$11 million X-Wing Kickstarter counters Death Star
The Rebel Alliance responded this week to the Empire's efforts to build a Death Star by lobbying to build a squadron of X-Wing fighters.
The saga started this January when the White House officially responded to a petition to fund construction of a fully-operational, moon-sized space station by saying no.
In response, the erstwhile minions of the Emperor (at www.gnut.co.uk) took to Kickstarter in an effort to raise £20,000,000 for the construction of the Death Star, with over £226,000 currently pledged.
To counter, a hero of the Republic (Simon Kwan, product designer) established another Kickstarter campaign to raise $11 million to assemble a precision X-Wing fighter.
Gold leader
One fighter may not be up to the task, the Kickstarter notes, so it has established a reach goal of $4,485,672,683, or the all-time box office total for all of the Star Wars films. A second stretch goal for the campaign is to raise 13 million Galactic Standard Credits, a form of currency that has been used since a long, long time ago. With the credits, the Republic hopes to fund "a Class YT-1300 Freighter (heavily modified) and a crew consisting of a Corellian smuggler and a Wookie co-pilot." Among it's lofty goals (leading a successful uprising against the Empire, etc.), the X-Wing campaign hopes to include iPhone and Siri integration in its designs. There has been no word yet as to whether or not the X-Wing will be compatible with Android, Blackberry, or Windows Phone, or if those platforms have gone to the Dark Side.
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Leap Motion as a drum machine? You bet
The Leap Motion controller may still be a few months away from its commercial release, but already third-party devs are showing us what this nifty tool is capable of.
A video has popped up on YouTube showing one crafty coder transforming the Leap Motion into his own personal drum machine. By swinging sticks over the active area, he is capable of producing a number of different drum sounds within a range of different volumes. Though, apparently playing the drums in a musical way is quite difficult.
One man band
Not content with his percussive feat, the same dev has also created a pitch-bending tool for his guitar and a way of controlling the EQ of an electronic keyboard all with the Leap Motion. The guitar sounds are especially good, and look like a lot of fun to make. Of course, the Leap Motion will likely find far less melodic uses when it is shipped in the next few months. Primarily it is designed to created a touchscreen-like input for computers that don't have touch screens built-in. The LeapMotion unit sits into of any monitor and creates a 3D interaction space that can detect input from hands or other objects and is smart enough to differentiate between ten different fingers. Leap is taking pre-orders for the controller now and is promising delivery in "early 2013". Via Make
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Apple left alone to fight ebook price fixing suit as Macmillan settles
Macmillan has joined the other major US publishers in settling the ebook price fixing lawsuit, filed by the Department of Justice, leaving Apple to fight the case alone.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple conspired with Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillian, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin to prevent retailers like Amazon from lowering the prices of ebooks.
Three of the publishers immediately settled with the DoJ, when the suit was filed in April 2012, but Penguin, Macmillan and Apple had vowed to fight the allegations in court.
Penguin caved in and settled in December and now Macmillan has also yielded, claiming the cost of losing the case could have put it out of business.
Prices to come down immediately
Macmillan, owned by German company Holtzbrinck, said the decision was made "because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome." The settlement will "immediately allow retailers to lower the prices consumers pay for Macmillan's e-books," DoJ lawyer Jamillia Ferris said. With Macmillan out of the picture, Apple must now decide whether to stick to its guns and fight the case alone, or agree a settlement with the DoJ, which plans to continue its litigation against the company.
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Tim Cook was against 'going thermo-nuclear' on Samsung, report claims
Apple CEO Tim Cook was against the company's decision to launch a legal crusade against rival manufacturer Samsung, a Reuters report claimed this weekend.
Cook, who was CFO under the reign of Steve Jobs when the war began, was apparently concerned that the patent lawsuits could ruin the relationship Apple had with Samsung as a key component supplier.
The report said: "Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company's critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad. Apple bought some $8 billion worth of parts from Samsung last year, analysts estimate."
Sure enough, in November of last year, following a brutal legal battle throughout 2012, Samsung hiked the prices it charged Apple for processors by 20 per cent.
Numbers man
As a pragmatic numbers man throughout his Apple career, before becoming the top dog, it stands to reason that Cook would have been worried that war with Samsung could affect Apple's bottom line. Jobs, however, was on a crusade of his own against Google's Android OS and the manufacturers who profited from it. According to his official biography, he believed that Android had "wholesale ripped off the iPhone" and was willing to go "thermo-nuclear" in order to bring the platform down.Private appeals
The report added that Jobs had privately appealed to Samsung to change the designs of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, which Apple asserted had "blatantly copied" the iPhone and the iPad. The appeals fell on dead ears, the report said: "Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution." The in-depth Reuters article also touches on the origins and the complex future of the Apple/Samsung relationship. It's definitely worth a read. Follow the hat-tip in the link below.
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Report: Apple working on curved glass smart watch
It's Apple iWatch speculation time again, and this time the well-respected New York Times tech blog has lent its voice to the growing feeling that something is in the works.
The NYT's Nick Bilton claimed that, according to people familiar with the matter, the iPhone-maker is currently experimenting with a smart watch made from curved glass.
The iOS-based wearable device would curve neatly around the user's wrist, a form-factor Apple is said to be relying on to set it apart from competition believed to be coming from Google and, of course, the existing Pebble Smartwatch.
"Such a watch would operate Apple's iOS platform, two people said, and stand apart from competitors based on the company's understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body," Bilton wrote.
Siri and Maps on board?
The blog speculates that the watch could include Apple's Siri personal assistant, as well as a Maps app to offer walking directions as users walk down the street. It could also be used as a health monitor, or to make mobile payments using Apple's Passbook software, Bilton adds, but this appears to be educated guesswork rather than information from sources. Previous speculation regarding the so-called iWatch has suggested it could be used to answer calls, read emails, messages and social networking notifications.Willow Glass
According to the report, the curved glass could be provided by Gorilla Glass-maker Corning. The company recently claimed it had succeeded in a ten-year mission to create bendable-yet-strong glass, it calls Willow Glass. "You can certainly make it wrap around a cylindrical object and that could be someone's wrist," Corning's chief technology officer Pete Bocko told the paper. "Right now, if I tried to make something that looked like a watch, that could be done using this flexible glass."
