Saturday, August 4, 2012
Vintage Fishing Knife, Heavy Rabbit Stool, and More [Most Beautiful Items Of The Week]
Apple v. Samsung: The Trial and the Tribulations
Samsung and Apple have been battling it out in courtrooms all over the world for months, if not years, with the worldwide conflict becoming kind of a dull hum in the background. This motion goes that way, that one goes this way, lawyers keep lawyering, whatever. But what's going on in California this week is supposed to be the case that's actually exciting, because it's come to the point of a real trial. Jurors, gavels, dramatic pointing, Dick Wolf, everything. 
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Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.2 gets smarter, faster
Auslogics Disk Defrag has been part of my system maintenance toolkit for quite some time. With the release of version 3.2, it's now even better at tidying up and optimizing your system's hard disk drives. In addition to a cleaner, easier-to-use interface, Disk Defrag 3.2 offers improved single file and folder defragging, better processing of multiple disks, a simplified scheduling screen, and more informative tool tips. Auslogics has also fine-tuned the program's defragmentation and file consolidation algorithms.
For laptop users, there's a new option to lock the program if your system is running on battery power -- so scheduled operations don't kick in and drain your power source at an inopportune moment. If you happen to have an SSD installed in your PC, you can head to the Disk Defrag options and exclude it from scanning (many think that defragmenting an SSD is a very bad idea).
Auslogics Disk Defrag is a free download and works with most versions of Windows.
For laptop users, there's a new option to lock the program if your system is running on battery power -- so scheduled operations don't kick in and drain your power source at an inopportune moment. If you happen to have an SSD installed in your PC, you can head to the Disk Defrag options and exclude it from scanning (many think that defragmenting an SSD is a very bad idea).
Auslogics Disk Defrag is a free download and works with most versions of Windows.
Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.2 gets smarter, faster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/auslogics-disk-defrag-3-2-gets-smarter-faster/
Security firm RSA attacked using Excel-Flash one-two sucker punch
The exploit, which used specially-crafted Flash embedding in Excel spreadsheets, was first reported on March 15 and has since been fixed. RSA was hacked sometime in the first half of March when an employee was successfully spear phished and opened an infected spreadsheet. As soon as the spreadsheet was opened, an advanced persistent threat (APT) -- a backdoor Trojan -- called Poison Ivy was installed. From there, the attackers basically had free reign of RSA's internal network, which led to the eventual dissemination of data pertaining to RSA's two-factor authenticators.
The attack is reminiscent of the APTs used in the China vs. Google attacks from last year -- and indeed, Uri Rivner, the head of new technologies at RSA is quick to point out that that other big companies are being attacked, too: "The number of enterprises hit by APTs grows by the month; and the range of APT targets includes just about every industry. Unofficial tallies number dozens of mega corporations attacked [...] These companies deploy any imaginable combination of state-of-the-art perimeter and end-point security controls, and use all imaginable combinations of security operations and security controls. Yet still the determined attackers find their way in."
What we'd like to know, though, is whether the attack on RSA was caused by Adobe's lackadaisical approach to patching Flash -- or was it the other way around? Was it the RSA attack that first brought the zero-day vulnerability to Adobe's attention?
Security firm RSA attacked using Excel-Flash one-two sucker punch originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple patent details an even smarter Smart Cover with a second display
A new Apple patent filed a little over a year ago with the US Patent and Trademark Office shows off a Smart Cover that would double as a secondary display and allow user input. As with other patents, no one knows if it'll ever see the light of day but it's definitely a neat concept.
The patent details a cover that adds a second display that could act as extra screen real estate in order to show notifications, function as a media controller, or even accept user input in the form of a touch keyboard or drawing instrument. Using the keyboard as a cover would be very simliar to what Microsoft is trying to do with the up and coming Surface tablet.
An accessory device arranged to communicate with a host device by way of a communication channel, the host device comprising a host device display arranged to present visual information, the accessory device comprising: a flexible flap having a size and shape in accordance with the host device display, wherein at least a portion of the flexible flap is covered by a flap display configured to present visual information; and a connecting portion, the connecting portion arranged to provide at least a communication channel arranged to convey information between the host device and the accessory device wherein at least some of the information is presented visually on the flap display.
