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Apple must pay $3 million in damages for iPod dispute in Japan
The fact that Apple is on the receiving end of more lawsuits than any other company in tech is hardly surprising. In contrast, the fact that patent disputes pertaining to the iPod are still being litigated is somewhat surprising. Kyodo News is reporting that Apple recently found itself on the losing end of a US$3 million judgment for patent infringement. Specifically, the Tokyo District Court found that the click wheel on Apple's now iconic iPod infringes upon patents owned by a man named Norihiko Saito. Engadget adds: Saito's damages come more than five years after he filed the patent lawsuit, during which time he demanded damages of ¥10 billion ($101 million), based partly on the number of iPods Apple had sold during that period. Fortunately for Apple, the final figure was substantially less than Saito's demand and it'll only have to sell a few more iPhones to cover the cost. The judgment comes after a few rounds of settlement negotiations between Saito and Apple fell through.
Dude recreates first-gen iPod in-browser, won't put 1,000 songs in your pocket
Here's a bit of web fun to liven up your weekend: a digital artist by the name of Pritesh Desai has recreated a fully functional first-generation iPod that you can play directly in your browser. In remembrance of Steve Jobs, Desai built the faux iPod using HTML5, CSS3, and a touch of jQuery. You can drag the click wheel around just like with the real deal, change the volume, hit play / pause and even skip tracks. Especially nice is the addition of Extras like the Clock and the Calendar. Unfortunately, you won't be able to play any of your own tunes, but Desai had compiled a list of Creative Commons songs, so you can see how the player works. The next step is for someone to fill this up with hits of the early aughts ("Last Nite" by The Strokes, perhaps?) so you can truly travel back in time to the heydays of Windows XP and the Enron scandal.
Tony Fadell: First iPhone almost had a clickwheel
Tony Fadell recently appeared on The Verge's On The Verge talk show/web series, and he shared a tidbit about early versions of the iPhone, which he worked on as Senior VP of the iPod division at Apple back in 2006. The Verge says that Apple "seriously considered" a hardware keyboard for the original iPhone, according to Fadell, but if you watch the clip itself, you can see that Fadell confirms Apple never made a keyboard for it. The issue was "definitely discussed," he says, but nothing was ever made into a prototype. Fadell also says there were three different "gestations" of the iPhone during development -- first an iPod plus phone, then an actual "i-Phone," and then "there was the next generation iPhone, and that's the one that shipped," he says. Fadell says they did work with the iPod's original clickwheel on iPhone hardware, which reminds me of those old fake mockups that designers put together before the iPhone was announced. At any rate, says Fadell, Apple was open to anything. "Sometimes you have to try things in order to throw it away," he says. Given Apple's history since the introduction of the iPhone, we'd say it was all worth it.
Apple axes iPod click wheel games in iTunes, is the 'classic' model next?
We're all well aware that a new iPhone will see daylight next week. What's still a bit unclear is whether or not Apple plans on discontinuing the ol' faithful iPod classic. However, we may be getting a clue as to what fate the PMP may soon meet. The folks over at AppleInsider discovered that the link to iPod Click Wheel Games no longer appears on the App Store drop-down menu in iTunes. Since 2006, the folks in in Cupertino have been offering added entertainment for the popular mobile jukebox for $7.49 each, but only about 50 titles were available for purchase -- it's kind of hard to develop software when a third-party kit wasn't publicly released. So if you're planning on hanging onto your iPod classic for a little while, we hope you're content to keep playing Vortex, Klondike or whatever else you've already downloaded.
Apple removes click-wheel iPod games from iTunes
Coinciding with what we've heard about Apple making a product transition in the iPod line -- namely that the iPod classic and shuffle are to be discontinued, -- AppleInsider has pointed out that click-wheel iPod games are no longer available from the iTunes store. Previously, by clicking on the App Store menu in iTunes, there was an iPod Click Wheel Games option which has now been removed. With Apple's forthcoming media event scheduled for next Tuesday, it's likely the removal of the click-wheel games from the iTunes store is in preparation for the announcement of the discontinuation of the click-wheel model (as well as signalling the end of an era of click-wheel games dating back to the first iPod). If you've got an iPod classic, or one of the older click-wheel generation iPods, why not give the old wheel a swan song performance over the weekend and take some of the old, classic games (Brick, Vortex, iQuiz to name a few) for a spin.
Apple goes patent application crazy with 14 über dull filings, hinge manufacturers tremble with fear
How's this for patent happy -- this morning a grand total of 14 applications from folks at Apple were published, covering everything from "cable structure for preventing tangling" to an "adaptive audio feedback system and method." Most of the filings are nothing terribly exciting -- though the tangle-free headphones, involving a series of alternately stiffer and more flexible cores, is a welcome upgrade to the standard iPhone headset, which is usually reduced to an unmanageable ball of knots after just a few careless tosses in a bag. A number of other headphone makers have already taken similar steps to keep cords under control. Other applications include techniques for managing GPU resources, a tilting hinge design for the iMac, and a "compact input device," which is actually just the click wheel we've all come to know and love. If you're really into the minutia of patent apps, check out the source for links to all the sketches and vaguely worded claims your little nerd heart desires.
