Phanfare Photon [phanfare.com] personal photo and video sharing on the iPhone, just got a significant upgrade, featuring cloud-based photo and video management. These new features are enabling iPhone or iPod Touch users to synchronize their photos and videos to the service’s secure servers.
The new version includes bulk uploading, photo and video slideshow with music, image stabilization, photo editing, and offline access activities (such as viewing albums, image editing, and taking photos). Basically, the company offers 1GB of free storage, but if you need an unlimited storage, you can purchase it with $54.95/year through Apple’s App Store.
In what appears to be a first, Apple is recommending that Mac users install antivirus software.
But don't read this as an admission that the Mac operating system is suddenly insecure. It's more a recognition that Mac users are vulnerable to Web application exploits, which have replaced operating system vulnerabilities as the bigger threat to computer users.
Apple quietly signaled its shift with an item titled "Mac OS: Antivirus utilities" posted on its Support Web site November 21:
"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult."
The item offers three software suggestions: Intego VirusBarrier X5 and Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 11 for Macintosh, both available from the Apple Online Store, and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.
Brian Krebs, who first reported on the Apple antivirus recommendation Monday in his Security Fix blog at The Washington Post, said an Apple store employee told him he didn't need antivirus software when he purchased a MacBook three months ago.
For years, Apple has enjoyed a period free from concern over viruses, while Windows has been blasted with viruses that were written to make the biggest impact by targeting the dominant OS platform.
Microsoft's software patch releases are watched closely by the entire industry. The company overhauled its own software development practices and constantly urges Windows users to install and update antivirus and other security software.
Meanwhile, Apple's message has been that Mac users are immune to viruses, as evidenced by this television ad.
It's unclear exactly what prompted this move at Apple. Apple representatives did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment on Monday.
Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee, said Apple was reacting to the realities of the market, where Mac users are finding they are not immune to Trojans and other Web-based malware that malicious hackers write to steal data from computers.
"Apple is realizing that malware these days is targeting data, and valuable data exists just as much on an OS platform that is a Mac as it does on an OS platform that is Windows,"
he said.
Threats to applications are rising while exploits of operating system weaknesses are declining. Operating system vulnerabilities representing about 6 percent of disclosed vulnerabilities while more than 90 percent of vulnerabilities were found in applications, according to a Microsoft security report from last month.
Trojans that are secretly dropped on a computer from a malicious Web site are the most prevalent malware threat. In April, Microsoft reported a big spike--a 300 percent increase year-over-year--in the number and proportion of Trojan droppers that its Malware Protection Center detected and removed.
"The malware we see today is Trojans, password-stealing Trojans,"
Marcus said.
"They are little apps that are dropped onto the machine to do something. They don't infect files and copy themselves. They are looking for specific information and they send that information somewhere else."
Trojans, which often masquerade as legitimate applications like video players, exploit vulnerabilities in the application code or take advantage of a weakness in the browser, and thus can be equally threatening to Windows and Mac platforms, he said.
Although Windows is the more popular target, even for Trojans, there have been Trojans that target the Mac, including one that targeted porn surfers last year and one this summer called "AppleScript.THT."
Meanwhile, the biggest targets for application vulnerability exploits are Office and Internet Explorer, according to Marcus.
McAfee's antivirus software protects against viruses that target the operating system as well as Trojans and other malware that exploit weaknesses in the applications, "regardless of what type of way in it is using, via the browser, Word or Firefox," he said. (Marcus, however, didn't agree with Apple's advice to run multiple antivirus products on one computer, saying they would fight for resources and could run into conflicts.)
A Symantec spokesperson provided this statement when asked for comment:
"Symantec has long encouraged consumers to use a security solution, regardless of the platform, especially with the rise in platform-agnostic threats like malicious Web sites and online scams."
The changing threat landscape from one where attackers try to worm their way onto victim PCs through holes in the operating system to one where more attacks are coming at computers through the applications and browser should change the nature of the Mac versus PC security debate.
No platform can claim to be safe now.
"At the end of the day, they're (Apple is) advising people to be safe and take precautions,"
Marcus said.
"That's a prudent thing to tell people in Web 2.0 world."
Apple has made an unlocked version of the iPhone 3G available in Hong Kong, letting consumers pick whichever carrier they so choose.
