Apple News � Apple Sends Out Cease and Desist to Startup Using �App Store�

After Amazon, Microsoft, and many others, Apple has filed a Cease and Desist order against a home server software startup that uses the term �App Store.� In response, Amahi temporarily changed it to App Mart, all while asking users for a new name to call their app store.

Of course, you wanted a small company to �fight back,� but they do not have the enough cash to throw away like Amazon did. Besides, Apple has every right to claim that the term �App Store� is their trademark, and Amahi can always change App Mart back to App Store if the court decision goes not in favor of Apple.

Meanwhile, Amahi has come up with a contest for its users to suggest a new phrase to call its App Mart. Currently in the lead is �iStore,� but I don�t think that will be used unless the startup wants more legal headaches. Other suggestions include �App Shop,� �Amahi Store,� �Amahi Market,� and �Appalog.� If you want to join for a chance to win a computer and a pro membership, head over to Amahi.

Source: CrunchGear

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Review � Sony Ericsson Teases Xperia Ray and Xperia Active Smartphones

It seems that Sony Ericsson will be dishing out two new Xperia smartphones. Not much is known about the Xperia Ray (pictured) and Xperia Active, except that both will be Android-powered. Sources claim that the Ray could be running with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, while it is hard to tell what version of the OS is on Active.

The Xperia Ray will have a bronze-ish back panel and is just 9.4mm thick. The smartphone will come with Sony�s Bravia Engine technology, which would enhance the resolution of the screen. It can also shoot HD video from its rear-facing camera and it also has a front-facing cam as well. Like the Xperia Play, the Ray will have Facebook Inside Xperia, which lets users utilize the social network from all many of the phone�s apps like the camera app, media player, and the address book.

Meanwhile, the Xperia Active appears to have a very rugged design with its curved, probably rubberized edges. It is likely that the Active is developed to withstand tough environments. The Active comes with a little loop where a key chain or wrist strap can be attach and has a much thicker form than the Ray. It also has a rear-facing camera and comes in four color schemes.

According to Steve Walker, Sony Ericsson�s chief marketing officer, the Ray and Active are expected to be launch on the third quarter of 2011 at a lower price point than the Xperia Play, currently priced at $200 with two-year contract from Verizon. Expect to hear more features about these two smartphones in the coming weeks.

Source: Huffington Post, via MobileCrunch

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Review � MobileCrunch: BlackBerry is Over and Done!

John Biggs of MobileCrunch has written an doomsday article about how BlackBerry�s days are numbered and will go the way of other mobile platforms that were bought by a bigger company, exist independently for a while, and then get subsumed. The author has listed a number of reasons why it�s over and done for BlackBerry.

�BlackBerries aren�t status symbols,� proclaims Biggs. �They�re the real-world equivalent of the thick, heavy IT-department-assigned business laptop. They�re staid, boring, and unwanted but people are used to them� but that�s about it.�

It won�t be too long, according to him, that people who are originally into BB would begin to support �more popular devices� such as iOS and Android phones. For Biggs, competitors of BB have become stronger and faster that its manufacturer, Research In Motion, has a hard time keeping up. He even includes BlackBerry�s tablet, the PlayBook, as part of its demise because the tablet lacked native e-mail, a feature that is expected on almost every BB device.

Wrapping up, the author describes RIM as a �slave to its own success.�

�They can�t sell anything other than a keyboard-candybar phone in an era where the keyboard is increasingly irrelevant or hidden away until needed� It�s over and now we�re just waiting for the buy-out and inevitable disappearance of one of the greatest mobile companies in modern memory.�

What do you think about BlackBerry�s future? Do you think it is too soon to declare its downfall?

Source: MobileCrunch

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Review � Judge Declines Samsung�s Request to Peek into iPhone 5 and iPad 3

Judge Lucy Koh has rejected Samsung�s request to inspect Apple�s iPhone 5 and iPad 3. In an 11-page document, she explained that while Samsung is entitled to �parity,� requesting for Apple to hand over unreleased and unrevealed products was a bit overreaching.

While the decision sounds good for Apple, the rejection of Samsung�s motion is not permanent because the court may have to wait until the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 become available for inspection before deciding whether or not �consumer confusion� will exist as claimed by Apple. This also means that Apple may not get the preliminary injunction that would have barred Samsung from selling certain products in the United States.

Although Apple may not get the injunction that it wants, it may focus its legal battles against Samsung�s unreleased and unnannounced products that could pose an infringement threat. And the cycle continues.

Source: Phonescoop, via MobileCrunch

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Review � Lytro, The Camera Of The Future

Digital cameras of today, even the most advanced models, lets you capture a single shot of a certain image for posterity. But for the camera of the future, it may be possible to take a single shot of that same image and then change the type of focus later on. This can give photographers a means to take a multi-focused image in just a single shot. This type of futuristic camera may now be made possible by the new Lytro.

The Lytro is a camera currently in the works that may enable photographers to capture a more versatile image of sorts. It allows photographers to change the focus of the image after it is taken. The Lytro makes use of a new type of sensor that captures and records the entire light field, or all the light rays present in an entire scene. Current sensors only capture all the light as a single amount of light.

Armed with this feature, the Lytro camera can allow the focal point of a photo to be adjusted according to what a photographer needs through a computer in the same way that images can be adjusted for color, hue or contrast on Photoshop. The Lytro�s sensitive sensor also makes it possible to take photos in very low light conditions and possibly 3D-like images using a single lens. According to the company, the first Lytro camera may be available as a pocket sized device that will be available sometime at the end of the year. They also say that this revolutionary device will be �competitively priced�, whatever that means. For now, you can try and check out some of the images taken using the Lytro camera at their website to see it for yourself.

Image Source: Lytro

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