The Smart Cover assembly would attach in a way similar to how the existing ones do but would draw power from a built-in connector running along the side of the cover.
Apple has several patents floating around and whether this one will ever develop into an actual product is anyone's guess. It could make for a nice way to draw input into an iPad maybe eliminating the need of always using a desktop in conjunction with accessories like Bamboo pads. It'd be much easier to carry around and create content on the go.
If something like this does come to market how many of you would be interested in picking one up?
Source: Engadget
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/xNp5R7Na2gk/story01.htm
Friday, August 3, 2012
tit for tat: Phil Schiller Testifies: ‘You’re Stealing All the Value We’ve Created’
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of product marketing, is a regular speaker at all Apple media events.
SAN JOSE, California — Phil Schiller was the first witness to speak at the Apple v. Samsung trial Friday, and his words sent a very clear message to the assembled jury: The iPhone and iPad’s designs are revolutionary and iconic, and Samsung outright copied all this unique (and patented) Apple-owned mojo.
“[Copying] creates a huge problem in marketing on many levels. We market our product as the hero and how distinctive it is, how consistent we’ve kept it over time,” said Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, as he was questioned by Apple lawyer Harold McElhinny. “Now when someone comes up with a product that copies that design and copies that marketing, then customers can get confused on whose product is whose…. If you steal [the way the iPhone looks] you’re stealing all the value we’ve created.”
Dressed in a suit (an unusual sight in Silicon Valley), Schiller came across as calm and practiced. Compared to his performances during high-stakes Apple media events (see image above), it appeared that speaking in front of a jury was a piece of cake for the senior VP. When he first took to the stand, Schiller talked about how Apple transitioned from the audio player business to the smartphone arena.
’I was pretty shocked when I saw the Galaxy S phone and the extent to which it appeared to copy Apple’s products. My first thought was they’re going to steal our whole product line.’
– Phil Schiller
”There were many things that led to the iPhone at Apple,” said Schiller. “We were searching for what to do after iPod that would make sense. If we can make the iPod, what else can we do?” Apple employees tossed around ideas like making a camera, a car, and other “crazy stuff,” Schiller said.
“We realized at the time cellphones weren’t any good as entertainment devices,” Schiller said. Additionally, at the same time, Apple started working on a tablet device that would later become the iPad, which used multitouch so you could type directly on the screen. These ideas eventually led to the iPhone. Schiller testified that what the device did would be important, but Apple also cared about how it looked.
“It’s important to me that a product be unique and distinctive over time,” Schiller said. Looking at a slide of each iteration of iPhone design, Schiller commented that “you see the very consistent shape to it.” He also took Samsung to task for copying the iPhone’s design: “I was pretty shocked when I saw the Galaxy S phone and the extent to which it appeared to copy Apple’s products,” Schiller said, adding later, “My first thought was they’re going to steal our whole product line.”
Schiller also said making a tablet was a “big gamble” because it would mean entering a new device category. “People had tried to make tablets before and failed miserably,” he said, and the iPad was following in the footsteps of the very successful iPod and iPhone.
There were unique marketing challenges for the iPad, Schiller said. “The advertisement has to give you a sense of how it might work, and what it might do for you before you have a chance to head to the store and try it yourself,” he said. Apple’s TV ads have to “create a reason that you might want a tablet in your life,” he said.
Samsung Gets Its Turn to Dine on Grilled Schiller
After Apple’s legal team questioned Schiller, Samsung attorney Bill Price began cross-examining the senior VP. Schiller’s responses were generally terse, and often just supplied the bare minimum of a response. Much of Price’s questioning tried to establish that some of Apple’s patented design elements — such as the shape of the iPhone with its curved corners — were functional, not just aesthetic. Providing an example, Price said curved corners simply make it easier to put the device in one’s pocket. Schiller didn’t bite.
Whether consumers become “confused” by iPhone and Samsung smartphone similarities was also a hot topic. After seeing and reluctantly handling some Samsung smartphones (CNET’S Josh Lowensohn described Schiller’s handling of the Samsung Continuum “like it might give him a communicable disease“), Schiller said, “I looked at this phone and it was my opinion that Samsung has ripped off a number of our design elements and in doing that may be causing confusion.”
