MacRumors

Technically Personal reports on some interesting code found in iOS 6 suggesting that Apple's new mapping solution may be making its way to OS X in some form. The evidence, discovered by developer Cody Cooper, arrives by way of references to several older Intel graphics solutions for which map features such as shading are disabled.

In this XML file, there is a reference to a set of Intel based graphics chipsets for which certain features like Shading are disabled.

Cody says that older Intel chipsets are known to not support shading very well, and that’s probably why Apple wants to disable that feature on these Macs or will be software rendered.

It is unclear exactly what form Apple's maps would take on the Mac and whether the references are simply for hooks into map-enabled apps on OS X or if there is some more significant mapping solution coming to the Mac.

Apple's new mapping system is a key feature of iOS 6, enabling Apple to break free of the Google Maps relationship it has relied upon since the iPhone's launch in 2007. Apple's maps, developed in partnership with TomTom and other providers, will include integration of Siri with turn-by-turn directions, "Flyover" 3D-view imagery, and integration with Yelp for local search information.

Update: As several readers have noted, with the files being inside the iPhone simulator package, it is possible that the references are merely addressing functionality of the simulator to allow developer to test their apps without an actual device.

With the avalanche of patent lawsuits involving Apple, we try to restrict our coverage to the most significant developments such as issued injunctions, final settlements, and monetary awards.

But while a UK judge's ruling today that Samsung's Galaxy Tab products do not infringe upon Apple's iPad design merely maintains the status quo from a competitive perspective in one of the many ongoing cases between the two companies, what is sure to spark discussion is the judge's assessment that the Galaxy tablets are simply "not as cool" as the iPad. Bloomberg reports:

The Galaxy tablet doesn’t infringe Apple’s registered design, Judge Colin Birss said in a ruling today in London. He said that consumers weren’t likely to get the two tablet computers mixed up.

The Galaxy tablets “do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design,” Birss said. “They are not as cool.”

More specifically, Birss ruled that the Galaxy tablets' thinner profiles and "unusual details" on the back of the devices made them different enough from the iPad that they were not too similar to Apple's design.

Apple has 21 days in which to appeal the ruling.

Late last month, Wired covered the emergence of a cottage industry of businesses selling access to iOS developer betas prior to their official launch. Apple offers these developer betas to registered iOS developers. The fee for such a registration is $99/year. Some enterprising individuals have turned around and started selling their 100 possible device slots to users looking to install the iOS betas prior to their official launch.

Behind the scenes, each service uses the same simple backdoor: Registered iOS developers can activate up to 100 unique device IDs (or UDIDs) for their account, an essential tool for testing apps on multiple devices. Once registered with Apple, the activated device is also able to run pre-release versions of iOS, though developers are forbidden from sharing pre-release software outside their own team.

Ignoring these warnings, activation services charge a small fee to add a customer’s device to their developer accounts. When they hit the 100-device limit, they just register a new account with Apple.

This has been going on for a couple of years with no particular intervention from Apple. As Wired notes, it seems Apple just didn't seem to care, despite their wide availability.

That may have changed since the publication of the Wired article. MacStories has noted that many of the services listed in the original Wired article are no longer available. After reaching out to the sites, it seems that Apple has started taking action against these services.

While most of our emails bounced, we heard back from one of the site owners (who asked to remain anonymous), who confirmed his hosting provider took down the site after a complaint for copyright infringement by Apple. Similarly, the CEO of Fused tweeted in a reply to Andy Baio that Apple had been “fairly heavy-handed” with DMCA requests to UDID-selling sites hosted on their network.

MacStories exchanged emails with the owner of one of the services which made $75,000 since the release of the iOS 6 Beta in June.

Bits of information about the rumored 7.85 "iPad Mini" continue to leak out. Japanese blog Mac Otakara now claims that the smaller iPad will be produced in Brazil and will ramp up production starting in September.

According to Chinese reliable source, the tablet called iPad mini will be produced in Brazil, however production test to collect data for new cutting machine is already done in China.

