Apple’s 2007 Lobbying: Patent System Reform, Education Tax Breaks

Apple has spent $720,000 on lobbying the U.S. Federal Government thus-far in 2007. Topics of interest to Apple appear to be updating the U.S. patent system, and advocacy of bills to increase funding for technology in education and provide tax breaks for spending on R&D.[...] Thanks to longofest for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

zhulien: hahaha, lobbying is just another form of corruption. nice to know a company like apply has instantly lost it’s reputation by lobbying

jabberwolf: Basically Apple is trying to open the gaps of companies that have created patents so that Apple can claim them without going to court.

This way theu can continue the BS or look we’re “innovative” even when they never created shit.

tyrione: Before a system can be reformed you have to play the game, however corrupt, and part of the game includes lobbying to promote the game being reformed. This reform is to weed out the notion of patent cherry picking and poaching which we see in a certain Judical district in Texas.

If your competition patents everything including how to urinate you have to do similar in order to stay in the market(s).

DeFex: what “reforms” do they want. apple is already trying to patent taking a common electronic device and using it with another common electronic device. its like patenting putting a red lego brick on top of a yellow one.

elebrio: Apple is trying to patent everything under the sun. I don’t get it. This is the most useless article I’ve seen on the front page of digg in a while.

spyd3rweb: So much for the voice of the people.

rocket777: Hell, how about asking for repeal of the patent laws altogether, especially software patents. That’s been nothing but trouble and copyrights were plenty good enough for software that was written. But when someone writes their own sort routine, and some idiot at the patent office hands out a patent for that it can stop all innovation.

You know, before software could be patented, I wrote a device driver that simulated a storage device in ram. It was a ram-tape driver and I wrote it 40 years ago. All we had in those days was magnetic and paper tape. Suppose I had got a patent on that, I could have stopped every linux system from booting! How, well if I bothered to patent the idea, then I’d have patented all virtual device software.

What stupidity. Before patents, everyone shared ideas, and there was great innovation. What’s there been in software over the last 15-20 years. Nothing worth talking about.

davidjunit: “…tax breaks for spending on R&D.”
Sounds like Bush propaganda to me. Letting big companies have tax breaks, mmm hmm. Don’t let “Big Apple” get off easy!

gafasiesornivek: They should start a political party called the Lemon Party.

pintomp3: big corporations spend big money to have the laws written in their favor. nothing new here. i wish that lobbying didn’t have more power than the needs of the people though.

neiltc13: The first line of this article is:
“The Associated Press (via Forbes.com) reveals that…”

Why not LINK to AP or Forbes then?
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/30/ap4070569.html

Buried as more Mac Rumors spam.

nusuni: I got an idea, how about instead of reforming the Patent system we get rid of it. if you invent something it makes no difference whether or not it is patented, someone WILL steal it and someone WILL make it better (which should inspire you to make it even better, instead of suing in court and putting more money in the lawyers’ pockets). US Patents (and patents in general) have got to be the most anticompetitive load of BS on the planet.

wilhoitm: I wonder how much Microsoft spends on lobbying? Anyone know?

iMovie ‘08: It’s not that bad

iMovie ‘08 has gotten a bad rap lately so I decided to put it through it’s paces and see what all the fuss was about. Now, I’m not professional video editor — just your average Josephine — but, frankly, I think the new iMovie kinda rocks.[...] Thanks to obeezy for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

gerkin: I disagree with this article, iMovie ‘08 is horrible. It reminds me of a first gen of EditDV (which apple bought and turned into FCP). Usability wise it’s horrible and you don’t even get a choice of where to save your projects or working files (hello McFly … this went out with the C: drive in DOS).

It looks, feels and reacts like a quick hack — oh wait, it is a quick hack that they apple’fied and called it iMovie. Oh ya, and my Powerbook, that’s still under original warranty is not supported for it … wtf.

serpicolugnut: Look, an upgrade is just that – the previous version with new features. Calling this program iMovie ‘08 implies it is an upgrade, when it is clearly a totally new app, designed to do most of what the previous version did. It improves upon its predecessor in a few areas (stability, skimming, ease of using stills to create a movie, easy export to YouTube), and takes a giant step back in others (audio options suck now, interface is wacky and confusing, no more effects (WTF???!!!), less transitions, no plugin support and hardware requirements.

I used to log the iLife apps as one of the best selling points of being a Mac user. Maybe I’ve just grown up/out of them. But iMovie ‘08 is a disappoint. iWeb ‘08 is still a disappointment. Garageband is pretty freakin’ cool. And iPhoto is a killer app, but I find myself wanting something more powerful, ie, Aperture or Lightroom.

