Hasta La Gadget!

It took a couple of days for this to surface, but it looks like Apple was awarded yet another patent last week–a big one. Awarded on January 20, the company scored patent number 7,479,949, which was applied for on April 18 of last year. The patent covers multi-touch functionality like pinch, rotation, and swipe.

World of Apple has the text from the patent titled “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics.”

It begins,

A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.

Does this spell disaster for the forthcoming Palm Pre–the device to which most assumed Apple’s temporary CEO, Tim Cook, was referring to when he recently made veiled legal threats?

As our mobile analyst Sascha Segan would (and will no doubt continue to) say, “There. Is. More. Than. One. Multi. Touch. Patent.”

This weekend, I learned the hard way that trying to jailbreak an iPhone 3G using a MacBook running 10.5.6 can totally freeze up the machine later on. Here are the specifics: UPDATED

Short version: Be careful with that latest QuickTime update if you have run any “DFU fix” Automator scripts on your unibody (Late 2008) MacBook or MacBook Pro. Do not upgrade to QuickTime 7.6 until you’ve repaired the alterations that the script made to your system. UPDATE: I am learning from commenters that this is not just limited to unibody Late ’08 MacBooks, but it applies to ALL MacBooks running 10.5.6.

In this post, we outlined how to re-enable unlocking and jailbreaking functionality if you’ve upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5.6. To do it, you have to run an Automator script that “fixes” the system so that you can enter something called DFU mode. It’s some hardcore juju, but the script seemed easy enough to run and reboot.

The now-mysteriously-missing original Hackintosh article mentioned that there were some issues with the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros, but it never said that you should undo it after you finish jailbreaking.

I didn’t even get the jailbreak itself to work on that machine in the end, even though Jason did on his unibody MacBook Pro, but the Automator DFU fix didn’t cause any perceptible changes to my system’s behavior, so I promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward two weeks. I get a notice of the latest QuickTime upgrade, so I OK it. When my system restarts, I have no access to keyboard or trackpad. Not only do I not have access, I can’t even plug in a mouse or keyboard. I could use those controls when booting off of a system install disc, but I couldn’t get the installer to repair my OS, since it was “newer.” The computer was borked.

My solution was easy but nuclear: I turned an external 320GB drive into a boot disk, ran the migration tool to move every bit of data from my unibody MBP, then simply swapped drives. (Gotta hand it to Apple for that new swappable-drive design.) My machine is as good as new, and now totally up to date.

What you should do, if you already ran the DFU script and haven’t installed that QuickTime update yet, is try the method I have since discovered outlined in this Apple Support thread. Apparently, I’m not the only one with this problem.

Here are a few solutions besides the one in the support thread:

• If you still have access to your keyboard and mouse, you can copy the backup files (it should be under Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6 on your desktop) to where the Automator script was, Install_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_5 on your desktop. Then, just run the Automator script again, and it will copy those “original” files to the right location, then change the permissions correctly and reboot your machine.

• If you already ran the QuickTime update and you’re unable to access any input (USB or otherwise), you can SSH into your machine and run these commands one by one. If you had trouble with the Automator script, you can open up the terminal and do this too, manually. Note, some of these lines are too long, so they wrap to 2 lines. Make sure you copy it in its entirety. Commands are separated by empty lines in between.

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext
You’ll have to enter your administrator password here

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo cp -R $HOME/Desktop/Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6/AppleUSBHub.kext /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

sudo cp -R $HOME/Desktop/Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

sudo reboot

Your machine will reboot after prompting to update boot caches, and the files should be back to the standard 10.5.6 ones. Good luck!

This article was written on June 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

With the WWDC conference quickly approaching, rumors are running rampant about not only the next iPhone, but also when the App Store will launch. News.com is reporting that Apple is ready to launch the first app on Monday and so people are drawing the conclusion that the App Store will launch on Monday as well. Originally it was said that the App Store would launch by the end of June, so is Apple just ahead of the game or will it only be announced on Monday and released later?

There’s so much hype surrounding the App Store because this is the way that people will be able to get their hands on all of the third-party applications that have been developed. Ever since the SDK was made available, developers have been hard at work trying to come up with applications that both iPhone and iPod Touch (assuming they pay the fee to get the update) users will want to use. We already know that an AIM client is in the works, as is a mobile version of Spore, along with hundreds of other applications.

As some of you have probably heard rumored before, the new iPhone is expected to have support for GPS technology. News.com makes a good point and says, “the combination of GPS and faster networking speeds should allow for a whole range of location-aware applications to proliferate on the iPhone, as they have on other competing phones.” Oh the possibilities this brings to the table now!

We’ll be following the WWDC keynote scheduled to start at 10:00 A.M. (Pacific) on Monday, June 9th. It should be an interesting day…

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I agree with designer Tariq Krim that we’ve yet to see an OS interface perfectly implemented to a netbook’s uniquely small hardware. Hence Jolicloud, and judging from this UI shot, he’s on to something.

Yes, this is what our netbooks need: clear, big app icons (big enough to be touchable) on scrollable page a la the iPhone OS, an easy installer interface for quickly adding more, constant access to a universal search bar, all presented in a clean, clear and colorful design scheme.

Jolicloud isn’t out yet, but you can track its progress here: [Jolicloud, Jolicloud Flickr Stream via Crunch Gear and BBG]

When Apple’s Tim Cook called out competition for “ripping off” its IP, people largely assumed the company’s temporary CEO was talking directly to Palm, with regards to its much buzzed about Pre.

“We like competition, as long as they don’t rip off our IP, and if they do, we’re going to go after anybody that does,” Cook told the press. “We will not stand for having our IP ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal [to make sure that doesn’t happen]. I don’t know that I can be more clear than that.”

Palm, for its part, doesn’t seem to be losing any sleep over Cook’s less than subtle assessment. “Palm has a long history of innovation that is reflected in our products and robust patent portfolio, and we have long been recognized for our fundamental patents in the mobile space,” Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox told All Things D. “If faced with legal action, we are confident that we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves.”