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TOY MAKER FOR THE WELL HEELED Apple will launch its Ipad 3 at an event in March, according to recent reports.

According to 9to5 Mac, Apple will announce its next generation tablet at a media event held in March, ahead of the actual launch of the device.

It was previously thought that the event to announce the new Ipad was due in February, and apparently there will be an event in February too, it just won’t be a product launch.

However, some reports have disputed this, saying that Apple will not hold an event in February, so who knows what to believe?

It is generally agreed that the Ipad 3 will have an ultra high-resolution display, a quad-core processor and LTE communications capability.

Apple always keeps its cards pretty close to its chest, so between now and March there will be a lot more rumours flying about. We’ll believe none of them until Apple shows its hand. µ

Apple today released the OS X 10.7.3 update for the client and server versions of Lion – unlike 10.7.2, which introduced a major feature in iCloud, the 10.7.3 update consists mostly of smaller feature and security bugfixes. The updates are currently available both from Apple's download site and from Software Update – its build number is 11D50 and it bumps the OS X kernel version to 11.3.0.

On the client side of things, 10.7.3 adds Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukranian language support, and addresses problems logging on using smart cards, with Windows filesharing, and with printing Word documents that use markup. Older iMacs with ATI graphics cards should no longer experience performance issues after waking from sleep, and post-sleep wi-fi connection issues were also addressed. Safari should no longer have trouble opening before the computer has connected to a wireless network. Lastly, Apple has fixed an issue authenticating to distributed SMB shares, and RAW image compatibility with additional cameras has been added.

Enterprise users with Active Directory domains should also note that the 10.7.3 update fixes a number of Directory Services bugs, a full list of which can be found in the client release notes.

OS X Server sees a few more feature updates, both in Server.app and in the services themselves – there are too many of them to list here, but you can check out the server release notes for a full list.

10.7.3 also includes Safari 5.1.3, a minor version bump for which release notes are not currently available (it's also not clear whether 5.1.3 will be released to Snow Leopard users, or whether it addresses issues that are only present in Lion). Snow Leopard users can also grab Security Update 2012-001 to get all of the security fixes present in 10.7.3 that also apply to 10.6.8.

ADVERTISING BROKER Google seems to have given its blessing for Motorola to forge ahead with a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple.

Motorola Mobility, which is set to become part of Google, has alleged Apple infringed six patents with its Iphone 4S. The patents include one which is entitled “Receiver having concealed external antenna”, something that could describe pretty much every mobile phone on sale today.

Apple and Motorola have had prior legal clashes with the two firms already locked in a bitter patent battle that is set to reach trial later this year. Motorola had initially tried to get patent claims against the latest Iphone 4S added to that lawsuit, however the judge rejected that, offering Motorola the chance to file another lawsuit. At this point it is not clear if, or when, those latest claims will end up in court.

According to patents gadfly Florian Mueller, Motorola’s actions must have had Google’s blessing due to the merger agreement signed by the two firms. Mueller cited that the agreement does not allow Motorola to “assert any Intellectual Property Right in any new Action” without Google’s permission.

Google’s thumbs up to Motorola is the surest sign yet that Apple and Google will eventually end up fighting each other rather than using handset makers as their pawns. µ

A GERMAN COURT has ruled against Samsung in its tit for tat patent war with Apple.

According to Reuters, Samsung hasn’t decided whether it will appeal the ruling, which covers one mobile technology patent. The German court has not made a decision on the other two mobile technologies that Samsung claims Apple infringed.

The court ruling comes after Apple sued Samsung last year, saying Samsung’s products “slavishly” copied the Ipad and Iphone. Samsung then countersued Apple and legal battles between the two companies spread across the globe.

Samsung stressed that Friday’s ruling relates to only one of several patents asserted by Samsung in the Mannheim court.

Earlier this month, Samsung failed to win a ban on the Iphone 4S in Italy. Meanwhile, in December Apple lost in an early court decision over the future of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany after Samsung changed the design of the device.

Also in December, Samsung fired back at Apple in Germany by issuing four patent challenges.

Only this week, Apple filed two more lawsuits in Germany, one that alleges design patent infringements in ten of Samsung’s smartphones and another that levels similar charges for five of its tablets. It has asked for a ban on sales.

We have contacted both Apple and Samsung for comment on this latest German court ruling.

Update
Samsung sent us a statement, which said, “We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany. It should be noted that today’s ruling relates to only one of several patents asserted by Samsung in the Mannheim court.

