The new case was filed in U.S District Court in New York. The earlier case was filed in California.According to the filing, Pandora and Backflip Studios, maker of the Paper Toss game, collected the unique UDID numbers from user’s iPhones to track people and push targeted ads to them without consent. The lawsuit also alleged…
Jeff Gamet
Jeff Gamet is the Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X” from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also hosts TMO’s Daily Observations podcast, co-hosts The iOS Show podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other shows, too. Jeff dreams in HD.
Articles by Jeff Gamet
Microsoft: Skype to Stay on Competing Platforms
“We will continue to invest in Skype on non-Microsoft client platforms,” Mr. Ballmer told reporters, according to Computerworld.While Microsoft plans to continue supporting Skype on Mac OS X, iOS, and other platforms, the company also plans to expand support for its own products. “Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and…
Microsoft Buying Skype in $8.5B Deal
Microsoft plans to buy Skype The deal has been approved by the boards of directors for both companies and finally lets eBay offload the rest of Skype. eBay paid some $2.6 billion for Skype back in 2005 raising questions about why an online auction company would want an Internet chat company. eBay sold off 65…
New iMac, MacBook Pro Support Thunderbolt Booting
Thunderbolt is a new peripheral connection first introduced on the MacBook Pro in February with the promise of data transfer speeds that dramatically outperform USB 2.0 and FireWire 800. The interface next showed up on the iMac refresh in early May.Apple’s Thunderbolt portThunderbolt offers two bi-directional channels that support 10Gbps data transfer speeds, and can…
Amazon Cloud Player Adds iPhone, iPad Support
Amazon launched the online storage and music playback service near the end of March with 5GB of free storage and the ability to stream songs from your Cloud Drive — unless you used an iOS-based device.Amazon Cloud Player on the iPadNo word was given to explain why Apple’s devices were left out, and no word…
Conde Nast Joins the iPad Subscription Game
The New Yorker gets iPad subscriptionsThe New Yorker readers can subscribe to the publication on their iPad for US$5.99 a month, which works out to be a much better deal than the magazine’s original $4.99 per issue price. For readers that don’t want to pay for a subscription, they can still pick up individual issues…
China Greets iPad 2 with Long Lines
Customers lined up for hours for China’s iPad 2 launchApple launched the iPad 2 in China with only its Wi-Fi models. Customers could, however, choose between white or black, just like in other countries.Customers in China can order the iPad 2 online through Apple’s Web site, too, although ship times are currently delayed between one…
Apple Intros Consumer Pulse Customer Feedback Site
Apple goes looking for customer feedbackCustomers that agree to participate in the Customer Pulse program will be asked to participate in no more than two surveys each month. Apple said answers will be anonymous, and that survey results will always be viewed as a whole instead of individually.Apple’s other feedback tools have typically been reactionary,…
Apple Addresses Location Tracking with iOS 4.3.3 Update
iOS 4.3.3 addresses location tracking concernsThe 4.3.3 update reduces the size of the location data cache, no longer backs up the cache when syncing with iTunes, and deletes the location cache from users iPhones when Location Services is disabled.The update clocks in at 662.3MB on the GSM-based iPhones TMO tested, and 652.8MB for CDMA iPhones.…
iFixit: Thunderbolt iMac Includes Replaceable GPU
“With a bit of magic, the GPU heat sink detaches from the logic board, exposing the AMD GPU board,” iFixit’s Miroslav Djuric said. “You heard that right, folks — you don’t have to replace the entire logic board if your GPU explodes from too much l33t gaming.”Replacing the GPU, however, comes at a cost since…
New iMacs Sport Thunderbolt, Quad-Core Processors
The new iMac ships with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 16:9 LED backlit display, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD graphics, four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, two Thunderbolt ports, Gigabit Ethernet, SuerDrive, SDXC card slot, audio in and out ports, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, built-in microphone and stereo speakers, and the same FaceTime HD…
iOS 4.3.3 May Fix iPhone Location Tracking
Cell tower and Wi-Fi locations near you are stored on your iPhoneThe iOS 4.3.3 update will allegedly reduce the number of days worth of location data stored on user’s iPhones, no longer backs up the database to user’s computers, and deletes the database when Location Services is disabled. The update should also include fixes for…
