Hot off the heels of the talk about a Retina iPad mini, Marco Arment wonders if the rumored iPhone+ would use the A5X chip[1].
All possible, I suppose.
I get there is a market for larger phones but they aren’t for me. I need one hand for a phone. If I want to use two hands, I’ll use an iPad.
Again, the big question is how would Apple price such a device?
Every Apple product is a rumor. Rumors are probably their best product. ↩
Stephen Hackett on the rumored A5X chip for a new Apple TV and what he thinks it could be for: the (rumored) iPad mini with Retina Display
He questions how battery life, PPI, size, and weight would change should Apple release such a device (we all assume is coming but don’t know when).
One thing is want to add to his reasons and why I think it’s possible to keep the same form factor even with a Retina display: the smaller screen would need less backlight than the larger screen so it would also affect the battery life. I wonder if it has a greater affect on battery than the CPU.
So I’m very hopeful the next mini will be a Retina display model. I just wonder how Apple will price it and what happens to the non-Retina iPads.
Can the iPad start at $199 and compete with Amazon? I think so.
Grand Central Terminal opened on February 2, 1913. To celebrate, some merchants are rolling back the prices on their goods and services to what they were charging 100 years ago. They’re doing this tomorrow, February 1 since it’s the closest weekday.
I’m going to get my 5¢ coffee and 6¢ rye bread and head over and get a 10¢ shoe shine. I might even try to pick up a 10¢ watch strap.[1]
I hear that Apple is running a special promotion of not selling anything.[2]
Grand Central has a great website with a list of activities going on to recognize the anniversary.
Newegg, the larger online computer parts and electronics retailer, was featured at Ars Technica for standing up to and winning against a “patent troll” who claimed to own the IP to a shopping cart on the internet. Seriously.
For those who don’t know what a “patent troll” is, it’s a derogatory term for a company or individual who is thought to be a shell owner of a patent they often bought from some other company — often another shell company. The term isn’t a word of fact but it’s a common scenario seen. In this particular case, the owner of said patent sued Nordstrom, Macy’s, Home Depot, RadioShack, Kohls, Victoria’s Secret, and Avon. So it’s not just tech companies that are at risk for what amounts to a shakedown for settlement money.
There are a lot of people who believe intellectual property laws need to be fixed. And the article highlights, through the quotes of Newegg executives, other countries — who we compete with — don’t have these sorts of problems dragging time and money away from their core businesses.
It’s an encouraging read if you’ve been disheartened by the countless tales of someone being sued for IP infringement when they likely did nothing of the sort and are just victims of an extortion scheme.
And if I didn’t like Newegg for their prices and customer service already, I like them even more — not just because they stood up to and won against a patent troll — but for this gem of a quote from Chief Legal Officer, Lee Cheng, who says, “…they pop up and say “Hello, surprise! Give us your money or we will shut you down!” Screw them. Seriously, screw them. You can quote me on that.”
And quote him, they did.
via Boing Boing
I love the design and idea behind this e-ink keyboard concept where the keys change based on the application being used. If this becomes a Kickstarter project, I just might back it.