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Blue-Collar Jurors Will Decide Latest Round of Apple-Samsung Patent Fight

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Samsung is after more of Apple's iPhone business.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Round two of what might be the biggest patent trial in tech history will be decided by a plumber, a police officer and a store clerk. Those blue-collar types are among the 10-person jury finalized Monday for the latest legal battle between Apple and Samsung.

Jury picked,” tweeted San Jose Mercury News reporter Howard Mintz shortly after jury selection concluded. “Plumber, teacher, cop, secretary, store clerk, county worker, etc. Not [a] sniff of a tech geek to decide $billion patent trial.”

Apple Announces LTE iPad Availability In China

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China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, officially partnered with Apple last year.
China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, officially partnered with Apple last year.

Apple has announced that the LTE iPad Air and iPad mini are now available in China. Cellular iPad models have been on sale in the country already, but today marks Apple’s adoption of the local TD-SCDMA network standard.

Here’s the full press release:

Apple Will Announce Q2 Earnings On Wednesday, April 23

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Apple will hold its second quarterly earnings call for 2014 on Wednesday, April 23rd. The call will be streamed online at 2:00 p.m. PST.

Tim Cook promised that we would see new stuff from Apple in “both current product categories and new ones” across 2014. There has yet to be a media event or new hardware.

Apple has set revenue expectations at $42-44 billion for Q2. Last quarter’s holiday numbers were an all-time high for the company.

Source: Apple

‘I Have No Idea What An iPad Even Is,’ Says Potential Apple-Samsung Juror

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The most shocking revelation to come out of jury selection for the latest Apple-versus-Samsung trial isn’t that the Silicon Valley jury pool is loaded with people connected to one of the two companies. It’s that one potential juror claims ignorance when it comes to Apple’s nearly ubiquitous tablet.

“I’m kind of a dinosaur,” said one potential juror Monday. “I don’t even know what a iPad is.”

Join The Fight In The Combat Strategy Game Boom Beach [Video Review]

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The phrase “here comes the boom” returns in a whole new form in the new app Boom Beach. One of the iTunes app store’s newest comers, Boom Beach is a combat strategy game where players overtake islands, uncover hidden powers, and build their troops. With easy controls, great graphics and so much more will you join the war in this new game?

Take a look at the video and find out what you think.

This is a Cult of Mac video review of the iOS application Boom Beach – Supercell, brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.

App Store Prices Are Being Raised In Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, And South Africa

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Apple has lost its third appeal for ownership of the term App Store in Oz. Photo: Apple
Apple has lost its third appeal for ownership of the term App Store in Oz. Photo: Apple

Apple has notified developers that it is increasing App Store prices in certain countries due to “changes in foreign exchange rates.” Affected currencies include the Australian Dollar, Indian Rupee, Indonesian Rupiah, Turkish Lira, and South African Rand.

Prices for Israeli New Shekels and the New Zealand Dollar will also be decreased. All changes should be applied within the next 24 hours.

Source: Apple

Apple And Samsung Head Back To Court As Jurors Are Chosen For Second Patent Trial

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Apple and Samsung have become very acquainted with one another in the courtroom. Every since Apple’s crushing victory against Samsung in 2012 over patent infringement, the tech giants have been duking it out through a seemingly-endless string of appeals. The culmination of 2012’s verdict is a second trial that begins today in San Jose, California.

Much in this trial is the same as the last: Apple and Samsung are both accusing each other of copying patented ideas, and there are billions of dollars on the table. But enough has changed to make the outcome of this second trial unguessable.

The True Origin Of Samsung’s Logo [Humor]

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iphoneorigins

 

Apple and Samsung are headed back to court today for round two of their billion dollar patent lawsuit that will see the two companies pointing fingers and slamming down arguments on who copied whose patents.

We’ve seen enough evidence to have our own opinion on Samsung’s copying ways and now thanks to this Thai cartoon it all becomes perfectly clear why Samsung just can’t help itself.

Image: Killua51
Thanks: Grahame

Create A Quick Response To Any Message With Keyboard Shortcuts [iOS Tips]

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We’ve shown you how to change the default “On my way!” shortcut on your iOS device, making it just a bit less dorky. We’ve also helped you sync those keyboard shortcuts via iCloud.

