Apple is no stranger to the courtroom these days; with patents, copyright claims, and counterclaims becoming as closely related to the Cupertino outfit as its iconic iPods.
Ironically, though, it seems that those very same iPods have landed Apple in trouble this time around, with the company being forced to stump up $8 million to a company that claims the iPod infringes on its patents...
This is a summary of the most popular articles published on iDB this past week.
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Our friends at RazorianFly don't just report Apple news, they actually make wallpapers, too! The RazorianFly iOS Wallpaper Collection is home to the site's very own wallpaper designs.
These wallpapers have a very unique design style that may not be for everyone, but they're still cool iOS wallpapers that some of you may be interested in...
Comex's new exploit is easily the best jailbreaking tool ever developed. Not only is it much faster than previous methods, it's as easy to use as downloading an app.
Another reason JailbreakMe comes out on top is that you don't need a computer to run the software. Everything is done from the device. This creates an interesting dynamic for jailbreaking, because now you can do it almost anywhere. Even in an Apple Store...
Ok, for those of you that made it past the oh-no-not-again rumor-esque title, I have an interesting theory to throw your way. No, this isn't another article regarding next-gen iPhone rumors, though it is undoubtedly related.
9to5Mac passed along an intriguing report coming from a Dutch publication known as AppleSpot. The blog is claiming that Apple is looking to change the handheld electronics market again this fall, by adding 3G data connectivity to their iPod Touch line. I know this must sound crazy, but humor me for a minute...
When Apple first announced the magical and revolutionary iPad back in early 2010, Steve Jobs made a point of saying that the new device was a category on its own - filling a gap between the smartphone and laptop computer.
This niche made ReadWriteWeb wonder if iPad usage is actually any different to that of traditional computers, such as, laptops and desktop machines. Do users tend to use iPads at different times of day, or does usage change over the weekend?
The results, gleaned by studying a week's worth of Bitly click data, make an interesting read, and it turns out that yes, we do use our tablet devices differently....
Apple is known for registering patents for everything they think of, just in case it becomes useful, or indeed feasible, at a later date.
A new patent to come out of Cupertuno suggests the company is working on a new way of sharing files between devices, similar to the way HP's new TouchPad and accompanying smartphones do.
The HP way involves touching the two devices together in order to initiate the connection and subsequent transfer of files and data. If that sounds familiar, it's because the whole process is very similar to contact sharing app, Bump.
What Apple's patent suggests, is a more metaphorical way of establishing the connection...
Paris based tattoo artist K.A.R.L is probably going to make history with what appears to be the first animated tattoo brought to life with an iPhone. There is no real mystery behind it though.
K.A.R.L tattooed a QR code on his guinea-pig. The QR code was made to display an animation when activated with an QR code reader you can find in the App Store. Not groundbreaking by any means, but still pretty cool...
A couple of days ago we reported that the iPad Camera Connection Kit stopped working after using JailbreakMe 3.0. It looks like another issue has reared its ugly head which looks to affect jailbroken devices on a wider scale.
Reports are surfacing that the popular jailbreak tweak BiteSMS is conflicting with JailbreakMe 3.0. Confirmed on the BiteSMS forums, that sending a text message through BiteSMS' quick reply feature will crash your device and send it into an infinite boot loop. The only solution to remedy this as of writing is to restore your iDevice...
Jailbreaking your iDevice gives you the ability to customize it from head to toe. You can change the complete look and feel of the device by editing icons and installing extensions. Another area you can personalize through jailbreaking is the boot screen.
The default boot logo is of course the infamous Apple logo, but with a little tweaking you can change it to virtually whatever you want. In some of the more recent jailbreaks though, the ability to customize the boot logo was compromised...
Today the space shuttle Atlantis lifted off for the last time, but its last mission is going to be remembered by Apple enthusiasts for something else as well. Captain Chris Ferguson and his crew are carrying with them two iPhone 4s. These iPhones run a special app called “SpaceLab for iOS” especially designed for this occasion by Odyssey Space Research, an engineering Houston-based company.
Through this app, astronauts are going to perform several experiments by taking advantage of the iPhone cameras, gyroscope and sensors. One of these experiments is actually quite interesting: it’s a test to see if the iPhone’s memory can be affected by space radiations."If a smartphone can be proved to work in space,” says Chris Bridges, researcher for Odyssey Space Research, “it opens up lots of new technologies to a multitude of people and companies for space who usually can't afford it."
With rumors of an 'iPhone 4S' device heating up, it's also developed into a general consensus that Apple will release not one, but two iPhone models in the coming months.
One of these devices is expected to be an incremental design and hardware upgrade from the iPhone 4, and feature an edge-to-edge screen with a slimmer and lighter overall build. Apple is reportedly testing this next gen iPhone model in iPhone 4 enclosures for secrecy, in the same way that the company tested the iPhone 4 in a 3GS casing...