Apple Patent Describes iPod UI "Pushed" to Other Devices...Philips Announces Very Pretty Pro LCD Line...NYTimes Columnist Proposes Boycott of "Pro-Communist China" Bing...Ooma Adds New Handsets and International Plan...

Apple Patent Describes iPod UI "Pushed" to Other Devices

An Apple patent filed in May 2008 describes a way of pushing whatever UI Apple wants to non-Apple hardware, for consistency's sake. That non-Apple hardware could include car stereos or something like the Chumby One (which has iPod functionality, but with a lookalike UI). It's a nice idea for Apple, but could be tricky given the myriad different hardware that might want to take advantage. What if the hardware has a resistive touchscreen, or a shitty processor? Might it just be better to use a custom interface for iPod integration? Regardless, it's in Remainders because it's not really that unexpected or interesting in its implications. [MacRumors]

Philips Announces Very Pretty Pro LCD Line

Philips' new high-end LCD line looks pretty fantastic, with two important caveats. First, let's drool a little: The two models (40- and 46-inch) have a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1ms response time, 5 HDMI ports (not sure why you'd need that many, but whatever) and a 200Hz refresh rate, with a nice brushed-aluminum look. Now, the caveats. First, they're UK only, and second, they're prohibitively expensive at about $3,000 and $4,100, respectively. Still, drool-worthy. [Engadget]

NYTimes Columnist Proposes Boycott of "Pro-Communist China" Bing

NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has proposed a boycott of Microsoft's Bing search engine due to its supposed pro-Chinese-government censorship of search terms like "Dalai Lama" and "Tienanmen" when searched in simplified Chinese characters. In English and other non-Chinese languages, the results you'd expect from "Tienanmen" show up, but in Chinese, apparently it returns sanitized results (no massacre, in that case). Since I'm not really sure how to type simplified Chinese characters on an all-Amurrican MacBook Pro keyboard, I haven't tested it myself—but if true, it's a little underhanded on Microsoft's part, although certainly paling in comparison to, you know, the Chinese government. What's odd is that Google's Chinese search also returns censored results, but "to a much lesser extent," so I guess it's okay. Weird stuff. [TechFlash]

Ooma Adds New Handsets and International Plan

Internet phone company Ooma began shipping its new Telo handset as well as offering a very cheap international calling plan (500 minutes for $5 per month). Ooma, for those who don't know (I assume this includes everyone) varies from other VoIP services like Vonage by cutting out the monthly fees, instead packing them into a fairly expensive set-top box, at $250. So this international plan requiring a monthly fee is a big deal for them, but it winds up in Remainders because I honestly had not even heard of Ooma until this morning. Oops. [Electronista]

To whom it may concern: Applebee's gift cards, while appropriately monolithic, are not redeemable at Apple Stores or on iTunes. [Thanks Nicholas!]

One game developer said it is cutting its investment in Android in favor of Apple's iPhone because it sells 400 times more games for the iPhone than it does for Android.

According to a report, AppleCare warranties can be voided if Apple deems the damage was caused by secondhand smoke. Appeals to Steve Jobs have, apparently, not succeeded.

Originally posted at Technically Incorrect

Following up on early benchmarking tests that showed Apple's new quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 iMacs boasting significant performance improvements compared to their Core 2 Duo-based counterparts, Macworld has utilized its own Speedmark suite of real-...

Reuters reports that prominent iPhone game developer Gameloft is scaling back its efforts to produce content for the Android platform in the face of weaknesses of its application store. Gameloft also notes that it is not the only one making the move...

I get that this Flo TV iPhone demo is just a proof of concept. That's fine! I'm just a little confused as to what the concept is.

Is it just what they're showing us? A Flo TV app, that requires some kind of accessory to tune into broadcasts? That's possible, but given how well the iPhone can stream video over 3G, it'd be a hard sell, even with Flo TV's cable-like channel selection. It would also help if said accessory wasn't larger than the actual iPhone.

