Mac scourge Psystar is far from admitting defeat in its long running battle with Apple over the right to sell Mac clone software, despite a recent court injunction.

About a fortnight ago the District Court for the Northern District of California granted the injunction, which effectively bans Psystar from selling PC hardware running Apple's operating system. However, in a statement last week, Psystar said that it would only be halting sales of the Rebel EFI software product which allows PC users to run Mac OS, while it seeks clarification over its legality.

"Our patience has been tested but our resolve is unwavering," read the statement.

"Psystar's vision of bringing the Mac OS to generic PC hardware is and always will be unyielding. Although Rebel EFI may be temporarily unavailable for purchase on the Psystar online store, those who purchase a t-shirt or donate over twenty dollars will receive one free copy of Rebel EFI once the court has ruled in our favor on this issue."

And in a sign that the legal battle with Apple could be far from over, Psystar then launched a stinging attack on the court's judgement, saying it is not a "hardcore copyright infringer".

"Psystar has never, and will never, condone software piracy. It's your software, you should be able to use it where you want to. If you purchase an off-the-shelf copy of OS X Snow Leopard, its your right to use that software," the company said.

"A publisher cannot forbid you from reading a book in the bathroom or listening to a music disc while riding your bicycle. There should be no difference in the software realm, no matter how much money Apple or anyone else throws at it. That is the real issue here and what we have always been fighting for."

It's a fair point, but without any major legal precedent, fairness doesn't really come into it. Either way, expect the PR battle in this tech David and Goliath match to hot up in 2010.

If you've been in the US over the last couple of months, you have no doubt seen Verizon's 3G map advertisements. The ads compare Verizon's nationwide 3G network to AT&T much smaller coverage area and in the process take a not-so-subtle swipe at the iPhone.

AT&T soon filed a lawsuit against Verizon, claiming that the ads were false and misleading. Verizon countered by asking AT&T to prove that the ads were false.

Apparently the ads were true, because AT&T has agreed to drop the case. Verizon has in turn dropped its counter-charges and both companies can now get back to lobbing snarky commercials at one another.

AT&T had a good counter, but they missed it. When you look at their coverage map (both of the coasts and major cities) you see that it matches up nicely with population dispersal in the the US. Had they simply pointed out that their network covers 80-90 percent of where Americans live and work, Verizon's ads would have lost their teeth for the most part. Instead they decided to use the threat of a courtroom, and Verizon called the bluff.

After all the activation issues, slow feature rollout, and other headaches AT&T has caused for the iPhone, one has to wonder if the execs at Apple aren't counting down the days until the exclusive deal ends.

A recent job posting combined with some interesting hardware sightings is prompting renewed speculation on what the new iPhone model will look like.

The job in question is said to concern the development of a new mapping application for the iPhone. While the iPhone already has software based on Google Maps, the planned application is reportedly going to be an in-house development from Apple and some have speculated that it may even have roots with the company's recent purchase of mapping firm Placebase.

Given the recent minor falling out Apple has had with Google and the growing competitiveness between the iPhone and Android platforms, this seems like a pretty natural step for Apple to take to distance itself a bit from Google.

The second rumor could shed even more light on the next iPhone. A developer in San Francisco has picked up traces of a new iPhone device. Using a public transportation monitoring tool known as iBart which monitors mobile traffic on the Bay Area subway system, researchers have caught wind of an "iPhone 3.1" device.

The update is not wholly unexpected, as Apple loves to issue annual updates to its products, and the iPhone has traditionally been unveiled in the winter/early spring and gone live in late June with an iPhoneOS firmware update.