By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

In the school system the apple fruit has always been a symbol of education. Symbolizing education in Canada is apparently a no-no because iPods are more important than learning.

The Victoria School of Business and Technology in Canada is being sued for the usage of their logo – which is apparently too similar to the logo used by technology giant Apple Inc. The school had received a cease and desist letter from Apple Inc. on August 26th from Apple’s lawyer Stephanie Vaccari – It states:

“Your business logo… reproduces, without authority, our client’s Apple design logo which it widely used. By doing so, you are infringing Apple’s rights, and further, falsely suggesting that Apple has authorized your activities.”

Christopher Boag, the school’s vice-president said he knows the school can’t win in a lengthy legal battle with Apple Inc., but he believes the school’s apple is a unique logo. Quoting a response from Dieter Gerhard, the schools president, in response to Stephanie’s letter:

“Our logo is unique and distinguishable in numerous aspects from the Apple logo including the acronym ‘VSBT’ being part of our logo. Are you suggesting that anyone using any variation of an apple for technology education is infringing on Apple’s trademark?”

The apple has long been an icon of education in many countries, and used in educational materials long before Apple Inc. came to be. This isn’t the first time there have been legal proceedings regarding the Apple logo either.

Apple Records, a record label company founded by The Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd had many trademark based legal run-ins with, then Apple Computer, now Apple Inc. In 1978 Apple Records filed a lawsuit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. The suit was settled in 1981 for US$80,000 with agreed conditions by both parties that Apple Computer would not enter into the music business, and Apple Corps would not enter the computer business.

In 1986 Apple Computer added MIDI audio-recording capability to its computers with the 5503 sound chip from Ensoniq. In 1989 Apple Corps sued Apple Computer again, claiming violation of the 1981 settlement agreement. The outcome ended development of the Apple II line.

In 1991 another settlement involving a payment of around US$ 26.5 million to Apple Corps was reached. This time an Apple employee by the name of Jim Reekes had included a system sound called ‘Chimes’ to the Macintosh operating system. The name of the sound was then later changed to ‘sosumi’ which was apparently Japanese and meant nothing musical. However it can be read phonetically as “so sue me”. Apple computer agreed that it would not package, sell or distribute physical music materials.

In 2003 Apple Corps sued Apple Computer again for breach of contract for use of the Apple logo in the creation and operation of Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store. On May 8, 2006 courts ruled in favor of Apple Computer.

So what does this all have to do with Apple Inc. bullying a school in Canada? Simple, Apple got a slap on the wrist many times for the exact same action that it is accusing VSBT of doing – trademark infringement. Then in May of 2006 a court ruled that no infringement had taken place. The end result is that it really has nothing to do with the usage of the logo itself – it has everything to do with the fact that Apple inc. has deeper pockets and more resources to get away with it. VSBT is also going to get a lot of attention because of this – now everyone knows who VSBT is.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

Sorry Apple, it’s nothing personal. The European Union is preparing a new directive that requests all electronic devices to have "easily removable" batteries. Sadly, the iPod and iPhone must die.

Of course, that is an over-exaggeration. While the E.U.’s "New Batteries Directive" is not set in stone and could change before finalized, this new development could cause heartache for Steve Jobs and his merry men (and women) over at Apple. Currently both the iPod and iPhone feature removable batteries, however they require a special tool or "professional assistance" for removal, thus making it utterly impossible for the consumer and violates the new E.U. directive.

"Article 11 of the New Directive affects the design of electrical equipment, which must be made in such a way as to allow batteries, either for replacement or at end of life for disposal, to be ’readily removed’ -although this term is not yet defined," said Gary Nevison over at newelectronics. "The requirement is clearly intended to ensure that users can remove batteries by opening a cover by hand or after removal of one or two screws. The producer will also have to provide the user with details on how to remove the battery safely."

