A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay patent holding firm (“patent troll”) VirnetX $368 million for a patent-infringement complaint. Following its success, VirnetX is now working to get Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and Mac products banned.
Sometimes a problem is solved by sweating the details until a solution is reached. A solution so elegant that it appears to be the only possible answer to the problem. A solution so thoroughly worked through that it seems effortless.
Other times, the designer will think of something, grab the first parts that comes to hand and call it good. The solution might work, but it won’t be getting stocked at the Apple Store any time soon. The Clutch is one such solution.
We’ve hit peak Apple – there’s nowhere to go but downhill now, a former employee claimed in a UK newspaper today.
Apple has added the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the software that powers it, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, to an existing lawsuit against Samsung in California. The Cupertino company told U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewel on Tuesday that both are guilty of infringing patents owned by Apple.
The world converges yet again as Microsoft has just updated its My Xbox app, which released last December, giving it a new name to boot. SmartGlass has been the talk of the gaming community since E3 this past summer, as the technology and gaming giant launched its intitiative to rule your living room using the devices you already have; namely, your iPad, iPhone, or Android device.
Microsoft announced today on the official Skype blog that all Messenger users will be using Skype soon to connect with each other via instant message or video call. Microsoft released Skype 6.0 a few weeks ago, which already lets users sign into Skype via their Microsoft account. ONce they do so, their Messenger contacts are there, ready to use.
If you’re looking for that retro-nostalgic Polaroid-style experience from your iPhone, you could wait till March of next year and purchase one of those fancy soon-to-be-in-production Instagram Socialmatic cameras. That’s if they actually come to fruition.
Or, you could try out Polatax, an unfortunately named photo filter app that builds itself around the concept of Polaroid-like photos.
Okay, obviously, we’re big fans of the iPad here, and by all accounts, the Surface is a piece of hardware that isn’t quite ready for prime time. Still, this incredible fake advertisement for the Surface would — if officially sanctioned by Microsoft and aired during prime time — probably be enough to get us to buy one, if we ever were going to. Just awesome, and turns out that at least one of these guys has done a video we really liked before.
On of my favorite case makers, Mujjo, has announced its new iPad mini sleeve. Like Mujjo’s MacBook and iPhone sleeves, this new iPad mini holder is handcrafted with wool felt and quality leather. You’ll turn heads with this thing.
Mujjo’s design taste is very minimalist and swanky, and this new sleeve for Apple’s latest tablet looks like no exception.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen me complain about Spotify’s lack of iPhone 5 support for the past several weeks. Every single app on my Home screen has been updated for the iPhone 5’s taller display except Spotify, and it has been getting on my nerves. First world problems, I know.
Whether you share my pain or not, Spotify has finally pushed out an update for its iOS app that brings support for the iPhone 5’s full resolution. You’ll of course need a premium account to play music. The Pandora radio-like part of Spotify is free for everyone.
Version 0.5.8 says, “Spotify now looks great on iPhone 5!” You can grab it now in the App Store.
Finally.
Source: App Store
Ripping off Apple’s hardware designs isn’t enough for Samsung, even though they lost a $1 billion lawsuit because of it. Sensing that they need to make some big changes in their design, Samsung is rumored to undergo a radical brand makeover in 2013.
If reports are to be believed, Samsung will announce the rebranding at CES 2013 in Las Vegas. The South-Korean based company has been working with a design team that has worked with Nike in the past and are rebranding Samsung’s image to be more like Apple’s.
I’m so desperate for a dock for my new iPhone 5 that I have closely studied the little perspex stands in the local Apple Store and scoured the local hardware emporiums for something — anything — that comes close to its acrylic simplicity.
I have so far failed, and am currently using the box the iPhone came in as a pretty handy stand. But I’m not really that serious about docks, unlike the people who dropped cash and patience on the Elevation Dock from Kickstarter, only to have it obsoleted by the new Lightning connector weeks after it shipped.
Anyway, all of this lede-burying is preamble to one thing: you can now buy a Lightning insert for your Elevation Dock.
With its pocket-sized price and pocket-sized, uh, size, the new iPad Mini looks to be the ideal iPad to carry naked. It’s tough, it can be gripped easily, and it never needs to be left face-down on the kitchen countertop as long as your pants have normal-sized pockets available.
But of course you’re going to buy a case. And if it’s bumps and scratches you’re worried about, perhaps you might consider the Smooth Series case from Ballistic.
After an anti-trust lawsuit was launched by the European Union earlier this year to check whether or not Apple’s e-book pricing is anti-competitive, Apple and four publishers are ready to accept an offer from the EU to end the probe.
The acceptance of the offer hands Amazon a big victory in the battle for e-book pricing in Europe as it opens the door for Amazon to continue to sell online books cheaper than its rivals.
Simply Write for the iPad is just about the closest you’ll get to an electronic piece of paper. The app is designed for handwriting, and for getting out of the way. And its clever close-up writing method for text input makes sure it does both.
Our friend Roman Zavřel over at Letemsvetemapplem.eu emailed us to let us know that he’d spotted the first initial appearances of OS X 10.9 in his server logs. We checked ours, and what do you know: we’ve also gotten a handful of visitors reporting the next version of OS X as their operating system.
With OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion released just a few months ago, it would normally be too early to see the next version of OS X popping up in server logs, but with Mountain Lion, Apple has apparently moved to a yearly release schedule for their Mac operating system.
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what Apple will call OS X 10.9? I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Space Lion and an official Voltron partnership.
No matter which presidential candidate you’re voting for, today is a day to be proud for America. As Americans across the country come together to decide the direction of the country, we should relish the freedom we have to vote and elect a new president every four years. Democracy is one of the greatest aspects of the good ‘ole U.S.A.
Politics surrounding elections are always crazy, so we think the best way to celebrate Election Day is a bunch of wallpapers showing famous American presidents and historical figures doing crazy things as they fight for America’s freedom (literally). Check ’em out. Download them to your iPad or iPhone, and get out and vote.
Think your new iPad mini’s the perfect tablet for gaming on the go? Well it may have some stiff competition ahead. Microsoft is said to be secretly planning a 7-inch “Xbox Surface” tablet that will be developed specifically for touch-based gaming. The slate is expected to make its debut before Microsoft announces the Xbox 720.
If you use Evernote, it’s possible that you store everything in there that you possibly can. Now, thanks to the MySMS service, you can also archive your text messages in your favorite everything-bucket.
Well, that was fast. The Apple online store has already caught up with the pre-order demand of the fourth-generation iPad, and it’s now saying the device is “in stock.” That means customers will no longer face a shipping delay when placing their order for the new device online.
Apple may be looking to bring iWork document editing to the cloud as it hunts for an iWork Software QA Engineer with a new job listing on its website. Based at Apple’s Cupertino campus, the successful candidate will work on “the next generation of Desktop, Mobile and Web application/services.”
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.
Nikon keeps busting out the new SLRs with the D5200, an upgrade to the D5100 that is bigger than the mere 100 extra numbers in its name would suggest.
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.
Here are Cult of Mac’s top picks for conservative readers who want to follow the 2012 elections with their iPhones and iPads… and influence them too. If you’re looking for Cult of Mac’s Election Day App Guide for Democrats, click here.
Readability has updated its iOS app to bring a new grid view to the Top Reads and Longform Picks curated reading lists on the iPad. Version 1.2.3 of the app also promises “even more sync speed improvements” which should make Readability even snappier than it was before.