The neat thing about high-falutin’ technology these days is that if you lose it, many times you can use software to track it. Which is all well and good, except when that’s all you can do — watch as it travels around without you. Such was the case for a woman who left her iPad on a plane seat. [More]
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Judge: Apple's "App Store" Suit Against Amazon Will Probably Fail
By 6.24.11
It looks like Steve Jobs may have found his Waterloo in his war to defend Apple’s application to trademark the phrase “App Store.” A federal judge has advised the company that it will likely lose its lawsuit against Amazon.com over the e-tailer’s Appstore. [More]
Apple Slaps Open Source Start-Up With Cease & Desist Over "App Store"
By 6.22.11
Apple’s untiring defense of its application to trademark the phrase “App Store” continues. But this time, the Cupertino Crew isn’t squabbling with Microsoft or suing Amazon. No, Apple is going after a small start-up software company you may have never heard about. [More]
Verizon Sends Software Updates To Man While He Helps Sick Grandma In Japan, Charges $600
By 6.13.11
Chris had to go to Japan recently to help out with his deathly ill grandmother. He brought his new Verizon iPhone4 with him. While he was there, Verizon pushed a series of updates to his phone, and that racked up over $600 in global roaming charges. When he called customer service, they told him the charges were valid and nothing could be done. He couldn’t even get retroactively added to an international plan as Verizon says they don’t have one anymore that covers Asia/Japan. [More]
Traditional Texting Slows As Instant Messaging Grows In Popularity
By 6.13.11
Texting? That is just so 2010. The cool thing these days is instant message texting with applications like BlackBerry Messenger, or Apple’s upcoming iMessage, which use the Internet to send texts instead of service carriers. [More]
Richard Dreyfuss Does Dramatic Reading Of iTunes EULA
By 6.9.11
Most of us just blindly click “I ACCEPT” when presented with those user license agreements when we install software. I think I would pay a lot more attention if they were all give dramatic readings, like this one actor Richard Dreyfuss did of the Apple iTunes EULA. [More]
iCloud Is Free, But I Paid $99 For Its Predecessor Last Week
By 6.8.11
During this week’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced its new cloud storage service, the creatively named iCloud. To grossly oversimplify the matter, iCloud is an evolution of Apple’s three-year-old MobileMe service …except that iCloud doesn’t cost $99 per year. It will be free, unless you want to sync music between devices that you didn’t buy from iTunes. (That costs $25 per year.) Apple plans to kill MobileMe on June 30, 2012, and current members won’t have to pay to renew their subscriptions. That’s pretty great, unless you’re a subscriber who handed over a hundred bucks to renew just a few weeks ago. [More]
Walmart Cuts iPhone 4 To $147
By 6.7.11
Walmart announced this week that they were chopping the price on 16 GB iPhone 4’s to $147, down from $197. The deal is only for a limited time and runs through June 30th. [More]
Friskies Debuts Free iPad And Android Games For Your Cat
By 6.3.11
It’s a scientifically proven fact that cats love iPads, or at least love to smack things around that move. A few app developers have capitalized on this trend, making games specifically designed for cats. Some cats think that touchscreens are the greatest thing since feathers on a stick. Supposedly, touchscreens are tougher than claws, so the devices won’t be damaged. In a brilliant marketing move, Purina, maker of Friskies, ran with this idea and has created free Android Tablet and iPad games for felines.
[More]
Boy Wishes He Hadn't Sold His Kidney For An iPad 2
By 6.2.11
A 17-year-old boy in Shanghai is experiencing extreme buyer’s remorse after his health has begun to falter after selling his kidney to buy an iPad 2, reports the Global Times. [More]
"MacDefender" Trojan Tricks Mac Users Into Giving Up Credit Card
By 5.26.11
Apple will soon be releasing an update to its operating system that will seek out and remove copies on users’ computers of “Mac Defender,” a fake antivirus program that tricks the unwary into forking over their credit card info. [More]
Three Workers Die In Explosion At Foxconn Factory
By 5.23.11
Three workers have died in an explosion at a plant run by Foxconn Technology Group in Hongfujin, China. Fifteen other workers were injured at the plant, said to be a manufacturing base for Apple’s iPad. [More]
MRI Shows Apple Stimulates Fan's Brain Like Religion
By 5.20.11
Apple fanboys are sometimes referred to as “zealots” or “fanatics” in terms of their devotion to their beloved brand and the intensity with which they defend it and proselytize its virtues. Especially in online comments sections. And it turns out that perhaps those descriptions are not too far off. A recently screened BBC doc Secrets of the Superbrands (unfortunately not available for online streaming in the States) analyzed an MRI of an Apple devotee and found that the brand stimulated the same areas of the brain as religious imagery does to people of faith. [More]
Google Music Service: Amazon Cloud With Fewer Features?
By 5.10.11
When Amazon launched its online music service, Cloud Player, some wondered, “What about Google or Apple?” Now, at least one of them seems ready to with an answer. [More]
Fisticuffs Erupt When iPad 2 Goes On Sale In Beijing
By 5.9.11
Four people were sent to the hospital when the crowd outside Beijing’s number one Apple store turned violent as they stormed to get their hands on the new iPad 2 when it went on sale there this weekend, reports AFP. [More]
Chinese iPad Workers Forced To Sign "No Suicide" Pledge
By 5.5.11
A new investigation by two NGO’s into working conditions at two major Chinese factories run by Foxconn responsible for pumping out iPads might make you angrier than a bird trying to destroy a bunch of green pigs, reports The Guardian. Among their findings was that after a rash of suicides at the factories, workers were forced to sign pledges promising not to commit suicide and to instead “treasure their lives.” [More]
Exxon Mobil Is The Most Profitable American Business By A Long Shot
By 5.5.11
This year’s Fortune 500 list is out, and while Walmart’s $421 billion in revenue may have beaten out Exxon Mobil’s paltry $354 billion, the oil giant beat out Big W where it matters most, profits. According to Fortune, the crude colossus made a whopping $30.4 billion in profits last year, nearly double what Walmart made and over $10.5 billion more than the next most profitable company on the list. [More]
iOS 4.3.3 Update Tweaks Controversial User Location Tracking
By 5.4.11
Calling it a “bug,” Apple has responded to the backlash surrounding the revelation that iOS devices have been keeping track of their owner’s movements via a hidden file full of timestamped map locations by releasing a new software update designed to minimize the extent of the tracking. It does not, however, get rid of it. [More]
