Expository Essay about the use of cellphones in the classroom

44 TWICE 07/21/2008

Portable Digital Devices

Alcatel-Lucent's Appeal Heard In Microsoft Dispute BY JOSEPH PALENCHAR

W A S H I N G T O N — A U.S. Federal Cir- cuit Court is considering Alcatel-Lucent's request to reinstate a jurj's $1.53 billion compensatorj'-damage award against Mi- crosoft over alleged infringement of two MP3-related patents used in Microsoft's Windows Media Player application.

It could be months, however, before the court issues a decision, an Alcatel- Lucent spokeswoman said. At that time, the court could issue its own decision or remand the case back to the lower court for a retrial, she said. If the Circuit Court decides the case, the next step in the ap- peals process would take the dispute to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Both patents deal with "encoding in the most efficient way possible using as little memory as possible," the spokeswoman said. The patents in dispute, however, rep- resent only two of hundreds of patents li- censed for use in MP3 players, PC soft- ware and the like. Germany's Fraunhofer Institute licenses more than 400 MP3-re- lated patents that it and Thomson jointly hold, and Philips and France Telecom li- cense out less than 100 or so MP3-related patents through a company called Sisvel.

The damages were awarded in Febru- ary 2007 by a jury in U.S. District Court

in San Diego, but in August ofthat year, the presiding judge reversed the jury's de- cision at Microsoft's request, citing a lack of "substantial evidence" to support the verdict. T h e "jury verdict of infringe- ment was against the clear weight of evi- dence," the judge said in his ruling.

When the judgment was awarded, Mi- crosoft and Fraunhofer raised concerns that Alcatel-Lucent's licensing fees would not be reasonable and could add significantly to the cost of producing MP3 players and en-

"The evidence demon- strated that although the

inventions of these patents could be used with the MP3 standard, they were not re-

quired or critical to prac- tice the MP3 standard."

— a lower court judge

coding software. The companies pointed to the size of the jury award for only two ofthe hundreds of patents related to MP3 and to Alcatel-Lucent's initial request for $4.5 bil- lion in damages. In contrast, Microsoft at the time said it had paid only $16 million to Fraunhofer in licensing fees.

Young Camera Phone Users Fonnd To Be Frequent Snappers: Snrvey

BY JOSEPH PALENCHAR RESTON, VA. — Cellphones are be- c o m i n g t h e c a m e r a of c h o i c e f o r young adults for everyday picture tak- ing, contended online cellular retailer Wirefly.com.

Wirefly surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. adults who purchased a phone and ser- vice through the company in May and Juneand found that45.9 percent use their cellphone camera at least once a week.

Young adults usetheir camera phones more often than older people, the survey found. A total of 63.8 percent of 18- to 30-year-old adults use their cellphone's camera at least once a week, and 26.3 percent use the camera feature daily. For consumers who are older than 30, usage falls to 40.7 percent use the camera fea- ture weekly, and 13.2 percent use it dai- ly, the survey found.

One in five cellphone buyers said they usetheir cellphone as their primary cam- era, the company added.

Respondents cited family events and sightseeing excursions as their main rea-

sons for taking pictures with a camera phone, but younger users tended to use the phone moreforotherthings. Atotal of 58.3 percent of 18-to 30-year-old cellphone us- ers use a cellphone regularly to document nightlife but only 29.9 percent of those over 30didso,thesurveyfound. In addition, one in five young adults say they've published camera phone pictures to a social Web site or blog, orfourtimes as many as older us- ers, the survey found.

