Intel to settle FTC lawsuit in NVIDIA's favor
Intel may settle the FTC antitrust lawsuit in a way that favors NVIDIA, sources said Monday. The strategy would follow some of the elements of the truce with AMD extend these to graphics chipsets. These could include preventing Intel from intimidating companies into avoiding NVIDIA graphics or knowingly designing code or hardware to perform poorly.... NVIDIA - Advanced Micro Devices - Intel Corporation - Federal Trade Commission - Competition law
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macintosh-news-network
Amazon: Kindle books now outselling hardcovers
Kindle e-books are now outselling hardcover books for the first time, Amazon said today. For every 100 hardcovers it sold in the spring, Amazon sold 143 Kindle titles; the figure didn't include free books or samples. Sales accelerated over the period, Amazon said: its rate in June increased to 180 e-books for every 100 hardcover texts.... E-book - Amazon Kindle - Amazon.com - Amazon - Shopping
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macintosh-news-network
Apple's Magic Trackpad one step closer to becoming a reality
Documents have officially emerged from the Federal Communications Commission that detail compliance testing on an Apple product, model number A1339, which is described as a “Bluetooth trackpad.” Testing was apparently finished in October of 2009, leading some to believe that the wireless trackpad that was rumored to make an appearance at this year's WWDC is going to finally debut in the very near future. A request of confidentiality, agent authorization, label format, and location documents were also made public Monday in addition to the certification. The label format and location documents give details on where the FCC ID label would go on the device, which is represented by a rather unimpressively rendered rectangle. Left out of the certification document are the setup photos, which were removed from the document at the request of Apple. There isn’t much valuable information as to the device's dimensions or methodology; instead, the document deals with frequency, power draw, interference, and radiation. The device was apparently tested with a MacBook, but it isn’t clear whether it's meant to be used in coordination with the laptop's built-in trackpad or instead of it. The device may actually be intended for Apple’s desktop line as well. In my mind (and this is pure speculation), the device would be perfectly suited for an iOS-driven Apple TV. Bluetooth’s range should be ample for the distance between most TVs and couches, and a multitouch trackpad would make all iOS apps immediately usable on a large screen. The Apple TV would need a hardware update to include a Bluetooth transceiver, but the device is due for a hardware update anyway. There might need to be some sort of acknowledgement of where your fingers are on the trackpad relative to the screen, but this would be a fairly simple task—one that is already accomplished in the iOS simulator that comes with Xcode. It is far more likely that the device will be a multitouch trackpad intended for Apple’s computer line, but one thing seems definite: with the filing of these papers, the “Magic Trackpad” is apparently coming to market, and it could arrive sooner than later. Read the comments on this post
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, ars-technica
Apple, AT&T share acrimonious relationship
Both Apple and AT&T are to blame for the latter's network suffering under the weight of the iPhone, a Wired investigation suggests. Apple's part is said to stem largely from demanding unlimited Internet access for users, and being unwilling to bend on the matter, even though AT&T was unable to expand its network fast enough to accommodate the strain. Even though AT&T has asked to cooperate on fixing some problems, Apple has sometimes insisted that AT&T resolve them by itself.... Apple - iPhone - AT&T - Wired (magazine) - Internet access
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macintosh-news-network
Apple Rivals Reject Tarring With iPhone 4 Brush
Apple's recent suggestion that the iPhone 4's reception problems are universal has stirred up a hornet's nest of protest among competitors. Nokia, RIM, HTC and Samsung have all fired back with responses since Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Friday presentation, many of them clearly annoyed at being drawn into Cupertino's "Antennagate" morass.
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macnewsworld
AMD moves up Ontario ultraportable chips to late 2010
AMD during the call discussing its latest results revealed that the company's Ontario ultraportable chip will arrive early. The processor had originally been slated for the first half of 2011 but is now due to arrive in the fall, "ahead of schedule," according to CEO Dirk Meyer. What prompted the accelerated launch wasn't mentioned.... Dirk Meyer - Advanced Micro Devices - Ontario - Canada - Intel Corporation
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macintosh-news-network
Tense Apple-AT&T iPhone partnership nearly ended multiple times
A new report detailing the relationship between Apple and AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., reveals that Apple CEO Steve Jobs allegedly considered dropping AT&T numerous times, and considered leaving for Verizon as far back as 2007.
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, appleinsider
FreeType Project Cheers TrueType Patent Expiration
FlorianMueller writes "The FreeType project celebrates the expiration of Apple's TrueType bytecode patents. The open source font rendering engine now has the bytecode technology enabled by default. The relevant code existed for some time, but the project felt forced to disable it and advise everyone not to use it due to patent encumbrance. The 20-year maximum of validity of software patents is long, but sometimes the stuff that becomes available is still useful. The Unisys GIF patent was an example. And anything open-sourced 20 years ago would also be patent-free by now (except for the code that has since been added)." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, apple-slashdot
Liveblog: Apple FY2010 Q3 Earnings
The analysts are already weighing in on how many Macs Apple sold in the past quarter. What better time to remind everyone that Ars will be providing live coverage of Apple's FY2010 Q3 earnings call at 5pm EDT/2pm PDT on July 20, 2010 (see it in your own timezone). Sign up for an e-mail reminder below or simply bookmark this page and come back at the time above. Read the comments on this post
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, ars-technica
Livescribe Echo pen gets stereo audio, tablet support
Livescribe today revamped its approach to its smartpens. The Echo is slimmer than its predecessors but significantly expands its functionality beyond note taking or even apps. A headphone jack and microphone now support stereo recording, and a micro USB connector will turn the Echo into a direct tablet input source for a computer with an update this fall.... Livescribe - Universal Serial Bus - Notetaking - Apple - Audio
published on Monday, the 19. July 2010, macintosh-news-network