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Apple may replace iOS passcodes with image authentication system
Apple could be about to ditch the passcode unlocking mechanism in favour of a new image recognition tool, according to a patent filing made last week.
The proposed "Image-based Authentication System" would show the image of a random contact on the homescreen and ask users to identify his or her name from a list of possibilities.
If the user identifies the image (or images) correctly, then they will be granted access to the device.
The system may be exployed to unlock iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, or Apple's line of iMac and MacBook computers
Break from tradition
Traditionally, Apple has employed the 4-digit passcode as a method of unlocking iOS devices, while user-selected passwords grant access to Mac computers. However, Apple has been actively brainstorming for an alternative, with a range of patent filings in the last couple of years. Facial recognition (like Android's Face Unlock feature), a two-step slide to unlock system and fingerprint scanning have all been mentioned in recent patents.
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Opinion: Why 4K ultra-high definition display technology is great for the PC
The Consumer Electronics Show last month gave us a taste for the forthcoming Ultra HD 4K revolution that looks set to shake up the HDTV market over the next few years. But what about PCs?
For the record, 4K or UHD screen resolutions refer to displays with roughly 4,000 horizontal pixels. That's double the horizontal pixels of a typical 1080p full-HD PC monitor and thus makes for four times the overall pixel count, given a similar aspect ratio. It's a massive jump is visual fidelity.
Funny thing is, you could argue that display resolution has actually been on the wane in the PC industry in recent years, certainly if the context is desktop PCs. The HDTV-driven 1,920 by 1,080 resolution (otherwise known as 1080p) has largely taken over from 1,920 by 1,200 pixel grids.
Going beyond 1080p
Meanwhile, the number of 2,560 by 1,600 panels is on the wane, replaced by 27 inchers with their 2,560 by 1,440 panels. OK, at the bottom end of the market, even basic 22-inch screen are now full 1080p. But if you take the market as a whole, what you see is a consolidation around 1080p. That, however, might just be about to change. And just like the resurgence of IPS panel technology in PC monitors, the driving force is portable computing in various flavours. Regular Tech Radar readers will know that 1080p smartphones are becoming gradually more common. 1080p in your pocket, madness. At the same time, the Nexus 10 tablet offers 2,560 by 1,600 pixels in a 10-inch format and the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro packs a preposterous 2,880 by 1,800 pixels. What's more, Apple's heavy marketing push with its so-called "Retina" display technology has planted a seed in the minds of consumers. They're more aware of the benefits of increased pixel densities. Anyway, to put it another way, if you're smartphone is 1080p and your tablet is 2.5K, won't you start expecting more from your PC?The PC is the perfect 4K platform
It's certainly true to say that 4K resolutions would be more immediately useful with a desktop PC than an HDTV. Straight away you'd have more desktop real estate to work with. You could run games at higher resolutions too, though you'd need some serious graphics fire power to drive a 4K monitor at native resolutions. With a 4K TV, well, there's just no content currently. Pretty much everything you're likely to watch will be 1080p. The good news is that the prospect of affordable 4K PC monitors is beginning to look realistic. A few years ago, a 4K monitor would have cost as much as $50,000 or more. At CES in January, Sharp showed off a 32-inch 4K monitor that's set to sell for nearer $5,000.The price of pixels
That's still extremely expensive. But another order-of-magnitude drop and we're looking at $500 displays. We're on the way. Intel has been putting its weight behind the idea too. Last April it predicted 2013 would be the year that high pixel density displays really took of on the PC. For me personally, it'll mean that I finally have to start think about upgrading the 30-inch 2,560 by 1,600 panels I've been using for the last five years. But I'm willing to take on for the team.
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In Depth: 50 really useful OS X timesaving tips
The Finder and OS X
Mac OS X is the best-looking operating system around, but it's also one of the most capable. Underneath all the eye candy is a serious amount of functionality and although you may not have realised it, there are many different ways to carry out everyday tasks using your Mac. The Finder and the other tools and apps that run on OS X are a treasure trove of shortcuts, tricks and techniques that can help you do more and do it faster. As the OS has changed it's added features from iOS and also taken on many more online features with the inclusion of iCloud in 10.7 Lion. As is the Apple way, these features tend to fit seamlessly together and it's often possible to sync, share and send files and information between lots of different devices with ease - if you know how. Some of these tips may be shortcuts that will save you time. Others could be things you may not have even known were possible, like compressing an iMovie project for lots of different devices with a single click or sending iPhoto albums directly to Facebook. With more and more people using their Macs both at home and at work, there's never been a better time to unlock the true potential of your system with these insider tips…1. Send items directly from the Finder
If you are using OS X 10.7 or 10.8 you will be able to open a Finder window and then select one or more items in a folder or on your Desktop, then use the Share button from the window's title bar to send those items. There are three options available. Email opens a new message in Mail with the files included as attachments. Messages opens a new iMessage with the items attached, and lets you specify one or more recipients. AirDrop shows you the shared folders of nearby users who have AirDrop enabled, and lets you fire the files to them. Obviously Mail and Messages work better with smaller files, and AirDrop is capable of dealing with larger ones.2. Learn more about your wireless connection
If you hold down the Option key while clicking on your Airport Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar, you can make OS X show you more detailed information about your current connection. Above the list of available networks it will display the wireless mode, wireless channel in use, wireless security type and transmit rate, all of which can help to troubleshoot problems with your connection.3. Change your default Finder view
When you open a new Finder window, OS X 10.8 defaults to showing you 'all your files'. To change this, go to Finder > Preferences from the menu bar and locate the option 'New Finder windows show'. From its drop-down menu you can choose your boot drive, Home directory, Desktop, Documents or a custom folder, all of which offer a clearer idea of what you're looking at.4. Reveal your Library folder
OS X 10.7 and 10.8 hide your User > Library folder by default but it's sometimes necessary to access it for troubleshooting or other reasons, since important items live in it. In the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder. From the resulting window, enter the folder's path, which will be /Users/username/Library. Once the folder appears you can drag it to your Favourites list to the left of the Finder window and it will then be permanently accessible.5. Take advantage of Quick Look
Quick Look can preview multiple documents at once. Select a number of items in the Finder then hit the space bar. Pressing the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard will now cycle through them, and pressing the Grid button in the Quick Look window will display all items in a single window.
