One textbook CEO pins all the glory on Steve Jobs, Samsung pins its hopes on an anti-iPhone ad, and one attorney pins the blame for a stolen computer on Apple itself. The remainders for Friday, January 20, 2012 are on pins and needles.
Publisher Terry McGraw on Steve Jobs and Digital Textbooks: “This Was His Vision” (All Things D)
McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw chatted with reporters after Thursday’s Apple education event, in which he attributed the entire idea to Steve Jobs. He’s right—this is textbook Jobs. (Come on, no groaning—I earned that.)
Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple “No Poach” Antitrust Lawsuit (TechCrunch)
In 2010, the Department of Justice investigated several tech companies for their “no poaching” agreements, eventually settling with the involved firms, which included Apple, Adobe, Google, Lucasfilm, Intel and Pixar. But a separate class-action suit on the subject is being heard next week, and so the DOJ’s files on the 2010 case have been made public. Just think: If this under the table agreement hadn’t been in place, R2-D2 might have finally made his feature film comeback with the starring role that eventually went to newcomer Wall-E.
Samsunged: TV advert slams Apple’s iPhone over lack of stock turn-by-turn navigation software (9to5 Mac)
Samsung takes aim at iPhone line-waiters once again, pointing out that the Samsung Galaxy S II comes with built-in turn-by-turn GPS while the iPhone doesn’t—and it also takes potshots at iPhone battery life and the 4S’s design. I don’t know about the new catchphrase, though—I’m pretty sure that “being Samsunged” is still illegal in 48 states.
Camera-less iPhone 4, iPhone 4S on sale in Singapore (AFP)
In Singapore, military personnel are not allowed to carry smartphones with cameras into army installations. To solve that, one carrier—M1—is now selling modified version of the iPhone 4 and 4S that have no cameras. Fortunately, 4S users can take advantage of an amazing new technology: When you want to send a picture message, you dictate what the scene looks like to Siri, which will magically reconstruct the image—with magic!
Apple sued by Toronto lawyer over stolen MacBook, iphone; are companies liable? (The Star)
Really, I feel bad for this Toronto lawyer who had his new MacBook Pro stolen right out of the back of his car only minutes after buying it, but suing Apple is not the answer. Unless this is all a carefully orchestrated scheme to boost Mac sales—we’re through the looking glass here, people.
Product News:
Typinator 5 – Ergonis Software has updated its text expansion app to version 5.0. Among the biggest new features are scripting support, which lets users take advantage of computed script results in text expansions. Also in the in the update are pocket calculator functions in the Quick Search Fields, improved handling of fast typing, more robust handling of special cases for placeholders, and a number of other enhancements and bug fixes. Single license is €25; upgrade from previous version for €12.49. Customers who purchased on or after June 1, 2011 can upgrade for free.