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Apple’s pulling out the big guns against Samsung.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has filed suit against Samsung for patent and trademark infringement.

Apple alleges that Samsung has purposely modeled several of its Android products after Apple’s hit iPad and iPhone devices.

Among the offenders are Samsung’s Galaxy line of tablets and smartphones. Apple claims that the design, hardware, and interface features of Samsung’s gadgets too closely resemble those of iDevices.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” an Apple rep told All Things D. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Thursday the gay employees of Apple did a six minute “It Gets Better” video and submitted it to YouTube. Saturday morning YouTube yanked it for violating its “policy on depiction of harmful activities.” To help clarify this policy Mac Observer’s Bryan Chafin wrote “YouTube’s community guideline tips offer some very general suggestions on the kinds of videos that might be rejected, including categories labeled ‘Sex and Nudity,’ ‘Hate Speech,’ Shocking and Disgusting,’ ‘Dangerous Illegal Acts,’ ‘Children,’ ‘Copyright,’ ‘Privacy,’ ‘Harassment,’ ‘Impersonation,’ and ‘Threats.’” The video has now been put back on YouTube.

I have seen the video and there was absolutely nothing about it which warranted being yanked off YouTube. The Apple employees talk about their personal experiences. Just like all it gets better stories they share how depressed and lonely they were. Then they transition into how things got better, and offered a message of hope to everyone who is gay and feeling rejected. The depressed parts of these people’s stories were necessary. In no way did they depict “‘Sex and Nudity, Hate Speech, Shocking and Disgusting, Dangerous Illegal Acts, Children, Copyright, Privacy, Harassment, Impersonation, and Threats.” YouTube should be ashamed of themselves.

How a video offering a message of hope to people who really need it could be considered harmful is far beyond me. YouTube is showing intolerance with this shameful act. They should offer a public apology and undergo mandatory sensitivity training. Exhibiting this kind of bigotry at the corporate level is inexcusable, and is a sure fire way to make the public start losing faith in a company. Doing the act and then saying “oops just kidding” is two faced. YouTube has to do something to make amends.

Watch the video below and judge for yourselves.

In terms of customer satisfaction, both carriers ranked about the same.

Verizon’s satisfaction rate was slightly higher, with 82 percent of customers polling “very satisfied” and 16 percent “somewhat satisfied in March 2011. By contrast, 80 percent of AT&T customers said they were “very satisfied” and 18 percent said they were “somewhat satisfied.”

The real difference is in the number of dropped calls reported by customers from each carrier. ChangeWave’s data shows that Verizon customers reported far fewer dropped calls within the same 90-day time frame.

While AT&T users said that the network dropped 4.8 percent of their total calls, “Big Red” users reported a 1.8-percent dropped call rate.

ChangeWave’s study also found that 46 percent of future iPhone 4 buyers said they planned to sign on with Verizon. Twenty-seven percent said they would sign a contract with AT&T. The remaining 27 percent chose another carrier or weren’t sure which they’d choose.

Within these parpameters, Verizon emerges the victor.

However, a speed test completed by Ookla in February found that the iPhone 4 performed better on AT&T’s network.

“The AT&T iPhone’s average download speed was 1,769 Kbps, and the average upload speed was 730 Kbps. By way of comparison, the Verizon iPhone’s average download speed was 848 Kbps, and the average upload speed was 506 Kbps,” reported Ookla.

If it’s speed you need, AT&T will probably satisfy. If it’s stability you crave, Verizon seems a safer bet.

How would you choose?

Last year, it took eight days for the WWDC tickets to sell out. But this year’s record ticket sales are no surprise given how much the iOS platform has grown in a year.

This year’s conference will focus on the next generation of iOS and Mac OS X Lion, and recent rumors claim that the next generation iPhone will be absent from the event.

The past couple of days I have been following the story of Apple having a “Gay Cure” app in its app store.  It appears Apple has buckled under the pressure of the Change.org petition to remove the app, which has over 145,000 signatures.

Apple has not released an official statement yet, but the “Gay Cure” app cannot be accessed in the app store and Alan Chambers, the president of Exodus International, sent out a tweet on twitter the app has been yanked from the app store.

Change.org is still collecting signatures because Apple has not released an official statement of the “Gay Cure” app being removed.  I want to extend a personal thank you to everyone who has kept up with this story and who has signed the petition.  Our voices have been heard.

Yesterday I reported on Apple having an anti-gay iphone app from Exodus International, and how gay activists were going to picket in front of the Apple store if they did not yank the app.  Now Exodus International is defending the app by saying it is not an “ex gay” or “gay cure” app.  Ok folks if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck guess what, it’s a damn duck.

