18/10/12: Apple “too cool” + Twitter Bans Neo-Nazi

Apple has lost an appeal against a ruling in a U.K. High Court that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab does not infringe the iPad’s design. The original ruling by Judge Colin Birss said Samsung’s tablets were “not cool enough” to be confused with Apple’s because they lacked the “extreme simplicity” of the iPad. That ruling has now been upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The original ruling also stated that Apple must run adverts on its website and in newspaper saying Samsung did not copy the iPad. Reuters reports that the Court of Appeal’s Judge Kitchin said today the notices must be in a font size no smaller than Ariel 14.

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Twitter has used country-by-country blocking powers for the first time to restrict access to a neo-Nazi Twitter account in Germany at the request of local authorities.

Twitter users outside Germany can still view content from the @hannoverticker Twitter account of the banned group, but users trying to access it from within Germany will see a message saying the account is being withheld. This country-specific blocking policy was announced by Twitter in January as a compromise to tread the line between supporting free speech and being able to operate its service without breaking laws in all the different countries where the service is used.