This is not the first time Apple has come up against a brick wall with Europe. 2006 saw the implementation of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (wiki), new limitations set in the usage of lead, mercury, cadmium and more. Apple’s standalone iSight camera did not meet the RoHS’ requirement (story), thus the company discontinued sales of the camera in Europe. California in turn outlawed the sale of products banned by Europe’s RoHS, thus Apple later dropped the camera altogether worldwide.

While it seems like a personal attack on Apple, it is any but an assault on the company’s stability in Europe. But because of new regulations set forth overseas, the company has taken a step back in its use of toxic materials. While it’s highly unlikely that Apple will discontinue sales of iPod and iPhone in Europe, the company will need to step back and evaluate their design in order to comply with RoHS regulation. After all, California is a huge player in the American market, and Apple may face another iSight-type outlawing of the iPod and iPhone if something doesn’t change.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Google is known for releasing lots of helpful tools that, well, help make our lives easier on a day to day basis. The Gmail team has come up with a few ideas in the past that are more often hit than miss. We get the feeling Mail Goggles will be one of the rarer ideas that’s falls just short of the mark.

Mail Goggles is geared towards the kind of people who are likely to send a late night email to someone they shouldn’t; an ex-girlfriend, a current girlfriend, a co-worker. Yes, unfortunately there are all too many familiar with the accidental send of a drunk-draft. The Gmail team aims to help put a stop to that morning-after-the-night-before feeling by asking to break out your middle school math skills to make sure you’re really dedicated to sending that email.

So, how does it work? You’re out partying on a Saturday night (or in getting pie-eyed, alone), and you decide there’s no better time than 3 a.m. to email your best friend’s sister. You hit send and you’re stonewalled by a series of questions (difficulty determined by you, which is probably determined by how good you are at 3rd grade math when inebriated) and only 60 seconds to answer. Mail Goggles is, by default, only activated during times when you’re more likely to send an email you might regret, i.e. late night on the weekends.

We adjusted these settings to try out Mail Goggles. Gmail now thinks I shouldn’t send mail between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on a Tuesday and gives me five simple math questions (the addition and subtraction of double-digit whole numbers). We had one problem (aside from the fact that Google was second guessing our judgment): Goggles only asks questions for the first email. Any subsequent emails are sent as normal, so no continuous assessment. This is something that’s likely to catch out those leaving late for the office Christmas party. Send off the spreadsheets a little later than usual and you’ll likely have a red face Monday morning. It also seems to send fine from Google Mobile.

Mail Goggles was developed by Gmail engineer, Jon Perlow and is, of course, optional. To activate Goggles hit the “Labs” tab in your Gmail settings.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

Do you remember Windows ME? If not, maybe it is because you skipped it all together or that the experience was bad enough that you choose not to remember.

It appears that Windows Vista is following in the footsteps of Windows ME closely. Not many people like it, including Microsoft.

Some key indicators are out there. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has mentioned in more than one public speech that sometime in the next year or so, they plan on releasing a new version of Windows. It now appears that the development of Windows 7 has been moved into the fast lane and that Windows 7 alpha will also be presented to developers this October.

Microsoft is extending the sales of Windows XP again, until July 31, 2009. Windows XP will not be available directly to the end-user, but it will be available to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and other system builders. One of the biggest key indicators that follows suit with this is that it is becoming more common to see computers packaged with Vista coming with “downgrade rights.” Dell for example, shortly after the launch of Vista, consumers no longer had the option of purchasing home system models with XP. The option to have XP over Vista was removed entirely. Dell however kept the option available for its business customers, but slowly tapered it off. Now, slowly the downgrade option is showing up everywhere.

According to a few ex employees of Dell On Call (Technical support offered by Dell for consumers for a fee), before the mass layoffs that took place in Canada – they noted that internal statistical data showed that technical support call volume was bigger than it ever has been with Vista over any other operating system. Dell On Call’s majority call driver was Spyware and Antivirus, but Vista support calls soon became king of the hill. These sources also had mentioned that not only was Vista crammed down the throats of consumers, but it was also crammed down the throats of technical support agents. “Nobody knew what was going on, nobody had proper training, resolve rates for technical support calls were in the toilet and the customers were increasingly becoming unhappy, requesting that they downgrade back to Windows XP”

A lot of people swear by Windows XP Service Pack 3, claiming that it is the most stable operating system ever. Business customers have yet to make the move from XP Pro to Vista Business – although this has a lot to do with volume license refreshing – businesses are not ready to shove a new operating system down employee throats, provide the training, and provide upgraded hardware to go with it.

