Mobile Technology News

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Google continued its reinvention of the Gmail inbox Tuesday with the introduction of Priority Inbox Beta, a new mail filtering system that prioritizes emails based upon the user’s viewing and responding habits.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Microsoft co-founder and former executive Paul Allen filed a suit against 11 tech companies on Friday, accusing them of infringement over patents he acquired from the now defunct Internal Research. While Allen had invested in the company, he never participated in the development of the patented technologies.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Popular social link-sharing and bookmarking site Digg on Wednesday made its new, redesigned site available to all users after testing in an invitation-only mode for roughly four months.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

PocketGear, the cross-platform mobile application retailer which acquired mobile app store Handango earlier this year, has closed a round of series B funding, which earned the company fifteen million dollars.

The round of funding was led by Trident Capital, and included investments from BlackBerry Partners Fund, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures LLC.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

While much of the focus has been on Google and Verizon when it comes to net neutrality as of late, the Wall Street Journal has reported that lobbyists began a new set of talks among a much wider group on Wednesday.

The Information Technology Industry Council is a lobbying firm which represents dozens of companies, including Apple, AOL, Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Nokia, and RIM among others. Reports indicate Microsoft is in attendance as is Cisco. AT&T and Verizon are also involved in the negotiations, but Google is not.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Mobile network operator T-Mobile today announced that the first smartphone capable of fully utilizing the company’s HSPA+ network upgrade will be called the G2. Unfortunately, there were few details about the device, and the site announcing the G2 is currently unavailable.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Yahoo said Tuesday that it would begin to switch over its search backend to the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada, the cornerstone of an agreement reached between the two companies last July. A “Powered by Bing” graphic would appear at the bottom of its search pages after the transition, the company said.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

AT&T and Verizon’s net neutrality deal became a political issue on Monday as four House Democrats voiced their opposition to the plan with the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to the regulatory agency, the lawmakers said the proposal ‘reinforces the need for resolution’ to the debate.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Enterprise computer company Oracle has filed a lawsuit against Google for patent and copyright infringement related to Java and Android.

“In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement,” Oracle spokesperson Karen Tillman said in a brief statement Thursday evening.

The complaint claims that Android violates the following seven patents for Java technology which Oracle obtained when it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2009.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

The InterWeb is buzzing about Android’s sudden second quarter smartphone OS market share surge against Apple’s iOS and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS. Windows Mobile was a goner last quarter. But behind the numbers is a bigger question: Which mobile platform will be more successful? Smartphones are but one small measure of success.