Motorola sues Apple

Technology giant Motorola has filed suit against Apple, claiming the company's iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and particular Macintosh computers violate a total of 18 Motorola patents, reports DigitalTrends.

The complaints centre on technology related to GPRS and WiFi technology, along with WCDMA (3G) wireless communication and wireless antenna design. Other alleged infringements concern Apple's MobileMe cloud-based subscription service and Apple's App Store.

“Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola's invention of the cellphone to its development of premier smartphone products,” says Motorola Mobility corporate VP Kirk Dailey.

Microsoft's introduction of Windows Phone 7, set to be formally introduced next week, will barely move the needle on the company's dismal share of the smartphone OS market, according industry analysts at Gartner, writes InformationWeek.

Gartner predicts the release of Windows Phone 7 will help bump Microsoft's share of the worldwide market from 4.7% in 2010 to 5.2% in 2011, but says the company's share will ultimately decline to just 3.9% by 2014.

By then, Microsoft will badly trail virtually every other major mobile OS developer, according to Gartner.

Microsoft will fix a record 49 vulnerabilities in its Patch Tuesday release next week that will involve 16 security bulletins affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, and the .NET framework, states CNET.

Four of the bulletins carry a "critical" rating, 10 are rated "important”, and two are "moderate”, according to the advisory.

They affect Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3, Office 2003 Service Pack 3, Office 2007 Service Pack 2, Office 2010, Office 2004 for Mac and 2008 for Mac, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, SharePoint Server 2007, Groove Server 2010, and Office Web Apps.

Yahoo has introduced search enhancements that offer a broader selection of results when queries are related to entertainment, news or sports, says Information Week.

The latest improvements are in line with the Web portal's focus on movies, celebrities and professionally created content. Yahoo's leanings toward entertainment are how it hopes to differentiate itself from other search engines, particularly market leader Google.

Yahoo's direction with the enhancements is evident in the addition of "intelligent shortcuts" for movies, musical artists, celebrities and news topics.