Motorola Wins Injunction Against Apple Inc. In Germany; Won’t Stop Apple From Selling Its Products

On Friday last week, Motorola Mobility won an injunction against Apple in Germany. A German court, in a default judgement, barred Apple Inc. from selling any of its mobile products that infringe two Motorola Mobility patents.

Although at first this may seem like a huge blow to Apple, it doesn't immediately translate into any sort of ban on Apple products in Germany.

Motorola Mobility filed two separate cases against Apple, one against the global parent company Apple Inc., and the other against its German subsidiary Apple GmbH. Apple's German subsidiary is fighting the case, while Apple chose to let the case against Apple Inc. slide.

Since Apple products are sold in Germany through Apple GmbH and not Apple Inc., the injunction won't result in any ban immediately. Apple's statement in response to the judgement said the same thing:

"This is a procedural issue and has nothing to do with the merits of the case. It does not affect our ability to do business or sell products in Germany at this time."

Motorola Mobility had this to say on the default judgement:

"As media and mobility continue to converge, Motorola Mobility's patented technologies are increasingly important for innovation within the wireless and communications industries, for which Motorola Mobility has developed an industry leading intellectual property portfolio. We will continue to assert ourselves in the protection of these assets, while also ensuring that our technologies are widely available to end-users. We hope that we are able to resolve this matter, so we can focus on creating great innovations that benefit the industry."

There is some confusion as to whether the injunction against the parent company has any affect over product sales, if not in the short term, then some time in the future. While The Verge's Nilay Patel says the victory is nothing more than symbolic, FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller argues that the injunction could have an affect on Apple's operations in Germany:

(the court) could even seize Apple's apple.de domain, which belongs to Cupertino but is registered in Germany, if all else failed.

[..]

The injunction doesn't allow Apple Inc. to "deliver" any goods to Germany. That would include shipments to Apple GmbH.

Apple will nonetheless file an appeal to suspend the injunction, which most German lawyers believe Apple would be successful in.

There would be two more hearings in the Motorola-Apple case in Germany, scheduled for November 18 and December 2.

[via FOSS Patents]

View the original article here

Next Gen Native Maps App May Offer Street Views And Interior Panoramas

A couple of weeks back, we reported that Apple has acquired another mapping company called C3 Technologies, which specialized in making 3D maps from photo data using declassified missile-targeting technology.

The report has renewed speculations that Apple could use the technology from its latest acquisition to revamp the long neglected native Maps application along with technologies from Poly9 and Placebase - the other two mapping companies Apple has acquired in the last two years.

Arnold Kim of Mac Rumors has dug up some interesting details about some of the features that could make it to the next generation maps application:

According to BrightSideOfTheNews, "C3 also makes awesome street level imagery captured using "an advanced multiple camera system with overlapping viewing angles to capture the entire surroundings in stereo." In addition to street imagery, the next generation maps application may also offer interior panoramas as shown below. SingularityHub has explained how the interior panoramas are created: "As well as increasing its geographic range, C3 is expanding into interior settings. With a special camera rig, they can also create a 3D model of the interior of a building using the same photo stitching they use with their aerial or street level maps. Businesses have to request C3 to come in and create such an inside map of their facilities, so don’t expect these 3D indoor maps to become ubiquitous anytime soon. Still, the technology is ready and available, so we’re bound to see at least a few examples in the months ahead."

Checkout the video below to get a glimpse of what to expect:

We hope that Apple blow us away with their next generation maps application. What about you?

[via Mac Rumors]

View the original article here

Researcher Reveals Security Vulnerability in iOS; Demos It In Apple Approved App; Gets Booted From App Store

Security researcher and a former National Security Agency analyst - Charlie Miller has revealed that he has found a major security vulnerability in iOS that could allow malicious code to be executed on the iOS device, which could be used by the attacker to steal the user’s photos, read contacts, make the phone vibrate or play sounds etc.

Forbes reports:

Miller became suspicious of a possible flaw in the code signing of Apple’s mobile devices with the release of iOS 4.3 early last year. To increase the speed of the phone’s browser, Miller noticed, Apple allowed javascript code from the Web to run on a much deeper level in the device’s memory than it had in previous versions of the operating system.

