I am a self confessed Apple Mac fan. I love their intuitive design, elegance, speed, robust software, tibetan fonts, and downright sex drive.
I really don’t understand all the legal battles that are going on between Apple and their competitors over design and processor issues. Apple seem to be involved with legal disputes with HTC, Nokia, and Samsung all at the same time. They can afford all their legal fees as they currently have more money than the American Government, and even recently received my own humble contribution to their coffers (in exchange for a laptop.)
Anyway this is all by the by. In an amusing twist to the legal battle over design patent issues for the iPad, Samsung have cited Stanley Kubrick‘s masterpiece Space Odyssey 2001 as an example of prior art for Apple’s iPad design patent. I am sure that not all of their cunning defence case rests on this one clip, but it is remarkably alike to the untrained eye (I dont have an iPad, and have not seen the film for years…)
The Star Trek geeks out there also claim that one of the pointy eared brigade also uses an iPad type device in the early episodes, but you will have to pop into your local speed-dating night in the Town Hall or any Liberal Democrat Regional Office to confirm this.
The HAL 9000 and iPad. Circa 1968.
Tim Myatt 