The biggest news in today's Apple vs Samsung patent trial was the previously-reported revelation of a secret deal between Google and Samsung in which the search and advertising giant not only agreed to indemnify Samsung if it lost on two of the patent claims in this trial, but that Google -- not Samsung -- was to "direct and control" litigation and defense on Samsung's behalf. The revelation, which Samsung had previously denied in court, will be used to diminish the Samsung claim that the case is really about Android.
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7 hours ago | Posted in: iPhone, Apple
A new Apple ad premiered tonight on Disney-owned ABC, called "Powerful." The 90-second spot (now available on Apple's YouTube channel) is the first this year to spotlight the iPhone 5s rather than the iPhone 5c, and features a band performing the Pixies song "Gigantic" while an array of apps -- beginning with musically-oriented ones, then branching off in other directions -- is shown. Like most recent Apple ads, the focus is on enabling people to do interesting things using their iPhones.
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Among other updates issued on Tuesday, Apple has further updated the iOS versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote -- formerly known collectively as iWork apps -- to version 2.2.1, just three weeks after its last update. The previous version introduced new features and restored old ones, but today's update lists only unnamed "stability and bug fixes," which might hint that the change is related somehow to an OpenSSL patch for 2013 Airport Extremes and Time Capsules issued earlier today.
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On Tuesday, Apple -- which had previously said none of its key software, operating systems, websites or web services had been affected by the Heartbleed OpenSSL security flaw -- issued a patch to its 2013 (only) Airport Extreme and Time Capsule products that support 802.11ac to fix the issue. The 2013 Airport Express is not affected by the bug, and does not require the update. The patch boosts the firmware version on the Extreme and Time Capsule to 7.7.3 and "provides security improvements related to SSL/TLS."
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12 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
Google attorney James Mccoun testified today that the search engine giant agreed to defend Samsung at least in part against some of the claims against it in the ongoing Apple versus Samsung trial. Apple played pre-recorded testimony from the attorney who confirmed emails that Google would provide some level of indemnity over four patents held by Apple if Samsung was sued, or would possibly take over defense of the claims.
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As has been predicted for some time, a new malware threat exploits the same flaws in iOS that jailbreaking tools use in order to install itself on older jailbroken iPhones and iPads. The malware, likely to be found in devices where the user has installed third-party customizations, scans for the Apple ID and password of the user, then transmits it to remote servers. Current, 64-bit iOS devices like the iPhone 5s, iPad Air or second-generation iPad mini -- and un-jailbroken iOS devices of all sorts -- appear to be immune so far.
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OnOne Software has announced the upcoming release of its latest version of Perfect Photo Suite, adding improvements to photo browsing, file-management options, and more. Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 Photo Editor is a full-featured photo editor that also works as a plug-in with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and Apple Aperture. In v8.5.0, the Browse module includes speed and productivity enhancements, such as faster thumbnail and preview viewing, and new file management features for organization. Improved performance with the Perfect Eraser tool simplify object removal on difficult gradient background, and enhanced masking support in Perfect Effects and Perfect Layers utilizes multiple Masking Bugs on a layer.
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For the first time, access to OS X beta releases has been opened to non-developers. Apple has introduced the Beta Seed Program, which requires only that a person have an Apple ID and sign a confidentiality agreement. The agreement blocks people from sharing information to anyone not also registered to receive betas.
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AT&T is partnering with The Chernin Group, with the latter pouring $500 million into an effort to distribute Internet-based video services. What exactly AT&T and Chernin will produce as a result isn't clear, but premium services like Netflix are suspected. The terms of the deal have not yet been announced.
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Apple appears to have fixed a problem that prevented owners of the first-generation Apple TV from accessing iTunes, according to comments on the product's support forums. The outage began over the weekend, but was resolved just earlier today. It's not clear what caused the issue, or why it would only affect first-gen Apple TVs.
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Apple has released Security Update 2014-002, an OS X patch that addresses various security flaws. The software applies to Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. More significantly it comes bundled with Safari 7.0.3, which in addition to improved security includes some minor feature additions and bugfixes.
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Logitech today officially launched three new cases for the iPad Air and the iPad mini. Leading these is the Big Bang, which merges a compact folio design with shock-absorbing material; Logitech claims the case can survive drops from as high as 1.4m, or about 4.6 feet. The front and back are also covered with liquid-resistant materials. The Air version of the case costs $100, while the Mini edition is $80.
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15 hours ago | Posted in: industry
In what is likely to be the final stop between Internet over-the-air television streamer Aereo and essentially the entire broadcast industry allied against it, Aereo seems to be fighting an uphill battle. Today's hearing before the US Supreme Court found judges skeptical about Aereo's business model, calling it "based solely on circumventing legal prohibitions that you don't want to comply with."
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Today in the MacNN forums, Moderator "Thorzdad" sent a warning to other members about a malware attack that has been discovered that is targeting jailbroken 32-bit iPods, iPads and iPhones. Yesterday Mac Elite "rotuts" took to the forums asking if a hybrid drive would work with a Mac Pro running 10.6.8.
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16 hours ago | Posted in:
A security flaw in some Linksys and Netgear routers discovered this winter, thought to be patched, has only been slightly hidden. Instead of the router listening and obeying command packets on port 32764, now the command must be prefixed by a specially crafted packet, which reactivates the flaw, and allows for remote command and seizure of afflicted routers.
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Today at Apple's online store chose from a wide selection of refurbished Mac Pro models. The Mac Pro with a 3.2GHz Intel quad-core Xeon processor, 6GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive has been reduced by $360 to $2,139. Priced at $2,549 is the refurbished Mac Pro with a 3.33GHz Intel 6-core Xeon processor, 6GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive.
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