Timbuk2 Factory Tour Highlights Offshoring Issues at Apple [Gallery]

By

Timbuk2_factory_06_CULT_OF_MAC_APPLE_BAGS_MANUFACTURING_JOBS

SAN FRANCISCO — American companies are rightly proud to show off any manufacturing facilities supporting jobs during the current recession, and San Francisco-based Timbuk2 is no exception. This week, the company known for its messenger bags showed us the hangar here in the Mission district where workers cut and sew colorful swaths of material and help contribute to the local manufacturing economy.

As a group of reporters was ushered through the trendy open-plan set-up, it made us think about what a factory tour of Apple’s manufacturing plants would be like. We’ll never know, of course. Tim Cook would never allow a tour like this one.

TaskRabbit Offers $55 Line Jockeys for iPhone 5 Release Day

By

post-190285-image-7db9afd9d4c02d4a8c4dcc327905ec53-jpg

Standing in line to purchase a new iPhone is not the huge point of pride it used to be.  But since most people still want to get their hands on the beautiful new device as soon as possible, demand for task-completion jockeys to hold a place in line is sure to rise.  TaskRabbit today announced it’s mobilizing its workforce to hold your place for up to four hours for $55.

Apple, Google CEOs In Secret Talks For Patent Disputes [Report]

By

tim-cook_784x0

 

Steve Jobs famously declared a thermonuclear war on Google’s alleged iPhone copycat Android OS, but the full-on battle between the companies may be prevented before more of their lawyers have broken out of the trenches. A Reuters report this morning revealed Google’s Larry Page and Apple’s Tim Cook are planning on conducting preliminary talks regarding the companies’ IP disputes, a series of talks which may lead to a truce deal in the upcoming months.

Designer Makes Concept Flash Cards For Hipster Kids [Gallery]

By

design nerds flash cards

The kids of the Hipster Generation will have it real easy, brother. They’re going to be taught by their parents about the health benefits of organic food, the sartorial qualities of plaid vests, and of course, product design. So the best way to innoculate the good qualities of the Hipster worldview might be by making them learn it through beautifully designed, old-school flash cards.

And guess what? Apple has a place in the cards.

Security Experts: Zero-Day Java 7 Exploit Is “Super Dangerous” To Mountain Lion Macs

By

java 7

According to several U.S. security agencies, a hack burrowing dangerously around the web through browser-based Java software has already hit Windows and is a serious danger to Mountain Lion OS X.

While the latest Java update, Java 7, has seen stable performance, security personnel have warned it is vulnerable to numerable exploits over the last year.  Oracle has consistently updated critical patches to fix security bugs, with the last update two months ago fixing 14 dangerous vulnerabilities.

Apple-Samsung Trial: Staggering Rout Shown In Final Verdict Form

By

Apple won the patent infringement trial against Samsung and received a huge damages sum.
Apple won the patent infringement trial against Samsung and received a huge damages sum.

Apple’s victory in its patent trial against Samsung is already a few hours old but the shock of the damage tally is still hard to shake off. The final figure of $1,049,393,540.00 is a staggering rebuke of Samsung’s design and manufacturing process and may force the company toward more original ideas.

The completed jury verdict form, released late Friday night and attached below, reveals the Korean company maybe never really had a chance to win the case.

Apple-Samsung Trial Verdict: The Reactions From Apple, Samsung, And Others

By

apple reaction cult of mac

Apple has won a massive damages sum of nearly $1.05 billion in the patent trial against Samsung and the reaction from the technology community has been vast and swift.

In an email immediately following the verdict, Forrester Research Principal Analyst Charles Golvin told us the main takeaway from the verdict is the focus on innovation. Companies will now be forced to create legitimately different products, or at least engineer some without extravagantly similar features:

The jury particularly vindicates Apple’s software patents and their decision has implications not just for Samsung, but also for Google, other Android device makers like LG, HTC, and Motorola, but also potentially for Microsoft who employs features such as pinch to zoom, bounce on scroll, etc. These competitors are now forced to go back to the drawing board and come up with substantively different designs — or seek settlement terms with Apple. Since many of these controls are now built into the expectations of customers in how they work their phones, those are substantive challenges.

