Nokia sues Apple again, says the iPad 3G infringes five patents

Looks like settlement negotiations in the various Nokia / Apple patent lawsuits aren't going too well -- Espoo's just hit Cupertino with a second federal patent lawsuit, this time alleging the iPad 3G and iPhone infringe five patents related to "enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing smaller and more compact devices." Interestingly, Nokia's filed this one in the Western District of Wisconsin, a so-called "rocket docket" that's well-known for bringing patent cases to settlement or trial in just over a year. That means we could see some real movement in this dispute within our lifetimes, but we're not holding our breath for a definitive conclusion -- by our count, Apple and Nokia now have some five pending legal actions between them, including one that's been placed on hold pending an ITC decision. Anyone want to bet how long it takes for Apple to add another countersuit to the mix?

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iPad 3G's non-WiFi video playback restrictions detailed

We could hear the echoing howls of discontent over the weekend as thousands finally received their very own iPad 3G and learned they couldn't watch Dancing With the Stars whilst on the go. Now we have the details on why, exactly, and the repercussions. As it turns out, it's simply a carry-over of an iPhone OS HTTP Live Streaming rule that states quite clearly:

You must include a low quality stream of no more than 64 Kbps for your app to resort to when network conditions demand it, along with the higher quality streams you want to deliver to your customers when the network can support it.

It seems the ABC Player devs chose to skip that option, so when you lose WiFi you also lose Tom Bergeron's charm and wit. Other apps, like Netflix and YouTube, do provide a lower bitrate fallback, but that of course results in nasty compression artifacts when on the go. In other words: there's a very good chance that 3G streaming will come in a future ABC Player release, but when it does it ain't gonna be pretty.

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