Source said that, production phase of this tablet will be started since September, and this tablet should be shipped until holiday season, but announcement will not be so soon.

Mockup of 7.85-inch "iPad mini" next to iPad 2

Multiple sources have now claimed that Apple is coming out with a miniaturized version of the iPad this fall. The most recent report from Bloomberg pinpointed an October launch for the device.

Apple has notified the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) that it is withdrawing its products from the EPEAT registry and will no longer be submitting its products to EPEAT for environmental rating. CIO Journal spoke with Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT, who offered slightly more color to the decision:

“They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements,” Frisbee said. The company did not elaborate, Frisbee said. “They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don’t want their products measured by this standard anymore.”

EPEAT certification requires certain standards that make the machines easy to disassemble and recycle using common tools. Apple's recent Mac products, such as the Retina MacBook Pro, are difficult to fully disassemble making them ineligible for certification. iFixIt explains:

According to my EPEAT contacts, Apple’s mobile design direction is in conflict with the intended direction of the standard. Specifically, the standard lays out particular requirements for product “disassemble-ability,” a very important consideration for recycling: “External enclosures, chassis, and electronic subassemblies shall be removable with commonly available tools or by hand.”

The move could have a financial impact on Apple's sales. CIO Reports that many corporations require EPEAT certified computers. Meanwhile, the U.S. government requires 95% of electronics purchases also be EPEAT certified.

The move does not seem to affect Apple's popular iPhone and iPad devices, as they are presently a class of product not certified by EPEAT.

The Wall Street Journal profiles Apple's "go-slow" approach to mobile payments. In June, Apple announced the inclusion of a feature called Passbook to iOS 6. Passbook allows users to keep loyalty cards, tickets and coupons in one central app. Passbook, however, does not offer a full payment system which has been a rumored area of research for Apple.

Holding back in mobile payments was a deliberate strategy, the result of deep discussion last year. Some Apple engineers argued for a more-aggressive approach that would integrate payments more directly.

But Apple executives chose the go-slow approach for now. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision-making process. Apple's head of world-wide marketing, Phil Schiller, in an interview last month, said that digital-wallet mobile-payment services are "all fighting over their piece of the pie, and we aren't doing that."

According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, a small group within Apple was reported to have been investigating a new service that would embed payment methods into the iPhone or even build a new payment network. Discussions reportedly included Apple facilitating payments with merchants and even all the way to the possibility of Apple to begin acting as a bank. Apple also considered simpler wallet app possibilities or working with existing middlemen and taking a small cut of each transaction.

Meanwhile, the Apple iPhone team had indeed explored NFC communications options in the next iPhone. Various concerns included impact on battery life, security, vendor adoption and customer satisfaction.

Ultimately, Passbook is said to be the current compromise while Apple presumably waits to see how the mobile payment market matures.

One of the main criticisms of the new Thunderbolt connectivity standard embraced by Apple has been its cost, which adds a considerable premium to the prices of compatible peripherals. Even Thunderbolt cables are expensive, with Apple's 2-meter cable priced at $49, a price on par with offerings from the few other companies selling Thunderbolt cables so far.

In a report published earlier this week, Ars Technica took a look at why the cables are so expensive and investigated some of the upcoming advances that could help bring prices down beginning late this year or early next year.

Inside an Apple Thunderbolt Cable connector (Source: iFixit)

The chip is built using silicon germanium, "an expensive semiconductor process typically used for telecom applications," [Intersil marketing manager John] Mitchell told Ars. [...]

In addition to the transceiver, the current reference design also requires a separate microcontroller, as well as power management and voltage regulation chips to deliver the 3V data signals and 15V optional power supply for bus-powered devices. Essentially, there are four integrated circuits (IC) at either end of a Thunderbolt cable.

But Intersil appears set to simplify the design for Thunderbolt circuitry later this year with its own products that will reduce the number of chips and allow for cheaper cable to be used.

What Intersil calls an "Active Cable IC Solution for Thunderbolt Technology" appears to be the only complete turnkey solution we could find among manufacturers selling ICs for Thunderbolt. It combines the microcontroller and transceiver into a single signal processing chip, and combines power management and voltage regulators into a single power management chip. This cuts the number of required ICs from four to two.

