Apple’s crucial overscroll bounce patent claim is valid, U.S. patent office says (Macworld)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark office has confirmed four claims of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s overscroll bounce patent, including a claim that played a crucial part in Apple’s $1.05 billion dollar lawsuit against Samsung, according to a document filed with a Californian court on Thursday. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s “list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touchscreen display” patent describes a way to scroll past a document’s border. When a user reaches the edge and stops scrolling, the screen bounces back to the nearest display area. The most important claim in the patent is claim 19. During the Apple/Samsung billion dollar patent trial, the jury found that 21 accused products infringed claim 19, and the jury awarded damages regarding 18 of these products.
An Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) executive at the center of an antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. government said on Thursday the company “didn’t care” what price publishers set for e-books. Eddy Cue said he was not surprised when publishers increased prices for new and best-selling titles after Apple entered the e-books market in 2010, but he disputed that Apple caused prices industry-wide to increase. “I didn’t raise prices,” he testified in federal court. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the sole remaining defendant in a lawsuit in which it is accused of working with five major U.S. publishers to fix e-book prices and undo Amazon.com Inc’s market control. The publishers all reached settlements with the U.S. government.
Apple Inc. plans to launch iPhone ‘phablets’, low-priced models (Indian Express)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is exploring launching iPhones with bigger screens, the so-called “phablets” as well as cheaper models in a range of colors, over the next year, said four people with knowledge of the matter, as it takes a cue from rival Samsung Electronics. The moves, which are still under discussion, underscore how the California-based firm that once ruled the smartphone market is increasingly under threat from its aggressive South Korean competitor. Apple is looking at introducing at least two bigger iPhones next year — one with a 4.7-inch screen and one with a 5.7-inch screen — said the sources, including those in the supply chain in Asia.
Office for iOS: Apple and Microsoft join up (The Independent)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have released an official app for iPhones allowing users to browse and edit documents from Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The app is available to Office 365 subscribers – a web based platform that allows access to Office applications via the cloud. The new app might suggest a closer collaboration between Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), especially following the slightly hidden announcement at WWDC that the default search engine for Siri will be Bing, not Google. Although the introduction of Office capabilities to iPhones will hopefully encourage more users to sign up for Office 365 (Microsoft’s best package costs £10.10 a month) Apple will also benefit – taking a cut on any subscriptions purchased directly from the iPhone.
Amid criticism, Apple website showing off alternate iOS 7 icons (Los Angeles Times)
The company’s mobile website is currently displaying icons for some of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iOS 7 apps that are different from those that Apple unveiled on Monday. Most notably…
…the website shows a Weather app icon that says 73 degrees in thin letters. That’s far different from the icon unveiled earlier, which shows a sun covered by a cloud. That icon has been one of the most criticized parts of the operating system, with many saying it’s too cartoonish and poorly designed. Others complain that the cloud icon isn’t helpful and would prefer an icon that displays current information, like some other iOS 7 apps do. The new Clock app, for example, shows the current time in its icon, and many would like the weather app to show the current temperature.
Teardown of Apple’s new 11″ MacBook Air finds smaller SSD module, tweaked battery (Apple Insider)
The 11-inch version of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s new MacBook Air has gotten its requisite disassembly, with the process revealing some of the craft that went into getting it its longer battery life, including a tweaked design to accommodate a slightly larger battery. The new 11-inch Air, like the new 13-inch Air, features a smaller SSD module and a new heat sink clamp, iFixit found in the course of its teardown. The ultralight notebook also features an improved battery outputting at 7.6V with 5100mAh. The new battery weighs 8.08 oz and is rated at 38.75 watt-hours, an improvement over last year’s model, which weighed 7.9 oz and was rated at 35 watt-hours. Last year’s model was capable of up to five hours of battery life, while the new model can give up to 9 hours of operation.
