Kodak may be in for a surprise

Kodak is saying that, should Apple and RIM fail to settle, they may be liable for $1 Billion.

Kodak's market cap is slightly lower than that.

Why should Apple and RIM fork out $1 Billion in damages when they could buy the company for about the same amount?

Scoble Tours SRI and Gets Scoop on Siri

Robert Scoble, a frequent contributor to Rackspace's Building 43 recently toured SRI and conducted interviews with senior staff. Videos of those interviews have just been published on TechCrunch. A related, long inteview, about the spin-off and subsequent acquisition by Apple of Siri, creators of the iPhone app by the same name — with Norman D. Winarsky, Vice President of Ventures, Licensing and Strategic Programs at SRI, Gary J. Morgenthaler, General Partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, and Shawn T. Carolan, Managing Director at Menlo Ventures — is linked from the TechCrunch article in two parts (Part I, Part II). There is a notable quote in Part II (beginning at 8min 30sec): Think of the world's best AI technology in the hands of the world's greatest consumer electronics company. While the AI technology Apple acquired with Siri may represent a competitive advantage, it also represents the state of the art, and suggests that AI of the sort used by Siri is ready for prime time.

TED talk by MAKE magazine publisher Dale Dougherty

Lion Server to be integrated (included) with Lion

Apple frequently opts for non-alternatives, that is for options the pundits hadn't even considered.

Such is the case with the inclusion of Lion Server in every copy of Lion! Just for starters, this means that every Mac running Lion will put Wiki Server at the user's fingertips, and very likely make the code behind it available to developers.

Just how much of the current, distinct server version will carry over to be included with Lion remains to be seen. Apple may decide to put some components representing large investments on the App Store, but they'll run on the stock version of Lion and be a cinch to install.

I can just see the ad now, Mac OS X Lion, the world's most complete operating system.

IBM, the button-down revolutionary

Lest we take them for granted...

replacing the iTunes app with a web app

9to5mac reports rumors that Apple plans to replace the iTunes app with a Safari-only web app.

Before commenting on how credible this might be, let me suggest a little experiment. Fire up iTunes and point it to the iPhone/iPod/iPad app store, also fire up the Mac app store application, then do a few parallel searches for apps that exist on both platforms. Note how the performance of the iTunes app compares with that of the Mac app store application.

Apple has been building out a web version of iTunes for some time. Take the Twitter app, for instance. If you search for Twitter, in the iOS app store using the iTunes app, and click on the bird, nothing will happen because you're already there, but if you right-click (control-click) on the bird and choose copy link, then paste that link into Safari and activate it, instead of being taken back to the iTunes app you're instead taken to a look-alike web page.

Given that Apple has a contractual obligation to constrain the installation of non-free apps to devices owned by people who've paid for those apps, it makes sense that they would limit access to a web version of the iTunes store to Safari, which they can control, possibly using a plug-in for this purpose. They might also use Safari only to conduct transactions with the store and use a separate program to manage the configuration of various devices.

Whatever the details, there's probably some truth to this rumor.

what I'm talking about

After years of anticipation, here it is, the brush you can use to paint on a screen!

Now, imagine using one of these on a screen that has touch sensitivity in each and every pixel, instead of the currently lower-resolution grid!

iRobot's AVA uses iPad for controller and telepresence interface

If you can program an iPad (or Android tablet) you can program iRobot's AVA.

Engadget originally characterized AVA as a telepresence machine, using an iPad sitting on a mount that incorporates a camera as the interface, but the AVA will be a general purpose platform complete with SDK, which, for the iPad, will be compatible with Xcode and the iOS SDK.

Great move, iRobot!

if you've already paid for Pixelmator, buy it again now!

If you have Pixelmator 1.6.3 installed on your Mac, don't be fooled if running "Check Now" in Preferences => Updates tells you that you are running the latest version. 1.6.4 is waiting for you on the Mac App Store!

What? Pay for it again? Well, as an email sent to licensed users says "You can download Pixelmator on the Mac App Store for just $29, for a limited time. By transitioning to the Mac App Store, you will get the totally awesome Pixelmator 2.0 (and, of course, still lots of 1.X updates) for free once it is out in the Mac App Store later this year."

So think of it as a prepaid upgrade. True, those who hadn't yet paid for the program will get the same deal, but at least they'll be joining you in helping to underwrite one of the finer pieces of software in existence.

If you wait, the price will go up, so act now.

24 hours and a million downloads later

One of the most interesting aspects of the Mac App Store is how smoothly the application used to access it works. My guess is that it's based on WebKit and that the store itself uses SproutCore or something like it. In any event, it's a considerably more pleasant experience than using the iTunes app to access the iOS app store.

Should help sales!