The full text of the letter, which has been obtained by Macworld, is addressed to Lodsys CEO Mark Small, and is signed Bruce Sewell, Apple’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel. In the letter, Sewell acknowledges Small’s recent patent infringement claims against App Store developers, and states right up front that “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patent and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license.” Apple states that Lodsys’ allegations have “no basis,” and articulates its intent to “defend Apple’s license rights.”

The letter from Apple goes on to assert that Small’s threats are likely the basis of “misapprehension regarding Apple’s license and the way Apple’s products work,” and assumes that the outstanding threats will be revoked as a result of the clarification Apple is making today. Apple acknowledges that it does indeed hold licenses for all four of the patents in Lodsys’ portfolio, and that the licenses it holds entitle Apple to “offer these licensed products and services to its customers and business partners, who, in turn, have the right to use them.”

The letter then goes into more detail about the specifics of U.S. patent law, and articulates exactly why the claims made by Lodsys are in error, according to the way in which the App Store and Apple Developer Agreement works.

Apple was clearly taking its time to make sure it had a comprehensive grasp of Lodsys’ position before firing a return shot, but the Mac-maker’s response could hardly be more assertive. The message is clear: Stand down or gear up for a full-scale legal battle with Apple, which is clearly not what Lodsys was bargaining for as it chose to pursue small developers with very limited resources. Unlike devs, Apple doesn’t have to consider backing down as the only way to keep the business afloat.

This is a welcome development in this in-app purchases licensing debacle, but it isn’t necessarily the end of the story. We’ve contacted Small for a response, but don’t expect him to issue a reaction before considering how best to formulate an answer from a legal perspective.

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This laptop is of course a “Hackintosh” — specifically a 9-inch Dell netbook Farhad has hacked to run Apple’s Mac OS X. He notes that since Apple adapted its elegant OS to run on Intel’s processors, hackers have been diligently breaking down the walls between Macs and PCs.
My daughter, a lifelong Mac fanatic, is one of them, having been happily running OS X — currently Leopard — on a 2.6 GHz Pentium 4 desktop box for the past three years and finding it more than satisfactory. I’ve tried out this machine, and it’s impressively fast. However, my daughter is an accomplished computer tech who’s been able to deal with the necessary tweaking and technical tedium of getting OS X up and running reliably on her bargain basement Dell.

Not for the Faint of Heart

Farhad Manjoo notes that, no surprise, Apple doesn’t look kindly on the Hackintosh movement, but this evidently hasn’t slowed the movement’s momentum, and Mac hackers, some on constrained budgets like my daughter, have discovered that they can build precisely the features and products they want into a custom desktop or laptop model of a type and price point Apple doesn’t choose to offer and save a boatload of money in the process.

“We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that,” CEO Steve Jobs observed last October. That may be all well and good, but there are an awful lot of folks out there these days who want a $500 computer, or indeed in today’s snakebit economy simply can’t afford a higher price of entry, or who really want a netbook-sized laptop, which is one of the market categories Apple has chosen not to serve, at least yet. And its an exaggeration to insist that all sub-$500 computers are necessarily “junk.” Legions of satisfied netbook users contend otherwise.

Manjoo warns, and my daughter’s experience underscores this, that Mac hacking is not for dilettantes or the faint-hearted, and there are plenty of potential technical hurdles and pitfalls to be overcome, but there is support available from the fraternity (and in some instances sorority) of experts populating online forums who’ve probably encountered — and solved — the problems that may be your current stumbling-blocks.

But is it Ethical

There is of course the ethics question. Installing OS X on a non-Apple computer is a direct violation of Apple’s End User Licensing Agreement. My daughter has been encouraging me to get a PC laptop and let her install OS X on it for me, but while I profoundly disagree with the thrust, extent, and spirit of current copyright regulations, especially the execrable and draconian DCMA, it’s still the law, which I personally prefer to stay on the right side of, although I don’t pass any judgment on those who are exercising civil disobedience against what they (and I) consider unjustly excessive intellectual property end user restrictions.

