It’s all about secrets here on the remains of the day, whether it be Apple’s trade secrets, the secrets of crossing the U.S. border with just an iPad, or the secret goodies hidden inside a new year’s promotion at Japanese Apple Stores. The remainders for Wednesday, January 4, 2011 have nothing to hide.
Judge not convinced by Apple’s trade secrets argument, unseals docs (Ars Technica)
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup denied Apple’s request that portions of the summary judgment in its case versus Psystar—surely you remember that little tiff—be sealed. According to Alsup, the motion to seal was denied because much of the information Apple intends to protect is already publicly available, if you know where to look. So, in a sense, Psystar won. As long as our definition of “winning” is “being ground into dust beneath Apple’s boot heel.”
Apple Now Taking Legal Action Against App Store Piracy (Cult of Mac)
Speaking of legal action, Cupertino appears to be bringing the heavy end of the hammer down on app piracy. Apple’s reportedly been sending takedown notices to Apptrackr, a popular site for cracked iOS apps. Really, there is no sadder sound in the world than that of someone pirating a 99-cent app.
Flash of an iPad gets man past border security (The Globe and Mail)
Gaining entry into the U.S. via the Canadian border without a passport is tough. Unless, of course, you have a scan of your passport on your iPad, as one Canadian citizen discovered after he left his actual passport at home. I wonder if MI6 would accept the scanned version of my license to kill.
Welcome to Instagram, President Barack Obama! (Instagram)
The president continues his adoption of social media services, joining photo-sharing network Instagram. Expect this to prompt some hard-hitting questions at the presidential debates later this year, such as “If you were taking a picture of your dinner, would you opt for the Valencia or Sutro filter?” and “Is there ever really a time and place for Nashville?”
Orangutans ‘could video chat’ between zoos via iPads (BBC)
Life in the zoo can get boring for animals as smart as orangutans, so it’s no surprise that they enjoy spending time with an iPad when their keepers let them. Now, zoo officials and conservationists from the non-profit Orangutan Outreach are taking it a step further, proposing inter-zoo orangutan-to-orangutan video calling. And you thought that first FaceTime commercial was touching.
‘Lucky Bags’ a Popular Apple Store Tradition in Japan (Tech in Asia)
To celebrate the new year in Japan, Apple’s retail stores in the country participated in the tradition of “Lucky Bags”—a bag of unknown items sold at a discount. This year’s much coveted Apple bag ran about $430, and according to one Japanese site contained a number of items, including an 8GB iPod touch, Apple t-shirt, iPod touch cases, headphones, assorted pins, and more. The much less popular “Unlucky Bags” retail for around the same price and contain a Hello Kitty keychain and two pounds of ramen.
Product News:
SugarSync 2.5 for iOS – The iOS client for the syncing service has been updated to version 2.5, with a number of photo-centric improvements, such as the ability to upload multiple photos and videos at once, improved photo browsing performance, control over photo and video compression, a revamped Photos Tab, and support for uploading and downloading files in the background. Free.
Bronson Watermarker 1.0 – Quote-Unquote Apps’s debut Mac app creates personalized watermarked PDFs with a single click. Add multiple watermarks for individuals, change the styling, and enable the “deep burn” option for extra security. $10, Mac App Store.