Apple

The judge in the patent case between Apple and Samsung has suggested an Apple lawyer must be on drugs if he thinks his latest request will be taken seriously. It demonstrates that Judge Lucy Koh is exasperated with the behavior of both sides. The ... case involves several patents. However, the most prominent dispute is about whether or not Samsung copied the design of the iPhone and iPad when designing its own gadgets. Unlike many such disputes, the two sides have failed to reach a settlement and are now in the midst of a full jury trial. Koh had previously warned that the two sides would only be ... (view more)

A new Apple iOS app that transmits data via "virtual birdsong" is making file sharing between smart devices easier than ever. "Chirp" is the brainchild of Animal Systems, a company started by researchers in the Computer Science Department at the ... University College of London. Essentially, the app emits a two-second noise that sounds as if it were made by a robotic bird. The noise indicates that an instant download is being received from a trusted source. App Uses Sound to Transfer Data To send a chirp, an individual simply activates the app from their smartphone and selects the desired ... (view more)

Apple recently unveiled its brand new MacBook Pro laptop, which comes with the same critically-acclaimed Retina display found on the company's iPad tablet. While early reviews suggest that the new MacBook Pro is a very powerful device, industry ... experts are slowly discovering that it holds some dirty secrets. Most notably, the new MacBook Pro is almost impossible for the average person to repair, and is also extremely costly to both fix and upgrade. Performance-wise, the new MacBook Pro has a lot going for it. While it's extremely powerful (using the latest quad-core Intel i7 processors), it's ... (view more)

A new in-car voice recognition system will reportedly use the same technology as Siri, the "virtual assistant" found on Apple's iPhone. The idea is to let drivers give the system commands in conversational language rather than having to use a ... specific (and often awkward) sequence of words. Siri, which stands for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface, was one of the highlight features of the iPhone 4S when it debuted late last year. Siri: A More Natural Way to Communicate Siri is designed to process typical spoken language. For example, if it worked as designed the Siri software ... (view more)

Last month the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) announced it was suing Apple and major publishers like Penguin and Macmillan for fixing the price of electronic books, or e-books. It has taken some time, but Apple has now responded to that ... suit by denying any involvement in e-book price fixing. In April, the DoJ said that Apple and at least five publishers colluded to increase the price of electronic books, starting in early 2010. The DoJ dated the beginning of this collusion to roughly the same time the Cupertino, California-based technology firm was preparing to launch its now very ... (view more)

It's hard to imagine any tech company that has been more successful in the last decade than Apple Inc. With its iPhone, iPad, and iPod dominating three major markets, the sky seems to be the limit for the Cupertino, California-based giant. But some ... people "think different." According to one prominent analyst, Apple profits will soon plateau and begin a slow but steady decline. Absence of "Magical" Leader Steve Jobs Will Hurt Apple The report comes from Forrester Research chief executive officer (CEO) George Colony. In a recent blog post, he wrote that the loss of Steve ... (view more)

A new report indicates that Apple's next iPhone could be scratch-proof and resistant to damage inflicted from drops and other heavy-handed physical abuse. The damage-resistant technology is said to be exclusively licensed to Apple for use in ... consumer electronics, but so far the company hasn't used it widely. The material is known by the brand name 'Liquidmetal'. It's the result of pioneering work by researchers at the California Institute of Technology. (Source: liquidmetal.com ) Liquidmetal: Similar To Both Glass and Plastic Liquidmetal is a blend of several different metals thought to ... (view more)

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and fifteen U.S. states are suing Apple and some major book publishers for colluding to keep electronic book prices higher than they should be. According to a report, the alleged conspiracy cost ... consumers more than $100 million during the past two years. According to the DOJ, Apple worked with several major publishers, including Penguin, Simon ... (view more)

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook has now visited Foxconn, the eastern Chinese manufacturing facility that has been at the center of a media storm these past few months. Last week Cook toured Zhengzhou Technology Park, where many Apple ... products, including the newest version of the popular iPad, are produced. Cook has never before visited China. According to reports concerning the high-level visit, at one point Cook met with and was subtly scolded by a top Chinese official. Foxconn Workers Report Being Treated Like 'Animals' Zhengzhou, which employs about 120,000 people, is the best known ... (view more)

It has only been a few days since the first reports of the new iPad 3 overheating emerged, and now Apple is facing a new round of criticisms about its latest tablet computer. According to a recent report, the third-generation iPad's battery life may ... also cause users some problems. Complaints about the new iPad's battery life first emerged late last week in a report from industry analysts at DisplayMate Technologies. That report stated the device informs users too soon that it's completely charged, usually at a time when it actually needs to remain plugged in an additional one to two hours for ... (view more)