New Apple MacBook Air 11″ (2012): Unboxing and Tour

New Apple MacBook Air 11.6″ unboxing, setup and tour Price: 9 or 99 What’s new for 2012? Magsafe 2 Power Adapter, USB 3.0, FaceTime HD Camera, Ivy Bridge Intel i5 and i7 Dual Core chips, Faster SSDs Specs: CPU: Intel i5 Dual Core 1.7 GHZ RAM: 4GB SSD: 128GB GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Display: 1366 by 768 USB 3.0 Thunderbolt No SD Slot (13″ Model Only) Backlit Keyboard FaceTime HD Camera (720p) Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm) Width: 11.8 inches (30 cm) Depth: 7.56 inches (19.2 cm) Weight: 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg)2 Battery: Up to 5 hours wireless web Amazon: goo.gl Tech Specs: www.apple.com Benchmarks: www.primatelabs.com My Info: Google+: Michael Kukielka Facebook: www.facebook.com/DetroitBORG Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DetroitBORG Instagram: detroitborg Follow me on Ping: MichaelKukielka Follow me on GameCenter: DetroitBORG E-mail me: mikekukielka@gmail.com Subscribe: www.youtube.com/DetroitBORG
Video Rating: 4 / 5

11″ Apple MacBook Air Review (2011) Purchase Link: goo.gl Tweet this video! clicktotweet.com This is my full review of the latest 11″ MacBook Air featuring an Intel Core i5 1.6GHz Dual-Core CPU, 4GB RAM and 128GB of Solid State Flash Storage. I’m using iStat Menus 3 to monitor my system: bjango.com Add me on Google+ goo.gl Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com TLD Facebook: www.facebook.com 11″ Apple MacBook Air Review (2011) 11″ Apple MacBook Air Review (2011) 11″ Apple MacBook Air Review (2011)
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Google Shares Hit Another All-Time High

Shares of Google are on an upswing Friday, hitting a new high for the company of $775.32.

That’s up 2.26 percent from the day’s opening price of $758.20. The company’s previous high was $774.38 in October.

Google seems to be benefitting from broader bullishness as the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 14,000 for the first time since 2007 based on the latest U.S. jobs report.

Google beat expectations (well, mostly — Motorola complicated things) with its fourth-quarter earnings report on Jan. 22. And the tech sector overall is having a good earnings season, with strong reports from Qualcomm, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple, among others.

The company also submitted a proposal to the European Commission about antitrust concerns yesterday. As we reported, a source familiar with the content of the submission said it was only marginally stronger than the deal Google and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced to a month ago.

Put together, that could mean Google is likely to scoot away from the threat of major regulatory battles on multiple fronts.

Google also said today that it had created a 60 million fund to support digital publishing innovation in France as part of the resolution of its disputes with French news sites.

Google's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $11.34 billion, up from $8.13 billion in 2011. Google reported a non-GAAP profit of $3.57 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $3.13 billion a year before.

New Google Image Search Is Faster, Gets Rid Of Obnoxious Landing Page For Metadata

Google announced that it has revamped its image search to be faster and more effective. The changes, which will be rolled out over the next few days, include image results displayed in an inline panel, allowing users to flip through a set of images by using their keyboard and view metadata without being redirected to a separate landing page.

Here is more information from Google’s announcement on what the upgraded image search means for webmasters:

We now display detailed information about the image (the metadata) right underneath the image in the search results, instead of redirecting users to a separate landing page.
We're featuring some key information much more prominently next to the image: the title of the page hosting the image, the domain name it comes from, and the image size.
The domain name is now clickable, and we also added a new button to visit the page the image is hosted on. This means that there are now four clickable targets to the source page instead of just two. In our tests, we've seen a net increase in the average click-through rate to the hosting website.
The source page will no longer load up in an iframe in the background of the image detail view. This speeds up the experience for users, reduces the load on the source website's servers, and improves the accuracy of webmaster metrics such as pageviews. As usual, image search query data is available in Top Search Queries in Webmaster Tools.

