Opinion: In Apple vs. Samsung, multi-touch isn’t simple

So let me get this straight. Company A patents a technology. Company S uses this technology. Company A sues Company S for co-opting its patents, and the courts (so far) agree — and Company A is the bad guy?
Yes, I'm talking about what happened at IFA last week. Even though I was at IFA, I missed Samsung removing all evidence of the existence of its just-announced Galaxy Tab 7.7 after a Dusseldorf district court granted Apple's injunction like ...
Spotify And Ford Team Together To Showcase The Music Service’s First In-Car Integration

Today at the TechCrunch Hackathon, Ford, the second largest automaker in the U.S., teamed with Spotify, the fast-growing Swedish music service that recently arrived in the states, to demonstrate the current opportunities for in-car app innovation as well as the new voice-activated Ford SYNC system. Just to clarify: This isn’t an “official partnership”, it’s just a cool hack meant to demonstrate how easy it is to integrate with SYNC. For those unfamiliar, Ford SYNC is the in-vehicle communications and entertainment system that allows drivers to make hands-free ...
Turn your propane tank into a giant LEGO head

Summer is winding down, which also means the end of cookout season. But wait! Don't roll your grill into the shed just yet! You still have time to make your propane tank seriously awesome.
Video: Vortex-Powered Wall-Climbing Robot Parachutes To Safety

The huge variety of robots is a thing to marvel at. Just a few years ago, the best they could do was roll around or walk stiffly on poorly-hinged limbs. Now we have robots that gallop , slither , and fly like a bird . This mode of transportation is totally new to me, though. The Paraswift climbs up walls by generating a suction, then gets itself safely down by jumping off and deploying a little parachute. Why not, right? Check out the video. The action happens ...
Toast clock is inedible

We’ve covered a fair share of weird gadgets here on Ubergizmo, and here’s one of the more interesting ones we’ve seen recently – a clock looks just like a slice of toasted bread. Hailing all the way from Japan, this interesting wall decoration makes for a great conversation starter in addition to being a functional time keeper. On the face of the clock we have numbers that look like they were created with jam, while the clock hands work ...
Android TouchPad Project Finally Gets Working Touch Screens

Regardless of your thoughts on what OS should be used on HP’s TouchPad , work on getting a fully-featured version of Android up and running continues unabated. There’s been a lot of progress in the past few weeks, but a group of devs revealed today that one crucial piece of the puzzle has just been popped into place: the touch screen finally works! In addition to getting a TouchPad going on Android 2.3.5, a video released by Team TouchDroid earlier today shows that their new multitouch drivers ...
Scientists develop the world’s smallest single-molecule electric motor

Bigger is certainly not better when it comes to the world's first single-molecule electric engine, which measures in at one nanometer wide -- for perspective, that lash hanging from your left eye is around 60,000 times larger. Single-molecule engines have been used for years, but the new method uses a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope to power and control the molecule more effectively. In the future, scientists could use the technology for things like lab-on-a-chip devices, miniature medical testing equipment that require ...
Review: Microsoft’s Touch Mouse And Explorer Touch Mouse

I got a chance to play with two of Microsoft’s three touch mouse offerings — the Explorer Touch Mouse and the flagship Touch Mouse — and as far as ideas go, they’re absolutely wonderful. But in terms of execution, the whole “touch” part didn’t exactly impress. When compared to your standard desktop mouse, these two offerings from Microsoft could easily go toe-to-toe. But once we start getting into the touch capabilities of each — especially the Touch Mouse — things start getting a little shaky. Let’s take ...