“Today’s ruling is of no indicative value as to whether Apple may be found to infringe other of Samsung’s intellectual property rights in Germany. Rulings on additional Samsung patents relating to telecommunications standards are due to be handed down by the Mannheim court within the next few days and weeks, and specific legal analysis of whether Apple infringed on these patents will result in distinct rulings.

“We will wait for the written grounds of today’s judgment, and after thorough review make a decision about a possible appeal to the Higher Regional Court Karlsruhe.” µ

TOY MAKER FOR THE WELL HEELED Apple revealed that it is after a slice of the multi-billion pound textbook industry at an event today.

Apple’s major announcement with educators and publishers at the Guggenheim Museum in New York introduced partnerships that will bring digital textbooks to students – a billion industry, according to Engadget’s live blog of the event.

SVP of worldwide marketing at Apple Phil Schiller said, “We try to bring the same energy and passion we’ve put into every product we make into our education business as well.”

Teachers are excited too, Schiller said, with 1.5 million Ipads in use in educational programs. “We want to help it to accelerate, and make it even easier to integrate the Ipad into the curriculum.”

Apple said it is “reinventing the textbook” with Ibooks 2, a free app for the Ipad. The app has a section called “My Notes” that pulls everything together and, with a tap, users can make study cards. The high school textbooks themselves cost .99 or less.

Publishers Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are responsible for 90 per cent of the textbooks sold. Pearson has Algebra 1, Biology, Environmental Science and Geometry, books used by more than four million high school students.

Meanwhile, the also free app Ibooks Author is an OS X application for making these texts. Schiller said, “Authors are going to love to use Ibooks to create not only textbooks, but any kind of book.”

Although you can write the book within the app, Apple knows that many people use Word. Users can drag in a Word file from Finder, drop it on the chapter, and it automatically creates sections and headers and lays out the pages automatically.

Meanwhile Itunes U is a tool for universities and colleges to deliver content around the world to anyone using an Iphone, Ipod touch or an Ipad. The dedicated app is, of course, free – though the content isn’t. µ

Apple today announced that it would begin offering digital textbooks on the iPad via its iBooks app. The books, which currently focus on high school-level subjects but will later expand to cover the entire K-12 curriculum, can cost up to .99, and Apple is working with publishing companies such as Pearson, McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and DK Publishing to make it happen. The textbook store is available in iBooks 2.0, which requires iOS 5 and is currently available as an update to the original iBooks app.

The digital textbooks can include interactive elements like pictures, video, or 3D models, which will be displayed more prominently while the tablet is in landscape mode, while flipping it into portrait mode will display a text-centric view. Students can highlight text in multiple colors and take notes, and use the app to automatically display flash cards of their highlights and notes mixed in with glossary terms from the book. Glossary terms, usually displayed in bold, can be tapped to bring up definitions of the word both from the book and from the built-in dictionary, and the text is fully searchable.

Of course, most of these features are imports from existing eBooks and old-school educational CD-ROMs – embedded video, highlighting, note taking, and many of the other things Apple showcased aren’t new innovations, though they appear to be implemented well here. More interesting was the iBooks Author app for OS X, available for no cost in the Mac App Store.

iBooks Author is used to create these interactive textbooks – pictures, videos, and Keynote presentations can be dragged into any of the provided templates, and authors of existing books can import their Word or Pages files to save time. More advanced coders can also create interactive widgets using HTML and Javascript. Publishing books requires an iBookstore seller account, the iTunes Producer app, and an active iTunes Connect contract with Apple – a full FAQ is available here. Once all of these requirements are met, the book can be submitted to Apple for review. Textbooks have a maximum size limit of 2GB.

The technology behind all of this looks solid – iBooks Author makes eBook authoring and publishing relatively painless, and buying the books on the iPad is cheaper than buying a physical copy, at least at face value. Carrying around a single iPad is much less burdensome than carrying a book, and the ease with which students can look up words, take notes, and review material is impressive.

Even so, to my mind there’s a sizable gap between what Apple announced today and something that could truly make digital textbooks ubiquitous: the cost of entry, i.e. either purchasing an iPad for each student’s use or mandating that students purchase iPads for school use, is fairly high, even if you figure for a conservative 3-4 year replacement cycle (and even with AppleCare, iPad warranties run out after two years, making a 2-3 year cycle more likely, especially once you factor in iPads that are dropped, spilled on, or otherwise destroyed). Over time, the reduced cost of the books may offset the cost of the iPads, but the upfront cost (along with the cost of supporting the devices) is likely to scare away cash-strapped public schools. The announcements made today are less likely to revolutionize education, and more likely to increase the usefulness of iPads in school systems that are already using them.

iBooks Author requires Lion and is currently available for free in the Mac App Store. iBooks 2.0 is available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch as an upgrade for the original iBooks app, though digital textbooks are not available on the smaller devices.