I also understand and appreciate that if Apple were to have a change of heart and authorize the Mac OS for installation on non-Apple PC hardware, it could very well spell the end of Apple-branded computers. This very nearly happened in the mid-’90s with previous Apple CEO Gil Amelio’s near catastrophic experiment with Mac OS licensing to third-party clonemakers. The latter made some very attractive machines. I still have a UMAX SuperMac S-900 that was a formidable piece of work in the context of the era, in many ways outdoing the Apple PowerMac 9500 and 9600 that competed against it at higher prices.

So this is definitely one of those matters where the “be careful what you wish for” axiom applies. It would be neat to be able to buy a Dell or Asus laptop, some models of which I personally find quite enticing — and not just because of prices. However, I would hate for the ability of Apple to keep rolling out sublimely elegant and delightful machinery like my unibody MacBook to be compromised because of a bleeding away of Mac OS users and profitability to cheaper PC boxes.

How about you? Do you think Apple should license Mac OS X? How about the ethics of hackintoshing?

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We know they don’t like it, since they recently took steps to try and make it illegal, but now Apple is letting developers know directly that they won’t stand for any jailbreaking funny business on their part, either.

The news from Ars Technica comes via changes to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, which is part of signing up for the iPhone Developer Program itself. Updates to the Agreement now prevent developers from jailbreaking their own phones, assisting in jailbreaking efforts, and developing apps for use with jailbroken devices. The exact wording of the new clauses are as follows:

(e)You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so; and

(f) Applications developed using the Apple Software may only be distributed if selected by Apple (in its sole discretion) for distribution via the App Store or for limited distribution on Registered Devices (ad hoc distribution) as contemplated in this Agreement.

Basically, Apple’s now gone and drawn a line in the sand. It’ll be interesting to see how high-profile developers like Ars Technica’s own Erica Sadun, who has a foot planted firmly in both the legit and the jailbroken community, react to this latest development. Apple has the advantage of commerce on their side, but can they really twist the arm of independent developers who are only developing free apps to begin with? It’s still not clear whether they can do much beyond booting people out of the Developer Program for any violation, which it seems to me will only serve to strengthen the ranks of the jailbreaking community.

Apple’s probably hoping that this will curtail insider knowledge of development builds and SDK updates, which would hopefully hamper the ability of the DevTeam and others to jailbreak new OS updates so quickly (the newest version of 3.0, for instance, can already be jailbroken on Windows). I seriously doubt the effectiveness of the new clauses, however, until Apple shows that they have some teeth by providing a real-life example of what the consequences of violating the new rules are.

Rather than trying to close their fist on this issue, Apple should really be looking to address the problems that drive developers to the jailbreaking community to begin with. That means making serious changes to the app submission/review process, and taking a look at the strict set of rules they impose on anyone who wants to develop legitimately for their devices.

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Having done quite a bit of traveling for our move from Pennsylvania to Washington state, I was inundated with advertisements for ways to keep business cards, documents and travel receipts electronically organized. Unfortunately, none of these products worked on the Mac. In my quest to get organized and also to prepare for tax time I searched for an equivalent all-Mac solution and here’s the combination that has worked best for me.

Step One: The Hardware

I debated for quite a while on whether I should buy a new scanner since I already own a decent multi-function device. I suspect that many readers do as well and, while I cannot say that a special scanner is absolutely required, I do need to point out that receipts can be tricksy little items. There are no fixed/standard sizes and you never know when or where you will need to turn them or other paper items into digital documents. With that in mind I sought out an inexpensive, compact, Mac-friendly device with TWAIN support and settled on the Pentax DSmobile 600:

Pentax DSmobile 600 Scanner

While Mac support was a key factor, I wanted something that was highly portable (it comes with a travel bag) and that did not require external power – the Dsmobile 600 is powered solely through USB (cord provided). I deemed TWAIN support critical since I wanted to ensure compatibility with existing software and I hoped that my receipt-organizing solution would support this standard as well. I bookmarked the Pentax (I did not want to spend $115-135USD on it before finding the key element in my quest) and pressed on.

Step Two: The Software

While a specialized software package was not absolutely necessary – one could use a manual solution composed of a well-crafted Numbers spreadsheet, organized directories and decent file naming conventions – the goal was to make this task easy. Since my receipts were already somewhat disorganized, introducing more manual tasks into a new process would doom it from the start.

