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Aug 12, 2012 7:00 PM   After endless back and forth between Apple and Samsung attorneys over what the jury should and shouldn't be told, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has gotten fed up and ordered them to meet face to face and start hashing things out. For real. Up until now, each company has been blaming the other for impeding the process of meeting and coming to some kind of agreement regarding joint jury instructions. Now Judge Koh's order will force them to sit down, shut up, stop pointing fingers, and get this thing done. According to Foss Patents, the order reads as follows: "The Court is disappointed by the parties' respective reports regarding their meet and confer efforts on final jury instructions. Lead trial counsel shall meet and confer in person today and file joint and disputed final jury instructions by Monday, August 13, 2012 at 8 a.m." We'll have to wait and see if this straightens anything out. Both parties seem pretty intent on squabbling....

Who does the gold medal go to in social media Olympics coverage? Why is Apple suing every Android maker in sight? What is the underground Twitterverse? After the jump you'll find more of this week's top news stories on some of the key topics that are shaping the Web - Location, App Stores and Real-Time Web - plus highlights from some of our six channels. Read on for more. Yesterday we looked at how online media is covering the London 2012 Olympics. We gave our virtual gold medal to the New York Times, for its sleek design and muscular content. Today we review the major social media sites: Facebook, Twitter and Google+. To continue the Olympics theme, we award each of the three a different colored medal. Which one gets the gold? More The eyes of the technology world are focused on the epic patent struggle between Apple and Samsung - the latest iteration of Apple’s frantic legal battle against everything Android. More How bad is the underground Twitter economy? According to secu...

The rise of Apple as the darling of the technology industry was a decade in the making. The company had fallen on hard times before its co-founder and guru Steve Jobs came back in 1997 and redefined what Apple computers stood for. A decade later, in 2007, Apple released the iPhone, and love for the company as well as its revenue have skyrocketed since. But will the litany of lawsuits coming out of Cupertino, finally sour public opinion? The iPhone and iPad are two of the best-selling consumer-electronics products of all time. Each iteration leads Apple’s sales to greater heights. To many, Apple can do no wrong. They think that every decision is right, every mistake is someone else's fault.  Others have come before. Research In Motion's BlackBerry was once so ubiquitous and heavily used in businesses that it earned the nickname “crackberry.” Nokia was a dominant global cellphone maker for years. Both companies now struggle, their once loyal customers likely toting iPhones right...

Aug 9, 2012 9:30 PM   In a move of unanticipated benevolence, Apple Inc. retail stores have instructed employees to offer a discount of $49.01 to any customer sighting a lower price offered by a wireless carrier for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. This comes just days after Sprint announced it would be slashing the price of its iPhone 4S by $50 and waiving the phone's activation fee. The price-match, at this time, appears to be limited to the brick and mortar retail stores and is not currently being offered to iPhone purchases made through the company's online store. [MacRumors via WSJ via AllThingsD] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Aug 9, 2012 3:40 PM   If you have an iPhone, hopping on a wi-fi network is good when you want to connect to an AirPlay device, or wi-fi based storage device, or save some battery. But if the actually internet connection is really crappy or non-existent, that means you're essentially cut off from the world (unless you're trying to talk). But a new feature discovered by Apple Insider in the latest iOS 6 beta fixes that. Buried deep in the settings menu (Settings > General > Cellular) is a new option called "Wi-Fi Plus Cellular" that's turned on by default. It will probably be useful when connected to a public hotspot that's under major stress. And while not a major thing, it's a much-needed addition that increases the functionality of the phone. [AppleInsidervia The Verge] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the softwar...

Aug 9, 2012 1:20 PM   Apple is convinced that Samsung are just a bunch of shameless copycats, but as this patent shows, Samsung went and conjured up an innovation Apple didn't have the foresight to do themselves: make a phone that sprays perfume. Yes, perfume. When the scentphone market blows up in 2020, it'll be Apple having to defend itself from copycat claims. [USPTO via Engadget via Ubergizmo] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Aug 11, 2012 12:02 AM   The latest word out of the epic saga that is Apple vs. Samsung is that in October 2010, Samsung passed up on an offer from Apple to license certain of their patents for royalty rates: $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet device. Additionally, Apple was willing to offer Samsung a 20% discount if they agreed to cross-license their own patents back to Apple. The Cupertino-based company had already begun to suspect Samsung of copying the design of its wildly popular iPhone, and said as much in an an August 2010 presentation. This latest testimony and evidence, released today, seems to make Samsung's case even bleaker than it had already begun to look. Below is Apple's October 2010 patents presentation to Samsung. This will never end. Samsung Apple Oct 5 2010 Licensing [AllThingsD] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the soft...

