Author: Lucy

A new Apple Watch app lets the smartwatch control Tesla cars

| May 7, 2015

A developer has now come up with an application that allows the wearables to control the Model S.

A developer named Allen Wong from Rego Apps has come up with a new application for the Apple Watch that would make it possible for the owner of a Tesla Model S electric car to be able to access the basic functions of the vehicles from the convenience of his or her wearable technology device.

In this way, those functions can be controlled by the wearer of the smartwatch to improve the vehicle’s convenience.

The design of the Apple Watch App is such that it makes it possible for a user to complete a large number of functions that range from controlling the air conditioning settings to even opining the roof. Rego Apps went to the extent of documenting the app and sharing it over a YouTube video in order to help to demonstrate exactly what it is capable of doing. The video pointed out that this application doesn’t require the smartwatch wearer to be close to the electric car in order to control it.

The Apple Watch app makes it possible to access each of the controls remotely, all over the internet.


The video explained that “(T)he craziest part is that this can all be done remotely. You don’t even need to be near the car to issue the commands. It’s all communicated through the internet.”

The number of different things that the smartwatch application is capable of providing actually reaches beyond some of the options that are available through the official app from Tesla that also provides some remote functions through a vehicle owner’s smartphone. Among the various features that the wearable technology have to offer includes the chance to unlock or lock the car doors, to change the charge limit of the vehicle, to alter the climate control settings such as the air conditioner, to identify the position of the vehicle on a map through geolocation technology, and even use the wearables as a type of key for remote starting.

What has yet to be know is how many people have both an Apple Watch and a Tesla Model S so that they will actually be able to try to benefit from this wearable technology app.

Microsoft phones determined to be infringing on patents

| May 4, 2015

Patent licensing company, InterDigital has won the case according to U.S. International Trade Commission judge decision.

The latest round of potentially very expensive legal battle over patents relating to Microsoft phones has now been lost by the company as a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled in favor of InterDigital Inc.

InterDigital sued Microsoft with claims that its patents for mobile devices were being used without permission.

The judge in question, Theodore Essex, decided that the Microsoft phones were infringing on two different patents having to do with wireless cellular technology and that were owned by InterDigital, a patent licensor that has been accused of being a “patent troll”. The judge also ruled that banning Microsoft from importing those mobile devices into the United States would not be against public interest.

Before the ruling against Microsoft phones is set in stone, it must first be reviewed by the full commission.

Microsoft - Microsoft Phones This means that the entire committee will first need to conduct a review on the case before Microsoft mobile devices can be banned from being imported. The ITC does have the authority that would be required to implement such a ban if it decides that a U.S. patent has been infringed upon.

It has become common practice for many companies to sue through the ITC in order to be able to win damages as well as to be able to put an import ban into place within a district court. InterDigital is based in Wilmington, Delaware and had initially made its accusations of patent infringements against Nokia Corp, in 2007. That said, in 2014, Microsoft purchased the handset division at Nokia, and InterDigital shifted its attentions to that new company.

The patents involved in this lawsuit have to do with the way that the power of a Microsoft phone is moderated in order to be able to reduce interference with the device signal. Originally, Nokia was cleared of infringement by the ITC, but that decision was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in 2012. That is the top patent court in the United States, and it has caused the ITC to have to take a look at the decision, yet again.