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Ever since Apple's PowerBook line met its end last year, people have been clamoring for Apple to return to them a 12-inch laptop. Rumors of Steve Jobs granting their wishes and bestowing upon them an ultraportable, professional-grade notebook have been fairly consistent since the man introduced the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros. Today, MacScoop quotes "trusted sources" that point to the arrival of a 12-inch MacBook Pro by the end of the year. These sources say the laptop will be half as thick as the old 12-inch PowerBook at 0.6 or 0.7 inch (15 to … Read more

We haven't heard a lot from the folks at FileMaker recently, but they've got a new version of their database software for PCs and Macs out in stores.

The wholly owned subsidiary of Apple unveiled FileMaker 9.0 Tuesday, the "most dramatic new offering in years," according to the press release. I'll admit it's been years since I checked out FileMaker (it was actually required learning as part of a "computer science for business students" class at Boston College in the mid-1990s). The last major release, FileMaker 8.0, arrived in 2005.… Read more

Being brave, I finally took my iPhone to the gym to listen to it while I worked out. No fear of dropping it could stop me now. Usually, I have an 8-gig iPod Nano with me. For a workout, I don't usually use the headphones that come with the iPod, since they: (1) fall out of my ears; (2) don't have enough bass to motivate me to run/erg/push that extra mile out; and, (3) let's face it: the standard-issue iPod earphone sound quality, well, just sucks.

To alleviate this unfortunate state of affairs, instead of … Read more

So that report on Monday from JPMorgan Chase, the one about the supposed iPhone Nano? The financial gurus have decided to rethink that one.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog spotted a new research note from JPMorgan analysts (thanks Gizmodo) that takes a very skeptical look at claims made Monday by their colleague, JPMorgan analyst Kevin Chang in Taiwan. Chang said in his report that Apple was hoping to launch a smaller, cheaper iPhone based on the iPod Nano design later this year. But JPMorgan's Bill Shope, Elizabeth Borbolla, and Vlad Rom threw Chang under the iBus in their own report … Read more

Last week, Opti Technologies announced a patent infringement lawsuit against a bevy of chip companies: Advanced Micro Devices, Atmel, Broadcom, Renesas Technology, Silicon Storage Technology, SMSC, STMicroelectronics and Via Technologies. At issue are two patents for "Compact ISA-Bus" technology.

Opti had recently sued Apple and AMD over three patents for "Predictive Snooping" technology used in some computer chips. And, in August of last year, Opti settled with Nvidia for $11 million plus up to $9 million more if nVidia continues to use Opti's technology in its products. The nVidia action included all five of the above-mentioned patents.

Silicon Valley faithful will remember Opti as a once-respected chip company that fell on hard times. Is the company's recent patent litigation rampage the death-throws of a desperate company or a promising new business model? Let's go through it.

At present, Opti has but one full-time employee, CEO Bernard Marren. And, according to the company's 1995 proxy statement, Marren gets a cut of everything he brings in to shareholders on a sliding scale that starts at 5 percent and ramps down to 1 percent. Mike Mazzoni, the company's part-time CFO, appears to have the same deal.

Do the math; it's not bad work if you can get it.

I had lunch with Marren a few weeks ago. The 71-year-old industry veteran seemed excited about Opti's prospects and he may have reason to be. Marren isn't new to executive management. He's a former founder and president of electronic distributor Western Micro Technology and the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). He sits on a number of boards, including Microtune, Infocus and Unipixel. Marren knows his way around the negotiating table.

For better or worse, patent infringement litigation is business as usual in the chip industry. If not for broad cross-license agreements, chip companies might spend more time suing each other than developing products. Nevertheless, some companies have carved out significant niches by developing and licensing technology. ARM, Qualcomm, Rambus, Tessera, even IBM and Texas Instruments, make a solid business of it. But, for the most part, these companies develop technology with that business model in mind. Believe me, they prefer to negotiate than to litigate.… Read more

Speculation about iPhone 2.0 is already well underway, and the latest tidbit involves an iPod Nano-like phone supposedly scheduled for later this year.

Kevin Chang with JPMorgan Chase in Taiwan thinks a slimmer iPhone is on the way, based on conversations he had with unnamed sources and an Apple patent filing for a slim device that uses an input method similar to the familiar iPod scroll wheel, Reuters reports. This would allow Apple to ship a cheaper version of the original iPhone, he said.

I'm not sure what to make of this one. The iPhone's main selling … Read more

We have more iPhone battery results from CNET Labs. The talk time, video time, and music time tests are completed and we can report that the iPhone largely delivers on its power promises. And just to remind you of those promises, the iPhone has a rated battery life of 8 hours talk time, 24 hours of music playback, 7 hours of video playback, and 6 hours of Internet use.

Talk time: When we tested the iPhone with the Wi-Fi function turned off, we got about 7 hours, 45 minutes of talk time. When we tested it with the Wi-Fi activated, … Read more

Now that the iPhone launch is out of the way, many Apple watchers expect the company to turn its attention to its stagnant iMac designs with newer models later this year.

AppleInsider is reporting that along with new redesigned iMacs, Apple will introduce a keyboard design already in place on its Macbooks to customers that prefer the all-in-one design. The site expects the new iMacs to arrive in a month or so in 20-inch and 24-inch models, which would allow Apple to have fresh systems amid the August back-to-school shopping season, one of the more important buying periods of the … Read more

Today the iPhone is the alpha gizmo, the one item of consumer electronics that dominates all the others.

But in 1993, the hot new gizmo was Apple's Newton, and it was a whole different thing.

Not very many people had Newtons. Apple sold fewer Newtons over the whole life of the product than it sold iPhones the evening of June 29.

Also unlike the iPhone, the first Newtons weren't even very useful. Although called "personal digital assistants" (PDAs), using a Newton was significantly more difficult than using a Day-Timer. The original MessagePad had very poor handwriting … Read more