via Lifehacker.

U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: a patent for data being used as a hyperlink
U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604: a unified search patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721: a slide-to-unlock patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172: a word completion patent
Apple is requesting that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus be blocked from sale in the United States because it violates these patents. Should the court find in favor of Apple, a ban against the Galaxy Nexus would be put in effect until the final court decision.

Could it happen? Certainly. But if it does, it won’t go into effect any time soon, it would only affect stores inside the U.S. selling these products, and no jack-booted thugs from Cupertino will come pry your Nexus from your hands. We can’t be sure how the courts will act, but all of these are pretty shaky patents, and once again Apple is not going after Google directly — even though the Galaxy Nexus has a pure vanilla version of Android. The only certainty here is that the patent system is broken and only serves the company willing to spend the most in the courts.

It’s time for Google to step in and put a stop to this bullshit. The first patent in question is the same one that was upheld against HTC in a move that shocked the tech community at large, essentially giving Apple the rights to the hyperlink — something invented over 20 years ago by numerous companies that aren’t Apple.

The other three are just as laughable, or would be if not for the fact that Apple was allowed to secure the patents at all. Every single one of them has existed as prior art long before Apple became relevant, yet a patent was granted each and every time. This is the core of the problem. You can’t blame Apple for trying, it’s cheaper to litigate away your competition than it is to out-innovate them. And make no mistake — that’s exactly what’s going on here. Apple wants Android to go away, and a look at any chart that shows market share will tell you why. It’s a shitty way to get ahead, but it’s too easy not to try. It’s going to take a tech giant to change the way this all works, and we know nobody can count on Apple or Microsoft to do it, because this is their system, created the way they like it, and making them rich. If Apple is afraid to go after Google, Google needs to go after Apple instead of sitting on their laurels waiting to ride in and save the day at the last minute.

via Android Central.

via Android Central.

The improvements will include performance updates and (finally) the ability to edit the list of recently used items on the home-screen carousel. A tipster has also informed us that this OTA software update should include performance updates related to Silk browser, whose performance when used via Amazon’s cloud servers has not quite lived up to Amazon’s original claims.

The New York Times also repeats speculation that there will be another version of the Kindle Fire in the Spring. During the Kindle Fire’s launch, when asked about the possibility of a larger Kindle Fire in the future, Amazon coyly told Engadget only "stay tuned." We’d happily take another size option for the Fire, but in the meanwhile we’ll settle for that software update.

via The Verge.

What do you get for jailbreaking your Kindle Touch? Right now, little more than the deep satisfaction of knowing that you’ve done it and the hope that developers will being creating jailbreak apps — although Lu has provided a screensaver modification to get you started. Hit up the source link for the full breakdown of how the jailbreak was discovered.

via The Verge.

If the order is passed, the merger decision would then go in front of a judge presiding over an administrative hearing on the matter.

The last major merger proposal referred to this type of hearing occurred almost a decade ago, in the case of the proposed DirecTV and EchoStar merger, which was ultimately shot down.

The draft order, created by chairman Genachowski, must be circulated to all of the members of the FCC, who will then decide to sign off on the order, amend it or deny it. The commission gave no time frame on when it would come to a decision.

If the order is approved by the rest of the FCC, the administrative hearing would be another in a line of stumbling blocks for the two companies. In late August, the Department of Justice moved to block the merger by filing a federal antitrust lawsuit, stating the deal would “result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower-quality products for mobile wireless services,” according to deputy attorney general James M. Cole.

Rival telecom Sprint has also lobbied fiercely in opposition to the deal, with CEO Dan Hesse previously arguing the takeover would create “a 1980s-style duopoly,” doing “irreparable harm” to the U.S. economy and consumers as a whole.

Sprint was quick to issue a comment on Tuesday’s decision, lauding chairman Genachowski for his efforts and upholding that the merger “more than justifies moving this matter to an Administrative Law Judge for a hearing,” according to Vonya McCann, Sprint SVP of Government Affairs.