MaceSoul: It wouldn’t be so bad if you could download the old version.

Quix: Um, isn’t “It’s Not That Bad” a registered trademark of Microsoft?

oruland: I’m going to assume that the people that are saying that its bad are professional editors, I haven’t done enough research but that would be my guess not the “Now, I’m not a professional video editor -” like this guy

schneb: The following companies make their livelihood creating plug-in effects for iMovie. I wonder how they feel about iMovie ‘08 and its lack of support? Wasn’t it Steve Jobs who said, “If you develop software for the Mac, we want to talk to you.” Well, obviously they were the ones doing all the talking.

Stupendous Software
BKMS
AlphaPlugins
eZedia
ImageIP
Digital Thought Software
SebSofts
Trix Software
Pixlock
Gee Three – Slick Series
Digital Arts GmbH

For a list of all my plug-ins that are now useless in iMovie 08, see the link below…
http://schneblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/sfx-broken-by-imovie-08.html

hijinksensue: I liked this Digg a lot better when it was called: http://digg.com/apple/iMovie_08_It_s_not_that_bad

or, the same exact story with the same exact title, with the same exact description that I submitted yesterday.

IchiroBoston: When I first started to play with iMovie 08 I thought it SUCKS… but after forcing myself to play along and give it a shot… I really like it!
I think the biggest improvement is how it manages all of your video independent to your project as events, So EVERYTHING is always there… Once I learned how to manage the location of events it works great!

For 90% of what I need it works great, the other 10% I use iMovie 06… if they create an Advanced mode in 08 (timeline, audio controls and plugins) it would be all that I need.

HarleyQuinn: All Apple needs to do to make iMovie 08 the best, is allow it to work with previous plugins and BETTER AUDIO / MULTIPLE AUDIO TRACK support.

The best part of the old iMovie was being able to cut out unwanted vocal chatter, and control the levels of say voices vs music.

sfrederiksen: ding fries are done!

over90000: You know what’s worse than mac fanboys? mac apologists.

monsterofNone: Is this the official apple slogan? “iMovie ‘08… not that bad?”

MacParrot: What I like about iMovie 08:

Easy YouTube insertion
Making precision edits of existing video before adding to the timeline (such as it is)

What I don’t like about iMovie 08

Making all my third-party plug-ins useless
Audio editing within the program is almost impossible. To have to export to GarageBand is NOT a solution, just a work around.
A lack of decent titles and transitions. iMovie 08 has what…nine total for each?
A few other things I dislike as well. iMovie 08 is not a replacement for 06. Apple knew there was going to be a lot of outrage and didn’t delete your previous iMovie installation which is one of its saving graces. For YT videos or something to be put on a webpage, it’s OK, but I plan on keeping 06 around for anything beyond that and FCE for any serious (cough…cough) work.

colecovizion: As a long time fan of iMovie 6 HD, iMovie ‘08 fucked with my head. It took me a long time to get even the most basic functions (which is mostly all it has) to work properly.

Also, not to mention:

* Why are there two play buttons and two full screen buttons?! I thought buttons were a “bad thing.” Not only do we have button redundancy, but we have bad button placement. Don’t have me A) click the video then B) click the the play button that corresponds to the section I’m in (on the far left part of the screen) only to see that C) the video is playing on the far right side of the screen. How am I supposed to know that these three things are linked? Intellectually I now know what to click, but intuitively, it just wasn’t cutting it. If you are going to have a single video preview area you should keep it under the place where it is playing (i.e iMovie 6 or any other editing software).

* The lack of transitions, titles, etc. I feel like I’m in iMovie 1.0 again. Times have changed, expectations have changed. Give me back all my options that I had in the last version. Heck, give me all the cool transitions you put in Keynote. Also, all my plugins don’t work anymore.

* And now the big reason why I had to go back to iMovie HD, there is no option to export back to the camera. I’m glad they added more export options to their own devices (iPod, iPhone, appleTV, etc) and YouTube, but
now I have no way to easily watch my HD footage back on my HDTV without plugging my laptop into it.

So, I wanted to like iMovie 08, but ultimately it seems like a 3 version downgrade rather than a 1 version upgrade. Call it something else if you are going for a different market (maybe iJustWantToCropAndPostToYouTube 1.0).