Aug 8, 2012 12:20 AM   It's quite a whopper, 132-pages of envy and scheming. In sum, this internal document compiled by Samsung is a long, slobbering iPhone jealousy fest. A highly detailed and deliberate comparison of Samsung's Galaxy against Apple's coveted iPhone. Reinventing the wheel is so damn hard . Hmmph. 44 [AllThingsD] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

When Gizmodo alumnus and wonderful human Mat Honan got hacked, the point of entry for the hackers was through Amazon and Apple's lax security policies. Amazon immediately admitted its fault in the situation and updated its security policy accordingly. Apple? Well, Apple still doesn't know what do yet. You see, Apple isn't pointing the finger at itself and its wafer-thin security policies but accusing a rogue customer service rep of not following standard operating procedure when it came to Honan's hack. If you remember, Honan's iCloud account was seized by the hackers when they offered up Honan's last 4 digits of his credit card as proof of their identity as Honan to Apple. But according to what Apple has been saying publicly, that isn't how Apple security policies work. Apple issued a statement saying "we found that our own internal policies were not followed completely." Basically, Apple claims Honan's hack shouldn't of happened like tha...

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page. View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Aug 3, 2012 4:52 PM   The Apple vs. Samsung case has been druging up all kinds of secrets. Today, in his testimony, Senior VP of iOS Software Scott Forstall had some interesting things to say about the iPhone's secretive development back in 2004. Tasked with building a super-team by Steve Jobs, Forstall carefully selected the individuals best suited to create the software for the innovative phone, but he had to work under a number of pretty wild restrictions. First, Forstall was not allowed to hire from outside Apple; all members of the iPhone team, then called "Project Purple" were to be selected from within the company. As if that wasn't enough, Forstall couldn't even tell them what they'd be doing. According to his testimony, the pitch to potential team members went a little something like this: "We're starting another project. It's so secret I cannot tell you what the project is... You are going to have to give up nights and weekends probab...

Aug 2, 2012 11:20 AM   Apple is trying to patent a Smart Cover for the iPad that has an embedded secondary display. Or in other words: Eat it, Surface. The cover would use a connector on the side of the iPad that would supply data and power to the cover. Here's Apple's description from the application: [The] accessory device comprising: a flexible flap having a size and shape in accordance with the host device display, wherein at least a portion of the flexible flap is covered by a flap display configured to present visual information; and a connecting portion, the connecting portion arranged to provide at least a communication channel arranged to convey information between the host device and the accessory device wherein at least some of the information is presented visually on the flap display. It looks pretty cool. But, naturally, applying for a patent doesn't mean that we're going to see this, or even that Apple has the technology to do pull this off. But it'...

There are coincidences in this world, and it's important not to read too much into them. Pandora playing the song stuck in your head doesn't make you psychic. But then there are coincidences you can't help but think might mean a little bit more. Like, say, three heavy hitter holdouts all hopping on Apple TV within two days of each other. Maybe it's just one of those things. Or maybe it's a sign that something major's in the works. Let's embark on some wild conjecture, shall we? Two days ago, word came down that Hulu Plus had crash-landed on Apple TV. It's hard to overstate what a big deal this is; the assumption had long been that Apple didn't want Hulu on its streaming box because it directly competes with Apple's own (highly profitable) iTunes offerings. Who's going to buy a $30 season pass to Modern Family when when it's rolled into your $8/month Hulu Plus subscription? That's not just idle speculation, either; Hulu Plus had repor...

Aug 2, 2012 10:20 AM   The information about Apple's early iPhone prototypes and concepts just keeps coming. According to a court filing, Apple considered building a phone with shaped glass, but it never happened because it would have cost too much cash money. Look at those images above. Trippy concept, right? Network World discovered the deposition of former Apple designer Douglas Satzger, in which he details the curvy wonder. Satzger worked as a top level industrial designer at Apple from 1996 to 2008, and he is now the VP of Industrial Design at Intel. The idea was to put rounded glass on the top and bottom of the iPhone instead of the flat panels we have today. But as with the aluminum iPhone prototypes we learned about, the design and manufacture of the shaped-glass phone was deemed too complicated and expensive to be feasible: The technology in shaping the glass, the cost relative to shaping the glass at the time, and some of the design features of this specific shape were ...

