By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

The first report -- and a quite lengthy one too -- comes from Florian Mueller of Foss Patents who details the lead up to the agreement and the conditions. He also discusses the implications. Another item appeared on Ars technica authored by Joe Mullin.

Apple put out a brief PR statement on the settlement: "HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential."

There was also a statement from HTC included in the PR document: "HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation."

One of the criticisms I have had in recent months as a long-term Apple watcher is the patterns I have seen emerging of good products heavily critised, good financial quarters apparently ahead of Apple predictions but behind analysts' guesses, with the result that the follow my leader press horde all cry woe and alas. Some begin to come round once the devices are pulled to pieces and what is inside is revealed; and the share prices all coming round (time and time again) when investors realise that actually there is nothing wrong and Apple keeps going.

There are an increasing number of analysts -- not directly technical themselves -- who are also noting the same. Among these is Ashraf Eassa, whom we have mentioned before, of Seeking Alpha. This weekend he had an interesting article on why the shares keep going down, and his analysis falls close to my knee-jerk comments, with him concluding that Apple is still a worthy stock for investors.

Also coming to the same conclusion is Doug Kass -- much more irony here -- who is one of those apparent gurus whom the TV companies like to have on. He is buying Apple. Now. But he is being called out by several commentators as he was really against it before he was for it. We are reminded of what he said in October in an item by Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Fortune when he convinced many investors that Apple had "lost its mojo" (a quaint phrase from the 1960s). Since then $130 billion has been lost and, as I have predicted, now it is time for the ride up again. And Kass is eager to join. For now.

As an example of how people look for problems with Apple or its products, there was a video on a UK site of what appears to be a minor problem with scrolling on the iPhone 5. Yes, it happens, but will it cause Apple to fail? No. Patently Apple introduces the report with, "This is What Stupid Looks Like".

One of the real problems with the iPhone has been supply: there just are not enough to go round. Of course some interpret this as a way that Apple has developed to make sure the supplies are short, so the demand appears artificially high: which leads to publicity and desire. And to stupid articles of course. An article that is not stupid comes from Neil Hughes on AppleInsider in which he reports that supplies are now catching up with demand.

Think about it, Apple is in the business of making money, so they want to sell as many phones as possible, so an artificial shortage just shoots themselves in the corporate foot.

There was a realisation and then a negotiation when it was found that Apple used the Swiss Railways clock face for the iPad app and a licence to use the clock was agreed on. No one expected it to be cheap, but AppleInsider reveal that there is some speculation that the figure was $21 million. That's how important design is.

In another patent case, Apple is being sued for the automatic switching from landscape to portrait mode. I thought that was . . . . Oh never mind. Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider outlines the case being made by MobileMedia Ideas (apparently a patent troll) and the point that the judge will not dismiss the case outright.

With the iOS update to 6.0 (now 6.0.1) the new feature of Passbook was included. As yet, I have found nothing here that works with it, although a couple of apps I have would, were I to buy a ticket or something: not much in Thailand. However, it is reported by Neil Hughes on AppleInsider that another airline company, British Airways, (there are already Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Australia) is planning to add support for the Passbook feature. I also think Lufthansa support this.

I have included a few reports about the Fusion Drive that is available with the latest iMac and Mac mini computers and as well as some useful investigations by Ars Technica, James Galbraith at MacWorld also has a look at this example of Apple's innovation.

For some reason Messages stopped connecting to Facebook chat last week. I went through some attempts to get it back: quit and restart, restart the Mac (that was done for another reason), turn off chat in FB and then on again. Nothing worked, so I had a look at Messages preferences. While it had set itself up automatically with a specific (firewall) port, there was also a setting for automatic which I checked. The specific port was greyed out and when I tried, the connection was immediate.

In other maintenance news, Leah Yamshon on MacWorld has an article on how to set up Time Machine in Mountain Lion, which does have some differences, including the ability to use more than one disk for backups. There is some more information on this in the article I wrote for this part of System Preferences in September.

Well, how about this: Steve Jobs was a real person. Certain parts of the media like to portray him as a mean-spirited dictator who demanded and got what he wanted. Even reading Ernest Gallo's book on the way he did presentations, that was obviously not the situation, but also there were stories of him as an approachable man outside the office, as long as one did not try and take advantage of that.

He lined up at a restaurant and missed getting a table. The last couple who did offered to give up their place, knowing who he was, but he wouldn't hear of it. And now Mikey Campbell reports on AppleInsider the story of Tim Smith, Principal at Applied Design Group whose girlfriend lived at the house next door to Jobs. His old Sunbeam broke down outside the Jobs house and . . . Well the story is worth reading.

Also worth reading is a tale on 9 to 5 Mac by Seth Weintraub about a donation to relief for Hurricane Sandy by Apple to the tune of $2.5 million.

Half and Half

The courts later released an analysis of what they regard as Apple's misleading public statement and they are making it clear that in the statement, Apple was wrong (Patently Apple).

In another Samsung v Apple case, there were some allegations made about the jury foreman after the case was decided, and after he appeared on TV, when some of the information he gave to the judge and counsel during jury selection appeared to be at odds with the ideas of bias: or lack of it actually. Katie Marsal on AppleInsider reports that Lucy Koh is going to "consider" the matter. However, it was reported that the foreman, "did disclose that he had been involved in litigation with a former partner" so if they saw that and missed it, tough?

Other Matters

Also on the Surface is a report, which MacDaily News links to, concerning those expensive covers for the surface which a number of consumers are reporting have split and expose wires because of this. The report (apparently on the Verge) says that Microsoft is expected to sell millions of the devices, so MDN lets rip. It also lets rip on the cover design as there is stress when people bend it back. Isn't that what people do?

Hardware may be a new concept at Redmond so the idea of quality control may also be novel. After all, it was never needed with the software.

Oh, remember all that hoohah about Apple not supporting Blu-Ray? Apparently, according to Ghacks, Windows 8 Media Center doesn't support it either; or DVD.

We have seen a bit of late concerning tech companies who operate in certain countries but legally shift their tax burdens and despite high earnings in a country, pay little tax. Apple, Google and Microsoft were all named in some articles. I read this week in an item by Oliver Wright on The Independent about Pfizer, a massive international drugs company -- big Pharma -- that despite all they sell, pay no tax in the UK.

If there are internet problems this week, it was reported overnight Sunday that there had been a submarine cable cut. According to Natalie Apostolou on The Register, the Southern Cross Cable had a catastrophic failure and this has had knock on effects.

Local Items

On Saturday I found another new iStudio and this one right across the road from me in The Mall, Tha Phra. It had not been there earlier in the week, so I wrote about it and the expanding availability of such stores on this, unfashionable side of Bangkok's river. I also spotted (but did not visit) a hi-so iStudio in a Japanese mall at the end of Wireless Road, near Chidlom.

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.