News

Verizon announced during its first fiscal quarter earnings report on Thursday that it activated 4 million iPhones, which comes in above Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um's 3.5 million unit target. The cell service provider's activations were down compared to last quarter, but are up year over year. Still, Apple's quarterly iPhone numbers may come in…

Time magazine has released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Apple's designer-in-chief, Jony Ive, was named one of the most influential artists. U2's Bono, who counted the late Steve Jobs as a friend, did the write up on Sir Jony for the magazine. Sir Jonathan Ive Bono's description…

A petition hosted at Change.org is asking Verizon to follow in T-Mobile's footsteps and drop contract requirements for customers. The petition has already gathered more than 79,000 signatures out of a goal of 150,000. [Update: We added Verizon's statement.] Change.org Image for Petition Earlier in April, T-Mobile announced its “Uncarrier” plans that let customers buy…

Eric Schmidt has apparently found religion on privacy, and he's here with a message: mini-drones need to be regulated. We can't have folks and terrorists and such using these things to spy on each other, he said, that's for governments and Google to do. OK, I added the bit about Google, but that's what kept…

New Trent’s iTorch IMP52D is a 5200 mAh battery pack that works with all versions of the iPhone and iPad. It should also work with the iPod touch although it is not advertised to do so. The iTorch also includes a laser pointer and LED flashlight. Included with the product is a micro-USB to USB…

Digital Treasures has added to its line of Props Power Cases with the introduction of the Props Power Case for iPad mini. Props Power Case for iPad mini The case is a standard folio style design with tab closure, but it includes an 8000 mAh battery built-into the bottom of the case. The battery only…

Mac users turned their attention to long time Mac app developer Ambrosia Software Wednesday night when the company's coders posted messages on Twitter saying they lost their jobs and that the business was shutting down. Despite what the word is on Twitter, however, company president Andrew Welch says that's not what's really happening. Ambrosia Software:…

Starbucks announced a change to its iTunes Pick of the Week program on Tuesday that pushes customers to the company's mobile app for free downloads, which had some people thinking the cards they're used to seeing next to the cash register were going away, and soon. Turns out that's not the case, and what Starbucks…

I love this one: some folks may not remember, but rumors started up in 1996 that Steve Jobs might team up with Oracle Larry Ellison to buy Apple, or maybe Mr. Ellison was simply going to buy Apple so his buddy could run it again. Many people thought this sounded awful. Steve Jobs was kind…

Former Apple VP Ron Johnson Former Apple retailing VP Ron Johnson has been fired from JC Penney, the company he left Apple for in 2011. Mr. Johnson had been hired to turn JC Penney around, and he promised to reinvent the shopping experience. Customers were slow to embrace change, and sales, profits and JC Penney's…

The US Patent and Trademark Office has revised its stance on Apple's request for a trademark on the iPad mini name. The agency has resolved most of the issues it had with granting the trademark, and so far Apple hasn't had to do anything to make that happen. USPTO: iPad mini trademark isn't so bad…

In a sign of both Apple's increasing clout in China and growing consumerism in that country, representations of Apple products have become a top offering to the dead. NBC reported that cardboard representations of iPhones, iPads, and iMacs have joined more traditional offerings of fake money, food, and bags of clothes as offerings to the…

Facebook offered up its big reveal on Thursday, taking the wraps off of “Home,” a new Facebook app for Android. Or, at least some android devices. Home puts Facebook services front and center by taking over your home and lock screens and giving you quick access to status updates and messages from your Facebook friends.…

Hex  often produces a line of bags and that is the case with the Tribute. The Cloak Backpack is one of several items designed to mix and match. Hex Tribute Cloak Backpack The outside is water resistant, “fine wale” navy blue corduroy. The bottom three inches of the backpack are covered with an imitation leather that…

Apple has been hit with yet another lawsuit, although this time it's over the EarPods trademark and comes from hearing aid maker Randolph Divisions. The lawsuit alleged that Apple's EarPods headphones that ship with the iPhone 5 infringe on the HearPod trademark and product. Hearing aid maker sues Apple over EarPods name Randolph Divisions claimed…

A review of Apple's so-called overscroll bounce patent has invalidated a key claim. Though the review processreaffirmed three of the patents claims (14, 17, and 18), claim 19 was at the heart of (some of) Apple's legal victory in Apple v. Samsung in which Apple won more than a billion U.S. dollars in damages. This…

The HTC One earned a 1 out of 10 Repairability Score from iFixIt on Friday, the first time a device earned such a score. Will that result in legions of Apple critics leveling their wrath on HTC? Don't count on it. The HTC One is one of the most highly-regarded Android devices on the market.…

U.S. cell service provider T-Mobile will be hosting a media event in New York City Tuesday morning where the company is expected to talk about its LTE network plans, and possibly even some news about bringing the iPhone to the network. T-Mobile is the only big carrier to be left out of the iPhone game,…

Apple did two things last week that have stuck in my mind: it radically redesigned its Podcasts app and added support for a third-party music routing system, called Audiobus, to GarageBand. I try not to get too optimistic when watching Apple’s moves, but I can’t help but wonder if these tea leaves speak of what’s…

This week I have the pleasure of not only welcoming Smile back as our sponsor here at TMO, but also talking about a new version of their fantastic product, PDFpen. For those of you who don't know, PDFpen allows you to edit and modify your PDFs in many different ways. Need to add a signature…

Apple has purchased WifiSLAM for about US$20 million, hinting that indoor location tracking and navigation may be coming to iOS. WifiSLAM specializes in indoor mapping based on WiFi signals — a feature that Google offers in some locations through its own map apps, but so far isn't available in Apple's Maps app. Apple gets deeper…

I am happy to welcome back online backup service CrashPlan as this week's sponsor here at TMO. CrashPlan is something I have personally used for years, and I always happily recommended on our Mac Geek Gab podcast, too. In short, CrashPlan is an online backup service for your Mac (and other machines, like Windows, too). A…

The purpose of advertising is to create demand and then sales. If a company that's behind in market and mind share spends enough, it not only influences the customers, it influences the tech community. Is this what's behind the Apple malaise? We are all creatures born of the advertising era, and we grudgingly admit that…

Justin Long is playing Steve Jobs in iSteve, the newest Steve Jobs biopic. Unlike Ashton Kutcher's jOBS or Aaron Sorkin's in-progress adapatation of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography, iSteve is a comedy made by Will Farrell's Funny or Die. iSteve Movie Poster The New York Times reported that the movie's script was written in three…