Our app, Mix & Mash, has the common model of a limited free, lite, version and a full version that contains all the features. We were told that the button that users click on to upgrade the app, or rather link to the full version on the app store was in breach of US patent no 7222078, we couldn’t believe it, the upgrade button!?!

The patent in question was filed in December 2003 as part of series of continuations on earlier patent applications dating back to 1992. The patent is credited to Dan Abelow, who sold his extensive portfolio of patents to holding firm Lodsys in 2004. Lodsys is indeed the company issuing the threats of a lawsuit regarding the patent in question.

Computer LogiX is not the only App Store developer being hit with threats of a lawsuit, as Cult of Mac notes that James Thomson, the developer behind PCalc, has been hit with a similar notice. While Thomson has not identified the company pursuing the action, the timing and details suggest that Lodsys is also responsible.

“Just got hit by very worrying threat of patent infringement lawsuit for using in-app purchase in PCalc Lite. Legal docs arrived via fedex,” Thomson wrote.

“No idea what to do… They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple.”

Thomson has reached out to Apple for guidance, and it remains to be seen how things will play out. According to Thomson, the patent holder is demanding that a license be negotiated within 21 days or a lawsuit will be filed.

At least one other developer is cited in the report as receiving similar notice of patent infringement, and that total will almost certainly grow as awareness of the situation increases, so it appears that the action is a relatively widespread one by Lodsys.

Notably, Lodsys cited the same patent, among others, when it filed suit against a host of major printer companies earlier this year.

What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?

Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.

That traffic experience would presumably be built on top of a turn-by-turn navigation system separate from the Maps application included in iOS and driven by Google.

In November 2009, an Apple job posting described an iPhone engineering position that would help take Maps “to the next level”. The company followed that up last December, with a set of four job listings seeking iOS engineers with experience in developing navigation software, further fueling speculation that Apple is working on its own navigation system.

On a broader scale, Apple has increasingly looked to beef up its own mapping and geolocation services in an attempt to distance itself from Google, which has provided the core Maps application for the iPhone since the device’s 2007 debut. Apple acquired mapping company Placebase in July 2009 and followed that up by purchasing small Canadian mapping firm Poly9 one year later. Apple also moved its location services for iOS in-house with the release of iOS 3.2 on the iPad in April 2010, separating itself from Google and Skyhook Wireless for such services.

Google has offered free turn-by-turn navigation on Android since late 2009 and had hinted at that time that it could bring the service to iOS, although the company later backpedaled from those claims.

CNET reports that four U.S. senators have sent a letter to Apple’s iPhone software head, Scott Forstall, asking the company to remove from the App Store applications that are designed to allow users to be alerted to checkpoints for sobriety testing.

U.S. Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are named as senders in the letter, which is addressed to Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. No specific applications are named, but the letter highlights apps that “contain a database of DUI [driving under the influence] checkpoints updated in real-time” as well as one that sends out real-time alerts about the existence of these checkpoints.

“With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to iPhone and iPad applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety,” the group wrote. “We know that your company shares our desire to end the scourge of drunk driving and we therefore would ask you to remove these applications from your store.”

The same letter was also sent to Google and Research in Motion to encourage those companies to remove similar apps from their application stores. Research in Motion has already agreed to remove applications offering data on DUI checkpoint locations.

While the letter itself does not specifically reference any iOS applications, a press release from Senator Schumer names Trapster and PhantomALERT as examples of free apps offering location information on such checkpoints.

In addition to real-time information on DUI checkpoints, many of the apps in question also offer information on speed traps, red light and speed cameras, accidents, and other traffic conditions, several of which have also been considered controversial, but the senators’ letter focuses specifically on the DUI checkpoint functionality.

The StreetPilot App includes many of the same high-end features available on Garmin’s standalone automotive GPS devices like free traffic alerts that enable drivers to steer clear of traffic accidents, road closures and construction; lane assist with junction view that directs drivers to the preferred lane and displays realistic images of upcoming complex junctions; and speed limit indicators that display speed limits for most major roads.

Garmin StreetPilot also supports multitasking under iOS 4 and integrates with users’ music libraries and address books.

Unlike some of the other mainstream GPS applications for the iPhone, Garmin StreetPilot downloads map content as needed, as opposed to storing the entire map database within the application. While the decision allows Garmin to offer smaller downloads that require less on-device storage and quicker download and syncing times, as well as automatic access to the latest map updates, the trade-off is that users must be in areas with data service coverage in order for the application to function properly.

Q: Hi, I recently updated both my iPhone 4 and iPad to 4.2. I think my favourite feature is airplay. This is seriously amazing and makes sharing content seamless. I just purchased Apple TV and was wondering are you ever going to make airplay video work for videos in safari and 3rd party apps? I hope to get a response.

A: Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.

The AirPlay functionality appears to have a few other quirks as well, as noted by Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber. One such quirk involves the fact that the iPhone 4 is unable to stream via AirPlay video shot directly on the iPhone.

The most obvious shortcoming: You can’t use AirPlay to play videos shot on your iPhone. That’s an obvious feature, right? Shoot a video on your iPhone, then play it back for family and friends on your big TV via AirPlay. No syncing, no docking, no moving files around. Just hit play. But it doesn’t work in iOS 4.2.1 – even though you can use AirPlay to show still photos from the Photos app.