Or is it to foster excitement over the idea of native Flo TV hardware support in the iPhone, like in the HTC Imagio? Because that will never, ever happen. So again, why? [Electric Pig]

newVideoPlayer("/gizmodo-voices.flv", 500, 375,""); In 2007 I whined and whined asking for an iPhone Software Developer's Kit. Back then, I asked for five apps. It took two years, but today I've got them all. The last one just came in yesterday.

It's not Voice Candy, but Voices looks as good, if not better: Retro tape recorder and microphone, cute icons, simple touch interface, and sharing via Twitter, Facebook, and eMail, so you can spook everyone with that infernal Reverse Voice effect. For $1, it's impossible to resist.

gawkerGallery(5409221,5,'Voices Gallery');

[iTunes App Store—Thanks Juanlu and Lisa Bettany, who stars in the Voices' promo video]

Now that I think about it, most of the apps I pasted in this graphic are now in the iPhone in one form or another.

Are you still missing a favorite?

Also known as the entire technology press amirite? Ha? In all seriousness though—Maclife asked various bloggers, journalists and tech personalities what their dream Apple products would be, and mocked them all up in detailed renders. Here's what happened:

Veronica Belmont, of Tekzilla/Mahalo/BOL fame/general video on the internet fame, sees Apple finally going ahead with that Courier concept Microsoft keeps dragging their feet on. Or, Apple subsumes Microsoft entirely. What do you know, Belmont?

BoingBoing's/MAKE's Mark Frauenfelder goes as DIY-y as is humanly possible, and projects a future in which Apple is just a bunch of dudes with Arduinos and a pair of pliers. You see, we'll just buy Apple's designs, and your iMake object printer will print them out.

Brian Lam, Man With Hat, just wants his iPhone to get reception in San Francisco, for once. Hence, bunny ears.

There are a couple more, and they're all in the same whimsical, not-quite-serious vein. Check them out at [Maclife]

This year's Microsoft shareholder meeting wasn't a lot of fun for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates, thanks to shareholders grilling him about Apple and the iPhone with questions like the above. Ballmer smacked him right back:

There's certainly always opportunities for improvement. There is a group of people with whom our market share is less. You take any country, including this one, and you say, how are we doing? The truth of the matter is, we do quite well. Even among college students, we do quite well. Do we have an opportunity for improvement? We do. Some of that is marketing some of that is phase of life.

It is important to remember that 96 times out of 100 worldwide, people choose a PC with Windows, that's a good thing. Even in the toughest market, which would be the high end of the consumer market here in the U.S., 83 times out of 100 people choose a Windows PC over a Mac.

Ballmer also remarked that Apple has gained a few "couple of tenths of a percent of market share," but when the audience chuckled, he was prompt to say correct them:

Every couple of tenths matter. They matter when we're increasing our Bing market share, too.

Ooooooh, you are good, Mr Ballmer, you are good. There were many other piercing questions about the iPhone, Android. Check them out at [Techflash]

InsanelyMac reports that a member of its forums has created a workaround allowing users who have modified their Intel Atom-based netbooks into "Hackintoshes" in order to run Mac OS X to upgrade to OS X 10.6.2. The 10.6.2 update had specifically disa...

The 10.6.2 update for Snow Leopard didn't include Atom chipset support, so it wouldn't work on hackintoshes—but didn't keep enterprising hackers from finding a workaround. They promised it last week, and now they've delivered: Atom support is back, although apparently implementing the fix isn't the easiest project. Still, the ball's in Apple's court now. Is this going to turn into a Palm Pre-iTunes thing, or will Apple just let it lie? [Yahoo]

Trade in Your DVDs, Plus a Couple Bucks, and Get the Blu-ray Versions...Steve Ballmer Acknowledges Apple's Gains, Remains Cocky...Sanyo to Build Houses Powered by Solar Energy and Li-Ion Batteries...Sony Announces Vague "iTunes-Like" Store on PlayStation Network for Books, Movies, Music...

