News - iPhone hurling 'sports game' app banned from the Apple App Store

[watercooled]

You can't (or shouldn't be able to ) patent technologies which already exist i.e. prior art. Also, anything vital for certain functions/competition must be a FRAND patent (free and non-discriminatory).

Not that that's stopped nonsense patents passing through the USPTO in the past of course, but they seem to be cleaning up their act somewhat lately.

However, on the subject of the knockoff Apple chargers, they're likely already infringing a load of patents considering they're copying the likeness, and in some cases even the silkscreen (logo, etc). But the manufacturers clearly couldn't care less, and there's likely not a lot Apple could do considering the attitude shown towards enforcing patents/safety standards in China.

A lot the knockoffs are probably illegal anyway, not just because of patent infringement, but also because of how terribly unsafe they are, and the forged safety markings found on a lot of them.

This sort of thing really needs to gain some more attention IMO - an awful lot of people won't know why it's worth spending more than 99p on a replacement charger. And the likes of Amazon and Ebay could do an awful lot more to remove dangerous products from their websites.

[aidanjt]

Natural selection for smartphones?

[3dcandy]

Darwin and the iphone...

fherirhhdsyiwewhdsdhsk

Sent from my iPhone after throwing it to test this app

[DanceswithUnix]

Take it bungee-jumping?

Must be plenty of theme park rides that would work.

[Odeas]

Parachutes for phones would make this very fun.

40+ meters is probably an RC copter of some sort.

[Andeh13]

What I struggle with is where do I buy a genuine Samsung Micro USB wall charger from?

[stevie lee]

I tried this via Bluestacks on my PC, I was halfway through the throw when I realised it didn't have accelerometers installed.

[watercooled]

What I struggle with is where do I buy a genuine Samsung Micro USB wall charger from?

Maybe something like this? http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/genuine-s...ite-p39150.htm

Seems a bit overpriced though, you should be able to get decent chargers for less than that.

Edit: This is part of the problem; genuine chargers are fairly hard to find amongst all the rubbish, and even when you buy something listed as genuine, it often isn't! You don't need to match the brand with your device though, any decent USB charger should work, but it's best to make sure the replacement is capable of at least the same current as the original. A properly made charger shouldn't allow the device to negotiate a higher current than it's capable of supplying though.

[zdn1042]

Crazy game. I wonder how many phones have been dropped because of this.

[aidanjt]

*edit* nevermind.

[watercooled]

Some stuff about fake chargers in this programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._3_Episode_14/

Edit: OK it's not brilliant, but anything trying to get the message out has to be a start. Probably won't do much to prevent people buying 'genuine' stuff from the net though.

[wilkie5211]

i would have drop the iPhone in one of them "imposable to brake cases" off the tallest building i could find just to see the results