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The Licensing-Dispute Edition Sunday, June 17, 2018

Apple, Qualcomm Hearing Hinges On 5G And National Security, by Susan Decker, Bloomberg

Staff lawyers with the ITC recommended that Judge Thomas Pender rule that Apple violated one of three Qualcomm patents -- for a battery-saving feature. However, the staff also said potential future Intel-based iPhones that have next-generation technology known as 5G should be allowed into the country to not cede ground to China.

Lawyers for the two tech giants squared off Friday in one of some four dozen legal cases pending worldwide, all of them linked to a licensing dispute over the technology that allows mobile devices to communicate. A victory for either side in this case could help tilt negotiating power in the others. Pender said he thought the companies were “crazy” for letting it get to this point. He will issue his findings in September and a final ruling isn’t expected until early next year.

The ITC has the authority to block products from entering the country that infringe U.S. patents, though it also has to consider the broader impact on the economy and the public. Staff lawyer Lisa Murray said that iPhones with Qualcomm chips -- which Apple already sells -- could replace those with Intel chips in the market. A bigger question, she said, was how a ban would affect the U.S.’s race to stay ahead of China in 5G and whether that would be in the nation’s best interest.

3D Touch Discoverability, by Benjamin Mayo

All this to say there are better ways to make 3D Touch more approachable than to put little decorations on every UI element that responds to pressure. Remove the places where 3D Touch is an unnecessary gimmick, and refine the interactions where it is actually useful. Find ways to bring important features that are currently ‘hidden’ behind 3D Touch actions into the main interface on screen — rather than add repetitive, redundant, visual affordances that most users would be blind to anyway.

Confessions Of A Disk Cracker: The Secrets Of 4am., by Paleotronic Magazine

"30 years later, that’s exactly what I saw: half-preserved arcade games, a smattering of educational software, and virtually nothing else. I realized I could have a real impact while having just as much fun, just as much intellectual challenge. Along the way, I’ve discovered that educational software is rich with history, personality, humor, and technical achievement. It’s been delightful."

The Word 'Hack' Is Meaningless And Should Be Retired, by Matthew Hughes, The Next Web

The word ‘hack’ used to mean something, and hackers were known for their technical brilliance and creativity. Now, literally anything is a hack — anything — to the point where the term is meaningless, and should be retired.

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I don't understand 3D-touch, why it need to exist, how it can exist in a direct-manipulation user-interface.

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Thanks for reading.