Exodus’s senior director of church equipping and student ministries, Jeff Buchanan, told The Christian Post the group had a right to equal representation in Apple’s app store.  That is a long title for a teacher.  Also Exodus International is only talking to Christian publications.  The gay activists are talking to the main stream media to make their case.  Which do you think is going to be more effective?

The good news is yesterday the petition had 90,000 signatures and today it has 124,000.  I cannot wait to see how many it will have at the end of today.  As a matter of fact I am going to ask for your support.  Please sign the petition and help send Apple the message it is not all right to promote bigotry and self-hatred.

To sign the petition go to Change.org

Apple has gotten itself into hot water with gay activists. The iphone giant has an anti-gay app. from the Exodus Group, who encourages gay people to abandon who they are because being gay is against religious acceptance. I remember my cousins tried to get me to not be gay when I was first accepting who I was by sending me a single spaced ten page article on the Exodus Group. I thought the group was crazy from the get go.

Change.org has started a petition that has gained 90,000 signatures for Apple to remove the ant-gay app from its online store. If they do not Chage.org says “We will take steps to ensure that Apple meets the victims of ‘ex-gay’ ministries and learns how their lives were destroyed.” Change.org also says “It is astounding that Apple would allow an app from an organization that promotes gay exorcisms, demonizes LGBT people, and is rejected by every respected mental health association in America.”

It is hard to imagine Apple would make such a PR blunder. With increased education and acceptance of gay people in today’s society you have to wonder how this app made it to the itunes store to begin with. I know this is not enough to put an end to Apple, but it is enough to make people do a double take and scratch their heads. The only way to mend this fiasco is for Apple to yank the app and donate lots of cash to every gay rights and charity group imaginable.

It took a lot of string pulling, not to mention flat-out bribery, but it was totally worth it to get our first look at the long-awaited, next-generation iPad.

Indeed, with all the leaks, rumors, and wild guesses we’ve been hearing in the past months about the next iPad, it’s easy to forget that Apple hasn’t even officially announced the thing yet, much less doled out many details.

The actual iPad event is slated for 10 a.m. PT Wednesday, but FlyNews has gotten some inside information on what you definitely don’t know about the iPad 2.

What we know

The original iPad is still the only iPad, for now: Like I just said, Apple has yet to announce, acknowledge, make veiled references to, or even hint at a new iPad. Well … strike that: during Apple’s most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple COO Tim Cook told analysts (who’d been asking about competition from impending Android-based tablets) that “we’re not sitting still” in terms of the tablet market, a remark that may qualify as a vague hint.

Apple is set to hold an iPad-related event: The invitations went out last week, with an image showing a Mac OS calendar page peeled back to reveal an iPad peeking out from behind. The caption: “Come see what 2011 will be the year of.” So yes—the writing’s on the wall, but the invite stops short of saying “come meet the iPad 2″ or anything like that.

Last but not least, we know that: If we’re only talking about things we definitely know about the next iPad … well, strictly speaking, we don’t know much more than what I just outlined above.

What it’ll be called: Everyone’s been calling the next iPad the “iPad 2,” and there’s even a new (and likely fan-generated) rendering of the next-generation tablet floating around with the “iPad 2″ name stamped on the back. But as far as I know, no one’s come out and reported that the iPad 2 will, in fact, be called the iPad 2. Apple’s been known to throw curve balls when it comes to naming its next-gen products (like, for example, the iPhone 3G and 3GS), so I wouldn’t put all my eggs in the “iPad 2″ basket.

How much internal storage it’ll have: Will we get an iPad 2 model with 128GB of built-in flash storage, or will the largest next-gen iPad still top out at 64GB? Hard to say. There have been scattered reports of iPad 2 mockups with “128GB” etched onto the back, but that may be more a case of wishful thinking than a concrete clue. I predict the priciest iPad will still offer “just” 64GB of flash storage (which still costs a premium compared to conventional disc-based hard drives), but that’s only a guess on my part.

How much it will cost: Apple is in the habit of marking its next-generation products with the same price as the previous generation, and there’s no reason to believe that Cupertino will change course with the iPad 2. Again, though, we’ve yet to hear any reliable rumors about pricing. (For the record, the current iPad costs anywhere from $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version to $829 for the 64GB 3G iPad.)

When it will ship: Conventional wisdom initially had it that the new iPad would probably hit stores about a month or so after being announced, but now there’s talk the iPad 2 might be available immediately. Maybe so, but personally, I’m hedging my bets until Apple serves up the official line.

Slimmer profile, less heft: Just about everyone seems to agree that the redesigned iPad will be “smaller” and “lighter” than its predecessor, complete with a flatter back and tapered edges. Indeed, chatter about a slimmed-down iPad 2 shell has been so consistent (not to mention a logical progression for the iPad line) that I’d be shocked if it didn’t come to pass.