This is in sharp contrast to Apple's policy for the almost everywhere else on the planet. Unlocked iPhones are rampant worldwide, but that isn't something that Apple has sanctioned.
Freedom doesn't come cheap. The 8GB version is available for about $695 (5,400 Hong Kong dollars), while the 16GB iPhone costs about $798 (6,200 HK dollars), according to Apple's site.
The
"iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier,"
the site states.
"Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation."
Part of the reason why the iPhone is so popular is because it has a fantastic glass touchscreen. In this way, it wouldn't take much for Apple to plunk that technology into the next-generation MacBook. That's the rumor swirling around on the Internet at the moment, but without any sort of substantial source, it's really hard to confirm. What they're saying is that the trackpads on the upcoming redesigned MacBooks will be made of glass, feature multi-touch, and come with full support for gesture inputs. This kind of tech, aside from the glass thing, is already in play with devices like the MacBook Air. They also say that the exterior will be sculpted from a single sheet of aluminum. Rounding out the rumor sheet are processor revisions based on Intel Centrino 2 and 16:9 aspect screens. This means that the Macs will be offered in 14" and 15.6" variants, rather than the 13.3" and 15.4" that you've got now. Look for a formal announcement in September. Maybe.
As compelling as the iPhone 3G may be, it's quite possible that you don't want to lock yourself down to a lengthy contract with one of the pre-selected providers. By and large, the Apple iPod touch is effectively the same device as the iPhone, except for the fact that it doesn't have the "phone" part of the picture. If you're mostly interested in the multi-touch, Wi-Fi, and App Store, then the iPod touch just might be the ticket for you. You don't have to deal with a monthly bill, but you may have to pay for software upgrades when those come along. And now you can get the iPod touch, without a contract, for the same price as the iPhone 3G. Refurbished models of the iPod touch are available through Apple. The 8GB and 16GB models are going for $199 and $299, respectively. If you want to hit up the 32GB iTouch, that goes for $429. I have a feeling that this could be paving the way for a refresh or a new generation.
Although it is now boasting some blazing 3G high-speed data and some nifty GPS navigation, there are still a few pieces missing to complete the ultimate iPhone package. The second coming of the Jesus phone is supposed to replace your regular mobile phone and your iPod, but where is the stereo Bluetooth support? It's here. You will not find official A2DP Bluetooth support from Apple, unfortunately, but the good people at Brando have come up with a simple add-on that latches onto the dock connector in the base your iPhone 3G. With this little dongle, you can now have access to full stereo Bluetooth, cutting out those wires for your portable music enjoyment. Naturally, you will need to throw in a set of stereo Bluetooth headphones of your own, but this $62 device from Brando will get you heading in the right direction.
Steve Jobs told us that the new iPhone 3G, complete with the new rounded plastic back, would be offered in your choice of black or white. It has now been confirmed that the white version will be available for sale on launch day this Friday. The confirmation, as it stands, only applies to AT&T and Apple Stores in the United States for July 11th. Shipments of the white 16GB version have already been received by many of the stores in anticipation for this Friday. There is no mention of whether white versions of the iPhone 3G have arrived in Canada. On the flip side, there's news that the UK inventory offered through O2 will be without the white edition, selling only the black iPhone 3G on launch day. In the words of one BGR commentator,
Howard Forums is easily home to the largest community of cell phone enthusiasts on the planet and its bold leader, Howard Chui, made an appearance on television yesterday to lend his expertise. In the clip, Howard goes through the pros and cons of three of this season's hottest new mobile phones. Today marks the official launch of the Apple iPhone 3G and everyone is pretty excited about that. Howard goes on to discuss the $10 unlimited data on the Samsung Instinct, before moving on to the slick business handheld known as the BlackBerry Bold. At the end of the day, Howard may like those phones, but he doesn't use any of them himself. He prefers the Nokia N95, largely because he can use it without looking at it. Not everyone needs a touchscreen, you know.
Trying to figure out how to justify the company paying for Apple's new 3G iPhone? Oracle wants to help.
Oracle became the first major business software vendor to deliver applications for the iPhone, joining hundreds of software developers, many of them tiny or consumer-oriented, hawking wares at Thursday's opening of Apple's online App Store.