And don’t tell me to move up to Final Cut Express, it is WAY more involved than iMovie 6 HD and it is $300!

edstate: The release of iLife ‘08, with all it’s bugs, bloatedness, and artificial hardware limitations (iMovie) really dissapointed some people. A lot of people, actually. And Apple would be wise to come down a bit off their high horse right about now. Yes, they’re awesome. And in my opinion the best thing happening right now in a lot of respects. But they’re begining to smell a bit like the Microsofts and Sonys with this particular release. As a fan and stockholder, I hope it’s not a sign of things to come. I also hope that they’re man enough to fix it.

New iPods to have iTunes Music Download Capabilities and Digital Radio

…the new iPods will be able to receive digital radio, and will include a ‘buy-now’ function to allow the user to download and buy tracks as they are being played. This facility will be limited to tracks sold from the iTunes store[...] Thanks to CLIFFosakaJAPAN for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

mobilehavoc: Makes sense for them to have streaming content (music, radio, video, whatever) in the new iPod since they can add that functionality to the existing iPhones via software so people can stream junk to their iPhones via Wifi or EDGE. That way iPhone users get in on the action too.

ch3n: OMG another must buy ipod.. well this would be my fifth… Where will i find the money to buy? well i think i must work harder.. LoL

Yuusharo: I’m not sure people are quite getting it. I think what the rumor points to is possibly an ipod that streams not digital stations via wifi, but rather the hybrid-digital (HD) radio standard that is rolling out in major markets all over the country. A portable unit at the moment isn’t feasible because the technology required drains quite a bit of power, but who knows? Perhaps Apple has found a way to receive those broadcasts efficiently enough to keep the battery life up. If we’re talking about HD radio, then you’re talking about crisp, clear audio from your favorite local stations at no charge or subscription on top of your music. Now *THAT* would be sweet to see.

I’ll stave off digging any mac rumors until the official announcement. With that said, I really can’t wait to see what happens on Wednesday.

redwallhp: I’m the iPod Phophet: http://blogs.ntugo.com/computers/2007/08/28/ipod-predictions/

Billions: I was hoping they would figure out how to add that ‘NBC/Universal’ feature back in!

VDGG: Im Collecting information on rumoured features and products for tommorow on my blog at http://touchscreen-ipod.blogspot.com

BadbCatha: Everytime Apple release new products it reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where Malibu Stacey release a new doll and the only difference is that is has a new hat.

OMG its and iPod, WITH A RADIO!!!

NeoRicen: This rumour sounds a lot less likely than most others but would be cool nonetheless.

monkeykit: I’m sticking to my feeling that Bluetooth2.0 support will be in the new iPod and that’s the “wifi” it will have to beam songs over to other ipods. Also A2DP support for some wireless bluetooth headphone action going on!! FTW my predictions : http://blog.monkeykit.com/2007/08/30/apple-special-event-predicitions-2007/

MaceSoul: Radio and wireless? Are they going to make them in brown? Did Cupertino start their photocopiers?

TravisG5: How about we wait until Wednesday to write “New iPods blah blah blah”. There is a new story on digg every night about them; are you really that impatient?

Dan11023: Touch screen?

harvinator24: All i want is shout cast radio on my ipod, or atleast be able to play some form of internet radio.

last4internet: I hope this doesn’t happen. Why not add Wlan enabled iTunes to the iPods? Using DAB radio or something for wireless music is just overly complex to set up, needs partners and doesn’t even work in many places. For example in Finland DAB radio was dropped completely because nobody listened to it. It just doesn’t exist anymore. There’s still plenty of Wlan hotspots..

So in fact I think that this radio shit isn’t even real. It’ll be something else. Or then they are just crazy.

cwoolf34: Pure speculation. I and lots of others were predicting satellite radio to be built in a couple years ago. I doubt radio will be implemented. If anything, Apple will release a new FM remote attachment that is HD Radio Compatible.

Apple to Sell Ringtones for the iPhone?

“They will be iPhone-compatible only, which likely means some AAC Fairplay lockdown. Expected at the Apple Event this coming Wednesday 5th, the service will let you pick a snippet of any iTunes Store track …”[...] Thanks to jshayne for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

willynilly: Nobody should be paying for a goddamned ringtone. You paid $600 for a phone, which already fails at most of its touted extraordinary functions:

iPod: failure because you can’t plug your headphones into its idiotically defective jack
E-mail: failure,no way to delete multiple messages, among other problems
contacts: failure, no categories
memos: failure, no categories
to-dos: failure, missing

And the headphone-jack fiasco is compounded by MONO Bluetooth only. Oh, and your phone headset won’t fit the shitty jack either.

Finally, there’s the failure to allow third-party apps while millions of (gasp) Windows Mobile devices handle this without incident.

