TMO Workspaces: Bryan Chaffin

This week, we’re taking a look at The Mac Observer’s Co-Founder and Co-Publisher, Bryan Chaffin.All of Bryan’s articles, analyses, and creative endeavors take form on his primary workstation, a 2008 8-core Mac Pro running at 2.8GHz with 18GB RAM and an upgraded Radeon HD 5770 GPU. Two displays are connected to the Mac: a 27-inch…

Sterne Agee Expects Software to Outweigh Hardware at WWDC

“While a lot of anticipation and focus has been on potential new hardware announcements including new Macs,” the analyst told clients in a research note obtained by The Mac Observer, “we believe the bigger news could be around new iOS and OS X software features including enhanced Maps and photosharing.” Mr. Wu said this his…

Gartner: Apple Turns its Complete Inventory Every 5 Days

Gartner looks product supply chains and buying patterns to estimate how quickly companies burn through their available inventory. In Apple’s case, that works out to once every five days.The research firm said,Maintaining its record in the Number one slot was Apple, delivering total solutions to its customers through tightly integrated design of hardware components, firmware,…

Apple Nano-SIM Design Wins ETSI Approval

ETSI stated,The fourth form factor (4FF) card will be 40 percent smaller than the current smallest SIM card design, at 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick. It can be packaged and distributed in a way that is backwards compatible with existing SIM card designs. The new design will offer the same functionality as…

Court Rules Select Java APIs Not Copyrightable

According to CNet, Judge William Alsup issued a narrow ruling that he made sure could applied only to this specific case. Earlier in May, the same jury had ruled that Google had not infringed on patents owned by Oracle. From the judge’s ruling: So long as the specific code used to implement a method is…

ITC Judge May Turn to Cheech & Chong in Apple/Samsung Case

Artist’s Rendition of Judges Cheech and Chong That’s a reference to sketch the comedians performed where they asked those questions. The judge was too polite to quote Messrs. Marin and Chong more extensively, but the punch line to to the gag is [PROFANITY TO FOLLOW]: Looks like dog shit, smells like dog shit, feels like…

Cell Drive’s Cellink I: Powers, Charges, Syncs & Reads

The Cellink I from Cell Drive, which works iPhones and iPods, can function as a portable backup battery, a USB charger, a data sync cable and media transfer unit. Plus, it will support a micro SD/SDCH memory storage card. Cellink IThe Cellink I is designed specifically for iPhone/iPod devices. With a rechargeable battery capacity of 600…

Analyst: Apple May Buy “Swipe to Unlock” Company

Writing for Seeking Alpha, James Altucher said that part of Samsung’s defense against Apple in the United States includes citing Neonode’s patents and claiming that invalidates Apple’s own claims that it owns the swipe to unlock patent.Neonode filed its patent describing touch-based “sweep gesture interfaces” in December 2002, and was finally granted the patent in…

AllThingsD Steve Jobs Interviews Available on iTunes

The iTunes Store describes the collection like this:There’s lots of video of the late Steve Jobs, primarily from his famous introductions of Apple products over the years, and from his oft-quoted Stanford commencement address.But by far the largest trove of video of the legendary innovator candidly answering unrehearsed questions and explaining his views on technology…

Barclays: MacBook Pro/Air Refresh Will Take Share from PCs

The comments came in a research note obtained by The Mac Observer that focused on the role of NAND memory and solid state drives (SSDs) in the computer market. Mr. Reitzes believes that, “consumers are willing to pay a premium for design and performance benefits – even if it means less storage.” More importantly, he…

Apple Seeks Purchase of Italian Audio App Maker Redmatica

Redmatica specializes in digital audio workstation software for OS X and its flagship product, Keymap Pro, features optional integration with Apple’s audio applications Logic, Mainstage, and GarageBand. Redmatica itself is relatively small, with total income reported to be about €26,000 (US$32,000) on less than €100,000 (US$124,000) in revenues per year, although the company’s audio technology,…