Gartner analyst and VP of Mobile Research Van Baker agrees the redesign of products in the long term is an issue but that it won’t affect any products anytime soon.

This is a clear win for Apple but it will have little impact on the market in the near term as it is highly likely that there will be an appeal so we will have to repeat the process. If sustained it has the potential to force Samsung to redesign a number of products and it will apply significant pressure on all smartphone and tablet makers to avoid trying to emulate the Apple designs as they bring new products to market.

Earlier, the two principals in the case immediately followed the shocking judgement with their own statements.

Apple-Samsung Trial: The Verdict Is In

By

apple-and-samsung- jury

The Apple-Samsung Trial has reached its conclusion. A few minutes ago, we received word the jury has completed the massive verdict form and are ready to announce the verdict.

We’ll keep you up to date as it happens. Check back here.

 

Apple-Samsung Trial: Check Out The Insane Jury Instruction Form

By

The Apple-Samsung Jury is thinking hard right about now.
The Apple-Samsung Jury is thinking hard right about now.

The jury in the Apple-Samsung trial continues its deliberations for a third straight day and there are rumors it will reach a quick verdict resolution before the weekend. But you can forget it. The official jury verdict form is forcing the jurors to consider 773 individual infringement claims at issue.

Apple vs. Samsung Trial: Was Samsung Treated Unfairly Late In Arguments?

By

samsung-vs-apple-642x3641

Samsung may have been treated unfairly when the trial’s magistrate Judge refused to admit new evidence into the case late in the game despite the fact it had allowed Apple to order an earlier sanction against it, a prominent law blog is reporting.

A post in Groklaw.net says Samsung may build a case around the issue of unfairness in an attempt to throw out the verdict if the jury goes against it.

Apple-Samsung Day 12: The Closing Arguments

By

post-186082-image-84da1853ef6b43bc91346f1dc4a0ea81-jpg

Jury instructions are out of the way and the final phase of the trial begins with the closing arguments of each counsel.

The Judge has come into the courtroom and notes the jury will be delibearting tomorrow starting at 9AM and says they are not allowed to discuss the case with anyone outside of the jury.

Apple vs. Samsung Trial Day 12 Preview: Jury Instructions and Closing Arguments Start

By

Apple-v-Samsung-collage1

The jury will hear instructions to find a verdict for multiple counts of patent infringement claims in today’s court session of the Apple-Samsung trial.  After terms are set, lawyers from each side will gather their final arguments and present them to the jury with the hope of resolving the first skirmish in a series of big legal battles between them.

Only this skirmish is more significant that most. It could end up inflicting very serious financial blows if either one receives a large reward figure or patent nullification. According to financial analysts who testified at the trial last week, a full finding against could cost Samsung upwards of $2.5B and Apple more than $500M. These figures are based on combinations of profit-loss estimates of products sold. The jury can consider and amend these figures as needed. The jury may, for example, choose to give Apple a reward based on the average high-end price point of iPhone applications, at $1.49 an app, as opposed to the median app price of $.99.

But that’s just one possibility. Apple could suffer blows to its lucrative and proprietary touch-screen and mobile technology that has helped push the company towards its current status as the most valuable company in the world.

Apple-Samsung Trial Day 11: Design Experts Return to Break Samsung Claims

By

Karan Singh, Paul Bressler, and Ravin Balakrishnan
Karan Singh, Paul Bressler, and Ravin Balakrishnan

With Samsung running out of its allotted testimony time of 25 hours by mid-afternoon, Apple took advantage of its two-hour lead by stacking the stand with a whirlwind of appearances from its design experts including Ravin Balakrishnan and Karan Singh. They testified against Samsung claims of prior art potentially invalidating Apple’s patents.