Today in Tech News Digest, Apple patents curves, Nokia's new Android handset is revealed, Dell joins the Chromebook party, Twitter is named the best technology company to work for, Google opens Street View to everyone, Mad Catz releases its Android console, and the Department of Defense releases games designed to find software bugs.
Apple Has Curves
Apple has been awarded a patent for manufacturing curved touchscreens. The U.S. patent, no. 8,603,574, was first filed in 2010, with the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) only now getting around to awarding it to Cupertino.
Curved touchscreens are just starting to enter the consumer market, with Samsung and LG among the companies using them on mobile devices. However, this patent covers a new technique for manufacturing curved touchscreens and touch surfaces; one which Apple clearly thinks is superior to those currently being used.
There is no clear indication in the patent that this technique will be used for a consumer product, but it's entirely possible this could be used for a future version of the iPhone or iPad. It's also easy to predict this patent will form the basis for a future legal battle between Apple and A.N. Other.
Nokia Invades Android With Normandy
Nokia has an Android handset in the works, at least according to sources talking to The Verge. As the embedded tweet shows, well-known phone leaker @evleaks posted a picture of the alleged device in November.
Normandy, as it's currently codenamed, will reportedly run a forked version of Android capable of handling popular Android apps. This device is being targeted at low-end users, but while Nokia insiders are claiming it's "full steam ahead" on Normandy, we cannot see Microsoft pushing an Android phone once its acquisition of Nokia's handset business is completed. Surely that would be nothing but bad for Windows Phone.
Dell Joins Chromebook Party
Dell is the latest company to jump on the Chromebook bandwagon, with its Chromebook 11 (no relation to the HP Chromebook 11) being aimed at schools. This is likely to be just the first in a line of Dell Chromebooks, with future iterations aimed at consumers and business customers. No wonder Microsoft is running scared.
Twitter Is Best In Tech
Twitter has been named the best technology company to work for by career website Glassdoor. Twitter beat LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, and eBay, amongst others. Facebook was demoted to third after winning the crown for three years in a row. Apple could only make it to 16th place, while Microsoft is nowhere to be seen.
Google Opens Street View To Everyone
Google has opened Street View up to everyone, with Street View vistas enabled for anyone using Google’s Photo Sphere technology on either an Android phone or dSLR camera. Images can be uploaded to Google Maps Views where a new feature enables them to be stitched together to form 360-degree views of locations. Unfortunately this does require you to leave the house, at least temporarily.
Mad Catz Finds Its Mojo
Madcatz has joined the growing market for Android gaming consoles -- which already includes the NVIDIA Shield, amongst others -- with the Mojo micro-console for Android. Mojo is powered by stock Android Jellybean and a Tegra 4 processor, and features 16GB of internal storage, WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0. All Android apps and games are available on the device, which currently costs $249.99.
DoD Turns Bug Hunting Into A Game
And finally, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which is part of the U.S. Department of Defense, has turned its hunt for software bugs into a game. In fact, Verigames [Broken URL Removed] currently features five different games you can play on the Web.
The games use the open-source code in DoD applications to generate objects which players explore and interact with. The players merely see these playable games, but researchers at the government agency can use the data to find bugs in the software. Everyone's a winner. Except the bad guys, hopefully.
Tech News Digest… Breaking News Into Bite-Sized Chunks
Image Credit: dkpto