In other findings:

• 73.5 percent of 18- to 30-year-olds assign photo IDs to people in their ad- dress book, but only 47.4 percent of over- 30 users do so;

• 96.3 percent of adult cellphone own- ers have a cellphone with camera;

• 19 percent of adults prefer to use theircellphoneastheir primary camera for all photography;

• 77.2 percent of photos taken remain stored in the phone, 45.4 percent are used as wallpaper and 38.6 percent are sent to friends via MMS; and

• 46.4 percent of all adults and two-

In the decision to overturn the jury's finding, the district court judge con- tended that Alcatel-Lucent didn't have standing to sue over one ofthe disput- ed patents because Fraunhofer can legal- ly license the patent under the terms of a 1989 joint-development agreement with AT6¿T's Bell Labs division, now a part of Alcatel-Lucent. Under the agreement, the judge said, joint ownership rights to the patent allow Fraunhofer to license the patent. For its part, Microsoft con- tended that it has already licensed the patent from Fraunhofer.

As for the other disputed patent, the judge contended that Alcatel-Lucent nev- er provided evidence that a component of Windows Media Player "performed the patented methods."

The judge also struck down the jury's royalty rate of 0.5 percent ofthe average price of a personal computer sold world- wide since around mid-2003. "The evi- dence demonstrated that although the inventions of these patents could be used with the M P 3 standard, they were not required or critical to practice the MP3 standard," the judge said. The patents, he continued, "related to only particular fea- tures that could be used in conjunction with MP3 encoders." Q

thirds of adults age 18 to 30 say they use their cellphone to snap self-portraits.

More interesting are these statistics: • 13.9 percent of adults said they have

sent a "flirtatious, suggestive or nude photo," and the percentage rises to 28.1 percent of 18- to 30-year-olds;

• 20.2 percent have snapped a photo of an attractive member ofthe opposite sex, and 7.5 percent have photographed an unsuspecting stranger;

• 19.8 percent have taken a picture while pretending to do something else.

"Camera phones are taking over, and it's being driven by young adults" said Scott Ableman, Wirefly's marketing se- nior VP. "High-quality cellphone cam- eras haven't been around that long, yet nearly one in five cellphone buyers tell us that their cellphone is their prima- ry camera."

The recently completed U.S.-based online survey was c o n d u c t e d f r o m an opt-in pool of customers who pur- chased phones and plans from Wire- fly.com during May and June 2008. The sample of 2,102 respondents was 55 per- cent female. A total of 48 percent were older than 40; 27 percent were 31 to 40; 17 percent were 24 to 30; and 8 percent were 18 to 23. Q

Retail-Level PNO Sales Streng But Slewer: NPO Oreup BY AMY GILROY

P O R T W A S H I N G T O N , N.Y. — Re- tail-level sales of personal navigation de- vices (PNDs) continued to climb at a rapid pace during the first five months of the year despite the slow-growth econo- my and rising energy prices, but the mar- ket's percentage growth rate slipped by about three-fifths in units and dollars, according to The N P D Group.

Dollar sales though May this year were up by 53 percent on unit-sales growth of 136 percent and a decline in average selling pric- es of 35 percent, NPD's statistics show. The

"It hardly seems that economic concerns have hurt the cate- gory." — Ross Rubin, The NPD Group figures were down considerably from the growth rates in the January 2007 to May 2007 period, N P D found. During the first five months of 2007, dollar sales grew 150 percent on unit-sales growth of 313 percent.

Average selling prices declined slightly less in the January 2008 to May 2008 pe- riod to 35 percent from the year-ago peri- od's 39 percent.

"It hardly seems that economic con- cerns have hurt the category," said Ross Rubin, N P D industry analysis director. "It's still a strong growing category, and as prices continue to drop, it becomes more accessible to less affluent consum- ers. I'd say it's doing well."

In May 2008, sales increased 45 percent in dollars and 117 percent in units com- pared to the year-ago period. Average sell- ing prices for the month fell 33 percent.

In general, the market typically enters a quiet period at this time of year, after Dads and Grads and Fourth of July sales are over, and then the market begins to heat up again in late October, industry members said. •

P N D Sell'Through JAN.-MAY JAN.-MAY

2007 2008

Unit Sales

Dollar Sales

Average Sell Prices

+313%

+150%

-39%

+136%

+53%

-35%

Source: The NPD Group ©TWICE 2008

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