The patent describes the system as being an XML/HTTP based protocol used to send messages between two objects across the Internet independently with respect to the platform. The protocol can be used to control different network elements that are provided at various locations. Although the patent has a technical nature, some of the defendants are financial institutions like E*Trade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

The case has been presented to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, known to take side for patent holders. Ganas has demanded a jury trial and hopes to get payments including expenses, damages and post-judgement interest in case of victory. The case could be settled out of court, as potential costs of such a long battle are very high.

Most of the details regarding the tablet are not well known yet but it could support finger and stylus touch equally. Before being acquired by Hewlett Packard, Palm used to hold its major product launches at Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The company has marked a change in its policy regarding tablets during the recent few months. Committed exclusively to slow-selling Windows convertible tablet notebooks, Hewlett Packard was the central point of CES as Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, presented the Slate. The device was considered a strike against Apple and evidence that Windows 7 could be superior. Unfortunately, when the iPad was unveiled, a few weeks later, HP’s plans were undermined. According to leaked specifications, a worse battery life as well as a higher price made the device less competitive.

The acquisition of Palm by HP had a precise goal related to tablets and was meant to make it one of the most important competitors to Apple’s iPad.

Both Gartner and IDC agree that Apple has now several hundred thousand units more than Acer, its nearest competitor, as the latter has been experienced only flat sales compared to the same period of last year. Although Apple’s tablet is not included in the sales numbers for PCs, the iPad is believed to have had negatively impacted on netbook shipments.

Soaring popularity of the iPad is considered by Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, to have temporarily cannibalized sales of mini-netbooks and consumer notebook sales as well to a certain degree. According to him, it is not clear at this moment if the process will continue to affect the media tablets’ current price point.

Hewlett Packard has kept its leading position in the United States with 4.6 million PCs sold, which is 14 percent more than in the same period of last year. The second spot is held by Dell, with 4.2 million PCs. Toshiba is the last of the top five PC makers.

Hewlett Packard had advertised the slate during the first months of this year but became more and more quiet as it was clear that the device would never ship. It changed tactics abruptly after acquiring Palm and switched suddenly attention towards prospecting webOS tablets, even going to the point of downplaying a desktop OS for tablets. There were some voices to claim that the Windows slate has been killed immediately, but there are others to say it would ship in October, ten months later than the January keynote and about half a year alter than the iPad.

Other highlights of Steve Ballmer’s January keynote, the Xbox 360 and Windows 7 were successful, but balanced by short-lived attention of Microsoft to Windows Mobile. After touting the HTC’s HD2 as the Windows Mobile flagship, the device became obsolete as the recently revealed Windows Phone 7 could never be used by the HD2.

Another failed project of the company was the Kin, which was killed within no more than six weeks although it had been claimed as part of the company’s Windows Phone brand.

It seems that headcount cutbacks are not unusual with acquisitions; companies usually want to get rid of the overhead. Despite this, HP hadn’t mentioned anything about any job cuts. Since the deal was announced for the first time, most of the departures have involved high-level engineers, as well as executives quitting voluntarily (for example, Matias Duarte and Rich Dellinger). Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s CEO, is currently still onboard and will most likely take charge of the company as division of HP.

According to HP, the market includes a lot of interconnected devices, such as smartphones, tablets and printers. The company also believes that webOS could become the backbone of many small form factor devices and it could also expand beyond the smartphone market. This would leverage the financial power of the company and would provide support for its growth in smartphones.

The takeover is meant to increase the attraction for webOS in the smartphone space. Palm has often been criticized for its inability to market its phones at a competitive level and to expand quickly to carriers, while competitors like Apple or Android designers like Motorola and HTC had none of these problems.

The federal agency says that HP did not disclose the pricing mechanism of its imports. This discrepancy is supposed to have allowed the company to pay only a part of the amount of duties normally applicable in such situations. HP has been allowed to take advantage of the Indian “Accredited Client Program” to fast-track import. It is not yet clear whether the investigation will involve a temporary or permanent revocation with respect to the eligibility for this program.