Oracle's Business Indicators applications let users of several Oracle business intelligence applications get information sent to their iPhones. Finance, sales, and manufacturing managers can get alerts and updates based on predefined business metrics, such as if sales goals are met or shipment levels dip.
The mobile apps are free to Oracle BI customers, and data can be viewed in graphical or tabular format. Oracle plans to broaden the line to include apps that let managers make approvals -- for things such as new hires or expense reports -- using their phones. It's also promising apps that bring capabilities from its CRM software, such as contact management and sales forecasting, to iPhones.
Oracle isn't the first to develop BI capabilities for the iPhone. Information Builders has provided iPhone access to its BI reports running on servers for months, and open source BI vendor Pentaho last week announced a similar capability. On-demand ERP vendor NetSuite provides iPhone access to data in its systems.
Apple is trying to push the iPhone further into business. The 3G iPhone, to be released on Friday amid the now typical sleep-on-the-sidewalk anticipation, supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for pushing e-mail, calendars, and contacts to the devices. It has the ability to view Word and Excel attachments within e-mails, and Apple offers a secure Cisco-based VPN into corporate networks. Apple released a software development kit for the iPhone earlier this year; its first application store coincides with the 3G launch.
Gadget lovers worldwide are already camped out ahead of Friday's global rollout of the new model of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is also the first iPhone to go on sale in many countries.
Japan, is planning a countdown ceremony at its flagship downtown store. By late Thursday, a line of nearly 800 iPhone fans snaked around the block, with some sleeping on the streets to ensure they would be among the first customers.
The iPhone goes on sale there five hours earlier than other nationwide outlets, helping to kick off a global rollout in 22 nations. The first model, which launched in the United States a year ago, ended up being sold only in six countries.
Because of time differences, the new iPhones are going on sale first in New Zealand, then Australia, followed by Japan and Hong Kong. In the United States, phones will be available at 8 a.m. in each time zone.
Japan, though, is the tech-mad market that analysts like to watch. It is home to powerful electronics brands such as Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic, but its consumers are trend-chasers and have long adored Apple products such as the iPod.
Japan has about 107 million cell phones, or about one for every person. Many of the phones already work on 3G, or third-generation, wireless networks, offering the speedy Internet access that the new iPhone will also deliver. The old iPhone used a relatively slow cellular network combined with the ability to use fast Wi-Fi hotspots.
The iPhone's capabilities are less revolutionary here, where people have for years used the tech-heavy local phones for restaurant searches, e-mail, music downloads, reading digital novels and electronic shopping. They tend to shrug off foreign models, such as those of Nokia Corp.
The latest Japanese cell phones have two key features absent on the iPhone — digital TV broadcast reception and the "electronic wallet" for making payments at stores and vending machines equipped with special electronic readers.
But they don't have the iPhone's nifty touch screen or glamour image.
Another key difference is that the iPhone is designed to browse the Web in the much the same way computers do. The networks promoted by Japanese carriers, such as "i-mode" from NTT DoCoMo, are more closed than the Web. Such systems have allowed carriers to control services and charge fees.
Masayuki Otani, deputy chief of research at Maruwa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said the iPhone faces competition from emerging rivals, who offer mobile Internet devices in Japan, and the iPhone may attract a limited following.
"The iPhone is a fad,"
he said.
"There are lots of people who love it and jump at it, but there are those who are going to be less impressed."
Norikazu Sasaki, a 20-year-old student among those in line for the iPhone in Tokyo, was already won over.
"The iPhone is so user-friendly, more than any other mobile phone. It combines the best features of a PC with the best features of a phone,"
said Sasaki, who's been taking turns with two friends to save his spot in the line since 1 a.m. Wednesday.
"There isn't anything else like it,"
Sasaki said.
The iPhone has sparked similar enthusiasm in Australia.
In downtown Sydney, Brett Howell, 36, didn't mind fighting the chill of the Down Under winter for the distinction of being first in a line of about 40 at an Optus store Thursday.
"I wanted to make sure I got one,"
he said as he huddled on the sidewalk with a small blanket and a book.
"It's only 11 hours in total."
Ben Thomas, 27, had his own explanation for iPhone mania.
"It's a chick magnet,"
he said.
Apple plans to sell its 8-gigabyte iPhone for $199 in the United States and the 16-gigabyte version for $299. The company, based in Cupertino, Calif., says it has sold about 6 million iPhones since last year. It hopes to sell 10 million by the end of 2008.