With the new chips being manufactured using a 40-nanometer process, yield and cost efficiency are improved and heat generation is decreased, leading to further cost savings on the cable design. Combined with other improvements, Intersil's solution will bring substantial improvements in component costs, size, and power usage, which together should yield significant cost savings for consumers.

Originally announced this past April, AT&T will unveil a database of stolen phones to prevent lost devices from connecting to the carrier's network. The Verge reported the launch with a leaked internal AT&T screenshot showing a launch date of July 10, 2012.

AT&T issued this statement to MacRumors:

As announced in April, AT&T is creating a stolen phone database to prevent devices reported stolen from accessing wireless networks. We will install this availability next week for AT&T phones on our network and are working toward a cross-carrier solution later this year.

The Verge notes that AT&T's guidance for staffers says "only the person who originated a block may request block removal". It's unclear how exactly the database will work, including preventing legitimate transfers in ownership from being flagged by malicious actors, but we expect to have more details from AT&T as the launch date for the stolen phone database comes closer.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon is currently working with Foxconn on a new smartphone product, one that would compete head-to-head with the iPhone and Android devices.

A smartphone would give Amazon a wider range of low-priced hardware devices that bolster its strategy of making money from digital books, songs and movies. It would help Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos -- who made a foray into tablets with the Kindle Fire -- carve out a slice of the market for advanced wireless handsets.

Amazon is also said to be looking to acquire a portfolio of wireless technology patents that would help it stand up to competitors in the market.

Amazon has already generated a considerable amount of interest with its Kindle Fire tablet, a heavily-customized Android device launched late last year. By adding a smartphone to the mix, Amazon would have mobile devices in several different form factors to help spur consumption of the company's extensive library of digital content.

Earlier today, we noted that Apple's App Store was experiencing issues with corrupted binaries affecting dozens of newly-updated apps over the past few days. While in many cases the corruption is resolved a few hours after an updated app becomes available, TechCrunch reports that Apple has now officially acknowledged the issue in its developer forums and is working on a broader fix.

According to our developer sources, Apple has now responded to numerous complaints in its Developer Forums with a brief statement posted by username “iTunesConnect.”

The statement reads: “We are aware of the issue related to apps crashing after update. We are currently working on resolving the issue. Stay tuned for updates.”

Apple is also emailing developers regarding the issue and including contact information for support issues, with one developer who was able to speak to a support representative being told that Apple has a dedicated team working on the issue. More details will be made available as Apple investigates the problems.

Update: Apple has now issued an official statement to AllThingsD:

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. Apple said it affected only a small number of users.

“The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again,” Apple said. Those who have an affected app can re-download it from the App Store.

Update 2: Macworld reports that Apple will be removing one-star app reviews given by users as a result of the issue.

Update 3: As noted by MacStories, Apple has apparently removed all reviews stemming from the corrupted versions of the apps.

Earlier today, Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab reported that it had been alerted to an app available in both Apple's App Store and the Google Play store for Android that was quietly harvesting users' address book contacts and sending them to the developer's servers. The developer's systems were then sending text messages to those contacts advertising the application, with the "From" field being spoofed with the original user's mobile phone number.

The application, Find and Call, ended up primarily targeting Russian users due to its use of the Russian language in the app description, but the app was available in App Stores around the world. The report notes that while there have been previous incidents of personal information being transmitted inappropriately from App Store apps, this appears to be the first time that such information has been used in a malicious manner.

Malware in the Google Play is nothing new but it’s the first case that we’ve seen malware in the Apple App Store. It is worth mentioning that there have not been any incidents of malware inside the iOS Apple App Store since its launch 5 years ago. But the main issue here is user’s privacy again. It’s not for the first time when we see incidents related to user’s personal data and its leakage. And it’s for the first time when we have confirmed case of malicious usage of such data.

In several updates to the original post, Kaspersky Lab notes that spam invites are also being sent via email. One user was also able to get in touch with the application's author, who claims that the behavior is a bug, although the explanation certainly appears to be suspect.