EU says its Google antitrust case not affected by U.S. FTC decision

“A decision by U.S. regulators to end a probe into whether Google Inc hurt rivals by manipulating internet searches will not affect the European Union’s examination of the company,” Ethan Bilby reports for Reuters.

“U.S. regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant internet company, which runs the world’s most popular search engine,” Bilby reports. “Other internet companies, such as Microsoft Corp, had complained about Google tweaking its search results to give prominence to its own products. But the FTC said there was not enough evidence to pursue a big search-bias case.”

Bilby reports, “If it fails to address the complaints and is found guilty, Google could eventually be fined [by the European Commission] up to 10 percent of its revenue – a fine of up to $4 billion.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Dan K." for the heads up.]

Apple’s improved Siri uses Google half as much in iOS 6 as it did previously

“When investment firm Piper Jaffray initially tested Siri in June, its list of common queries found that Google was responsible for about 60 percent of the data returned,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider. “Now, with iOS 6, Google is responsible for only 30 percent of the data.”

“The latest tests also found evidence of behind-the-scenes improvements to Siri, though the changes have been slight,” Hughes reports. “In iOS 5, Siri understood 89 percent of queries spoke in a quiet environment, while that improved to 91 percent in iOS 6, while 76 percent of queries were answered correctly in iOS 5 and that improved to 77 percent with iOS 6.”

Hughes reports, “Since Piper Jaffray’s first Siri test, Google has launched its own voice-driven assistant service, dubbed Google Now. For the latest test, Google Now was included to offer a head-to-head comparison with Siri, and found that Apple’s service has a very slight advantage... Munster wrote, ‘In our test, Siri correctly understood our queries 91% of the time in a quiet environment compared to Google Now at 88%. In terms of accuracy, we determined that Siri accurately answered understood queries 77% of the time compared to 75% for Google Now.’”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Google’s going to rue the day they got greedy by deciding to try to work against Apple instead of with them. – MacDailyNews, March 09, 2010

Apple execs reportedly ‘seething’ over Google Maps for iPhone

“Apple's plan was for their own mapping service to be, if not as good as Google's, at least good enough that it didn't make us miss Google's map data,” John Gruber writes for Daring Fireball.

“I think Apple - where by ‘Apple,’ I mean the company's collective executive leadership - is seething regarding the way this has played out,” Gruber writes. “Everything from Apple Maps being the butt of jokes to the accolades and joy that have accompanied the release of the new Google Maps iOS app. Seething.”

“Google has lost something valuable, too: its place as the default mapping data provider for iOS,” Gruber writes. “What's interesting is that this is a case where it's us, the users, who've won. We've got two apps with turn-by-turn-navigation and vector map tiles where before we had none. Ideally, yes, Apple Maps would have best-of-breed data and search, but the situation was even further from ideal prior to iOS 6.”

Much more in the full article, including how to use the app without giving Google your data – recommended – here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Tom R." for the heads up.]

Nexus 4 suddenly available today, but US stock only, continuing rocky launch

Today, users have been receiving notifications from the Google Play store that the Nexus 4 will now be in stock starting at 12pm PST. However, in line with the device’s rocky launch and early life, it’s only in stock in the US — not exactly appeasing the rest of the world that has been patiently awaiting their new phone.

Google’s new phone sports a rocky history regarding its initial life cycle. Google’s big New York City event planned to announce the Nexus 4 was canceled by a literal natural disaster, Hurricane Sandy, and Google had to settle for a much less exciting blog post instead. Then the smartphone launched on November 13, and has been hit with limited availability ever since. Customers have been reporting that their phone is still on backorder, and though the release was two weeks ago.

At launch, the Nexus 4 was not supported by the Android Open Source Project, which is what helps make the platform so open and so starkly different from Apple’s operating system. The phone also didn’t launch with 4G LTE connectivity. Then, during the drought, the device appeared on eBay for a ridiculous $1900 — essentially a price you can’t pay without massive regret, a notion that was shown when the auction didn’t receive a bid. If that wasn’t enough, customers who ordered and were eagerly awaiting the Nexus 4 were met with emails from Google stating their shipment would be delayed up to three weeks.

