Apple : Apple changes tact on Lightning licensing after Kickstarter dock row

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Apple changes tact on Lightning licensing after Kickstarter dock row Posted: Apple has apparently had a rare change of heart over the licensing of its Lightning cable tech following the row over a popular Kickstarter project. The company's refusal to license the tech for an accessory that also features its 30-pin connector, had put the kibosh on the POP mobile charging dock concept, which raised $140,000 on the crowd sourcing site. The POP's creator had, on Friday, lashed out at Apple in an expletive-laden rant, calling the Cupertino-based giant a 'bunch of a**holes'. However, CNET has learned that Apple has decided to change the tech specifications for the Lightning tech so both types of connector will work in a single accessory. This means the POP charger, whose enthusiastic backers doubled its funding goal - will now go ahead after all. Unexpected Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told CNET: "Our technical specifications provide clear guidelines for developing accessories and they are available to MFi licensees for free. "We support accessories that integrate USB and Lightning connectors, but there were technical issues that prevented accessories from integrating 30-pin and Lightning connectors so our guidelines did not allow this." Naturally, Edison Junior CEO Jamie Siminoff was delighted by the unexpected change. "It's great news. It's crazy," he told CNET. "If you had asked me yesterday morning 'what did we think was going to come out of this?' I wouldn't have even thought anybody - not even a line-level employee - would have seen this at Apple." Sales of the POP will now recommence.

Steve Jobs' yacht impounded in Port of Amsterdam Posted: We're light on the tech news in the week before the holidays, so why not talk about Steve Jobs' newly impounded yacht? The sleek $138 million (UK£85.36m, AU$132.45m) craft is currently bobbing listlessly in the Port of Amsterdam, where it will remain until its designer is paid the $3 million (UK£1.86m, AU$2.88m) of a $9 million (UK£5.57m, AU$8.64m) fee he claims is still owed to him. French designer Philippe Starck had the yacht, affectionately named Venus, impounded in the Port of Amsterdam, a spokesperson for Starck confirmed to the BBC that the craft is not allowed to leave. "The parties will have to fight it out," the spokesman, Jeroen Ranzijn, reportedly said. I'm (not) on a boat Since Starck and Jobs were apparently close, it seems based on Friday's report that there may not be a contract detailing Starck's exact payment. Starck's lawyer, Roelant Klaassen, reportedly said to Reuters, "These guys trusted each other, so there wasn't a very detailed contract." According to the BBC, both Starck and representatives of Jobs' estate were not willing or available to comment. The Venus itself is 260 feet (80 meters) long, with enormous windows and a reportedly "minimalist" design. Starck has described it as "showing the elegance of intelligence." It's unclear what the Jobs' heirs plan to do with the boat.

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