Today, however, let’s look at this great use case of iOS keyboard shortcuts – the quick response template.

Cam Bunton over at Today’s iPhone has a great idea – use keyboard shortcuts to create your own short, simple message to respond to folks via Messages or Mail with this same iOS feature.

Alleged iPhone Images Show Slimmer Body, Protruding Camera

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iphone6leak

This morning’s gallery of iPhone 6 renderings had us drooling for an iPhone 6 but a set of leaked images claiming to originate from Apple supplier Foxconn might be our first glimpse of Cupertino’s next handset, or at least a phase of its development process.

The Weibo account they were posted on claims they’re straight from the Foxconn production floor, but seems how all the April Fools jokes are coming out today, we advise take pairing this with a hearty serving of skepticism.

Here’s another pic:

Foolish Render: ‘Mac Air’ Is Flat As A Pancake

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We want to believe.
We want to believe.

Sure, we’ll be seeing a host of fun things tomorrow on the internets, many of them having to do with new crazy Apple products.

Today, however, we found this slick little number from site AppleUser: the Mac Air Desktop, a slimmed-down version of the Mac Mini.

What’s great about this sweet little photoshop job is that it meets the requirement of any good April Fools’ prank–it’s totally something we’d want to buy.

‘Grawler’ Is A Simple, Community-Driven Travel Guide

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Grawler

If you have a cool story or a handy travel tip you’d like to share, Grawler will let you. It’s a new app that wikis up the world by having its community add photos, waypoints, and descriptions of their favorite destinations. And if you happen to live in a less-than-popular travel destination *cough*Lincoln*cough*, it comes preloaded with articles from Wikipedia.

And since I’m pretty sure nobody else in the community has this kind of insider information, I think I’ll go ahead and create my definitive guide to private places to sneak naps on the University of Nebraska campus. Worldly travelers need to know that.

Source:Grawler: The Local Wiki – Free | Cosmix

Exodite Flies In The Face Of Time-Honored Shoot-Em-Up Conventions [Review]

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Exodite

Side-scrolling shoot-em-ups are typically exercises in excess. You have no shortage of enemies, power-ups, or ridiculously large bosses, and most importantly, you have all the bullets you’ll ever need. Just hit the button anytime, and bullets come out. That’s how it works.

Exodite by Afrodude Works
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $0.99 (promotional price)

“Oh, really?” says Exodite. “How about if it didn’t?” And that’s when things get a little weird.

By limiting your ammo, Exodite brazenly defies decades of tradition. And it’s kind of brilliant for that.

Create Beautiful Digital Media With 1stFlip Flipbook Creator [Deals]

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Print media is slowly dying out while digital is taking over by the day. This is exactly why we’ love ’re bringing you 1stFlip Flipbook Creator in our latest Cult of Mac Deals offer.

1stFlip Flipbook Creator allows you to convert PDFs into interactive pieces of content for your website. It gives you the ability to place your product in front of millions of viewers without needing to print and distribute anything. You can send readers your direct link or share your flipbook to your social networks, websites or blogs with one click. And Cult of Mac Deals has 1stFlip Flipbook Creator for only $35!

The Million-Dollar Question: How Do You Make The Next Flappy Bird?

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Flapping for success.
What made Flappy Bird such a success?

Note: This article was originally published in Cult of Mac Magazine, available on the App Store.

Flappy Bird came onto the scene with a bang, ruffling feathers from Hanoi to Hannover. Dong Nguyen, the developer of this seemingly overnight sensation, was as taken aback as the rest of us, evident from his shocking decision to stop offering the game for download as well as his recent decision to bring it back.

Game developers and publishers can only hope to reproduce this kind of crazy success. And each and every one of the people we talked to at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco was eager to share opinions on how Flappy Bird happened, how it might happen again, and why it was such a runaway hit to begin with.

How To Reset Your Password Without A System Disk [OS X Tips]

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Have you lost your Mac password? Are you unable to get into your computer because of it? Apple lets you restore your password if you have the system disks that came with the computer, or–if you have a newer non-optical disk machine like a Macbook–with the built-in system recovery mode.