It now appears that Apple has removed Find and Call from the App Store, as links to the app in the U.S. and Russian App Stores show that it is unavailable. The app did exist for some time, however, as it debuted in the App Store on June 13.

Apple has been working to limit third-party apps' access to personal data, and will be rolling out enhanced permission requirements in iOS 6 to alert users when their data is being accessed.

Update: Apple has issued a statement to The Loop acknowledging that it has pulled the app.

“The Find & Call app has been removed from the App Store due to its unauthorized use of users’ Address Book data, a violation of App Store guidelines,” an Apple representative told The Loop.

Late last month, federal judge Richard Posner threw out one of the major U.S. cases in the ongoing patent battle between Apple and Motorola, and Reuters today publishes an interesting interview with Posner in which he discusses his view that patents have become too widely used and suggests that there may not be a need for software patents at all.

Noting his belief that software and other industries do not require the same level of patent protection as industries like pharmaceuticals where hundreds of millions of dollars are spent to develop a single protected product, Posner indicates individual software advances require much less economic investment and much of the benefit is gained simply by being first to market.

"It's not clear that we really need patents in most industries," he said.

Also, devices like smartphones have thousands of component features, and they all receive legal protection.

"You just have this proliferation of patents," Posner said. "It's a problem."

In Posner's ruling last month, he noted that Apple's patent on smooth operation of streaming video was in no way a monopoly on all streaming video and that barring an entire product over a single feature would be harmful to consumers. Posner also ruled against Motorola in its efforts to ban the iPhone over standards-essential patents that were to be licensed under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

Apple is of course involved in intellectual property disputes with a number of companies, with the cases including both software patents and design rights. Just this week, a ban on U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus went into effect as Apple won preliminary injunctions, but the company also experienced setbacks in its battle with HTC in recent days. In those cases, both the U.S. International Trade Commission and a UK court ruled in HTC's favor, with the UK judge ruling that several of Apple's patents including one covering the "slide-to-unlock" feature are invalid in that country.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment notes that Apple's App Store is apparently pushing out corrupted app binaries of a number of different applications to users. The issue, which renders the apps unusable, has apparently been triggered on app updates approved over the past few days.

Characterizations of this issue:

- The app crashes immediately on launch, every time, even after a delete and reinstall as long as the corrupt file is being served by the App Store.
- It doesn’t even show the Default.png before crashing. Just a split-second of a partial fade to black, then back to Springboard.
- It may only affect customers in some regions.
- If updating from iTunes, some customers might get a dialog citing error 8324 or 8326.
- Mac apps might show this dialog: “[App] is damaged and can’t be opened. Delete [App] and download it again from the App Store.”
- The console might show: AppleFairplayTextCrypterSession::fairplayOpen() failed, error -42110

Arment has collected a list of nearly two dozen apps that have been affected by the issue, and while Apple begin distributing a corrected version of Instapaper within a few hours yesterday, it remains unclear whether all affected apps have been fixed. For those who already downloaded corrupted versions of affected apps, the apps must be deleted and reinstalled.

GoodReader has more on the issue, including a description of how to back up settings and restore them upon reinstallation. GoodReader notes that the issue has appeared on both of its last two updates, speculating that something is going wrong with Apple's encryption process temporarily, and after a few hours the issue resolves itself.

While in theory Apple's servers must be ready to distribute the new app binary by the time they start sending update notifications to users' devices, something goes wrong inside Apple's distribution servers, and customers receive a damaged binary instead of the good one that we've sent to Apple. The exact reason is up to Apple to determine, but it looks like some binary encryption that happens internally in the App Store is only halfway-done at this point, and customers receive incorrectly (or partially?) encrypted binaries to their iPads. Those binaries do not get recognized by iOS as valid App Store executable binaries, and iOS simply refuses to launch them.

A few hours pass by, things settle down on Apple's servers, the update finally gets to places inside Apple's servers to which it was supposed to get, and everyone who downloads the update from that moment on, receives a correctly encrypted fully functional app binary.

