Microsoft looks to roll Google into German patent suit

Redmond has been waging war in a German courtroom against Motorola Mobility, but now is ready to move up the chain of command.

Microsoft plans to expand an infringement case against Motorola Mobility to none other than Google, the smartphone maker's parent company.Speaking yesterday in the Munich I Regional Court, Microsoft's lead counsel, Tilman Mueller-Stoy, told the court that the software giant will amend an earlier lawsuit against Motorola to include Google, marking the first time the two technology giants have gone after each other in a patent infringement case.

iPhone 5 traffic volume already surpasses Samsung's Galaxy S3

Apple's iPhone 5 has been available for only a few weeks, but already it's generating more Web traffic volume than the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Online advertising network Chitika today released results of a study it conducted on Web traffic volume between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3. The company found that of "millions of mobile ad impressions" it recorded on the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3, more than half -- 56 percent -- originated from Apple's handset. Samsung's smartphone nabbed 44 percent of the total impressions.
"Only 18 days since the public release of the iPhone 5, the newest Apple device has overtaken the Galaxy S III in terms of Web traffic volume," Chitika wrote today in a blog post. "Record-breaking sales numbers, along with new 4G browsing speeds which encourage data usage, are the most likely explanation for this tremendous growth."


A bitter battle has erupted between Apple and Samsung over their flagship smartphones. Apple claims that the iPhone 5 is the best smartphone on the market, thanks to, among other things, its 4-inch Retina display, 8-megapixel camera, and design.
Samsung, meanwhile, has argued quite the opposite, pointing to the Galaxy S3's larger, 4.8-inch screen and near-field communication support, among other features. After Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, Samsung wasted no time launching an advertising campaign detailing what it believes are Apple's handset's shortcomings. The company has even taken to mocking Apple fans who stand in lines to buy the company's latest device.
Those efforts seem to have paid off. Earlier this month, mobile-app analytics firm revealed that Galaxy S3 sales are growing. When the iPhone 5 was announced last month, Galaxy S3 sales grew by 15 percent. At the end of September, sales growth was at 9 percent.
Chitika's data is based on mobile ad impressions it collected across its network between October 3 and October 9. The company didn't say how the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 fared against other smartphones.

BlackBerry rep shows off secret phone

Mexican site Hola Telcel posts a video with a BlackBerry rep demoing the company's L-Series phone -- a device that is supposed to be a secret.


Someone forgot to tell a BlackBerry rep in Mexico that the company's newest L-Series phone is supposed to be a
The rep demoed the phone to Mexican site Hola Telcel, which posted a video online. During the clip (below), the rep shows off features of the new BlackBerry 10 operating system like the ability to virtually "rewind" a photo taken with the device to settle on an expression you most prefer.

Sprint LTE trudges ahead to San Francisco, 21 other markets

Sprint Nextel is slowly making some progress on the 4G LTE front.

The carrier, which lags behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T with its LTE network, said today that it would expand into an additional 22 markets -- including San Francisco -- "in the coming months." This follows the company's commitment last month to roll out the service in 100 cities, although it similarly didn't give a specific time frame.

Amazon to users: Hey, the Kindle Paperwhite isn't perfect

Amazon preemptively discloses some potential shortcomings in its latest Kindle e-reader compared with previous models, most likely to get out in front of user complaints.How's this for honesty? Amazon took it upon itself to post a note today on its site listing the limitations of its newest e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite.The Kindle Paperwhite has a light-up screen that lets you read in the dark, which previous Kindle e-readers lacked. That light, however, isn't perfect. So to get in front of the complaints, Amazon opted to disclose some of its drawbacks -- plus other design changes -- ahead of time.

For instance, Amazon acknowledged that the built-in light will provide uneven illumination under certain lighting conditions. The uneven lighting occurs in the margin where text isn't present.........