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Apple is challenging a verdict from a Texas court last November that left it on the hook to pay security software company VirnetX $368.2 million in damages.

The news came tucked inside Apple's quarterly report, which was filed earlier this week, Computerworld notes.

"The Company is challenging the verdict, believes it has valid defenses and has not recorded a loss accrual at this time," Apple said in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The original complaint, which was filed in August 2010, accused Apple of infringing on four of VirnetX's patents … Read more

It's official. Intel's fourth-generation core "Haswell" processor will arrive on June 3. Expect a crush of desktops, laptops, convertibles, detachables, and tablets to ensue.

"In approximately 3,337,200,000,000,000 nanoseconds, Intel will reveal all there is to know about the highly anticipated 4th generation Intel Core processor family," Intel said in a statement Friday.

That's June 3 in the U.S. and June 4 in Taiwan, where it will be rolled out at Computex.

Haswell is mostly about better battery life and, to a lesser extent, about improved graphics performance. … Read more

Apple has backtracked on a decision it made to change how iPhones and iPads handle virtual private networking access, following the conclusion of a patent lawsuit with VirnetX.

VirnetX won a $368.2 million patent victory, which led to Apple announcing that it would change how users would connect to their corporate networks. A software update was planned for later this month.

The change would have configured devices set as "always" to instead establish a connection as and when needed. VPN technology allows users off the corporate network to act as though they are connected at the workplace. … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.… Read more

It seemed inevitable, and now it has happened: for the first time ever, feature phones have taken a backseat to smartphones in terms of quantities shipped.

In the first quarter of 2013, device makers shipped 216.2 million smartphones worldwide, a volume that accounted for 51.6 percent of total global shipments and that marked the first time smartphones have claimed more than half of all quarterly shipments, according to market researcher IDC.

The smartphone market grew 41.6 percent compared with the first quarter of 2012, but declined 5.1 percent from the shipment tally for the fourth quarter … Read more

There's a newcomer hanging around town. It has 5 spacious inches of screen space. It flaunts a 13-megapixel camera. You can't deny the allure of its 2,600mAh battery. All those specs may put it one up on its competitors, at least on paper. But just because the Samsung Galaxy S4 wants to be top dog, doesn't mean the other guys aren't going to put up a fight.

The lead contenders to challenge the Galaxy S4 for the smartphone throne are the iPhone 5, the HTC One, and the BlackBerry Z10. They all have their claims … Read more

You know those people who wave their iPhones about everywhere they go, in a desperate need to record every moment of their lives?

You're one of them, aren't you?

At least there's a very good chance you might be, if Apple's new iPhone ad is to be believed.

For, in an attempt to re-pluck your emotive twang-elements, the company claims that every day more people take pictures with an iPhone than with any other camera.

I am not sure how the company knows that, say, my engineer friend George doesn't take 65,000 pictures on … Read more

Dell is now offering 4G LTE on its XPS 10 -- a feature conspicuously absent on most Windows 8 tablets.

"Today, we're introducing an AT&T 4G LTE mobile broadband version for US customers on Dell.com, providing professionals with the same fast, reliable, high-speed internet connection as on their smartphones for connectivity anytime, anywhere," Dell said in a statement Thursday.

The XPS 10 is a bit of an oddball tablet among the top-tier PC makers.

It's one of the few tablets to use the RT version of Windows 8. And it's even a … Read more

Apple is giving some developers a second chance at purchasing tickets to its annual developers conference, which sold out in just two minutes on Thursday.

The company has been getting in touch with what appears to be a handful of developers who attempted to make purchases when the $1,599 tickets for Apple's WWDC went on sale at 10 a.m. PT, MacRumors reports. Those developers have a ticket reserved for them, and will be able to make the purchase at a later date.

The purchasing window, which spanned about two hours last year, was brief enough that some … Read more