Samsung's next smartphone to scroll by watching your eyes
Chalk up one more Galaxy trick that the iPhone can't perform
Samsung's next Next Big Thing, the Galaxy S IV smartphone, will scroll text by watching your eyeballs.
So says an unidentified Samsung employee tattling to The New York Times' Bits blog, a worthy who "spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media" – a time-honored custom of companies …
Apple iWatch: Coming soon, runs iOS, to earn mucho mazuma
Rumor mill spins at light speed
Reminiscent of the hypegasm that preceded the releases of the iPhone in 2007 and iPad in 2010, rumors of Apple's impending "iWatch" are flooding the intertubes, with the latest being that it will be released this year, will run iOS, and will rake in gobs and gobs of cash for a company that has seen its stock take a relentless …
Health pros: Alcohol is EVIL – raise its price, ban its ads
Hooch 'brings forth a whole world of harm'
A broad coalition of UK health organizations has released a report detailing the evils of demon rum (and whisky, vodka, brandy, gin, lager, ale, wine, et al.), and calling for a series of government actions to suppress its use, including sharply increased pricing and a ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorships.
"In developing …
Judge slashes Apple's pile o' cash Samsung judgment
'Hmmm... $1bn? How 'bout, say, $600m, give or take a few bucks?'
Last August, a jury awarded Apple $1.05bn in a patent-infringement case against Samsung. On Friday, the US District Court judge who presided over that case slashed those damages by $450m.
Judge Lucy Koh found that the jury had improperly calculated the amount of damages awarded to Apple, and trimmed the total down to under $600m …
Flexy 'iWatch' glass said to be three years away
But buck up, fanbois: There are other rumors to lift your spirits
If you're jonesing to slap down a chunk o' change for a flexible Apple iWatch, you've got plenty of time to save up – products using the requisite flexy glass won't appear until 2016.
According to Apple's all-but-certain iPhone glass supplier, Corning, companies won't start manufacturing products using their flexible Willow …
iPrefs-seeking shareholder Einhorn drops Apple lawsuit
'Silly sideshow' folds its tent, moves on
David Einhorn and his hedge fund Greenlight Capital have dropped their lawsuit against Apple.
Einhorn had sued to block a vote at Apple's investor meeting, held this Wednesday, that would have forced a shareholder vote on the issuance of higher-dividend preferred shares. Einhorn is promoting the idea of that class of shares, …
Apple takes aim at accessory makers, files iPad stand patent
Just what the world has been clamoring for – now with magnets
If you were among the 25,000 or so Apple faithful who crowded the exhibit hall at this year's Macworld/iWorld "Ultimate iFan Event" a couple of weeks back, you're certain to agree that the last thing the iMarketplace needs is yet another iPad stand. Apple, however, disagrees.
As part of its weekly patent-application release, the …
Texan contends iPod EXPLODED IN HER FACE
One moment music, then a life consumed by 'mental anguish'
Apple is being sued by a Nacogdoches, Texas, woman who claims that her iPod touch exploded in her face.
We'll let the cool and dispassionate language of her complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and repeated word-for-word for your perusal, recount the frightening tale of the unfortunate Tina …
Apple CEO Cook's investor-meeting reveal: 'Dog bites man'
'Great stuff coming', unhappy with stock drop ... snxxx
One of the duties of a modern CEO is to offer as little detail as possible during investors' meetings, and Apple's headman Tim Cook has proved himself a Jedi master of snooze-inducing vapidity.
Speaking at Apple's annual investors meeting on Wednesday at the company's Cupertino headquarters, Cook piled bromide upon cliché upon …
Apple, Facebook, Google: Same-sex marriage 'a business imperative'
Updated HP's Whitman and top GOPpers also prod Supremes on marriage equality
Apple, Facebook, Intel, Google, Oracle, Cisco, Verizon, eBay, and Qualcomm are among at least 60 top US companies that will file a brief with the US Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in a case that seeks to invalidate as unconstitutional laws banning same-sex marriages.
"Recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to …
Samsung Wallet slavishly copies inspired by Apple Passbook
MWC 2013 Iconic imitation: The surest form of flattery
Samsung has unveiled a developer preview of its upcoming Wallet app, and to say that it was inspired by Apple's iOS Passbook app may be a gross understatement.
Like Passbook, Samsung's Wallet stores retail coupons, airline boarding passes, membership cards, and event tickets, according to The Verge. Also like Apple's offering, …
Climate scientists link global warming to extreme weather
Blame giant, increasingly lazy atmospheric waves
There has been a healthy debate in the scientific community about the linkage, if any, between the recent spate of extreme weather events and the ongoing increase in global temperatures. Now a group of researchers reports they've uncovered an atmospheric mechanism that lends credence to the argument that, yes, global warming is …
LG acquires webOS from HP – but not for mobile kit
Palm remnant to be reincarnated in 21st century boob tube
Foster-child operating system webOS has been placed in yet another home – but not one in which it will be used for its original smartphone raison d'être.
LG Electronics will acquire the peripatetic OS from HP, which got its hands on webOS when it acquired Palm in April 2010 for a cool $1.2bn. Palm had used webOS for its ill- …
Dell takes aim at iPad, uncloaks enterprise-level Win8 tablet
MWC 2013 Latitude 10 Enhanced Security: the fondleslab grows up, gets a job
Dell has updated its Windows 8 tablet line, and in doing so has juiced the industry's increasing realization that fondleslabs are here to stay, belong in the enterprise, require enterprise-level security features, and are not just for playing Angry Birds.
"At Dell, we have – unequivocally – the most secure, most manageable, and …
Cheap iPhone mini 'makes sense' for world domination
Morgan Stanley analyst: China won't gobble leftovers
After meeting with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, one well-placed analyst sees "several signs" that offering a lower-priced iPhone "makes sense."
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty's reasoning about the release of the long-rumored, downsized iPhone "mini" or "nano", says Forbes, is based on the success of the iPad mini in …
Google reveals Glass details in patent application
Lasers burning images onto your retina? What could go possibly wrong?
The US Patent and Trademark Office has published a Google patent application that provides a raft of details about that company's much-ballyhooed "Glass" augmented-reality spectacles.
The term Glass, however, is not sufficiently patentesian for the USPTO and Google's patent lawyers. The application in question, filed on August …
Apple files 'iWatch' patent application
Flexible video display to slap onto your 'appendage'
The US Patent and Trademark Office has published a patent application that juices rumors Apple is working on a bit of wrist-wearable kit that hardware hypothesizers have dubbed the "iWatch".
"Bi-stable Spring with Flexible Display" was revealed in the USPTO's weekly Thursday-morning application dump, and describes a snap-on …
Chip daddy Mead: 'A bunch of big egos' are strangling science
ISSCC The scientific revolution has stalled, here's how to kickstart it
Microelectronics pioneer, Caltech professor emeritus, and all-around smart guy Carver Mead believes that the scientific revolution that began with the discovery of special relativity and quantum mechanics has stalled, and that it's up to us to kickstart it.
"A bunch of big egos got in the way," he told his audience of 3,000-plus …
Apple updates iOS, does not fix passcode-bypass hack
Version 6.1.2 should fix battery-draining Exchange bug, however
Apple released iOS 6.1.2 on Tuesday, an update that it says will fix the battery-draining Exchange bug — which it very well may do – but the update does not fix the finger-dancing hack that allows you to bypass an iPhone's passcode, launch the Phone app, and access all of its contacts, phone-history information, and the like. …
Google misses privacy-policy deadline, incurs EU wrath
Regulators plan "coordinated repressive action" before summer
Google has been told by a group of EU regulators that it faces "a coordinated repressive action" before this summer, due to the fact that the online search advertising giant has ignored their order to make changes to and provide information about its privacy policies.