AT&T also issued a statement, essentially condemning Genachowski’s move. “The FCC’s action today is disappointing,” said Larry Solomon, SVP of corporate communications for AT&T. “It is yet another example of a government agency acting to prevent billions in new investment and the creation of many thousands of new jobs at a time when the US economy desperately needs both.”

Although it isn’t clear whether or not all members of the commission will agree upon the statement, any hearings that could take place would not proceed until after litigation between AT&T, T-Mobile and the Department of Justice has concluded.

UPDATED 2:38 P.M. PST with AT&T statement

Summary: All the focus may be on Google+’s new open door policy, but Google+ Hangouts also got a few compelling new features.

Everyone is so focused on Google+’s newfound openness to all comers that they’re glossing over the really cool new additions to Google+ that were also announced today: Hangouts for Android devices, the ability to live-stream and record video broadcasts, a handful of minor new sharing capabilities for Hangouts, and a better search box.

Hangouts, as a refresher, is Google+’s drop-in, drop-out videoconferencing component, where anyone can invite up to eight friends to click a link in their social news feed and chat face-to-face. Of all of Google+’s unique selling points, it’s easily the flashiest. And today’s announcements are only going to endear it to new audiences.

As of today, the Google+ app has for Android has been updated, granting any device with a front-facing camera and that’s running Android 2.3 or higher the ability to join an active Hangout from the stream, just as on the desktop. EDIT: Google also promises that iOS support for mobile Google+ Hangouts is coming soon.

But my vote for the addition that’s going to have the biggest impact is the new live broadcasting feature, dubbed “Hangouts on Air.” As you may guess from the name, it lets users broadcast the content of their Hangout to Google+ at large, letting the masses become a spectator audience. These broadcasts can also be recorded for later retrieval.

Right now, Google+ is limiting the number of would-be videocast personalities who can take advantage of Hangouts on Air, but the official blog entry seems to indicate that the door will open up wider down the line. The first-ever publicly-broadcasted Hangout will be with the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am on Wednesday night.

Google+ Hangouts, as they exist today, let you share YouTube videos and hold a group chat. But as of today, if you select “Hangouts with extras” once you’re in the green room, you get an early preview of the ability to share Google Docs, a Sketchpad for doodling, a name for the chat, or even your screen with everyone else in the room. Google says that it’s pooling feedback from these early additions to Hangouts.

The recently-released Google+ APIs have been bolstered with the release of the Hangouts API, opening the door for apps or games and, as Google’s blog puts it, “and who-knows-what-else” to be built on top of the videoconferencing platform.

Finally, Google+ has gotten an enhanced search bar that answers your query with “relevant people and posts, as well as popular content from around the web.” And Google is promising that the new search experience prioritizes results based on your interests – which sounds vaguely sinister – and that a search for, say, cooking, will return recipes and people listing themselves on Google+ as chefs.

And in terms of privacy, Google promises that the only G+ posts you can see from the search are ones that would normally be visible to you anyway.

So, yes, the big Google+ news of the day is the fact that it’s open for all. But it’s good to see that Google+ continues to develop some of its more compelling features for those who are coming in through that open door and that first wave of field testers alike. Of course, that assumes that there’s anyone interested in joining Google+ now who hadn’t already gotten their hands on the invites flying around.

via Google+ Hangouts go mobile, get live streaming and better search | ZDNet.

VMware Workstation is VMware’s oldest product, and still very popular with developers and IT professionals who need to have access to virtual guests on their desktop.

New in Workstation 8
With Workstation 8, VMware claims support for more than 600 operating systems, from MS-DOS to Windows 7. But the real juice is for developers working with and deploying current operating systems into production in the cloud.

VMware sees users doing a lot of development on the desktop and then pushing it into the internal cloud. Workstation 8 allows developers to create their virtual machines, then drag and drop them to vSphere. Workstation 8 is big on sharing, too. The release has features that let developers share a virtual machine directly from the desktop to another user running Workstation 8. Alternatively, you can connect to a remote virtual machine with Workstation 8 if the machine is running on vSphere, vCenter, or another copy of Workstation 8.

