This week in pictures: The SOPA saga
Also: Barnes & Noble fights back against Microsoft patent claims; Buffett bets big on IBM; Google serves up Android 4.0 source code; Amazon ships Kindle Fire; and Nintendo builds life-size Mario Karts
Thousands gathered in some 40 cities and towns around Turkey on Sunday, May 15, 2011 to join marches organized on Facebook against state Internet censorship.
flickr/decafeined
The SOPA saga
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) goes several steps too far in fighting piracy. But the head of NetCoalition, expected to give the industry's side of the story during the hearing Wednesday, was denied a chance to speak.
On Thursday, new media giants Google, Facebook, Zynga, and more put a full page ad in the New York Times to lobby against SOPA. A newspaper ad to protect the Web? Interesting.
Related reading:
Naming names of tech companies (Microsoft, Apple etc) supporting SOPA
SOPA opposition from Pelosi and Paul spans political spectrum
Stop the Internet Blacklist Bill (SOPA)
flickr/*Sage* TokyoChicago
Barnes & Noble pummels Microsoft patents with prior art
Barnes & Noble has fired another broadside against Microsoft in its defense of accusations that the retail bookseller violates Microsoft patents in its Nook eReader device. According to legal observer site Groklaw, Barnes & Noble has filed a supplemental notice of prior art that contains a 43-page list of examples Barnes & Noble believes counters Microsoft's claim that Nook violates five of Microsoft's patents.
Related reading: Barnes and Noble reveals Microsoft's cheesy legal tricks against Android
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett poses for a photo from behind the counter at the Borsheim's jewelry store during his company's annual meeting weekend in Omaha, Nebraska May 1, 2011.
REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Why Warren Buffett is betting big on IBM (and not Google, Microsoft or HP)
Warren Buffett always avoided tech investments, finding the long-term business models anywhere from speculative to dubious. Until this year. In an interview Monday on CNBC, Buffett revealed that his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has purchased $10.7 billion in shares of IBM since March, giving the company a 5.4% stake in Big Blue. So what made the legendary billionaire investor lay down a huge bet on Big Blue? It all started when he read IBM's annual report this year -- something Buffett says he has done every year for the past 50 years. This time, though, he had an epiphany.
Ice Cream Sandwich is designed to be "one OS that runs everywhere," a statement alluding in part to the fact that Google TV will now run 3.1. Hopefully it also means the Android team will be addressing some of the widening hardware fragmentation issues that have continued to challenge Android developers.
IDG News Service
Google serves up Android 4.0 source code
Android 4.0.1 source code is now freely available to any developer that wants to see it, under the terms of the Apache Software License, marking an end to closed Android platforms. Read more.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Fire at a news conference during the launch of Amazon's new tablets in New York, September 28, 2011.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The Kindle Fire has shipped! Here's what the pundits think
Amazon snuck the Kindle Fire out a day early and the embargo on reviews expired. So what does the tech press think of it? They love it, they hate it, they think it's OK. Read more.
REUTERS/Blair Gable
Need money? Sell your IP address. Microsoft just spent $7.5 million buying some.
IP addresses are running out, and scarcity means one thing: prices go up. How far up? Pretty far, since Microsoft just shelled out $7.5 million to buy a block of 666,624 IPv4 addresses. These came from the bankruptcy sale of Nortel networks as part of their liquidation. About 80 companies were contacted, an auction was held, more or less, and Microsoft ponied up the biggest pile of money. Read more.
Android pulls ahead of iPhone
Smart phone sales last quarter saw Apple's iPhone percentage drop down to 15 percent as Android's share jumped to 52.5 percent of global sales. Read more.
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Ryan Friedlinghaus, founder and CEO of West Coast Customs (R) points out key features of the life-size Mario Kart to Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO of Nintendo of America (L), at the LA Auto Show, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 in Los Angeles. Nintendo teamed up with West Coast Customs to create two vehicles in celebration of the Dec. 4 release of Mario Kart 7 for the portable Nintendo 3DS system.
Business Wire
Nintendo creates life-size Mario Karts
As part of its promotion for the new Mario Kart 7 game for the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo teamed up with West Coast Customs to create two life-size models of the go-carts - one for Mario and one for Luigi. Watch the video.
