A federal appeals court has thrown out a jury verdict that had originally required Apple Inc to pay $533 million to Smartflash LLC, a technology developer and licenser that claimed Apple’s iTunes software infringed its data storage patents.

Not only did they win the appeal, the judge said the patents should have been ruled invalid.

Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Travis Kalanick on Tuesday said it was time for him to “grow up” and get help after a video was published showing him getting into an argument with a driver for the ride service who complained about pay rates.

Uber has certainly been in the hot seat of late.

This is truly one of those Apple Pencil accessories you never knew you needed until you see it in action. No more hunting for lost lightning caps, that pesky charging cap stays put, even when plugged in. No more rolling away from you when you set it down or storage difficulties, the custom pen clip keeps your Apple Pencil in place on the table and in the pocket. And no more slippery fingers, the leather grip provides a sturdy tactile feel while letting you be as precise as you want.

I do love Pad & Quill’s products.

Try naming an iconic Canadian designer. You can’t? Here are three: Allan Fleming, who created the Canadian National Railway logo. Georges Huel, the guy behind the symbol for the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. And Burton Kramer, whose work includes branding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

I’m embarrassed to say, but I couldn’t have named three designers.

I attended Apple’s shareholder meeting in the company’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters this morning as a member of the media. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the meeting and received a standing ovation before giving a few brief remarks, including a look at next year’s meeting. […]

April 7-9, Ellefson Coffee Co., the boutique Coffee brand of Grammy-Winning Megadeth bassist David Ellefson will hold a GRAND OPENING for its first brick and mortar ELLEFSON COFFEE CO shop in David’s hometown of Jackson, MN. In addition to Ellefson himself, who will be in attendance, the event will be co-hosted by special guest comedian, and THAT METAL SHOW co-host, Don Jamieson.

I have to order some of this coffee. The blend names are amazing.

Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give you more options to diversify and expand your library of games with Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription service coming later this spring. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games – all for $9.99 per month.

I’m betting this will be popular.

There are some great things for the entire family and friends too. Scroll to the bottom to find a variety of categories, which may make it easier to narrow in on what you’re looking for.

Mozilla has acquired Pocket, a kind of DVR for the internet, for an undisclosed sum. The nine-year-old company, which makes tools for saving articles and videos to view them later, is Mozilla’s first acquisition. It represents a homecoming of sorts for Pocket, which began life as a Firefox extension before eventually expanding its team and building a suite of apps for every major platform. Pocket has been Firefox’s default read-it-later service since 2015.

The dark side of the moon. I think I’ll wait a bit on this trip.

You don’t have to be a music fan to enjoy this great video from 1988. See how many people you recognize in the video.

Earlier this week I posted about Jeremy Brett being my favorite Sherlock Holmes. I received a lot of great feedback from that, so I thought I’d tell you my other favorite fictional detective, Poirot.

David Suchet is absolutely spectacular in his depiction of Agatha Christie’s famous detective. I have watched these shows over and over again, enjoying them each time.

For a while now there have been reports of some older iPhone models, namely iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, shutting down unexpectedly. Apple introduced some diagnostics into iOS 10.2 back in December to try and determine what was happening and, with iOS 10.2.1, they’ve rolled out a fix.

Glad to see they figured out what was going on.

In the busy week in the run up to the awards, the director of Timecode, Juanjo Giménez, very kindly answered our questions about the post production process.

What’s amazing to me is that this was his first project using Final Cut Pro.

Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car unit sued Uber Technologies and its autonomous trucking subsidiary Otto in federal court on Thursday over allegations of theft of its confidential sensor technology.

Oh boy.

I usually don’t go for these types of colored Apple products, but damn I’d love to have a set of purple AirPods.

The price tag was just $23 million, according to figures disclosed Wednesday as part of Fitbit’s quarterly earnings report. Fitbit also spent $15 million on the assets of Vector Watch, another smartwatch company.

I’m not sure that Fitbit can do any more with Pebble than what Pebble did.

Damn, I hope to still be walking at 81. Much respect.

Celebrating its 86.27 score in the Harris Corporate Reputation Poll, Amazon is giving everyone a discount of $8.62 on orders of $50 or more today only. Hey, celebrate whatever you want if I can save money.

“Utility” features your choice of two often-requested but rarely-available body pages: Engineer Graph or Ledger. Engineer Graph features an 1/8-inch grid with bolder lines each half-inch. It awaits your schematics, assembly drawings, geometry homework, or dungeon maps. The Ledger version, of course, is ultra-handy for mileage logs, parts lists, to-do lists, or any sort of handwritten accounting.

I’ve used these notebooks for years for all of my interviews and notes while on the road. I’d highly recommend them.

New 5G networks are expected to provide speeds at least 10 times and up to maybe 100 times faster than today’s 4G networks, with the potential to connect at least 100 billion devices with download speeds that can reach 10 gigabits per second.

Those are impressive speeds.

Apple on Wednesday said its new 175-acre campus will open to employees in April. The campus, dubbed “Apple Park” by the company, will take six months to fully occupy with the 12,000 employees that will work there. […]

A lot of great actors have played Sherlock Holmes over the years, but none did as great a job as Jeremy Brett. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the greatest Sherlock Holmes of all.

Steve Albini’s imprint on the sound of rock is undeniable. Having worked on seminal albums by the Pixies, PJ Harvey and, perhaps most notably, Nirvana’s milestone record “In Utero,” his sonic DNA is in the fabric of productions that have helped create a new branch in rock history. This collection of drums captures the incomparable sonic fingerprint of not only Steve Albini but also the ambience of his very own studio, which he personally built and designed. Welcome to Electrical Audio in Chicago, IL, and a truly unique collection of drums.

I love Toontrack’s drum packs and use them all the time when I’m writing songs.

In Monday’s test, a drone launched from the roof of a UPS vehicle flew autonomously toward its destination, dropped a package and then returned to the vehicle as the driver continued on a delivery route.

This is clearly coming.

I’ve watched all the hubbub around Alexa since it first came out, but I never pulled the trigger and picked one up for myself. I know people that own them and they have nothing but praise for the device. It’s an intriguing proposition, but I’m still not sure if it’s something I’d use everyday or if it would be more of a novelty item.

Amazon is making a big push into the home market with Alexa, partnering with other manufacturers, which is a really smart move. The more I look at Alexa, the more I want to try it out, but I’ll still on the fence.

I need a pipeline of Heineken to my house. Still, this is pretty amazing.

I’ve used a lot of tuners over the years, but this is one of my favorites. I have one of these that I use with my electric and acoustic guitars.

The latest issue of Billboard features Camila Cabello on the cover in a stunning photo shot outside a rental home in Beverly Hills — with an iPhone 7 Plus using the new Portrait mode.

That is really remarkable. I love using Portrait Mode on my iPhone 7 Plus—even though I’m not a great photographer, Apple helps give my photos depth and polish that I wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise.

AT&T Inc said on Thursday it would make its unlimited data plan available to all wireless customers who pay a monthly bill, days after rival Verizon Communications Inc announced an unlimited option.

I really dislike the fact that we have to wait for a price war in order to get access to something like an unlimited plan. I don’t trust any wireless company.