Ed Sutherland

Apple joins Google and others supporting call for NSA and FBI transparency

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple has joined with a number of other technology firms, including Google and Microsoft, supporting legislation in the U.S. House and Senate loosening restrictions on divulging national security requests. A letter from the Center for Democracy and Technology asks Congress to approve two bills aimed at letting tech companies reveal how many national security requests they receive.

The iPhone maker has publicly denied assisting NSA's PRISM program for tracking Internet use, but is unable to be more transparent with concerned customers. Along with Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo are also suing the government, charging the restrictions on disclosure violate their right to free speech...

Steve Jobs had hand in newly-patented glass entryway for Shanghai store

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 6, 2013

Typically, Apple patents technology sold within its retail locations. However, today the company received a patent for the design and construction of the glass cylindrical entrance to its Apple Store in Shanghai. Unlike most entrances, the one in Shanghai shapes huge slabs of glass, connected by a complex arrangement of fittings to form a building unto itself. To top it all off, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is among the patent inventors...

Carl Icahn pushes Cook for $150B stock buyback over NYC dinner

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Dinner with billionaire investor Carl Icahn often gives corporate CEOs heartburn. Icahn is known for buying company shares, then pushing for changes - and it is no different with Apple. Monday night Icahn asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to increase to $150 billion the amount of stock the iPhone maker plans to buy back, more than doubling Apple's previously pledge of $60 billion. Last night's New York City dinnertime discussion comes after Icahn invested somewhere near $2 billion in Apple in August. Reports say the activist investor sees Apple shares still undervalued...

iPhone boosts T-Mobile sales, overtakes Android in Japan

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 1, 2013

The iPhone has fueled smartphone sales by Apple's latest U.S. carrier partner, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA. In the three-month period ended in August, the service provider saw its share of domestic smartphone sales jump to 13.2 percent, up 1 percent.

According to a report released Monday, the carrier began in April attracting owners of feature phones upgrading to smartphones. Now, however, 56 percent of consumers buying an iPhone from T-Mobile are coming from another smartphone. Indeed, more than 38 percent of T-Mobile's smartphone purchasers previously owned Android handsets...

Apple loses fight to stop patent troll Lodsys

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

The beat goes on for primo patent troll Lodsys. Apple's attempt to intervene in a concerted clipping of iOS developers failed after a patent-owner friendly judge dismissed the tech giant's legal motion. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in East Texas ruled Apple's motion "is far outside the scope" of his courtroom.

The decision effectively opens the door to Lodsys settling all cases with defendants, thereby ending a 2011 effort by Apple to shield hundreds of thousands of individual iOS developers from being sued for patent-infringement by Lodsys...

LA school security gets an ‘F’ as teens quickly bypass iPad restrictions

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 27, 2013

You just had to see this coming. Los Angeles is temporarily pulling the plug on plans to let students take home iPads issued by the school district. In a surprise move, tech-savvy teens cut through district security like a hot knife through butter, allowing them to check out websites, chat on Twitter or stream music, rather than stick to just school work.

In a memo to L.A. Unified School District officials, the police chief suggests delaying further home distribution of the Apple tablets. Earlier this year, the school district inked a $1 billion deal with Apple, providing as much as 31,000 iPads for all students...

Apple working on multitouch gestures for iOS keyboard, patent hints

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Although Apple's iOS is known for its gesture-based interface, the iPhone maker is notoriously hesitant about enhancing the virtual keyboard feature. A patent granted Tuesday reveals the company has been considering adopting multitouch keyboard from the moment the iPhone appeared. The patent filing entitled 'Swipe gestures for touch screen keyboards' outlines gestures to handle common keyboard tasks, such as deletion, punctuation and more...

Apple and fellow tech titans expand fight against patent trolls to EU

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 27, 2013

Apple and more than a dozen other titans of technology have written to European Union officials, expressing concern that a unified patent court system could encourage patent trolls to expand their lawsuits overseas.

New rules now being developed could create "significant opportunities for abuse" allowing patent owners to "extract substantial royalties," according to the letter obtained by the New York Times.

Starting in 2015 trolls could take infringement cases to non-member countries or nations without much experience, creating a European version of the Eastern District of Texas. Courts in that U.S. district are notorious for rulings favorable to companies suing tech firms, according to the letter...

Apple hasn’t lost its coolness, declare UK brand experts

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 27, 2013

Apple once again leads the list of brands viewed as cool in the UK. In its twelfth annual CoolBrands Top 20 survey suggesting an improving British economy, the iPhone ranks No. 1 among luxury brands such as Aston Martin, Rolex and Bang & Olufsen.

The California-based gadget maker was able to shrug off stiff competition from 10,000 independent brands to retain the top spot. Android's Google dropped to the fifth spot with YouTube and Twitter also falling position. Microsoft's Skype even dropped out of the top 20, according to the Coolbrands rankings...

Apple patent envisions digital autographs

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 27, 2013

Have you ever read a book or listened to music and wanted an autograph of the author or artist? For printed items, the wish is easily granted - not so for their electronic equivalent. Now Apple has filed to patent a method for embedding autographs in ebooks and other digital material.

The patent application, titled 'Embedding an autograph in an electronic book,' describes a way an author can use a special application to digitally sign an ebook, video, song or author content, then share it with owners of the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad devices...

Apple yet again is most-innovative company, leading Samsung and Google

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 27, 2013

Apple again was named the most-innovative company. For the ninth year in a row, the iPhone maker topped a survey of senior executives polled Boston Consulting Group.

South Korea-based rival Samsung was No. 2 and Android's Google was listed as No. 3. Microsoft and automaker Toyota rounded out the top five...

Japan court rules Apple’s click wheel infringes patent

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Apple must pay a Japanese inventor Y300 million (about $3 million USD) for patent infringement involving the iPod's Click Wheel, a court ordered Thursday. The inventor had asked for Y10 billion, but received far less from the court. The provisional ruling, based on sales dating back to 2004, ends a legal dispute which began in 2007...