In a couple of deals that echo Microsoft’s agreement with HTC in April 2010, the software giant has come to separate agreements with Acer and ViewSonic.

In Acer’s case, the two companies have “executed a patent license agreement that includes broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for Acer’s tablets and smartphones running the Android platform” - and with ViewSonic they’ve “signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for ViewSonic’s tablets and mobile phones running the Android or Chrome Platform”.

HTC has bought a number of patent from Google in a bid to strengthen its legal case against Apple.

It’s amended its US International Trade Commission complaint, it’s amended a similar US legal case and has filed a new case as well.

In this week's podcast we cover Microsoft's purchase of Skype, Google's launch of Chromebooks and Nokia's name-changing at Ovi.

There's also a lot of news about mobile money, with Visa making plans for the USA, Chiltern Railways introducing m-tickets and TNS reporting a 100% increase in UK mobile banking. In addition, we talk to Yossi Yarkoni of DigiMo about his company's new mobile payment platform.

Mark Bridge writes:

There's one tech story that’s dominated the week’s news: Microsoft buying Skype. "Why?" and "Really?" appear to be the top questions; we'll do our best to answer them and provide some more insight in Wednesday's podcast.

Samsung and Google have announced a notebook computer that uses the Chrome operating system. Unlike other notebook and laptop computers, almost all user information is stored online 'in the cloud'.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook has a 12.1-inch screen and is just 2cm thick.