Apple magnanimously offers Samsung some help in designing its mobile devices, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refuses to be railroaded, and it’s all the excitement of subscription negotiations for just 70 percent of the price—and that still may be too much. The remainders for Friday, November 11, 2011 give no quarter—or nickel, dime, or penny.
Apple gives Samsung some work-around options for its iPhone and iPad design patents (The Verge)
During their legal dispute, Samsung contended that Apple’s allegations of infringement covered things that were unavoidable in the development of a smartphone or tablet. Apple, for its part, compiled a list of choices that Samsung could have made to avoid products that so closely mimicked Cupertino’s. The more obvious items on the list include not making the front black and not using a rectangle-with-rounded-corners for the shape. The best, though, is suggesting that, for its tablet, Samsung use a “Cluttered appearance.” That’s right, Sammy: just make your devices uglier and we’ve got no problem here.
MTA tells New York to ‘bring it on’ & investigate Apple’s Grand Central lease (Apple Insider)
What, MTA worry? Responding to reports that the New York State Comptroller would be launching an investigation into the terms of the lease between the Grand Central Terminal owner and Apple, an MTA spokesperson is quoted as saying “Bring it on.” In a followup statement, the spokesperson quickly clarified that he was not being combative, just listing his favorite cheerleading movies.
Happy birthday, Apple QuickTime (The Register)
It’s been two decades since Apple’s multimedia system, QuickTime, was introduced to the public, bringing true video to computer screens. Though it’s still not old enough to drink legally, it’s pretty clear that it’s been sneaking a little something out of the liquor cabinet for years.
Hearst’s Carey talks digital, new Time Inc CEO (Reuters)
Hearst Magazine president David Carey told Reuters that Apple’s distribution system is actually “pretty efficient” for the publisher. He also said, no joke, that “there was so much drama with Apple negotiations…[you would] expect someone to sell the movie rights from all that debate.” I can see it now…
In a world where companies argue about percentages of profit and who gets to retain subscribers’ personal informzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Yeah, even the voiceover guy couldn’t make it through that one.
Apple Sends Match.com’s App To The Dog House For Untaxed Subscription Payments (TechCrunch)
Speaking of subscription disputes, Match.com has seen its iOS app removed from the App Store because it let users sign up for an account through the app without handing over the requisite 30 percent to Apple. Also, Apple’s App Store terms clearly include the right of jus primae noctis, which allows the company to go on a date with every one of your potential matches before you do. For security reasons.
Product News:
iClip 5.0.1 – iClip has returned from the dead. Originally developed by Inventive Inc., the utility was withdrawn from the market back in 2009. Irradiated Software took it over, updated it for Lion, and made it available via the Mac App Store as well as its own website. The clipboard management app stores up to 99 items (text or images) that you’ve copied or cut, which you can paste using hotkeys or the mouse. The app sells for $19 ($10 less than before); existing iClip owners can upgrade for $9.
Keynote 5.1.1 – Apple’s updated its presentation software for Mac OS X to 5.1.1. This update resolves issues encountered when working with large files on Lion, and improves stability and accessibility. Free for existing users; $20 for a new license.
Acorn 3.2 – A slew of fixes and tweaks characterize this update to Flying Meat’s image-editing software, including a pref to ignore rotation gestures, the ability to move individual points in a bezier curve with the arrow keys, better peformance with very large images, support for brushes up to 400 pixels in size, and more. Free update for Acorn 3.x users, $20 upgrade for users of earlier Acorn versions, $50 new.