Once again, the iPhone stops crime in its tracks; Apple kicks another sneaky camera app to the curb; and it’s time for a game of musical mortality chairs. Get ready to close out 2010 in style with the remainders for Thursday, December 30.
Police arrest burglar spotted with iPhone app (9News.com)
This time it wasn’t the iPhone’s GPS that helped stop a crime: it was a Webcam app called iCam. A Denver woman was checking in on her dog via the app when she spotted a man rifling her room and stealing her iPad. A suspect was later apprehended by authorities. I note that the dog didn’t appear to scare him off; yet another argument in favor of owning an iPhone over a pet.
Apple pulls Quick Snap camera app from App Store (MacNN)
Yet another camera app that let you snap a picture by clicking the iPhone’s volume button made it into the App Store, but Apple’s now pulled it. After the whole Camera+ debacle, you’d think people would have learned that when it comes to buttons, Apple means business.
A feature iTunes should have (heif)
Twitter: the breeding ground for great ideas. One guy suggests that iTunes should compute, via actuarial tables, how many times you’ll listen to a song before you die, and *bam* an actuary’s on the scene with the nuts and bolts. Frankly, I think this feature is a great idea: maybe we could scare some kids by pointing out how many times they’re likely to listen to Katy Perry before they kick it.
‘Double-click’ patent lawsuit attacks Apple’s iPhone, iPad (AppleInsider)
Another day, another trollicious patent lawsuit. This time it’s San Francisco-based Actify which is suing Apple, HTC, and Nokia over a little patent it likes to call “Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element.” For Apple, the suit specifically targets the iPhone and iPad. Man, nobody pays attention to the iPod touch, huh?