News

This is why I don't like paying for services through advertising: Google has announced a change in its terms of service that allow the company to use our names, personal information, and likenesses (photographs) in ads for third party companies, products, and services that we have +1'd, commented on anywhere using our Google+ login, rated…

BlackBerry is hoping to find new relevance in the mobile device world with the introduction of a new set of Web-based tools for managing iOS and Android-based devices. The Web tools, which haven't launched yet, are promised to make life easier for Administrators that need to manage iPhones and iPads, as well as Android and…

Samsung lost its bid to get an import ban on smartphones that were found to infringe on Apple patent overturned. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman—a White House appointee—announced on Tuesday that he would allow the import ban to go into effect. Apples and Oranges Samsung had asked the White House to overturn the import ban,…

Samsung seems intent on proving the company is incapable of learning lessons from…well, anything. Bloomberg reported that Samsung wants the White House to veto an import ban on some older Samsung devices the same way an import ban on a couple of Apple devices was recently vetoed, but Samsung is relying on a false equivalence…

As expected, Apple has filed an appeal in the Federal ebook price fixing case where Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple conspired with book publishers to artificially raise prices. Apple has steadfastly maintained that it did nothing wrong, and that there never was any form of collusion with book publishers. Apple maintains it did nothing…

Account information, including user names and encrypted credit card numbers, were stolen from Adobe servers by hackers, potentially exposing information for 2.9 million user accounts. Adobe revealed the security breach on Thursday, and has already started notifying customers who may now have compromised credit cards In a statement on the Adobe website, Chief Security Officer…

Hold on for this shocker: Samsung's outside counsel provided Samsung executives, internal attorneys, and even external attorneys working on other cases with details of a highly confidential licensing agreement between Apple and Nokia despite a court order not to do so. Better yet, Samsung then further shared those details, on several occasions, with more than…

Cheating. I don't care for it. If you have to cheat to win, there's no value in the victory. I know there are tons of folks who don't care about such things—and thus we have cheating—but some cheating transcends morality to venture into the weird because it's hard to see how the cheater thought he…

Bill Gates Three of Microsoft's top shareholders—representing some 5 percent of the company's outstanding shares—want company cofounder Bill Gates to step down as chairman. In an exclusive report, Reuters said that Mr. Gates's presence at the head of Big Redmond's board will inhibit the adoption of new strategies and products and limit the power of…

iPhone and iPad app developers were dealt a serious blow recently when a Federal Court Judge ruled that Apple can't intervene on their behalf in in the ongoing patent licensing case patent holding company Lodsys is bringing against them. The patent holder claims app developers must pay licensing fees for in-app purchases even though Apple…

A Japanese court has ruled that the Click Wheel in Apple's iPod Classic infringes on a patent owned by Norihiko Saito and has ordered the company to pay Y330 million (about US$3,334,650) in damages. Mr. Saito filed his lawsuit against Apple in 2007 and was originally asking for Y10 billion (about $101,050,000) in damages –…

I am happy to welcome Smile back as this week's sponsor here at TMO, and especially so this week because they've asked me to talk about their brand new product, PDFpen Scan+. Your iPhone's got a great camera, and it also has a really killer processor. Put those two things in the hands of the smart…

IHS has conducted its teardown of the iPhone 5c, and the firm said that the bill of materials (BOM) for the device is some 12 percent less expensive than the iPhone 5 it replaced in Apple's product line. This is in keeping with thoughts on the device, but the IHS report offers some specifics on…

Everyone knows what FaceTime is for: face to face communication. But what happens when you put an iPhone behind the eyepiece of an astronomical telescope and make a FaceTime call? Delightful, remote viewing of the moon and planets. ______________________ I have a friend, Michael Weasner, who is an amateur astronomer near Tucson, Arizona. On Sep…

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined Twitter and sent out his first tweet on Friday, September 20th. That was enough to start the Twitter ball rolling, and he already has more than 187,000 followers. That tweet Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we…

It's always a guess on how much inventory Apple will have for an iPhone (or iPad) launch, but carriers are saying they will have little inventory for Apple's launch. One carrier source characterized inventory levels for launch day to AllThingsD as “grotesquely low.” Another carrier said it was extremely disappointed in Apple's inventory deliveries. Apple…

Apple's technology is everywhere, but a photograph of an iPad being used on the front lines in the civil war in Syria is garnering media attention. The photograph shows a member of the Free Syria Army using an iPad to eyeball-aim a mortar. The image comes from a Reuters story about Russian comments on forcing…

Twitter, Inc. announced on Thursday that the company has filed a confidential (i.e. secret) filing with the SEC to go public. The company has been valued at US$10 billion, but so far Twitter has not announced what kind of valuation it will shoot for in its initial public offering (IPO). Fittingly, Twitter made the announcement…

Just Mobile has added to its line of battery chargers with the introduction of the Gum++. This charger, which offers a 6000 mAh battery capacity, is encased in a glossy, “hard-wearing” ABS plastic shell and is available in black, silver and white. Gum++ battery charger The battery will recharge a smartphone up to three times on…

Apple is one of the major tech companies under huge pressure to reveal what it knew about the U.S. National Security Agency's PRISM spying program (as revealed by British newspaper The Guardian) and what information they handed over to the NSA and other security agencies. Despite all the assurances given by Apple, the introduction of…

I am thrilled today to welcome Many Tricks on board as this week's sponsor here at TMO, especially so because I get to tell you about Moom, their window-managment-enhancement software for OS X. Are you ever frustrated by how much effort it takes to get, say, your Safari window to just the right spot, only to close it…

Apple introduced space gray as the new black for the iPhone 5s on Tuesday, and the not-so-black black is making its way to the iPod lineup, too. The company quietly updated the color options for the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle. Apple's iPod line, now available in space gray In addition to space…

Apple's dual media events—one in Cupertino and one in China—start on Tuesday. Most speculation has focused on what Apple will announce. The iPhone 5S and 5C? Yes. New Apple TV features? Likely. iTunes Radio? Duh. iOS 7? Double duh. A distribution deal with China Mobile and Japan's DoCoMo? Hopefully and maybe, in that order. Forget…

It's time for Microsoft to think differently. The company announced earlier this week that it was buying Nokia. That's certainly thinking differently, but Big Redmond needs to go much further. In today's unsolicited advice column for Microsoft's board of directors, I'm suggesting that Microsoft turn to Communist China for inspiration and become one company with…