Month: December 2013

Apple, along with seven other U.S. technology companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, have published an open letter urging President Barack Obama and members of Congress to reform government surveillance tactics, reports The Wall Street Journal. The letter, which can be found on a website endorsed by the tech companies, will also appear in…

Read More “Apple and Other Tech Companies Call for Government Surveillance Reform” »

Apple today released its annual “12 Days of Gifts” app for iOS devices, setting the stage for the actual giveaway of free content from the company’s various digital stores from December 26 through January 6. Apple has offered the giveaway for several years in Europe, Canada, and several other countries, and in 2013 U.S. customers…

Read More “Apple’s ’12 Days of Gifts’ App for 2013 Now Live, Includes U.S. Customers” »

Apple and a consortium of other tech industry giants have signed their names to an open letter addressed to President Obama and members of Congress, calling for substantial reforms to the regulation and oversight of surveillance performed by agencies like the NSA. More: continued here

Mark Post, the owner of Riviera Racing, uses iPad to get up to speed for thousand-mile off-road endurance races such as the Baja 1000. Preparation is complicated, and logistics can be daunting. During the race, the MotionX GPS HD app on iPad keeps the team’s support crew coordinated without the need for paper maps, charts,…

Read More “iPad Helps Racers Gear Up for the Win” »

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today issued a new research report claiming that supplies of the iPhone 5s in Apple’s U.S. retail stores have reached “100% availability”, showing that his survey of 60 locations revealed full availability of all color/capacity/carrier combinations. Based on our own check of 120 stores, supplies are just slightly short of…

Read More “iPhone 5s Nears 100% Availability in Apple’s U.S. Retail Stores” »

Apple has recently expanded iTunes Match availability to several Nordic countries, according to both reports on Twitter and tip from a MacRumors reader. iTunes users in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden now have access to the service, which has a yearly price of 249 kr in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and €24.99 in Finland. In…

Read More “iTunes Match Expands to Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden” »

Apple’s U.S. App Store has reached one million live apps, according to data from app discovery platform Appsfire. Our own app discovery site AppShopper lists the same one million milestone, with a total of 1,006,557 apps available for download at the time of writing. While Apple noted that it had a million apps in its…

Read More “Apple’s App Store Hits One Million Apps in the United States” »

As a part of Computer Science Education Week (December 9-15), code.org is organizing a worldwide campaign to get 10 million students of all ages to participate in the Hour of Code. It’s a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn the basics of programming. “The ability to…

Read More “The Hour of Code is here.” »

Apple has rolled out iBeacon technology at its 254 Apple Stores in the U.S., enabling shoppers to receive iPhone notifications about products and services via the Apple Store app. As the Associated Press reports, iBeacon transmitters use Bluetooth wireless technology to sense a shopper’s exact location inside an Apple Store and send messages based on…

Read More “Apple Unveils iBeacon to Assist Shoppers” »

Apple has removed all product placements on its homepage tonight and has instead replaced them with an image of Nelson Mandela, honoring the late South African president’s life a day after he passed at the age of 95. Apple executives had previously commented on Mandela’s death on Twitter, with SVP Phil Schiller tweeting a quote…

Read More “Apple Remembers Nelson Mandela on Its Homepage” »

China Mobile has stated that it will begin taking preorders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c this coming Thursday, December 12 on its website and at some of its locations in Shanghai, reports The Wall Street Journal. The move was revealed through a screenshot of a section on the company’s website that invited customers…

Read More “China Mobile to Begin iPhone Pre-Orders on December 12” »

Apple today announced that it will be participating in the “Hour of Code” initiative this Wednesday by offering free workshops in its U.S. stores introducing students to computer programming. Apple is setting aside the 5:00-6:00 PM hour at all of its retail stores for its workshops, and reservations are required. The broader initiative is sponsored…

Read More “Apple Supports ‘Hour of Code’ Campaign for Students with Free Workshops in U.S. Retail Stores” »

Over the past several years, Apple has removed, denied, or otherwise prevented a number of Bitcoin-related apps from being available to users on the App Store. Most recently, the company required the developers behind Gliph — a secure messaging app that also allowed users to transfer bitcoin from one Gliph user to another — to…

Read More “Apple’s Tumultuous Relationship With Bitcoin Apps” »

Apple’s former SVP of iOS software Scott Forstall has largely remained out of the spotlight since officially leaving Apple at the beginning of the year, but Amir Efrati from new technology site The Information has some news on what Forstall been up to. According to Efrati, as relayed by Business Insider, Forstall has spent his…

Read More “Former iOS Chief Scott Forstall Surfaces After Quiet Year of Traveling and Philanthropy” »

Prepaid mobile operators Straight Talk and Net10 will start selling the iPhone 5s and 5c at Walmart stores starting Dec. 13. Customers will have to pay sticker price for the devices ($549 to $649 for the 16 GB versions, though financing options are available), but they […] More: continued here