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Why should he be worried? Innovation benefits everybody, no matter who does it!

Also, if he gets worried, he can ask Machete for help!

Did you know that for $1500, you can build your own book scanner power by a vacuum cleaner? It will harmlessly scan a 1000 page book in about 90 minutes. Scan your entire collection, and then just loan people the digital files.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/13/3639016/google-books-scanner-vacuum-diy

Macs aren't in a walled garden *for now*.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/27/3186875/mac-app-store-sandboxing-frustration-mountain-lion

my stated assumption was that people with tablets generally own smartphones.

carriers can't restrict/overcharge tethering in Australia, and i was under the impression the case was the same in the U.S (as part of the Open access provisions on the 700MHz C Block spectrum.)

Back in July Verizon was supposed to drop objections to the 11 tethering apps it had pulled from the android marketplace

How are Google doing better at hardware/software? What money do they make off their consumer hardware/software? All the profits in the Android space are being made by Samsung, and Google's mobile advertising revenues are simply not keeping up with it's shrinking revenues from desktop advertising. Google is fast approaching the point where they're going to get desperate - 95+% of their revenues STILL come from advertising, and while they've had a good run, a lot of search engines and ad companies are starting to catch up, and will begin eating into their revenues in a major way.

Google+ is a failure. Android isn't making them enough money to even offset the shrinking desktop advertising revenues, much less contribute appreciably to their growth. And as for Google's hardware prowess, let's not forget Herr Schmidt's bold prediction that Google TV would be on a "majority" of TVs by mid-2012. I'm pretty sure November is long past summer.

And, they're under consideration for two (2) separate possible FTC suits - one related to their behavior with their patents, and the other related to their search monopoly.

None of this should be making Google investors very confident.

And from another article from this year Microsoft cracks top 20 list of Linux contributors. So again its reasonable for MS to be at the conference.

So here's what really happened.

Apple already owns two iPhone trademarks in Mexico in Class 9 and Class 28, which covers electronic game devices. But in 2009, Apple's lawyers decided iFone's Mexican Class 38 mark wasn't being actively used, and they filed a lawsuit to try and get it canceled so they could register their own pending Class 38 mark on "iPhone." iFone obviously disagreed and convinced the Mexican courts that they were still using the mark in commerce, which is where today's ruling comes from — Apple lost another round of appeals trying to cancel the iFone mark in Class 38. iFone attorney Eduardo Gallastegui was obviously happy about it, telling wire service Efe that "iFone is fully entitled to the use of its brand name."

The confusion appears to come from what Gallastegui told El Universal, which details iFone's trademark infringement countersuit and demands against Apple. Garbled through Google Translate, it sounds like the court ordered Apple to pay substantial fines and perhaps even pull the iPhone from market — a big deal since the iPhone 5 just launched with Mexican carrier partners. But those are just the demands, and iFone's case doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere yet. We'll obviously update if we learn otherwise, but I would guess Apple and iFone will eventually settle this one and we'll never hear about it again.

Two words: Cross-licensing.

Apple refuses to do it. Everyone else does. That's why we're here discussing this at all.

Incorrect.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/13/3239977/apple-and-microsoft-cross-license-agreement-includes-anti-cloning

So, I'm disappointed that the new Nexus doesn't have LTE, but there is some sense in it (see the linked below for a good explanation) and I believe that the Nexus is once again worth recommending to friends.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte

The article notes that it's partly due to "simple economics of building a halo product for a small niche of early adopters" and that it's an "extremely costly undertaking with sharply limited potential markets".

This reads almost exactly like an Apple fan's response to why last year's iPhone 4S didn't have LTE (other reasons/excuses being that LTE tech at the time wasn't miniature or energy efficient enough).

I wonder how many Android users who slagged last year's iPhone 4S for not having LTE, are now using "free and open at all costs" as the justification for not having LTE on Google's own flagship, carrier-unencumbered devices.