According to analyst Partha Ivenygar, HP’s business could seriously be affected because the timeframes for getting equipment in or serving client needs could not be respected any more.

Other reports indicate that HP would also be under investigation by authorities from Germany, Russia and the United States over accusations of bribery. The company is incriminated for sending the equivalent of about $10.9 million to Russia’s prosecutor office in order to secure a contract for an important number of computers. A scheme involving a German partner and some shell companies in Caribbean islands was meant to hide the alleged bribery.

Hewlett Packard is supposed to have pre-deposited the equivalent of about $17.7 million, as the Indian agency claims, but the exact reason for this deposit is still unknown. The initial investigation has been completed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. According to director general R. Venkataraman, it will be transmitted to an adjudicating authority.

The two leading systems can also use Athlon II and Turion II processors and can have a choice between either Radeon HD 4250 integrated video or Mobility Radeon HD 540v graphics. Users preferring Intel processors can have the 6450b and 6550b with the same screen sizes but dual Core i3, i5 or i7chips and Intel’s graphics as an integrated choice. The larger models will ship in June and will cost $779 for the AMD-based computers and $849 for the correspondent Intel models.

The group of mid-size models are made for a lower-cost audience but their speed is similar. The 13.3-inch ProBook 4325s, 14-inch 4425s and 15.6-inch 4525s computers have the same choices between Athlon II, Turion II and Phenom II processors and Mobility Radeon HD 4250 video, but with a slightly slower dedicated chip, Mobility Radeon HD 530v. These models would ship in May and their prices would start from $619.

Two options are present for budget workers, the 425 and 625. They also have 14- and 15.6-inch displays and a more limited choice of processors, but they still can use Phenom II chips. Hewlett Packard has priced the425 and 625 models at $549 and the shipping date was scheduled for June this year.

All Pavilion notebooks include the new HP philosophy called MUSE (materials, usability, sensory appeal, experience). Compared to their frequently plastic predecessors, the new models are partly using aluminium and a thinner design in unusual colors, such as red, champagne and black cherry. Some software customization of the previous special edition is still present over the Pavilion line and gifts users with fifteen artist-penned backgrounds for the desktop.

The top of the series, the 17.3-inch dv7, sports new features for Pavilions, such as a 1GB Mobility Radeon graphics chipset supporting Crossfire and Beats-processed audio including a subwoofer. Dual drive bays allow up to 2TB of storage and the dv7 can use up to quad-core processors.

The dv6 has a 15.6-inch display and is the first in the series to have a touchscreen as an option. Its smaller design permits quad-core processors. The single drive bay allows 1TB of storage. The Pavilion dv5 is the first of HP with a 14.5-inch display and still keeps the option for quad-core chips and 1TB of disk space.

All these Pavilion dv updates are scheduled for May 19th and will have starting prices of $650 for the dv5 and dv6 and $800 for the dv7.

Along with the dv series, the ultraportable dm series has been updated with the Pavilion dm4, which has a large 14-inch LCD and also full-power Intel processors instead of using CULV. There also is an option for a dedicated Mobility Radeon high definition video. The device is less than an inch thick and is weighing less than 4.4 pounds by dropping an optical drive. However, its storage is 640GB. The dm4 is scheduled for shipping on May 19th like the other larger models but its price is only $730.

AMD’s Phenom II-based devices are considered to be a potential turning point for the company. AMD often had the single chance of competing solely on cost, because a poorer efficiency in its manufacturing process involved sacrifices with respect to speed and battery life. The existence of the new processors opens large perspectives for AMD-based Macs. Apple could this way keep aiming to high-end MacBook Pro or MacBook lines without being forced to use Intel hardware.

Standard RAM is 1GB large and can be upgraded up to 4GB. The nettop has a sole 160GB, 7,200RPM hard drive that comes preloaded with Windows XP Home Edition. A DVD burner, Wi-Fi, eight USB ports, stereo speakers, a built-in webcam, a microphone and a 6-in-1 card reader complete the standard specifications. The Compaq Presario CQ1-1020 is priced at $430.