Lauren Goode for AllThingsD:

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nest, maker of a “smart” thermostat and target of a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by industrial giant Honeywell, has submitted a formal response to Honeywell’s claims.The start-up has also brought Richard “Chip” Lutton, a 10-year Apple Inc. veteran who managed the company’s patent portfolio, on board as vice president and general counsel.

Nest was founded by Tony Fadell, formerly in charge of Apple’s iPod division. The company made waves earlier this year for introducing a programmable home thermostat with a radically simpler, smarter interface than what you can buy elsewhere. No sooner had the company introduced its first product then it was hit with a lawsuit by Honeywell, which says that Nest is infringing its patents.

Chip Lutton left Apple in 2011.

Here is my latest column for TechPinions where I look at iCloud:

iCloud is not just a syncing service — it’s a content delivery mechanism that will play an increasingly important role in future products.

Part of a letter Axl Rose wrote to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of “Guns N’ Roses”.

NHL GameCenter 2011-2012:

The National Hockey League has an updated GameCenter app that adds new features and expanded coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that start this evening. This update has round-by-round coverage of the playoffs and highlights of games.You can view playoff videos with commentary, highlights and top moments and even listen to live game radio during the playoffs. Game alerts are also available for each playoff series. NHL GameCenter 2011-2012 is available from the App Store as a free download.

Go Canucks Bruins!

Sigh.

AppleInsider:

The Finnish handset maker had previously told investors it expected to break even on device sales during the quarter, but its operating margins proved to be around negative 3 percent. Nokia now expects its second quarter of 2012 to be similar to or below the first quarter.

Apple updated its Web site today highlighting a number of ways professional video editors are using Final Cut Pro X.

Jeff John Roberts:

Now, state governments are seeking their own pound of flesh. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has just announced that his state and 15 others have filed an antitrust lawsuit again Apple and five publishers in Texas.

The states say it’s cost consumers $100 million.

The Wall Street Journal:

Worldwide tablet sales will nearly double in 2012 on sky-high demand for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad, technology research firm Gartner Inc. predicted.Global customers are seen buying 118.9 million tablets including the iPad in 2012, a 98% increase from last year.Though competitors like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android are expected to make inroads, Apple’s iOS will continue to be the dominant tablet operating system, Gartner said. The firm expects it to account for 61% of customer sales.

While each year is predicted to be the year of the tablet, this continues to be Apple’s market, with everyone else vying for second place.

James Brightman for GamesIndustry International:

“But I don’t think we’re far away from that at all. If you talk to any of the smart kids in the class, I think all of them are looking at how do we build good IP for theses devices, and I think Infinity Blade is now the benchmark and I think Epic and Chair have done a wonderful job there.”

Brightman quotes Remedy Entertainment CEO Matias Myllyrinne, whose company debuted their popular Max Payne game franchise on the iPad this week. Myllyrinne says that the limiting factor for iPad gaming isn’t about machine’s horsepower at this point, it’s about building “the right kind of content for that medium.”

Shortly before his death last week, Jim Marshall, creator of the famous amplifier, gave his last interview to Alfred Hickling. He talked about his debt to Hendrix and Spinal Tap – and his final invention, the one-watt amp.

WSJ:

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would cease, retail e-books prices would increase significantly and Apple would be guarantee a 30% “commission” on each e-book sold.

Forget new gear, weapons, or sophisticated targeting systems. The newest tool coming to combat troops is low-tech: beards. In a report released yesterday, research think-tank Xegis Solutions noted that beards have a direct correlation to combat effectiveness.

Damn right!

[Via Scott Johnson]

A drop dead simple utility for any New Yorker. You tell the little robot, (we call him Metro for short) how much money you have on your metrocard, he spits back out you what you need to put on it to get an even fare.

A simple utility, but I can see how useful this would be.

More than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+, enjoying new ways to share in Search, Gmail, YouTube and lots of other places. It’s still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we’re more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google.

Kyle Baxter on why he made Basil:

Simple: I love to cook, but couldn’t find the app I wanted, so I built it.

To me this is the perfect reason to build an app. You love to do something, but can’t find the perfect app to do it.

The Vancouver Sun:

The image of a dinosaur whose remains were discovered in Alberta’s Peace Country will be featured on our newest quarter — the first Canadian coin with a glow-in-the dark picture.The quarter, being released by the Royal Canadian Mint April 16, features Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai, a large herbivore whose bone fragments were discovered by Grande Prairie, Alta., science teacher Al Lakusta in 1974.

