USA: Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University sues Apple over voice-to-text technology (SIRI).

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

USA: Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University sues Apple over  voice-to-text technology (SIRI), examining Google`s and Microsoft`s voice recognition systems.

Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University said on Monday it had launched a suit alleging that Apple's use of Siri in its iPhone and future versions of its iPad infringes two U.S. patents it was granted in 2007 and 2010 that relate to voice-to-text technology.

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, on Friday, it said.

"We filed that lawsuit in the Texas court because it processes faster and its rulings are usually in favor of patent owners and the compensations are usually higher," said Yama Chen, legal manager of National Cheng Kung, in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan.

He declined to disclose the amount of compensation the university was seeking but said any calculation would be based on Apple's U.S. sales of devices that use Siri.

An Apple representative in Asia could not immediately be reached for comment.

Chen said the university was also examining whether smartphone voice recognition systems used by Google Inc and Microsoft Corp have infringed its patents.

Source: Reuters

Olympics London 2012: Samsung launches Galaxy SIII premiun edition.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Olympics London 2012: Samsung launches Galaxy SIII premium edition.

Samsung launched in Taiwan a premium and limited edition of the Galaxy SIII dedicated to the London Olympics 2012 which starts in July 27th.

Samsung Electronics is the official sponsor of London 2012 Summer Olympic Games which is why its flagship device announced in early May – GALAXY S III will be distributed in a limited edition enabled with Visa’s mobile payment app – Visa payWave, to athletes and select partners.

The  premium pack  includes three different mobile phone holders each composed of a figurine representing a Cyclist, a Weightlifter and a Taekwondo athlete (all three are olympic disciplines) and the British flag painted at the base of the holder. 

The pack also includes  a back cover design that features a faceless British royal guard, and a lovely miniature British royal guard soldier that you can insert in the 3.5mm headphone jack which has a decorative role nothing more.

Taiwan: HP and Lenovo to build up own brand stores.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Taiwan: HP and Lenovo to build up own brand stores.

Seeing Apple achieving success by promoting its products with its Apple Stores, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Lenovo are both aggressively aiming to build up their own brand stores in Taiwan, according to sources from the retail channel.

Lenovo currently has about five own-brand stores in Taiwan, mainly in the two major metropolitan cities Taipei and Kaohsiung and the company is reportedly considering to greatly increase the number of its brand stores in Asia region to 1,000. Meanwhile, HP is also establishing a full-service center in Taipei, combining product maintenance service with product exhibition in one location and the center is the HP's eighth full-service center in the Asia Pacific region.

The sources also pointed out that unlike the traditional IT mall, a brand store can greatly enhance the brand image through decoration and allow the sales to have better communication opportunity with consumers.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple's revenues from the Apple Store grew 42.6% on year to US$17.08 million, accounting for 13.2% of the company's total revenues.

Taiwan: advances 4G licenses release .

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Taiwan: advances 4G licenses release .

This comes amid news last week that Taiwan planned to advanced the release of 4G licenses.

News site Taiwan Economic News in its report last week, said that Taiwanese premier Sean Chen had approved a minister's proposal to advance the release of 4G licences.

The Taiwanese government will release the licences by July 2013 at the earliest, ahead of the original July 2015 target. This would allow Taiwan to launch 4G operations commercially in 2015 instead of 2017, it added.

The news site said that the Taiwanese government was concerned about falling out of sync with the development of 4G services in mainland China.