Easter Egg Patents

Thanks s2upid! & Mark

Retrieved from Reddit -- there are enough smart and dedicated people posting information there that I can't keep up. (and I have other things to do.) Occasionally there's a serious GEM posted there. This is one.

The "EasterEgg" refers to one of the patents listed in the most recent MicroVision videos (last post) mentioned by CEO Sumit Sharma during the last "Fireside Chat" (recounted here)

So the first MVIS easter egg patent "Phased locked resonant scanning display projection" has the following companies citing it (other than the Facebook patent above).

• Microsoft: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10484656B1/en?oq=10484656

• STMicroelectronics: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10602029B2/en?oq=10602029

• Samsung: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10338370B2/en?oq=10338370

• Hitachi: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9972278B2/en?oq=9972278

• Lite-On Technology: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9398276B2/en?oq=9398276   

• Qualcomm: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20180217237A1/en?oq=10690923

•  Magic Leap: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020082002A1/en?oq=10690923
  

AND FACEBOOK

Broadcom Buyout offer

And so far, the smart people I know are voting no.

As a major electronics company in mobile, and a driver of 5G, This deserves to be watched.


Shares of Qualcomm Inc. QCOM, +0.56% surged 4.4% in premarket trade Monday, after Broadcom Ltd. AVGO, -1.56% boosted its bid to buy the semiconductor maker by 17% to its "best and final offer" of $82 a share. The bid consists of $60 a share in cash and the rest in Broadcom stock. Reuters had reported on Sunday that an increased bid was planned.

Marketwatch

NewYorkTimes

“Given well-known U.S. national security concerns about Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications companies, a shift to Chinese dominance in 5G would have substantial negative national security consequences for the United States,” a CFIUS official wrote in a March 5 letter to the companies’ lawyers that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Broadcom appeared to be laying the groundwork to get ahead of potential national-security concerns even before it launched its initial bid for Qualcomm. In a televised appearance last November with President Donald Trump at the White House, Broadcom’s Mr. Tan announced plans to redomicile his Singapore-based company to the U.S., a move that could have rendered CFIUS review inapplicable. Mr. Trump lavished praise on Mr. Tan, calling him “a great, great executive” and saying Broadcom was “one of the really great, great companies.”

******

Days later, Mr. Tan launched an unsolicited $105 billion bid for Qualcomm. Broadcom raised that to more than $120 billion at one point, then cut it back again to the current $117 billion offer after Qualcomm raised its separate bid for European giant NXP Semiconductors NV.

Chinese Chemical company pays 1 Billion for a talking cat

Head scratcher, but there's a LOT of money floating around out there.

Ask yourself this... what's worth more? the Talking Cat, or the technology that can take the talking cat --- and ALL OTHER media, make it much bigger, portable and touch-interactive.

Throw in some LiDAR, and some near eye displays -- and some kind of new welding technology, and what's it worth then?

I don't want Microvision to be bought out, because any price that has so far been floating around is far below the ultimate value of this technology.

Bloomberg

Talking Tom is not alone. There’s been a recent flurry of oddball pairings between Chinese industrial interests and Western entertainment companies. A real estate magnate in Beijing bought Legendary Entertainment, the movie studio that made the Dark Knight trilogy, for $3.5 billion. A maker of construction materials bought Framestore, the company behind the special effects in the Harry Potter films. Zhejiang Dragon Pipe Manufacturing Co. acquired app developer Entertainment Game Labs. And perhaps strangest of all, Digital Extremes Ltd., which created an alien battle game, and the studio Splash Damage Ltd., which made an offshoot of the Xbox hit Gears of War, were bought by an enormous Chinese poultry processor.

Insight -- Masayoshi Son, ARM Holdings

I find that this provides insight about how certain people and companies think.

Japan News Masayoshi Son  -- More at the source.

ARM traces its history back to the mid-1980s, when a group of software engineers decided to design their own microprocessor for the Acorn BBC Micro, a device that introduced a generation of British school children to computing.

Muller said the rise of rival computers based on Intel chips dealt Acorn a fatal blow, but despite the failure Apple had seen something it liked in the technology, which it wanted to use in its Newton handheld device.

With Apple’s backing, ARM was spun out of Acorn in 1990.

