2014-01-30

Apple looking to ramp production of new 'critical' sapphire component in U.S. by Feb.

Apple looking to ramp production of new 'critical' sapphire component in U.S. by Feb. - Apple and manufacturing partner GT Advanced Technologies are pushing to open an advanced sapphire production facility in Arizona by the end of February, which will handle a new "critical subcomponent" to be incorporated in a future Apple product.


Aluminum oxide and aluminum in general are fascinating materials and plentiful.

2014-01-29

Google ordered to pay as much as $1 billion to patent troll Vringo | VentureBeat | Business | by Eric Blattberg

Google ordered to pay as much as $1 billion to patent troll Vringo | VentureBeat | Business | by Eric Blattberg - In 2011, the company purchased two patents involving the ranking and placement of ads in search results from Lycos, an old search engine, which it used to sue Google.


I'm not sure why this is being described as a patent troll. If Google had paid Lycos what was due, they might still be in business. Patent trolls, to my mind, are companies that patent non-working, overly broad designs and then use the legal system to harass companies that make actual products. Lycos was an actual product. I used it extensively back in the 90s.

Imagine if you were the team that created Lycos. Wouldn't you want Google to pay on infringing designs?

2014-01-28

Amazon is making itself more and more indispensable to mobile game developers | GamesBeat | Games | by Dean Takahashi

Amazon is making itself more and more indispensable to mobile game developers | GamesBeat | Games | by Dean Takahashi - Amazon won’t say if it will be making an Android-based gaming device beyond its Kindle tablets. But it is certainly pushing hard to create tools for game developers so that they can be successful on the company’s various app platforms.


That KindleFire is a sleeper, mark my words.

2014-01-27

Nancy Pelosi: 'I'm in awe' of the maker movement

Nancy Pelosi: 'I'm in awe' of the maker movement - Hatch and many of his fellow makers at TechShop manufacture their products in California or neighboring states, rather than China.


It's Nancy Pelosi!

2014-01-24

Apple's Macintosh has forced the world to change for 30 years

Apple's Macintosh has forced the world to change for 30 years - The arrival of the Macintosh wasn't a surprise; it was actually two years behind its originally expected ship date. Apple had hoped to ship the Macintosh by 1982.


Happy Birthday to Mac. When born, I was using the Apple ][e.

2014-01-21

VLC for iOS gets Google Drive downloads, Dropbox streaming in update

VLC for iOS gets Google Drive downloads, Dropbox streaming in update - On the surface, VideoLAN's VLC for iOS version 2.2.0 gives the media player a new look with multitouch gestures, a revamped interface and a new startup tutorial. Behind the scenes, the app gets a few key functionality tweaks and additions many users have been waiting for.

The most significant of these changes is Google Drive integration and Dropbox streaming.


Unless Dropbox has invested in edge servers a la Akamai, I'm not sure how the streaming would work.

2014-01-19

Review: Looxcie 3 social media video recorder | Electronista

Review: Looxcie 3 social media video recorder | Electronista - The Looxcie 3, a small video recorder, streams video through a smartphone and posts the feed straight to Facebook.


You might want to delay that by 5 minutes.

2014-01-18

Apple's Schiller 'unfollows' Tony Fadell and Nest after Google acquisition

Apple's Schiller 'unfollows' Tony Fadell and Nest after Google acquisition - Schiller, who follows 114 people on Twitter and posts to the service about four to five times a month, removed Fadell and Nest from his list on Friday.


This is an obsessive amount of detail. Who has time to scrutinize this?

2014-01-16

Microsoft considering Ericsson CEO to replace Steve Ballmer

Microsoft considering Ericsson CEO to replace Steve Ballmer - a longshot because of Microsoft's current interest in competing with Apple and Samsung in the consumer electronics space. But Vestberg is said to be on the radar of Microsoft's board of directors, according to Bloomberg.


Hard to imagine an outsider with no experience with Windows running Microsoft.