The researcher soon dug up a bug that allowed him to expand that code-running exception to any application he’d like. “Apple runs all these checks to make sure only the browser can use the exception,” he says. “But in this one weird little corner case, it’s possible. And then you don’t have to worry about code-signing any more at all.”

Miller also developed an app to show the vulnerability, which was briefly approved by Apple:

Miller, a former NSA analyst who now works as a researcher with consultancy Accuvant, created a proof-of-concept app called Instastock to show the vulnerability. The simple program appears to merely list stock tickers, but also communicates with a server in Miller’s house in St. Louis, pulling down and executing whatever new commands he wants. In the video below, he demonstrates it reading an iPhone’s files and making the phone vibrate. Miller applied for Instastock’s inclusion in the App Store and Apple approved the booby-trapped app.

Apple has quickly removed the app from the App Store and also terminated his developer license for breach for developer agreement.

“This letter serves as notice of termination of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement…between you and Apple,” the email read. “Effective immediately.”

This is not the first time Miller has found a security flaw in iOS. In 2009, he had discovered a security vulnerability in iPhone's messaging system.

Apple has a week's time to fix the security flaw as Miller plans to present his findings at the SysCan conference in Taiwan next week.

Do you think Apple has done the right thing by booting Miller out of App Store? Are you worried about the security vulnerability?

[via Forbes]

View the original article here

Dropad A8HD 7 Inch Tablet PC SAMSUNG S5PV210 Android 2.3 HD Screen Bluetooth 8GB Silver

Details

Model Dropad A8HD
CPU Samsung S5PV210 ARM Cortex-A8, 1GHz
Operation System Android 2.3
RAM 512MB
Nand Flash 8GB
Shell Material Plastic
Screen Size 7 Inch
Type Capacitive Screen
Resolution 1024 x 600
Visible Angle 150°
GPS
No
Extend Card Support TF card up to 16GB
Camera 2.0 Megapixels
Gravity Sensor Yes
Multi-Touch Yes, 5 points touch
Flash Support Flash 10.3
3D Graphics Acceleration Power SGX540 OpenGL- ES1.1 and 2.2 and OpenVG1.0
Youtube Yes
Bluetooth
Yes, bluetooth 2.0
Video 1080P, AVI/MOV/MP4/RMVB/FLV/MKV…
Music MP3/WMA/WAV/APE/AAC/FLAC/OGG 
Ebook TXT, PDF, HTML, RTF, FB2…
Skype Yes


Email and Browser Yes, built in
WIFI 802.11 b/g/n
3G Not built in, support external 3G dongle: HUAWEI1750, E220, E161, E261; ZTE MF80, MF637U
Earphone Interface 3.5mm
Battery 4000MAh
Language Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese
Other Applications Office, Browser, Gallery, Clock, Calculator, Calendar, Taskiller, Gmail…
Product Size 193 x 121 x 12mm
Product Weight 400g
   
Extend Port 1 x MINI HDMI port
2 x MINI USB port (Host+OTG)
1 x 3.5mm port
   
Package Weight 850g
Package Including 1 x Charger(9V, 1.5A)
1 x USB cable

Its a excellent tablet with a very cheap price starting at only US 199!!

SemiTether Jailbreak Updated; Incorporates New Mobile Substrate; Much More Stable

Last weekend, BigBoss had released a new package on Cydia called SemiTether, which allowed users to reboot their tethered jailbroken iOS 5 device without the need to connect it to the computer.

However, BigBoss's solution had some limitations and number of users reported issues after using it. BigBoss has released a new version of SemiTether (v0.91), which incorporates the new mobile substrate by Jay Freeman a.k.a saurik that should make the semi tethered mode more stable.



BigBoss writes:

v0.9.1 incorporates Saurik’s new mobile substrate. Thanks to Saurik, we are entirely rid of all the daemon patching – this means there’s no more daemon patching or restarting. Most the semi-tether work is now done by mobile substrate. The semitether package from the repository now protects your iOS 5 notification center plugins and gives you the option to patch mobile safari so that it will work on the non-jailbreak reboot mode. I’m still looking into patching mail, if possible. 