Last January, Google unified 60 of its products' individual …
AMD: Star Trek holodecks within reach
ISSCC Exec explains heterogeneous computing to Geordi La Forge
Twenty-five years ago, Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the holodeck, a chamber aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D that could transform itself into any environment. In a decade or two, however, that sci-fi fantasy could be real.
So said the general manager of AMD's global business units, Lisa Su, speaking at the …
Study: Packing heat increases odds of being shot in assault
'Guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot'
The US gun-control debate may have both sides shooting their mouths off, gunning for each other, going off half-cocked, and [insert tiresome idiom here], but a group of biostatisticians and epidemiologists decided to cut through the cant and apply rigorous research to one critical question: does carrying a gun increase your …
Microsoft exec: No 'Plan B' despite mobile stumbles
Then how about Plan A version 2.0, Mr. CFO?
Should Microsoft's tablet and phone efforts continue to inspire little interest among the buying public, don't expect a radical shift in strategy – according to one senior Redmond exec, the company has no "Plan B".
"It's less 'Plan B' than how you execute on the current plan," CFO Peter Klein told investors at Goldman Sachs' …
Inside Microsoft's Surface Pro: A fiendishly difficult journey
Photos 'A completely different bag of beans' than the Surface RT
Microsoft's new Intel-powered, Windows 8–running Surface Pro continues manufacturers' increasing drive to create kit that's all but impossible to repair, according to the part-and-repair folks at iFixit.
"The Surface Pro received a 1 out of 10 score on our repairability scale — the worst any tablet has ever received," iFixit …
$195 BEEELLION asteroid approaching Earth
Too bad it's in an INCONVEEENIENT orbit
The pint-sized – in astronomical terms – asteroid that's scheduled to buzz the Earth this Friday may have a street space value of about $195bn.
"Unfortunately, the path of asteroid 2012 DA14 is tilted relative to Earth, requiring too much energy to chase it down for mining," say the wannabe space prospectors at Deep Space …
Permafrost melt to boost atmospheric CO2 faster than thought
The more CO2, the more global warming; the more global warming, the more CO2
A new study has shown that melting Arctic permafrost will "release climate-warming carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere much faster than previously thought," the University of Michigan warns.
"In this research, we provide the first evidence that the respiration of previously frozen soil carbon will be amplified by reactions …
Apple CEO Cook: 'Bizarre' shareholder lawsuit a 'silly sideshow'
Visiting an Apple retail store is 'like Prozac'
Apple CEO Tim Cook has a low opinion of a lawsuit filed by Greenlight Capital hedge-fund honcho David Einhorn that seeks to prevent Apple from amending its charter to allow the issuance of preferred stock without the approval of its shareholders.
"I find it bizarre we find ourselves being sued for doing something that's good for …
Apple releases fix for iPhone 4S iOS 6.1 connectivity cockup
'Battery problems? What battery problems?'
If you're an iPhone 4S owner experiencing 3G connectivity problems since updating to iOS 6.1, Apple says it has a fix.
On Monday, Apple released iOS 6.1.1 for iPhone 4S to address the difficulties that owners of those smartphones have had since upgrading to iOS 6.1 on January 28.
iPhone 4S owners may understandably hope that …
Apple said to develop curved glass iWatch with Foxconn
Or is Cupertino simply juicing the rumor mill?
A weekend flurry of speculative articles stoked the Apple "iWatch" rumor mill, perhaps indicating that Cupertino is secreting some well-placed leaks to pump up interest in what it hopes might be its Next Big Thing™.
The Wall Street Journal, for one, reports (paid subscription required) that "people briefed on the effort" tell …
Ethernet at 40: Its daddy reveals its turbulent youth
Feature Bob Metcalfe: How Token Ring and 'IBM's arrogance' nearly sank Big Blue
When Bob Metcalfe, the prime mover behind the invention of Ethernet, recently visited the site of that invention, Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), The Reg had the opportunity to sit down with him to discuss the history of Ethernet, its advantages over Token Ring, and IBM's perfidy.
