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Last week I decided to take a week off – sort of. I was suppose to be at an event but a series of issues kept me at home. Therefore, I reduced my regular schedule and spent the rest of the week just relaxing (as much as I could) and starting a new book on Podcasting. Back in the zone this week – iPad365 back up and running after a small hiatus and a great episode of This Week in Google Glass with Luke last night.

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Geek Smack! episode 266 Tech News:

WWDC
New Mac Pro and Air, iOS7, OSX Mavericks and more
Surface for Schools
Microsoft will be offering 32 GB Surface RT to schools for $199 each
Instagram Video
In seeing Vine’s success, Instagram will get video support. Do you use Instagram anymore?
Jobs e-Book
Steve Jobs ebook will enter test phase as paperback version coming out soon.
Whistleblower
Live chat with Edward Snowden from the Guardian. Learn a little more on why he did what he did.
Texas Email Snoop
Texas becomes the first state that will allow email snooping once a warrant is obtained
No Throttle YouTube
Time Warner says they do not throttle YouTube videos. Some find if they block certain IP addresses, videos work better…
Sprint LTE Expands
22 new markets get Sprint LTE
Google Initiative
Google wants to scrub all child porn from the Internet – helping by giving authorities all information when it detects child porn on a website.

Geek Smack! Geek News

Charter Expanding?
Charter is looking for new acquisitions. Could Time Warner be one of them?
Kickstarter Crash
How one Kickstarter lost his house over a successful campaign and how people should give backers some leeway.
Facebook WiFi
Would you allow to give information for free WiFi from Facebook?
AT&T Fastest
Within major cities, AT&T wins on speed. However, Verizon is still #1 nationwide
Chromebook at Walmart
You can now purchase an Acer Chromebook at Walmart for $199.
Onion Pi
A go-between adaptor for WiFi that will protect your user information.
Stash Coins
Real looking coins that can hide your SD card
Netflix Dreamworks
Dreamworks worked out a new deal with Netflix to bring more kids shows to the streaming service.
GIF Beamed to Space
This Animated GIF will be sent out in hopes that alien life will receive and see what we’re all about…

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Geek Smack: iO7 Gets Facelift, People Saying it Looks too much like Android

Last week at WWDC, Apple released the new version of iOS in iOS7. Tim Cook says its the biggest change since iPhone was released. Yet many people mocked Apple – saying iOS7 now looks more like an Android phone.

I put out an image (see below) that kinda mocked the statement. It really put everyone to blame – After all, Apple made a great point that the most used Android OS version was developed in 2010 (at 33%). I talked with Luke Wallace about this right before our TWIGG show and he mentioned that Google does all it can to support all models while the developers can still easily support the older OS.

This is not the first time a company was accused of stealing form and function. Ironically, back in the original desktop wars, Apple accused Microsoft of stealing the idea for GUI – Graphical User Interface. Apple took Microsoft to court because Windows GUI seemed to be heavily influenced by their Lisa OS. This was further complicated when Xerox sued Apple for the same claims to Xerox’s GUI.

Now we move 10 years ahead. Mobile devices are the new computer and we have the same problems. Are they problems where Google could sue Apple for a similar look and feel?

We definitely want to protect intellectual property, but in some accusations, it just feels like they are trolling and hope to win so others can’t use a “Slide lock” or “way the icons are displayed on the screen”.

It’s like if the city of Houston sued the City of Kansas because the sky and cloud coverage looked similar to each other.

Let’s hope we don’t see an issue like that. Lawsuits – while sometimes necessary – only hold back innovation and raise costs.

Apple Fail or Google Fail?

Geek Smack! is a weekly video show and podcast that comes out every Tuesday evening. Your host: Jeffrey Powers – talks tech news, IT news and geek news for the week. Geek Smack! is ©2013 under a Creative Commons no-deriv license. Never take candy from strangers. If you would like more information about what is technology, recent news, Geekazine, and Jeffrey Powers, feel free to contact him. Jeffrey Powers does interviews, just ask!