After an exhaustive search trough Google, Version Tracker, MacUpdate and many forums (including our fine forum) I settled on a $39.95 program called ReceiptWallet, developed by Scott Gruby.

The most basic description of ReceiptWallet is that it is a document organizer & repository similar to Papers in that it can store almost anything you throw at it. This makes it great for user manuals or other items you just do not wish to transcribe. While it can store everything, the true power of ReceiptWallet lies in the ability to import, interpret, itemize, report on and export financial data associated with receipts. After playing around with the demo version, I was confident enough in the software to warrant the purchase of the Pentax (it turns out that the model I chose is also one recommended by the developer – always a good thing) and a license for ReceiptWallet and started organizing my paper mess.

Working With Receipts & Documents

When you first start the program you create a new “library” that is either used for organizing documents or receipts. Each library type presents unique fields with which to categorize entries. Receipts have an associated merchant, amount, method of payment and potentially itemized entries whereas documents have titles, categories, URLs and other taxonomy elements. Fields are completely customizable in any library you create, but I suspect most users will settle on the defaults provided by the author.

ReceiptWallet Main Window

My main goal was to manage receipts so I began with a receipt library and started scanning any merchant slip I could scrounge. The software does an admirable job when attempting to discern the date and amount of the purchase. It is no easy task since every receipt is different and the condition that some where in was far from optimal. After taking a guess, the program allows you to make corrections, itemize any detail you wish to capture and tag the entry with a note. Again, you can add more fields to accommodate any level of detail required (e.g. department number, employee number, etc) and all this captured data is available via built-in reports and can be exported in a formate that most spreadsheet and financial programs can read.

Adding a receipt

Not Limited To Scanning

Organizing paper receipts was my primary goal but it turn out that that task is only part of the story. Much of what I/we purchase today is either delivered electronically or at least has a receipt which is delivered on-screen or e-mail. While OS X provides a handy “Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder” option in the Print dialog, ReceiptWallet lets you take this one step further and lets you create Droplets for each library as well as ReceiptWallet itself. Rather than hunt around in e-mail or use Spotlight to find old receipts or even license keys you can put those documents/elements right into an organized database with full searching & reporting capabilities, all by just “printing” them! The software would be worth it for just that feature alone. Imagine having all those Amazon, Apple Store, eBay & PayPal records immediately accessible or never having to submit a replacement request for a lost license key. Remember, though, that the software is not limited to receipts. You can save any HTML page or any document from any program as PDF and store it directly in an organized document library within ReceiptWallet.

Integrating It Into Your Personal Workflow & Mindset

ReceiptWallet doesn’t come with a magic wand that will turn you into an well-organized life form. You will need to find the best way to integrate it into your daily/weekly workflow. That’s easy for electronic documents and receipts but requires a bit of discipline at first when dealing with those bits of paper you quickly tuck away into bags or pockets each week. I suggest using a physical drop box where you place any receipt from any purchase during the week and then designate some small period of time during the week to process the data from the past seven days. That way you have a focused task for brief period time that is long enough to mentally allocate without considering it a distraction (which would probably be the case if you performed the task daily).

The title of this post includes the word “budget” and ReceiptWallet can be a powerful tool when it comes to helping develop and stay on a budget (which is one of the best ways to get started managing your finances). If you are diligent in scanning, importing & itemizing your expenditures, then you will know just how much you are spending on, say, groceries in general or even specific items and use that to change behavior (if necessary). You’ll know and have a record of anything that you can deduct from your health spending account (if you have one). You’ll even get a good picture of what you spend each week on eating out (this can be a real eye opener). You can use all this data to develop a baseline of what you think you should be spending and then use it to keep yourself honest. I guarantee you’ll save enough in one year to pay for the cost of the scanner and software if you use it to create and stick to a budget.

One final feature that I’ll mention (there are more facets to the software than I’ve touched on) is that the IRS (for those in the US) will also accept scanned receipts as evidence during audits, and ReceiptWallet makes it simple to keep solid backups of all your key data in the event the government comes-a-knockin’ at your door.

If you’ve been using ReceiptWallet for a while or have come across another solution for organizing your receipt and document mess, please drop a note in the comments if only to help the next pilgrim in search of the best means to getting his/her life in order.

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