Day: 22 June 2011

A Patent on Crazy ⇥

Nilay Patel:

So Apple got yet another patent granted today, and now there’s yet another media firestorm over whether it means Cupertino will be able to sue every other phone manufacturer out of business, or at least out of the business of making multitouch devices. And, as usual, most of the hysteria is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of what the patent claims actually say, and what behaviors they actually cover in iOS. I don’t know why we keep repeating this sad cycle, but I do know that it’s always, always better for us to read the claims and try to figure them out for ourselves — and in this case, they’re actually pretty narrow.

Possibly the best analysis of this patent. As usual, it comes from Nilay Patel.

Best Buy Gets into Cloud Music with an Impenetrable Mess ⇥

Jared Newman:

But let’s say I was able to load my music into the cloud. Then I’d be able to listen to the songs from anywhere, right? Wrong. To listen on smartphones, you’ve got to register each handset by handing over its make, model and phone number. Then Best Buy e-mails you a link to the application by text message, and you have to activate the phone by downloading the app and plugging in a confirmation code.

Sounds fabulous.

The Difference Between Tablet Commercials ⇥

Rene Ritchie:

Apple has now aired a series of three iPad 2 commercials, the first of which clearly states up front that it’s not about specifications, it’s about experience. They go on to show how different people, in different walks of life, can use, benefit, and enjoy the iPad in a multitude of easy to understand ways. Verizon has aired a couple Android tablet commercials during the same period, and these focus on Flash, chipsets, and radio technologies. […] Apple has shown how to sell tens of millions of iPads but apparently even Verizon still can’t hear them now.