Quoting another source that provides internal technical support for Canada’s largest telecommunications provider, Telus – “It just wasn’t the right time to release a new operating system, nobody required it, nobody needed it. What we have right now (XP) is more than enough. People know how to use it, people know how to support it. The expense of migrating from something tried and true to the unknown with a large price tag is essentially a bad business move.”

The indications are wide-spread, looking a bit like the Windows ME scenario all over again. Very few people have moved to the Vista platform, as most people are sticking with Windows XP for now and riding it out. On an another note – ever since the launch of Vista, OS X users have increased a notable amount – which is a whole other story.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Following last week’s that Apple founder, Steve Jobs, had suffered a bout of ill health (first reported on CNN’s iReport), Apple saw stocks drop below $100 for the first time since May 2007.

Last week was tumultuous for the technology industry. Stocks dropped significantly on Monday — and while many companies, Apple included, experienced a slight rebound on Tuesday, stocks dropped once more later in the week, leaving many firms back where they had been at close of business on Tuesday.

For Apple the drop in stocks last week had the tiniest of silver linings. The company had managed to get shares up to $180 over the last year or so and while they closed at just over $100, the company managed to stave off dropping back into double figures. That is, until CNN gave its CEO a heart attack.

Following the rumor that Steve Jobs had been rushed to hospital in the early hours of Friday morning experiencing chest pains, Apple saw shares drop below the $100, and at 12:55 p.m. yesterday, trading was at $89.

The hit Apple took on Friday brings about the debate (yet again) as to whether or not shareholders should be informed about Jobs’ health. Boatloads of analysts will tell you that a Jobsless Apple would be a very different company, and although some people would be more inclined to think the company is in a better position than it has ever been to handle life without its founder, stockholders’ panicky reaction to Friday’s news is an indication that while the business might be fine without Steve, shareholders aren’t about to cheer him into early retirement just yet.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

AT&T has reportedly decided to discontinue the $19.99 unlimited data plan it offered for Pay As You Go customers.

Starting November 12th, AT&T will no longer offer users the option of paying just under $20 per month for unlimited data as part of the telecommunications company’s GoPhone service. It seems a significant number of customers were abusing the data plan by tapping into it with their laptops. While we’d be of the opinion that AT&T should have expected no less, the company has said that the laptop option, DataConnect will now cost $59.99 as well as being capped at 5GB.

Reports doing the rounds suggest that AT&T will be charging for overages on the DataConnect plan at a rate of $0.00048 per kilobyte or $480 per gigabyte. While this seems pretty hefty, rumor suggests the phone company will cut you off once your over-use charges hit $100 so you likely won’t end up with a thousand dollar bill.

We’ve contacted AT&T for comment on the supposed changes to DataConnect plans as well as the cancellation of the GoPhone unlimited data option. At the time of writing, we had yet to receive a response however, Phonenews.com reports confirmation from call center representatives in AT&T’s GoPhone division who said the offer was meant as a trial exercise and that AT&T is exploring other options for PAYG data offerings.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

The media this morning is busy working itself into a frenzy about an announcement from AMD scheduled for early Tuesday.

A notice went out Monday night informing the press and media analysts that AMD would be making a “significant corporate announcement” today at 8:00 a.m. EDT. While the email didn’t reveal much of what we can expect other than “prepared comments” from CEO Dirk Meyer and a few other executives, followed by a questions and answers session for media analysts, a press release sent early this morning confirms suspicions that today’s conference call will be a formal confirmation that the company plans to spin off it’s expensive chipmaking business and instead focus on microprocessor design.

