More rumors about the iPhone 5’s appearance surface, Google buys up yet another passel of patents, and Steve Jobs gets some praise from a surprising source. The remainders for Thursday, September 15, 2011 are just calling to say they love you.
iPhone 5 Screen Protectors Show Elongated Home Button Area (MacRumors)
iPhone 5 rumors continue apace, this time spurred on by a shot of a supposed screen protector for the forthcoming model. The image suggests that the new phone will not only be wider than the iPhone 4, but also feature an elongated Home button. To my mind, the bigger question is whether that button is an innie or an outie.
Apple IPad Data Was Given to Fleishman, Samsung Witness Says (Bloomberg)
We first heard about the insider-trading allegations in December of last year, when a federal bust snapped up five suspects, including James Fleishman of Primary Global Research. Now a former Samsung exec has testified that he provided Fleishman with info about LCD panels the company had provided to Apple for the iPad. Though the presiding judge ordered that the testimony of the exec, Suk-Joo Hwang, can’t be used against him, I’m going to have to imagine he’ll have a tough time finding a new gig.
Google Buys 1,023 IBM Patents to Bolster Defense of Android (Bloomberg)
Google has apparently bought up 1,023 patents from IBM to support its Android platform. Frankly, given the company’s proclivity for weird numbers, I’m a little surprised that they couldn’t find one more to even it out.
Stevie Wonder sings Steve Jobs’ praises for iOS accessibility (The Next Web)
Stevie’s a big fan of Steve, it seems. The vision-impaired musician gave a shout-out to the former Apple CEO, thanking him for making Apple’s technology accessible to those with disabilities. I hope he played some Bob Dylan in Steve’s honor afterwards.
Product News:
Friends Aloud 2.0 for iPhone – The latest update to Wesson Systems’s app, which reads your Facebook friends’ news feeds aloud, now includes a pop-up keyboard that lets you enter your own status updates or comment on others’ posts. $2.
Thunderbolt Software Update – Apple has released a software update that provides support for its Thunderbolt Display, as well as patching Thunderbolt-related bugs. Free.
Devonthink 2.3 and Devonnote 2.3 – Devontechnologies has updated its information management and note-taking programs for Mac OS X to bring compatibility with Lion’s full-screen mode; the old full-screen mode is still available as well. In addition, users can now Quick Look attachments via a contextual menu item or hold command and option while dragging Address Book cards into documents to add a link to that contact. There are a handful of other improvements and bug fixes to both apps as well. Devonthink Professional Office: $150; Devonthink Professional; $80, Devonthink Personal; $50; Devonnote: $25. Upgrade pricing available.
Steinway Etude 2.0 – Version 2.0 of the sheet music app for iPad has a new owner, piano company Steinway, as well as a host of new features, including a redesigned user interface, an expanded music store, a piano roll mode, and a full-screen option. There’s also a new price tag: Free.
Twitterrific 4.4 for Mac, iPhone, iPad – The Iconfactory has updated its Twitter clients for Mac, iPhone, and iPad to version 4.4. All now feature unwrapped t.co links in the timeline when possible, as well as a Load More button for lists. The iOS apps also now have a scheme to let you open Twitter profiles from other apps in Twitterrific. All also have a variety of improvements, including better support for Tweet Marker and the ability to display retweets in lists, as well as a number of bug fixes. Ad-supported. Removing ads and adding premium features is $10 for Mac, $5 for iOS.