It's possible to open a document in its associated application by using the Open In button at the top right of the Quick Look window.
6. Use Smart Folders effectively
Often overlooked, Smart Folders can be really useful. Select File > New Smart Folder in the Finder and then add criteria to the folder as you would if performing a search. For example, 'kind is image' and 'last opened is in the last one month'. Then click Save. This folder will always show files that match those criteria, automatically updating itself so it stays current.
Another great timesaver is to select several items in the Finder then choose File > New Folder With Selection, which places the items into a new folder automatically.
7. Collect items together in an archive
Multiple-select items in the Finder then right click on them and choose Compress Items. This creates a smaller-sized zip archive that is much easier to email, send by iMessage or upload to a file sharing service like Dropbox than lots of individual files. If you need to add password protection to the archive, use a third-party compression app instead.8. Customise your desktop & screen saver
Go into System Preferences and locate the Desktop & Screen Saver section. Under Desktop, you can choose from the included images, or select one from your iPhoto library or a custom folder. You can even specify times changes if you like, to keep things interesting.
In the Screen Saver tab, you can assign hot corners to start your screensaver as well as showing a clock whenever it's running. In the Security & Privacy tab of System Preferences you can choose to require a password to stop the screen saver, which is still the simplest way of securing an unattended Mac - extremely useful in an office environment or one in which kids are apt to fiddle.
Browsing the web
9. Harness the power of right-clicking
More or less anything on a web page in Safari can be right-clicked to reveal extensive menu options. Right-click on a link for example, and you can open it in a new window or tab, download linked files, or add the link to your bookmarks or to your reading list.
For any text you can right-click and choose to run a Google search for that text without having to copy and paste it into Google first. Select text and from the right-click menu, choose Speech > Start Speaking and your Mac will read the text out to you. Right-click on an image and amongst the many options is the ability to add it straight to your iPhoto library or use it as your desktop picture.
10. Use an ad blocker for cleaner browsing
If your browsing is blighted by too many ads cluttering up the screen and flashing away at you, try installing AdBlock from safariadblock.com. This identifies and blocks almost all ads, showing simply empty space instead. It has an Easy setting, or it can be customised to allow specific domains to pass unfiltered. You can even block ads specifically for certain domains but have them shown everywhere else.11. Reset specific parts of Safari
If Safari is behaving oddly, maybe loading very slowly or crashing while other browsers or devices are working fine, you can use the Reset Safari command from the Safari menu to clear out some or all of its cached data.
In the vast majority of cases, this action restores speed and responsiveness to the browser. Bear in mind that you might want to uncheck the option to remove all saved names, passwords and autofill data since many people rely on the browser to remember the many logins they have.
12. Switch between search engines fast
If you click on the magnifying glass icon in Safari's address bar you can access a list of recent searches and quickly re-run any one. You can also clear the recent searches without having to reset the whole of Safari, and also change the default search engine from Google to Bing or Yahoo if you like. In Safari 6, typing a search term directly into the address bar and pressing return will run a search in your search engine of choice. There's no longer a dedicated search field in Safari.13. Master your browser's tabs
Tabbed browsing is a great way to manage multiple web pages. If you have bookmark folders, hold the Command key while clicking on one to open all the links contained inside in new tabs. Pick tabs up and drag them left and right to re-order them, and drag a tab up or down to open that page in a new window. Right-click on any tab just by its name and see multiple options including the option to close all tabs but that one.14. Share web pages the smart way
You can send pages to people really easily from within Safari. On any open page, click the Share button at the top left corner of the window and (assuming you've already set up these accounts in System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars) post a link straight to FaceBook or Twitter, or send a link in a new iMessage.
Even more usefully you can email a page in several ways. Select Email This Page from the Share button and a new mail message will open with the page contained inside. You get the option to send the page as a regular, working web page, a text link only or a PDF (Portable Document Format). The PDF option is great for ensuring that whatever device someone reads the email on, they should be able to open it.
Working with photos and movies
15. Upload and share from QuickTime
When you open a movie in QuickTime Player and mouse over to reveal the playback bar, you will see a Share icon to the right-hand side of this bar. This can be clicked on to reveal options to mail or AirDrop the file as well as uploading it to FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo or Flickr.
There are limits imposed by some of these services, like a 15-minute maximum for YouTube, for example. You can choose Edit > Trim and reveal iOS-style trim controls to shorten your video, then upload it.
16. Take advantage of Preview
Preview gets more features in every version of OS X and in 10.8 it's really quite adept at working with images. Open a picture in Preview and there's a Share button that in addition to emailing or AirDropping, allows import to iPhoto, and upload to Flickr, Twitter or FaceBook. Click the Edit button in the toolbar to reveal a range of drawing, captioning and text tools. You can even resize images by entering specific new dimensions and export to a number of formats. In fact Preview now offers many of the basic features of a professional image editor like Photoshop.17. Quickly switch iPhoto libraries
In iPhoto you no longer have to use the trick of holding the Option key while starting the app to switch between libraries, although this still works if you choose to use it. You now have the additional option of starting iPhoto then going to File > Switch To Library, which reveals the same Library chooser window. You can even create a new library from here as well.18. Convert movies with QuickTime Player
If you have a movie file that iTunes won't read, you could use a third-party utility like MPEG StreamClip to convert it. QuickTime Player X is also able to do this and you can choose File > Export To > iTunes and then select a target option.