It’s a glow in the dark 25 cent piece that costs $30. Silly Canadians.

Claudia De La Roca for Smithsonian magazine:

When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, “This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.” And they do.

Go ahead and read the interview if you want to know which Springfield inspired him, though.

(Via the Washington Post.)

The Next Web:

In a move that should be a surprise to nobody, technology darling 500px is moving to take out Flickr with a new Plus plan. The company had previously held a high-level plan that was priced at $50 per year, but the Plus membership’s $20 per year pricing is aiming to hit Flickr where it hurts against its own pro-level plan at $25 per year.As for the features? Here’s what you’ll get – unlimited uploads and storage, access to files, unlimited number of collections, market functionality included, and advanced statistics on engagement.Another, smaller announcement is coming today as well. The site is introducing a desktop uploader app, for the Mac only. It’s doing so in response to the 30,000 photos per day that are uploaded to the service via the manual process, with 25% of its users on Mac machines.

I was a big fan and user of Flickr but it hasn’t really moved forward. Lots of photographers are checking out what 500px offers.

NASA:

NASA’s 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with space shuttle Discovery mounted atop will fly approximately 1,500 feet above various parts of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on Tuesday, April 17.The flight, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, is scheduled to occur between 10 and 11 a.m. EDT. NASA Television and the agency’s web site will provide live coverage.The aircraft is expected to fly near a variety of landmarks including the National Mall, Reagan National Airport, National Harbor and the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center. When the flyover is complete, the SCA will land at Dulles International Airport.

If you’re lucky enough to live in the area, grab your camera and get some shots of this fly-over.

Wall Street Journal:

The nation’s major wireless providers have agreed to a deal with the U.S. government to build a central database of stolen cellphones—part of a broad effort to tame an explosion of thefts nationwide.The database, which the wireless companies will build and maintain, will be designed to track phones that are reported as lost or stolen and deny them voice and data service. The idea is to reduce crime by making it difficult or impossible to actually use a stolen device, reducing resale value.

Remember back in the day (last week) when RIM’s Vice President of Developer Relations Alec Saunders said the company was removing sideloading from the PlayBook.

Surprise, no they’re not.

It will be Cook’s first appearance at D, as well as his first time being onstage at an event not run by Apple or for investors since he was named CEO last August.

Carrie Cousins:

Pay attention to alignment, contrast, type effects and color because these items can make or break your website design.

Solid advice. It’s the small things that often kill us.

Jason Snell for Macworld:

The iTunes we’ve all come to know has had a good run, but it’s reached the point where it is a crazy agglomeration of features and functionality. If someone were to design it today, it wouldn’t remotely resemble its current state. And as a portal to iOS devices and the iTunes Store, iTunes is too crucial to Apple’s business to ignore or run on auto-pilot.When it comes to hardware, Apple is bold in replacing popular old products with something new that’s different, but better. It’s time for the company to do the same with iTunes.

I could not agree more. I’ve come to hate iTunes, partly because I’m required to depend on it to do so much. For a company so well-known for simple, effective design, Apple really needs to completely rethink iTunes’ “kitchen sink” approach.

Andy Greenberg for Forbes:

Locating and shutting down command and control servers is typical practice for a company trying to behead and cripple a botnet targeting its computers. Sharov says that Dr. Web has worked with Microsoft several times in the past on those efforts. But Apple, which has never dealt with a botnet the size of the Flashback infection, has fewer ties to firms like Dr. Web, Sharov says. “For Microsoft, we have all the security response team’s addresses,” he says. “We don’t know the antivirus group inside Apple.”

Dr. Web, a Russian software security firm responsible for discovering the size of the Flashback botnet, was operating a spoofed Flashback command-and-control server. Apple told Dr. Web’s ISP to shut it down, apparently not understanding the system was a “sinkhole,” a system used “to monitor the collection of hijacked machines,” according to the report.

Apple is also taking criticism for the security community for not reacting fast enough to stop Flashback in its tracks – the Java security exploit that enables the malware to work was patched by Oracle in February, and Apple is only now getting around to distributing a patch for its own Java software.

This isn’t the first time Apple has egg on its face for mishandling a security issue. As Tim Cook remolds Apple to be more responsible and transparent on issues like its supply chain, this would be another good area for him to invest some effort into changing.