The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing Samsung’s appeal in its multi-year patent infringement battle with Apple. The Justices won’t be determining if Samsung infringed on Apple’s patents—the company already admitted to that—and instead will rule on how damages in patent design cases should be calculated. Their decision has real implications for other design-related patent cases, and could lead to yet another lower court hearing for Apple and Samsung.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-10-11: Dash's App Store Death, UK Apple Watch Ban
Dash is gone from the Mac and iOS App Stores, and the story behind why is a big bucket of drama. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at what transpired to get Dash banned from the App Store and cost the developer his account. They also offer up their thoughts on the UK Prime Minister banning the Apple Watch from Cabinet meetings.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Swoops onto the iTunes Store
To the Bat-TV, Robin! Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders hit the iTunes Store on Tuesday. The 90 minute animated movie brings back the awesomeness of the 1966 television series, complete with Adam West and Burt Ward reprising their iconic roles as Batman and Robin, and Julie Newmar joins in as Catwoman, too. There are Bat-labels galore, plenty of campy jokes, and loads of fun. You can download Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders for US$19.99 so you can watch any Bat-time on your Bat-iPhone, Bat-iPad, and Bat-Apple TV.
Yo Samsung: Give It Up, Bro
Samsung…Samsung. Yo, dudes. We gotta talk, like, for reals. Listen and Ima give it to you straight. You have a problem, Samsung. And it’s time for some change.
Podcasts
PDF Expert 2.0 for Mac for $24.99 One Day Only
Readdle’s PDF Expert 2 is a great PDF reader and editor that goes far beyond OS X’s Preview app at a price that doesn’t put the squeeze on your pocketbook. The app lets you edit text, images and links in PDF files, annotate documents, merge files into a single PDF, complete PDF forms, add document passwords, and more. PDF Expert is regularly US$59.99, but Stack Commerce put together a one-day sale for just $24.99.
Samsung Discontinues Galaxy Note 7 Manufacturing and Sales
This just in: Samsung has officially discontinued manufacturing and sales of the Galaxy Note 7. With repeated incidents of the devices—and replacement devices—catching fire, the company announced on Tuesday it would cease making and selling them.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Writer and Raconteur Bob 'Dr. Mac' LeVitus
Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus is a writer, book author and raconteur. He writes for the Houston Chronicle and The Mac Observer, and he specializes in the “Dummies” books about Apple products like the Mac, the iPad and iPhone. But Bob wasn’t always a writer. Early on, he wanted to work in a recording studio and it just so happened, in high school, he had a good friend, Jermaine Jackson. That resulted in Bob touring with the Jackson 5. Later, he became a roadie with Shaun Cassidy. (Bob tells a secret.) Bob’s also worked in advertising, a story in itself, and also as the official evangelist for Power Computing in the 1990s. Speaking of Apple, he said “We were their worst nightmare.” Does Bob know how to tell stories? Oh, yes.
TMO's Jeff Gamet Talks iOS 10, macOS Sierra at MacinTech Tuesday Oct 11
The Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, Jeff Gamet, will be speaking at Denver’s MacinTech Macintosh User Group on Tuesday evening, October 11th, in Centennial, Colorado. Jeff will be diving into iOS 10 for the iPhone and iPad, along with macOS Sierra.
iOS: How to Convince Ducking Autocorrect You Don't Mean Duck
Our iPhones are great at making our lives easier, but sometimes autocorrect just gets it wrong. So ducking wrong, in fact, that it’s really ducking annoying. Turns out there’s a workaround that lets you trick your iPhone or iPad into leaving the word you really typed instead of changing it to “duck.”
Apple AirPods: a Strategy of Ambience and Scarcity
UBS financial analyst Steve Milunovich has presented an interesting theory about Apple’s Ambient strategy: “…different input/output methods that can be flexibly utilized depending on the situation (sitting, walking, running, driving). Collectively these devices offer the capability of earlier products … delivered as a seamless user experience.” In addition, the notion of created and evolving scarcity punctuates the Apple strategy. Particle Debris page 2 explains it.