Boot up: smartphone sneaks, iPad supplies, patents uncovered and more

Plus ScraperWiki's Twitter scraper, how notebook sales are going, Reddit on software patents, and HP's TouchPad chiefs on their baby
Nexus One Android Phone
Doing this is what infringes Apple's patents on HTC phones. Other Android phones next? Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters


What the police can learn from your smartphone >> PC Pro

"Where you've been, who you've talked to, who you've been sleeping with – secrets that people wouldn't even share with their closest friends are being spilled into a device that knows you better than any confidant.
"Apple may have publicly denied that it's tracking people via their iPhones, but the police and private forensic experts have no compunction about unlocking the secrets stored in smartphones.
"Last year, the National Policing Improvement Agency placed mobile phone evidence in the top tier of training requirements for officers, teaching them how to secure evidence gleaned from handsets, with 3,500 officers a year expected to take the course."

Supply of Apple's iPad 2 finally catches up with demand >> Fortune Tech

Delay to shipping down to 1-3 days, rather than one or two weeks as they were in April.

Metafilter's Matt Haughey interviewed >> Willamette Week

"Q: That's still pretty remarkable, though—most news sites get almost entirely trolling or abusive comments. What is it about the Internet that turns people into assholes? "A: I think the anonymity; they think they can get away with it. Anonymous speech—like whistle-blowing—definitely has a role in society, but any time you introduce anonymity people can freely be assholes. Like, I grew up in L.A., and when you're in a car in L.A. with 8 million other people, you're totally anonymous; people drive horribly. And then you move up to Oregon, and everyone's waving at each other and people drive much nicer. I see that online—it's like, whatever level of anonymity you allow, is how much garbage you're going to get."

Is this the end of Android? >> Bob's Tech Site

"It turns out that two patents have already been upheld in this way. One patent involves manipulating data structures using user input (i.e. if you tap on a phone screen a number increments, that's patented). The second patent involves "real-time signal processing of serially transmitted data" - though this initially sounds like a hardware patent, it can involve any layers of software abstraction from real time operations (such as drivers). You'll find more detailed information on the FOSS Patents blog. "The result of this is that if it is formally approved, Apple could either charge HTC a license fee for every Android device they sell (bearing in mind HTC is already paying Microsoft license fees for the exact same reason) or prevent HTC from importing any Android devices at all into the United States. The latter measure can be enacted in as few as three or four months."

Android Uncertainty: Apple Wins a Round Against HTC >> Technologizer

"On Friday, Apple won a round in its court battle against Taiwanese phone maker HTC, when an International Trade Commission judge ruled that HTC's Android handsets violate two Apple patents. HTC is appealing the judgement."
It's all about patents at the moment.

Nicola Hughes / Basic Twitter Scraper >> ScraperWiki

Useful for any time you might want to scrape Twitter for, well, anything.

11-03-30 Kootol Notice of Allowance >> US Patent Office

Kootol's software patent application - "Universal knowledge management and desktop search system" - is now sure to pass through (an apposite phrase) the US Patent Office and be approved. Has the USPTO been asleep for the past 10 years? Google Desktop Search? Anyone?

Taiwan notebook shipments increase in 2Q11 thanks to Classmate PC >> Digitimes Insight

"Taiwan-based notebook makers' combined shipments in the second quarter of 2011 reached 44.49 million units with a sequential increase of 8.5%, better than 5.6% growth of the same quarter a year ago. The shipment growth in the second quarter of 2011 was mainly due to the over one million units of Intel Classmate PCs ordered by Venezuela, while demand from the consumer notebook market remained low and Intel's defective chipsets incident, which caused delays in shipments of new notebook models, did not significantly benefit the notebook makers, according to Digitimes Research senior analyst Joanne Chien."
Also: shipments of MacBook Airs rose by 300,000 to 1m - and were 30% of Apple's total notebook shipments. That's a lot.

Software patents: the same as mathematical formulae? >> Reddit

Prompted by our story about developers pulling back from US app stores because of software patent fears, a discussion on Reddit about what is and isn't patentable about software. Insightful.

The Rise and Fall of the Independent Developer >> Craig Hockenberry

Hockenberry likes the internet as medium for distribution; "But this expanded distribution is also putting our business at risk: there are people in this new market who claim a right to a part of our hard work. Either by patent or copyright infringement, developers are finding this new cost of litigation to be onerous.
"The scary part is that these infringements can happen with any part of our products or websites: things that you'd never imagine being a violation of someone else's intellectual property. It feels like coding in a mine field. "From our experience, it's entirely possible that all the revenue for a product can be eaten up by legal fees. After years of pouring your heart and soul into that product, it's devastating. It makes you question why the hell you're in the business: when you can't pay salaries from product sales, there's no point in building it in the first place."
<em>All</em> the <em>revenue</em>? Scary.

Interview: HP's Stephen DeWitt and Jon Rubinstein on webOS, the death of Palm, and partnering with Amazon >> This is my next...

Long interview; we'll boil it down to a couple of lines for the time-starved.
Stephen DeWitt: "corporate synergy... laser focussed.. excited.. opportunities... channels.. compelling.. clientized.. leverage experience.. meaningful relationships.. passionate.. a few things we clearly didn't communicate right.. push back.. tethered relationship.."
Rubenstein: "I'd rather focus my time on where webOS goes in the future."

Verizon cripples data tethering - be wary of new Android updates >> Lifehacker

For American readers only, obviously: "Verizon has already started cutting down on tethering by removing apps from the Android Market, but today they took a much bigger step by releasing an update for the HTC Thunderbolt that blocks it from unauthorized tethering." Droid Charge and LG Revolution next in line; avoiding the update means you don't get Gingerbread (Android 2.3) support later. 

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