The long-winded battle between Samsung and Apple, Inc is coming to an end (overseas), as the two tech giants have agreed to drop all patent litigation with one another outside of the U.S.  Samsung and Apple have been at war since 2011, when Apple first sued Samsung for allegedly “copying” its iPhone and iPad devices. Since then, their dispute has grown internationally to include the courts of more than eight different countries.  Though the two will continue to pursue all claims within the states, the truce regarding any foreign cases is a big relief.

Meanwhile, both companies continue to focus on research and development, pushing the envelope of design and bringing new products to consumers everywhere.  In fact, Apple recently filed a patent application for an “Intelligent digital assistant in a desktop environment,” a technology that would essentially give Mac users a desktop version of Siri.

The 92-page application describes a new version of the mobile Siri, capable of conducting searches, processing natural speech and text input, and interpreting and completing contextual commands using speech recognition technology.  The app states, ” Just like human personal assistants, digital assistants or virtual assistants can perform requested tasks and provide requested advice, information, or services… Recent advances in natural language processing have enabled users to interact with digital assistants using natural language… Ideally, the outputs produced by a digital assistant should fulfill the user’s intent.”

Samsung, on the other hand, is working on perfecting its smartwatch, having recently filed a number of patents for three new watch face designs.  Rumors are spreading that the tech company is close to completing plans for the highly anticipated Gear Solo wrist piece, equipped with full SIM-card compatibility and giving users the ability to make phone calls and browse the web directly from their watch.

This latest piece of Android-wear is what Samsung is calling, “An exciting step forward for the smartwatch market as a whole,” and we could very well see it revealed at this year’s IFA in Germany alongside the Galaxy Note 4.