A German court ruled on Friday that Apple hasn’t infringed on a Motorola Mobility patent related to using mathematical equations in mobile communication. The ruling marks a change in the court’s pattern since it previously ruled that Apple is, in fact, violating two other Motorola Mobility wireless communication patents.

Apple rolled out two new iPhone 4S commercials Thursday evening, and like previous ads for the most recent version of the combo iPod and smartphone, both show off Siri voice control.

Some of you probably used the little pill-shaped button in previous versions of Mac OS X. Some of you may have never noticed it was there (until you accidentally hit it, that is). Melissa Holt misses being able to use that funny little thing in Lion to make some Finder windows more accessible, and because of that, she’s going to show us how to use keyboard shortcuts to replicate those old functions. She may also gnash her teeth a little bit that she needs to find workarounds like this, but that’s neither here nor there.

As promised, a group of activists handed over petitions concerned with manufacturing workers’ rights to the Apple store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal. The petitions were organized by SumofUS and Change.org and represented 250,000 signatures.

Now that Apple is making big strides in China, we’re seeing what happens when that culture gets a chance to run with the idea of being huge fans of the company. Today, we have a photo of two Apple fans in the city of Chongqing, one of whom appears to be a Steve Jobs impersonator, while the other is sporting a very cool costume made out of Macs.

Dave and John kick off February’s first Premium episode with discussion about portable iTunes libraries (and their associated woes!), discussing the nuances of setting your iOS Calendar to properly handle time zones, and some quick tips about how to read console logs. Then it’s off to some Cool Stuff Found and more. You won’t want to miss this episode, so sign up today (it’s just US$25 for 6 months of extra episodes!), download, and enjoy!

Apple claimed a staggering 80 percent of all mobile handset profits during the December quarter, according to Canaccord analyst Michael Walkley. The analyst said that Apple achieved this remarkable feat, even though it had only 8.1 percent of the market. Samsung claimed another 15 percent of those profits, leaving the next top six companies to scrap it out for the remaining 5 percent.

The Deal Brothers noted that Apple is offering a deal on a 12-Core Mac Pro, the refurbished 2.66GHz model originally released in August of 2010. It’s priced at $4,249 and ships for free.

Shares in Apple Inc. leapt by more than four percent in heavy trading Thursday. In the early afternoon session, the stock was up more than four percent and knocking on the door of a US$500 per share price point.

Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs was in the running for a presidential cabinet appointment under the first President Bush in 1991, and the FBI has released its background investigation file on the man. According to the people the agency interviewed, Mr. Jobs was driven, deceptive, and would be great for the job.

Apple’s market value keeps rising, and has even climbed up above Exxon Mobil to become the most valuable company in the world — at least on paper. Today one TMO forum reader is asking how long it will be before Apple becomes a trillion dollar company. Chime in and share your thoughts.

TMO columnist and popular author Ted Landau joined Chuck Joiner on the MacNotables podcast to talk about the recently completed Macworld|iWorld Conference along with issues some users are having after upgrading to OS X 10.7.3.

Apple is apparently ramping up for an iPad 3 announcement event in the first week of March. News of the planned media event comes courtesy of unnamed sources who also say Apple will unveil the next generation multimedia tablet in San Francisco.

Apple supplier Foxconn has reportedly been hacked, exposing the usernames and passwords of the company’s clients and employees, according to online reports. Hacker group SwaggSec claimed credit for the breach, which temporarily allowed outsiders to access Foxconn’s network.

The white MacBook, discontinued for consumers last July but available for educational purchases since then, has finally met its end. Made known on Wednesday, Apple has notified resellers that the iconic laptop is now classified as “end of life,” ceasing official sales.

Microsoft issued a statement today in support of industry standards and the licensing of the essential patents that go into those standards. This echos a recent letter sent by Apple to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute that touched on the lack of licensing standards and the lawsuits that result from the situation.

The U.S. Air Mobility Command (AMC) is looking for a few good tablets (with apologies to the Marine Corps) to replace bulky flight manuals and flight charts. The logistics arm of the Air Force announced that it will be purchasing up to 18,000 iPads or other tablets as part of its effort to reduce its reliance on paper manuals.

