Linked List: July 18, 2012

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Bertrand Serlet Joins Parallels Board of Directors ★

I wonder if/how this is related to Upthere, his secretive startup.

Speaking of the Apple-Samsung Patent Pissing Match ★

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. was ordered by a judge to publish a notice on its U.K. website and in British newspapers alerting people to a ruling that Samsung Electronics Co. didn’t copy designs for the iPad.

The notice should outline the July 9 London court decision that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s registered designs, Judge Colin Birss said today. It should be posted on Apple’s U.K. home page for six months and published in several newspapers and magazines to correct any impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple’s product, Birss said.

I can’t figure out how Apple will play this one. They have to comply with the law, but, I just can’t see Apple paying for ads that even mention Samsung, let alone doing so in a way that absolves them of copying the iPad.

Import Ban on Motorola’s Android Products Takes Effect ★

Jon Brodkin, reporting for Ars Technica:

An import ban on Motorola Android devices ordered by the US International Trade Commission is scheduled to take effect tomorrow. Motorola Mobility says it has a plan to make sure its Android phones and tablets remain available to US consumers—but the company isn’t revealing just what that plan is.

The ITC ordered the import ban two months ago, after ruling that 18 Motorola Mobility products infringe a Microsoft patent.

You don’t hear nearly as much about this Microsoft-Motorola patent pissing match as you do Apple-Samsung, probably for the obvious reason that Microsoft and Motorola are both mobile also-rans.

11 Things You Might Not Have Noticed in ‘The Shining’ ★

Speaking of the masterpiece, some good stuff about it here.

Extended Cut of ‘The Shining’ to Get Theatrical Release This Halloween? ★

If this is true, I’ll be first in line. But I find it hard to believe Kubrick’s estate would allow even a frame of film to be altered, let alone restore 24 minutes of footage.

Update: Ah, I get it now. It’s “extended” from the perspective of Europeans, who for some reason saw a version of the film that was 24 minutes shorter than in the U.S.

We Met on the Internet ★

Thoughtful piece by Andre Torrez.

WSJ: ‘Apple’s Next iPhone Has Thinner Screen, Better Display Quality’ ★

Juro Osawa and Lorraine Luk, reporting from Hong Kong for the WSJ:

Japanese liquid-crystal-display makers Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc. — a new company that combined three Japanese electronics makers’ display units — as well as South Korea’s LG Display Co. are currently mass producing panels for the next iPhone using so-called in-cell technology, the people said.

The technology integrates touch sensors into the LCD, making it unnecessary to have a separate touch-screen layer. The absence of the layer, usually about half-a-millimeter thick, not only makes the whole screen thinner, but improves the quality of displayed images, said DisplaySearch analyst Hiroshi Hayase.

Hard to believe the 4/4S display is going to be antiquated so soon.

Apple Granted Patent for Disappearing Vertical Scroll Indicator ★

Remember Steve Jobs at the iPhone introduction event, emphasizing that they’d patented everything? Here we go.