After all this, there’s no excuse for ripping people off for ringtone.

dvsbastard: FTA: “Anything more than iTunes standard $0.99 per track would certainly be odd: who would pay extra for a 30 second clip when you can get the whole song for less?”

What good is the whole song if you can’t make it a ringtone?! Either way, I don’t like the idea of “double dipping” on customers who have already paid for a track…

redrock34: Seems Apple has forgotten about it’s iTunes users…

HA5TY: Too bad I get them free with iFuntastic

KenIovino: I don’t see this working out very well. As it is now, you can just install the “SendSong” app and you can have all the ringtones you want.

suxmonkey: iPhone has everyone drooling – unfortunately, that means they can sell anything they want :/

rpgmaker: That wasn’t the whole point of not letting the people choose the ringtone that they want in the first place?

Anonymous Programmers Reveal iPhone Unlocking Software

A group of anonymous software developers said they will soon start selling a program that will allow iPhone owners to use the hugely popular device on cell phone systems around the world and not just with AT&T.[...] Thanks to FameMoney for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

iPhoneSIMfree begins fulfilling bulk orders, apparently will not unlock end

Are you ready for it? Looks like iPhoneSIMfree is. A number of tipsters have sent us emails that they’ve received announcing the availability of the elusive software unlock — delivery on Tuesday, 4th of September. Good news right? Maybe, but here’s the tell:[...] Thanks to navotvolk for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

senocak: iPhoneSimFree reseller starts selling unlock licenses. I bought mine today.
the reseller is www.simunlockediphone.com

bwmdiym: I give it a week and the software will be on bit torrent for free

711groove: Will not unlock end? You mean I have to play all the way to the final level myself?

Wander: Hopefully on Wednesday we’ll be able to buy what we all really want – an iPhone without the phone feature!

gODfall: Living In Canada, the industry forces me to be a pirate.

elk1: I can’t wait until someone cracks this software and I can get it for free.
it would be worth 600 bucks just for the irony of it

mrjole: I really wanted the unlocked Iphone. Even though I was mad at apple for going in with att and locking it.
But this is it. The bucket is full. I am not willing to feed people working for, i don’t know how many, companies involved in unlocking this thing.
Nokia N95 is a better phone anyway. Of I go to Ebay and get my self one. It seams that the inferior Iphone will be more money anyway.

ram0135: Right off their site….
“SALES:
Individual per unit licenses will be available starting next week. We are currently opening up our mail for bulk purchase enquiries of 500 licenses and above. Interested parties please Contact Us.”

FALSE ADVERTISING anyone….?

rowlodge: the new age crack dealers.

jgarland79: You can unlock your iPhone for $20 with a Silvercard from ebay. It looks like the cheapest price a reseller can get this software for is $25 if they buy 5000 and I’m sure they’ll mark it up.

zacharytamas: These guys are about to get sooo rich…

springo: Let the fake “resellers” appear, ask for your iPhone, and never give it back!
Well, iPhoneSIMfree doesn’t seem to want their software reversed and available for free the very same day they start selling it…

hillie: Whatever. I am getting my iPhone on Tuesday and you know what? I will be giving these assholes the finger. And then I will perform the hardware unlock.

Fuck these assholes. If Apple has any sense they will sue their asses off.

It’s people like this that ruin it for everybody. People like us simply want to unlock the iPhone so we can enjoy them on our current provider, and not have to pay early termination fees. These people just have $’s for eyes and want to get as much as they can from other peoples’ work (namely George Hotz).

SouthsideIrish: The last update out is 1.0.2 and this does not remove the crack. I think that it was Ryan Block that unlocked the 1.0.1 firmware and then upgraded to 1.0.2 and it still worked, and a guy from CNN unlocked a brand new iPhone and then upgraded to 1.0.2 and it still was unlocked. So no, it has not been fixed.

Oh, and why would you brick it, unless you do something to the hardware? I have “bricked” my phone several times while hacking it, and all you have to do is a restore, to get it back to factory settings.

timtimes: Who’s up for a little software roultette with their new $600 Iphone? Crickets?
Enjoy.

Hacker makes iPhone home screen scroll

From “lg”, the same guy who brought you Installer.app, comes this new iPhone hack that lets you load as many icons as you want onto your iPhone home screen. It’s still a little buggy but I have 32 applications loaded onto my screen right now and I can just flick my way to the one I want, even if the one I want is that baffling Magenta[...] Thanks to SillyMamma for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

locojones: Way to go guys! Hack another 100 things like this into it and the iPhone might actually be able to do what other real smartphones do right out of the box!