The iPhone 3G, which Apple is billing as twice as fast and half as expensive as the debut model, will roll out in cities from Tokyo to Sydney on Friday -- but it could face challenges in Asia it will not have elsewhere.
The company is betting the new phone's third generation (3G) capabilities, such as faster Internet access and file transfer, will make the phone a hit. Like the first version, the new model also has an iPod built in.
Many analysts are upbeat about its prospects, seeing Apple as a brand with a strong cachet in tech-savvy Asia.
Mancy Li wants to get her hands on Apple's newest version of the iPhone, but she won't bother to queue up in Hong Kong when it is released in Asia this week.
"I want to get one because it is trendy. It has a touch screen, it looks pretty and it's made by Apple,"
the 22-year-old visual arts student says.
But she's prepared to wait and see what happens to the price of running the new version of the phone, which Apple hopes will become as big a global hit as its iconic iPod music player.
"It is going to do well,"
Aloysius Choong, of Singapore-based industry research group IDC, told AFP.
"Apple is a strong brand in Asia and this is their maiden mobile phone offering in Asia. Just the Apple aura or the Apple halo means that there will be non-Apple users who will look at the product."
But in a region where having the latest gadget is almost an obsession, black market debut-version iPhones are already widely available, serviced by countless shops that "unlock" the software to allow them to operate.
With the phone already in circulation, the novelty factor will be less, which could emphasise the importance of pricing for the new model.
And that could prove to be an obstacle. Like elsewhere, Apple is only allowing the iPhone for sale through a limited number of operators -- whose pricing plans are not always particularly inexpensive.
Hong Kong users could pay the equivalent of up to 65 US dollars a month under a two-year contract, a steep price in a market where monthly mobile packages often cost one-fifth of that.
In Australia, Telstra says customers who sign up for packages around 30 dollars a month will be able to buy the cheapest iPhone 3G for around 270 dollars.
Pricing has not been announced in New Zealand by Vodafone, the country's largest mobile communications carrier, but is likely to be crucial in deciding the iPhone's success.
"If Vodafone can get close to Telstra's pricing in Australia, I think they will be on to a winner,"
says Scott Bartley, reviews editor of PC World New Zealand.
The iPhone could also face an uphill battle in Japan, where handsets allow users to watch television and pay for goods like a credit card -- neither of which the Apple phone can do.
"I can foresee the iPhone storming the rest of Asia but not Japan,"
said Yusuke Tsunoda, a telecom analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Centre.
"Compared with Japanese cellphones, it is not technologically superior."
In the Philippines, meanwhile, where text-messaging is now a routine way to communicate, the phone's on-screen keyboard -- instead of the regular buttons of a traditional cell phone -- may be a turn-off.
"This could limit its appeal to the Filipinos, who love to text,"
said tech journalist Kendrick Go of the Manila Times.
He said pricing could also be a factor in the Philippines, where much of the population lives on two dollars a day or less.
"The iPhone's popularity in the Philippines will likely be confined to the high-end market,"
Go said.
"It is just too expensive for the average consumer."
Finally, some consumers could be turned off if the iPhone becomes too much of a success -- and loses its cachet as a status symbol.
"Apple wants to make a big impact but it does not want to make too big an impact in the sense you want to create an image of scarcity and exclusivity,"
said the IDC's Choong.
Mancy Li, in Hong Kong, says the iPhone would lose its appeal for her if everyone had one.
"I won't get one if I see too many people using it,"
Apple has quietly dropped the price of its fastest MacBook Air, the company's thinnest and lightest notebook, by $500.
The price reduction appears to be the result of a $100 drop in the price of the 1.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a $400 reduction in the price of the 64-GB solid-state drive. The deluxe model is now priced at $2,598. The price of the base model with a 1.6-GHz processor remains unchanged at $1,799.
As early as last week, the faster notebook was priced at $3,098, according to a blurb found on Google's search cache. The item was uncovered by the Apple-enthusiast site MacRumors.com. The processor upgrade was cut to $200 from $300 and the solid-state drive to $599 from $999.
It's not unusual for computer makers to drop prices as component prices fall over time. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the Air in January at the Macworld conference in San Francisco.
