The Obama administration has issued a reprieve to a U.S. International Trade Commission order that banned Apple from selling certain older model iPhones and iPads which violated Samsung Electronics patents.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman wrote to the commission in a letter published on Saturday. In the letter Froman explained that his move to veto the ban was driven by direction from the president. Here is an excerpt from the letter:

The Administration is committed to promoting innovation and economic progress, including through providing adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Relief available to the owners of intellectual property rights through section 337 is an important facet of achieving that objective. At the same time, standards, and particularly voluntary consensus-based standards set by SDOs, have come to play an increasingly important role in the U.S. economy. Important policy considerations arise in the enforcement of those patents incorporated into technical standards without which such standards cannot be implemented as designed when the patent holder has made a voluntary commitment to offer to license these SEPs on FRAUD terms.

You can read the entire letter here.

Moleskine has released a new iPad 3 or iPad 4 cover and notebook combination, helping you scribble on paper or the iPad while creating.

The rubber shell case protects your iPad and adds a fancy Volant Reporter Notebook–customizable for left and right-handed writers. Would you pay $89.95 for this handsome accessory? Check it out:

This Moleskine tool integrates devices and paper, digital and analog, protection and design. The rounded spine allows the tablet cover to lay flat when opened fully, and the inside is lined in soft, ivory faux-suede. The new Moleskine Tablet Slim Cover is available in a variety of stunning colors to match your personality, AND the cover of the included Volant Reporter Notebook matches the cover color of the Tablet Cover!

Read more

Apple earned revenue of $35.3 billion in revenues during its fiscal 2013 third quarter which ended June 29, 2013, up slightly from $35 billion which the company  brought in in the comparable quarter last year, according to the company’s financial report released today.  More than half of the quarter’s revenues (57 percent) came from international sales.

During the quarter, the company sold 31.2 million iPhones, up from 26 million in the same quarter last year. In addition, Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, down from 17 million in comparable quarter last year.

“We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” stated Tim Cook, Apple of CEO, in a press release. “We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”

While Apple is in the process of paying back families whose children racked up thousands of dollars in phone bills through in-app purchasing as part of a settlement in a US class action suit, some consumers abroad are just beginning to discover the issue.

Canadian mother Paula Marner told CBC News the story of how her twin seven-year-old boys generated a $3,000 bill after downloading Clash of Clans what she thought was a free game. The game is free to download, but as one of the top grossing games in iTunes, it makes its money on in-app purchases, a feature that Marner claims she was unaware of.

CBC has the story:

She says the boys were putting in the password and being prompted to make purchases that ranged from 99 cents to $99. ‘So that kept coming up consistently and they kept tapping it, because it’s just tap purchase, tap purchase, tap purchase,’ she said.

Marner is not part of the US class action suit, but she is apparently going to get the charges reversed. In related news today, The Guardian is reporting that Apple will reimburse a British man for £4,000-worth of in-app purchases his daughter made by accident.

Apple’s Development Center, the company’s official web development site for the iPhone, was hacked into and “developers’ names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed.” Intruders hacked into the site last Thursday and it has been shut ever since, while Apple works to resolve the issue.

In response to the breach, Apple is redesigning its developer systems, updating its server software, and rebuilding its database. Apple reported the news on the site.

Here is more from the site: “We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the developer website up again soon. If your program membership was set to expire during this period, it has been extended and your app will remain on the App Store.”

Bloomberg broke the news this afternoon that Apple will buy HopStop, the navigation service with apps and online tools for helping you map walking, taxi or public transportation travel directions.

All Things D confirmed the acquisition with Apple. Above, we’ve embedded a photograph of the HopStop offices. Check it out:

At last count, HopStop had two million monthly active users and launched a Waze-like service for reporting real-time delays and other information. Founded in 2005, the company makes apps for both Apple and Android that cover more than 300 cities.

The IFTTT app is now available as a free iPhone app, connecting your digital tools in fascinating ways.

The app is deceptively simple. Once you have the app, you can create recipes linking two functions across your devices. Some examples: Whenever I add a new contact, mark it in my Calendar or Auto-share photos in a specific album with your Mother. Here’s more from the release:

unlock three new Channels for iPhone: Contacts, Photos, and Reminders (with more to come). Create and use Recipes around the things you do on the go: snapping screenshots, adding new contacts, completing reminders, and organizing your photo albums. IFTTT for iPhone is our first step towards bringing the power of IFTTT to all of your devices. Put the iPhone to work for you.

(Via Gabriel Snyder)

Researchers at UC San Diego have found that many apps collect the iPhone unique identifier (UDID) – despite Apple’s privacy policy. The company has been rejecting apps that collect user UDIDs since May 1, but it appears that at least a third of apps have been shown to do just that.

Starting May 1, the App Store will no longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs. Please update your apps and servers to associate users with the Vendor or Advertising identifiers introduced in iOS 6.

The researchers actually used an app to collect some privacy data – ProtectMYPivacy. The app monitors access from other apps and notifies users who can also choose to block access. Read more

The votes are still inconclusive on Twitter, but over 46,000 users on Polar’s polling app have made a clear decision: the new Apple icons are preferable. As reported by Techcrunch, users are likely to prefer the new logos by a factor of two to one:

Those numbers represent the cumulative totals for all votes gathered on individual iOS 7 icons by the service since their unveiling at WWDC, and the data reveals that not only do people tend to prefer the iOS 7 versions overall, but they strongly prefer them in most cases. The redesigned Phone icon, for instance, garnered 80 percent pro-votes, with just 20 percent preferring the older design, and the Messages app icon was preferred by 84 percent of respondents, vs. just 16 percent for the older edition.

Since the poll is only available to users of Polar, it’s hardly scientific. However, the numbers are not misleading, the new icons are more likable for most. What do you think?

As part of the new iOS7 update, which is coming to iPhones this fall, Apple has updated the Camera app to make it more like Instagram.

The update brings the ability to shoot images in “square” format, as well as the ability to add vintage looking filters to images. The new format is appealing for Instagram users, because it means that you can shoot in the Instagram format without having to crop in on an image. You can jump between normal stills, video, panorama and square by swiping within the app. Like Instagram filters, the new Apple filters let you change the look and contrast of a photo and try them on for size before you hit apply. They work on both normal stills and square stills. Read more