JakeFields: Apple is loving this underground hype, hopefully they bring something new to the table on Sept. 5th .

nnutter: Buried because there was no link to download SummerBoard.

BasharTeg: Yeah, but where are you going to find these 32 applications for the iPhone?

DarthMartin: Nice one LG. Can’t for the iPhone to launched in the UK at the end of the year, hopefully. Do hope that Apple take note and build this into the OS as a standard feature.

xinli11: Ohh good, now we can make the iPhone home screen look like the windows start menu. On a more serious note, I’ve never understood apple’s motivation behind putting so many icons on the home screen. Seems to me that since there are 4 primary functions to the iPhone: Phone, iPod, Web, Email, those should be big buttons on the home screen. Third party apps, on the other hand, should be relegated to a secondary menu. The iPhone home screen, in other words, just looks too busy and lacks focus. Granted, the four functions i mentioned are lined up at the bottom of the screen, but those icons are the same size as every other icon. They should be bigger and more prominently positioned on screen.

Ohh I know it’s practically treason to criticize apple’s design decisions, but that’s my opinion and I”m sticking by it.

saucercrab: Does anyone know if you can customize the wallpaper?

databoy: Dick Tracy calling Mars. Beware iPhone on the loose, iPhone on the loose. It does not compute. Chip implant needed. System going down in 60 seconds. Watch phone is better.

DOGPARTY: so awesome that apple doesn’t stop this stuff

dheaddy: This is what will be unveiled by Jobs on Sept 5th, and will be introduced to a round of applause: “And Boom! I’m scrolling through my home screen, and it works just like magic”

bagofice: If I had an iPhone, I wouldn’t do anything to change it..it’s perfect. However, that wallpaper feature is cool. I’d wait for another release before I put it on my phone though.

rogerbly: this hack changed my life. Too many hacked apps without scrolling.

CJinNC: I keep loading 3rd party apps and then deleting them in 48 hours bc they are sub-par…someone help me understand if this will hose itself when the next Apple firmware update comes out?

meatmcguffin: I heard rumours that the SMS button won’t show numbers of unread texts. Can anyone see if this is true?

willyg65: Ok. Switch the phone off. Put it down. Go outside. There’s fresh air, people, and lots of fun things to do.
In 1 year you won’t give a toss whether your screen scrolled or not. Trust me.

Improved iPhone Icons

Some modifications to the iPhone’s home screen icons.[...] Thanks to louiemantia for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

Mapper99: I agree…could use some more work…

http://iphone.corank.com
http://gphone.corank.com

DaleoftheUK: Only one that probably suits it’s job better, is the Youtube icon. Others aren’t so great.

digitallysick: Does anyone want to join me in digging down the masses?

steveooo: Yuck…. Those are gross. I think the point of icons is to know what it is for, half of those icons I think might magically take me on vacation…

DrivingVertigo: Buried for superfluous macfag crap.

Just cause it’s for an apple product doesn’t mean it’s for Digg. This isn’t Slashdot.

battletops: How about some Leopard-sized versions of the iPhone icons that I got my hands on…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34818713@N00/

justinp: Hardly an improvement

djdole: Pretty photo shopping doesn’t equate to improved design, or even good design for that matter.
1. Was never a fan of the click-wheel. That’s why I never bought an iPod, and waited for a touch-screen interface that came with the iPhone. Besides my personal preference, it’s not very good GUI design to plaster user interface images all over your buttons. You aren’t accessing a click-wheel by pressing the click wheel button, you’d be accessing the iPod application (which does not make use of a click-wheel at all).
2. The only difference with the weather icon is that the background is darker. This is lame because it makes it look like it’s night in the background wile the sun is shining bright.
3. The only difference in the stock icon is that it too, was photo shopped to be darker than the original. Uninspired, unoriginal and definitely not an improvement.
4. Second row, first icon. Another reason not to plaster pictures of GUI components upon your GUI component.
What does this button tell the user it accesses? A play button and a slider?
As for the palm tree, who knows what it’s intended for. Pretty shiny picture, but bad design again.

Lame or inaccurate, buried either way.

leksdraven: Buried as inaccurate. These are not “improved.” They suck.

monsterofNone: improved usually means they are in some way superior to the original.

these show no improvement.

jersey: Must resist ……. new …. update ….. wednesday ……..

rivostevo: Am I the only one who DOESN’T prefer these?

tmalloy: http://louiemantia.com.nyud.net:8080/interface/iphone.html

falloutsyndrome: These iphone sites go down faster than Jenna Jameson in “Sins of the throat”

hadi: this is not improved! originals is better