Trade in Your DVDs, Plus a Couple Bucks, and Get the Blu-ray Versions

Warner set up a DVD to Blu-ray exchange program called, appropriately enough, DVD2Blu, as sort of a more-tempting version of its HD-DVD to Blu-ray version. The problem is, it's not actually that great of a deal; you're limited to Warner movies, obviously, but it also costs $8-10 per DVD, plus $5 shipping, for the exchange. You might actually be better off just hitting Best Buy or Walmart or whatever and looking for sales, since DVD2Blu could cost you 18 bucks plus the agony of waiting for your new HD copy of The Wedding Singer: Totally Awesome Edition to arrive. [Engadget]

Steve Ballmer Acknowledges Apple's Gains, Remains Cocky

Microsoft held a shareholder's meeting this morning, led by the always-dynamic Steve Ballmer, and an interesting question came up: Why does Microsoft have such a lousy reputation among certain demographics, like, say, upper-middle-class college kids? Ballmer admitted that Apple's been seeing some gains that, while small, are a clear sign that Microsoft has room for improvement, either in marketing or product positioning. It's a pretty clear-headed statement from Ballmer—after all, he notes, Microsoft still has an insane marketshare, even in the high-end consumer demo, so despite Apple's visibility, Microsoft doesn't exactly have cause for concern. That level-headedness is why this story's in Remainders: Where's the explosive, frothing-at-the-mouth, prone to Bidenesque gaffes Ballmer we all know and, um, know? [TechFlash]

Sanyo to Build Houses Powered by Solar Energy and Li-Ion Batteries

Sanyo, considered Japan's "greenest" electronics manufacturer (sort of like being the best-dressed homeless person), is about to start building solar-powered, lithium-ion-based homes in its native country. The houses are all equipped with LED lighting, solar-powered water heater, all that stuff. They'll be a little pricey, at around $355,000—an equivalent non-green house would cost $62,000 less, although the Sanyo houses come with a $30,000 government subsidy. It's in Remainders because it's Japan only, and because I don't understand enough Japanese to learn any more about it. [Crunchgear]

Sony Announces Vague "iTunes-Like" Store on PlayStation Network for Books, Movies, Music

Sony announced the tentatively named Sony Online Service today—it's described as an "iTunes-like" service on the PlayStation Network, offering movies, music, and books, all media for which Sony also sells accompanying hardware. It'll also allow users to upload their own video, and will probably have support for independent app development later on down the road. We don't really know much else, like, say, a launch date or pricing (or even a final name), so it winds up here, alone in the dark corner of Gizmodo we call Remainders. [AppleInsider via Engadget]

There are loads of Apple haters out there (even some among our commenters), and they deserve great tech gifts just as much as that guy who thinks all PMPs are called iPods. Here are some very un-Apple gift ideas.

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Zune HD + ZunePass and HD Dock: If your Apple hater is in the market for a PMP, there's no better option than the Zune HD—in terms of media capabilities, it kicks the iPod Touch's standard-def ass with HD radio, 720p video output, a killer OLED screen and a gorgeous, media-centric UI. It'll play any file your iPod can (that aren't iTunes protected), and can also handle video up to 720p. (iPods can't go there yet.) The ZunePass, which gives unlimited music downloads for $15 a month, is a killer supplement, and the HD dock, which outputs high-def video to TVs, is a must-have add-on. Put them together and you will bestow your Apple hater with bragging rights over those poor, deprived iPod owners. $290, $70 (dock), $15/month (ZunePass). [Link; Zune HD, HD Dock, ZunePass]

HP TouchSmart 600: The new iMac is nice and all, but try poking it in the face and see what happens. Here, I'll spoil it for you: Nothing. The HP TouchSmart 600 isn't perfect, but its multitouch media capabilities offer a wow factor no Mac desktop can boast. And that's what it is now—there's no telling what developers will do with Windows 7's integrated touch. Plus, it's comparatively cheaper, spec for spec, than the iMac, and you can get a Blu-ray drive built-in, with no philosophical kerfuffle from Apple about the future of digital media. You want to watch Planet Earth in HD on Blu-ray right now, dammit, and you shouldn't have to wait for the HD stream to trickle in. $1,110. [Link; Amazon]

