By Greg Mills

I submitted my original slogan "No bars in more places" to AT&T some time ago and they never got back to me. If anyone notices them using my slogan without compensating me, I plan to sue ...

An article posted at "CNN" titled "AT&T is just bad for the wrong people in the wrong places" glosses over connection issues the rest of us have. Dan Frommer of "Business Insider" presents a scenario the folks at AT&T wish was the truth. Frommer thinks the network problems are mostly limited to shrilled "tech- and media-types limited to New York and San Francisco. While I dispute that rationalization, he does make a valid point that downtown metropolitan areas with tall buildings are a cell system nightmare. See the verbal flowery fluff painting AT&T nice at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/08/13/att.wireless.network/index.html?hpt=Sbin .

If the problem with the AT&T network was just in big cities due to skyscrapers...

I'm still mulling over the possibility of selling my current 27-inch, "tricked out" iMac and buying one of the new models so I can see how the new memory, new graphics card and an SSD drive feels.

On the other hand, those features are nice, but my current iMac is plenty fast enough and Apple didn't include any "gotta have" features in the latest rev of the consumer/prosumer desktop. I was certain that Apple would include USB 3.0, but they didn't. Why? Who knows. I've written Apple about the exclusion, but -- no surprise -- I've received no answer.

Syncing an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch with USB 3.0 would be an improvement. Or Apple could bring back FireWire syncing. Remember how wonderful the syncing of the original iPod was with FireWire 400? But backing up and syncing with the current USB 2 is just painful. Getting back to very short syncs would be a blessing.

-- Dennis Sellers

An Apple patent (number 20100205531) has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office for a portable media device including an user interface event passthrough to non-media-playback processing.

A method of operating a portable electronics device can include integrated operation of media playback processing and non-media-playback processing (such as, for example, a game). The method can include receiving an event corresponding to operation of a user interface item by a user of the portable electronics device. The received event can be provided to the non-media-playback processing. The non-media-playback processing can determine whether to cause an action corresponding to the provided received event with respect to the non-media-playback processing.

For an event determined by the non-media-playback processing to not cause an action corresponding to the provided received event with respect to the non-media-playback processing, the provided received event can be...

Three Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. They involve portable devices, location information and power management. Following is a summary of each.

Patent number 20100205472 involves a method and system for operating a portable electronic device in a power-limited manner. Improved techniques to manage operation of a portable electronic device having a substantially depleted battery when power is available from an external, power-limited source are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, the substantially depleted battery can be initially charged while a power-intensive operation is delayed. Once the battery has adequate charge to assist the external, power-limited source in powering the portable electronic device, the power-intensive operation can be performed. In this manner, power consumption of a portable electronic device can be managed so that reliable operation is achieved without exceeding limits on power being...

An Apple patent (number 20100201692) for user interface for controlling animation of an object has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The patent relates generally to computer animation and, more specifically, to animating an object using behaviors. It may point to new software or planned tweaks to the Final Cut products.

Per the patent, user can control the animation of an object via an interface that includes a control area and a user-manipulable control element. In one embodiment, the control area includes an ellipse, and the user-manipulable control element includes an arrow. In yet another embodiment, the control area includes an ellipse, and the user-manipulable control element includes two points on the circumference of the ellipse.

In yet another embodiment, the control area includes a first rectangle, and the user-manipulable control element includes a second rectangle. In yet another embodiment, the user-manipulable control element includes...

By Greg Mills

I was shocked, as were many other Apple observers that an Apple patent application sported an obvious rip-off of the user interface of an iOS app on the Apple App Store called "Where To?"  Apple files hundreds of patent applications on everything they do.  

Playing the tech "that is covered by our patent" game in federal court requires all the legal ammunition possible, so they try to protect all their ideas. A recent Apple patent app that was published by the US Patent Office included an illustration, in line drawing form, that was clearly an illustration of an existing iOS App owned by someone else. This gaff was no doubt embarrassing to the legal staff at Apple and I bet someone got their butt in a sling over it.

Apple has a sort of "white knight aura" about it on intellectual property issues. Apple often the target of patent trolling artists hoping to cash in on Apple's success. While certainly, in a competitive market with a...