Compress for iPod and iPhone, iPad and newer iOS devices and also create larger versions for Mac or PC playback. If you have the older QuickTime Player 7 installed, you get a wider choice of export options for different devices.
19. Tag multiple items in iTunes
You might have a lot of television shows in iTunes, maybe even part of the same series, that you have ripped from DVD to watch on your Apple TV or iOS device. To tag them all at once with a show or series name or other criteria, simply hold the Shift key while selecting a range of items in iTunes, or hold the Command key to select non-continuous items. Then press Command+I or choose File > Get Info. You will see a window called Multiple Item Information and any tags that you add here will be applied to all the files at the same time, saving you lots of effort in the process.20. Manage pictures with Smart Albums
iPhoto can use Smart Albums, which work like Smart Playlists in iTunes or Smart Folders in the Finder, in that files are automatically collated in virtual folders based on the criteria you define.
To make use of them, create a new one and specify some criteria, for example 'camera used is iPhone' and 'Face contains John'. This album would automatically update itself as you added or removed images, to always show pictures of John taken with an iPhone.
21. Have a backup media player
QuickTime is great but it can't open every kind of media file and now that the excellent Perian has ceased development, you can find yourself sometimes struggling to open movie files. The best alternatives, which also happen to be free, are VLC Player and MPlayer, both fairly small downloads. Locate your troublesome file and right-click on it. From the menu, choose Open With… and OS X will show all compatible apps on your system. To permanently associate a file type with an app, say for example to make AVI files always open in VLC, Get Info on an AVI file by pressing Command+I or clicking File > Get Info, then select VLC from the Open With menu and click Change All. You can always change this to a different app at any time.22. Export from iMovie's Project Library
In iMovie you can export a project directly from the Library section by simply right-clicking on its name. From the menu that appears, choose to export to iTunes, iDVD or the Media Browser, send the video to YouTube or export it to a media file using your own specific settings.
In the Media Browser section you can choose to compress versions for several devices at the same time, from mobile right up to full HD. Choose your options, hit Publish and leave it to render. That's all there is to exporting your movie.
23. Mirror your desktop to your Apple TV
If you have a Mac released after mid-2011 and an Apple TV connected to your HDTV, you should be able to use AirPay Mirroring to send your Mac's desktop to your TV. Anything showing on your Mac's screen is mirrored. Any pictures or movies that you play on the Mac should therefore play on the TV, saving you having to convert them or build them into slideshows first. Note that AirPlay Mirroring won't work on older Macs due to processor requirements. In this case, the alternative is to try a third-party utility such as AirParrot.24. Use Preview's Thumbnail view
When you open a number of images at the same time in Preview you may find they all open in separate windows, which can be a pain. In Preview's Preferences go to the General section and select 'Open all files in one window'. Now when you open multiple files they will display in a thumbnail list, making them easier to scroll between and to compare. Of course, you can always set this back to 'open each file in its own window' to force Preview to keep images separate.25. Edit multiple images in iPhoto
Select several images in an iPhoto album by Command-clicking on them, then hit Edit. iPhoto will display the selected images in its main window and you can edit or apply changes side by side. It's a great way to quickly make changes to groups of pictures without having to create a new album for them first.Backing up
26. Change the frequency of backups
By default, Time Machine backs up every hour, but this may not be to everyone's tastes. Download TimeMachineScheduler free from klieme.com and use it to set the backup interval anywhere from 1 to 12 hours. There are other options to run backup at login and skip backups within a specified time range. These can be handy to use if you want to leave Time Machine on but don't want it interrupting you as you try to work.
27. Choose what gets backed up
The first time you run Time Machine it will create a working copy of your entire system but every subsequent backup will be incremental, backing up only new or changed items. It can be helpful to sometimes leave specific items out of a backup, for example a folder full of video files that is just temporarily residing on your hard drive, or a VMWare virtual machine.
These can be very large and you don't want to be backing up a copy every time you use Time Machine. Go into System Preferences > Time Machine and click Options. There, create a list of any files or folders that you want to exclude from the backup.
28. Create instant backups
It's a quick and basic solution, but if you are about to make changes to files and you think you may need to revert back to the older versions at some point, simply duplicate the files or folders in question using the File > Duplicate command or drag and drop them to another drive, where they will be copied rather than moved. It makes sense to rename the folder to indicate that it's a backup. Having a large USB or networked drive to hand to store backups can be a great idea.29. Restore or delete items from a backup
If you need to get back an old version of a file or 'undelete' something, enter Time Machine and return to a point where the relevant item exists. You can use Quick Look to see inside the file. Then right-click and choose to restore it, or indeed to delete that instance of the backed up item, or all backed up copies of that item. Remember that if you do this they will no longer be recoverable.30. Email things to yourself
Another quick and easy way to back up smaller files is to email them to yourself using a web-based email service like Gmail, Hotmail or iCloud mail. They will then be stored online and accessible from other devices. For larger files, use services like Dropbox to store items online.31. Use multiple backup drives
As of OS X 10.8, Time Machine can use more than one hard drive for backing up your system. In its preferences you can specify two or more volumes. This is a great way to maintain two backups for extra security.32. See inside your backups
To get a better idea of what's being copied, download TimeTracker free from charlessoft.com. This loads your backups and shows you the contents of each one in a Finder-like view, along with file sizes. If anything huge is incorrectly being included you can simply exclude it using Time machine's preferences.iCloud tips
33. Use Documents in the Cloud
You can sync documents across your devices by making sure Documents and Data is enabled in your iCloud preferences. If you use a browser on a Mac or PC to log in to icloud.com you will see an iWork section and inside this, sections for Keynote, Pages or Numbers documents.
