Software : Classic Steve Jobs keynote used to invalidate German photo patent

Classic Steve Jobs keynote used to invalidate German photo patent
Sign my ebook? Apple could make autographs digital thanks to new patent
As it celebrates turning 15, Google redoes search, iOS app and much more
BBC cleans up iPlayer downloads as desktop platform gets a revamp

Classic Steve Jobs keynote used to invalidate German photo patent

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Nearly seven years after first showing off the iPhone to the world, a key Apple photo gallery patent has been invalided in Germany - and Cupertino has no one to blame but Steve Jobs himself.

Foss Patents reported Thursday that Germany's Bundespatentgericht Federal patent court sided with Samsung and Motorola Mobility by effectively invalidating the iPhone maker's famous "bounce-back effect" in that country.

The patent in question, EP2059868, is described as being used on a "portable electronic device for photo management" - or more specifically in this case, the iPhone's built-in Photos app.

As fate would have it, Apple's rivals were able to use the most incriminating piece of evidence they could possibly come up with: The ghost of Steve Jobs.

Grace period

Despite the late Apple CEO's insistence "boy, have we patented it!" during the original iPhone keynote in January 2007, it turns out a 12-month grace period Americans enjoy when filing for new inventions doesn't exist overseas.

While the keynote video in question cannot be used as prior art in a U.S. patent dispute, European courts are far more restrictive, making an inventor's own public demos fair game if they're dated before an application is filed.

The 2007 keynote demo featuring Jobs was shown in court Thursday, leaving the judge little choice but to temporarily invalidate the patent until Apple's legal team can come up with other ways to challenge Samsung and Motorola's claims.

It's important to note the invalidation isn't yet an official ruling - Samsung still has to come up with other prior art since the keynote video falls within Germany's six-month "Neuheitsschonfrist" (novelty grace period) that can be used to protect such public disclosures.

Dig into our review of the new Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus!

Sign my ebook? Apple could make autographs digital thanks to new patent

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There's something magical about getting an autograph from a favorite musician, author or artist, and now Apple is looking to translate that experience to digital content.

Apple's latest scheme, as described in a patent discovered by AppleInsider, would potentially allow artists and other creators to leave digital signatures on fans' devices.

The signatures would be unique and tied permanently to the recipient's copy of the digital content being signed, and would naturally be authenticated and exist on the cloud.

That's right. The new-age problem of coming face-to-face with an idol only to realize you've got nothing for them to sign (vinyl fans with records in-hand notwithstanding) could soon become a thing of the past.

Digital signing

The patent, titled "Embedding an autograph in an electronic book," focuses extensively on ebooks and the ability for an author to leave digital signatures on fans' copies.

The act could even be limited geographically so that signatures could only be issued at a certain time and place, like in a book store during a signing.

The authentication happens on the author's device, which carries certification of the author's identity that's then transferred along with with the autograph itself over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to fans' devices.

In other examples, the signing happens remotely over the internet.

Save the Sharpies!

Digital autographs could theoretically be applied to movies, music and other types of content, not just books, though things get murkier when there's not an obvious location to leave a mark.

Naturally, just like in real life, the autographs wouldn't be limited only to actual signatures, and artists would potentially be able to send photos, sound bites and more.

Digital signatures could add value to online content being sold through marketplaces like iTunes, not to mention creating another way for eager fans to interact with their favorite artists.

And hey, it will save a lot of precious Sharpie ink if this ever makes it out into the world.

Apple's riding high now that the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are out in the world - the duo marked the most successful iPhone launch yet!

As it celebrates turning 15, Google redoes search, iOS app and much more

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Google is turning 15 years old and to celebrate, the birthday kid revealed a major search engine overhaul plus a revamped app for iOS users. You know, nothing major.

We'll start with the whopper: Google has changed its underlying search engine algorithm, a re-do it actually introduced about a month ago. The last time we saw an update this big, Caffeine was being poured in 2010.

The new version is codenamed Hummingbird, and it's designed to improve over 90% of our complex searches.

"Hummingbird makes results more useful and relevant, especially when you ask Google long, complex questions," Roya Soleimani, a Google spokesperson, explained in an email. "[It] pays more attention to each word in the query, ensuring the whole query is taken into account."

Even if you're not sure of what your trying to search for, Hummingbird will pump out results relevant to your search terms. If there are plenty of relevant matches to the terms, Google will now do a better job picking the strongest web result for you.

Google search

App-y birthday

On the app front, Google is spreading some good will to a competing platform, announcing that its iOS Search app will soon be updated with push notifications.

You'll receive heads ups across platforms, so a reminder to buy milk set on your Nexus 7 will pop up on your iPhone 5S, for example.

What's more, Google's familiar "OK Google" command prompt is also making it to iPhone and iPad owners. Don't be jealous, Siri.

iOS users will also be able to dive into maps directly from the Search app. The whole idea is to make the Google iOS app as robust and self-contained as Google Now is on Android, though naturally the level of integration isn't same between the two.

Android users aren't being left out of the fun, however. Google Now on Android will also get a bump-up in intelligence, one that will save you time and breath.

The Verge caught a Google demo where it asked about the Eiffel Tower, and follow-up questions about its height and location without having to state a whole new question for every little factoid. It's all thanks to some Knowledge Graph bumps, which we'll touch on below.

Better looks

Google is also shuffling the UI for Search on mobile and tablet to include more cards. Google Now users should recognize the new card-based UI as it's been showing up across Google properties, but the update is more than a new coat of paint.

With the new look comes improvements to the Knowledge Graph that should, like Hummingbird, give you the answer you're looking for with the least amount of effort. Want to compare the amount of saturated fat in butter and oil? A card with a complete, expandable comparison will appear.

Search for a band, and a scrollable list of songs appears too. Click on a song, and the title's video will appear in results.

Users should see these updates rolling out soon.

Evernote is making some pretty big changes too, you know.

BBC cleans up iPlayer downloads as desktop platform gets a revamp

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Good news for iPlayer fans frustrated by the temperamental desktop downloads functionality, good old Auntie has sorted it out with a new bit of software for Mac and PC.

The new BBC iPlayer Downloads program, which replaces the now obselete BBC iPlayer Desktop software from today, has ironed out some of the kings, for a more reliable download experience.

Dan Taylor, the new man in charge of the iPlayer, has explained how downloads will no longer rely on users running Adobe AIR. Previously updates to that program had disrupted users ability to download.

"BBC iPlayer Desktop relied on users downloading and installing Adobe AIR. Unfortunately updates to this underlying technology often resulted in issues with the BBC iPlayer Desktop, with users reporting that they had lost downloaded programmes and/or were unable to download any new programmes," wrote Taylor on the BBC blog.

Tata Live TV and Windows Media files

The corporation has also simplified the experience, cutting out many of the existing features to ensure the focus is on offline viewing only.

Live TV and radio integration is gone as it couldn't be used offline anyway, as is the Series Record feature, which Taylor asserts was only frequented by a fraction of the iPlayer audio.

Furthermore, the parental lock has now been integrated at the pre-download stage of the iPlayer website, where users will now visit to obtain anything they wish to download.

The download mechanism itself, Taylor says, has also been simplified to make it "less vulnerable to browser updates," while downloads in the Windows Media format have also been ditched?

Are you a fan of the new streamlined desktop downloads experience? Give it a whirl and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

It's ok for some, say Android users, who've only just been bestowed with iPlayer downloads.

Yahuui Blog

Friday, September 27, 2013