Em Adespoton writes “Before the VirnetX case, nearly all FaceTime calls were done through a system of direct communication. Essentially, Apple would verify that both parties had valid FaceTime accounts and then allow their two devices to speak directly to each other over the Internet, without any intermediary or ‘relay’ servers. However, a small number of calls—5 to 10 percent, according to an Apple engineer who testified at trial—were routed through ‘relay servers.’ At the August 15 hearing, a VirnetX lawyer stated that Apple had logged ‘over half a million calls’ complaining about the quality of FaceTime [since disabling direct connections].” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Apple Now Relaying All FaceTime Calls Due To Lost Patent Dispute
An anonymous reader writes “In a fascinating post from Kelly Jacklin, the long time Apple software engineer details how he helped create the default text alert sound on the iPhone — a sound otherwise known as ‘Tri-tone.’ The history of the the pleasant text alert sound that we’ve all come to know and love stretches all the way back to 1998, nearly 10 years before the iPhone ever hit store shelves.” Here’s Jacklin’s post. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Less than a week after T-Mobile announced its new upgrade-at-will Jump plan , AT&T has announced that its new Next scheme will offer yearly upgrades as part of a new monthly instalment plan. Read more… 
Kim Jong-un is wishing that he was still running Windows 95 like he was last year when they were able to successfully run launch tests. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) stated that a launch test had to be put on hold due to “problems with Windows 8.” KCNA goes on to say that they are “working with Windows 8 support to resolve the issue.” There is no word what the exact nature of the problems Jong-un was experiencing, but perhaps ctrl/alt/delete might work. So what do you think was on that support ticket? I would love to know who the support staffer was so we could get a copy, but I am guessing that in the ‘description of issue’ section it went something like: “Failure to launch”