Documents can be deleted, duplicated or downloaded from here and you can also upload from your Mac. Although the sections are named after Apple's iWork suite, you can also upload Microsoft Office formatted files and text documents.
34. Take advantage of automatic downloads
You can set iTunes on your Mac to automatically download content purchased on other devices using your Apple ID. Go into iTunes' Preferences > Store section and switch it on for music, apps or books or all three. So if you buy an album from iTunes while you're out, when you come home it will have downloaded to your Mac automatically. Conversely you can activate the same option on your iOS device so that a book you buy on your Mac from iBooks for example is also available to read on your iPad.
35. Use iCloud like Dropbox
There's an interesting way to fool iCloud into sharing files with your other Macs that are signed in with the same Apple ID. Ensure that in the System Preferences > iCloud section, Documents and Data is switched on. Then go to your User Library folder by choosing Go > Go To Folder and navigating to /Users/username/Library.
Inside that folder, locate a folder called Mobile Documents. If you drop additional files and folders into this folder, they will be pushed to iCloud and also appear in the same location on all other Macs that have been set up using the same Apple ID. It's worth creating an alias to the folder on your desktop for easier access.
36. Share pictures with Photo Stream
You can activate Photo Stream from any iOS device in the Settings > Photos and Camera section. When switched on, new photos will be uploaded over Wi-Fi and available across all your iOS devices signed in with your Apple ID, and in the Photo Stream tab in iPhoto on your Mac. Individual photos can also be shared directly from your iOS device or from iPhoto, and as well as inviting specific people to be able to view the stream you have the option of making it public, so that anyone can view it on iCloud.com.
37. Share Safari bookmarks
Ever been reading a long-form article or watching a YouTube video in Safari on your Mac, then later gone out and struggled to find the correct page again on your iPhone or iPad? Fortunately there's a solution that's built in to iCloud. On your various devices, make sure iCloud Safari syncing is switched on and as long as you were not in Private Browsing mode you will be able to see all the tabs currently open on each device that has this feature enabled. Just make sure the devices in question are signed in with your Apple ID. In addition, items that you add to your Reading List on one device will also show up in the Reading List section of the other devices. That way you'll never forget a link again!38. Access your music anywhere
If you sign up for Apple's iTunes Match service, your iTunes library is analysed and all your playlists uploaded to the cloud. Any content that is already in the iTunes Store - and that tends to be most of it - is matched and anything not in the Store is uploaded to the cloud.
By activating iTunes Match on any of your iOS devices you will be able to stream or download any of the music in your account, effectively giving you access to far more music than could physically fit on an iPod or iPhone.
Even better, you can use AirPlay to stream this to any compatible device. So imagine you're at a party where they have an Airport Express connected to their stereo. Using Wi-Fi you could access your whole music library and play it. There's full search capability of course, and the ability to build playlists on the fly, though your Mac remains the master when it comes to the main library.
39. Manage your iCloud storage
Every iOS user gets 5GB of iCloud storage for free. More accurately, every Apple ID has 5GB of free storage associated with it and you can view and manage this using the iCloud > Manage button in System Preferences or inside Settings on your iOS device.
From any device or Mac running OS X 10.7 you can delete documents or backups stored in iCloud to free up space, or click on Change Storage Plan to upgrade. If you have sold a device and no longer need its backup, delete it.
40. The Apple TV loves iCloud
The Apple TV may be small but its capabilities are not. Sign in with your Apple ID and you are able to stream and buy movies and TV shows online as well as from iTunes on your Mac or PC. Although they do download to your Mac, these do not actually download to the Apple TV since it has only a small amount of local storage. What happens is that content streams from the cloud and is stored temporarily. So when you buy a movie, each time you watch it you're actually streaming it. You can also access your Photo Stream and iTunes Match libraries on the Apple TV, all streamed from the Internet. It's not possible - yet - to access your own movies from the cloud like you can with music.41. Download purchases as often as you like
One of the clever things about tying everything to your Apple ID is that your various devices always know your purchase history. On your Mac, open iTunes and sign in to the Store then go to the Purchased tab under your account. You'll see a list of everything you have ever bought and this can be searched or filtered by music, films, TV shows, apps or books. What's advantageous is that any of these can be downloaded again for free, even if you have previously deleted them from your Mac. The same purchase history access is possible on an iOS device using the iTunes > Purchased tab on the device.42. Use cellular data with iTunes Match
If you have iTunes Match set up and switched on, you might find yourself on the move and wanting to listen to a specific song that hasn't been downloaded to your device. There's a solution: go into Settings > iTunes and App Stores and switch on Use Cellular Data. Now when you load a track in iTunes on your iPhone or 3G-equipped iPad, it will stream and be stored on the device. Switch cellular data off afterwards to prevent any unnecessary data usage. You may also want to leave Automatic Downloads switched off when using cellular data, as these can quickly burn through your data allowance.43. Share calendars with iCloud
With iCloud set up on your Mac and iOS devices, open up a browser and navigate to icloud.com on your Mac and sign in, then click on Calendar. You will see a list of your calendars along the left side of the window and if you click on the Edit button next to any one you will see the option to make the Calendar private or public. To share it with selected people, choose Private then add the names of select iCloud members to invite. To make it public, click Public and you are provided with a link that other users can open in iCal, Calendar, or Microsoft Outlook. A useful function, especially for planning collaborative projects.Stay in touch with your Mac and iOS devices
44. Use multiple addresses
Using Messages on OS X 10.8, you can go into the Preferences > Accounts section and add multiple email addresses where you can be reached. This means you can use several addresses, say work and personal ones, within the same application and without having to keep signing in and out. You're also able to use your mobile number if you have an iPhone to receive messages on your Mac.45. Send files with iMessage
As well as text and pictures you can drag and drop any kind of file or folder into an iMessage on your Mac to send it to one or more people. Smaller files will be sent automatically but larger ones will need to be accepted by the user at the other end before they will start to send.
