Internet TV gets a Tentative Thumbs Up in New Court Ruling

According to Judge Wu's ruling, FilmOn should be considered the same as traditional cable television for transmission even though all of its content is delivered through broadband Internet, reports Reuters. Broadcasters have aggressively resisted giving Internet-based companies licensing even before FilmOn's case landed in Federal court. Aereo was at the center of a high profile…

Apple and Samsung Cooperating with Carrier Trade Group on Electronic SIM

The GSMA is a trade organization representing wireless carriers around the planet. Hardware makers including Apple, Samsung, and a host of others have long been jockeying to get their pet SIM project included in industry standards, but en electronic SIM could truly change the way devices are manufactured, sold, and dealt with after the sale.…

Facebook's Internet Challenge: Let's Kill Flash

Facebook wants an official end date for all Flash support In a post on Twitter Mr. Stamos said, It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day. He added that setting an official end date for all Flash support would…

The Legacy Internet is Out of Addresses: What Apple is Doing

The original Internet address space, referred to as IPv4, provides for 232 (4.29 billion) addresses. You've probably seen examples of those addresses on your Mac and iPhone, for example, 192.168.1.1, where each of the numbers can be from 0-255. With the Internet of things, the proliferation of small Internet devices and the adoption of smartphones…

What's in Your Geek Travel Bag?

Episode #131   A long time ago I bought a small mesh bag and packed it with all things I like to have when I travel. After a few years I had filled it completely so I bought a second mesh bag, which is now almost full as well. Last week I tried to pare…

Siri Couldn't Find The Beatles (But Now She Can)

Episode 130 I was really starting to like Apple Music. I had none of the metadata scrambling I’ve heard about and was just starting to fall in love with the new, human-curated playlists that seem to read my mind. Then I encountered my first (and so far, only) problem… I ask Siri to play music by…

iOS 8.4 Coming Tuesday at 8AM Pacific Time Ahead of Apple Music Launch

Apple releasing iOS 8.4 an hour before Apple Music launches Apple Music is Apple's new streaming music service, Internet radio station, and social platform for artists. Full access costs US$9.99 a month, although you can listen to streaming music and Beats 1 radio for free. The service officially kicks off at 9AM pacific time tomorrow,…

Tim Cook Urges America to Remove Symbols of Racism

My thoughts are with the victim's families in SC.Let us honor their lives by eradicating racism & removing the symbols & words that feed it. — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 21, 2015 Mr. Cook's comments aren't specific, but have largely been interpreted to refer to the presence of the Confederate flag in South Carolina and…

Ireland Residents Critical of New €850M Apple Data Center

Apple's planned Ireland data center meets with local resistance The concerns stem from Apple's environmental impact statement, which details the company's plans to generate its own power for the 24,505 square meter (about 263,769 square feet) facility, new trees, landscaping, and an amenity walkway. It also notes Apple plans to build an outdoor classroom for…

600M Samsung Android Devices Open to Critical Security Threat

Samsung follows Apple with major Galaxy smartphone security flaw The security flaw was discovered by NowSecure security specialist Ryan Welton. He found that SwiftKey is getting language pack updates via unencrypted server connections in plain text. In other words, it's about the most unsecure way Samsung could've found for installing an update. Mr. Welton found…

Dr. Mac’s Thoughts on WWDC

Episode #127 As you may recall, Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco last week with one of the longest keynotes in recent memory — nearly two and a half hours — offering up a roadmap for the next generations of its three major operating systems, namely OS X, iOS, and…

Would Apple be More Competitive Without Macs? Not Really

Mr. Mims's premise is that Apple is stretched thin. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple Car, iCloud, Apple Pay, iBooks, iTunes, Apple Music, OS X, and iOS. That's just to name the company's major products. He furthermore argues that Apple's executives are only human, and that the company would be better able to “maniacally” focus…

Instacast Podcast App Shuts Over Financial Issues

All of Vemedio's app pages, including Instacast, now say “discontinued” In an email to subscribers, developer Martin Hering said, I am sorry to inform you that Instacast andin fact all of Vemedio's products have been discontinued. I will cancel your upcoming membership payment shortly. We'll keep the servers running as long as we can. Instacast…

Apple Confirms Mystery Camera Cars are for Maps

Apple Maps vans: Coming to a city near you Apple now has a webpage showing where its Maps vans will be between June 15 and June 30, which includes parts of Ireland and England, as well as cities in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Apple…

Sony CEO Says Apple Announcing Streaming Music Service at WWDC

Sony says Apple unveiling music streaming service at WWDC Mr. Morris was very clear on when Apple would unveil its new Beats Music-based streaming music service. “It's happening tomorrow,” he said, meaning Monday. He also said Apple's entrance into the Spotify and Pandora's market will be a tipping point for streaming music services. He said,…

Recycling Center Scores Rare Apple I Computer

Recycling center has $100,000 for mystery Apple I donor Employees at Clean Bay Area said a woman dropped off a few boxes filled with old electronics parts in April to clear out space garage space after her husband passed away. She apparently had no idea what she was leaving at the recycling center and didn't…

Texas BBQ and High Technology...

Episode #124   I thought I’d try something completely different this week and write a column about Texas BBQ, which we cook “low and slow” over oak or hickory. I know what you’re thinking: What does BBQ have to do with technology? Allow me to explain.  For as long as I’ve lived in Texas (nearly…

Firefighters Take on Blaze at Apple's Former Sapphire Glass Factory [Update]

Firefighters work to contain a blaze at Apple's Mesa, AZ former sapphire factory Apple purchased the structure and then leased it to GTAT for sapphire glass production. The company failed to produce the glass needed and ultimately filed for bankruptcy protection while leaving Apple without the material it needed for watch and phone surfaces. Apple…

Carl Icahn Steps Up Pressure on Apple and Tim Cook to Buy Back More Shares

“After reflecting upon Apple’s tremendous success,” Mr. Icahn wrote, “we now believe Apple shares are worth $240 today. Apple is poised to enter and in our view dominate two new categories (the television next year and the automobile by 2020) with a combined addressable market of $2.2 trillion, a view investors don’t appear to factor…

Apple Buys GPS Company Coherent Navigation

Apple buys precision GPS navigation company Coherent Navigation Instead of the usual 3 meter accuracy typical GPS services offer, Coherent says its system is accurate within a few centimeters. That accuracy comes from using a mix of high altitude GPS satellites and lower orbit voice and data satellites from Iridium. Terms of the deal haven't…

Apple, A123 Settle Employee Poaching Lawsuit

Apple and A123 Systems settle employee poaching lawsuit A123 filed its lawsuit against Apple and the five employees the iPhone and Mac maker hired. All were named in the filing. The company said Apple hired their CFO Mujeeb Ijaz, who then lured away four more employees over an eight month window. A123 said they were…

Reporter's Notebook: Attending CocoaConf as a Novice Developer

Dave Klein announces the day’s events at CocoaConf Portland. Photo: David Sinclair. I'm a firm believer in the conference, more so in today's hyperconnected world. It comes down to one simple reason: The “hallway track.” Getting coffee and bumping into someone whose work you've followed for a long time, or having lunch with people talking about…