Mac News and Rumors for December 19th

 

This week, we don’t have any Earth-shattering news, but we do have some rumblings from Apple and breaking news from the online poker scene.

Isaac Haxton to Meet Isildur1 in First SuperStar Showdown

As promised, Isildur1’s SuperStar Showdown tables will start up today at 6:00pm ET on PokerStars.  The heads-up cash game will be played over 2,500 hands of $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em, with each player putting up $150,000 for their bankroll.  To watch the action, log into PokerStars and go to the “Hold’em,” “No Limit / Pot Limit,” and “All” tab of the lobby and then look for tables called “Showdown.”  There will be four tables in action during the match.

Joint Venture Between Apple and Microsoft?

Foss Patents has reported that Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and EMC have worked together to buy 882 patents from Novell for $450 million.  Apple, which has a huge patent library, has been looking to add to it because so many people are trying to sue them over patent infringements.  The rumor here is that Apple may spend $1 billion to acquire Nortel patents in 2011.

More Lawsuits

Nokia announced that it has filed four new lawsuits against Apple in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Germany over infringement on an additional 13 patents held by Nokia.  The company cites the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch as violating patents and first filed a claim against Apple in October 2009.  Since then, the entire dispute has continued to escalate, with both companies filing litigation against the other.

Sony Announces PlayStation App for iPhone

Although Sony is believed to think that Apple is the enemy in the mobile games market, the company released a new PlayStation App for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  The app lets you check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keeps you up to date with your friends online.  It also lets you see the latest games, news, and hardware for PS3 and PSP and you can read announcements from the official blog.  The App is free and is only available in select European countries at launch.

Constraints Leading to Problems for Next Gen iPad?

DigiTimes is reporting that suppliers for the backlight unit for the upcoming iPad 2 were named and none of them utilize superior OLED technology.  So, it appears that OLED technology will not be available.

Four Insiders at Apple Charged

United States regulators were reported to be looking into inside information on Apple and other companies’ product plans being transmitted to researchers in the form of “channel checks.”  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that four corporate managers who worked with Primary Global Research on the side have been charged, one of whom is alleged to have given out information about the iPhone 4 and iPad.  The reports say that the alleged corporate spies were paid more than $22,000 in a “consultant role” to the firm.  Other corporate managers have been arrested at companies like Dell, AMD, Seagate, and Western Digital.

Full Tilt Rolls Out Holiday Promo

Full Tilt Poker has a little promotion to celebrate the holiday season.  If you purchase items in the Full Tilt Store, the site will give you either a free Step tournament ticket or a cash bonus.  The site is also going to have secret 3X Happy Hours during the holiday season.  Finally, if you buy any item in the Full Tilt Store or Black Card Store during the promotion, you will receive a ticket to the $50,000 Holiday Giveaway Freeroll, which will take place at 14:15 ET on Sunday, January 16th.

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