Metcalfe was in town to promote a two- …
Google exec defends search snooping, location tracking
Apple's Maps app, however, could get you killed
Google may store your search history and know where you are, but unless you've been searching for tips on how to suffocate someone, your privacy is secure. How do we know? Because according to Google's Chief Technology Advocate Michael Jones, "We're nice people as well as business people."
Appearing on the Australian …
A new Mac Pro coming this spring? 'Mais oui!'
Well, it depends on exactly what you mean by 'new'
Apple will release a new Mac Pro this spring, according to a French fanbois website that got its mains on what it says is a memo from a Gallic Apple reseller.
"Apple nous informe qu'une nouvelle gamme Mac Pro va sortir au printemps 2013," France Systèmes wrote in a missive to its customers informing them of the February 18 …
Apple serves up 25 BEEELLIONTH iTunes download
340,000 years of 'Monkey Drums'
Apple's iTunes Music Store has served its 25 billionth download, and is now shuttling tunes to Macs, PCs, and iDevices at a average rate of 15,000 per minute.
"We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world," said Apple's internet software …
Apple loses bid to 'cut in line' in Samsung patent dust-up
Court: 'No, Mr. Cook, you have to wait your turn like everybody else'
A US Federal appeals court has rejected Apple's request to expedite its appeal requesting a ban on a passel of its über-enemy Samsung's smartphones from the US market.
"In some sense, Apple was asking to 'cut in line'," Santa Clara University law professor Brian Love told Reuters, "and judges are generally reluctant to give …
Hard drive sales to see double-digit dive this year
Optical drives may disappear entirely
Hard drive sales will take a nose drive in 2013, according to a report by the market analysts at IHS.
"Facing a relentless onslaught from tablets, smartphones and solid state drives (SSD), global hard disk drive (HDD) market revenue in 2013 will decline by about 12 percent this year," IHS reported in an email on Monday …
Samsung mocks Apple lawsuit in SuperBowl teaser ad
Video But who besides insiders will get the joke?
Samsung has released a star-studded teaser video for its ad that will run during this Sunday's SuperBowl "El Plato Supremé", a clip that mocks patent and copyright litigation – and, by extension, its long-running adversary, Apple.
In the video, funnymen Bob Odenkirk, Seth Rogen, and Paul Rudd are seen discussing ad ideas for …
Apple loses bid to ban US sales of aging Samsung smartphone
Not the best week for Apple's legal team – but pity is not in order
A US appeals court has denied Apple's request for a rehearing of an injunction, instituted last June but reversed last October, that would have stopped Samsung from selling its year-old Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US.
The denial, reports Fox Business, was issued in a short statement by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal …
Apple to stop European shipments of Mac Pro on March 1?
Replacement may – or may not – be in the works
Apple will discontinue shipping its long-neglected Mac Pro tower to the EU, EU candidates, and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states on March first, sources tell 9to5Mac.
According to that "Apple Intelligence" website, Cupertino has informed resellers that the Mac Pro is being retired from the aforementioned …
Apple, Google tumble off top 20 trusted companies list
Facebook, Yahoo! also not well-trusted to protect personal information
Once ranked as high as number eight among companies most trusted for protecting their customers' privacy and personal information, Apple has fallen out of the top 20 entirely. Google didn't make this year's list, either, but it fell only from its previous high of 13th place.
The list in question was compiled by the Ponemon …
Apple regains 'el numero uno' market-value crown
iPad reveal steals Microsoftian thunder on Office 365 day
Just a few short days ago, Apple slipped from its position as the world's most valuable company when oil giant ExxonMobil passed it in market capitalization. Well, it's back on top.
