If college kids today could see the hulking mass of plastic and metal parts that comprised the PC I was required to buy from my college freshman year, they would probably never stop laughing. It used to be that to get by in the computing world, a personal computer was the necessary gadget. But as shipments of PCs are forecast to fall for the first time in 11 years, times could be a-changin’. [More]
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Check To Make Sure Your iPad Box Isn’t Full Of Notebooks Before You Leave The Store
By 10.11.12
Once again, a consumer plunks down hard-earned cash for a pricey electronic device, only to find out later that the box is full of something completely useless. And since she had the gall to wait until she got home, the folks at her local Walmart all but accused her of trying to pull a scam. [More]
Your Shiny New iPhone 5 Might Take A While To Ship Due To Its Easily Scratched Case
By 10.11.12
Say what you want about iPhones, but when a new one comes out, plenty of people want one as quick as they can get their hot little hands on’em. But you might have to be sitting on your hot hands a little while longer. The reason there’s such a sluggish shipping pattern could be partly because of the pretty pretty aluminum Apple chose for the iPhone 5’s cases. It’s pretty, yes, but it’s also very scratchable, and now Apple is trying to deal with that issue. [More]
Waiting In A Long Line For A Popular Product Might Be Annoying But It Could Boost Your Ego
By 10.9.12
After yet another study showed that maybe those Black Friday sales that generate such humongous lines aren’t necessarily the best deals, and the simple fact that ordering a coveted item online can often allow shoppers to skip those eternal queues, why would anyone stand around waiting ever again? Well, maybe because it makes you feel kinda good, say experts. [More]
Lose Your iPhone 5 Charger And You’ll Be Stuck With Expensive, Pretty Brick
By 10.9.12
We mentioned months ago when it was first rumored that the iPhone 5 would replace the iPhone’s now-familiar 30-pin connector with a smaller, but still proprietary connector, that this could cause problems for people whose accessories were all of the old 30-pin type. And here we have the story of Consumerist reader Nick, who lost the charger for his iPhone 5 and is now staring at a very pretty device that he has no way of charging. [More]
Apple: If You’re Seeing Purple Haze In iPhone 5 Photos, Hold Your Phone At Another Angle
By 10.8.12
As with many tech products, Apple’s had a few bumps in this latest iPhone rollout. First there was the whole Apple maps issue, and now some users are reporting a purple haze showing up in photos taken with their iPhone 5 cameras. But hey, at least Apple is offering some advice on how to avoid the haze. Because no one wants purple haze on all their pictures and if you do, there’s probably an app for that. [More]
Swap Your Non-Working iPhone For Another Non-Working iPhone, Lose Right To Sprint Refund
By 10.5.12
Gary doesn’t want to be a customer of Sprint anymore. You can’t really blame him. First, the local corporate-owned Sprint store wouldn’t let him have an iPhone 5 without an accessory bundle purchase of at least $80. (Sounds familiar.) That’s frustrating enough, but then he discovered that his phone didn’t really get any data service. At all. Maybe the phone was defective, so he contacted Sprint, who eventually told him to get the phone swapped out at the local Apple Store. When the new phone didn’t work either, he learned that Sprint’s 14-day return window slams shut after you’ve swapped your non-working phone for another non-working phone. [More]
Still No Google Maps App For iOS 6, But You Can Now Access Street View
By 10.4.12
As many people with an iOS device noticed when they upgraded to iOS 6, their Google Maps app had vanished into the ether, replaced with a map app that even Apple admits maybe isn’t that great right now. For people who still wanted to use Google Maps, they could still view them via a web browser, and now Google has turned on Street View. [More]
Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Would Love To Have iTunes On His Android Devices
By 10.2.12
Although Steve Wozniak helped Steve Jobs found Apple back in the day, he’s a man of many technologies and uses Android devices in his daily life. But he thinks Google and Apple should be able to get along, because Apple and Windows managed to do so so it can’t be totallyimpossible. He expressed his desire to get iTunes on his Android devices yesterday during a tech-new site Q&A. [More]
