Dell drops optical drive price-fixing lawsuit against Hitachi

#Dell has agreed to drop its suits against #Hitachi and Hitachi #LG Data Storage after previously alleging it had been part of a conspiracy to fix prices for optical disk drives. There has been no mention of any settlement. The cases were dismissed "without prejudice" with all parties having to pay their own lawyers. The cases* – there are several, against several vendors – started in May 2013 – and the original complaint reads: "Dell brings this action on behalf of itself and its affiliates to recover for injury to its business and property and other harms arising from billions of dollars of purchases, at artificially inflated prices, over several years, of optical disk drives ('ODDs')." The drives were CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray disk drives. #Dell sued #NEC, #SamsungElectronics, #Sony, #Toshiba and others as well. Eventually these cases were shrunk; defendants NEC and Sony went away, and others consolidated in an MDL (Multi-District Litigation.) Other optical disk buyers piled in to sue the optical disk makers too. #Acer sued Toshiba, Samsung and others in October 2013, as did #HP. Earlier, in 2011, an investigation by the US Department of Justice led to three Hitachi-LG Data Storage execs pleading guilty to anti-trust violations in the optical disk industry, and getting jail sentences and a fine. HLDS admitted to rigging the market and so its larger customers went to court to recover over-payments and get damages. HP has dropped its claims against Sony and Panasonic. Now Dell has walked away from its case against Hitachi and HLDS, with neither side stating why or mentioning any agreement. Optical disks in PCs, which is what the cases centred on, are history; streaming and download services have seen to that. * The cases were 3:13-cv-03350 and 3:10-md-02143 in the US District Court in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/26/dell_drops_optical_drive_lawsuit/

Why Apple Could Be a Future Customer for Intel's Chipmaking

#Intel ’s upcoming 10 nanometer chips could entice more business from the #iPhone maker. Intel announced on Tuesday that it had snagged a leading phone maker as one of the first customers for its new service to manufacture mobile computer chips based on designs from ARM Holdings. But the big “get” wasn’t one of the two leaders of the mobile business. Samsung still manufactures its own chips and Apple has used #Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to supply the brains of recent iPhones. Instead, Intel said South Korean phone and appliance maker #LG Electronics agreed to buy Intel-manufactured mobile chips. LG ranked third among smartphone makers in the second quarter, grabbing 14% of the U.S. market, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

http://fortune.com/2016/08/17/apple-intel-chipmaking/

Battle of the brands: Lenovo and Nintendo become the most popular firms online

The latest trend report from social monitoring firm Brandwatch has found that #Lenovo, #Nintendo and #Samsung are leading the way on social media in terms of establishing themselves as firm tech fan favourites.

#Microsoft, #LG, and #Apple are leading conversations around computers, mobile phones, and TVs, with more specialised brands like Nintendo and #Bose performing best for "audio, gaming and wearables".

But newer sectors such as drone technology and VR are still in a "constant state of flux", with the report stating brand leaders are constantly changing depending on campaigns and events.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report also found social audiences of leading tech brands skew "heavily male".

Social influence was evaluated across a number of metrics: social visibility, general visibility, net sentiment, engagement and reach.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/lenovo-nintendo-tech-brands

AT&T brings Wi-Fi calling to Android

#AT&T is bringing Wi-Fi calling to #Android devices, starting first with LG's G4. The company introduced the feature for iOS devices last October, and starting today you can make calls and send and receive texts over Wi-Fi so long as you own #LG 's 2015 flagship and install the requisite software update. AT&T says it plans to add more Android devices soon. The feature works by detecting when you're in an area with limited cell coverage and connected to a Wi-Fi network. From there, you can use your phone for calls and texts just as you would normally.

Wi-Fi calling has a few other limitations right now. It only works for AT&T customers in the US, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and select international countries. If you call a domestic number over Wi-Fi, you won't incur any charges. But you will have to pay standard international rates if you call an international number. You also need to have a post-paid wireless account, so pay-as-you-go customers are out of luck.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/15/11946006/att-wifi-calling-android-lg-g4-smartphone

Dell announces new partners, promoted partners

#Dell announced new and promoted partners to the 'Dell Internet of Things ( #IoT ) Solutions Partner Program' and winners of the 'Connect what matters' IoT contest. Among the new companies that joined the programme are #VMware, #Nokia, and #Eurotech. At the same time, #DGLogik, #Exara, and #FogHorn were promoted to 'Associate' tier from 'Registered.' The platinum winner of the 'Connect what matters' IoT contest is V5 Systems, a provider of portable, solar-powered security and Industrial IoT products. Dell and Intel hosted the contest from October 2015 to March 2016 to encourage businesses large and small to submit interesting, practical, data-driven ideas. Dell is also celebrating the one-year anniversary of the formation of its IoT division.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/dell-announces-new-partners-promoted-partners--1147868