AMD has been struggling for quite a while and now, under new leadership from CEO Dirk Meyer, the winds of change are expected to solve some of the cashflow problems the company has been having as of late. The winds of change, in this instance, come in the form of an investment from two Abu Dhabai firms amounting to at least $6 billion. The money will shrink AMD’s debt and see the company spin off chip manufacturing to a second company run by former AMD CEO, Hector Ruiz.

The new chipmaking company will operate under the name the Foundry Company for now and will be 44.4 percent owned by AMD with the rest owned by Advanced Technology Investment Company. The Foundry Company is currently planning a factory in upstate New York, which will employ a staff of 1,400. As part of the plans, the company’s factory in Dresden, Germany will also be upgraded.

AMD CEO, Dirk Meyer, said in a statement that the decision to spin off chipmaking was about improving finances and creating a company with a tightened focus. The company hopes that rethinking the structure of the company will give AMD a second wind in competing against rival, Intel.

We’ll bring you more following the conference call and Q&A with Dirk Meyer and the other big wigs at AMD.

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By Marcus Yam - Source : Tom's Guide

Owners of portable gaming systems so far have had the option to enjoy software from all over the world, thanks to the lack of region locking on systems such as the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. That will all change, however, with the Nintendo DSi.

The upcoming DSi will be the first Nintendo portable system that will carry software restrictions according to region. “DSi software (software that is only compatible with DSi) is region locked, eg: European DSi software can only be played on European DSi consoles,” a Nintendo spokesperson told CVG.

To clarify, only software that is created specifically for the DSi will be region locked. This will include both download and cartridge-based games. Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance games, however, will continue to be region-free.

Why would Nintendo change what appears to already be a winning system? The spokesperson explained, “DSi is region locked because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent.”

This bit of news definitely puts a damper on those looking to import a system from Japan this November before it hits the rest of the world in 2009. While the region locking won’t stop the hardcore from importing, the limitations imposed make those foreign DSi’s nothing more than slim Nintendo DS Lites with larger screens.

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By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Pre-order prices for upcoming X58 motherboards and Intel Core i7 processors have appeared online.

The upcoming Core i7 platform is looking to be rather expensive as pre-order prices for several X58 motherboards and Core i7 processors have begun appearing online. Last week we saw that MSI had three X58 motherboards planned for release and now early retail prices for these boards have appeared online.

According to Geizhals, the MSI X58 Platinum motherboard was listed online for just over $306 and the premium MSI Eclipse motherboard was listed for just over $413. The third MSI X58 motherboard is expected to be released at a later date, although its pricing is expected to be even higher as it seems to have been designed for extreme overclocking.

Prices for some Asus and Intel X58 motherboards have also appeared online, as discovered by Fudzilla. According to a listing that had since been taken down, an Intel X58 motherboard featuring only four memory slots had been listed for a price of $410. Since the Core i7 platform uses triple channel memory, it seems odd that an X58 motherboard would have four memory slots instead of three or six.

Also listed were two Asus motherboards; the Asus P6T Deluxe and the Asus P6T Deluxe "OC Palm Edition", priced at $441 and $492, respectively. The difference between the two boards is that the OC Palm Edition features an external LCD display that helps with system overclocking. More information about the Asus P6T Deluxe "OC Palm Edition", including photos, is available at Xtremesystems.

As for Intel Core i7 processors, a Canadian retailer had listed prices online for the upcoming processors. The Intel Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Exteme Edition processors had been listed for (CAD) $339.95, $649.95 and $1,099.95, respectively. The official prices for these processors when purchased in bulk from Intel are expected to be $284, $562 and $999, respectively, with an expected release date set for November.

Although this early look at the retail prices for X58 motherboards and processors may not be representative of final retail pricing, it does give the consumer an idea of what an Intel Core i7 system will cost. Along with the cost of triple channel DDR3 memory, it would seem like an Intel Core i7 system will be on the expensive side. Many consumers may find an Intel Core 2 Duo system to offer better value, at least for now.

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