Vonage launched a new app for the iPhone called Vonage Mobile that allows users to send free text messages and make free calls to other Vonage Mobile users. The app puts the company in direct competition with Skype and raises the stakes for carriers looking to protect their existing business model.

Path, a unique social networking app for iOS and Android that allows users to share many aspects of their daily lives with others, has recently been revealed to be sharing even more: the user’s contacts list with Path’s servers. [Update: The developers of Path have issued an apology, deleted all data collected, and released a new version of its app that asks for permission before accessing your Address Book.]

The Deal Brothers found a deal on the refurbished 13” MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Dual-core Intel i5 for $1,019. This system was originally released in October of 2011, and it ships for free.

The TAB802 Table Clamp Mount For iPad is sturdy and rugged and fits a multitude of table sizes. You’ll get your money’s worth.

Apple announced on Wednesday that it will be offering a free stream of Paul McCartney performing his new album, Kisses on the Bottom, through iTunes and the company’s Apple TV settop box. The performance takes place on February 9th at 10:00 PM EST, and will be streamed live from Capitol Studios.

Sprint activated 1.8 million iPhones during its fourth fiscal quarter or 2011, and some 40 percent of those activations were for new customers.

Apple’s Mail app offers loads of features for email users on the Mac, but it doesn’t offer every feature everyone wants — nor, it seems, does any other app. Today TMO readers are talking about email app features and what they want out of their apps.

Apple is hoping to convince the EU’s European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set guidelines for how patents that cover industry standards are licensed. In a letter to the organization, Apple’s legal team said that the lack of licensing standards has led to lawsuits that otherwise could’ve been prevented.

Switching iCal events from one calendar to another shouldn’t be a painful process. Melissa Holt believes that from the very bottom of her black, evil—er, we mean kind and generous heart. Because of that, she’s taken it upon herself to show everyone a couple of easy ways to accomplish the task. Here’s how you can make iCal just a tiny bit more user-friendly.

Halliburton is the latest to deal Research in Motion a blow by announcing a plan to phase out BlackBerry phones and replace them with iPhones over the next two years, according to a report out of Canada.

As rumors and speculation about an Apple television set continue to heat up, Toronto-based Globe and Mail reported that Apple is talking to Canadian carriers Rogers and Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) about being Canadian launch partners for such a product. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper went so far as to say that both carriers had prototypes in their labs.

Apple released EFI Firmware Update 1.8, a firmware update for Mid 2010 iMacs that enables Lion Internet Recovery for the first time. Lion Internet Recovery allows Macs to recover or reinstall Lion over the Internet.

Apple and Wal-Mart’s retail warehouse outlet Sam’s Club are reportedly in early talks about an expanded Apple presence in 47 Sam’s Club locations in the U.S. Online reports said that the talks could lead to Apple stores-within-a-store being set up in Sam’s Club, or it could merely lead to the addition of Macs being offered alongside the iPods, iPhones, and iPads already sold at the discounter.

The Deal Brothers spooted  a new entry to Apple’s refurbished inventory, the refurbished MacBook Air 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 for $849.00. This system was originally released in July of 2011, and it ships for free.

Some of Apple’s new OS X apps are exhibiting an interesting tendency. Instead of a brilliant user interface to deal with technical complexity, there is the removal of functionality. However, simpler isn’t always better.

Almost immediately after Apple released the Mac OS X 10.7.3 Update last week, some users began reporting a serious and anxiety-provoking consequence of the install: Every application on a Lion drive would crash upon launch, rendering the computer virtually useless. Ted Landau offers advice on how to fix this problem and avoid similar ones in the future. For all the details, read on…

Innovative Sleep Solutions announced the immediate availability of SleepTracker Analytics for SleepTracker Elite users on Tuesday. The service lets SleepTracker Elite users upload their sleep data through a Mac-based app to the SleepTracker Analytics service.

The Mac Observer’s Jeff Gamet joined the International Mac Podcast on the team to take a look at current Apple-related news topics including FileVault 2 security and Dixons CEO John Browett joining the Apple retail team.

TidBITS and Stairways Software launched Bookle on Monday. Bookle is an ePub reader app and ebook organizer for the Mac.

Apple gear shows up regularly in movies and TV shows, and that’s quite likely by design. Today TMO readers are talking about Apple’s product placement and how the company has successfully managed to get its gear in front of viewing audiences.