Its tough being on top and even tougher to stay there. Not only must you be on the cutting edge of technology and advancement, advertising and marketing, but all of the little guys in the pond are trying to take you down or get there cut. Hence seems to be the case with California based company named Shared Memory Graphics which is reportedly sueing Apple and other major companies over a two graphic accelerator systems patented by the company.

According to MacWorld, “The two patents, originally owned by Alliance Semiconductor, describe ways in which microprocessors fine-tune graphics by balancing the flow of data from various sources.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the suit was filed at the U.S. District Court of Arkansas and demands unspecified monetary damages.

The plaintiff’s attorneys are fighting for a “reasonable royalty” from Apple, Sony, Nintendo, along with enhanced damages from Sony.

Apple had no comment to make on the lawsuit filed late last week.”

Whether or not the small business has a legitimate claim against Apple and others, it will be interesting to see how the story unfolds, and whether or not Apple and the other companies will simply settle out of court with the plaintiffs so as to avoid any media attention, or if they will go to trial and risk exposure or something else.

Personally it seems silly that companies like this are allowed to file suit against major corporations simply to try and settle out of court and make a fast buck. While companies like Apple can withstand this small attacks, our legal system seems broken in allowing the overuse and abuse of sueing and patent conflicts.

We live in a world that is intricately connected. Due to technology there are thousands of ways that we stay informed and connected to the world and people around us. From Yahoo to Google, the iPhone to the Web, we have information at our fingertips like no generation ever has had before us. So in an age where there are so many options, how do we pick and choose the methods that work for us to communicate? Is there a pattern or trend that dictates how we communicate or in what form? In what way does the media factor into our communication decisions?

Undoubtedly, new advancements play an important part in how we communicate. Technology is constantly improving and creating more efficient and easy opportunities for us to communicate. Text messaging and tweets provide multiple opportunities for simultaneous communication and status updates on facebook allow us to tell all of our thousands of friends what we are doing in an instant.

The Media also plays a role in how we communicate. Movies and commercials displaying iPhone use or certain types of cellphones or bluetooths influence our consumer choices. Word of mouth from friends on particular products and their reliability and functionality also influence in what ways we communicate.

Jobs and professions also affect our methods of communication. I recently took a graduate class that required me to tweet at least three times a week on twitter. My other job as allows me to communicate with students through facebook and text, as this is the fastest and most accessible way to advertise and reach students.

So with all of the factors that influence our methods of communication, what methods do you prefer? Which do you use to communicate the moments of your life and why do you think that is? We are very curious what you think. Let us know your method in the comments section of this post.

A recent article at MacWorld states that the program, Green Dam Youth Escort, that blocks pornography and some sensitive political content online, is being bundled with PCs and with all computers sold in the country.

However, no Apple software program comparable to Green Dam has been created and Apple computers are not being bundled with the program. Lenovo will ship the software only with “applicable” PCs, meaning those that support Windows and other technical requirements, the spokesman said. Lenovo PCs that use Linux will not come with the program, he said.

Apple will still pre-install the program in accordance with the government mandate if a Mac version comes out, the sales representative said.

The Green Dam program raises issues of security and filters within the Chinese government and its people. China works hard to monitor its apparent problem with pornography, as well as controlling, politically sensitive material, but at what point does freedom and filtering meet and who decides the standards? Could the filters be used to control media or block news that is harmful to China’s government? Is their any oversight committee protecting the rights of the Chinese people, or is our American concept of ‘freedom’ foreign to the developing world power? We’re curious what you think. Let us know in the comments section.

The mac/pc commercials are growing in popularity and comedic ability, and a recent study illuminates that the public relations and customer service of Apple is also becoming improved and more popular than its competitor, the pc.

According to macworld, “Vocal Laboratories has published the results of a study that shows Apple leads other PC makers in telephone-based tech support. The study said that 58 percent of Apple customers reported that they were “very satisfied” with the results of their call, compared to 46 percent of Dell customers and 43 percent of HP customers.

The study determined that customers of each company were “generally satisfied” with hold times, the ease with which they reached a person, and the professionalism of the customer service personnel with whom they worked.

But Apple shone when it came to actually solving the problem, compared to the competition—53 percent of Apple customers reported their problem had been resolved on the call, while 45 percent of Dell customers and 39 percent of HP customers reported the same.