Here's the list of changes in the updated version:

1) Much more stable with new mobile substrate 2) Can patch safari so it works in the non-jailbreak reboot mode 3) App to monitor the status of your semitether and reapply. Check after cydia installs.

Semi tethered mode will allow users, especially iPhone users who want to jailbreak their iPhone to at least use it for some of the basic functionalities of the iPhone and now even get to use mobile Safari, instead of the tethered mode where if you reboot the iPhone for any reason it is stuck at the Apple logo, until you don't tether it to the computer and use Redsn0w's Just Boot option. Here's a summary of what you can and cannot do in semi tethered mode with the latest update:

1) Can use phone, sms (text messages)

2) Can use every other stock app on iphone.

3) Can use other appstore web browsers such as atomic web browser

4) Cannot use mail app. You could install a gmail app from appstore or such instead.

5) You cannot use any jailbreak tweak, app, cydia until you boot tethered.

6) While in the semitether booted state, you should not add a jailbreak ios5 notification such as sbsettings to notifications during this state or your device will be stuck in a respring loop until you get home to “boot tethered”.

However a word of caution from BigBoss:

This new version will definitely solve all the flakiness problems we had in the past. However, be aware that this is a total rewrite of mobile substrate. Until this appears in a community source, you are beta testing so installing it is entirely at your own risk.

iPad 2 Running iOS 5 successfully now its jailbroken

Really cool news for all iPad2 users around the world iOS 5 now will be available on iPad 2 as when iOS 5 released there were no ability to jailbreak iOS 5 on iPad 2 and we expected to wait till iOS 5 Tethered Jailbreak release to get iPad 2 jailbroken but this happened faster than we think, iPhone Dev-Team showed a video to jailbroken iPad 2 running iOS 5 after the break.

Everything is good but MuscleNerd, again, says that there are lots of work to be done.

Lots of hurdles left, no ETAs.

As we mention before MuscleNerd said that as iPad 2 and iPhone 4S has the same A5 processor chip so they will get the same Jailbreak in the same time.

Untethered Jailbreak iPhone 4/4S and iPad 2 iOS 5 Status

Recently GreenPois0n tweeted that untethered jailbreak iOS 5 on iPad 2 and iPhone 4/4S is in progress and he has got enough donations to make the Jailbreak work.  Now you can use the SemiTether to Semitethered Jailbreak iOS 5 on your iPhone 4 or iPad 2 .



The untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 will be released in November, develpoers are working hard to find some hardware exploits in the new A5 chips, but no success, therefore so far work on software exploits is in progress, to find some breakthrough.



A bootrom exploit has not been found for either of iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (both have the same bootrom iBoot-838.3), that meaning it cannot even be tethered Jailbroken. As long as there is one device can be untethered, both two devices all can be untethered jailbreak with same bootrom exploit.

Not too surprising, but can now confirm that the iPad2 and iPhone4S bootrom are the same version iBoot-838.3

However, any hacker will not set a  time-frame  on iPhone 4S/iPad 2 untethered Jailbreak, until they developed a full untethered jailbreak tool. The Chronic Dev-Team announced that they have 5 userland exploits can be used to untethered Jailbreak the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Therefore, they are most likely working on it, and the tool will be released in the coming weeks. We can also put hopes on the new JailbreakMe 4.0

How To : Enable Multitasking Gesture On IOS 5 For IPad 1 [No Jailbreak Required]

Apple has added multitasking gestures and AirPlay mirroring feature in the 2nd generation iPad. 1st generation iPad users can enable multitasking gestures and video mirroring on their jailbroken iPad 1 by editing “K48AP.plist”,  learn more in this procedure in this “thread in our forums, Now you can also have Multitasking Gesture on your iPad running iOS 5 even without Jail-breaking by using a modified version of Redsn0w thanks to “d.B.” from modmyi forums. with this methode you can now enable multitasking gestures and video mirroring on your iPad 1 running iOS 5. iPad users can use gestures to bring up the homescreen, multitasking bar and jump between open apps.

