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…
News
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,…
Porn Industry Successfully Commercializes iPhone’s FaceTime
“The happy client from the United States ordered a ten minute show with Brees Kelly but was satiated enough to hang up after just over five minutes,” the company said in a statement. FaceTime is the video call platform Apple announced with iPhone 4 that allows users to speak face-to-face with the iPhone 4’s front-facing…
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…
L5 Remote is the Best (So Far)
The L5 Remote from L5 Technology is the fourth* in a series of universal remote control hardware/app combinations I’m reviewing. Like the first three I tested, it can control most of your electronic entertainment devices — televisions, AV receivers, cable boxes, and such — as long as they use an infrared remote control. Compatible with…
Dropbox, TouchCalc, powerOne Calculator and More
Wireless document syncing, for example. Why don’t we have it? In fact, why don’t we have wireless everything syncing? Apple manages to sync my contacts, email, and even my browser bookmarks, so what is so hard about documents? I’ve been using Pages to write my articles on my iPad. I enjoy Pages as a word…
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…
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…
NCSoft Releases Going Rogue Expansion for City of Heroes
This new system includes the introduction of two new in-between alignments, Rogue for Villains and Vigilante for Heroes. Players can undergo a series of missions where their moral choices take them down the path to the other side. Once the hit the midway Other major changes include a merger of the Villain (Red Side) Black…
Apple Supplier Admits to Paying Brokerage Fees; Could Relate to Bribes
A spokesperson for Pegatron acknowledged that Kaedar had made payments to the intermediary companies, but declined to say how much. Paul Shen Devine is accused of having accepted more than one million dollars over the course of a few years in exchange for giving advanced product information to potential suppliers. He pleaded not guilty to…
Apple Manager Charged with Taking Bribes Pleads Not Guilty
Bloomberg reported that federal prosecutor Michelle Kane asked the courts not to allow Mr. Devine to be released on bail, arguing that the former Apple employee was a risk flight. A bail hearing has been set for Wednesday, August 18th. The story of Mr. Devine’s arrest broke over the weekend, with Apple claiming that he…
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…
Wireless Micro Traveler 900LS Mouse - Designed For Notebooks
The new Genius 2.4 GHz Wireless Micro Traveler 900LS mouse is so easy to use it does everything except open the package for you, and even that is easy to do. I’m not kidding. You can actually get into this blister pack without the aid of scissors, knives, or chainsaws. Kudos to Genius for this…
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…
Microsoft Embarrasses Itself with “PC vs. Mac” Web Site
When I first sat down to cover this momentous event, I had intended to just write up a quickie news piece and let our readers do the fun bit of deconstructing the whole thing and making mock of Big Redmond. I couldn’t, though. It’s just so bad, so…embarrassing for Microsoft, I couldn’t keep my snarky…
HP CEO Steps Down Following Sexual Harassment Investigation
Current CFO Cathie Lesjak will take over as interim CEO, but has ruled herself out as a permanent replacement for Mr. Hurd. Instead, the company has formed a Search Committee of board members who will be looking for a new head honcho for HP. The company also stressed that it’s the personal scandal involved in…
The Humicidal Edition
Northerners not accustomed to Florida’s humicidal days and oppressive nights often leave believing this fair state to be a nice place to visit, as long as the air-conditioning works. This Summer has been exceptionally toasty, not just in Florida, but areas all across the country have experienced brutally hot weather, wreaking havoc on utilities and…
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…
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…