Apple and Motorola won’t have their day in court, Barnes & Noble doesn’t cotton to the DOJ’s lawsuit, and John Sculley gets a big screen alter ego. The remainders for Thursday, June 27, 2012 are larger than life.
Apple, Motorola Mobility Patent Trial Scrapped By U.S. Judge (Bloomberg)
Looks like Motorola and Apple won’t be going to trial next week; the judge in question rejected the damage arguments from each side and subsequently cancelled the trial. I guess it turns out “They hurt our feelings” isn’t grounds for a case.
B&N: DOJ ebook suit endangers consumers, bookstores and copyrighted expression (paidContent)
Behemoth bookseller Barnes & Noble has weighed in on the Department of Justice ebook price-fixing suit, saying that the agency model pushed by Apple has actually led to lower book prices overall and arguing that the government’s settlement with many of the publishers will just give Amazon more control. As if Jeff Bezos and his spaceflight plans didn’t already sound like a Bond villain.
Ultrabooks beware: Apple receives broad patent on MacBook Air wedge design (The Verge)
Apple picked up a sweet patent covering the MacBook Air’s wedge design. Not mentioned in the patent, apparently, was the ability to use the MacBook to split logs for firewood.
7,073 Users Can Be Wrong (Rogue Amoeba)
The saga of Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil Speakers Touch continues. Though the app is now back on the store, it no longer features the in-app purchase option to receive AirPlay audio that sparked Apple’s displeasure. However, it’s been settled that Rogue Amoeba did not use any private APIs or misuse any public APIs—instead, Apple disallowed the app because, well, it said so. Also, Apple would like you to clean your room and eat all your vegetables and don’t roll your eyes at me, young man.
Apple Said To Add Baidu As IPhone Search Engine In China (Bloomberg)
China-based iPhone and iPad users may get a new search option in iOS 6, as Bloomberg says Apple may add local search engine Baidu. Which I hear goes perfectly with Microsoft’s option. Baidu Bing!
Matthew Modine Joins Steve Jobs Movie as Apple CEO (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher has expanded its casting, adding actor Matthew Modine as former Apple CEO—and sugar water purveyor—John Sculley. Sadly, I’m guessing we’re not going to see anyone playing Ron Wayne.
Product News:
Evernote 3.1.2 – It looks like the company has made good on several longstanding requests in this latest update to the Mac productivity app. The new version features such crowdpleasers as image rotation, attachment renaming, and the ability to edit Saved Searches—each accomplished within the program with a right-click.
Osfoora, for Twitter 1.2 – The new version offers streaming for timeline, mentions, and direct messages. There’s a new icon by Jean-Marc Denis, and shortcuts for scrolling to the top of your feed. Plus there’s the usual assortment of bug fixes.