46. Use FaceTime from your Mac
If you are using OS X 10.7 or 10.8 and have a Mac with a built-in webcam, you will be able to use FaceTime. This works in the same way as it does on an iOS device, and you can make or receive calls using the same contact details you use for iMessage, and also of course you have access to your Contacts list. Under the Video menu you can choose a source to use as a microphone. You can even start a FaceTime session directly from iMessage by clicking the video camera icon.47. Message groups of people
Using iMessage on your Mac or your iOS device you can start a group message by entering the names of all the people you want to include in the To: field. Everything you send in that thread will be sent to all recipients. When someone replies, their message is shown with their name attached.48. Activate Read Receipts
In the iMessage preferences on your Mac or iOS device, you have the option to turn Read Receipts on or off. When switched on, these show the sender that you have read their message. If switched off, there will be no such notifications. If you are looking to maintain some privacy you might want to turn these off but on the other hand if you want people to be able to see that you have read their messages, you can turn it on.49. Easily send contacts
You can locate a contact inside the Contacts app on OS X 10.8 and use the Share button to send it via email, AirDrop or iMessage. To send multiple cards, multiple-select contacts from the list and use the Share button. Wherever you see the Share button in 10.8 there's generally the option to send whatever you are looking at off using an iMessage.
50. Use iMessage for MMS
iMessages can only be sent to other people who are also running iMessage. It uses a data connection rather than a cellular one and every iMessage passes through Apple's servers and is encrypted.
You can send anything between iOS devices and Macs and it won't cost you anything (except data allowance, if you're sending over 3G). Using iMessage gets around cellular providers' extra charges for MMS multimedia messaging.
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In Depth: The world of patents explained: how they affect what you buy
The world of men is broken. They file and get patents for unimaginably trivial things in the name of driving innovation. The time of the Elves is ending. Or so we imagine Lord Elrond might react to the way things are now.
The recent billion-dollar Apple vs Samsung suit was a to and fro farce. It's not easy to understand the absurdity of some of the patents that have been granted to tech companies in recent times, not when we're constantly being told that the point of patents is to drive innovation.
To most mere mortals, patents may seem as strange as Elvish spells, and they are mostly written as such, but this guide will help you to decipher the complexities of patent law. We'll also discuss how the patent laws in the EU differ from those in the US.
We won't go fully into the history of patents and trace their origins in 15th-century Italy and England, for that's not what we're here to discuss. Instead, let's focus on how patents were introduced to the European Union.
While this may seem irrelevant, it's important to understand how the different EU nations, and indeed the rest of the world, treat patents.
It all started in Europe
Our story starts in 1973, when Belgium, West Germany, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK agreed to a multilateral treaty called the European Patent Convention (EPC), to form a unified patent system in Europe. The EPC eventually led to the formation of the European Patents Office (EPO). Patents in Europe can be obtained on a national level, or via the EPO. EPC and the EU, however, are not synonymous, as some EPC states, such as Croatia, Iceland, Turkey, etc, are not part of the EU. So, a patentee can file an application for a patent under the prevalent patent laws of the country, or under the EPO, if the country is one of the EPC states. As a result, the European Patent granted under the EPC, despite the name, is still only enforceable nationally, or under the specified member states of the EPC as specified in the application, and not the entire EU. So, if a patent is granted under the EPC it is enforceable only in the EPC states as specified by the applicant in his or her patent application. There is no provision as yet for an EU-wide patent.Understanding patents
Patents involve the granting of exclusive rights by a state to the inventor for a specific period of time. In return for these exclusive rights, the patentee agrees to a public disclosure of the invention. The exclusive right refers to the right to exclude all others from using, making, selling or distributing the patented invention without prior permission.
The exact process of filing or granting of a patent, the term for which it's granted and the extent of the exclusive rights depends on the patent and other national laws, and can thus vary from country to country.
Before a patent is granted, each application is subjected to the test of patentability. That is, the invention must satisfy a number of criteria before it is deemed patentable. At the very least, the invention must be new and original and non-obvious, and the subject matter must be patentable.
The patent laws of various countries explicitly provide subject matters which cannot be patented. For example, the EPC considers discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods not to be inventions, and so these can't be patented.
'Non-obvious' is a term often used in US patent law. The equivalent term in European patent law is 'inventive step'. The idea is to ensure that patents are not granted for obvious and natural use of the design. So, a saw will not be granted a patent for use in cutting wood. But if someone were to use a saw, with some modifications, to create swimwear for deep sea exploration, that is a non-obvious invention, or an invention involving 'inventive step', and so it will be afforded protection under patent law.
'Novelty' is another requirement for patentability. This is where the often-heard term 'prior art' comes in. If an invention has been disclosed to the public, prior to the filing of the patent application, this is proof that the invention is not new or original. Such inventions are not granted protection. All publications amount to disclosure, so prior art search involves only proof of publication of the invention prior to the filing of the patent.
A patent can be enforced against anyone who uses the patented technology, regardless of whether or not there is any wilful infringement or copying of the patented technology. Independent development of an infringing device is not a recognised defence.
The length of a patent
A patent in the UK is granted for 20 years, so long as one pays the renewal fees each year. A period of 18-20 years is standard for almost all countries, depending on when the time period starts - date of filing for the patent, or date of grant of the patent. Patentability requirements are nearly uniform across Europe, so if something is unpatentable in the UK because of the subject matter, it most likely will be unpatentable in other European countries. Let's quickly discuss utility and design patents, which are at the heart of Apple's suit against Samsung. All patents that cover inventions that produce some useful result are known as utility patents. When you hear the term patent, what is usually being referred to is a utility patent, as utility patents cover the most common categories of innovation. To qualify for a utility patent, the invention must be covered by one of the following categories of subject matters: machines, comprising moving parts manufactured objects composition of matter, such as chemical compounds and pharmaceutical drugs processes which describe a stepwise method (this covers software). Just about everything that is invented by an application of the mind can be granted protection as a utility patent, the only criteria being that it must produce some useful result. The patent application for a utility patent must include a detailed description of how the invention was created, along with drawings.What do patents actually cover?