Yes, there's a number of Android phones with LTE--but they're tied to the carrier. Google and Android purists apparently want to break that shackle, which greatly limits available choices.

Disney has confirmed plans for a new trilogy (Episodes 7-9), and the movies are currently in "early stage development." They're looking to release a movie every other year, with 2015, 2017, and 2019 as the current target dates.

I'm personally rooting for expanding into some of Timothy Zahn's books as they move beyond those. I wonder how they'll treat the Extended Universe?

Pirates of Coruscant

Johnny Depp as Luke Skywalker - you heard it here first.

First Sandy as a disaster, now this.

Disney has confirmed plans for a new trilogy (Episodes 7-9), and the movies are currently in "early stage development." They're looking to release a movie every other year, with 2015, 2017, and 2019 as the current target dates.

I'm personally rooting for expanding into some of Timothy Zahn's books as they move beyond those. I wonder how they'll treat the Extended Universe?

I was hoping to purchase a Nexus 4, and was very disappointed that I can't get one for Sprint. After a little research, I came across this article explaining the lack of LTE: http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte

In short, blame your greedy carrier.

I think you're right about a lot of people charging their devices overnight. While we could debate the reasons why we've gotten to a place where that's necessary, charging overnight should be as simple as setting the phone down on your nightstand with the Nexus 4's inductive charging dock (called the wireless charging orb). I've always been a fan of docks, and I'm hoping this becomes more mainstream so that a dock like this could be interchangeable with multiple devices (which should already be possible since it's using the Qi wireless charging standard).

In some countries and on some carriers one of the promises of the Nexus brand was broken: we didn't get timely OS updates.

I felt this was a breach of trust - the sort of thing we expect from our carriers and some manufacturers - and it meant I couldn't recommend the Galaxy Nexus to others.

Fortunately, it seems that what happened with the Galaxy Nexus was not acceptable to Google either, and I'm really impressed with the lengths they are going to - bypassing the carriers completely in my country - to set things right.

They will probably only sell a tiny number of the new Nexus w/o carrier support but then again, the carriers' were never going to like or promote a phone that came unlocked and with broad carrier support - so they did little to promote the G'Nex anyway.

So, I'm disappointed that the new Nexus doesn't have LTE, but there is some sense in it (see the linked below for a good explanation) and I believe that the Nexus is once again worth recommending to friends*.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569688/why-nexus-4-does-not-have-4g-lte

(*assuming the reviews don't uncover lots of bugs or unexpected shortcomings.)

Yes, really, by a large margin.

X needs to be replaced with something the way Linux replaced Unix. X is full of old solutions to old problems, loads of features and methods that nobody (or hardly anybody) uses, is far too complex. It's stuck with an architecture and components slavishly oriented to the client/server pattern rather than distributed peers and meshes of servers for shared AV on multiple devices of very different power that people actually use.Android ditched X. We should replace it even on Linux with Skia, adding a multi-window extension and a widget that allows both X and Skia to display simultaneously. Until nobody uses X anymore.

Make these windows into objects that can be easily collected into groups, pipe data among them, flick them among networked machines (including public screens). A new infrastructure for the new, ubiquitous AV presentation we're running on mobile parallel supercomputers.

The flagship device for RT, along with the OS, and weak buggy ecosystem seem destined to flop.

Extensive Verge review.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/23/3540550/microsoft-surface-review

No, No they did not. MS headquarters baiscally said their Czech office was smoking crack.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/10/3483076/office-for-ipad-ios-android-2013

Pay attention to the update at the bottom of the story.

No, they issued a denial because the Czech office released information that it was not authorized to release. I don't think anyone thinks that the Czech office was pulling something out of their arse. Office for iOS and Android are real projects in development at Microsoft as contingency plans incase Windows RT falls flat on its face.

No, No they did not. MS headquarters baiscally said their Czech office was smoking crack.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/10/3483076/office-for-ipad-ios-android-2013

Pay attention to the update at the bottom of the story.