Time Extends Print Subscriptions to iPad
The deal is good news for print subscribers, although Time hasn’t gone so far as to allow in-app subscription purchases on the iPad. Doing so would force Time to agree to Apple’s terms and give up 30 percent of in-app sales revenue along with access to personal information about iPad users.Apparently Time and Apple had…
More Reports Claim Apple Bought icloud.com
Apple bought icloud.com? Seems likely.News of the second unnamed source comes courtesy of AllThingsD. GigaOM offered up its own anonymous source earlier who also said the deal set Apple back over $4 million.Adding a little more credibility to both reports, Xcerion has rebranded its icloud online storage service as CloudMe, and the icloud.com domain redirects…
Apple May Have Purchased icloud.com Domain
According to GigaOM, an anonymous source spilled the beans on the purchase, although a quick WHOIS search shows that icloud.com is still listed as a Xcerion property. The domain, however, does redirect to a new CloudMe Web page.Apple has been rumored for some time to be working on a cloud-based music storage service that will…
iPad 2 Launches in Japan, UAE, other Countries this Week
iPad 2: Coming to a country near you!Countries that will offer the iPad 2 on April 29 include Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE. China will get in on the iPad 2 action, too, on May 6, although only the Wi-Fi models will be available.The iPad 2…
Illinois Attorney General Demands iPhone, Android Privacy Answers
Illinois now investigating Apple, Google mobile privacyThe meeting request follows reports that Apple’s iPhone tracks user locations, and stores that data on their phone and computer in unencrypted files. It appears that Apple isn’t collecting the logs from user’s computers, but Google is apparently gathering location data from Android-based devices more than once an hour.The…
Senator to Apple: What’s Up with iPhone Tracking Data?
Senator Franken questions Apple’s data policies Word that the iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad track and log detailed information location data spread like wildfire on Wednesday when two security researchers released an application that overlays the information on a map. The collected data is transfered from user’s iPhones to their computer during a standard synchronization, and…
Verizon CFO: Apple is Building a World Phone
Commenting on slow company growth during the Verizon iPhone launch, Mr. Shammo commented “The fluctuation, I believe, will come when a new device from Apple is launched, whenever that may be, and that we will be, on the first time, on equal footing with our competitors on a new phone hitting the market, which will…
Apple Q2 Retail Store Sales Up 90%
71 million visitors passed through Apple’s retail stores for the quarter, up 28 million from Q2 2010’s 43 million.The company sold some 3.76 million Macs during its second quarter, up 28 percent compared to the same quarter last year. It also sold 18.65 million iPhones, and 4.69 million iPads.iPhone sales were up 113 percent compared…
iTunes Update Addresses iPad, iPhone Sync Issues
The 10.2.2 update addressed an issue where iTunes could become unresponsive when syncing an iPad, and fixed a problem where photo syncing could take far longer than it should. It also fixed an issue that could cause video previews to skip when viewed in the iTunes application, and fixed other stability and performance issues.Along with…
Toys R Us Starts Selling Apple’s iPad 2
iPad 2 lands at Toys R UsSo far, Toys R Us is offering the iPad 2 in about 30 states, and only in select stores. The company is also selling cases and other accessories for the iPad 2.Apple sells the iPad through its own stores and online, as well as at other retailers such as…
Adobe Warns of New Critical Flash Security Flaw
There’s a new Flash Player security flaw in townAccording to Adobe Security Advisory ASPA11-02, the flaw impacts Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier for Mac, Windows, Linux and Solaris users, version 10.2.154.25 for Google Chrome users, and 10.2.156.12 for Google Android OS users. The flaw is also present in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 10.x and…
Intel: Thunderbolt Developer Kit Coming this Quarter
Intel developed Thunderbolt under the code name “Light Peak” with the assistance of Apple. The technology offers faster data transfers than FireWire 800 or USB 3.0.Thunderbolt uses the same connector as Apple’s Mini Display Port video adapter and can currently support up to six devices in a chain. The port offers dual-channel 10 gb/s data…