brazil

FIFA may be implementing goal-sensing technology in international soccer games, but the World Cup is getting even more high-tech with military robot security.

iRobot announced today $7.2 million in contracts to provide Brazil with military PackBot robots for security at the 2014 World Cup. PackBots have been deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and even inside Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As part of the deal, Brazil will get 30 PackBot 510 units, which usually cost about $100,000 to $200,000 apiece. The contracts include services, spares, and associated equipment. … Read more

An iPhone trademark dispute between Apple and Brazilian telcomm firm IGB Eletronica could be one step closer to a resolution.

Both companies have reportedly decided to settle their legal skirmish and reach a peaceable agreement, says Brazilian news site Folha de Sao Paulo as cited by Forbes.

Lawyers for the two companies had filed a court document late last month asking that any legal action be suspended for 30 days as the two sides try to settle the matter, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.

In December, IGB Eletronica unveiled a lineup of devices branded IPHONE, claiming it has had exclusive rights to the name … Read more

Apple could be facing a lawsuit in Brazil for updating the third-generation iPad so fast last year.

According to a report from Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Comércio, the Brazilian Institute of Politics and Law Software (IBDI) has targeted the iPad maker for what it says were unfair business practices with the release of the fourth-generation iPad model five months after launching the third-generation model in the country.

In a follow-up, Brazilian news site O Hoje adds that the suit wants Apple to give those who bought third-generation models with the latest versions and/or give buyers half of … Read more

Apple has lost its iPhone trademark in Brazil, a new report claims.

The BBC is reporting today, citing conversations with employees in the country's regulatory body, the Institute of Industry Property (INPI), that Gradiente Eletronica's registration for the name in 2000 has been validated. Apple, therefore, has no right to use the iPhone name in Brazil.

The INPI confirmed to the BBC, however, that Apple is planning to appeal the ruling.

The INPI ruling comes a little over a week after reports out of the country said that the regulatory body was planning to award the exclusive iPhone trademark to Gradiente.… Read more

Apple could soon lose its rights to use the iPhone name in Brazil as part of a decision expected from the local patent and trademark office next week.

Citing an unnamed source, both Reuters and Folha de S.Paulo today say the Brazilian Institute of Intellectual Property plans to award an exclusive iPhone name trademark to Brazil-based electronics company Gradiente.

Gradiente filed for the iPhone naming rights in the country years before Apple's device came to be. However the company didn't put out its own iPhone-branded product until last December when it began selling a line of touch-screen … Read more

Paulistas, as the residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil, call themselves, like to refer to their home town as "the city that works." Time to update that description to the city that also tweets.

Twitter is opening up an office in the largest city in South America, Reuters reports.

"We believe our new office in Brazil will allow us to get closer to the users and show the value of our platform," the company's new country manager for Brazil, Guilherme Ribenboim, told Reuters.

"Brazil has rather mature Internet and advertisement markets. Our audience is very … Read more

Brazilians think different.

Why, only last night I had dinner with the great Brazilian-American chef Berenice de Araujo of Miami's Standard Hotel. She explained to me there's a certain "bats*** crazy" that flows through Brazilian veins.

So why be surprised that Brazil has an iPhone that isn't, well, an iPhone?… Read more

Brazil-based electronics company IGB Eletronica on Tuesday announced a new line of devices bearing the name "IPHONE."

The first of those devices will be called the Neo One, the company said inside a press release spotted earlier today by Reuters.

Product pages that went up later in the day provided more details about the quad-band device, which costs 599 Brazilian real (about $287 U.S. dollars), runs Google's Android 2.3.4, and sports a 320x480 screen.

The name is sure to draw the ire of Apple, which recently settled a multimillion dollar issue over the rights … Read more

Amazon has finally launched in Brazil, tapping a burgeoning population of emerging-market users.

The retail giant's new Web site launched overnight. In a separate statement, Amazon said it has launched the Kindle Store in the country, allowing users in the region to tap into the company's 1.4 million books, including 13,000 Portuguese language books. 

The company confirmed that its Kindle e-reader will soon go on sale in the country for BRL$299 (around US$149).

Amazon is reported to have finally resolved a dispute with an IT firm based in the country, named Amazon … Read more