The Vocal Laboratories study featured 1,147 consumers surveyed immediately following a support call. The results cover the year ending May 31, 2009.”

Apple is continuing to strive to be the best in the industry, and they understand that customer service is a key component to its success. During my time working as a Best Buy Customer Service Representative, there were many times where I noticed that customers chose products based on how well they thought they worked. And some of the older, less technologically experienced customers were very concerned about how effective the help lines were going to be in helping them with computer related issues. Knowing that Apple is working hard on its effectiveness over the phone will continue to improve the marketability to the wider consumer population.

If yesterdays post about TrailRunner and getting outside and enjoying the weather by exercising didn’t motivate, then perhaps you are content with chilling inside this summer. If you are, check out OOTP X by Apple. OOTP gives you a chance to manage a baseball team through all the ups and downs of a Major League Season.

From March to October, you can draft players, negotiate contracts, keep statistics and manage the team, adjust lineups and make trades. This interactive and extensive game is updated from the previous OOTP 9.

Out of the Park Baseball X allows you to easily import leagues from OOTP 9 and versions 6.5 or 6.12. (To import files from other versions, use the demo version of OOTP 9 to convert a file to that format, and then import that file into version X.) Improvements found in the latest edition lead off with revamped artificial intelligence and even better play-by-play, complete with thousands of new lines of play description.

Next up is a redesigned pitching system that features individual pitch ratings and a reworked endurance system. Now pitchers can improve certain pitches or lose effectiveness with others, forcing you to modify their approach. Injuries are also more realistic, with the possibility that players will suffer setbacks during their recovery, and each minor league team now has its own disabled list too.

During games, you can customize what you see by activating the widgets option and moving the information boxes around the screen. Between games and seasons, salary arbitration and free agent compensation have been adjusted so they more closely parallel what happens in real life, where players can make salary demands and teams can agree to the terms or ask an arbitrator to make a decision. Free agency can complicate those situations, and that’s reflected in OOTP X too.

There’s plenty more for baseball aficionados to enjoy, including the ability to enter player statistics and automatically convert them into ratings, improvements to the look and feel of the interface, performance enhancements to the game speed, and more.

Its definitely summer time now that school is out and the weather is heating up. Kids and parents alike seem to take a slower pace to life, and now is the opportunity to, instead of hanging out inside with your extra time, try and get outside and burn off some of that winter weight. TrailRunner for Mac can be a great way for you to keep track of and chart your movements this summer.

TrailRunner is a route planning software for all kinds of long distance sports like running, biking, hiking, inline-skating, skiing and more. If you ever asked yourself how long your workout routes are and what route you should choose for this evening – then TrailRunner should be your training-partner.

What’s great about this free program is that you can interactively look at trails and maps before you work out, as well as chart and collect routes before and after you traverse them. If you’re someone like me who loves to track progress, TrailRunner can be a great program for you to use this summer so that you can look back and see the progress that you’ve made. You can even export route descriptions onto your iPod to use while you’re actually on the road. You can download TrailRunner here.

Over at Nanotech we’re getting a sneak preview of the inner workings of the new iPhone 3G S. The phone that claims to download apps faster and connect to the Web faster than any other iPhone before it.

Rapid Repair said Thursday night that the 3G S uses a 600MHz Samsung processor based on the ARM Cortex A8 design. The iPhone also integrates a PowerVR SGX graphics chip from Imagination Technologies, according to Rapid Repair.

This, not surprisingly, beats the now-obsoleted iPhone 3G (sans “S”), which uses an older ARM design–that runs at about 400MHz–and a prior-generation graphics chip.

CNET Reviews has validated Apple’s speed claims, saying “for most native applications that don’t depend on a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, the iPhone 3G S was consistently faster.”

The review continues: “The iPhone 3G S opened the iPod player almost 5 seconds faster, and it was much quicker at loading some notoriously slow apps. For example, Bejewled 2, which can take up to 12 seconds to load on the iPhone 3G, started in just 5 seconds on the 3G S.”

And: “The iPhone 3G S also started up much quicker than the iPhone 3G–we were up and running in 26 seconds instead of 50 seconds.”

The Palm Pre also uses a Cortex A8 application processor from ARM and the PowerVR SGX graphics from Imagination.

