I'm no patent lawyer but it could be a 3rd party company who has the rights and manufactures the charger to sell to other firms (Apple, Samsung, RIM and maybe others). If it's the best design and cheapest cost out there they might as well all use it.
E2EK1EL
BB USB wall charger has a diff design, size and the USB port is located on the right.
Internal parts are diff for sure; the BB charger gets hot very fast, but it does the job and there's no recalls.
Prometheus Xex
quote:
Originally posted by E2EK1EL
LOL what else? Concrete my friend.
Slipped out of his dress shirt pocket, while he was tying up his shoelaces.
I should have filmed him picking it up, but that's a little too mean.
If he was tying up his shoelaces and the phone fell from his pocket at less than 1/2 a foot up, what was he doing? Folding himself completely in half ???
E2EK1EL
That's what he said, maybe his shirt wasn't tucked in and made the height even lower?
I was smoking near him, heard the drop and the 9900 was busted.
E2EK1EL
(not official, but promoted by Samsung)
E2EK1EL
Apple Store Hong Kong Grand Opening
E2EK1EL
Facebook engineer quits for Google frustrated his iPad app never saw the light of the day
A Facebook iPad app was rumored to be in the works and numerous blogs reported it would launch, even big newspapers such as the New York Times. Facebook’s “awesome launch” has come and gone, they integrated with Skype and left millions of iPad fans disappointed with the never explained absence of a native iPad app. And now, slim hopes have been dashed further by Facebook engineer Jeff Verkoeyen who pulled Joe Hewitt.
The engineer quit for Google to work on back-end stuff for Android. He blogged about his frustration that Facebook wouldn’t release the iPad app he’s been working on since January of this year. According to Business Insider, the app “has been basically done for months” and Verkoeyen “put a ton of time into it:
It was feature-complete back in May, he writes, but Facebook kept pushing its release out another two weeks, then another. Now, he thinks it “may never be released.”
Verkoeyen later reached out to Business Insider saying he updated his blog post to remove details about the iPad app. “It’s no reflection on Facebook as a company, which is an incredible place to work,” he said of the post. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a CNBC interview that Facebook would probably, someday, release an iPad app.
You can enable the native Facebook app on iPad with this Cydia tweak. Native iPad app was also discovered in Facebook for iPhone. Really, why have a guy develop an iPad app that you never intended on releasing in the first place? Could it be that there is no place left in Facebook’s heart for Apple as the social networking site goes to bed with big media? Or perhaps it’s because of project Spartan, an HTML5 web app store for Facebook apps that would bypass Apple’s App Store and run in any web browser? Only time will tell…
Fido employees in Blackout period starting October 4th, prepping for “a major phone launch”
It’s expected that Apple will be announcing the next iPhone on October 4th. This is still a rumour just like all the upgraded specs. However, a good sign that brings truth to the rumour, and that Canadians will be getting the new iPhone, is an email to some Fido employees of an upcoming blackout period. The email states that “Due to a major phone launch in starting weeks of Q4, Fido employees are in blackout from October 4, 2011 to November 31, 2011 to help with the increase of traffic and sales”. The email also says “this launch is expected to be the largest in history”. Granted, November 31st doesn’t exist and there’s no direct mention that this is the next iPhone, but similar blackout periods happened with the iPhone 4.
Apple has been denied the multi-touch trademark by Patent Office
As noted by MacRumors, Apple has been denied the tradmark for multi-touch, which they applied for on January 9, 2007 after the first iPhone was introduced. Once the decision was reached by the the Board, Apple then filed for an appeal which was then again shot-down. Excerpt from the decision that is embedded after the break:
Again, simply because the applied-for term has been used in association with a highly successful product does not mean the term has acquired distinctiveness. Decision: The examining attorney’s finding that the Section 2(f) showing is insufficient is affirmed.
Apple was denied the trademark simply because it is too broad, and lacks distinctiveness to Apple alone. As a reference, NYU’s Jeff Han has multiple mentions of Multi-Touch as a generic term in papers from 2005 and before. Here’s his multi-touch video demonstration more than a year before Apple filed for ‘Multi-Touch’ or released the iPhone.
E2EK1EL
The invites are out ... The games begin on Oct 4 2011
The Loop reports_that Apple has finally confirmed the long-awaited media event due October 4. It will take place at Apple’s Cupertino campus in California at 10am PT. If an email invitation is an indication, this will be the iPhone-focused presser.
GGM
quote:
Originally posted by E2EK1EL Apple has been denied the multi-touch trademark by Patent Office
Holy crap if they had won that it would've been huge... Definitely good for the smartphone industry as a whole though cause it would've been a massive bitch to come up with ways to do things not using multitouch for all the other manufacturers and Google.
LightsOut
Good on them...
quote:
Mobilicity slams Rogers campaign for airwaves bid
New wireless provider Mobilicity is firing back at a Rogers campaign asking consumers to take political action or risk facing limited access to a faster, next-generation wireless technology called LTE.