Design patents cover strictly unique ornamental design of an article or object. The uniqueness of the shape or design must be purely for aesthetic reasons. If the shape is for aesthetic and also functional purpose, then it's considered a utility patent. If the novel feature is incorporated solely for the purpose of ornamentation and its removal doesn't impair the functioning of the device, it's a design patent. Design patents refer to shape or design that enhances the aesthetic appeal of an object. At the core of the Apple suit against Samsung are the design patents it holds in regards to the iPhone and iPad. Under UK laws, you won't find any mention of the term design patents. The equivalent term in the UK is 'registered design'. While there isn't any symbol to denote a registered patent, as there is for copyright and trademark, the term 'registered design' is used if the shape or design of an object is registered in the UK. The purpose of 'trade dress' is to help one create a unique identity that helps the object stand apart from other similar objects. You should be able, by looking at an object, to immediately identify it, without necessarily reading the label. Thus, any combination of colour, font, packaging and labelling that helps one immediately recognise the source of the object qualifies as trade dress. In most jurisdictions, trade dress is considered part of the trademark laws, as the purpose of both is to create recognition and help customers easily identify the source of the product.US and EU patents
Patents are territorial in nature, effected under the national laws of the country, but there is a growing focus towards conformity of the patent laws across different countries. The TRIPs Agreement, administered by the World Trade Organisation, describes the minimum standard for many different forms of intellectual properties. It requires that member nations of the WTO enact uniform laws for copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc, and provides for remedies, enforcement and dispute resolution procedures. Membership of the WTO now requires a strict implementation of the intellectual property laws, as per the TRIPS agreement. Despite this, there are a few fundamental differences between the patent laws of some countries, eg, the US and EU states. The biggest difference is 'first-to-file' versus 'first-to-invent'. In the EU, the filing date is most important, as the person who files for the patent first is awarded the patent, even if the second applicant was the first to invent. On the other hand, the first party to invent is awarded the patent in the US, irrespective of the filing date. In this, the US stands in contrast to almost all other countries. The patent, in case of several applications for the same invention, is awarded to the party that can prove decisively it invented it first. Another difference between the EU and US is in regard to the publication of the invention. In the UK, if the invention is publicly available in any form before the filing of the patent application, the patent is not granted. The publication in this case includes articles in a magazine or newspaper, a lecture about the invention, sharing the invention with an investor without first signing a non-disclosure agreement, etc. To constitute publication, it is irrelevant who makes the invention publicly available: the inventor, one of the inventors or an independent third party. In contrast, inventors in the US have a grace period of one year from the date of publication to file for a patent. The US also provides for the granting of provisional patents. An inventor can file for a patent before the invention is production-ready, just to be able to prove a prior filing date. The provisional patent doesn't automatically mature into a regular patent. For that, the inventor has a period of one year, within which to file for a proper non-provisional patent. Finally, software patents are not granted in the EU, unless a technical problem is solved. In the US, however, patent protection is granted to all software. A registered patent grants the inventor the right to exclude all others from making, selling, using and distributing the subject matter covered by the patent. The exact nature of what is covered by the patent is described as 'claims'. Each patent application thus includes claims which define the exact scope of the patent, and a single patent can have many claims.Excluding others from selling products
A patent claim shows that the owner has the right to exclude others from using, selling or making the things that are described by the claims. Claims are a relatively new addition to patent laws, especially in European countries, where there was no mention of claims in patent applications until the mid 20th Century. In contrast, the enactment of the Patents Act of 1836 made claims a strict requirement for all patent applications in the US. A typical US patent application lists all the claims at the end of the application. For example, Apple's 7,469,381 utility patent has 20 claims, and Samsung was found to infringe claim 19, which states: "A device comprising; a touch screen display; one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors..." We've included only a brief portion of claim 19. While claims comprise a single sentence, it's not uncommon to find claims that are spread over half a page, or more. To make reading them easier, such lengthy claims are often written in outline form. Design patents have only a single claim. As the design is described by way of drawings in the patent application, the claim for a design patent usually reads "we claim the design as shown," or some variation thereof. The claim for Apple's '889 design patent, which describes an electronic device, states: "We claim the ornamental design for an electronic device, substantially as shown and described." The patents are referred to by the last three digits, so patent '889 is, in fact, the USD504889 patent.The root of Apple Vs Samsung
Since 2011, Apple has filed dozens of suits against Samsung and other device manufacturers, such as HTC, alleging infringements of its patents and trademarks, among other things. Samsung, in turn, countersued Apple, and both have since won decisions in their favour in different countries.
In its first complaint in the US, Apple alleged that Samsung had infringed on a number of its utility and design patents and various trademarks:
"Samsung's Galaxy family of mobile products, introduced in 2010, is exemplary. The copying is so pervasive, that the Samsung Galaxy products appear to be actual Apple products - with the same rectangular shape with rounded corners, silver edging, a flat surface face with substantial top and bottom black borders, gently curving edges on the back, and a display of colourful square icons with rounded corners. When a Samsung Galaxy phone is used in public, there can be little doubt that it would be viewed as an Apple product based upon the design alone."
The infringement in the above quoted paragraph refers to various 'trade dress' elements that Apple had registered in regards to the iPhone: "U.S. Registration No. 3,470,983 is for the overall design of the product, including the rectangular shape, the rounded corners, the silver edges, the black face, and the display of sixteen colourful icons.
"U.S. Registration No. 3,457,218 is for the configuration of a rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with rounded corners.
"U.S. Registration No. 3,475,327 is for a rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with a gray rectangular portion in the center, a black band above and below the gray rectangle and on the curved corners, and a silver outer border and side. "
The original complaint, despite alleging that Samsung had infringed seven utility and three design patents, didn't include the complete list of infringed patents. Patent '889, for instance, which describes the design of the iPad, was included in the final verdict form. The jury returned with a verdict in favour of Apple, awarding it more than $2 billion in damages, declaring Samsung had wilfully infringed on a number of Apple's patents, and registered trade dress.
