Cell Bytes

John Herlihy, Google Europe’s big chief, says that desktops will be irrelevant in three years. Which is precisely why Apple and Google are trying to kill each other, fiercely fighting for the domination of the mobile device world.

Both companies know that mobile computing is where the action is now and where it will be forever. At its presentation, Steve Jobs was adamant that the iPad was the continuation of the battle that started with the iPhone, and repeatedly said that Apple was a “mobile devices company.” Google’s agreed, which is why Herlihy echoed Schmidt’s words at Barcelona’s GSM 2010: Everything that Google is doing and planning is centered on the mobile, the cloud, and ubiquitous connectivity.

They are both right: Your desktop computer will disappear, no matter how much the geekdom cries, unless you are an engineer or someone who requires a big screen to work on—and, even then, the idea of the desktop as we know it will change too. The mice will go extinct, and every John and Jane will do their work and their pleasure using mobile devices like phones and tablets. As it should be, because computing has to become invisible, not complicated and cumbersome, like it is today. In a few years, the computing world will be like Star Trek: The Next Generation, but without the Enterprise. [Silicon Republic]

Apple’s patent theft accusations against HTC got a lot of press this week, as they should! But it’s just the most recent case in a gun-slinging mobile landscape riddled with patent lawsuits. This’ll end about as well as Reservoir Dogs.

The NY Times breaks it down today with this handy chart of who’s suing whom. Nokia has been particularly active, along with Kodak. The biggest target? Apple.

Companies sue each other over intellectual property all the time, of course. But this volume of mobile technology patents is unusually high. According to the Times:

Although patent litigation is not new in the technology world, these suits, specifically around mobile, point to the drastically changing mobile landscape. Lawyers I spoke with explained that mobile technology is still in its infancy and these large computing companies are trying to stake their claim to the future of computing.

Basically, it’s a land grab. Companies that know they’re being left in the dust (Nokia, Kodak) are scrambling to assert any claims that they can, while market leaders (Apple) become fat targets.

Where does that leave the us? For now, nowhere. Business as usual. But if things keep escalating, the consequences could range from companies passing legal fees onto the consumer to ITC-imposed product bans. In these kinds of gun fights, it’s rare that anyone wins. [NY Times]

Those press covering the Olympics sure do have a plum life. They bundle off to Vancouver for 16 days of watching ice-skaters embarrassing themselves, and ruthless Russian bobsledders showing their dark sides. Oh, and they get lens-shaped thermoses.

The story goes that a Microsoft employee by the name of Josh Weisberg wandered into the Canon press tent at the Olympic Press Center, and got given a 70-200mm Canon L-series lens. Or so he thought, probably tucking it safely in his backpack before Canon realized they had gifted him a lens instead of a branded pen or hat.

I hope he wasn’t too disappointed when he realized it was a thermos. I’d happily take it off his hands. [PDN Pulse via CrunchGear]

Image Credit: Josh Weisberg