Whatever the Hot PC Game Is Right Now: I don't play videogames that don't feature Mario prominently, but even I know that anyone with a passing interest in computer gaming has to have a Windows PC. Apple haters will love a copy of Dragon Age: Origins or Left 4 Dead 2 on PC, not just because they're great games (or so I hear—thanks Will!) but also because you can't play 'em on the Mac OS. $40 each. [Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2]

Motorola Droid: Sure, Matt may have called the Droid "the second best smartphone you can buy," the best being the iPhone 3GS, but Apple haters will find plenty to love about the Droid—and plenty to loathe about the iPhone. I won't rehash our review (or Verizon's intimidating "Droid Does" ad campaign), but anybody who's into tech enough to hate Apple will really be into the distinctly un-Apple Droid. Multitasking, open-source, a ballsy industrial design, and a hardware keyboard: Droid's got it, iPhone doesn't. $200. [Link; Verizon]

Logitech Performance MX Mouse: I don't care if Apple's Magic Mouse is the best Apple mouse ever—in my opinion, one shared among Apple lovers and haters alike, Apple's mouse pedigree is nothing to be proud of. Style over ergonomics, awkward touch scrolling, high price—the Magic Mouse is an easy gadget to hate. The Logitech Performance MX isn't. Logitech crammed in an amazing new laser technology that even works on glass, it fits comfortably in the hand and has real buttons, dammit, like in the good old days. If you're not desperate for something to match your Mac, and certainly your Apple hater is not, the Logitech Performance MX is the right choice. $80. [Link; Amazon]

Acer Aspire One: Apple doesn't think netbooks match up with their premium brand reputation, but the public doesn't care—netbooks are huge sellers, and the Acer Aspire One AOD250 is one of the most interesting yet. It dual-boots not one but two non-Apple OSes (Android and XP), offers a whopping nine hours of battery life, and its diminutive 10.1-inch size is just right for travel—perfect for somebody who wants to point out the gaping 8-to-12-inch hole in Apple's lineup. $330. [Link; Amazon]

Note: In an earlier version of this post, I accidentally described a not-yet-released notebook from Asus, not this sweet little netbook. Sorry for the confusion.

Tickets to a Girl Talk Show: Aside from putting on a damn fun show, mash-up artist Girl Talk (real name Gregg Gillis) is not only one of the most prominent electronic musicians working today but the only exclusive Windows user in that genre who comes to mind. Plus, a major part of his shows, since there's no, you know, band, or anything, is inviting the crowd up on stage in a sweaty, hipstery, dancey mass while he mixes music live on his PC—with Saran Wrap taped all over it, for protection against flying perspiration. Girl Talk proves that Apple doesn't have a monopoly on music production, and your Apple hater will have a great time to boot. $15-25. [Link; Girl Talk, Image from Pedestrian.tv]

DON'T BUY HP Envy 13: But why not buy this well-reviewed, recently released, Windows-7-running laptop? I'll tell you why. The HP Envy 13 is a photocopy of a photocopy of the 13-inch MacBook Pro—same aluminum case, same black bezel around the screen, same chiclet keyboard with reversed Fn keys, same multitouch clicking trackpad. It's definitely not a bad laptop, and does have a few advantages over the MacBook Pro (like a better screen and crazy battery life) but it's also got weaknesses: No optical drive, for one, but also an unforgivably high price. The Envy 13 starts at $1700, $500 more than the MacBook Pro. Although if it were one day given the Hackintosh treatment, it would be the creepiest Mac clone ever, it's currently quite un-Hackintoshable (if that's a term). [Link; HP]

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite Apple-hating gifts in comments—include pics and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Gartner's Nick Jones wants to characterize Apple as a consumer company, but what happens when those consumers start using Apple's tech in the enterprise en masse?

Originally posted at The Open Road

Apple told The Little App Factory to change the name of their popular app iPodRip, as it had the word iPod in it. The CEO sent a passionate letter to Steve Jobs, and he got a response.