Price also tried to demonstrate that “ease of use” is more important than “attractive appearance and design” when people buy iPhones. He used data from Apple customer surveys in an attempt to undermine both the importance of Apple’s design patents, and the amount Apple is asking for in damages. Price followed this up with a bar graph showing that 78 percent of iPhone owners use a case or bumper with their iPhones.
At one point in the questioning, Price needled into the topic of future iPhone design — an area of intense interest for tech watchers worldwide. Trying to make a point that Apple changes its design every few years, Price asked Schiller if Apple would be changing the design of the iPhone for the iPhone 5.
The question was immediately objected to by Apple counsel Harold McElhinny, but Judge Koh, surprisingly, didn’t overrule — the query was relevant to Price’s point. Every reporter’s ears in the room perked up and the room hushed in anticipation of Schiller’s response. But unfortunately, after a brief back and forth with the judge, Schiller simply responded with, “I’d prefer not to tell confidential information about future products.”
In Apple and Samsung’s year-plus long court battles, Apple claims Samsung is infringing on design patents for the iPhone and iPad, as well as utility patents covering things such as the “bounce-back” effect when you reach the end of a list in the UI. Samsung is claiming Apple is infringing on its essential 3G transmission patent holdings. The jury trial for the case began on Monday, and each side made opening statements presenting its case to jurors on Tuesday.
Before the jurors entered the courtroom Friday morning, Judge Koh addressed a public statement made by Samsung in which the company released evidence excluded from the trial. “I will not let any theatrics or any sideshow distract from what we are to do, which is to fairly try this case,” Koh said.
“My sole concern is to preserve the impartiality of the jury,” Judge Koh said sternly. To this end, Koh questioned each juror individually to ask if he or she had been influenced by any media since last in court. One juror had seen a headline about Apple’s design team working at a kitchen table, but said this would not influence his judgment in the case.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/phil-schiller-testifies/
Kuratas – Own Your Personal Mecha Robot
3.8 metres tall, weighing 4,500 kilos and able to move at 10 kmh with a diesel engine, the Kuratas by Suidobashi Heavy Industry is the first giant boarding-robot. Controllable from the cockpit, via an external controller or via your smartphone, the Kuratas also comes with built in weapons; the “bottle” rocket launcher and the BB Gatling gun that fires 6000 pellets per minute. The firing system for the Gatling gun? The “Smile Shot”, yep it shoots when the pilot smiles. Now I don’t know about you but if I owned one of these I’d be grinning from ear to ear from the time I boarded it. Collateral damage? 
The Kuratas was recently exhibited at the Wonder Festival 2012 summer, and while it’s actually an art project by artist Kogoro Karata, the website states that pricing starts at around $1,500,000 and each robot will be custom made. Art project or not, who knows where this could lead?
Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Miscellaneous, News
Kuratas – Own Your Personal Mecha Robot originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 2, 2012 at 8:00 am.
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/08/02/kuratas-own-your-personal-mecha-robot/
Judge rules against Apple in Kodak patent dispute, cites disruption to next week's auction
Is this Kodak's moment? It's sure shaping up to be, as Bloomberg reports the once prominent imaging company has just earned a slight, though significant courtroom victory against Apple. At stake is the ownership of ten patents related to digital imaging, two of which have been deemed incontestable by a Manhattan bankruptcy judge due to Cupertino's late stage ownership filing. Citing potential disruptions to next Wednesday's auction, Judge Gropper ruled against Apple's claims, while also striking down Kodak's request for a summary judgment on the eight remaining IPs and leaving the door open for further dispute. So, though it may seem like the Rochester-based company is finally out of the woods, this certainly isn't the end of its woes -- Apple has now filed counterclaims and is seeking a transfer of the case to district court. And if the House that Steve built's legal track record is any indication, it's not going down without an interminable fight.