The size and weight of the Air, which has a 13.3-inch display and full-size keyboard, placed the machine in a class of its own. The notebook weights 3 pounds and is three-quarters of an inch thick at the hinge, tapering to 0.16 of an inch at the opposite side.
The thinness of the notebook was achieved in part by a miniaturized 65-nanometer Core 2 Duo processor that came from Intel's older Merom line. The processor is 60% smaller than the typical Merom chip and uses less power while delivering comparable speeds. The processor, however, is significantly slower than the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors used in other new notebooks. Performance is not necessarily an issue with Apple as it customizes its operating system to maximize performance out of any processor it uses.
Apple also was able to shave off inches from the MacBook Air by relying on a slimmer solid-state hard drive and eliminating its CD/DVD optical SuperDrive altogether.
Google is making its Google Talk instant-messaging application available for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.
One of Google's software engineers posted the news in a blog on Wednesday.
"In addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you're on the move, too!"
Adam Connors, of Google's mobile team said in the blog.
The application doesn't require any software to be installed or downloaded. Instead it works within the phone's browser, so users can simply go to the site www.google.com/talk, sign in, and start chatting.
Connors pointed out that there are a few differences when using Google Talk on the iPhone versus a computer. For one, to receive messages, the application needs to be open on the Safari phone browser. When users navigate away from the Google Talk window in the browser, their status is set to "unavailable."
That said Google has tried to keep the experience close to what users experience on their desktop or laptop computers. They can select contacts from a quicklist, search contacts, and manage conversations.
With half the world's population soon owning a cell phone, the opportunity to reach more people on the Web via a mobile device is huge. Google recognizes this as a big advertising opportunity. As a result, the company has launched several initiatives to make sure it gets a piece of the action.
It's already adapted its Web search, mapping service, and advertising tools to work on cell phones. And it even bid in a U.S. auction of wireless spectrum to help ensure rules requiring open access on those networks were achieved. The company has even gone so far as to develop its own mobile operating system, known as Android, to ensure that its applications and services are tightly integrated into mobile devices.
With Bill Gates' upcoming retirement, January marked the last time he and Steve Jobs would deliver back-to-back keynote speeches at CES and Macworld, respectively. We're witnessing the end to one of the most interesting personal rivalries the technology industry has ever known. Both men's presentations lacked any real punch, though, and they've left us hanging.
Because the Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld run back to back, it's easy to make comparisons between the two men who headline the big tech trade shows. As a journalist, I had barely unpacked my bags, mentally speaking, before I had to move on from listening to Bill Gates to hearing Steve Jobs.
This year is the last when I can draw a timely comparison between, as the Apple ads depict, the straitlaced PC Guy and the cool Mac Guy. Gates said this year's speech was his final CES keynote before he becomes a full-time philanthropist. Jobs won't have Gates to belittle anymore. However, even with Gates gone, Apple will no doubt still find ways to belittle Microsoft . I get the sense that the needling comes from the very top. This kind of tit-for-tat sparring has gone on between the two men since the 1970s.
How Times Change
It is funny how things change. When Gates gave his first CES keynote in 1994, Microsoft was on the march and Jobs was still trying to get his little animated film company, Pixar , off the ground. Now the positions seem reversed. Jobs has more cachet than Gates. He has a Midas touch, with everything from his new operating system to the iPhone getting rave reviews. The only exception was the original Apple TV.
Gates went out with a whimper. Microsoft didn't have many new products to tout at CES. Some cool things, like the Microsoft Surface Computing table, weren't ready to ship. Gates repeated parts of his past speeches on the "digital decade," but he didn't close with any great predictions. Nor did he slam rivals or dazzle us with his intelligence.
His most scintillating quote:
"This is just the beginning. There is nothing holding us back from going much faster and much further in the second digital decade."
I got a sense that Gates didn't have his heart in everything he was talking about. Sure, he had shipped 110 million copies of Windows Vista, the new Microsoft operating system. That's a good way to go out. However, he closed with a demo of "Guitar Hero III," a video game you can get on non-Microsoft platforms. It was as if he had nothing profound to say.