The Newton failed, but ARM persevered with its designs and was chosen by another company set to become a global leader — Nokia — for a new mobile phone in the mid-1990s.

“Because Nokia was then becoming the No. 1 mobile phone company, other people knew they’d selected ARM to use in mobile phones, and that drove a lot of adoption from other players,” Muller said.

Nokia chose ARM’s processor designs because they required less power than those from rivals, making them ideal for a mobile device powered by a battery.

An early decision to let its customers innovate using ARM’s core technology was key to its success, Muller said, giving partners such as Apple, Samsung or Qualcomm the freedom to develop their own chips while using ARM’s common architecture that had become the industry standard.

The company and analysts had said that partnership model had made ARM less vulnerable to a takeover because an acquisition by the likes of Apple or Intel could put off its other partners.

SoftBank, a telecommunications and internet company with no presence in semiconductors, largely sidesteps that problem.

Foxconn working to sweeten deal for Sharp - deal helps with iPhone manufacture?

Some may disagree, but I see the Foxconn news as all good. 

It's possible to contort the story into something negative, but very difficult. 

There's more at the source.

Foxconn seeks investment from SoftBank to boost bid

OSAKA -- Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry reportedly has sounded out SoftBank Group about joining its bid to acquire Sharp, aiming to sweeten the deal by bringing in a Japanese partner and a major buyer of the troubled manufacturer's mainstay smartphones.

     Hon Hai, the contract electronics manufacturer also known as Foxconn, plans to hold a controlling interest in Sharp, with SoftBank seen taking a roughly 10-20% stake. Having SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son himself buy into Sharp directly is likely on the table as well. Foxconn hopes that having the telecom company on board would boost Sharp's smartphone sales, contributing to its recovery.

Asia Nikkei


....and from aTechnj

"Financially strapped electronics giant Sharp Electronics Corporation is attempting to finalize a buyout/takeover from Japan’s Foxconn. This deal would potentially help Foxconn with the manufacturing of the Apple iPhone. Since Foxconn is Apples largest assembler of the iPhone and Sharp Electronics manufactures the glass this deal could benefit both parties."

Interesting Language about Sharp - Foxconn deal

This could be meaning what we want it to mean or not. 

I don't know of any way other than PicoP where Sharp is a particular leader in display technology. (If you know some other way, please comment!)

Keep watching!

From ITpro (UK)
Takatochi Itoshima, chief portfolio manager at Commons Asset Management, added: "Foxconn's offer is expensive, which shows how desperately the company wants Sharp's technology."

It is thought that part of the reason Foxconn wants Sharp so badly is because of Apple's increased focus on innovative display technology, as exemplified in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus with 3D Touch, Apple Watch with Force Touch, and which is expected to be a major feature of the iPhone 7 as well when it launches in September.

Read more:  http://www.itpro.co.uk/strategy/26000/foxconn-to-acquire-sharp-for-4-billion#ixzz3zgP46yDU

MVIS Takeover Target?

Apple recently purchased a large holder of augmented reality patents. MicroVision is THE leader in augmented reality patents. Augmented Reality Patents...who leads

I don't mind the idea of a rejected buyout offer, but I don't like the idea of being bought out... at least not yet.

(update) I was hesitant to post this connection because of some of the absurd reactions I've seen in various places to this. It doesn't mean Apple is buying the company -- it does mean there might be some interest and it should be watched, however.

Apple buys company behind tours app

"Apple has bought a company that makes augmented-reality software, which adds information or images to real-world scenes when viewed through a special headset or even a smartphone camera.

It’s the latest sign that major tech companies see big potential for products that let users view the world with extra features added by technology. Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are all working on augmented- or virtual-reality products. Augmented reality can add hand-drawn sketches, navigational directions, historic video or computer-generated, three-dimensional images to a real-world scene. Virtual reality can make viewers feel as if they are immersed in an artificial world."

At Fortune Magazine

"Metaio’s site said it wasn’t taking any new customer orders and then this document appeared, confirming all Metaio’s shares have transferred to Apple ownership. The document, which was reported by TechCrunch, shows that the share transfer took place on either May 21st or 22nd."



Some insight on Apple
A link to this post

GuruFocus