Search the Community

Samsung is working on its own head-mounted display to take on Google Glass, a new patent filing reveals. Partly confirming an earlier rumor, the design patent filing shows a pair of spectacles listed as "sports glasses," with its general design and functionality bearing a considerable resemblance to that of Google's own device. The Korean design spotted by the Wall Street Journal mentions that the glasses have integrated earphones for music and phone calls, rather than using the same bone conduction technology that Glass employs. A small display in front of one eye, built into a transparent or translucent lens, displays notification alerts from the smartphone, but it could in theory offer similar functionality to Google's version. While Glass connects wirelessly, cables from either side of the Samsung device lead back and join together into one single connecting plug. While the filing at least confirms that Samsung is working on such devices, it is probable that any released device of this kind will go through a few more design iterations to improve some aspects, such as removing the connecting cable. If it does reach the market, it has to take on not only Glass, but also a potential competitor from Microsoft, as well as a whole raft of smart watches, including Samsung's own Galaxy Gear.

Samsung has been ordered to pay 10 million New Taiwan dollars (or $340,000 USD) for organizing an internet campaign that violates fair trade rules, reports Bloomberg. It was discovered to be hiring writers to post positive comments about its own smartphones, and leave negative comments about HTC’s products. This was done through a third-party marketing campaign, and two marketing firms have also been fined a total of more than $100,000 for their participation. This isn’t the first time Samsung has been caught doing this – earlier this year it admitted to bribing developers to promote Samsung on the developer community Stack Overflow. This is a very minor victory for HTC, but it seems that damage has already been done, as the company recently posted its first quarterly loss.

If South Korea is looking for evidence that the Obama administration is playing favorites in the patent war between Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (005930:KS), it got some discomfiting signals on Tuesday. The White House decided against overruling a ban on certain Samsung products imposed by the International Trade Commission in August after the panel ruled that some older Samsung mobile devices violated Apple’s patents. The immediate practical implications aren’t significant, and Samsung will likely seek to delay a ban by appealing in U.S. courts. Even if the South Korean manufacturer were ultimately to stop selling the banned products in the U.S., the affected models are older and not popular. By letting the ban stand, however, the White House failed to give Samsung the same benefit it gave Apple following the ITC’s move to likewise ban some older Apple products from entering the U.S. In that case, the White House issued the first veto of an ITC ban (PDF) since the Reagan administration. https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/white-house-veto-of-itc-ban-on-iphones.pdf At that time, the South Korean government immediately complained that the U.S. was putting a finger on the scale to help a domestic business. Seoul now might see Obama’s disinclination to offer the same relief to Samsung as further proof that the U.S. government is playing favorites. The cases are somewhat different, though. The patents Apple was found to have violated were so-called standard essential patents, meaning they are related to the basic functions of a device. As a result, Samsung was required to license them to Apple under reasonable terms. The patents in the more recent case aren’t required to be licensed. In addition, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who represents the Obama administration in these issues, said that there isn’t enough impact on consumers and competition to justify a veto. The ITC has become a key battleground in patent disputes, both because it has been relatively friendly to plaintiffs and because an import ban is such a serious penalty. But the White House has been indicating that it is fed up with the commission. The administration has asked Congress to make it harder for companies to win import bans in front of the commission and to make sure that the ITC is hiring qualified judges. The White House took an unusually confrontational stance by slapping down the ban against Apple products. Letting this one stand seems to dial that down.

Samsung shows camera module with 13MP sensor, image stabilization Future smartphones from Samsung could have greatly improved photographs, thanks to the company's new camera sensor. The 13-megapixel component includes an anti-shake function that is able to correct angular errors of up to 1.5 degrees, writes Tech-On, beating the 0.7 degrees offered by other mobile camera sensors. The module can also produce an image that is eight times brighter than earlier generations of the item, allowing it to be used effectively in low light situations. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is negotiating with smartphone producers and plans volume production early next year.