Wi-Fi Bug In iPhone 5 Surprises Verizon Customers With Massive Cellular Data Overages
By 10.1.12
Whenever a new Apple product comes out, there seems to be at least a few weeks where ripples of discontent flow through the community of technology devotees. One problem firing up support forums since the iPhone 5 came out centers around phones on the Verizon Wireless network gobbling up cellular data even when users are connected to a Wi-Fi network. That’s totally destroying monthly data caps. [More]
Maybe You Didn’t Know It Existed In The First Place But Apple Is Killing Its “Ping” Social Network
By 10.1.12 — Updated: 9.30.12
Joining the social network graveyard as of yesterday, Apple announced it would be shuttering its Ping venture. What? You’d never heard of an iTunes music social network called Ping? Welcome to the club, and now it’s too late to join if you were fancying the idea of signing up for yet another site on which to share every detail of your life. [More]
AT&T And Apple Pass The Buck, Blame Each Other For Non-Working iPhone 5
By 9.28.12
Kevin was excited to buy a new iPhone 5 last week, but the iPhone was much less excited to go home with him. He left for a business trip and discovered that the phone wouldn’t come out of airplane mode. What was wrong? Had he only spent a few hours with the phone before it decided to rebel against Kevin and against the very AT&T network that was supposed to give it life? He sought help, but the carrier and the phone manufacturer each refuse to take responsibility for the problem. [More]
Tim Cook: Sorry Our iOS6 Maps Service Isn’t Really So Great… Maybe Try Google?
By 9.28.12
While the masses were clamoring for the iPhone 5, many of those hungry consumers were a bit wary about the fact that Apple had ditched the default Google Maps function in favor of its own map application. And now that customers are complaining that the iOS6’s maps are full of bugs and bad directions, Apple CEO Tim Cook is offering his apologies, as well as alternate suggestions. [More]
Barnes & Noble Ushers Its Thinner Nooks Into The Ring To Duke It Out With Other Tablets
By 9.26.12
If you don’t compete, you die. That’s what’s pushing retailers to give it their all to nudge Amazon and Apple from their spots atop the e-commerce and e-reader world, and basically anything else you can put an “e-” in front of. Today Barnes & Noble unveiled its newest Nook Tablets, both with HD to produce better video viewing. [More]
Oh, What We Do For Love: Apple Repairs Have Cost American Consumers $6 Billion Since 2007
By 9.19.12
I see people loving their iPhones, coddling them and stroking them and covering them with cutesy covers. But I also see my friends’ shattered screens threatening to lodge shards of screen glass in their ears or complaining that they’ve dropped their iPhone in the toilet (again) and railing about the cost to fix or replace it. And they’re not alone: A new study says American consumers have spent almost $6 billion to repair their iPhones since the phone’s 2007 birth. [More]
Macy's Flagship Store Is The Next To Get An Apple Makeover & It's Ticking Some People Off
By 9.19.12
Spending $400 million on a makeover is something only an established store with a worldwide brand should attempt — but is it worth it if you’re just turning it into yet another Apple-esque space? Macy’s is the next to go for the shiny, sleek and super-white Apple look at its famous flagship store in New York City, but some traditionalists say in this case, change isn’t good. [More]
Advocates File Net Neutrality Complaint Over AT&T's FaceTime Policy
By 9.18.12
Last month, AT&T confirmed that iPhone customers who want to use the iPhone’s FaceTime video chat app over a cellular connection would need to belong to one of the company’s new shared data plans. At the time, several advocates raised concerns about whether or not this requirement violated the FCC’s Open Internet rules, and now these same groups have moved to file an actual complaint with regulators. [More]
Apparently We're All Very Impressed With iPhone 5: Apple Stock Tops $700 For The First Time Ever
By 9.18.12
Although we’ve heard plenty of so-so and “meh” feedback for the iPhone 5, we’ve also seen a whole lot of people scrambling to order Apple’s newest shiny gadget. And it seems we as consumers in general are pretty darn impressed by the thing, as Apple’s stock went over $700 for the very first time ever, to $701.44 this morning. So they’ve got to be doing something right, eh? [More]