Aug 1, 2012 9:38 AM   Apple's homegrown processors in their iOS devices are pretty awesome, able to outperform—and in some cases, blow away—other mobile chipsets. Jim Keller, one of the men largely responsible for that feat, is leaving. Where is he going? AMD. Ouch. According to 9to5mac, Keller was an employee at PA Semi when the company was acquired by Apple, and while at Apple, was listed as "A4/A5 Designer & K8 Lead Architect." Of course, what makes this all the more intriguing is that Keller was hired by and will work under Mark Papermaster, a former iPhone employee who was dismissed after the whole Antennagate debacle came to light in 2010. Regardless your feelings about AMD, you can't deny that they now have two very talented employees. [9to5mac] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

When a judge decides to dismiss evidence you feel would make your case in a patent lawsuit, you have one of two options: a) You can sit back and deal with it like a timid little tktkt or b) you can fire back and choose another public-facing channel to disseminate your information. Samsung chose the latter, opting to send its dismissed slides from its legal battle with Apple to the press, and drawing the ire of the judge overseeing the case. At the start of yesterday's opening arguments, Samsung's lawyer John Quinn argued that a slide containing phones designed prior to the iPhone unveiling—including the F700 phone—be counted as evidence. The judge then threatened to sanction the lawyer and that seemed like the end of it. But as the AllThingsD tells it, Samsung sent them the slides with the following message: The Judge's exclusion of evidence on independent creation meant that even though Apple was allowed to inaccurately argue to the jury that the F700 was an iPhone copy, ...

Aug 1, 2012 1:05 PM   This is great news! Instead of having to deal with Apple pre-configured MacBook Pro Retina options, now you can freely configure your machine in any way you want. Processor, memory and storage, you can combine them all for your optimal performance/price point ratio. For example, you can select top speed in the processor without having to pay extra for storage, keeping the cost at an acceptable $2,550. Or you can keep the processor speed low and add more storage for a low $2,700—which is what I wanted to do with mine (so yes, these news are great for everyone except suckers like me, who already bought the Retina). [Apple via Twitter] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Jul 30, 2012 6:57 PM   iMore is reporting that Apple will announce the new iPhone and an iPad Mini on September 12, for release on the 21st. The relatively earlier-than-expected announcement would make some sense; Apple repeatedly cited next-generation iPhone rumors as being the reason iPhone 4S sales fell short last quarter, so the sooner a new product hits shelves the better. The basics are a stretched-out 4-inch screen and a smaller dock connector. But details about leaked components have ranged from smuggled phones to leaked parts to fully assembled units made from those parts. If those hold up, the next iPhone has been making the rounds for a while now. It should also be noted that iMore nailed the date on this year's iPad announcement almost a month ahead of time. The full announcement list will reportedly include the new iPhone, the iPad Mini, a new iPod Nano, and most likely the final version of iOS 6. iMore is also hearing that the iPad Mini is essentially a 7-point-some...

Jul 27, 2012 4:30 AM   Apple and Samsung are gearing up for one of their largest legal battles to date, which centers around their devices looking incredibly similar. But before things can start, they still need to agree on where to sit in court—which is proving more complicated than you might expect. All Things D reports that the problem is neither party wishes to think of themselves as defendants. Indeed, in a filing posted on Thursday by Samsung, the company explained that "both parties will at times be acting as plaintiffs and both as defendants, and it is therefore important that both parties are treated the same." Instead, Samsung wants both parties to be referred to as "claimants", and requests that its lawyers be allowed to sit at the plaintiff's table during certain periods in the legal proceedings. Samsung explains that: "Equal treatment of the parties with respect to where they sit while presenting their affirmative case will mitigate any preju...

Jul 27, 2012 12:40 PM   Apple has long been working on a Google Glasses-like heads up display, and have been granted a couple of patents already. But Patently Apple has drudged up their latest one, which promises to bring Retina-quality visuals to the little screen. And intriguing as that may be, the more entertaining thing here is the sketch itself. The look on the person's face. That boxy attachment for the screen. THE HELMET! All of it adds up to something quite ridiculous. Granted, this isn't a design patent, so whatever Apple is working on will look nothing like this. But for a company as obsessed with image as Apple is, one would have thought even their non-essential sketches would even look good. [USPTO via Patently Apple] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.