The fact that the jury delivered the verdict after just three days of deliberation seems monumental when you consider the verdict form spanned 20 pages and covered many different areas of law - patent, trademark, trade dress, etc. The 20 pages of the verdict form included several tables for each of the infringing devices, with more than 500 YES/NO questions in all.
What's more, District Judge Lucy Koh provided the jury with more than 100 pages of instructions, detailing what was expected of the jurors, what constituted evidence, what was proof, the patents in question and many other things - which highlights the magnitude of care and responsibility that was expected from the jury.
The jury was required to decide uniformly on all the questions, and many lawyers and other legal experts have since declared the near impossibility of reaching a uniform decision on the 500 questions in a matter of a few days, while legitimately discussing the entirety of the case - the evidence, the arguments and defences.
Fearing that the jury might make mistakes on the verdict form, Samsung had filed a motion for time to study the verdict as turned in by the jury to ensure there weren't any glaring mistakes in it. The Judge saw sense in this request and granted it.
As it turned out, the jury did indeed goof up, awarding $2 million to Apple for inducement by a device it concluded didn't infringe on Apple's patents. The jury was asked to redo the maths and deliberate again on these issues.
The jury members, including the foreman, have since given several interviews, at times contradicting each other, and constantly providing evidence that might help Samsung get the decision overturned. For instance, instruction number 35 in the mammoth 109-page instruction set reads:
"The amount of those damages must be adequate to compensate the patent holder for the infringement. A damages award should put the patent holder in approximately the financial position it would have been in had the infringement not occurred, but in no event may the damages award be less than a reasonable royalty. You should keep in mind that the damages you award are meant to compensate the patent holder and not to punish an infringer."
Despite this, the foreman has since been quoted as saying: "We wanted to make sure the message we sent was not just a slap on the wrist," and: "We wanted to make sure it was sufficiently high to be painful, but not unreasonable."
This blatant deviation from the judge's instruction is just one of the reasons why Samsung is seeking a fresh trial.
The proxy war against Google
Apple's tactic of going after manufacturers that create and sell devices powered by Android, the Google product Apple contends violates many of its patent, has been termed as a proxy war against Google. In fact, Steve Jobs believed firmly that Android was a stolen product, which copied blatantly the innovations made by Apple. So why is Apple suing Samsung repeatedly instead of going after Google? Here are a few facts to set the record straight: Google freely licenses Android to device manufacturers and generates revenue through its advertising model. The device manufacturers, such as Samsung, make money by selling Android-powered devices. In its suits against the device manufacturers, Apple has claimed loss of revenues due to their competing devices. However, in this case, contrary to Apple's original claim of more than $2 billion, the jury awarded only $1 billion in damages. Another aspect of the case is that Apple had sought injunctions against various Samsung products which it contends infringe upon Apple's registered patents. This leads us to the second reason for the proxy war. Once a verdict is announced in favour of Apple, it can get the International Trade Commission to halt permanently the sales of infringing products in the US. Since the infringing products run on Android, Apple can effectively bar the sale of Android products in the US! Or so Apple hopes. With Samsung seeking a fresh trial, we're far from such an outcome. And it probably won't ever happen.
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Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
While the home entertainment side of the tech world takes a breather for a few weeks, the realm of computing never sleeps. And nore does the world of mobile, for that matter.
This week's reviews have been dominated by computing products, with a sprinkling of compelling phones and tablets mixed in as well.
Here are this week's reviews in one digestible hunk:
Acer Iconia W700 review
The Acer Iconia W700 is certainly a step forward for full-fat Windows tablets, and one of the few we've seen that can genuinely offer the experience of a full laptop and a tablet as well. Devices like the Sony Vaio Duo 11 or Toshiba Satellite U920T have erred too much towards the laptop form factor, while the current crop of Windows RT tablets suffer from usability issues, a limited ecosystem and are far too expensive. The Acer W700 has found a useful niche, and we can genuinely imagine having it docked into a desktop type set up at work, before watching a movie and using the increasing amount of Windows 8 apps on the way home.
Sony NEx-5R review
The Sony NEX-R5 shows how compact system cameras are really coming into their own. The design doesn't rely on retro chic, but instead uses modern research and development to create a compact body shape that both fits the electronics and also feels comfortable to hold. The merging of the tilting screen design from the Sony NEX-F3 and the control dial feature of the Sony NEX-7 make this a very user-friendly camera for both the beginner and intermediate photographer. If you're just getting into photography, looking for a CSC upgrade or wanting a second body to complement your DSLR, the Sony NEX-5R is the perfect companion.
Motorola Razr i review
Would we buy the Motorola Razr i ourselves? No. But that's because we strive for the best specs around, and for us, that means phones such as the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X. Would we recommend the Motorola Razr i to friends and family? Yes, without a second's hesitation. Because not everyone wants a phone that will drop the kids off at school, bake you a cake and give you a massage in the evening. Some want a device with little pocket imprint, with fantastic specs at a reasonable - rather than stupid - price. And that's what you're getting here. If taking photos is your sole aim or you're OCD about pixels, look elsewhere. But if getting a decent smartphone with a good battery, for a good price is what you want, look no further.
Nokia Lumia 620 review
The Nokia Lumia 620 is a great little handset. While it can't compete with most other Windows Phone 8 handsets, such as its big brother the Nokia Lumia 820 or the HTC Windows Phone 8X, with a price tag of just £150 (around AU$225/US$235) it doesn't have to.
And this week's other reviews…
Asus RoG Orion Pro review
HP Envy Sleekbook 6 review
Acer Aspire V5 Touch review
Viewsonic VX2370Smh-LED review
Hands on: ZTE Blade 3 review
Acer 76000U review
Acer Iconia W510 review
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