So, if you’ve been clamoring for the new Nexus 4, hop on the Google Play store as soon as you can, and keep your finger on the refresh button. Just like with the initial launch, Google has not disclosed how many units will be made available. If you’re not in the US, be patient, as Google wants to sell your their product as much as you want to buy it.

via Daniel Charlton

Read more: The Nexus 4 has LTE after all

Why Apple’s Steve Jobs turned Apple into a patent warrior

“Almost every major technology company is involved in ongoing patent battles, but the most significant player is Apple, industry executives say, because of its influence and the size of its claims: in August in California, the company won a $1 billion patent infringement judgment against Samsung,” Charles Duhigg and Steve Lohr report for The New York Times. “Former Apple employees say senior executives made a deliberate decision over the last decade, after Apple was a victim of patent attacks, to use patents as leverage against competitors to the iPhone, the company's biggest source of profits.”

“Apple has filed multiple suits against three companies - HTC, Samsung and Motorola Mobility, now part of Google - that today are responsible for more than half of all smartphone sales in the United States,” Duhigg and Lohr report. “If Apple's claims - which include ownership of minor elements like rounded square icons and of more fundamental smartphone technologies - prevail, it will most likely force competitors to overhaul how they design phones, industry experts say.”

MacDailyNews Take: Read “force competitors to overhaul how they design phones” as “force competitors to stop stealing Apple’s trade dress and patented intellectual property.”

Duhigg and Lohr report, “‘Apple has always stood for innovation,’ the company wrote in a statement in response to questions from The New York Times. ‘To protect our inventions, we have patented many of the new technologies in these groundbreaking and category-defining products. In the rare cases when we take legal action over a patent dispute, it's only as a last resort. We think companies should dream up their own products rather than willfully copying ours, and in August a jury in California reached the same conclusion.’”

“The evolution of Apple into one of the industry's patent warriors gained momentum, like many things within the company, with a terse order from its chief executive, Steven P. Jobs,” Duhigg and Lohr report. “It was 2006, and Apple was preparing to unveil the first iPhone... Mr. Jobs gathered his senior managers. While Apple had long been adept at filing patents, when it came to the new iPhone, ‘we're going to patent it all,’ he declared, according to a former executive who, like other former employees, requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.”

Tons more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The article goes deeply into how the patent system is “broken.” Yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, some changes are needed, but protection is also required. Obviously (see below). Steve sounds like he was past tired of getting ripped off – and rightfully so.

If you can’t see why Apple needs legal protection from theft, you really need to see an eye doctor.

Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:

Here’s what Google's Android looked like before and after Apple’s iPhone:

Barnes & Noble unveils new 7-inch Nook HD, 9-inch Nook HD+ tablets

“Barnes & Noble Inc took a shot at archrival Amazon.com on Wednesday, unveiling its own lighter and thinner hi-definition tablets that can accommodate multiple users in a bid to win a bigger share of the exploding tablet market,” Phil Wahba reports for Reuters.

“The largest U.S. bookstore chain introduced the new devices with price tags ranging from $199 for a 7-inch Nook HD tablet with 8 gigabytes of memory, to $299 for a 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet, similar in size to Apple Inc’s market-leading iPad, with 32 GB of memory,” Wahba reports. ” Barnes & Noble added innovative features that would allow each a family to share a Nook tablet, with each user able to create a home page and customize preferences, the first table to do so. There are also parental controls that can prevent kids from reading “Fifty Shades of Grey” or go shopping on the digital store.”

Wahba reports, “The 7-inch tablet weighs 11.1 ounces. Its larger sibling is 18.2 ounces, making it lighter than the iPad and making them both more appropriate for reading, he added. The iPad weighs about 23 ounces.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ specs:
9.46 x 6.41 x 0.45 (240.3 x 162.8 x 11.4 mm)
18.17 oz (515 g)
9-inch diagonal, 1920 x 1280 pixels, 256 ppi IPS LCD
Capacitive, Multi-touch
1024 MB RAM
Built-in storage: 16 GB, Maximum User Storage: 13 GB
microSD, microSDHC up to 32 GB

Accelerometer
802.11 b, g, n
USB 2.0
microUSB
HDMI

Windows Phone 8 Release Date; iPhone and iPad Mini Launch Date; Sparrow Acquired by Google and more!