It appears I've not been keeping up with current events. I just learned today that Windows RT (on the Surface) is not really Windows 8. It's a scaled down version running a scaled down version of Office and will not run Windows 8 apps. (It will run Windows RT apps, a considerably smaller selection.)

Is this scenario familiar to anyone? So, Microsoft thought it was time to dig up the moldy corpse that is the Windows CE concept, and call it new? And they thought this would put them on the map?

I noticed on Fred Wilsons blog today that the FCC endorsed "BoxeeTV" device has been announced - http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/10/boxee-tv.html This was sort of announced recently along with the FCC decision that cable tv providers no longer need to carry unencrypted cable http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/15/3506030/fcc-allows-basic-cable-encryption-protects-consumers-open-access (guess those washington lobbying efforts paid off), One point of note the FCC announcements indicated that cable providers only need to offer this for free for 2 years and then will be allowed to charge for this from then on http://www.slashgear.com/fcc-cuts-boxee-a-little-encryption-slack-but-not-forever-15251887/ , I cant find any information from Boxee about what these costs will be from the cable providers to make BoxeeTV work? I'm also curious about "storage in the cloud" and whether Boxee expects any patent challenges around this? eg would be a shame if an injunction strikes down the cloud portion functionality. http://blog.collins.net.pr/2012/10/boxeetv-announced.html

Only the Surface Pro runs the Windows desktop. The Surface/WinRT machine mentioned is Metro-only.

Well that's not true. It does have a desktop mode. However, it is true that the RT will not use desktop apps.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/10/3296443/windows-rt-arm-tablets-no-desktop-mode

I think google may have beaten them to it

According to this article, the images are even clearer in google maps

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/9/3477836/taiwan-radar-defense-system-apple-ios-6-maps-complaint

It was on The Verge and it is pretty obvious Steve Perlman was both the architect and destroyer of OnLive.

Oh I think you are on to something. If I join you and a bunch of others in Operation Dildo Want, we can finally convince Nintendo to make a WarioWare ShoveItUpYourAssGame for the WiiU (now that the old Wii's sun will soon set). Then, when Platinum Games gets wind of this, their horrified management will cancel their Bayonetta 2 exclusivity plan there, and they'll move it and the original to, say, Steam where I can buy 'em for the PC!

...what!? I can dream! About the games...and her butt...and they've been kinda talking about it too...

AFAIK, no HDMI interface is even announced let alone available

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/13/3329062/apple-lightning-hdmi-vga-cable-adapter-coming-months
'An Apple spokesperson told The Verge that Lightning to HDMI and Lightning to VGA cables "will be available in the coming months."'

My understanding is that the 30 pin adapter they are selling provides analog audio but not iPod control

http://www.macworld.com/article/1168555/what_apples_new_lightning_connector_means_for_you.html
'Apple has confirmed to Macworld that these adapters support analog and USB audio-out, as well as syncing and charging. However, the adapters don’t support video-out or iPod mode, the latter a special mode that lets particular accessories, such as car stereos and some whole-home-audio systems, display your iPod’s menus on the accessory’s own screen.'
And as a commenter in this article points out, the iPod will still play audio over these systems since that's handled by the analog interface.

some of this is a desire to manage DRM

What DRM? None of the music on my iPhone has any DRM on it! The "FairPlay" DRM was removed from iTunes store music in early 2009.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/4/3453756/jolla-to-show-off-new-meego-based-os-in-finland-next-month

But the iPhone 5 has huge scratch problems all over the back of the phone, especially compared to the iPhone 4, this has been widely reported, even on arrival of the product. Every other manufacturer did the smart thing as far as the actual camera lens is concerned, and recessed it so it couldn't be scratched. Not to mention even if the iPhone 4 has a similar problem it is far less visible. E.G http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/apple-says-iphone-5-scratches-normal-aluminum-products-222413716.html http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/schiller-says-iphone-5-scratches-are-normal-as-light-leaks-reported-1099691 http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/136835-apple-responds-to-iphone-5-scuffgate-scratches-and-chips-are-normal http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/913150-iphone-5-users-complain-about-scratched-phones http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381462/iphone-5-scuff-damage-aluminum That enough evidence, or are you saying you would rather a scratched case with a clear lens than no scratches at all (as on the iPhone 4)

Since none of those things are true - yes.

