geekosystem

The speculation is over, and the Facebook Phone is finally a real thing. Rather, it's a few things, and they were all just announced at Facebook's live event. The focus of the event was a new version of Facebook's Android software called "Facebook Home" which will be available to download April 12th. Facebook, HTC, and AT&T also announced the HTC First, which will be the first phone built around Facebook Home. Let's take a look at what Home is all about.

Hey, remember buttons? They're back! As you may have heard, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was unveiled yesterday, and you're either rolling your eyes or anxiously awaiting the chance to purchase one, because hey, new smartphone. But the Korean multinational hopes to snag a few more customers by appealing to the video game demographic with a bonus prototype they've showed off along with the S4 itself. It's a cradle/game controller that clamps onto the phone, connects wirelessly -- even though it's right there touching it -- and looks more than a little an Xbox 360 controller. All you need are some triple-A batteries.

Last night Samsung took the veil off its latest and much hyped flagship phone, the Galaxy S4. The push of the event was to show how the S4 integrates into your life, and it's now being billed as a "Life Companion." Take a look at the new features of the S4 and how Samsung expects them to change your life forever in this new video.

In December of last year, Google Maps was facing scrutiny in Germany for potentially violating European Union privacy laws. Things haven't gotten easier for Google in that country, because now Google Maps faces a complete ban in Germany due to a patent dispute with Microsoft. If Microsoft wins the ruling, Google will have to take some pretty extreme measures to keep Google Maps out of Germany. Hope you didn't want to find your away Germany, everybody. It's about to get a little more difficult for you, or more expensive for Google.

As of yesterday, it is now illegal to unlock a carrier-subsidized phone for use on another network. Doing so before your contract expires now puts you in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The move is meant to protect carriers from losing the money they spend to subsidize phones before they have a chance to earn it back through their service plans. There's already a We The People petition to reverse the decision, but is it worth trying to overturn this law?

Another week, another accusation of illegal child labor in China. This particular claim, from China Labor Watch, is interesting due to the fact that it concerns Samsung. The technology company conducted an investigation of its own back in September, and they recently claimed that they didn't find any instances of child labor. China Labor Watch claims that they found three underage girls working at HTNS Shenzhen Co., a Samsung supplier. Samsung denies these allegations, because of course they do.

As if things weren't already silly enough in the decision against Apple in the United Kingdom, the technology giant's gone and made things even worse. The company's original statement was deemed noncompliant and inaccurate by the U.K. courts, as it was meant to alleviate the slander caused by Apple against the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The courts insisted that Apple issue a revised statement on their U.K. website within 48 hours, and they've certainly complied. That's not all they've done, though. Apple's also included a bit of JavaScript that intentionally tries to hide it.

As we've previously reported, part of the ruling against Apple in the United Kingdom required the company to issue a statement on their website saying that the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and by extension Samsung, didn't infringe on the iPad's design. When they finally got around to posting the statement, however, it was tucked away in a linked page and included some extra bits that the U.K. court didn't request. Thanks to their attempts to circumvent the ruling, Apple's been ordered that they have to reissue their statement in order to comply with the original ruling.

As sad as it is that Google had to cancel their media event for tomorrow on account of Franken-Sandy, it may not be that big a loss, since most of things they planned to unveil seem to have already popped up online. First, the Nexus 4 smartphone was revealed after somebody left one at a bar. Now a video of another of Google's flagship Nexus devices, the rumored Samsung-built Nexus 10 tablet, is giving Android fans an extremely short sneak peek.

The sniping between Apple and Samsung over whether the latter's tablet infringes on the former's patents is getting worse. Samsung came off as somewhat bitter after the initial U.S. verdict when they ran ads poking fun at the Apple Genius Bar. Apple has just escalated this feud to an entirely new level, however. See, the U.K. courts didn't agree with Apple, and actually found that the Samsung Galaxy Tab didn't infringe on their patents. Part of the ruling required Apple to issue an acknowledgement on their website, and they have. It's probably not what the courts had in mind, though.

These days, patents are used more in legal posturing than just about anything else. It goes to show just how ludicrous the system is, however, that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has filed an invalidation for Apple's U.S. Patent No. 7,469,381. All 20 claims of Apple's rubber-banding patent are now officially on their way to being thrown out. This includes the same claim 19 that was used against Samsung in the company's recent high-profile trial.

Back in July, a United Kingdom court ruled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn't infringe on the iPad design patents as claimed by Apple. By filing the lawsuit and dragging Samsung's name through the mud, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung in general were associated with patent infringement and illegal activity in the minds of the people. The United Kingdom court asserted that Apple would have to run what's basically a giant retraction by taking out advertisements saying Samsung didn't infringe on their patents in order to rectify the situation. Apple's just lost their appeal, so it looks like they actually will have to run the ads.

Samsung threatened that they would sue Apple over the iPhone 5, and now they've gone ahead and followed through with it. They've filed an amendment to have the iPhone 5 added to their already existing suit against Apple. At this point, it's all just posturing and such, but it's still amusing to see Samsung attempt to go after every little nook and cranny that they can. Any company might do the same if they were hit with a verdict that required them to pay over a billion dollars.

Last month a jury ruled that Samsung owes Apple over one billion dollars for infringing on a set of patents with many of their smartphone designs. The trial may be finished, but the struggle between the two companies is far from over: Samsung will undoubtedly appeal the court's decision, Apple will file injunctions against every Samsung phone they can, and the two companies will spend years and millions of dollars doing so. Showing the public that they're in this fight for the long haul (because we really thought they were just going to pay up) Samsung released a new anti-Apple ad comparing the specs of the newly-announced iPhone 5 and Samsung's flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3.

I'm going to say up front: I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy. I've never owned a non-Apple computer or smartphone. While I am a fan of Apple's products, I totally understand people are who get angry about their holier-than-thou fan club. The cult of Jobs is real people having a conversation with one of company's supporter can sometimes feel like a debate with a brick wall... or a Scientologist.