Apple has released its 2010 Supplier Responsibility report. Apple claims it has worked with some suppliers to protect workers, though some have been criticized lately over sweatshop labor.
Read More:
Apple (PDF), Recent Ars coverage
Microsoft has applied for a neat patent for a smart inductive charger (via Being Manan). Inductive charging, used for example in the Palm Pre’s Touchstone, allows for contactless charging of devices in close proximity.
The charger couples inductive charging with an LCD screen that can be used to show off “weather conditions, sports scores, news headlines, and/or other selected items” through a wireless connection to a PC. More useful, I would think, would be some indication of the charging status of the device.
Apple recently began purging over 5,000 “overtly sexual” apps from the App Store after customer complaints caused Apple to reverse a policy that had allowed such apps to be approved. The New York Times recently asked Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, to explain the reasoning behind the decision, and he says that it’s all about the children. However, there might be a double standard if you are an “established brand” such as Playboy or Sports Illustrated. The uneven application of constantly changing standards is a problem for developers and users alike, and continues to be a thorn in Apple’s side.
Microsoft and Amazon.com have signed a wide-ranging patent cross-licensing agreement that provides each company with access to the other’s patent portfolio. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was made clear that Amazon will be paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount of money as part of the arrangement. While Microsoft wouldn’t say which of its products and technologies Amazon is interested in, Microsoft did mention that Amazon’s Kindle, which employs open source and proprietary software components, as well as Amazon’s use of Linux-based servers are covered.
Neither company would officially disclose why the deal was struck today. “We are pleased to have entered into this patent license agreement with Amazon.com,” Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Intellectual Property and Licensing, said in a statement. “Microsoft’s patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the software industry, and this agreement demonstrates our mutual respect for intellectual property as well as our ability to reach pragmatic solutions to IP issues regardless of whether proprietary or open source software is involved.”
It’s no secret that the iPhone has taxed AT&T’s network in densely populated areas, especially New York and San Francisco. Reports of problems using iPhones at major tech conferences, like SXSWi, Macworld Expo, CES, and NAMM are not unusual. The iPhone’s ease of use and focus on mobile media generally lead to higher data usage on average, but despite claims by AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, the amount of data being consumed is rarely the problem. The issue has to do with how modern smartphones—beginning with the iPhone—save power by disconnecting from the network whenever possible.
MobileMe has been updated to offer at least some functionality when accessing the me.com page from Mobile Safari. It doesn’t yet offer full access to MobileMe’s features via the browser, but it does allow access to the “Find My iPhone” feature from an iPhone or iPod touch.
Originally, loading me.com from Mobile Safari brought up a page telling you to set up MobileMe on your computer, offering a link to instructions. Now, an iPhone-specific page loads offering links to the iDisk and Gallery apps, setup instructions for e-mail, contacts, and calendars, and a new option to access Find My iPhone.
Our top Apple news this week was dominated by news out of the 2010 Macworld Expo. It turns out that Apple’s absence didn’t really hold back a great conference and, in fact, might have helped it. In addition to the Expo, Steve Jobs kept railing on Flash, the App Store got a little cleaner, and we polled users on their 3G data usage. Read on for the roundup:
Apple has changed its mind on blocking sweepstakes from being advertised in iPhone apps. A new policy now allows them, but with some conditions.
Read More:
TUAW, Ars past coverage
Apple is stirring up yet another censorship brouhaha with its latest changes to App Store policy. The company recently began blocking screenshots for apps that are outside the acceptable age range in Parental Controls in iTunes. According to iPhone developer ChiliFresh, it seems that all “overtly sexual” apps might be expunged from the App Store too, which is making some users uneasy about Apple’s “power” once again.
On a recent trip to New York to woo newspaper publishers with demonstrations of the iPad, Steve Jobs met with staff at the Wall Street Journal. During the demo, editors asked about the iPad’s lack of Flash support, to which Jobs replied, “We don’t spend a lot of energy on old technology.”
According to sources speaking to Valleywag, Jobs repeated the comments he made during a recent town hall meeting among Apple employees shortly after last month’s introduction of the iPad. He reportedly told WSJ staff that Flash is buggy and crashes Macs, is a “CPU hog,” and a source of “security holes.” He also referred to Flash as dying technology, likening not supporting Flash on the iPad to Apple dropping support for floppy drives, ditching legacy data ports, and replacing CCFL backlighting with LEDs.