Why do you always launch to the defense of Apple? Never fear SuperApologist is here! Defending everything Apple does and denying any and all problems!

One of the many examples of them being scratched out of the box.
FWIW my iPhone 5 was not damaged out of the box, but i'm not going to be so ignorant as to say that the problem does not exist simply because i do not have it. I've never had an RROD on any of my XBoxes, so does that mean the RROD issue is untrue? Or is it still true because it's not Apple.

The maps have many errors (not saying Google Maps was perfect, but Apple Maps is not better, in fact by most reports is worse) and Flyover is not a replacement for StreetView, which should be obvious given the data that it is being created with.

The purple camera haze most definitely is a problem.

I'm sorry if this is going to cause you to take a reduced payment on your shill check from Apple. I can't see any other reason someone would deny obvious problems.

... the author in all likelihood dead, but his heirs or other owners of the copyright may be difficult or even impossible to identify or find. The copyright term should be shorter."

Oh please we all know why copyright terms are continuously increased. Because of companies like Disney do not want to lose one of their most profitable franchise (The Mickey Mouse Protection Act). Also the MPAA, RIAA and the like do not want to compete with public domain work that are just 14 or 24 years old (which was the original copyright terms, and that in a time where the most advanced copy-machine was the printing press).

I just wait until 2019, in which year we get the Protect Mickey Mouse to the End Of the Universe Act of 2018, in which the copyright terms are increased to the life time of the sun, which is per definition limited to just a few billion years and as such in bounds of the constitution*. Of course it will not end in the USA, because of some "free trade" treaty the copyright terms will be all "aligned" across the EU, Japan, Australia, Canada.

Also just forget about your rights to privacy and due-process. Because Mickey Mouse is one of the most important national treasures, there is no freedom that can be sacrificed to ensure future profits. Personal computing is also overrated, to protect our artists we need to put everything in a walled garden with Trusted Computing Chips and open source operating systems will just be made impossible to install. We already put teenagers in jail for copyright infringement. Due-process is already gone for good, and who cares about privacy and guaranteed rights, like private copy and format shift? We just declare everyone a pirate, that's easier anyway.

[*] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause

... by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

And I can say it's great, and it's terrible.

The great -- it's really, really fast. Boot times are under 10 seconds to completely usable, apps launch fast, and IE10 is really not as bad as I thought it might be. The snapping of windows to side by side and whatever work really, really well, and I find myself more productive by seeing my email snapped to the side and then browsing or whatever.

The bad -- the experience is really jarring. Most of my time is spent in the "desktop" which is a complete carryover from Windows 7. I would have thought that Microsoft would have taken the effort to re-skin that in a way better than they have (see here: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2822891/windows-desktop-ui-concept), but they didn't. It's a complete lack of effort. Not to mention, that things like battery life remaining, the time, are hidden into the OS and don't make appearances anywhere.

The ugly -- Media Center. Fuck man, that's probably the best app in Windows, and could really kick the crap out of the Apple TV or Google TV if it was properly developed. With Windows 8's API structure there could be a lot of integration here, making media center the "hub" for entertainment on the PC. So if you wanted Netflix, or Amazon, or whatever - you'd have to integrate it into Media Center. But they just booted it out because people weren't using it. Of course they weren't... when you treat it like a third rate product, it's going to get third rate attention.

Also ugly -- control panel. There are two of them in the OS. One is the 'desktop' version which remains unchanged from Windows 7, and then there's the Metro one that lets you work on settings for "Metro". Additionally multi monitor support with "hot spots" is a nightmare. I have two monitors and at work, I have 3. Trying to get into the bottom right or left to click on the start menu is extremely difficult, and in a remote desktop window, even harder. You can't use shortcut keys in remote desktop, but I've gotten used to using Windows Key + C for the charms bar, but realistically it's annoying.

