ATI’s product lines will continue with the same names, according to The Tech Report, but with an AMD label. The company also has plans to roll out new products that include its own microprocessors bundled with Radeon graphics tech on a single chip.AMD plans to release Radeon and FirePro products later this year that don’t…
Jeff Gamet
Jeff Gamet is the Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X” from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also hosts TMO’s Daily Observations podcast, co-hosts The iOS Show podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other shows, too. Jeff dreams in HD.
Articles by Jeff Gamet
Microsoft Co-founder Hits Apple, Others with Patent Suit
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Interval Research Corporation, a company that Mr. Allen co-founded in 1992 with David Liddle, by Interval Licensing. Interval Research closed its doors in 2000, but its patents are apparently still alive and kicking, and under the watchful care of Mr. Allen’s Interval Licensing.Along with Apple, Google, Facebook, Office…
Reverb Strikes FTC Deal Over Bogus iTunes Reviews
As part of the deal with the FTC, Reverb agreed to pull all of the reviews it posted to stack its clients App Store ratings, and also agreed to include proper disclosure in its client promotional efforts, according to the New York Times. The company isn’t, however, being hit with any fines or penalties.“It became…
Apple Prepping FaceTime iPod touch, New MacBook Air
A new iPod touch with a front-facing camera for FaceTime video call support fits with other analyst’s predictions, including Maynard Um from UBS.Apple has hosted a media event to refresh the iPod lineup around September for the past few years, and based on the guitar image on the invitations sent to the media, this year’s…
Apple Bows Out of O2’s “Green” Phone Rankings
O2 gave phone makers a list of 63 questions that it used to rank products on a scale of one to five. The questions covered the ecological impact of the device’s raw materials, how long the devices will likely last, energy efficiency, and ease of reuse or recycling.The environmental activist group Greenpeace took the opportunity…
HTC Files Answer in Apple Patent Lawsuit
The patents Apple claims HTC is infringing on relate to the iPhone interface, the device’s hardware, display technology and the underlying architecture.In its answer, HTC asserts that Apple’s infringement claims are invalid “for failure to comply with one or more of the conditions for patentability set forth in Title 35 of the United States Code,…
Apple Manager Loaded Shoeboxes with $150K in Kickback Scheme
“He had over $150,000 stored in shoe boxes,” Department of Justice Attorney Michelle Kane said in court. “We have identified a significant number of accounts overseas and a significant amount of money.”Ms. Kane made the revelation during a hearing to decide Mr. Devine’s bail. Ultimately the court ordered Mr. Devine to transfer an undiscloded amount…
Mobile Flash a Lesson in Disappointment
Flash Player 10.1 comes pre-installed on the Droid 2, a new smartphone that runs Google’s Android 2.2 operating system, marking the first time what Adobe is calling a full-featured Flash Player for mobile devices is not only available, but is also ready to go without any downloads out of the box.Thanks to the Adobe Flash…
Intel Snatches McAfee for $7.68 Billion
“Today’s security approach does not fully address the billions of new Internet-ready devices connecting, including mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines as well as the accompanying surge in cyber threats,” Intel said in a statement. “Providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware…
School District Avoids Criminal Charges in MacBook Spying Case
“We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent,” commented U.S. Attorney Zane D. Memeger.The school district was understandably pleased with the investigation outcome. “We are very pleased with today’s decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which supports the findings of our internal investigation,” said Superintendent…
RIAA Wants Radios in Portable Electronics
While record labels, radio broadcasters and the National Association of Broadcasters are on board with the idea, the Consumer Electronics Association thinks the proposal is a bad idea and said that it isn’t “in our national interest.”musicFIRST, which includes the RIAA as a member, sees the forced inclusion of FM receiver chips in electronic devices…
Kaedar Electronics Suspends Chief Over Apple Kickbacks
