Apple has this afternoon updated its iWork suite for both iOS and the Mac. The mobile versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote all received fairly significant changes, and their Mac counterparts received minor updates. We've got the change logs for the apps after the break...
Apple has an anti-licensing policy in place that strictly forbids licensing its inventions, sans standard-essential patents, to its competitors. That's the gist of court documents patent blogger Florian Müeller uncovered today. He notes the upcoming hearing concerning the Apple-HTC settlement could bring some more clarity about how Apple structures licensing deals and which exceptions and carve-outs it actually imposes.
US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered that the patents Apple and HTC are cross-licensing as part of their settlement are to remain unsealed, though the general public won't be able to have a peek at confidential material.
While Apple's previous briefs did deny that its prized iPhone patents are in fact broadly licensed, Apple struck a far-reaching cross-licensing agreement with Nokia before and, as of recently, with HTC. And the plot thickens...
Earlier this year, Apple purchased 38 acres of land on the corner of West Parmer Lane and Delcour Drive in Austin to expand its Texas-based campus. The buildout is going to double Apple’s work force in the area, creating some 3,600 jobs. And according to a new report, construction on the site is underway...
As the holiday season kicks into full swing, a report reveals Apple's now lifted restrictions on the number of iPhone 5 purchases allowed. Previously, a customer was allowed to buy just two unlocked iPhone 5 units per transaction. The company further limited purchases to ten units per lifetime. But with the supply chain catching up to demand, Apple has finally relaxed its sales policy.
Starting today, only the sky is the limit as the iPhone maker lets you buy an unlimited number of its latest handsets, though its web store still processes only ten units in a single transaction. The removal of restrictions applies to Apple's web store, as well as brick-and-mortar outlets...
Save the date for Google I/O 2013: today, the search giant confirmed its upcoming annual developer conference will run in San Francisco from May 15 through May 17, 2013. The three-day pilgrimage, just 162 days away, is bound to garner media interest with updates to Google's key consumer products, namely Android, Nexus gadgets and the Chrome browser.
And what technology conference would it be without a few surprise announcements here and there? Curiously enough, with Google I/O 2013 the company is back to holding its biggest yearly event ahead of Apple, whose WWDC normally runs in June or July...
Looking to pimp your iPhone 5 or iPad mini beyond the stock black & slate and white & silver finish? Talk to AnoStyle, a company that offers quite a remarkable anodization service which paints your device in a bunch of great looking colors. Just send them your brand spanking new iPhone 5 or iPad mini and pick your color of choice.
These include red, pink, yellow, gold, orange, blue, teal, violet, copper, green, blue steel or bronze shades for a brand new look. The conversions is gonna set you back $249 per iPhone 5, or $299 for an iPad mini mod. You can also add an optional $40 Ghost Armor that has been "precisely pre-cut to invisibly protect your device from scratches and dings" with a material that the military helicopter blades, fighter jets' wingtips and the space shuttle's wingtips are made of...
Google has just updated its Gmail iOS app with multiple account support, a way overdue feature which finally allows you to set up, use and switch between up to five different Google accounts with just a few taps.
Gmail version 2.0, a major overhaul, in addition to a much cleaner and sleeker look has learned a few useful new tricks, like infinite scrolling inbox, threaded conversations, profile pictures, search predictions and auto-complete contact names, to name a few.
But the list of enhancements doesn't end there. Numerous new animations from swivels to transitions will dazzle you. Plus, you can now respond to Google Calendar invites inline, set up real-time notifications for new mail or take advantage of the interactive Google+ posts support to +1 and comment on Google+ posts inline. There's also a new app icon and a redesigned welcome experience. Do any of these features ring a bell? Profile pictures? Multiple accounts? Threaded conversations?
Yup, seems Google made good on its promise to leverage May's Sparrow acquisition towards improving the Gmail mobile experience. The search firm occasionally refreshes Sparrow with maintenance updates, like last month when the Sparrow app gained iPhone 5 and Passbook support...
More good news for people keeping their fingers crossed for Sharp's IGZO panels appearing on iOS devices: Tuesday morning, The Wall Street Journal reported that chip maker Qualcomm has agreed to invest as much as ¥9.9 billion, or approximately $120.4 million, in "what is expected to be the first in a series of capital injections to shore up" Sharp's battered finances and advance its IGZO tech.
That's good news as Foxconn's and Apple's multi-billion dollar deals with Sharp appear to be going nowhere. Sharp's stock was downgraded to junk and the ailing Japanese consumer electronics maker is now trying to obtain investments from anyone, be it Apple, Intel, Foxconn or Qualcomm.
The launch of Sharp's awesome, albeit pricey, 32-inch 4K IGZO pro monitor and the introduction of its own tablet, the Aquos Pad SHT 21, which has a seven-inch IGZO display, both indicate yields are improving and so the likelihood of Apple re-considering IGZO panels in future iOS devices is now growing with each passing day...
After updating its Kindle e-reading app for the iPhone and iPad last month with the X-Ray for Textbooks feature, the online retailer Amazon today refreshed the software, having added the useful X-Ray for Books capability. Basically the “bones of the book”, as Amazon puts it, X-Ray for Books helps you learn more about notable characters, places and phrases with nice descriptions from Shelfari.com and Wikipedia. In addition to this feature, the new Kindle app also boasts Manga image rendering improvements, per iTunes release notes. The new Kindle app is still a free universal binary and it looks great on all iOS form factors, including the iPad mini...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAEHLePiCOM
Popular mobile games maker Gameloft today confirmed that its war shooter Modern Combat 4 will launch on iOS first this Thursday, December 6, 2012, followed by the Android version "shortly after". You won’t be only playing a U.S. soldier as the game also puts you in the shoes of the villain Edward Page.
When we first saw the reveal trailer, it dawned on us that Gameloft's latest chapter in the blockbuster FPS franchise offers eye-popping mobile graphics that takes full advantage of the power provided by Apple's latest A6 and A6X chips.
The iOS version has been confirmed to support the iPhone 5 and developers tapped the Havok engine, which has been improved on mobile and now features real-time shadows. I've also included two dev diary clips for your viewing pleasure, find them right after the break...
Apple today received two interesting trademark grants seeking to protect the Game Center icon design and the Apple-coined Retina moniker. The former describes a rounded icon divided into four quadrants, each sporting a distinct combination of colors and shapes. It was originally filed in June 2012 under international classes that cover multiplayer games, scoring and tracking game performance and "providing an online portal for social networking through virtual communities".
More important than the Game Center icon is the widely used Retina name, now a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.
In a ruling late last night, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered that the patents Apple and HTC are cross-licensing as part of their settlement are to remain unsealed, suggesting that the public will eventually get a look at this information.
The order comes two weeks after US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal granted Samsung's motion to compel, forcing Apple to disclose the terms of its deal with HTC to its legal team. But now it looks like we'll all get a peek inside the pact...