Recently in Smartphones Category

Jurors empaneled for a trial typically are instructed by the judge not to do anything on their own to learn about the facts and circumstances of the case outside of the courtroom.  This traditionally has meant that they should not talk to people with knowledge of the case, they should not visit the scene of the events at issue, and they should try to avoid any television or any newspaper coverage of the trial.  But in the new Internet age, it appears that judges have to be even more specific in their admonitions to jurors.

We live in a world where we can find out almost anything from the Internet by the simple movement of our fingers on relatively tiny devices.  In just a matter of seconds, from practically any location, jurors can seek information relating to parties, witnesses and the issues at stake in a given trial.  This, of course, can taint the jurors such that they would not be deliberating in the case based only on the facts presented to them at trial.

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet.

We are bombarded with advertising proclaiming longer and longer battery life for our various gadgets and devices.  Indeed, who hasn't had images of the Energizer Bunny burned into his or her mind?

But seriously folks, battery life isn't a joking matter.  When your cell phone or laptop dies on you for lack of battery power, you certainly don't feel like laughing.

June is a fun month for Apple lovers.  The company holds its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, thus June is when the company announces some of its sexiest, most high-profile new products.

This year did not disappoint.

The Cupertino-based company announced a new iPhone series, the iPhone 3G S.  It also announced a new operating system that will add or upgrade many features for users of the existing iPhone OS. 

An obscure company known as Tune Hunter has sued some big names in technology, including Apple and AT&T, for patent infringement, claiming that their promotion of the Shazam application violates Tune Hunter's patent for a music identification system. 

Tune Hunter also sued the company that makes Shazam, as well as Samsung, Amazon.com, Napster, Motorola, Verizon and others. 

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section about legal developments surrounding technology and the internet.

Fasten your seatbelts - if you love music, you absolutely must get hip to the Music Genome Project brought to you at Pandora.com.  This is the next big thing in music.

As pointed out on the web site, Pandora means "all gifted."  According to ancient Greek mythology, Pandora received a variety of gifts from the Gods, including the gift of music from Apollo.  The twist now is that Pandora.com is here to bring the gift of music to you.

EAGAN, Minn., April 27, 2009 - A Black's Law Dictionary application for the iPhone and iPod touch is now available from West, part of Thomson Reuters. The app features the most recent 8th edition of the dictionary, edited by Bryan A. Garner.

"The new iPhone application for Black's Law Dictionary is very exciting," says Garner. "The idea that you can have a very full, elaborate, complex and richly textured book like Black's available at your fingertips is fantastic."

"Black's Law Dictionary was a logical choice for our first iPhone application," said Justin Hummel, director, New Product Development, West. "It's a perfect way for any legal professional or law student to take Black's with them wherever they go."

AT&T pays a little over $2 million per year for the right to put its name on the home field of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. 

For that kind of money, the company must expect at least a little positive marketing to come out of it.

That's why I was surprised, perplexed and more than a little annoyed when I found that I couldn't connect to the internet on my iPhone during my visit to the park last night.  I expected that iPhone connectivity would be a breeze at AT&T (which some people even call Telephone Park), especially considering that sales of the device seem to be the main thing providing AT&T a profit these days.

The iPhone has been good to AT&T.  It's brought the carrier millions of new subscribers, and has shored up the carrier's brand by associating it with a sexy piece of mobile hardware.

That's why it's not surprising that AT&T wants to extend its exclusive deal to carry the iPhone - which expires at the end of 2009 - for another two years, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The WSJ, citing people familiar with the issue, says that AT&T's CEO is currently in discussions with Apple to stretch the exclusive arrangement until 2011.

Apple, in its usual fashion, ain't saying squat.  "We have a great relationship with AT&T," an Apple spokeswoman said, which is more than the taciturn tech company will usually divulge outside of carefully scripted press events.

Stephen Shankland at CNN has a good review of Google's new Gmail application for mobile phones, particularly the iPhone and phones using Google's Android platform.

The new Gmail app allows users to access messages while offline, and even to compose a message without an internet connection.  Gmail automatically takes care of sending the message when the connection is restored.

Skype's iPhone application has quickly climbed to the top of the ranks of free applications available for the smartphone since its launch on March 31.  AT&T's refusal to allow the VoIP service to operate over its 3G network, however, has been panned by an open-internet advocacy group, Free Press.