Apple has yet to issue an official statement on the issue, and thus details remain unconfirmed for the time being, but developers are suggesting that users wait a few hours after receiving notifications about updated apps before updating their devices.

Update: Arment's list of apps confirmed to be affected by the issue has now grown to 70.

Back in February 2010, Apple's then-retail chief Ron Johnson noted during the company's annual shareholder meeting that it was planning to open up to 25 retail stores in China over the following two years. At the time, Apple operated only a single store in Beijing that had opened in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics held there.

Apple's IFC Mall retail store in Hong Kong

The shortage of retail stores and authorized re-sellers leaves ample room for unlicensed re-sellers to move in. Bad consumer experiences at these unauthorized shops are common and they run the risk of eventually eroding confidence in Apple's products, said David Wolf, chief executive of Beijing-based consultancy Wolf Group Asia.

If Apple doesn't expand its network of stores and authorized re-sellers, it "loses not only near-term sales, it also endangers the sustainability of its success in China," he said.

The report does not pin down the reasons behind Apple's slower-than-planned pace of retail store expansion in China, only suggesting that the company may be running up against bureaucratic hurdles that have complicated its plans.

Apple may, however, be nearly ready for a substantial expansion of its retail footprint in China, as M.I.C. gadget just yesterday posted a summary of six more stores that are currently in the works. Most of the locations have been discussed at one time or another in recent months, but the new summary provides a consolidated picture of what Apple's Chinese customers can expect. The forthcoming locations include:

- Shenzhen: One of Foxconn's major hubs for iOS device production, Shenzhen will see a new Apple retail store going in at the Yitian Plaza shopping mall, according to M.I.C. gadget. The report includes photos of a boarded-up section of the mall where Apple is rumored to be building a two-level store, with an opening predicted for late this year or early next year.

- Chengdu: Apple appears set to open two retail stores in Chengdu, another of Foxconn's manufacturing hubs in China. The first may open as soon as September in the high-end Raffles Square district while the second is said to be a major store opening at the MixC shopping center. That location may open in December.

- Guangzhou: Relatively few details on this location are known, but according to the report Apple is preparing to open a store in the Grand City Plaza district. Major renovations for the area have, however, yet to take place.

- Dalian: As we previously covered, Apple is said to be planning its world's largest retail store for Dalian in northeastern China. No details on an opening are yet known, but previous information suggested that work was indeed underway on the store.

- Hong Kong: In February 2011, reports claimed that Apple would be opening two retail stores in Hong Kong: a 15,000 square foot location at the IFC Mall by the end of 2011 and a 20,000 square foot location at Hysan Place by the second or third quarter of 2012. The IFC Mall store did open in September 2011, and M.I.C. gadget indicates that Apple should at least come close to meeting its target for the Hysan Place store with a late 2012 or early 2013 opening.

Last week, Apple won a preliminary injunction banning U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a high-profile Android phone that was the lead device for Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and given away to attendees at last week's Google I/O conference to show off the forthcoming Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". The ban followed a similar injunction barring sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was issued a few days earlier.

Samsung immediately appealed both of the injunctions in hopes of continuing sales of the devices as the cases over Android software features proceed through full trials. But the judge overseeing both cases rejected Samsung's appeal in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 case over the weekend and today similarly declined the company's appeal in the Galaxy Nexus case. AllThingsD has more on the developments:

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to put the ban on hold while Samsung pursues an appeal.

“Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung’s only smartphone product on the market,” Koh wrote in the ruling.

Just minutes after the decision, AllThingsD also reported that Google and Samsung have developed a software workaround they believe will satisfactorily address the infringement issue being claimed by Apple, which involves a unified search function related to Siri's abilities.

First and foremost, Samsung and Google have a software patch that they believe avoids infringing the Apple patent that led to the injunction. That patch is expected to be pushed out imminently, Google said.

Google and Samsung are also continuing to pursue the matter on other fronts, persisting in their battle against Apple in the case while also seeking to have Apple's patent ruled invalid through reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.