Late last week, forensic scientist Jonathan Zdziarski announced at a conference that Apple iPhones have back doors, undocumented functions that could allow unauthorized users to wirelessly connect and swipe data from the devices. Apple has since responded with a statement intended to downplay the issue, but Zdziarski insists that the computer company is not being honest with consumers. [More]
iphone
Apple Downplays Reports Of Back Doors To iPhones; Security Expert Says Company Is Being Misleading
By 7.23.14
Man’s Phone Mailed Back To Him From Japan 9 Months After He Lost It In 280,000 Pounds Of Grain
By 7.8.14
When an Oklahoma farmer saw his phone disappear in a pit filled with 280,000 pounds of grain, he figured it was pretty much gone. The iPhone had fallen from his shirt pocket and gone up a grain elevator, and went on its merry way into the void. Or so he thought — until he got a call nine months later from a stranger in Japan. [More]
Walmart Chops Prices For iPhone 5c, 5s (With A 2-Year Contract)
By 6.27.14
In a move that could signal a purge of old inventory before Apple introduces its new iPhone, Walmart has cut its prices on the iPhone 5s and 5c — with a two-year contract, only in stores. The 5S now goes for $99, down from $429, while the 5c costs $29, a drop from its previous price of $49. [via CNNMoney] [More]
Apple Will Prevent Businesses From Tracking iPhone Users Via Wifi
By 6.10.14
Remember when Nordstrom began tracking customers’ movements in and out of their stores by using smartphones’ individual Media Access Control (MAC) addresses if those phones tried to connect to in-store wifi, then abruptly stopped when the public found out about it? App developers say that Apple is ending such tracking in the next version of its mobile operating system by randomizing MAC addresses. [More]
Case Of The Missing Text Messages: Apple Claims To Have Fixed iMessage Server Glitch
By 5.22.14
Apple says consumers who recently switched from iPhones to Android devices should soon be able to rest easier, after it claims to have fixed one issue that left some people unable to receive text messages from iPhone users. [More]
Trouble Getting Texts From iPhones After Switching To Android? You’re Not Alone
By 5.14.14
UPDATE: A Consumerist reader and former AT&T tech rep has a possible fix for some iPhone-to-Android switchers having this problem. Which, by the emails we’ve gotten since posting the original story below, is happening to a lot of our readers. [More]
New Apple Patent Seeks To Prevent Drivers From Texting While Behind The Wheel
By 4.22.14
Apple’s already got a patent in the works for technology to keep distracted pedestrians from hurting themselves while texting and walking, and now the company’s got its eyes on the road. Because you should too, instead of texting and driving. [More]
Steve Jobs Called The Competition With Google’s Android System A “Holy War”
By 4.2.14
How devoted was the late Steve Jobs to the company he co-founded? Devoted enough for him to liken Apple’s competition with Google’s Android operating system to a “holy war,” according to emails unearthed by Samsung’s lawyers as part of the Korean company’s legal fight against Apple. [More]
Apple And Samsung Back In Court For Round Eleventy Billion Of Their Legal Fight
By 3.31.14
What’s happened once has happened before, and will happen again. Whether or not you ascribe to that kind of Battlestar Galactica/Rust Cohle on True Detective life view, it certainly feels like seeing Apple and Samsung in the legal ring again was inevitable. We’re on about round eleventy billion, give or take an eleventy, as the two head back to court today in a dustup over patents. Again. [More]
Report: iPhone Catches Fire While In Teen’s Back Pocket
By 2.3.14
Having a hot electronic gadget that’s all the rage is one thing, but having it actually be so hot that it burns its owner is an entirely other unfortunate reality. A teenage girl in Maine found that out the painful way when her iPhone reportedly caught fire in her pocket one morning at school. [More]
Alleged Original iPhone Prototype Pops Up On eBay For $1,499
By 12.30.13
An eBay seller says his wife is making him part ways with some of the stuff he’s collected over the years, which is why he’s listed what he claims is an engineering prototype of the original Apple iPhone for sale for $1,499. [More]
Shazam Finally Becomes A Useful App By Also Becoming Slightly Terrifying
By 12.19.13
I’ve always been a bit perplexed by Shazam, the app that listens to music and other media and (hopefully) identifies it. That alone can be useful, especially when you’re out somewhere and trying to figure out the name of a song playing in the background, or the artist performing said song. Problem is, it always took so darn long for Shazam to start up that it rarely had the time to listen to a sufficient portion of the tune I desperately needed to name. Now the makers of Shazam have figured out a way to speed up that process — by always having the app listening to your every sound, even when the phone is locked. [More]
Walmart Will Start Selling The iPhone 5c For $27 (With A 2-Year Contract) On Friday
By 12.12.13
Wait… this Friday isn’t even the day after Thanksgiving and already I’m sensing hordes of people seeking a big discount crashing through the doors at Walmart. And I know I didn’t get that time machine working yet, so the fact that Walmart is selling the iPhone 5c for $27 on Friday must be some kind of crazy freak sale. [More]
Gas Station Clerk’s Phone Saves Him From Would-Be Robber’s Bullet
By 10.29.13
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a friend complain about a phone with a shattered screen, I’d be the known as That Girl With Lots Of Nickels. But perhaps just this one time a phone owner is likely grateful to his broken phone for doing him a tiny favor and stopping a bullet. [More]
iOS App Vulnerability Allows Hackers To Attack Device Via WiFi
By 10.29.13
A group of mobile security researchers say they have discovered a vulnerability in many mobile apps running on iOS that could allow a hacker to hijack the information being provided to a mobile device when used over an unsecured WiFi network. [More]
This Woman Says She’s The Voice Behind The iPhone’s Siri
By 10.4.13
If you ask Siri, “Siri, where did you get your voice?” she’s probably not going to tell you. In fact, Apple won’t say who, if anyone, is the voice behind the iPhone’s digital assistant. But one voiceover actress says she laid down vocals for a client eight years ago and says those recordings turned into Siri. Making her, in effect, Siri. But without all the handy knowledge. [More]
When Is Taking Someone’s Phone Not Considered “Theft”?
By 10.2.13
How long do you need to borrow something before it’s considered stolen? And does the mere act of taking a phone out of someone else’s hands without permission constitute theft? According to an appeals court in California, no. [More]
Is iOS 7 Giving Some iPhone & iPad Users Motion Sickness?
By 9.30.13
Of all the design tweaks and updates to the latest iPhone and iPad operating system, did Apple forget to mention “free motion sickness”? Some users claim the update has left them feeling nauseated, and some experts believe there might be something to it. [More]
