JitNik's Tech World

Apple has been named in a new lawsuit that accuses several companies of violating a patent that covers the idea of double clicking a user interface element and then interacting with a new user interface element caused by the double clicking. Apple’s iPad and iPhone are named in the suit as offending devices, and also targeted are Adobe, HTC, LG, Mobilcomm, Motorola, Nokia, Opera, Palm, Quickoffice, and Samsung.

Titled, “Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element,” the patent was filed in 2002 by Actify, granted in 2007, and is now owned by Hopewell Culture and Design. That’s not a typo: In 2007, a patent was granted for the idea of double clicking, which was filed in 2002, 18 years after the Macintosh that popularized the idea of clicking and double clicking to market was first introduced.

Idea Cellular will soon provide its subscribers with 3G services including high-speed mobile broadband, improved voice services and innovative value-added services. Idea Cellular has commissioned Nokia Siemens Networks to supply equipment, and build and manage its HSPA networks in four circles– Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Kerala and Haryana. Nokia Siemens Networks is currently a major GSM vendor for the operator and the deal will strengthen this relationship with a smooth overlay of 3G on the existing GSM network.
"We believe that 3G has the potential to transform the way people communicate and the way businesses run. Our goal is to empower our subscribers by offering a reliable 3G mobile network that provides high-quality experience of voice and data services," said Anil Tandan, Chief Technology Officer, Idea Cellular. "Nokia Siemens Networks, as a world leader in 3G and as a long-standing partner for our GSM services, is well positioned to build our 3G network. It will allow us to reach our customers with new and innovative services in the shortest time possible and in a cost-efficient manner."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year, is not the first honoree from the world of technology and science. He's in good company, with a list that includes tech titans, a machine, and even a planet.

Time cited Zuckerberg "for connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives."

Since 1927, Time magazine has chosen someone or something that, "for better or worse," made the greatest impact during the year. The story goes that Time editors first came up with the idea during a slow news week. (That sounds familiar.)

WikiLeaks.info, a site assisting WikiLeaks' effort to share U.S. war information and diplomatic cables, is rebutting online security organizations' warnings that its Web could be dangerous to visit.
WikiLeaks.info provides a list of sites that mirror the original WikiLeaks content, and in recent days the main WikiLeaks.org Web site has redirected visitors to the WikiLeaks.info mirror page. WikiLeaks.info has grown in importance because of others' moves two weeks ago that made it difficult to reach WikiLeaks.org and led its operators to resurface at WikiLeaks.ch, a Swiss domain.
Spamhaus, a nonprofit volunteer organization that seeks to curtail spam, phishing, botnets for network attacks, and malware, issued a "malware warning" yesterday for WikiLeaks.info.

Over the years, we've worked hard to cover products and services as they've launched, and well into their successes and failures. And like any business venture, there's risk involved.
The Web is no different, leaving many sites to close up shop--sometimes just a few months after what their creators had hoped would be a successful launch. In other cases, it's a slow death march, stretched out with the occasional change in strategy, or a last-ditch re-branding effort.
2010 brought the closure of quite a few sites. Some names on this list you'll recognize right away. Others may leave you scratching your head, which may be just one of the many reasons they're no longer with us.
We've gathered 15 such sites and services that were open at the start of the year and for one reason or another closed up shop. Click through to find out what they were, what they did, and what happened.