Despite her suspension, Pegatron executives claim the Kaedar manager wasn’t aware the money was part of a bribe. “She believed that she had paid the money for commercial purposes and not for kickbacks,” commented Pegatron finance director, Jonathan Chang.Pegatron is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether or not the Kaedar manager thought the payments…
South Korea iPhone 4 Pre-orders Launch Wednesday
Apple first launched the iPhone 4 on June 24 in a handful of countries including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan. On July 30 Apple added 17 more countries to that list, but South Korea wasn’t included because of a longer than expected approval process.“We hope the iPhone 4 will draw a hot response…
Apple Hires Near Field Communication Expert
According to Mr. Vigier’s LinkedIn profile, he served as mFoundry’s mobile wallet, payment and NFC product manager up until July where he was responsible for Paypal Mobile, Starbucks Card Mobile and Sprint’s MyMoneyManager. He has also managed NFC solutions and embeded technologies at SanDisk and Bouygues Telecom.Assuming Apple uses Mr. Vigier’s skills to add NFC…
Apple Supply Manager Arrested on Kickback Charges
Andrew Ang of Singapore was named as a co-conspirator in the case, too. A federal Grand Jury indicted the two on 23 counts that include wire fraud and money laundering.Apparently Mr. Devine had under the table deals going with parts suppliers in several countries such as China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.Apple doesn’t seem overly…
Oracle Sues Google Over Java Patents
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleged that Google violated Oracle’s copyrights and patents related to Java with the Dalvik Java virtual machine code that’s part of the Android operating system. “The Android operating system software ‘stack’ consists of Java applications running on a Java-based object-oriented application framework, and core libraries…
Spyglass 3 Adds iOS 4 Support
Spyglass 3.0 supports the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad with 3G. It is priced at US$1.99 and is available at Apple’s iTunes-based App Store.
Next Gen iPad May Include Gyroscope
Based on what’s missing from the iPad, it appears that Apple may have been trying out InvenSense’s ITG-3200 gyroscope chip in prototypes, but left the part out of the final design. The info comes from UBM TechInsights product manager, Steve Bitton, after conducting an iPad teardown.“It seemed strange at the time that a product like…
Case Design Hints at iPod touch Camera
The supposedly leaked case image shows an iPod touch that looks just like the current third generation model, but with the addition of a camera and flash on the back.Aside from an anonymous source claiming the image is legit, there isn’t any tangible information supporting the notion that the next generation iPod touch really will…
Murdoch: iPad Key to Paid News Online
“We are rolling out a paid content strategy across our newspaper Web sites. Already The Wall Street Journal is the largest of its kind in the world with 1.1 million paying subscribers online,” Mr. Murdoch said. “It’s going to be a success. Subscriber levels are strong. We are witnessing the start of a new business…
iPhone 4 Gets OK for South Korea Launch
KT spokesman Lee In-won commented “The government’s approval is just a regular procedure and it normally takes about one or two months to talk about business matters before launching any new handset device in the market. We will try our best to launch iPhone 4 sometime in September.”Apple first launched the iPhone 4 on June…
iPhone 4 Gets ultrasn0w Unlock
The new ultrasn0w unlock is compatible with the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 and is surprisingly simple to use. For U.S. iPhone 4 users, unlocking means your iPhone 4 will accept SIM cards from other carriers such as T-Mobile, although it still won’t be compatible with Verizon’s wireless network.The ultrasn0w unlock isn’t approved or tested…
RIM Unveils BlackBerry Torch Smartphone
RIM’s BlackBerry TorchAccording to AT&T’s Web site, the BlackBerry Torch sports BlackBerry 6 OS, a 3.2-inch 480×360 touch-based screen, a slide-out keyboard, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB storage and a MicroSD card slot, 802.11 b/g/n wireless networking, Bluetooth, and a 5 megapixel camera with flash.AT&T isn’t saying when the Torch will ship, or how much…
Suitcase Fusion 3 Includes CS5, WebINK Support
Along with the Adobe Creative Suite applications, Suitcase Fusion supports font auto-activation in other programs such as QuarkXPress 7 and 8, and Microsoft Office.Suitcase Fusion 3 also includes QuickMatch for finding similar fonts in your library, Font Snapshot for sharing PNG previews of fonts, a Web preview for checking fonts used in Web designs, and…