The United States Patent and Trademark Office find themselves extremely busy most of the year receiving, reviewing and awarding patents to various applicants, but it seems that they have been sitting on a number of Apple related submissions that have officially been awarded to the Cupertino based company today.
The iPad is a great product, but like all great products, it doesn't come without its fair share of flaws. Despite single-handedly helming the tablet market for the past two-and-a-half years, we could all pick out issues we'd like to see resolved, and one of the most obvious is the relatively poor speaker design. With the iPhone, the speakers are positioned along the bottom, meaning whichever way you lay it down, the audio - albeit slightly tinny - can always be heard. The iPad's speakers are located on the back of the device, and even though Apple has improved the sound quality through generations of its flagship slate, pushing sound out in the opposite direction doesn't cut it for a device of the iPad's caliber.
Anyone who has ever played Grand Theft Auto will know that the game is packed to the rafters with a plethora of meticulously crafted vehicles, adrenaline fuelled missions and large-scale environments that are filled with surprises and insane amounts of peril. However, putting all of that aside, any frequent GTA gamer will have also spent a ridiculous amount of time driving around the city flicking through the multiple radio stations that are offered with each version of the game. If you don't own the game, or want to experience the musical goodness of one of the world's most popular gaming franchises, then the GTA Radio app for Android is something you need to own.
The Droid DNA is a monster of a phone that successfully raises the bar for manufacturers looking to release a new flagship device. When it comes to sheer horsepower, the mighty Android from HTC simply blows away a lot of competition – all the way from its mind blowing high-res screen, to the CPU that it employs, to the sensors and ergonomics that it carries.
Facebook is the world's foremost social hunt, and as such, is a great place for people to discover new music, movies and other such content. Sensing this, Mark Zuckerberg's company has teamed up with Apple to add iTunes digital gift certificates to its roster, and as well as allowing users to buy iTunes Store credit for friends, said user can also make recommendations as to what the recipient should spend that credit on.
Apple has just seeded the first beta build of OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion to developers. As is always the case with beta software from Apple, the initial build is only available to those who are enrolled on the official OS X developer program and can be downloaded directly from the Mac Dev Center immediately.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that Facebook prefers that their employees fulfill their smartphone needs by using an Android device, after all, they originally took steps to convince workers to move across to an Android device back in August of this year. It makes sense that the Palo Alto company wants their own employees to extensively test their Android app variant, but it seems that they are once again attempting to switch employees over to Android in an internal campaign they are referring to as "Droidfooding".
As we know, patents are a significant part of the consumer electronics game - particularly in the mobile industry, and when it comes to intellectual property, few are more diligent in securing it over at the USPTO than Cupertino-based Apple. But while we're used to seeing the company file lawsuits against the likes of Apple and Google, it was Apple - the creator tor of all things innovative - that had to acquire a trademark from another company to bring the likes of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini to market.
Thanksgiving weekend may have been enhanced by the Black Friday savings on offer, but as many of you will be aware, the deals have not yet ceased. After Black Friday comes Cyber Monday, and with so many big-money savings, it can be hard to keep track. Here, we run through some of the best offers from the companies you like to purchase from, so if you have any money left, check out the Cyber Monday options after the break.
Those who regularly keep abreast of what is going on in the smartphone industry will be more than aware that Samsung and Apple are constantly battling it out for sales supremacy, with Samsung managing to come out on top thanks to their array of extremely popular Android powered devices. Samsung have relied on their Galaxy S II and S III smartphones to bring in the big sales numbers, but it was only the start of this month that they announced the Galaxy Note II had been received extremely well with three million units sold. Less than four weeks later, the statistics are back with Samsung announcing that an additional two million second-generation Notes have flown off the shelves in November.