A camera, or two: Another consistent iPad 2 rumor has it that Apple will fix one of the biggest criticisms of the original iPad—namely, the lack of a camera. A recent Wall Street Journal story claimed that the new iPad will have “at least” one camera in front for FaceTime video chat, and there have been countless sightings of purported iPad 2 cases with strategically placed holes in back for a second, rear-facing lens. While there still seems to be some lingering doubt about a second camera, a front-facing lens is pretty much a no-brainer, particularly since each and every iPad competitor out there has one.

Same-resolution display: The hot rumor back in December had it that the iPad 2 would arrive with a sharper, 2,048-by-1,536 pixel display, good for a “retina”-style screen similar to the one on the iPhone 4. But the latest word and some leaked spy shots have poured cold water on the buzz, and it’s now looking almost certain that the revamped iPad display will come with a 1,024-by-768-resolution display, same as the original. Oh well. (Don’t worry; recent chatter has it that the iPad 3—yes, 3—might get the retina-display treatment.)

Faster, beefier processor: “Dual-core” is the gotta-have spec when it comes to this year’s hottest smartphones and gadgets, and the iPad 2 is no exception. Most believe the revamped tablet will get an updated, dual-core version of Apple’s A4 “system-on-a-chip,” complete with 512MB of RAM (double the 256MB RAM in the original iPad) and some seriously souped-up graphics capabilities.

Better speaker: The new iPad is reportedly in line for an improved, “wide-ranged” speaker, with the more prominent speaker grille said to be sitting right where the current three-hole speaker on the first iPad lives. Or so they say.

No SD card: An SD (or microSD) card slot on the next iPad would allow for easy memory expansion and speedy photo uploading. It’s a nice idea, but early buzz on Apple adding an SD card slot to the iPad has given way to near-universal agreement that it won’t actually happen. Bummer.

No 4G support: Not on Verizon Wireless, at least, according to the Wall Street Journal, which adds that the 3G version of the iPad 2 will be available through AT&T and Verizon but not Sprint or T-Mobile.

We’ll be on this story all day. Find out more as we find out more.  Get up  to the second updates by following us on Twitter.

Has has started production of its next-generation iPad?  Well according to a report circulating online the first waved of the iPad 2 is already here.

The company’s newest tablet will be “thinner and lighter than the first model,” unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal Feb. 9. If the account is accurate, the next iPad will also include a front-facing camera for video conferencing, more memory, “and a more powerful graphics processor.” AT&T and Verizon, which currently offer the iPhone, will carry the device.

The Journal’s report appears to collaborate earlier claims that the next iPad will lack a Retina Display or similar high-resolution screen. After the publication DigiTimes suggested in late January that the next iPad would boast a screen with 2048 x 1536 resolution, IDC research manager Tom Mainelli told PC World: “Our sources say Apple has requested that manufacturers begin work on displays with that resolution for the iPad 3.”

A few days later, the blog 9to5Mac posted alleged photos of the next iPad’s screen. “At this point, we cannot tell if the resolution is higher (or ‘Retina’) but it is definitely higher quality in terms of build,” reads its Feb. 1 posting, accompanied by several images. “The iPad 2’s display is also lighter, and over a mm thinner than the current iPad’s display with a smaller surrounding frame.”

Given Apple’s customary refusal to offer details of its upcoming products, the blogosphere has filled with all manner of rumor about the next iPad’s possible features. In a Jan. 12 posting, the blog Boy Genius Report suggested the next iPad will lack a home button, relying instead on multi-touch gestures to navigate the home screen—bringing the device’s hardware in line with that of Research In Motion’s upcoming PlayBook tablet, which lets users bring up the home screen with a finger-flick across the bottom of the touch-sensitive casing.

Apple is also gearing up its mobile software to compete with newcomers such as Google Android’s 3.0 “Honeycomb” build. The iOS SDK 4.3 beta, currently available on Apple’s developer Website, includes new capabilities such as the ability to stream video to Apple TV via AirPlay, full-screen banners in the company’s iAd platform, and HTTP Live Streaming statistics.

Although the original iPad has continued its massive sales run among consumers, and the current iOS 4.2 contains features that have made it an increasing favorite among business users, Android-based tablets are expected to gain substantial market share in 2011. That could pressure Apple to release a next-generation iPad with enough new features to distinguish it from an ever-growing number of rivals—but a radically different iPad also runs the risk of alienating those customers who plunked down hundreds of dollars for the original device.

However Apple decides to walk that tightrope between its competition and its customer base, an unveiling event for the next iPad could be in the works.