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The Mac Observer will once again host its annual Editors Choice Awards at Macworld | iWorld Expo in January. Our editors will choose what they deem to be the best-of-the-best new Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod-related products released between Macworld Expo last year and the start of the show this year. Only companies exhibiting at…

Motorola drops Ep11 patent from ITC complaint against ApplePulling the patent from its ITC complaint makes sense, according to Florian Mueller of Foss Patents. “If Motorola won an ITC import ban over devices implementing that feature, it’s quite possible that the ITC would deny or delay such a ban for public interest considerations,” he said.Motorola’s…

Todd Teresi Tapped for iAd Mr. Teresi came to Adobe from Yahoo! where he worked for ten years. While at the search company he held executive positions in charge of world wide sales (i.e. ad sales), as well as being in charge of the firm’s publishing network. At Apple, Mr. Teresi will report directly to…

The spiderArm system for iPad 2 is composed of articulating arms and two base systems that allow users to safely position an iPad 2 anywhere they want so that it remains in place without being held.The product includes three anodized aluminum arm sections:  baseArm, 45 degree joint 48 cm length (18.75-in)midArm, 46 cm length (18.125-in)shortArm,…

Just exactly what those products and services are is still a little murky since Mr. West apparently hasn’t moved beyond simply wanting to make those things and actually moved into the design and production phase.Kanye West, ready to pick up where Steve Jobs left offHe shared his plans on Twitter Wednesday evening, offering up comments…

As part of the settlement deal Apple and Elan will also cross-license certain patents, according to Reuters.Elan filed its patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in early 2009 following a breakdown in negotiations between the two companies.The company followed up in March 2010 by filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in an effort…

Psystar’s only legal win: Apple documents won’t stay sealedApple didn’t deny that the information was already available or that it had been leaked or stolen before appearing on websites, according to Bloomberg. The Cupertino company’s legal team argued that it never confirmed the information was legit, so it still qualified as trade secrets.Judge Alsup, however,…

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch Mr. Murdoch is the chairman and CEO of News Corp, a media company with holdings all over the world. In the U.S., News Corp is best known for Fox News, the Fox network, and The Wall Street Journal, but the company is also prominent in newspapers and TV in Australia…

First noted by The Verge, the 12-inch figurine features an amazingly (and creepily) authentic reproduction of Mr. Jobs, including his iconic jeans and black turtleneck ensemble and a “One More Thing” backdrop.  Although displayed on the In Icons’s website with a variety of Apple products, including a miniaturized 1984 Macintosh, iPad, and iPhone, the figurine…

The email, reproduced at the employee’s website, describes a devolution of the internal organization and treatment of Apple Retail employees in recent years. The author claims that Apple’s “CORE” training, which stresses individual customer attention, has become almost completely supplanted by the traditional bottom-line approach that other electronic retailers, such as Best Buy, are known…

The app’s complete description states, “This application allows you to buy different things from within the app.”GameStore’s screenshot on the App Store shows a list of games available for purchase, although the image doesn’t match Apple’s usual style of showing just the app and excluding the iPhone’s status bar. Considering the app seems brand new,…

The Sun reported that young Charlie Le Quesne approached an iPhone 4S on display at the Tesco in Coventry and asked Siri, “How many people are there in the world?” Siri’s alleged response: “Shut the f*** up, you ugly t***.” Now, we all know that Siri can be a bit cheeky sometimes, but such a…

Apple makes all of the music you purchase on iTunes available to all of your iTunes-enabled devices and computers for free through what Apple calls “iTunes in the Cloud.” iTunes Match is a paid service (US$24.99 per year) that matches this functionality for all of your music, no matter where you got it. The service…

iTunes customers can expect to get different free songs, books, apps and videos each day. The promo is kicking off with three free tracks from Coldplay’s iTunes Festival in London from earlier this year.Each day’s offering will be available for just 24 hours, and Apple is letting customers sign up for email reminders so they…

In response to outcry from the public and angry customers, Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman stated,Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation — but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on…

As it turns out, Apple’s detours from the road to simplicity are not limited to iCloud. As I continue to use OS X Lion and iOS 5, especially their sync-related features, I keep discovering more places where Apple has strayed. My latest frustration concerns what, on the surface, should be a very simple task: Syncing…

Apple’s Current Apple Store at 451 University in Palo Alto, CASource: Apple  “Our Palo Alto store was one of our first retail stores when we opened it nearly a decade ago and it’s been incredibly popular,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “We are planning a beautiful new store just a few steps away,…

Source: Distimo (Click the image to see a larger version) The information is part of Distimo’s Full Year 2011 report on all the major mobile app stores. According to that report, “nearly all of the app stores” more than doubled the total number of available apps over the course of 2011, and Windows Phone 7…

Wet Nose Design has created an adorable app called Santa’s Big Helper, designed to support your kids’ belief in Santa while giving them activities to pass the time while they wait for the big day. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It requires iOS 5.0 or later. It is available in English…

Phishing scams are efforts to trick users into voluntarily giving up login information, passwords, or account numbers. They can many forms, but the most common tend to be emails the bad guys hope you will either reply to or emails that include links to pages set up to spoof legitimate businesses. In this case, the…

Verbatim’s Bluetooth Mobil Keyboard (97872) is made for traveling. It folds in half and comes with a travel case. When open it measures 12-in. When closed, 6.5-in long and 4-in. wide. The keys are full size, and there are numerous function keys included: arrow keys, tab keys, and sound controls. There is no forward delete.…

Reports claim there wasn’t a fire associated with the explosion, according to Reuters, and Apple is launching its own investigation into the incident. The factory was located in Shanghai’s Songjiang industrial park.Several people were injured at an iPad 2 parts factoryApple spokesperson Carolyn Wu commented, “Our hearts go out to the people who were hurt…

The bill would make it surprisingly easy to get court orders to shut down any website suspected of participating — directly or indirectly — in copyright infringement. Internet service providers would be required to block access to sites that host or link to other sites suspected of copyright infringement, and unauthorized streaming of copyright-protected content…