These new specs are sure to prove interesting as the newest iPhone continues to build interest worldwide. As technology improves, it will be amazing to see where we go next.

Father’s Day is on Sunday and, if you’ve got a dad that’s into technology, a geek gift could be a great option. If you can’t afford the new iPhone, here are some other Apple options to pick up to honor Dad on his big day:

Gold Apple iPod Shuffle-engraved with a special note to Dad can be a memorable gift.

Belking Micro Auto Charger-With its sleek, low-profile design, Belkin’s Micro Charger provides a convenient solution for charging your iPod or iPhone in your car at the fastest possible speeds.

Apple TV-With a huge selection of on-demand HD movies and HD TV shows — and one-click access to all your music and photos — Apple TV turns your widescreen TV into a digital entertainment hub.

Wacom Intuos4 Pen Tablet-Small-Offering an advanced pen Tip Sensor, ExpressKeys and a finger-sensitive Touch Ring, the Intuos4 Pen Tablet speeds production time for photo editing, design and art creation. There isn’t a more natural tool than a pen for increased comfort and control.

Time Capsule-Back up a lifetime’s worth of memories with the all-new Time Capsule, a wireless hard drive that works seamlessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. It’s also a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with simultaneous dual-band support.¹ Choose from 500GB and 1TB models².

Happy Hunting!

There seemed to be some people in this world that just simply struggle with electronics. My dad has a phD and is a very intelligent man. But he can barely open email or check messages on his cell phone. Others seem to have electronics and tech stuff come naturally to them, as if they were born for this advanced age of science.

There are others, however, who are gifted and skilled with the electronic gifts, yet it seems that electronics have a grudge against them. Take for example, my two colleagues today at work. Both of them young, intelligent, tech-savvy individuals who spent the morning upgrading their iPhones. They both have the same computers, same software, same iPhone. So you can imagine the frustration of one of my colleagues, we’ll call him G, when his buddy, K, sitting next to him with the same phone and same set-up, got his iPhone uploaded within minutes of plugging in, and G, is sitting around waiting for his upgrades to come through. G experienced further frustration when all of a sudden his iPhone shut down and lost all information. It is at this point when we started to discuss his electronic curse. Could he be doomed by the tech-gods in the sky, somehow predestined to sit forever, staring blankly at his iPhone waiting for it to update? How does this curse choose its victims? Why some and not others?

Many people have experienced these types of curses, where electronics just don’t seem to work for us and we covet skills of those like Rebel, on the show Heroes, who apparently can talk to machines. In this amazing age of technological advances, could there be a stronger force at work, testing our will and patience with these amazing devices, reminding us that we are at the emotional whim of an inanimate object?

But as we discussed this curse and if it was real, the very moment G voiced his frustration, his iPhone updated and is working fine. So, perhaps, in the end, the curse is merely the impatience of a generation who is used to having everything right away and we need to slow down and give technology a chance to catch up. I guess we’ll never know.

What’s been your experience with the iPhone upgrades? Are you cursed? Let us know.

And so the line starts. According to MacWorld, Both Apple and AT&T have announced details on where, when, and how to get a shiny new iPhone 3G S, when the device starts shipping on June 19.

AT&T stores will open at 7 a.m. on June 19, and the carrier is already taking pre-orders for the iPhone 3G S on its Web site and in stores. Customers who pre-ordered their iPhone (either online or at a store) can join the line at 7 a.m. on June 19 at AT&T stores, where they will receive priority processing until normal business hours.

A second line will be dedicated to customers whom have not pre-ordered their iPhone 3G S, and they will be able to enter the stores only at normal business hours. Then, the two lines will be merged, but priority will still be given to customers who pre-ordered. This whole process is done on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Apple also is taking iPhone 3G S pre-orders on its Web site. If a 3G S is pre-ordered online with Apple, the device will be shipped free of cost and arrives on June 19. Apple Retail Stores are also taking reservations for iPhone 3G S, and customers can pick it up on June 19. A number of stores will open at 8 a.m. for early pick-ups.

To recap, the 16GB iPhone 3G S will cost $199 and the 32GB model will cost $299. These prices are only for new and qualifying customers. Early iPhone 3G upgraders will have to shell out $399 for the 16GB model and $599 for the 32GB version.

So we’re curious what you think. Will the new iPhone 3G S be worth the cost, especially for existing upgraders? Let us know in the comments section.