Tablet Computer, Smartphone | featured news

Apple Inc's worldwide legal crusade against the Android mobile operating system drew toward a climax on Tuesday as the iPhone maker's attorneys accused Samsung of taking a shortcut by copying Apple's designs after realizing it could not keep up.

A Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expert witness testified on Tuesday that Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad violate three of Samsung's patents, as the South Korean electronics company went on offense in the third week of a high stakes trial.

Lenovo unveiled a lighter, quicker ThinkPad notebook computer on Monday to appeal to customers who like the convenience of tablets and smartphones. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon will go on sale later this month, the Chinese computer maker said. Lenovo Group acquired the ThinkPad brand with IBM Corp.'s personal computer unit in 2005. Lenovo passed Dell Inc. last year to become the second-largest PC manufacturer after Hewlett-Packard Co.

Two tech titans will square off in federal court Monday in a closely watched trial over control of the U.S. smartphone and computer tablet markets. Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. last year alleging the world's largest technology company's smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of its popular iPhone and iPad products. The Cupertino-based company is demanding $2.5 billion in damages, an award that would dwarf the largest patent-related verdict to date.

Co-founded in 2009 by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, Square enables people to accept credit card payments on iPhone, iPad or Android devices... In a move that positions the company for a potential initial public offering, Square has hired former Goldman Sachs and Salesforce.com executive Sarah Friar as chief financial officer.

Apple just unveiled a bunch of new iPhone and iPad features coming this fall in iOS 6, but no big surprises. The biggest new feature, as expected, is an entirely new Maps experience. Apple has taken over its maps back-end from Google, including a gorgeous 3D "flyover" mode, crowdsourced traffic information, Siri integration and turn-by-turn directions. (Public transit directions, a nice feature of Google Maps, seem to be missing. Perhaps Google will launch its own iOS Maps app now?)

The biggest new feature, as expected, is an entirely new Maps experience. Apple has taken over its maps back-end from Google, including a gorgeous 3D "flyover" mode, crowdsourced traffic information, Siri integration and turn-by-turn directions. (Public transit directions, a nice feature of Google Maps, seem to be missing. Perhaps Google will launch its own iOS Maps app now?)

Microsoft has announced that it will be launching a new music service known as Xbox Music. Xbox Music will offer more than 30 million songs on Xbox 360s, Windows 8 PCs, tablets and phones.

2011 marked the beginning of a major shift toward mobile computing. Smartphone shipments topped PCs for the first time ever last year, by 73 million units, according to figures published by research firm Canalys on Friday. Last year a total of 487.7 million smartphones were shipped. Only 414.6 million PCs, which include tablet PCs, shipped. That?s ...

On Sunday, AT&T is reconfiguring its mobile data plans in way that will anger many customers but may actually please others. It’s raising its smartphone and tablet data plan rates, while simultaneously offering customers a better deal on the data they do consume.