journals

Cisco Sues Apple Over iPhone Copyright Infringement

By Jay, January 11, 2007

Yesterday, Cisco Systems, Inc. filed a law suit against Apple Inc. for copyright infringement over the “Apple iPhone”. Cisco has owned the trademark to the name since they acquired the company Infogear, who had obtained the rights to the name on March 20, 1996. Mark Chandler the vice president of cisco said:

Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name.

He also stated:

There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.

Cisco is said to be seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying their trademark. Cisco’s official press release can be found here.

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The Macworld Experience

By Arden, January 10, 2007

I’m currently sitting at an iMac owned by Microsoft, as part of their blogger lounge, in the South Hall of Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. As many of you have not had the chance to attend I wanted to share a bit about the experience.

The show floor

As you walk into the center, you are immediately greeted with crowds of people waiting in line and vying to enter. If you already have your badge, because you received it in the mail (as I did), it’s easy to simply go down the escalator and onto the show floor. Through the double doors, the walls of Moscone open up and you are greeted by endless rows of booths. Countless people wander the floor looking at new toys and listening to exhibitors give their shpiel on their product.

The center of the South Hall, where the majority of the exhibit hall is located, is Apple’s “booth.” Being the star of the show, Apple has more floorspace than anyone else; a giant soundstage (this year, two stages, one solely for the iPhone) is surrounded by nice, clean rows of various apple toys and software demonstrations. Happy Apple employees dressed in black T-shirts explain every facet of the Apple TV, Aperture, iLife, and much more.

iChat 10.5 demo

Everywhere in the hall are the sights, sounds, and sometimes even smells (I smelled fried chicken a little while ago… mmmmm) of the Mac community soaking in information and acquiring merchandise. Among these people, hidden by…
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The Real Story of the Macworld 2007 Keynote Address

By UnnDunn, January 9, 2007

While by no means has Apple abandoned the Mac, it's easy to worry that they are giving up regaining market share...

This morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave his keynote address for Macworld 2007, which is taking place right now in San Francisco. At the event, he announced two new products from Apple, that will headline its product lineup for the year 2007. The first was the immediate availability of the Apple TV, the product formally known as iTV. It’s a set top box, that will allow you to enjoy all of your iTunes content on your big screen TV. But the second product it announced was what really stole the show; a new device that combines a widescreen iPod, a mobile phone, and an Internet communicator into a new device called an iPhone. But that’s not the real story of this Apple Macworld keynote. The real story is what it did not announce, and what it implies for the future of Apple.

First, let’s focus on what Apple did announce. After the customary bragging and Windows-bashing that Steve Jobs always does at his keynotes these days, he started things off by announcing the imminent availability of the Apple TV device. This device is designed to pull all the iTunes content off of your computer, and play it on your big screen high definition TV. It does this over a wireless connection (it supports wireless B, G and N) to your iTunes computer, whether Mac or PC. Every time you update content on your iTunes computer, it will automatically synchronize it with the Apple TV, where the content will be stored on…
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Apple Releases new Airport Extreme

By Nick, January 9, 2007

Though not explicitly mentioned during the keynote, Apple has released a new Airport Extreme based on 802.11n (draft spec) technology. The physical design of the new Airport Extreme is similar to the Apple TV and Mac mini, in that it is a thin rounded rectangle box.

The new Airport Extreme as twice the range and five times the speed as 802.11g-based products, according to Apple. It is compatible with all existing 802.11a/b/g wireless cards, and recent Macs come with 802.11n compatibility (the Airport Extreme comes with software to enable 802.11n capabilities on these machines). Other new features include additional LAN ports and a security lock port. Airport Extreme will retail for $179 and will ship next month.

Also, Apple dropped the Airport Express price to $99, though it is unchanged.

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2007 MWSF Keynote wrap-up

By Nick, January 9, 2007

Here’s a synopsis of Steve Jobs’ MWSF announcements:

Updates

Steve Jobs started the keynote by recapping Apple’s accomplishments of the past year; he discussed the successful “extremely successful” transition to Intel and thanked developers for all their efforts in churning out Universal applications. Jobs also took a jab at Microsoft, citing Jim Allchin’s “I would buy a Mac” line, and unveiled a new TV ad.

Jobs announced the addition of Paramount movies to the iTunes store. Jobs then recapped iPod+iTunes, announcing that Apple has sold over 2 billion songs, and that sales are not declining, contrary to recent reports. iPod has 63% of the market. Jobs poked a little fun at the Zune, and presented a new iPod ad.

iTV

iTV has been announced, with the rather bland name “Apple TV.” Apple features a 40 GB internal hard drive; 802.11 b, g, and n; support for 720p HD video; and USB 2, Ethernet, HDMI, component, and RCA ports. Jobs also made certain to note that it has Intel Inside. Apple TV allows syncing with one computer, and streaming from five machines. Jobs then went into a demo of the Apple TV. It will be shipping next month (though they are taking orders now) for $299 US.

Jobs then started talking revolution…