VIA sues Apple

VIA has accused Apple of violating 2 patents. They are:

· US Patent No. 6253312, Method and apparatus for double operand load
· US Patent Nos. 6253311 & 6754810, Instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data.
 
Apparently these patents are used, without license by Apple, in the Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV devices. Since many of these devices have been around for years, it makes we wonder why VIA have chosen now as the time to bring a lawsuit against Apple.
 
VIA joins a huge crowd of tech companies that take Apple to court over alleged patent infringements. Those companies are often counter-sued by Apple.

VIA Labs' USB 3.0 host controllers, certified

Both the VL800 and VL801 USB 3.0 host controllers have been certified by the USB Implementers Forum. The VL800, which is a 4 port host controller, and the VL801 which is a 2 port SuperSpeed host controller, are now certified to work with compliant USB 3.0 devices. Expect to see these chips drop up on everything from tablets, to notebooks, to desktops.

VIA Labs shows the new VL811 USB 3.0 Hub Controller in action

Following on from their Press Release last week, VIA Labs have released a video explains the difference between the VL810 and the VL811, and also shows it charging a device.

New VIA Labs second gen USB 3.0 controller charges devices faster than ever

The VIA Labs VL810 was the world's first USB 3.0 4 port hub controller. The second generation design, the VL811 ads a new feature called a Charging Downstream Port or CDP. A CDP port can charge a BCS-compatible device three times faster than regular USB 3.0 devices. In fact you can use the device at full speed whilst charging.

"The VIA Labs VL811 enables a single downstream port of a host computer or another hub to simultaneously interface with multiple USB devices. The VIA Labs VL811 hub controller supports the higher transfer rates of the USB 3.0 specification, allowing maximum data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, or ten times the maximum throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices, while remaining fully backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1 hosts, hubs, and devices. In addition to rapid transfers, the VIA Labs VL811 also allows for rapid charging of BCS compatible devices through the CDP feature."

Find out more on the VIA Labs site.

China's Facebook now supported by VIA phone chips

Facebook is technical banned in China and although many people do still manage to use it, Weibo is in Chinese and far more popular. It's not quite the same thing as Facebook, it's more like micro-blogging than social connectivity. China Telecom, which is China's largest telecom service provider, signed an agreement last week with the owners of Weibo, Sina, so that China Telecom users can automatically log into their Sina accounts and access Weibo on their phones. As a CDMA chip provider, VIA Telecom participated in the launch, indicated that their chips would support Weibo too. Source: TelecomPaper.com

VIA's USB 3.0 chip certified

VIA's USB controller chips are still featured on heaps of motherboards and PCI cards. These days the USB chips are handled by VIA Labs and they've just announced USB-IF certifcation for their USB 3.0 Host Controller.

Digitimes says: "VIA Labs has already tapped the China market, and obtaining USB 3.0 Host certification will reinforce its marketing strength there."

No doubt that is quite correct. Most USB 2.0 PCI cards that feature VIA chips are made in China, often by unknown brands ... or unbranded when they go on sale at Dick Smith's anyway!

VIA Nano X2 wipes the floor with Intel Atom

A website titled "Bright Side of the News" is certainly an appropriate name for a site releasing news about a VIA whitepaper that was released recently which shows the VIA Nano X2 processor totally besting the dual-core Intel Atom. This is a VIA whitepaper, so obviously they're only going to publish favorable results, but they are none the less impressive. - Source.