Nokia Wins Longtime Patent Dispute with Apple; iPads Interfering with Airplane Flight Controls; and Charging iPhones Sans a Charger

Every week, makes news with technology developments, business deals and, sometimes, controversies.

That’s where our weekly Core Bytes column on Apple comes in. We’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our favorite backyard tech giant.

Controversies
Nokia won a two-year patent dispute with Apple on Wednesday, awarding one-time payment and royalties to the Finnish handset maker. The lawsuit stretches back to October 2009, when Nokia filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple was infringing patents. While the details of the payment are undisclosed, it’s rumored that Apple will have to foot as much as $600 million upfront, before quarterly payments are taken into account.

Is iBook a generic term? Not so, decried New York book publisher J.T. Colby and Co., who filed an infringement suit against Apple’s use of the phrase. J.T. Colby and Co. has published more than 1,000 books under the iBooks brand since 1999, and is now seeking injunctive relief as well as unspecified monetary damages.

You’re about to take off on a plane, and the flight attendent states that all electronic devices need to be switched off. Apparently, many iPad users haven’t been responsive to the standard  announcement, as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) found that flight controls, autopilot, auto-thrust equipment, landing gear, and the communications kit were all affected by electronics use, with the iPad the most notable culprit.

New Products
International travelers may now save big bucks thanks to Apple’s new “unlocked” cell phones, which they began selling for the first time in the U.S. on Tuesday. The phones, which cost between $649 and $749 depending on memory, allow users to switch carriers at will, and come free of a two-year contract. Travellers simply have to insert a new SIM card from their country of travel, and will avoid Apple’s roaming fees.

Business Deals and Developments
Planning on visiting the towering Fifth Avenue Apple store on vacation to New York? Forget about photographing the 32-foot tall shimmering glass cube in front—one of the most snapped sites in Manhattan—as Apple will temporarily be removing it as part of a $6,661,050 planned renovation.

It happens to almost all of us: we reach to use our phones and, oops, the battery is dead and we forgot a charger. Fear not, says Apple, who has filed for a wireless charging patent. All you have to do is keep your iPhone close to a computer and, lo and behold, it will be charged thanks to “near field magnetic resonance.”