express our excitement that the Salt Lake City area has been chosen to lead the roll-out of Isis mobile payments,” said Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City.

“We are pleased Isis mobile payments will be available throughout the Salt Lake City area starting with the relationship with UTA, and we look forward to many other merchants throughout the county offering this exciting mobile commerce service,” added Mayor Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County.

UTA is a pioneer in contactless payments for transit in the U.S., having implemented a “tap on, tap off” system in early 2009. The existing system, which allows consumers to pay with their contactless credit and debit card by tapping an electronic fare reader on a bus or train platform, will allow Isis-enabled mobile phone users to pay using their phone.

“Partnering with Isis is a critical step forward in widespread mobile contactless acceptance throughout the Salt Lake City area,” said Michael Allegra, General Manager at Utah Transit Authority. “Isis allows us to build upon our existing ‘tap on, tap off’ system, and provide our customers with a new, more convenient way to use public transportation using only a mobile phone.”

“Salt Lake City is on the cutting edge in so many ways and we are committed to incorporating promising technologies to improve the quality of life for the people of our community,” said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “As Utah’s largest business association representing over half the state’s workforce, we are excited about Isis as it gives our merchants a way to streamline their transactions and, more importantly, connect with their customers.”

An anonymous source speaking to iLounge has suggested that Apple will launch its free version of MobileMe in April. The source reportedly works for a major educational institution and says Apple has recommended that incoming students download a free 60-day trial version of MobileMe instead of signing up for the current version, which Apple will reportedly kill off in a year. Evidence has long suggested that Apple has a free version of the MobileMe service on its road map. We suspect the free service will allow users to store digital content such as photos, music, or videos online, and we imagine there will be options to purchase more storage space for a fee. If this new report pans out, we won’t have to wait very long to find out.

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Visa has begun trials of an iPhone-based mobile payment system in Europe, Computerworld reports. The trials, which started today, require on-device software to be installed on testers’ iPhones, as well as a hardware accessory that contains an NFC chip. Visa’s solution also requires retailers to install a hardware terminal capable of processing the mobile payments. Apple is expected to add native NFC capabilities to its next-generation iPhone, which means users would not have to attach any additional device to their phones in order to pay for goods and services. Apple has not yet confirmed the addition of NFC to its next-generation smartphone, however, so it is unclear if the company plans to restrict third-party access to NFC capabilities. In that event, third-party solutions like the one Visa is currently trialling would still require a hardware accessory to function. A survey conducted by Visa in Europe found that 87% of iPhone users would be willing to connect a hardware accessory to their phones in order to enable mobile payments.

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Any developers out there that thought they’d be able to submit trial or demo versions of their applications for inclusion in Apple’s Mac App Store are going to unfortunately out of luck. Not unexpected, Apple has chosen to only offer full apps in the upcoming computer-focused application portal. Apple’s suggestion for those of you that still want to distribute beta, trial, or demo versions of your applications? Well, just keep on truckin’ and continue making those versions available on your website for direct distribution. With Mac OS X 10.6.6 just possibly around the corner, we might be browsing Apple’s latest App Store sooner than later (Apple promised a release by mid-January).

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Microsoft announced last week that it would be giving away free 3-month Zune Passes to customers who sign up for Windows Phone 7 pre-order notifications and then go on to place pre-orders. AT&T apparently wants in on the action as well, as the carrier plans to give away a free “Entertainment Pack” with each Windows Phone 7 device purchase. The pack consists of a 1-month Zune Pass with 10 free song downloads, a month of U-verse Mobile service and a free copy of the 3-D puzzle game ilomilo. The deal sounds pretty sweet, though takers should note that unless the service is canceled, they will automatically get charged a $10 monthly subscription fee after their free 30-day U-verse Mobile trials expire. Ahhh… nothing like a good old fashioned Columbia House scam to welcome people to the new Windows Phone 7 family.

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Verizon isn’t the only wireless company making LTE news today. Canadian carrier Rogers Communications has announced the launch of a “comprehensive Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network technical trial with Ericsson Canada in the Ottawa area.” The company will initially use AWS spectrum for the trial, but notes that it is “working with Industry Canada to secure a development license to use 700 MHz spectrum.” Bob Berner, Rogers’ EVP and CTO, said, “Through this trial we will validate how LTE technology will perform in real world situations across a variety of spectrum frequencies in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Furthermore, we will verify LTE data throughput speeds, performance quality, and interoperability of LTE with our existing advanced HSPA+ network ensuring that future commercial deployment enables the best customer experience.” Welcome to the 4G party Canadian friends.

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Late yesterday, Google announced that streaming-video company YouTube would “begin a limited trial of a new live streaming platform in conjunction with four of our partners: Howcast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom and Young Hollywood.” As the press release explains:

This new platform integrates live streaming directly into YouTube channels; all broadcasters need is a webcam or external USB/FireWire camera. Included in the test is a “Live Comments” module which lets you engage with the broadcaster and the broader YouTube community. For the purpose of the trial, this offering will only be available today and tomorrow. Based on the results of this initial test, we’ll evaluate rolling out the platform more broadly to our partners worldwide.

There are several live broadcasts going on as we type. Check out the concept by hitting the read link and let us know what you think.

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We were surprised to see the heading “Try Before You Buy” when browsing the Apple App Store on one of our iPhones, but after a bit more investigation… we stopped being surprised. The new try before you buy feature is actually a collection of applications that have both a “lite” and paid version available in the App Store. If a developer makes an application that is paid-only, like TomTom Navigation for example, there is no way to try that $40 application without buying it. Hopefully, Apple gets around to implementing a real try before you buy type system sooner rather than later.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Having theoretically learned something from the N810 WiMAX Edition debacle, Nokia now seems to be letting the market dictate where wireless technology is headed as opposed to trying to cut competition off at the pass. The result: a focus on future-ready products as opposed to tablets no one wants with a broadband connectivity option no one has. This morning Nokia announced the successful trials and partner availability of its RD-3 internet modem. The RD-3 is a modem component that supports an array of GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA and of course LTE bands, making it an ideal development tool for network vendors, OEMs and operators. Nokia, paving the way for LTE development and adoption… We like it.

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There’s no getting around it — WordPress applications for the BlackBerry don’t exist. Well, there are a small few, but they’re so bad that they’re not even worth mentioning. The first one actually worth a write-up, though, is ScreamingToaster’s Wicked WordPress application. We’ve been using it on and off for a little over a month and like the way the app functions. It’s the first application which has a decent enough GUI to be considered friendly and it’s loaded with great features like post creation, post viewing, comment viewing/moderation, photo integration, GPS integration, and more.

ScreamingToaster also really listens to feedback which is refreshing. They customized the entire photo attachment dialog and options settings just based on our feedback alone. If you’re a WordPress junkie and don’t feel like waiting until WordPress’ own application is usable, give Wicked WordPress a go with a 14 day free trial. Just know that if you like the app, you have to get over the full price of $30/year. Yeah, a year.

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First, the short version: The Pirate Bay has been acquired by Global Gaming Factory X AB for $7.7 million. Now the even shorter version: WTF?! We don’t know where to start with this one. The ridiculously low acquisition price? The fact that this politically active, anti-establishment, controversial, torrent-loving site was acquired at all? A blog post on the site this morning states:

The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess [SIC] of the nets.

Fair enough. The deal is expected to be completed in August and whatever the case, expect The Pirate Bay to undergo some pretty big changes moving forward. If you’re a pirate, expect The Pirate Bay also to become infinitely less useful moving forward. Apparently those legal fees add up pretty fast.

[Via The Pirate Bay]

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