VOTE NOW for your favorite smartphone at www.phonedog.com There’s lots to talk about in this week’s episode of The Dog Pound. First up, we have a couple of release dates for the Windows Phone 8 update, one of them straight from the mouth of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. We’re also hearing a more solid launch date for the Microsoft Surface, Microsoft’s answer to the iPad. There’s been a lot of anticipation and excitement surrounding these two announcements but will they be enough to keep Microsoft in the mobile game? We’ll have to wait and find out. In other news, we have a rumored launch date for the next iPhone as well as a pieced-together model of what it could look like. Some people seem to be disappointed by the design. What do you think? Do you like the new(ish) design? Leave your comments below about this and everything discussed in this week’s episode of The Dog Pound. ______________________________________________ Windows Phone 8 rumored to RTM in September followed by November release www.phonedog.com Samsung Odyssey and Marco Windows Phone 8 handsets detailed in court documents www.phonedog.com Microsoft Surface to hit alongside Windows 8 on October 26 www.phonedog.com ______________________________________________ New iPhone and smaller iPad rumored for September 12 debut, iPhone launch tipped for September 21 www.phonedog.com Purported new iPhone parts pieced together to show assembled body www.phonedog.com ______________________________________________ Email app …

Google nets a victory over Oracle in Android patent infringement lawsuit

Bloomberg has reported that a federal jury- in the 2nd phase associated with an intellectual-property trial- has found in which Google didn’t infringe on patents placed by Oracle. On June 12, The year of 2010, Oracle had charged Google for copyright and certain infringement more than Mountain View’s enactment of the Java-like Dalvik digital machine, the key technology utilized by the Google android operating system. Describes of the test, which wrapped up May Several, dealt with whether Google had infringed with Oracle’s copyrights. A court found that they, but ended up deadlocked on if thez infringement constituted truthful use. Upon Wednesday, the next part of the trial run wrapped up which has a jury finding that Google did not infringe in any patents. For that reason, the third section of the trial, the place damages for your patent infringements would have been determined, won’t often be necessary.The net/net is that Google is now on the hook for any paltry $150,Thousand for two copyright laws infringements. For comparison as well as a little schadenfreude , Oracle experienced first described the value of the actual infringements worth just as much as $6B, proceeded to submit a fit at a $2.6B worth, and finally attended trial by using a $30M price tag. Of course, this may not be the end of it; however one would have got to question Oracle’s information of experiencing any more hips at this stage. Brian Love, an Intellectual House attorney questioned by Bloomberg, portions it up fairly succinctly “This case will be maybe similar to a around disaster to get Oracle”.

Hit the actual break to get a little more historical past on the Oracle/Sun/Java fable and the key reason why Oracle called “shenanigans” about Google.On August 20th, '09, Sun Microsystems -- the owner and also developer in the Java-branded suite with products- announced that this had applied for a ideal agreement having Oracle by which aforementioned would purchase Sun for $9.50 the share. Over the subsequent year, the offer would be embedded by throughout the world antitrust concerns as well as high-profile resignations. By the time the acquisition was entire, Sun acquired lost Caffeine creator James Gosling, the entire JRuby team, and most of that it is executive control team. Eric Schmidt received, of course, already been a key worker at Sun's rays, rising to enjoy the software giant as its lead designer before leaving inside late 90′s, sooner or later becoming Google’s CEO.Essentially of the case was Google’s utilization of the Dalvik Virtual Equipment. Google has referred to the DVM as a clean-room implementation of your Java code-based virtual machine, improved to make and implement byte code within the Android program. DVM uses a register-based architectural mastery, retrieving facts and rule from stashed values for the duration of execution. This kind of results in a decrease amount of guidance required to operate (but much less code body) when compared to the pack machine design used by a Java Personal Machine. Dalvik doesn't use Capuccino ME class your local library, opting instead to use your open-source Apache Harmony inclusion. Oracle’s beef seemed to be that they thought elements of Dalvik duplicated how the proprietary J2ME software interpreted in addition to executed the Java program code.