Cook on Siri: There’s More to Come

“There is more that it can do,” Mr. Cook told Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher during the interview. “I think you’ll be really pleased with some things you will see over the coming months.”Tim Cook talks about Siri at AllThingsD D10 ConferenceEven though Siri is still in beta it has drawn criticism for failing to…

The SRS iWOW-U Adds Depth To Headphone Music

Let me say up front that I like SRS products because they help us ordinary people get better sound from our iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs. I don’t have to be a sound specialist or even understand how it all works. They do that for me. The iWOW-U is made specifically to work with headphones and earphones.…

Tips And Memories

Original IBM Selectric TypewriterInstead of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a traditional typewriter, the Selectric had a typeball and you could remove it and put on another one to change fonts. At that time I had a job that required me to type page long equations. When I…

Mobile Devices Account for 20% of Web Traffic in US, Canada

Breaking web traffic down by device type, traditional PCs, including desktops and laptops, account for 79.8 percent. Smartphones, on the market much longer than the current crop of tablets, represent 14.6 percent, and tablets take 5.6 percent. For its part, Apple is represented strongly in Chitika’s measured mobile traffic, with the iPad accounting for over…

Tim Cook Declines $75 Million Dividend Payout

Facing growing concerns over its immense cash balance, Apple announced in March a stock buyback and dividend of $2.65 per share to begin “sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012.” In an amendment filed with the SEC Friday, Apple’s compensation committee declared that the dividend would also…

TSA Ready to Spend $3M on Apple Gear

“TSA currently has most of the capabilities in the ‘Microsoft Windows’ and ‘RIM Blackberry’ environments and requires the hardware, software and licenses to support a greater diversity of devices and operating systems as we follow the public driven demand for more mobility,” the agency said in its proposal. “One of the major OEMs today that…

IBM Bans Siri & Dropbox Over Security Concerns

IBM’s restriction on services such as Siri follows the company’s 2010 adoption of a “bring your own device” policy, allowing employees to use personal devices to access IBM networks and data. The policy, which now sees 80,000 of the company’s 400,000 workers using their personal smartphones and tablets, has created security headaches for IBM’s IT…

The Story of the Upside Down, Right Side Up Apple Logo

Sex in the City Screenshot, with an Upside Down Apple LogoYou can bet that the Apple Design Group had good reasons for both placements. User experience has always been a high priority for the company and especially for Steve Jobs when he was at the helm. Originally, the logo was placed so it was right…

ITC Judge Declares Kodak Patent Invalid in Apple Case

This is the same patent that Apple has been contesting in Kodak’s bankruptcy proceedings, accusing the company of “misappropriating” research the two companies had jointly underwent in the 1990s. Apple had asked the court not to allow the patent to be sold in a patent sale being pursued by Kodak, an action protested by Kodak.…

Houghton Mifflin Textbook Publisher Declares Bankruptcy

The move is backed by the company’s creditors and will allow the firm restructure and convert debt into ownership stakes for its creditors. According to Reuters, the firm has some US$3.1 billion in debt that it was struggling to pay back.Houghton Mifflin (as it is often shortened to) competes mainly in the education-driven market for textbooks. The…

ITC: Motorola Smartphones Violate Microsoft Scheduling Patent

Microsoft’s initial success against Motorola comes just days after Apple achieved a temporary import ban on some HTC smartphones resulting from Apple’s victory in patent litigation last December. HTC’s phones eventually cleared customs although both companies are now heading to court-ordered settlement negotiations. Friday’s ITC ruling did not specify which Motorola devices were affected by…

Apple Stock Dips to 80-Day Low of $530

AAPL has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride during the last three months, as the stock rose to an all-time closing high of $636.23 on April 9th, only to give away most of those gains in the last few weeks. The chart below tracks Apple’s three month stock performance. Three Month Chart…