Month: October 2016

Enlarge / She's ready for launch, maybe. (credit: CBS)

The most exciting news in years for Trek fans was the announcement that Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) was taking the reins as showrunner on a new CBS series called Star Trek: Discovery. But now the series premiere has been delayed until May 2017 after originally being slated for January, and Fuller has stepped away from the project because he's so busy with other work.

The separation seems amicable. CBS says they're still committed to the project, and Fuller legitimately has his plate full with a forthcoming American Gods miniseries and a new Amazing Stories show. Still, it's not great to see such a visionary writer step away from a series that sounds so promising.

We already know that Discovery will focus on the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery, whose starship explored the galaxy before Kirk was captain of the Enterprise. The lead will be a female lieutenant commander not yet cast, which has been a cause of concern to the studio. According to The Hollywood Reporter, other main characters include "an openly gay actor as one of the male leads (which Fuller confirmed), a female admiral, a male Klingon captain, a male admiral, a male adviser, and a British male doctor." Rumors are swirling that the series starts with a mutiny, though that has not been confirmed.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Along with the announcement of new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros, Apple highlighted what it considers to be the "ultimate docking station" for its newest laptops: LG's new UltraFine 5K Display. Apple executive Phil Schiller showed the new product on stage along with the new MacBook Pro, and he explained the company worked closely with LG to make it perfect for these new laptops.

This is not an Apple-branded monitor, which is an interesting move since Apple likes to keep its name on all products announced at these kinds of events. Of note, the monitor has built-in cameras, microphones, speakers, three USB Type-C ports, and one Thunderbolt 3 port. Considering Apple discontinued its Thunderbolt display earlier this year, LG's new monitor will be a welcome choice for anyone who wanted a second display for their laptop.

But like the abandoned Thunderbolt display, LG's monitor doesn't come cheap. It's already listed in Apple's online store for $1,299. Full specs are listed with the monitor, too: it's a 27-inch IPS display with a 5120 x 2880, 5K resolution, P3 wide color gamut, and over 14.7 million pixels (77 percent more than your typical 4K display). Apple showed two monitors on stage today, however only the 27-inch 5K model is listed on Apple's website. Those may have been two of the same, or we may find out that there will be another configuration available closer to its release. LG's 5K monitor will be available in December.

Enlarge / The listing for the old non-Retina MacBook Pro. (credit: Apple)

Apple isn't making a big deal out of it, but today it quietly killed one of its oldest devices this side of the iPod lineup: the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro, which it had been selling for $1,099 as an entry-level model alongside newer Retina MacBook Pros for over four years. In its place is 2015's Retina model, which is being sold with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD for $1,299.

Old as the non-Retina hardware was, it wasn't without its advantages. It was the only Mac laptop with upgradeable memory and standard 2.5-inch hard drives, making upgrades and repairs much more manageable than they are in other Macs. It had a DVD drive, and its USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, and Ethernet ports meant that you still had decent connectivity options.

But four years is an eternity even in the relatively slow-moving world of personal computers, and it was time for the old Pro to go. It missed out on the big leap in battery life that Intel's post-2013 CPUs delivered, and its integrated GPU in particular is anemic by modern standards. It's thicker and heavier than its Retina counterparts, and it has a worse screen. It uses the older 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, which means slower wireless and no Apple Watch unlocking under Sierra.

Enlarge / The new 13" MacBook Pro, without a Touch Bar or Touch ID. (credit: Apple)

We thought Apple might introduce a new MacBook Air today, but instead the company made a lower-end MacBook Pro that might satisfy people looking for a thin laptop with more horsepower than the entry-level MacBook.

Alongside the more powerful 13" and 15" MacBook Pros announced today, there is another new 13" MacBook Pro that doesn't have the Touch Bar and Touch ID that comes with higher-end models. It does use the same general design as the higher-end MacBook Pros, weighing 3.02 pounds with "up to 10 hours" battery life for wireless Web surfing and movie playback.

Apple said it will continue selling the existing 13" MacBook Air, but the company made a point of comparing that model to this new lower-end Pro, putting it somewhere between the Air and the other Pros in the lineup. The new 13" MacBook Pro starts at $1,499 and will begin shipping today. The new higher-end Pros will start at $1,799 for the 13" model and $2,399 for the 15" model while shipping in two to three weeks.

The massive Oracle v. Google litigation has entered a new phase, as Oracle filed papers (PDF) yesterday saying it will appeal its loss on "fair use" grounds to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

For a brief recap of the case: after Oracle purchased Sun Microsystems and acquired the rights to Java, it sued Google in 2010, saying that Google infringed copyrights and patents related to Java. The case went to trial in 2012. Oracle initially lost but had part of its case revived on appeal. The sole issue in the second trial was whether Google infringed the APIs in Java, which the appeals court held are copyrighted. In May, a jury found in Google's favor after a second trial, stating that Google's use of the APIs was protected by "fair use."

Oracle's appeal is no surprise, but it will be a long shot. The four-factor "fair use" test is a fairly subjective one, and Oracle lawyers will have to argue that the jury's unanimous finding must be overturned. There are various ways a jury could arrive at the conclusion that Google was protected by fair use.