The Man With the $7 Haircut
The hilarious thing that Gates did was make fun of himself in a video that depicted his "last day" of work at Microsoft, expected to happen sometime in the summer. It was as if he was minimizing his importance at Microsoft, signaling that the company could go on without him. He mocked his own celebrity status and used the cachet of his video guests -- George Clooney, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore and others -- to entertain the crowd. He apparently wants to be remembered for his sense of humor, not for wise words or stunning demos. NBC anchor Brian Williams closed the video with this:
"Let's face it, (Gates) doesn't believe in paying more than $7 for a haircut."
That's what you say about the class clown, not the world's richest man.
Proud Papa
Jobs, meanwhile, was the celebrity at Macworld. The crowd hooted and cheered every little announcement. With his showman's flair, Jobs showed off a few innovations that reflected the different styles of the companies.
Microsoft did so many demos that it diluted the impact of each one. Jobs limited himself to just four products that he treated like his babies. He looked like a proud papa when he held up the world's thinnest notebook computer, walking back and forth on stage with it so everyone could photograph it. And he touted such accomplishments as selling 5 million copies of Apple's new operating system in 90 days and selling 20,000 iPhones a day in 200 days.
Clearly, the personal style of Jobs is hands on, as if he were a Swiss-watch maker. With the dueling keynotes, I have come to expect more from Jobs than I do from Gates. Maybe that's why I was more disappointed with Jobs.
No "One More Thing"
These were evolutionary, not revolutionary, announcements by Apple standards, said Tim Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies.
Last year, Macworld outshone CES because of Jobs' big iPhone announcement. This time, Jobs rescued Apple TV from an early death, but he didn't close with his signature "one more thing," surprising the audience with something totally unexpected. Instead, he introduced singer Randy Newman and walked off the stage. It was as if Jobs pulled a punch and decided to keep more announcements in his pocket for another day.
Last year, Jobs and Gates appeared on stage together at the All Things D conference to reminisce about old times. Gates said he would love to have Jobs' taste in picking designs. Jobs commented on how the Mac Guy and the PC Guy need each other.
That's all the closure we'll get to the "Steve & Bill Show." We're witnessing the end to one of the most interesting personal rivalries the technology industry has ever known. In the past couple of weeks, it happened without much ado. It leaves me hanging. Like the ending of "The Sopranos."
The latest craze with iPhone lovers is the v1.1.3 update that's making techies' brain cells pop with the kind of features it's brought to the device. Of course, hackers would no doubt make it their life's ambition to crack this version too... and what do you know, they have!
Hackers such as Jonathan Zdziarski (who brought the NES emulator to the iPhone) managed to jailbreak the iPhone without having to mess around with the hardware. Before Zdziarski came along, there was a hack that unfortunately required hardware manipulation.
If you're an iPhone noob, 'Jailbreaking' involves cracking the iPhone so that it will allows users to install third party applications that are not official. It allows full read/write access to the file system of the iPhone, which opens it up to manipulation for various purposes (and not just running third party apps).
You can take a look at the hacking via the YouTube video these guys have so graciously put up. Most of the other iPhone sites seem to have lost the video altogether.
Established defense contractor iRobot has prevailed in courtroom battles against Robotic FX, effectively gaining an unconditional surrender from the upstart military-industrial wannabe.
Late on Friday, Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot said that two federal courts had ruled in its favor. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts determined that Robotic FX and founder Jameel Ahed--a former iRobot employee--had misused trade secrets belonging to iRobot, while the U.S. District Court in Northern Alabama determined that Robotic FX had deliberately infringed on patents.
As if that weren't enough, a related settlement requires the disbanding of Robotic FX, with certain assets to be retained by iRobot, and the banning of Ahed from competitive activities in the robotics industry for five years, according to iRobot. As of Sunday morning, the Robotic FX Web site was pointing to an iRobot page.
For a number of years, iRobot has been supplying the Pentagon with its Packbot technology--small, tracked robots that have been instrumental in locating and neutralizing explosive devices in Iraq. The company--best known for its Roomba, Scooba, and Looj gadgets for consumers--is also working on a related system known as SUGV (for small unmanned ground vehicle) as part of the Army's Future Combat Systems initiative.
A few months back, Allsip, Ill.-based Robotic FX had won a major contract with the U.S. Army to supply just those sorts of robots. But in a harbinger of the court rulings, the Army just days ago turned that contract--a $286 million, five-year deal to crank out up to 3,000 robots--over to iRobot. It plans to deliver the first 101 of those new robots "for urgent deployment."