While some had theorized that the issue was related to bandwidth required to stream the high-definition footage shot on the iPhone 4, video footage shot on the device and then synced to iTunes and back to the device will stream via AirPlay. Gruber theorizes that Apple had to roll out incomplete AirPlay functionality in order to meet its goal of releasing iOS 4.2 by the end of November and that we will see increased functionality coming in the future, as Jobs’ purported email suggests.

The calls are reportedly happening at roughly the same time first thing this morning – waking up Brits around 2.30 in the morning by all accounts – and while the call claims to come from a known contact, it never connects.

This has worried more than a few users who’ve found they can’t call back, and end up venturing out to see if everything is OK. Some are relating their tales of woe on this Apple site thread.

“Son’s phone just phoned me in uk on FaceTime 2.30am,” one user posted. “Couldn’t connect. Drove to his house like a lunatic in case something wrong. Woke him and neighbours! Son’s phone turned off in his bag!”

FaceTime use is unrelated to the telecommunications part of the phone, relying instead on Wi-Fi and internet connectivity. That makes Apple the company handing the calls, and presumably it is Apple’s servers which are responsible for false notifications.

Some of the calls claim to originate from a desktop machine, while others seem to come from another iPhone. But the result is the same, as another poster explains:

“Girlfriend got a Facetime call at 2:30am from my mac but I was in bed with her 16 miles away at her house. When trying to answer there was nothing, I panicked thinking someone was in my house or hacking into my computer that I ended up driving back in the ice and -9c to find out my computer wasn’t even on!!”

Quite what this poster expected to achieve on arrival at his sub-zero house we’re not clear, but one isn’t always thinking most clearly when so rudely awoken.

Met with Apple’s characteristic silence on the problem, users are left to piece together evidence based on their own experiences – are the phantom calls repetitions of the last FaceTime call made, or the first contact in the address book? Running a telecommunications network is tough, and users expect very high levels of reliability, as Apple is discovering.

We asked Apple if they could explain the apparent calls. We haven’t heard back from them so far – but it’s not 2.30am yet. ®

The news was made public as the company gears up to release iOS 4.2.1, which it said will go live later today.

The Find My… facility has to date been part of the Mobile Me, Apple’s £59-a-year email and device data syncing service. Find My… allows you to locate your device – assuming, of course, it’s connected to the internet – and, if necessary, wipe or lock it remotely.

Anyone who owns an iPhone 4, iPad or fourth-generation iPod Touch can now make use of the service by downloading a free app to a second iDevice, Apple said.

Of course, that’s as useful as tits on a bull if you only have one of these iDevices, so we hope Apple will also make the service accessible through the web, as MobileMe is.

iOS 4.2.1, meanwhile, brings the iPad into operarting system parity with other iDevices, and implements both AirPrint – Apple’s universal wireless printing tech – and AirPlay, its revamped media streaming system. ®

Apple initially filed for the trademark in four separate classes in December 2009, and was granted initial allowance for the mark in May of this year, although the company was still required to provide evidence of its use in commerce for the registration to become finalized. In August, Apple moved to divide the trademark application into two separate applications of two classes each, and also filed the required “Statement of Use” evidence that it was using the trademark in commerce for one of those divided applications.

Late last week, the USPTO granted Apple’s request to divide the application and by Friday the government attorney in charge of Apple’s application had signed off on the Statement of Use and authorized the trademark for final registration in the following classes:

035: Retail store services featuring computer software provided via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics

042: Maintenance and updating of computer software; providing information concerning computer software via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; providing search engines for obtaining data via communications networks; providing temporary use of computer software and online facilities to enable users to access and download computer software; providing online non-downloadable computer software that generates customized recommendations of software applications based on user preferences

While Apple has used the tagline extensively in its own advertising, the slogan has also been mimicked and parodied by a significant number of outlets, perhaps most notably by Verizon in its “There’s a Map For That” ad campaign targeting AT&T’s 3G network coverage.

DeNA, the Japanese social game giant, said Tuesday that it would acquire Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million – one of the largest deals ever involving an iPhone application developer and another sign that the iPhone is fast becoming the hottest game device on the market.

DeNA’s pursuit of Ngmoco comes as the Japanese firm seeks to rapidly expand its existing focus, which includes a dominant mobile social gaming platform in its home country, to an international and cross-platform scale.

Though the company is little known outside Japan, DeNA’s projected revenue for this year is already on par with estimates for Facebook. DeNA booked sales of about ¥48 billion yen, or $575 million. Ms. Namba said it was on track to double that figure this fiscal year to more than $1 billion.

DeNA has purchased or invested in several other U.S. gaming firms in recent months, but the deal for Ngmoco marks by far its largest foray into the market.

Ngmoco was one of the initial recipients of money from the high-profile $100 million iFund venture capital pool offered by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company had some early App Store success with the likes of Topple and Rolando, but has since become more focused on social gaming with such titles as its We Rule/We Farm/We City series.

- Designed for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
- Optimized for Retina displays and large screen real estate on iPad
- Support for Shared Libraries on iTunes and new Apple TV
- Bug fixes and compatibility with iTunes 10 and the new Apple TV

The new Apple TV has begun shipping already and should arrive in customer’s hands later this week.