glass

A lawsuit against Apple over the durability of the iPhone 4's glass was tossed out by a federal judge in California this week.

In an order this past Tuesday (PDF), U.S. District Judge Edward Davila dismissed a case filed by Betsalel Williamson on January 2011, which sought class-action status and accused Apple of breaching its warranty by charging for broken glass.

Williamson filed the complaint after damaging his 2-day-old iPhone 4, which dropped off the arm of a chair. Williamson pointed to claims made by Apple, including its industrial design chief Sir Jonathan Ive, that the glass on … Read more

Does Apple have some glasses of its own? We're about to find out:

Is Apple finally readying a game controller? The company released the patent information for one it filed back in March that shows what looks exactly like a PlayStation 3 DualShock controller communicating with an iPhone. The controller will work with iPads and Apple TV as well using NFC communication. Now don't go throwing out your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 just yet. There's no way to know if this will actually ever see the light of day because there have been plenty of Apple … Read more

Heads up, Google. Apple may be eyeing its own "portable heads-up display" that could one day give Google Glass devices some competition.

Outlined in a filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office yesterday, Apple's patent application refers to a technology that increases the resolution on a display without increasing the number of pixels. Such technology could be used in a portable heads-up display, Apple explained, where limiting the number of pixels is especially useful.

"In particular, a portable heads-up display may be size and weight constrained such that addition of physical pixels may … Read more

Wouldn't it be handy if when someone was speaking a foreign language, subtitles appeared just below their face? CNET reader Will Powell thought so, so he built some glasses that make you feel like you're in an arthouse movie.

Using some 3D specs, a couple of mics, a smartphone, a few cables, and two Raspberry Pi mini-computers, Powell hacked together a working automatic translation system -- and he's made a video showing it working.

Powell, a programmer with a background is in Adobe Flex and AS3, was inspired by Google's high-concept Glass project. … Read more

Many who dream of adorning their faces with technology were stunned to hear that Google-type glasses might not be welcome at McDonald's.

Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, claimed that he had worn his Digital Eye Glass while ordering himself a Ranch Wrap in Paris.

He insisted that the employees did not take kindly to them. He claimed that they had tried to take them off him.

Now McDonald's has declared: "Non."

The company issued a statement, which reads in part: "Several staff members involved have been interviewed individually, and all independently … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- Guy gets butt kicked for wearing digital eye glasses inside McDonald's.

- Burger King employee stands on lettuce, gets busted by Internet.

- This is how you paint a 150-foot Batman.

- Does this photo of yesterday's storm in New York deserve an Instagram filter?… Read more

I know those Google glasses make everyone but Sergey Brin look quite odd.

But could they look so odd as to cause someone to rip them off your head?

This question is reverberating around the minds of furious futurists after Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, was allegedly assaulted in a Paris McDonald's -- by people who allegedly work for McDonald's.

I know that working at McDonald's is extremely stressful. However, Mann's tale, which he committed to his blog, tells of a situation that has caused some indigestion.

Mann says he was wearing … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's time to think of Google as much more than just a search engine, and that should both excite and spook you.

Search remains critical to the company's financial and technological future, but Google also is using the search business' cash to transform itself into something much broader than just a place to point your browser when asking for directions on the Internet.

What it's now becoming is an extension of your mind, an omnipresent digital assistant that figures out what you need and supplies it before you even realize you need it.

Think … Read more

Production of the next iPhone has already begun, a Japanese-language Apple blog claims.

And to back up its claim, the Macotakara blog cites listings for iPhone 5 cases on China's Alibaba.com.

The blog goes on to say that the back of the new iPhone has both glass and aluminum. "In the area where aluminum is not used, there is glass." (see image below).

This contrasts with previous reports that claim the next iPhone will have an all-aluminum back like the iPad.

By comparison, the iPhone 4S sports glass coverings on the front and back.

The iPhone … Read more