In total, iRobot says it will have spent about $2.9 million on the dispute.
Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs wants to patent a process that will save customers the hassle of waiting to order a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) or a fresh burger at the nearest fast food restaurant. Even better: The technology would let you jump the line of those ordering in person.
In an application with the U.S. Patent Office published on Dec. 20, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and gadget company described a wireless system that would allow customers to place an order at a store using a wireless device such as a media player, a wireless personal digital assistant or a cellphone.
The system could go far beyond the program that Apple announced with Starbucks in September, which allows iPhone users to press a button and wirelessly download the song playing in the background as they sip their soy lattes.
Apple's application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describes a process for placing an order and then notifying customers when an order is ready to grab at a pick-up station. One goal, the patent application notes, is to avoid an
"annoying wait in a long queue if the purchaser arrives before completion of the order."
U.S. Patent Application #20070291710 describes a device that also would keep tabs on where a user shops and what he or she likes to buy. Computers at participating stores would keep track of regular customers and their favorite orders.
Customers might tap a button to order their favorite drink, say a double-shot mocha, as they stroll up to the nearest coffee shop. When the drink is ready go to, the device--such as an iPhone--would chime or blink to let the thirsty one know it's time to scoop up the order at the counter.
The patent puts Apple's partnership with Starbucks in a new light. The technology promises to morph Apple from the business of simply selling gadgets and music and movies that can be played on those devices into an intermediary in all kinds of exchanges.
Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about its future products. But head honcho Jobs has also said that he believes the innovative insights at the core of the iPhone all start in the software built into the device, not its sleek form factor.
Apple granted eight patents in December, and the patent office published applications for 12 others, giving investors and Apple fans an idea of where the secretive company could be headed next.
Most cover relatively mundane technologies. Others, however, have stirred interest. Patent application #20070288886, unhelpfully titled
"Run-Time Code Injection To Perform Checks,"
describes a system that would restrict the use of some software to
"specific hardware platforms."
The application, published Dec. 13, suggests Apple could adopt something similar to Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) widely criticized Windows Genuine Advantage copy protection program, which checks a user's machine to confirm that it is not running a pirated version of Microsoft's software in exchange for access to certain software updates.
Apple is developing a volume control device for its iPods that would automatically calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, all in an effort to protect users' hearing, according to the London-based Daily Mail.
Citing a new patent application, the report--to which Apple declined to comment--says the
"device will also calculate the amount of 'quiet time' between when the iPod is turned off and when it is restarted, allowing the volume to be increased again to a safe level."
In February 2006, a Louisiana man filed a class action suit against Apple, saying the computer maker failed to take adequate steps to prevent hearing loss among iPod users. That was followed by warnings from politicians and researchers on hearing-loss hazards related to MP3 player use.
Apple responded by releasing a free software update for some iPods that lets listeners set a maximum volume limit. But we haven't heard much on the matter since.
Let's turn to rocker Pete Townshend for his foreshadowing quote:
"I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal components deaf,"
he said on his Web site two years ago.
"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired. If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you MAY be OK...But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."
NEW YORK - Shares of Apple Inc. hit the $200 mark for the first time Wednesday, as investor confidence in the company continued rising near the end of what has been a strong year for the iPod and computer maker.
In afternoon trading, shares rose $1.17 to $199.97. They earlier peaked at $200.
Apple shares have traded between $76.77 and $199.33 in the past year, rising steadily since January as investors anticipated and then cheered the release of the company's hybrid cell phone, multimedia player and wireless Internet device, the iPhone. The product went on sale at the end of June.
Apple released a refreshed line of iPods during the year, updating its flash-based Nano model to one that can play videos, and introducing a device called the iPod Touch which is much like an iPhone without cellular calling capabilities.
The company also refreshed its notebook computers during the year.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Caris & Co. analyst Shebly Seyrafi said he wasn't surprised that Apple hit the $200 mark.
"Apple has a lot of momentum right now,"
he said, noting the company is riding several new product cycles.
Seyrafi, who rates the stock "Buy" with a $225 price target, said sales of the iPod Touch and video-enabled Nanos are helping Apple's margins. Apple's component costs are benefiting from declines in NAND flash memory prices, he added.
"Looks like their business is strong even though retail sales growth in general appears to be weaker than in prior years,"