With the remote access features, developers are not constrained by the hardware of their local machine. They can simply connect to remote machines with Workstation, ESX 4.x or later, and vCenter Server and run the guests on the more powerful system but display them locally.

This release of Workstation also beefs up performance considerably, allowing it to take advantage of up to 64GB of RAM. VMware admitted to me that they haven’t seen many workstation or desktop machines with 64GB of RAM, but they picture Workstation 8 running on servers for development teams that need to share VMs.

Workstation 8 also has better desktop hardware support for its guests, with HD audio, USB 3 support, and Bluetooth devices. The company has also bolstered the 3D performance of Workstation 8 in this release. See the release notes for all the features and details on Workstation 8. The upgrade price for Workstation 8 is $99, users of Workstation 6.x or 7.x can take advantage of the upgrade. Just starting with Workstation 8? The release is $199 and available immediately as an electronic download.

New in VMware Fusion 4
While Workstation is aimed at the IT professionals doing heavy duty development work, Fusion is largely targeted at Web developers and professionals who’ve switched to the Mac and still need access to some Windows apps. Fusion 4 offers support for more than 200 guest OSes, a bit less than Workstation but still a respectable set.

VMware Fusion 4, thanks to a blessing from Apple (finally) brings Fusion users something they’ve been waiting for a long time – the ability to virtualize Mac OS X. Developers who work on OS X will be able to virtualize OS X Lion, Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server in virtual machines. Note that VMware only officially supports virtualizing OS X on OS X Lion.

The release is also “more Mac-like” with a streamlined user interface and a better integration with OS X Lion’s full screen features and its gestures. You can swipe between a virtual machine and Lion with a three-fingered gesture. The virtual library display has been revamped, and the preferences for VMware Fusion now look more like the native system preferences on Mac OS X.

Fusion 4 also has an updated snapshot feature that lets you scroll through a timeline of snapshots of your VM. Note that Fusion has always had snapshots, this is just a prettier and more friendly way to display them.

Switchers will find a better integration of Windows applications into Mac OS X, particularly if they’re running OS X Lion. Fusion 4 will add Windows apps to the Dock, Spotlight, Mission Control and LaunchPad – but only the applications that you choose.

Like Workstation, Fusion has gotten a bunch of performance boosts and offers better 3D performance, virtual Bluetooth, and 5.1 HD audio.

With Fusion 4, VMware claims more than 90 new features (PDF) though some are less exciting than others. (For instance, VMware claims “run from any folder you choose” as a feature, and loading and unloading services and kernel modules on demand as two separate features.)

Fusion 4 is available immediately for download for $49, and a box set is with DVD and USB key (for those with no optical drive) is coming as well.

VMware has quite a bit of competition these days on the desktop front, with Parallels, VirtualBox and a number of other desktop solutions. What’s your pick for virtualization on the desktop?

Reposted from: ReadWriteWeb

But actually this hint will work to force download any purchase on the Mac App Store.

There’s an easy method to force a download within the Mac App Store without any tinkering. It seems to be the official method, although I found no description of this in any of Apple’s documentation.

So here’s how to do it:

• Open the Mac App Store.
• Navigate to your Purchased page.
• Hold down the Option key on your keyboard and click on your ‘OS X Lion’ purchase link (not on the ‘installed’ button).
• You see the Lion product page. It should say ‘Installed,’ but that button is clickable. Hold down the Option key again and click on ‘Installed.’ If you don’t hold the option key it will tell you there’s already a newer version installed.
• Enter your login credentials.
• Download.

It’s important to hold down the Option key twice. Once on the Purchased page, once on the Lion page. You also can’t navigate to Lion directly, you need to open it from the purchases page. But if you follow this procedure you should find the Lion Installer within your Applications folder.

via 10.7: How to download the OS X Lion Installer on Lion – Mac OS X Hints.