News and notes from the Microsoft beat …
Microsoft and Motorola are squaring off starting today in front of the International Trade Commission — one of the key battlegrounds in the Redmond company’s claims that Google’s Android operating system violates its patents.
The Motorola case has taken on additional significance following Google’s agreement to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion. Microsoft is seeking to ban U.S. imports of Motorola phones running Android. More from ZDNet and Bloomberg.
Lenovo promises up to 24 hours of battery life in its ThinkPad X220 notebook. Microsoft’s Ben Rudolph puts it to the test, and gets close to 18 hours of computing time — spanning nine days — without plugging in. Not quite 24 hours, but still pretty impressive.
USB 3.0 in Windows 8? Yep, it’s coming. Confirmation and many more details in this post today on the Engineering Windows 8 blog.
“With throughput up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and improved power management that results in longer battery life, USB 3.0 introduces compelling reasons to improve the world’s most popular PC interface,” writes Microsoft’s Dennis Flanagan.
Microsoft’s Brandon Watson last week offered development support and free devices to webOS app developers who switch to Microsoft’s Windows Phone, following HP’s decision to discontinue its webOS devices. He’s gotten more than 1,000 responses as of this afternoon.
Watson is the same guy who got Dilbert creator Scott Adams to try Windows Phone.