All in all it's a mixed bag. Microsoft needs to step up development to complete the UI experience because right now it's a joke. The OS itself is fundamentally better too, in terms of speed, stability, resource usage, sleep/hibernate, etc. However nobody's going to care if it acts like a fucked up monster to play with. Most people will adapt, as they always do, and it's not terribly hard to get used to. But if you want to compete in a world of where Apple makes design a #1 priority, and people VALUE that, then you have to fix the UI experience in Windows. It's not all about usability.

China Labor Watch reports worker abuse, underage employment at Samsung factories

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/5/3293674/china-labor-watch-samsung-labor-abuse-underage-employment

So how is that Nexus III going for you ?

You really claim that these days you can buy stuff that doesn't has one or mulitple components not manufactered in China ?

Your only choice for this is probably iOS, since Android's latencies are still much much higher than is required for real time audio.

Audio Latency is much better in Jelly Bean, so you're probably better off with Android given how much more hacker-friendly the ecosystem is.

AT&T is going to gouge the consumer for every cent they can. The irony, or course, is that Apple trumpets the fact that you can now make Facetime calls over a 3G/4G connection instead of WiFi. But the owner of the pipes (AT&T) is going to restrict how much of it you can use.

Um, I know you don't keep up on such things; but Apple has been on carriers other than AT&T for some time now, and they don't all pose restrictions on FaceTime. So it is not in the least disingenuous for Apple to tout that new feature in iOS 6.

Having said that, and as an AT&T customer myself, I think that what they are doing with both FaceTime AND Tethering should be frickin' illegal, even if it isn't. It's my data I'm paying for. AT&T SHOULD be a dumb pipe, nothing more, nothing less...

ThinkGeek wasn't part of the purchase.

In this article, it mentions that the revenue for Slashdot, SourceForge, and Freecode (the 3 acquisitions) was $20 million last year. I'm not totally sure what it means to sell them for 1 year's revenue, but the article interpreted that fact as as a suggestion of trouble within the 3 sites.

Link for above: http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/16/3341712/andy-rubin-aliyun-os-fragmentation

Funny you should mention Google Maps... before Motoroogle, Skyhook had a deal with Motorola to provide location services. Then Google stepped in and Motorola changed their mind. There's a lawsuit but it's been out of the news for a while.

"[W]e are using compatibility as a club to make them do what we want." -- Google.

http://androidandme.com/2011/09/news/intel-and-google-announce-android-x86-optimization/
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2109367/df-intel-outlines-developer-tools-android-tablet-integrationhttp://www.itproportal.com/2011/12/05/intel-google-design-android-smartphones-run-atom-processors/
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/105189-intels-x86-android-smartphone-and-tablet-plans-exposed
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5770/lava-xolo-x900-review-the-first-intel-medfield-phone
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/24/3040706/intel-x86-image-for-android-ice-cream-sandwich-sdk

Plus, I bet Google steps in. Its a Google API he is using that is the subject of the troll.

Actually, I'm surprised it took so long for a response. Laminar Research was sued back in July 22, 2012.

In fact, this is part of the lawsuit that Uniloc filed against Mojang (Minecraft) as well, plus EA and many other big names. And the one where the founder says he's not a "patent troll".

I'd be surprised if Google didn't step in - it's Google's technology they're all using in the end. Just like how Apple stepped in when a bunch of iOS developers (and later, Android devs) got sued over in-app purchases.

It's not an "idea". It is a user interface element that gives users intuitable feedback about what is happening, and that user interface element didn't exist before Apple invented it.

Don't be silly, that prior art is well known.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/15/3244581/samsung-expert-apple-bounce-back-patent-invalid

I guess that would be relevant if Apple's design patent were just for "grid of colorful icons."