Rogers has been calling on the public to lobby the government to allow it and other large carriers to bid on a new block of wireless airwaves in an upcoming auction. In a previous spectrum auction in 2008, the government set aside part of the spectrum for new wireless companies in order to boost competition. Rogers has been warning consumers that a similar decision would threaten their access to LTE.
In a news release Monday, Mobilicity called the Rogers campaign "a thinly veiled attempt at manipulating government regulators and public perception" and urged the public to lobby on its behalf instead.
"The future of affordable wireless rates is at risk, not the future of long-term evolution (LTE) networks," said Mobilicity's chief operating officer Stewart Lyons in a statement.
The fight centres around a coveted block of wireless spectrum — the 700 megahertz block, formerly used by analog television, but freed up when Canada switched to digital TV on Aug. 31. The 700 MHz block is expected to go up for auction as early as next year. In 2008, the reservation of certain airwaves for new wireless companies let to the launch of services from Wind Mobile, Mobilicity, Public Mobile and Vidéotron since late 2009.
Industry Canada, however, has not yet indicated what rules it will set for the 700 MHz block auction.
LTE in Canada
Rogers first launched LTE in Ottawa in July and is expected to launch LTE in Toronto Wednesday.
Bell launched its Ontario LTE network in areas of Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph earlier in September. Both companies say they will expand LTE to other cities in the next year.
In September, Bell noted that the timing of its LTE rollout in rural areas depends on the outcome of Industry Canada's 700 MHz spectrum auction.
Telus is also expected to launch an LTE network in 2012.
Both Bell and Rogers say their LTE networks provide typical download speeds of between 12 and 25 megabits per second or roughly double the speed of their HSPA+ networks.
Rogers launched a campaign on its blog in July, alleging that similar rules this time around "would be a recipe for leaving Canada behind the rest of the world, stalling Canadian innovation and limiting your access to LTE."
Rogers asked consumers to email the industry minister and their local Member of Parliament with a form letter urging the government to allow all companies to participate in the upcoming auction because "excluding any provider would only serve to slow down Canadian innovation, damaging our growing and vital digital economy" and "adversely affect Canadian consumers like me."
Rogers said that to allow for the "fastest and strongest LTE network," the technology should be deployed on the 700 MHz band, which will allow coverage to reach rural areas and move underground through buildings in urban areas.
However, Mobilicity's Lyons said Rogers, Bell and Telus already have "more spectrum than they need" and suggested their real goal is "eliminating competition so they can raise their rates back up again."
The company said it needs to augment its "limited amount of spectrum to ensure affordable pricing continues."
Mobilicity asked the public to send politicians an edited version of Rogers's letter, which says excluding incumbent carriers such as Rogers "would only serve to slow down incumbent profits."
The modified letter adds: "Having incentives for new entrants to acquire spectrum will provide the best opportunity for us to actually achieve affordable data services, especially LTE."
Mobilicity has not announced any plans to build an LTE network, although another new entrant, Wind Mobile, announced a test of LTE in February.
E2EK1EL
E2EK1EL
New iPhone 4 and iPod touch appear in Apple’s inventory system
As Apple’s October 4th event approaches, two of Apple’s announcements have been revealed in Apple’s internal inventory system. The first is a new iPod touch. Three new iPod touch models have appeared in the system with the codename N81A. N81 is the codename for the fourth-generation black iPod touch, so the A likely represents the string of the three new white models. A device that we first revealed proof of plans for with a white fourth generation iPod touch front-plate. Since there are only new three iPod touch models - at this time – it’s likely that the black models won’t be updated. This also likely means the storage capacities will stay at their current 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities.
Even more interesting are the two new iPhone SKUs that have showed up in the system. The catch is that these two SKUs are actually marked as tweaked iPhone 4s. The new device’s codename is N90A and this represents very minor changes from the iPhone 4 – which is the N90. In fact, this may be an iPhone 4 – an 8GB version as previously rumored. It is very possible that the two SKUs mean black and white models, but that is unconfirmed. We don’t think Apple’s next-generation iPhone – coming next week- would be labeled as an N90A – as it includes major internal hardware upgrades that would typically constitute a new codename. Additionally, the iPhone codename of N94 has appeared in the iOS SDK on numerous occasions.
Rogers LTE - Toronto
Fake iPhones (made from real parts) ring busted in Shanghai
What’s most interesting about these fake iPhones is that they were made from real iPhone parts. The assumption is that the companies that made supplies for Apple would make additional parts and sell them to third parties who would somehow assemble a Frankenstein of iPhone and non-iPhone parts together and sell them at double the cost.
The cost to make one fake iPhone, which used some genuine parts, was around 2,000 yuan ($313). It was sold on unauthorized markets and on the Internet for around 4,000 yuan, only a few hundred yuan cheaper than the real iPhone, the newspaper said.
The fake iPhones had the same functions as the genuine ones but had a shorter battery life, it quoted the police as saying.
It would be interesting and surprising if they got iOS working on these. I’m guessing a flavor of Android with a iOS-like skin was used. Apple would have a big problem on their hands if iOS was being pirated.