By Greg Mills

I got an inquiry this morning from an aspiring author who wondered what the threshold amounts are for Apple to cut her a check. That would seem to be an easy question to answer, but little is available either by Googling the key words or by checking the Apple web site.  

All I found was this quote from the contract authors must approve to upload their eBooks. I pasted it into this article, and it seems to say that after Apple's cut is taken out and any taxes that might be due are removed the balance due the author is paid when the check is $150 or more.   

From Apple's: EBOOK AGENCY/COMMISSIONAIRE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT, Section 5: Commission; Tax; and Reporting, paragraph (c) "After deducting Apple’s commission, and any taxes collected by Apple under Section 5(f) hereof, from eBook Proceeds, Apple shall either remit to Publisher, or issue a credit in Publisher’s favor, subject to Apple’s standard business practices, including...

Apple has has been granted patents for the ornamental design of a computer display (D621,414, for Mac OS X), a keyboard (D631,402), computing device (D621,409, the MacBook Pro), packaging (D621,256) and an electronic device (D621,397, the Mac mini).

The inventors listed on these patents are Andre K. Bartley, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Steve Jobs, Duncan Robert Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas B. Satzger, Calvin Q. Seid, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer. Also, several Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 7,773,139 is for an image sensor with photosensitive thin film transistors. It involves an image sensor array includes image sensors having photo TFTs to generate photocurrent in response to received images. The photo TFTs each have their respective gate...

By Greg Mills

A lot of what the empowerment of the Internet is all about is allowing everyone to do what has been hard to do in the past. Streamlining and enablement create a sort of democratization of information.

That is what computers and the giant data bases create, as the Internet seeks out the remote pockets of people who have obtained access. Publishing a book used to be a game authors played with hard copy publishers, who had the power to make or break an author.  The  only other alternative was self publishing a book, which was expensive and likely a money loser as the hard copy book publishers also control the literary market place.  

Then the notion of on line e-publishing came along. That changed everything. The process of publishing that book that is sitting on your computer in a word processor file suddenly is becoming easy to do with any Intel Mac and a bit of software.  The process is likely to be streamlined soon.

I...

Notwithstanding the economic downturn, the smartphone market is on an upswing, with consumers increasingly seeking devices that are well designed with innovative features and applications such as touch screen technology, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and location-based service (LBS), according to notes Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/). And that, of course, is good news for Apple.

These devices continue to be status symbols in the consumer and enterprise markets, says Research and Markets. In the next couple of years, software is expected to play a major role in the mobile handset market, along with more standardized hardware design, adds the research group. And, again, Apple has a leg up on the competition in this arena.

Mobile operators are likely to partner with significant participants from the Internet community, the media and the entertainment...

Earlier this week I asked if perhaps Apple was planning on replacing IDVD with cloud storage (something I'm personally against). But "MacNews" reader Wayne Folta has an idea that would make it more acceptable to folks like me who like having physical media.

"What if Apple would host your videos in their cloud, and then you could choose 'Make DVD' and assemble a DVD of your chosen videos and have a nicely-printed disc mailed to your chosen recipient?" he asks. "They already do this with iPhoto (get a photo book printed), so it might make sense. More convenient for mom and pop, who won't have to worry about burning a coaster, or trying to figure out how to get their DVD to look 'professional,' with a nice photo printed onto the top side."


Good idea, Wayne. Apple, are you listening?

-- Dennis Sellers

An Apple patent (number 20100198626) involving systems and methods for accessing shopping center services using a portable electronic device has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It's directed to systems and methods for enhancing a user's experience at a shopping center. In particular, it's directed to providing a "heat map" to indicate popular areas of or products in a mall.

In some embodiments, an integrated application available on an electronic device can provide information for promotional and available sales of goods and services, allow a user to browse and search through available content providers of the shopping center, such as parking, restaurants, and clothing stores, to purchase content based on the personal needs of a user. In some embodiments, an application available on an electronic device can check for the availability of particular items and show ratings or reviews for stores carrying the items. In some embodiments, In particular, the...