But it isn't.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/6/3297995/forced-to-work-on-the-iphone-5-thats-what-these-chinese-students-claim

I thought the most interesting section was this:
 
  "The factory is a component manufacturing location, which raises questions as to how workers would know they were working on the iPhone 5, as they are certainly not assembling them there"

Nilay Patel of the verge, an actual honest-to-god copyright lawyer not just someone who plays an expert on the web, disagrees in his aptly named "The myth of pinch-to-zoom: how a confused media gave Apple something it doesn't own":

"So let's just be extremely clear about this: the jury ruled that 21 of 24 accused Samsung phones infringed claim 8 of Apple patent 7,844,915, which specifically covers a programming interface which detects if one finger on a screen is scrolling or two or more fingers are doing something else. It is one possible step along the road to pinch-to-zoom, but it is definitely not pinch-to-zoom itself. And — crucially — it may not be that hard to design around."

Maybe read up there too ?

If you actually watch the video, you'll see that the patent he is talking about is the "460" patent, is a Samsung patent on a method of transmitting emails from a mobile phone with a camera. Indeed, the jury did rule that Apple had not proved that Samsung's patent was invalid. However, they also ruled that Apple did not violate it, so even if the jury had found Samsung's patent invalid based on prior art, it would not have changed anything.

I see that most of us have been talking about $1 billion damages, but since the jury say the infringement was "willful" Apple is asking for $3 billion. http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/27/3269534/apple-samsung-gear-triple-damages-injunctions-and-no-reasonable-jury-JNOV/in/3030480 That's enough to hurt! Well grab the popcorn, this isn't over yet.

But fifth, bounce-back scrolling and inertial scrolling really were actually innovative and useful â" so useful as to seem obvious in retrospect.

Maybe they are obvious. Either that or Apple copied from DiamondTouch. I don't see how, at least for bounce-back scrolling, the jury upheld the patent infringement. And "inertial scrolling", the basic idea has been around in other forms before touch UI became popular.

Even if one doesn't agree with software patents (and frankly, I have a hard time with them), one should at least be able to agree that IF software is to be patentable, then this is the kind of thing that should be patentable.

So now instead of "on the Internet" and "social" patents, we've got a bunch of stupid "on a touch UI" patents. No thanks.

Except the prior art wasn't obvious. It was noted in the news that the prior art presented by samsung was weak, and unsuccessful. They spent hours trying to establish prior art and were shot down.

I don't think 'obvious' means what you think it means.

It's quite obvious that Samsung's claims about prior art have merit.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/24/3266571/apple-decisively-wins-samsung-trial-what-it-means

According to the Verge http://live.theverge.com/apple-samsung-verdict-live/ Apple was awarded $1,051,855,000 in damages. Samsung got nada. Zip. Zero.

Big win for Apple and a legal lesson to the folks who claimed this case was about "a rectangle with rounded corners."

it's that there's no mouse and keyboard or printing support (as far as I know)

You... don't know. Here's a list of a couple hundred printers that work with the iPad, here is a roundup of keyboard/case solutions for the iPad from The Verge. I'm not going to search for mouse setups for a multi-touch device for various reasons.

You know what really bugs me about your post? Since the first time I logged into slashdot, I've been reading about cases of FUD working against Linux and Open Source Software. Now I'm seeing Linux and Android fanboys with their heads up their asses, spreading the same kind of FUD. "Oh, as far as I know, it doesn't work with external keyboards." sure brings me back to the times of, "It seems to me that if it was good, they'd charge money for it."

It's kinda sad that Apple hates on Linux then actually released a product that's less functional, less flexible, and less compatible with other software than Linux.

Apple hates on Linux? Linux isn't even on Apple's radar. What they've made is a product that's more functional and flexible than a phone, while being considerably more portable than a laptop. They weren't trying to create a new laptop, they were aiming for a product between laptops and phones. Most people have extremely low demands of their computers. Email, Skype, a browser and a photo editing application. Hell, my girlfriend is technical enough to fix her own router, but I haven't seen her do anything on her laptop that she couldn't do on a tablet in the four months we've been living together.