Apple and Exxon have been tossing the title back and forth for the past few days, but when the market closed on Tuesday, Apple was comfortably ahead …
Bipartisan Senate group proposes green cards for tech grads
Current educate 'em then kick 'em out policy 'makes no sense,' say solons
Pigs were sighted flying over Washington DC on Sunday when a bipartisan group of eight US senators released an immigration reform plan that would, among other things, grant permanent-resident status to foreign nationals who receive advanced tech degrees from US universities.
"It makes no sense to educate the world's future …
Apple releases iOS 6.1, adds LTE carriers, tweaks security
Also teaches Siri to spend US users' money on Fandango tix
Apple has released iOS 6.1, which adds LTE support for more carriers worldwide, but not much more in terms of features for a release that's graced with a full "dot-digit" numerical upgrade.
"Apple today updated iOS to version 6.1, adding LTE capabilities to 36 additional iPhone carriers and 23 additional iPad carriers around the …
Sorry, Apple-haters, but Cupertinian doom not on the horizon
Let's take a closer look at those 'disappointing' numbers, shall we?
As these words are being typed, Apple's stock is taking a beating, down around 10 per cent from its $514.01 Wednesday close, in reaction to what Wall Street has clearly characterized as disappointing financial results for the first quarter of Apple's 2013 fiscal year.
May your humble Reg reporter take this opportunity to point …
Apple shares dive after quarterly report disappoints Wall Street
Revenues up, but earnings flat
Apple released its financial results for the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year after the markets closed on Wednesday, and disappointing results immediately drove its stock price down by over 5 per cent.
Although Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $54.5bn, a quarterly profit of $13.1bn, and earnings-per-share (EPS) of $ …
'Op! Op! Op!' Gangnam Style earns Google $8m
De gustibus non est disputandum
Google has pulled in $8m from the over one billion YouTube views of Korean rapper – or K-pop entertainer, your call – Psy's Gangnam Style (강남스타일) video.
That stunning figure was revealed by Google senior VP and chief business officer Nikesh Arora during Tuesday's conference call with analysts and reporters after Google released …
AMD alllllmost promises profitability by year end
Parsing the fine distinction between 'expectations' and 'goals'
AMD, slapped around by what CEO Rory Read and other corporate honchos like to refer to as "the challenging macro environment," looks to regain profitability in the second half of this year.
On a conference call with analysts and reporters after announcing its weak financial results for its fourth quarter of 2012, AMD CFO …
AMD's chip-supply reassessment leads to big quarterly losses
'But if you ignore that charge, we're doing okay'
AMD has released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012, and as expected, the numbers aren't pretty.
In early December, AMD slashed its Wafer Supply Agreement with its chip-baking partner, Globalfoundries, and warned investors that it was going to take a sharp hit due to that action.
They were right. If that …
Patent trolling surges, but righteous cavalry on the way
The next battle in the troll wars is up to you, Reg reader
Patent trolling is a "cancer" that poses an "existential threat" to US business – especially startups – according to a panel of experts at last week's CES 2013. But there are plans in the works to fight back.
"There's a great quote from Scientific American," congressman Peter DeFazio told his audience at a CES 2013 panel. "They …
NASA snaps pics of China's 'Airpocalypse' pollution disaster
Images Bad from orbit, worse on the ground, shades of London '52
China's capital city, Beijing, is suffering from some of the worst air pollution imaginable – and NASA has the images to prove it.
The lung-clogging cloud enveloping Beijing was measured by the US embassy on January 14 and found to contain fine, airborne particulate matter at a volume of 291 micrograms per cubic meter of air. …
Lenovo said to release Intel and ARM Android convertibles
Hmm... which will prove more popular?
Lenovo will reportedly release Android-based convertibles in the first half of this year, and they'll be powered by your choice of either Intel or ARM processors.
Convertibles – clamshell laptops that can be converted to tablets – were one of the most talked about items at last week's CES 2013. Intel, for its part, sees them as …
