After a well-documented and rather grueling court hearing, Apple has prevailed over its Korean-based rival Samsung in a number of patent disputes, and with a settlement of over a billion dollars having been dished out in the Cupertino's favor, a few of the nine-person jury have given their accounts of why they came to the decision that Apple was indeed just with its lawsuits.
Referred to as coffee table computers because of just how easy it is for anyone and everyone to start using them, smartphones (and tablets in particular) need a User Accounts feature quick and fast. People living alone don’t have to face this problem, but when you’re like me or the millions of other tablet owners who live with multiple people under the same roof, privacy of personal data - social networks, email accounts, browser history etc. - is of great importance.
Japanese Apple blog Macotakara - a little hit and miss when it comes to inside information - seems to believe the smaller iPad will definitely receive the "mini" moniker, while the iPod nano will be treated to some Wi-Fi connectivity - allowing users to connect to the cloud in order to access music.
A while ago, my colleague made some good points with regards to the importance of the iPod touch. With the iPad and iPhone having lead the way, the touch has taken something of a backseat, amounting to little more than a mere footnote in the continually-evolving story of the iOS device family.
Upon its arrival to market in early 2010, Apple's iPad really changed the way we compute, and where we became used to fold-out structure complete with a physical keyboard, the fruit company's offering was purely touch-based.
The guys over at Facebook could be forgiven for going into the weekend expecting to have a nice relaxing time, considering the amount of effort that has been expended by the company in the last couple of days by pushing out updates to their mobile software. Both Android and iOS users have benefitted from the world's largest social network, eventually getting themselves into gear with a spree of updates, beginning with a new version of Facebook for Android that brought more efficient image handling and closer control of the creation of events through mobile.
Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is not too far from releasing, and whilst we all mull over the Metro user-interface and quicker boot-up times, there are some very unsettling findings with regards to the privacy of its users.
Although this particular chapter in the Apple vs. Samsung battle has come to an end with a nine person jury ruling in the majority of the instances that were brought before them, that Samsung were indeed guilty of infringing on patents that were owned by Apple Inc. The case was rather peculiar in the fact that until the jury actually came out of deliberation and announced their decisions, nobody could really tell which way the outcome was going to sway, but with Samsung now liable for $1.05 billion in damages to Apple, there is no longer a doubt.
The disagreements between Apple and Samsung had been bubbling away for quite some time, with the the companies first coming to blows relating to alleged patent infringements approximately 18 months ago. It isn't any secret that the two companies have been locked in a San Jose courtroom in California, with their legal teams presenting evidence and testimony to the judge and nine jurors in an attempt to show that they have been wronged in some way by their rivals in the smartphone and tablet market.
Samsung has thrown a launch party in New York City for its latest tablet release, the Galaxy Note 10.1. As is always the case with glitzy events like this, there were plenty of B-list celebrities and models in attendance, with Kate Upton amongst other in attendance.
