Motorola can’t enforce patents in Germany while Apple appeals

Written by

Florian Mueller:

Apple scored a breakthrough court victory today against Motorola. Its important can hardly be overstated. This is so huge that it even begs the question of whether Google’s strategy for its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility has failed before the deal is even formally closed (they’re still waiting for some regulatory approvals).

ViewSonic announces the ‘ViewPhone 4s’

Written by

Pocket-Lint:

Running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the smartphone will come with a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera and VGA front camera. No details as yet as to what the processor, memory or storage capacity will be.

Oh come on, you can’t be serious. Now companies can’t even come up with their own names?

The Apple product that scares Wintel vendors

Written by

Tim Bajarin:

Yes, the iPad is a real concern for the PC vendors as Apple has a huge lead in tablets and strong demand. But if Apple starts eating into their laptop market share, this will have the greatest impact on these PC vendors in the future and make it even harder for them to make strong profits on this part of their laptop business.

Tim brings up a good point. You could argue that Wintel vendors are scared of everything Apple does because they don’t understand how to compete with them. The iPad is a perfect example of that. However, it must scare the hell out of them when Apple starts eating their lunch in the laptop market.

Apple is attacking the PC vendors from both sides — one with the iPad and the other with the MacBook Air.

Samsung unveils the Galaxy Tab 2

Written by

BGR:

In summation it’s a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Ice Cream Sandwich and a slightly modified case.

Did anyone really expect Samsung to introduce an HD tablet? Of course not, they have to wait until Apple introduces theirs so they know what to copy.

Privacy, Safari and Google

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John Gruber takes on John Battelle’s defense of Google and its practice to track users through cookies, even if they don’t want to be tracked.

Typography in Web design

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There are many websites where the typography speaks for the site itself. Here typography becomes the chief element of a web or graphic design project. Interesting examples of how different type affects the look and feel of a site.

Create custom brushes in Photoshop

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Brushes are one of the fundamental features in Photoshop. With brushes, you can blend masks, create effects, add textures, and create lighting. There are thousands of brushes available online that you can download for your projects, but sometimes it can … Continued

Jason Schweitzer on mixing Snoop Dogg with Universal Audio

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Here’s what Schweitzer had to say about developing artful ears, and channeling years of experience as a performing musician into every mix he does. Of course, he also waxes on the utility and power of his Universal Audio signal chain, and other secrets to his success.

There is nothing like hearing directly from the pros about how they do it.

BFD Eco 1.5

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An update to FXpansion’s drum sampler. The new version adds native 64-bit support for Windows 7 and Mac OSX, as well as a new kit and bonus kit-pieces from the BFD2 library recorded at London’s Air Studios (2 full kick/tom/snare sets, 2 crashes, 2 rides and a hihat).

BlackBerry services down in the UK again

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We are aware some of you may not currently be able to access certain services on BlackBerrys including, email, some internet access, BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry App World. We are working with RIM to resolve this and we will let you know as soon as we know more.

RIM’s new CEO is right, nothing really needs to change, the company is just fine. Customers on Vodafone don’t seem to agree though.

Influence peddlers

Written by

Michael Hiltzik for the LA Times:

Technology news bloggers’ curious habit of accepting investments from the very people they’re presumed to be covering objectively blew up last week over what might be termed the Path Affair.

Apple CEO Tim Cook meets with shareholders

Written by

Daniel Eran Dilger:

Tim Cook met with shareholders for the first time following the passing of Apple’s cofounder and former chief executive Steve Jobs, revealing his own very distinct personality but also strong commonality with Jobs’ wit, passion and analytical focus.

Mobile web design mistakes

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Webdesigner Depot: Mobile Internet usage is on the rise, and the world of Web design continues to evolve—so designers must learn to accomodate mobile devices. Thinking “Oh, my users won’t visit my website on a mobile device” is the worst … Continued

Shanghai court denies injunction against iPad

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Eric Slivka for Mac Rumors: A Shanghai court has declined to issue an injunction that would have barred sales of Apple’s iPad in the city, a ruling that is part of the dispute between Apple and Proview Technology over the … Continued

Microsoft Office for iPad and the iPad 3 keynote

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Microsoft’s denial of Office for iPad was half-hearted at best, saying only that the story was “based on inaccurate rumors and speculation.” I said at the time the statement was released that something seemed strange.

Air Force Special Operations cancels iPad order

Written by

Bob Brewin:

The command did not provide any explanation for the move in its notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Officials originally planned to acquire 2,861 iPad2 tablet computers to serve as electronic flight bags, storing digital versions of paper charts and technical manuals.

That’s unfortunate, I wonder what caused that?

Apple agrees to privacy changes in App Store

Written by

Matthew Panzarino:

Following several weeks of controversy surrounding the way that applications were handling customer data, the California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that several companies with a stake in the app game have agreed to new privacy protections for users of apps, including Apple, Microsoft, HP, Amazon, Google and RIM.

Now users will be able to view an app’s privacy policy before downloading.

Screens 2.0 VNC client for Mac, iPhone, iPad

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I’ve been playing around with Screens 2.0 all day and I love it. The app allows you to connect your Mac or iOS device to another computer on the network, see its screen and interact with the computer. I tried it on my Mac and iPhone, but haven’t gotten around to the iPad yet, but I haven’t had a single problem. It took a couple of tries to nail the position of my finger when using the iPhone version, but that’s a minor user thing.

Apple considered AMD for MacBook Air

Written by

Brian Caulfield for Forbes:

AMD’s engineers were trying to do too much, too quickly, however, shifting to a new manufacturing process at Global Foundries for a processor with a radical new design.AMD couldn’t even get early working samples of Llano to Apple on time, one former employee says. Several former AMD employees disagree on just how close AMD came.

HP earnings fall 44 percent

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Reuters: The storied Silicon Valley company, which has been trying to move past the internal upheaval that marked 2011, posted quarterly sales declines in three of its key units: personal computers, printers and enterprise equipment. The PC market sucks for … Continued

MarsEdit update

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Daniel Jalkut released an update for his great blog editing software, MarsEdit. Fixes improves how the app works with Safari 5.2 and it prevents a possible hang while parsing Lightroom libraries.