If you aren’t able to access your system disks or the recovery mode, there’s a couple of tricky ways to reset your password. Both methods are explained in a video by Quinn Nelson on his YouTube channel, and they’re pretty great ways to reset a lost password.

A word of warning, though: this is also a way a malicious person can gain access to your Mac. If you have sensitive documents on your Mac, you owe it to yourself to use FileVault or a third-party encryption tool to add another layer of protection that doesn’t require your admin password.

The iPhone 6 Has Been Rendered Based Upon Leaked Schematics, And It’s Beautiful [Gallery]

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iPhone-6-CB (1)

Based upon leaked schematics discovered by Macotakara of the forthcoming 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch variants of the iPhone 6, Nowherelse teamed up with concept designer extraordinaire Martin Hajek to create what may be the most plausible look at what Jony Ive’s next iPhone design would look like yet.

All the proportions here are perfect: althougb it features a larger profile, a super thin design, and an edge-to-edge display, the design still features a beautiful internal symmetry that seems worthy of Apple. There are some changes: the edges are curved, more organic, and the volume buttons have been unified into a single rocker, but otherwise, it looks like an evolution of the current iPhone 5s. Which is exactly what the iPhone 6 would look like.

Check out more images below. What do you think? Could this be the iPhone 6?

Apple Trying To Poach Swiss Watchmakers To Build iWatch [Rumor]

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There have been many wearables and quantified-health applications over the past few years, but most have steered clear of proclaiming themselves medical devices. Some of the rumors about the iWatch (such as the fact that it will be able to listen to the sound blood makes as it flows through arteries, and use this to predict heart attacks) may sound a bit too good to be true. But the number of biosensor and biomedical engineers Apple has snapped up recently makes us think the iWatch could be a device that crosses over firmly into the "medical monitoring" category.

According to one recent report, a reason for the long delay before launch is that Apple is awaiting certification from the Food and Drug Administration to get the iWatch approved as medical equipment. Given Apple's recent announcement of the Health app for iOS 8 to collect and show data on calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood oxygen levels and more, plus the conspicuous absence of a health-tracking fitness band in Apple's last iPhone 5s ad, the idea that the iWatch will be geared toward health seems as close to a foregone conclusion as you get for a device that hasn't even been officially announced yet.


Apple is reportedly trying to lure top Swiss watchmakers away from luxury brands in its efforts to build an iWatch.

Jean-Claude Biver, president of luxury brand LVMH’s watches and jewellery division, claims that Apple has tried to recruit staff from his Hublot brand, along with employees from several other top Swiss watchmakers.

“Apple has contacted some of my employees – I saw the emails personally,” he said, noting that none of the individuals contacted jumped ship.

Apple & Samsung Return To Court To Commence Patent Battle

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Apple and Samsung will return to federal court in Silicon Valley today for the next round of their seemingly never-ending patent war.

The two rivals will face off once again before District Court Judge Lucy Koh, presiding in the California city of San Jose.

Koh was the same judge who presided over the previous Apple vs. Samsung trial, which ended with a jury deciding that Samsung owed Apple more than $1 billion in damaging for infringing on patents — although this number was later trimmed to $929 million.

Grovemade’s First Wooden iPhone Bumper

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A bumper is a great option for folks who don’t care for cases, but are clumsy enough that they need some protection for their iPhone. And the brand-new Grovemade wooden bumpers not only offer protection but look great too. Also, they have names that you’ll want to lollop around your tongue, over and over.

Swedish-Designed Pocket Earbuds Look Amazing

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Degauss Labs’ new Pocket earbuds cost $35, which puts them on the cusp of “quality possibility” (a term I just made up) – they might sound good, or they may just use the same crappy old internals of every other cheap earbud under $50.

But what this Swedish-designed gadget does have is style, and that’s probably the most important spec in this price range.

Plan And Share ‘Urban Hikes’ With Kamino App

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Oh man, soon you won’t even be able to break into an old abandoned building without running into a bunch of other folks who are doing the same thing, only instead of being all cool and “urban” and fearless like you, they just got guided there by an app.

Which is my way of complaining about Kamino, an app which lets you share “Urban Hikes” (seriously) using your iPhone, and forces to use Facebook to do it.