By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

However, an interesting take on this came in an item from Josh Lowensohn who reports that many developers had been complaining about the inaccuracies in the Maps app for months before the release. There are several tales of woe here. This is also covered by Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider who cites Josh Lowensohn's article. So who knew; and when?

While I am reasonably happy with the information the maps has for outside my door, I was discussing this with a Phuket user on Monday and had a look at the map data for his location: nothing. Apart from road names and some basic information, Phuket might just as well not exist.

I later checked Songkhla -- an area I knew fairly well -- and that too was almost empty of data. Hua Hin has a little more data (not much), but Nakhon Pathom is just basics: street names, schools and hospitals.

Taiwan is asking Apple to tone down some of the images that are used in the Maps app, for defence reasons, Steven Sande reports for TUAW: they obviously don't want the Chinese government to see a new radar system that they probably already know is there. Other countries may have sensitive areas they might not want shown in full detail and there were certainly a number of limited resolution images on Google Maps for Thailand.

You have to love these rumours. True or not, they are worth gold to Apple and must save millions of dollars each year on advertising. The iPad mini (is it real?) has come to the fore again with so many online sources totally sure that this device is on the way, with analysts factoring it in to the finances. AppleBitch reports this week that it has been aired that 10 million units of this existent/non-existent device are on order. We are also reminded that we should have some confirmation (or not) on 17 October. AppleInsider also have this which appears to have come from WSJ sources, who may not always have 100% reliability.

When a new version of OS X or iOS 6 is released, there are clever chaps who scour the code for clues as to what Apple might be doing down the line. Electronista reports one such discovery has shown a new iPhone 4 model may be released. There is some speculation as to the reasons for this.

Slightly related is the news from Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider that in the US -- despite what the exec of another company said last year -- adoption of the iPhone by teens is now 40% in the US, with the iPad at 31%.

Another rumour concerns the Mac mini. Odd that, I was just wondering about getting one. Electronista reports that stocks are running low at some outlets and there is speculation that this could mean an update. I bet if this is, we will see an update to the iMac at the same time.

There has been so much on Apple and patents in the last few months that it was useful to read comments by MacDaily News on an item in the NYTimes to try and understand why. The article is by our old friend Charles Duhigg, this time along with Steve Lohr and Duhigg is not known for balance when reporting on Apple (see Foxconn/Samsung reporting). As I remember it, when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, his words were, "And, boy, have we patented it" which was met with much laughter.

There was more on this in an item by Sam Oliver on AppleInsider who adds that "Apple's own defeats in such legal battles, particularly a $100 million settlement with Creative Technology" prompted this shift in strategy.

A later report on Patently Apple tells us that 27 new patents have been awarded to Cupertino, including a New Single & Multi-Touch Patent and a Patent for a Two-Step Unlock Screen Feature. Mercifully there are diagrams and descriptions to help understand what that means.

Another patent was reported overnight by Patently Apple and this concerns a fairly important POS (point of sale) system that scans multiple barcodes.

I don't wish to say I told you so, but a year or so ago I speculated on the way Apple was developing its own processors for the iPhone and put forward the idea that this could mean Apple-specific designs for these devices, and I also wondered about this being extended to Macs as well. We recently examined items out of Anandtech on the A6 processor, but now Tiernan Ray tells us about an examination by Linley Gwennap of Microprocessor Report (that needs a subscription) who "confirms that the A6 uses a unique ARM-compatible CPU design that has never been seen before" thus putting Apple way ahead of the opposition (Samsung is quoted). This also means functions that others will never have access to. My source for this was MacDaily News.

Do you remember all those comments about lack of innovation in the iPhone 5? You would think they would have learned after the dull iPhone 4S.

In the meantime, Apple has released a users guide for the new iPod touch and Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider tells us that this makes it clear the device is apparently using the A5 processor running at 800Mhz.

As the new iPod touch is arriving in the shops in some countries now, some early examinations show that the new EarPods have the same shape as the iPhone ones but there is no in-line control switch, AppleInsider reports. I have had mine for a couple of weeks and they are great.

There have been a few problems for some users of Mountain Lion, although there have been mercifully few in this house. Topher Kessler reports on a difficulty that some users have experienced with large drives: these are becoming more common these days and Apple has a number of options for some devices, up to 2 TB the last time I looked. I would expect Apple will be working on a fix of some sort as the remedies Topher suggests all look a bit drastic to me, starting with replace the drive.

I see that Apple has released an update for its Apple Configurator application which is now up to version 1.2. This is only available via the Mac App Store and has several new features related to iOS 6.

One of the items I was going to look at in my series on command line work in Terminal was the way it is possible (indeed it is usually the only way) to change settings for certain OS X applications from the Terminal. I can save myself at least part of the work as Paul Horowitz on OS X Daily has done the job for me with a list of what he considers the 10 best commands. For anyone interested, this is worth examining.

And to end this section, "What Would Happen If Apple Buys Nokia?" Kate MacKenzie asks on PixoBebo. Nuclear war. [I think RIM would be more likely.]

Half and Half

Earlier in the week Motorola removed a number of Android-using devices from the market. Nothing to do with patents (Apple and Microsoft). Nothing at all. All planned. Nothing to do with patents. Mikey Campbell reports on this for AppleInsider.

It is not only Apple who are unhappy with Samsung and the over-confidence may begin to falter. Daniel Shen and Steve Shen are reporting on DigiTimes that HTC has begun to shift its component purchases away from Samsung to OmniVision, Sony and AU Optronics. There are no reasons given for the change. My link for this was from MacDaily News.

Other Matters

It may be useful for local users to remember the widespread use of the equipment from Huawei here due to the links that CAT -- and later True -- forged with the Chinese company. Cheaper may not always be best.

I later saw a snippet about US prejudice in a report from AFP in China carried by the Straits Times. No mention there of course about OZ or the UK and their similar decisions. Coincidence I expect.

In other patent news, Google and Microsoft are doing battle over a number of questions and one of these concerns H. 264 video technology. Foss Patents reports on the Google approach to the trial which will decide the royalty rate to pay, but on the way there is using media and has apparently been showing a pirated Katy Perry video as part of its proof.

Lytro announced the availability of Manual Controls helping photographers take creativity with light field photography to the next level by providing more control over the exposure / shutter speed. A free firmware upgrade, these manual controls will let photographers shoot pictures in a wide variety of conditions - from low light settings to high-speed subjects. Check out some of the pictures taken with manual controls here. Lytro also announced two new colours: Moxie Pink (available exclusively on Target.com and City Target stores) as well as Seaglass (available exclusively on Lytro.com).

There we are almost able to claim that 3G is available in Thailand, when the UK government steps up and puts money into research for 5G along with industry, Dan Seiffert reports for The Verge. Not that 5G has been defined yet. A new Innovation Centre will be set up at the University of Surrey in greenest Guildford, with help from Huawei (gasp!), Samsung, Telefonica, Fujitsu, Rohde-Schwarz, and AIRCOM International. Are there any UK companies in there? So, if Huawei are involved, will this be allowed in the US; and if Samsung is connected, will Apple ever have a 5G iPhone?

Local Items

More news from the NBTC -- who are the ones who OK new devices -- confirms the arrival of the iPhone 5 here later this month, we read in a Bangkok Post report. This sort of confirms the strong rumours of 18 October. AppleInsider are reporting that the iPhone will be available in India on 26 October and it is speculated that it will arrive in mainland Chine by December, but there are no other details of country releases available officially.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.