Here's the letter he sent:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

My name is John Devor and I'm the co-owner of a small Mac shareware company named The Little App Factory and a long-term Apple customer and shareholder. I doubt you're aware but we recently received a letter from a law firm working on Apple's behalf instructing us that we had violated several of Apple's trademarks in our application iPodRip and asking us to cease using the name and Apple trademarks in our icons.

We have been distributing iPodRip since 2003 with the aim of providing a method to recover music, movies and photos from iPods and iPhones in the event of a serious hardware failure on their Mac which leads to data loss. Our goal has been to provide the highest quality product coupled with the highest quality service in a bid to resolve some of the angst that is generated by such an ordeal; service befitting of an Apple product. In this department we think we have succeeded as we have approximately 6 million customers, many Apple employees, music artists and other notable people in society. In fact I'd argue that our customer service is the best of all competing applications in our niche as many of them are scams and frauds that leave Apple customers with a terrible taste in their collective mouths. We fear very much that tens of thousands of Apple customers looking to recover their own music and having heard of our product via word-of-mouth or otherwise, will instead find a product produced by one of our competitors, and will wind up the victim of a scam (one closely-named competitor charges a hidden monthly fee, for instance).

It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons, and in fact I believe that we have been providing an excellent secondary service to Apple customers that has potentially caused you many repeat clients. In fact, we are quite aware that Apple support and store staff have recommended our software on numerous occasions as far back as 2004 so we have felt that we were doing something right!

With this in mind, we are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, both of which we have put thousands upon thousands of hours of work into. Our company goal is to create Mac software of the highest quality with the best user experience possible. I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.

If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.

Best,

John Devor

And Steve replied:

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

So they changed the name of their app to iRip. Fair enough! [CrunchGear]

Every time I receive an emailed loan agreement for a product review, the process of signing it becomes a complete pain. I either have to print, sign and scan the document, or paste a signature in Photoshop. No more!

Zosh is a $3 app that allows you to sign attached documents on your iPhone. Basically, you forward the emailed document to Zosh from the iPhone's mail app, then you open the Zosh app to sign it (plus you can add a date and stuff).

Testing the app, the signing process actually work pretty well. Maybe the neatest component of the interface is that the signature line auto tracks your finger, meaning that if your signature goes larger than the iPhone's screen, it'll just pan over.

However, there's one MASSIVE catch. You can only sign PDFs at the moment, not text files like .docs. For me, that's a dealbreaker (ladies), and hopefully one that will be remedied (through simple auto-conversion or something) in later versions. [Zosh]

Google today held a preview event for Chrome OS, the company's forthcoming browser-based operating system scheduled to launch initially on netbooks in late 2010. Among the major announcements was that, like Google's Chrome browser, Chrome OS...

Senior Apple Exec Jeff Dauber's passion for technology is matched only by his passion for contemporary art, which is why he called on architect Thom Faulders to build him a backyard deck that is a mind-bending combination of both.

gawkerGallery(5408452,3,'Apple Puke Deck');

The Japanese maple in Jeff Dauber's San Francisco backyard is not at the center of a carbon-sucking vortex. Sorry, sci-fi fans, but the Berkeley-based architect Thom Faulders's perfectly flat deck only looks like its far corner has its own warped gravity. Ever since Francesco Borromini's Gallery Spada, in Rome, forced perspectives and architectural patronage have gone hand in hand, but whereas the Renaissance architect employed a mathematician to make that arcade seem longer through foreshortening, Faulders used 3-D–modeling software to achieve Deformscape's dipping effect.

"I wanted someone to barf when they look at it," says Dauber

So Dauber serves guests burgers on the built-in grill only to get a perverse satisfaction when they puke it up later on. Nice. But the weirdness doesn't end there. Faulders also designed much of the interior space of the home, turning it into a bachelor pad/art gallery with crazy walls and ceilings that appear to undulate. Needless to say, if you suffer from motion sickness don't hang out with this man. [Metropolis via Fast Company]

Apple's long rumored tablet may be delayed until the second half of 2010, but financial analysts aren't concerned.