HiTechEdge

Tag: Nest Hub

  • ITC Judge Finds Goole Infringed Sonos’ Patents in Preliminary Ruling

    ITC Judge Finds Goole Infringed Sonos’ Patents in Preliminary Ruling

    A judge has dealt Google a major blow in a preliminary ruling, finding the company infringed Sonos’ patents.

    The International Trade Commission (ITC) judge sided with Sonos, in a suit the company brought against Google over its smart speaker patents. Sonos accused Google of abusing the partnership between the two companies to steal its technology.

    Sonos acknowledged this ruling was merely the opening salvo in what is sure to be a long battle. In a statement to The Verge, a Sonos spokesperson said the ruling “is only a first step in a lengthy battle,” but an “important milestone in the ongoing effort to defend Sonos’ technology against Google.”

    Google is denying any wrongdoing, issuing its own statement to The Verge:

    “We do not use Sonos’ technology, and we compete on the quality of our products and the merits of our ideas. We disagree with this preliminary ruling and will continue to make our case in the upcoming review process.”

    Should the ITC uphold the ruling, Sonos is asking for a sales ban against Pixel phones, Chromecasts and Nest Hubs.

  • Google Officially (and Quietly) Launches Fuchsia OS

    Google Officially (and Quietly) Launches Fuchsia OS

    Google has released its third major operating system, Fuchsia OS, although most people probably missed it.

    Google has been working on Fuchsia OS for several years. The OS is an all-new undertaking, built from the ground up, without being based on Linux, UNIX or any other OS. The company has been unusually secretive about the project, leading many to conclude it could bring together the company’s OS strategy, eventually replacing both Android and Chrome.

    One of the factors in Fuchsia’s favor is Flutter, the programming language used for it. Because Flutter creates cross-platform apps, apps that are created now will be able to automatically run on any Fuchsia-powered devices once they debut.

    It appears Google has finally released Fuchsia, although to an existing device, rather than an all-new device, or as part of a wider release. According to 9to5Google, Fuchsia has been rolled out to the first-generation Nest Hub, replacing the Linux-based OS the devices were previously running.

    Google confirmed to 9to5Google there will not be any fundamental change in the device’s behavior. Nonetheless, Fuchsia running on a real-world device will give the company valuable input on how well the OS is functioning, and what improvements need to be made before a wider deployment.