Gadgets

just in RIM has settled with NTP for $612.5 million in its long-running BlackBerry patent spat.

The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, was subsequently confirmed by a press release, which stated that all terms of the agreement have been finalized and the litigation against Research In Motion has been dismissed by a court order Friday afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief.

Last week, during a hearing to determine whether an injunction would be imposed on U.S. BlackBerry sales and service, … Read more

Friday was a lucky day for 100 Lego fans from around the world.

That's because Lego picked the 100, who come from 26 countries and range in age from 18 to 75, to join the Mindstorms Developer Program.

As such, the 100--who join 14 people that have already been participating in the program for months--will be the first to get their hands on the new robot toys. The idea, Lego said, is that the developers will help the company root out any problems while the new Mindstorms generation is still in beta.

Ultimately, the toys will be available to … Read more

Fingerprinting, retinal scans and vein mapping are just a few of the authentication methods popping up in this security-conscious age. Now Aladdin Knowledge Systems is demonstrating a new biometric technology that confirms identities using cardio patterns.

The technology reads intrinsic human electro-biometric dynamic signals acquired by touching a small conductive surface. The signature, called the BioDynamic Signature, is based on electronic signals produced from the human body, including the heart. Aladdin's technology is being powered by IDesia, an Israeli-based biometrics company. Aladdin says it may offer the authentication system as soon as 2007.

The new category of cardio-based biometric … Read more

On the heels of Apple Computer's much-anticipated product announcements Tuesday, TiVo is following with some pre-announcement hype of its own.

We understand, from some e-mail sent by the DVR leader's PR people, that it is having a big press conference in New York Thursday (odd, since TiVo is based in California) to announce some "important" initiatives.

Now when companies like this schedule these mysterious events, they do their best to lock down the news and keep folks like us guessing at what they're going to unveil.

But thanks to the blogosphere, we have the best … Read more

I'm the one at every party or family function with the digital camera, shooting away, filling memory card after memory card, and then sending off my massive online photo albums to anyone even remotely connected to the event. Yup, I'll be the first to admit I'm snap-happy, and fortunately, my friends and family seem to appreciate my efforts--or at least pretend to.

And now they get to see my photo collections in high definition!

Come May, Sony Electronics will offer the HDPS-L1, an 80GB hard-drive photo storage unit that provides an interactive way to view and share … Read more

No news out of Richmond Tuesday was good news for BlackBerry users, but some T-Mobile customers could have been forgiven for thinking the injunction had, in fact, been imposed in the company's patent dispute with NTP.

Research In Motion and T-Mobile confirmed that a service outage Tuesday morning affected "a small number" of users, thought to be around 5 percent of T-Mobile's BlackBerry users. The outage was apparently caused by a software issue on RIM's part, although specific details were not immediately available.

Users were receiving e-mail on their PCs, but that e-mail was not … Read more

Apple Computer is coming out with a third Intel-based Mac, a revamped Mac Mini using Intel's single-core Core Solo Chip.

Taking the stage at the company's well-publicized product announcement on Tuesday, CEO Steve Jobs said, "We've got some fun things to introduce today. Sort of medium-scale things."

He said the new Mac Mini is two and a half to three times faster than the G4 Mac Mini. The company will also offer a dual-core version that's roughly five times faster, he added.

"We think this is going to be a strong product for … Read more

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion may have scored a minor victory its ongoing patent spat with holding company NTP.

In a six-line order filed on Tuesday afternoon and obtained by CNET News.com, U.S. District Judge James Spencer denied NTP's request to introduce new documents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Those documents, which reportedly attempted to show evidence of shady dealings with RIM, were filed just before the companies' much-anticipated hearing last week.

NTP did not respond to requests for a copy of its motion. Last week, however, the company released a lengthy statement that … Read more

People might just think twice about stealing that fancy pen off your desk if they know you've been tagging your belongings using the DataDot Personal DNA Kit. The all-in-one DIY product, a modern update to engravers, lets you attach microscopic identifiers to your objects to reduce theft and/or improve chances of recovery. With the microdots, valuable items such as artwork, cell phones, jewelry, stereos, bicycles or car parts can be linked to their owner with, in essence, a unique personal-asset DNA.

Each DataDot particle is about the size of a grain of salt and made of a high-tech … Read more