As well as the new gestures, Apple also added AirPlay Mirroring in iOS 5, allowing users to view their iPad 2′s screen wirelessly on an Apple TV. Once again, the first-gen iPad was given the cold shoulder, leaving those stuck with it bereft of some very useful and productive new features. While the AirPlay Mirroring feature isn’t ported over to first-gen iPad yet, another similar feature called Video Mirroring (introduced in iOS 4.3.x), which is also available for iPad 2 users only, and does the same thing as AirPlay Mirroring, but using an HDMI cable.

Here is a step by step guide in order to enable Multitasking Gestures and Video Mirroring features on iPad 1.

Download the modified version of redsn0w, Mac Windows
Connect your iPad if it isn’t already and turn it Off.
Unzip and start redsn0w, click on “jailbreak”.
Put your iPad in DFU mode :
Press and Hold the Power Button for 2 seconds
Without releasing the Power Button press and Hold the Home Button for another 10 seconds
Now release the Power Button while still pressing the Home Button for another 15 soconds
Make sure you uncheck “Install Cydia” and checked “Enable multitask gestures”.
Process will take few minutes and restarts to implement the hack. Once it’s done, go to Settings > General, and you wil be able to see the multitasking option.

If you have any questions, comment please check this thread in our forums. you can always join our Facebook fan page or follow us on twitter to keep yourself updated on all the latest iPad news and tutorials.

SoundID Introduces SIX Bluetooth Headset With Built In Siri Access

Carbon weave has got to be the Miracle Whip of gadgets — it makes anything taste better. We reviewed Sound ID’s 510 Bluetooth headset in a BT headset head-to-head a few months back; and while it sounded great and was pretty much our pick of the week, it wasn’t the coolest looking kid on the block — and you couldn’t order it to do stuff, like you could some other headsets. Sound ID’s new Six fixes all that, and adds a trick for Siri too.

Let’s discuss Siri first, Siri is a sophisticated artificial intelligent voice recognition system which was introduced as major feature in Apple iPhone 4S. It’s a pretty useful personal voice assistant which allows you to accomplish daily tasks conveniently. You can just tell Siri what do you what and that’s it, Siri will look it out for you. You can arrange your meeting reorganize your calender put reminders, call people, and a lot of other cool stuff.

The new VoiceMenu function allows access to voicemail, BING 411 for updates on news and weather, and the VoicedDial feature, which can also be used to activate Siri.

Of program, all the characteristics from the 510 are there way too, like the cool EarPrint app (which is now a Binary App for the iPad as well) for customizing the headset’s sound and checking the battery amount, A2DP and the contact controls — the latter hopefully enhanced. The 6 is $ 130 and available now.

Excerpts From Steve Jobs’ Biography: “Let’s Show Him What A Tablet Can Really Be”

If you love your iPad then in addition to Steve Jobs and Apple, we also have to thank one loud mouthed Microsoft employee who bugged Steve Jobs so much "about how Microsoft was going to completely change the world with this tablet PC software and eliminate all notebook computers" that he decided that Apple should create a device to show them what a tablet really can be and rest of it as we know is history.



This was revealed in an excerpt from Steve Jobs biography posted by The Daily Mail.

[Bill] Gates was annoyed that the guy kept revealing information about the tablet PC he had developed for Microsoft. “He’s our employee and he’s revealing out intellectual property,” Gates recounted. Jobs was also annoyed, and it had the consequence that Gates feared. As Jobs recalled:

This guy badgered me about how Microsoft was going to completely change the world with this tablet PC software and eliminate all notebook computers, and Apple ought to license his Microsoft software. But he was doing the device all wrong. It had a stylus. As soon as your have a stylus, you’re dead. This dinner was like the tenth time he talked to me about it, and I was so sick of it that I came home and said, “Fuck it, let’s show him what a tablet can really be.”

Jobs went into the office the next day, gathered his team, and said, “I want to make a tablet, and it can’t have a keyboard or a stylus.”

Interestingly, we are still to see the tablet PC software that the Microsoft employee was raving about, while Apple has already sold around 40 million iPads since it was launched last year and made it to Time's elite best 50 inventions of 2010 list. The look on his face when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad would have been priceless.