Source: Apple

AGGRESSIVE LITIGATOR Apple has started the new year with another legal assault on Samsung in Germany.

The fruit themed firm has filed two lawsuits, one that alleges design patent infringements in ten of Samsung’s smartphones and another that levels similar charges for five of its tablets. Apple has asked for a ban on sales.

You know by now that the two parties do not get on, and while Samsung might tease Apple, the cappuccino always seems to hit harder.

We have asked both Apple and Samsung to tell us what is going on here, but in the meantime Bloomberg has it that Apple has filed two lawsuits, one that targets the ten smartphones, and one that goes after tablets. Bloomberg quotes a court official as its source.

So far so bad for Samsung in Germany. So far it has had to pull hardware out of a trade show and had to modify its 10in Galaxy Tab tablet to get around a ban.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” is the official Apple line, which concludes, “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Incidentally, the joke last week was that Samsung had started throwing eggs at its own stores. Samsung is throwing lawsuits of its own at Apple, of course, and as recently as December was adding to its court diary. µ

AGGRESSIVE LITIGATOR Apple has started the new year with another legal assault on Samsung in Germany.

The fruit themed firm has filed two lawsuits, one that alleges design patent infringements in ten of Samsung’s smartphones and another that levels similar charges for five of its tablets. Apple has asked for a ban on sales.

You know by now that the two parties do not get on, and while Samsung might tease Apple, the cappuccino always seems to hit harder.

We have asked both Apple and Samsung to tell us what is going on here, but in the meantime Bloomberg has it that Apple has filed two lawsuits, one that targets the ten smartphones, and one that goes after tablets. Bloomberg quotes a court official as its source.

So far so bad for Samsung in Germany. So far it has had to pull hardware out of a trade show and had to modify its 10in Galaxy Tab tablet to get around a ban.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” is the official Apple line, which concludes, “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Incidentally, the joke last week was that Samsung had started throwing eggs at its own stores. Samsung is throwing lawsuits of its own at Apple, of course, and as recently as December was adding to its court diary. µ

CAPUCCINO COMPANY Apple has released its 2012 supplier responsibility report, in which the firm claims it made 229 audits during 2011, finding five facilities used child labour.

Last year Apple drew criticism as dire working conditions were revealed at Foxconn, which is one of its major suppliers. Apple was shamed into increasing the number of audits it carries out on suppliers, with the firm saying, “We require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.”

Apple states “core violations” to its code of conduct are the most serious, requiring immediate rectification. The firm describes core violations as, “underage or involuntary labour, falsification of audit materials, worker endangerment, intimidation or retaliation against workers participating in an audit, and significant threats to the environment”.

Apple found 17 facilities had involuntary labour, with two facilities being repeat offenders. Perhaps most serious of all was the use of child labour found in five facilities with Apple citing lack of control in determining age or detecting false documentation.

Apple’s report said, “Apple does not tolerate any instance of underage labour,” adding it “demands immediate corrective actions and requires suppliers to fix their management practices to prevent future occurrences”.

Overall, Apple’s report found 26 per cent of its audited suppliers failed to comply with its labour practices.

During Apple’s 2011 audits it found 93 facilities having records that indicated more than half the workforce exceeded 60 working hours per week. Pay was also a big problem, with Apple’s report citing 42 facilities had “payment practice violations”, meaning workers did not receive their wages in a timely manner. And as for all that overtime Apple’s auditing uncovered, the firm also found that 108 facilities did not pay proper overtime to their workers.

Apple and other electronics firms should not need the suicides of workers to shame them into taking workers’ rights more seriously. Even though Apple has increased the number of audits it undertakes, its report suggests that working at an Apple supplier is not necessarily a nice place to be. µ

SPANISH TABLET maker Català Energy and New Technologies (NT-K) has filed a lawsuit against Apple for alleged extortion.

According to Spanish web site Tic Beat the battle between the firms began in November 2010 when Spanish customs impounded tablets designed and made by NT-K because it thought the Android tablet was a counterfeit of Apple’s Ipad.

Apple was granted a short-term customs ban against NT-K’s products, and the cappuccino company also filed criminal charges against NT-K after negotiations between the companies broke down.

NT-K won dismissal of Apple’s case in November 2011, and the firm now claims that Apple’s litigation should be considered extortion under Spanish law.

The Spanish company’s low cost NT-Pad K tablet was sold for €235 euros, less than half the €600 price of the Apple device.

NT-K says it will publish documents regarding its allegations on its blog next week. µ