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Judge rules against Apple in Kodak patent dispute, cites disruption to next week's auction originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bloomberg | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/judge-rules-against-apple-in-kodak-patent-dispute-cites-disrupt/
AT&T One X getting an OTA to Android 4.0.4, addresses the menu button and patches root methods
AT&T's version of the HTC One X looks to be getting an over-the-air update to Android 4.0.4 for a select few users today, and if the rumors are true, some hackers will want to skip this one. There's no official change log posted from HTC or AT&T just yet, but some are saying that a big part of this one is security fixes that block known root exploits. In addition, there is now a setting to remove the menu button "bar" for apps that haven't been brought up to current Android standards. Users can now long-press the multitasking button for a pop-up menu. We're pretty sure the rest of the One series from HTC will be seeing a similar update soon. We've gone into the whole menu button thing in-depth, have a look here to read it.
What we do know is that it's build number 2.20, and a version bump to Android 4.0.4 -- something any Android fan would want, right? Not so fast -- security enhancements, a standard bullet-point in most every OTA, often fix exploits that are used to get root access. Since HTC and AT&T don't offer bootloader unlocking on this particular One X, that's the only way to get some root on.
If you're not worried about root, be happy that you're getting an OTA that probably fixes something and makes something better. If you are worried about root, or rooted now, hold off and wait for word from the hackers who focus on the AT&T One X for further instruction. In either case, the AT&T One X forums are the best place to find more info.
Source: Android Central forums
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8cxzHn0JUgY/story01.htm
APPLIED MATERIALS ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ARROW ELECTRONICS
Farragomate is a social fridge magnet game where you make up sentences
You get to play with a bunch of random strangers in real-time, and make up sentences out of a pre-set collection of words, including some fairly naughty ones, and all players' nicknames. As you can imagine, some of the results are not child-friendly.
There are ten rounds to a game. Once a round is done, players get to vote for their favorite sentence from that round. You can't vote for your own creation, of course. There's in-game chat, too.
I think the vocabulary could be made a bit more eclectic, but even as it is, it's a nice way to spend a few minutes and meet random strangers on the Internet (always a thrilling experience).
Farragomate is a social fridge magnet game where you make up sentences originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Windows 8 App Store images leaked?
We've got our doubts about the authenticity of the image. In addition to showing several of the built-in games which already ship with Windows, Opera is listed -- and a competing browser seems like an odd inclusion this early on. Of course, with the browser ballot still in place in the EU for quite some time, Microsoft would probably need to include rivals like Opera and Firefox to stay out of trouble. We're also not sure why Clickgamer is shown beneath Angry Birds instead of Rovio -- the game's actual publisher.
It's still early, of course, so it's entirely possible that the Windows App Store image is genuine but merely using placeholder images and text for now. Anyone else thinking Windows Marketplace might be a more logical name? You know, to keep things consistent with Windows Phone and keep Apple's legal eagles at bay.
Windows 8 App Store images leaked? originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/windows-8-app-store-images-leaked/
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Motorola Droid RAZR HD makes another cameo, shows its global creds
Welcome to yet another episode in the Droid RAZR HD's ongoing leak to market. The global variant of Motorola's flagship handset -- which is expected to supersede the Atrix HD and inevitably land on Verizon real-soon-now -- just made an appearance on xda-developers. What's new? It appears this phone is being tested on Vodafone and supposedly features an eight-megapixel camera (down from the rumored 13 MP). As a refresher, the Droid RAZR HD is slated to run Ice Cream Sandwich on a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and boast a 720p HD display (likely 4.5-inches across). There's still no official word from Motorola, but we'll keep you posted as we find out more. In the meantime, take a look at the gallery below.
Filed under: Cellphones
Motorola Droid RAZR HD makes another cameo, shows its global creds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pocketnow, Droid Life | xda-developers | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/motorola-droid-razr-hd-makes-another-cameo-shows-its-global-cre/
iMore show 304: September 12
Rene, Georgia, and Seth talk about the rumored September 12, 2012 Apple event, the iPhone 5, the iPad mini, the iPod line, iOS 6 surprises, and more. This is the iMore Show!
[YouTube says it will take 2000 hours to upload the video for this show. I believe they are lying and busted. When/if they fix themselves, we'll add it in. Thanks for the patience, and in the meantime you can enjoy the video by the direct download link below!]
- Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
- Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
- Download directly: Audio | Video
Show notes
Hosts
- Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
- Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb
- Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)
Credits
You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com
For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/TsO85KiJk7E/story01.htm
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