The term “patent troll” tends to be thrown around a lot when talking about Apple, Samsung, et al.’s endless patent litigation, but there’s a big difference between companies trying to protect their patent profiles in court and the sort of trolls who exist for no other reason than to sue other companies for violations on overly broad patents that they aren’t using, stifling innovation (for example, notorious in-app patent troll Lodsys).
Reforms to the patent system to neuter patent trolls is something that have been called for for years, but it seems like President Obama is finally doing something. The White House has just announced that they are taking on the patent troll problem with seven new legislative proposal. But even if Congress won’t budge? Obama says he’s going to take five executive actions to thwart patent trolls, which he can do even without congressional approval.
Even though Steve Jobs had a solid working relationship with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, it’s no secret that Steve Jobs hated Fox News. In fact, in Walter Isaacon’s authorized biography, Steve Jobs said that “Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society.”
Rather than associate Apple’s brand with Fox News, Steve Jobs decided to personally order all of Apple’s ads to be removed from the conservative TV network.
A group of U.S. Senators have introduced a new bill that will allow cellphone owners to legally unlock their devices again after their contract has expired.
Called the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, and backed by Al Franken and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill would reverse a Library of Congress ruling from October 2012 that deemed cellphone unlocking illegal unless the process was performed by a carrier.
There’s been a lot of noise lately surrounding smartphone unlocking. On October 28, 2012, the Library of Congress said it was going to be illegal to unlock your smartphone starting on January 26, 2013.
Since then, Obama has stepped in and said that’s totally not fair. And then a few legislators have brought up bills to make sure people can unlock their smartphones without facing criminal charges. Now AT&T says it wants to be perfectly clear that they don’t really want you to go to jail for unlocking your smartphone.
Last month, a petition was created on the White House’s ‘We The People’ website that demanded the White House ask Congress to rescind its decision to make unlocking cellphones illegal.
After 114,000 signatures were collected on the petition, the White House invited experts on telecommunications, technology and copyright law to come over to the White House and talk about the issue.
The official White House response was issued today stating that the Obama Administration believes that consumers should be able to unlock their cellphones without risking criminal penalties.
Apple is an LGBT-friendly company that embraces all sorts of people as long as they are committed to excellence, so it’s bracing to see that they are urging the Supreme Court to support legalizing gay marriage.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will be rubbing shoulders with the Obama family at the U.S. State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 12th. First Lady Michelle Obama has invited Cook to sit in her box while President Barack Obama gives his speech.
Despite posting one of their most profitable quarters ever, Apple’s stock (AAPL) has taken a dive over the last two months. It’s been down nearly 25% from it’s recent highs and some analyst have said that the stock is great buy right now.
This morning, Brian White from Topeka claimed that the sell-off in Apple’s stock over the past weeks has been “insanely insane” given how Apple is poised to have a record breaking holiday quarter. Since making his claim, Apple’s price has jumped up 5% today.
If you’re riding the Obama/Biden 2012 ticket, these are the apps you need for Election Day.
It’s all come down to this. Today is Election Day, and your vote is going to help determine the United States’s destiny over the next four years. This is one of the most important elections in years, and that means it’s more important than ever for you to stay organized with supporters around you and live on the cutting edge to keep up-to-date with all the latest Election News.
Get out the vote, Blue States (and Blue People) with these useful iOS apps for Democratic Party Supporters. If you’re looking for Cult of Mac’s Election Day App Guide for Republicans, click here.
![Obama/Biden 2012: The Ultimate Election Day App Guide For Democrats [Feature]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/110401_obama_2012_ap_605-e1352121652927.jpg "110401_obama_2012_ap_605")