Keepin' it real fake: 'new' iPad is the jumbo iPod you always wanted, coming April 3
Tired of all those "jumbo iPhone" jibes you keep hearing about the iPad? So are we, but there's simply no other way to describe this priceless Shenzhen knockoff than as a supersized iPod. Featuring the unmistakable click wheel and what looks like some sort of riff on Apple's Mac OS, the "new" iPad will be on sale immediately alongside Apple's offering, this April 3, for 2,000 Yuan ($290). Of course, we doubt Shenzhen Huayi's distribution network will stretch quite all the way to the USA, but given the population of 1.3 billion people in China, someone's bound to be happy to help you out. What say you -- does this 4GB pen-friendly beastie do anything for you?[Thanks, Taimur]
Song Summoner and sequel coming to iPhone
I actually did buy Song Summoner, the strange, out-of-nowhere tactics RPG from Square Enix that was made for the iPod last year. Yes, that's right it was made for the iPod -- at a time when everyone was waiting to see pro apps on the iPhone and the iPod touch, Square released a game controlled with a click wheel that used your iPod's songs as characters in a tactical RPG. And now, we've heard that Song Summoner is returning -- this time as a touchscreen based iPhone app. I have to say -- especially if you like Square Enix RPGs in the style of Final Fantasy Tactics, and you're intrigued by the "song conversion" engine (you choose a song in your mp3 playlists to import into the game, and then it becomes a character with specific stats), it's definitely worth a look. And for Song Summoner completists, the game comes with a sequel as well, unreleased due to Apple's dropping support of clickwheel games (which makes sense, given the App Store's popularity). It'll be in the App Store on December 3rd. No price listed yet, but there will be a lite version to try as well.
Apple wants to light up your iPod touchpad?
Apple's been known to cover all its bases in the patent department, meaning this is certainly no guarantee we'll be seeing light-up iPods in the near future, but all the same we can't ignore the fact that a patent just popped up that has Apple postulating on backlit click wheels. While having a comet of light following your finger around the wheel is certainly interesting -- if potentially annoying -- things get more intriguing with the possibility of multitouch, but the patent isn't clear enough to tell if that's exactly what Apple is driving at. It's all well and good, but in these heady touchscreen days, are clickwheels slowly going the way of the dinosaur button?
Pantech phone with scroll wheel
The iPhone. Will they or won't they? That has been a constant topic of discussion amongst the Mac faithful for a long time. Along comes Pantech, a South Korean phone maker, who has introduced the phone to the right. What's that thing that looks like the iPod's click wheel? Why, it is Pantech's 'revolutionary touch-wheel sensor' which is not only used for the phones built in music player, but also for the phone's camera.The PG-3600V is on the market in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Apple's special deals section filled to brim, hemmoraging iPods
While I was pondering whether the introduction of Remote Desktop 3 was worthy of shutting down the Apple Store this morning, C.K. pointed out that Apple also updated their Special Deals section. A lot. I can't remember the last time I've had to scroll this much on a page in the Apple Store. It looks like they have refurbished items from almost every one of their products except the MacBook Pro, but they're highlighting the iPod mini with their Special Deals graphic (pictured) almost as if to say "go on iPod mini. 'Git!"I'd try linking Apple's Special Deals section, but I know that always gets wonky. Plus, the tips I've found like Ars Technica's don't cover linking a section, so all you get is a link to the Apple Store. You're on your own for the rest of the way.
Why doesn't the Front Row remote have a click wheel?
As I was writing up my previous post about a Designtechnica article praising the Front Row remote for its simplicity and iPod-like ease of use, a question came to mind: if the Front Row remote is another extension of Apple's easy-to-use ideals, why doesn't it posses a click wheel? That round white circle is one of the iPod's design fundamentals that has brought the device into so many households and pockets. More importantly, it's also just about the best darn UI for browsing through massive amounts of media - and isn't that what Front Row is designed to do? I see Front Row as Apple's "iPod for the living room." It is a really, really simple piece of software that wrangles all our content (just like the iPod) together for our viewing and listening pleasure in just about any room we want. From this perspective, I wonder if Apple dropped the ball on the remote's design. Don't get me wrong, I really like the remote (especially in comparison to its competitors) and I'm excited to one day afford a Mac mini for our living room. I just think it would be so much cooler if we could have a click wheel to control nearly all the media we have on our computers. Apple could easily have made the remote the size of something like the iPod nano which would still give it that "amazingly small" aura, as well as room to fit a click wheel and maybe even save some production costs. A click wheel Front Row remote would make it even easier to browse through the zillions of songs, videos and photos that people can now access from the comforts of their couch. Lastly, I think it would even help Apple to further the iPod brand, as users could now have the same UI on one of their home remotes as they have on the music player in their pockets.*Sigh* It's too bad Apple didn't give me a call when kicking around ideas for the remote. Maybe I'll get lucky with the 2.0 redesign version some day. Something tells me, however, that I shouldn't hold my breath.
