News

The Cupertino-based company has been battling bad press over problems some customers have been reporting related to iPhone 4 signal strength loss when holding the combination iPod and smartphone so the lower left corner is covered. The company issued a software patch on Thursday with a more accurate signal strength bar formula, and on Friday…

Accordingly (links are to articles with full coverage of that topic): Customers who ordered an iPhone will be given a free case – customers who already ordered a bumper case from Apple will be given a refund iPhone 4 customers who are unsatisfied with their device can get a full refund — AT&T will cancel…

Apple has included images and video from its R&D labs and manufacturing facilities in the recent past, but this video offers the public (and the competition, for what that’s worth) a look into how Apple spent some US$100 million in developing its antenna design and testing facilities. “Apple never releases a product without thoroughly testing…

Customers have been complaining about signal loss issues when they hold their iPhone 4 with the lower left corner covered. Apple said the problem was software related and released an update that more accurately shows signal strength on Thursday.Consumer Reports, however, issued its own report saying the problem is a hardware issue and refused to…

Apple had declined to comment on other aspects the iPhone 4 antenna controversy, but categorically rejected the Bloomberg report, saying: “We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It’s simply not true.” Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg had reported that senior engineer and antenna expert Ruben Caballero warned Apple execs that…

Apple’s interest in acquiring Palm centered around the company’s large portfolio of more than 450 patents, as well as another pending 400 patent applications. Had Apple been able to land those patents, the company would have been in a very strong place when it comes to defending its own large portfolio of patents relating to…

“While I commend Apple’s innovative approach to mobile technology and appreciate its service to millions of iPhone users nationwide, I believe it is incumbent upon Apple to address this flaw in a transparent manner,” Senator Schumer said. He also cited the Consumer Reports study that claimed to confirm the iPhone’s signal loss issues are a…

ChangeWave reported that “At the individual manufacturers’ level, going forward the survey findings show a major leap for Apple and HTC at the expense of RIM and Motorola. “The new Apple iPhone 4 is driving much of the industry’s growth, with more than one-in-two (52%) respondents who plan to buy a smart phone in the…

Mr. Sacconaghi’s product recall cost estimate follows a Consumer Reports study that rates the iPhone 4 as the best smartphone, but refuses to suggest the device as a good purchase because of antenna-related cell signal strength issues.“When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side — an easy thing, especially…

Apple and Poly9 are keeping quiet about the purchase, although nearly all of the company’s staff has relocated to the Silicon Valley area. The two employees that left Poly9 instead of moving to California refused to talk about the purchase claiming they’re bound by nondisclosure agreements.Poly9 is the second Internet map-related company Apple has purchased.…

The Mac Observer was contacted by Josh Winter, a Tawkon media relations representative, who pointed us to this detailed explanation of the app. As we have all learned from Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna issues, the cellular network is complex. So are the methods for determining radiation risk. One may wish to have a thorough understanding…

The practice of looping by performing musicians has been around for quite awhile. (Check out Andrew Bird, for example.) But recent technology has made it considerably easier for non-professionals and Mancing Dolecules puts the power of looping right in the palm of your hand with its Everyday Looper iPhone app. “Looping” is the act of…

On Friday, Mike Rohde described in his blog how, after he entered a password on his iPhone, he gave it to his son who subsequently played the game Fishies. His son, not knowing better, accumulated $149.99 in charges using in-app purchases. That was possible because the password was still in cache and hadn’t yet timed…

The new LapWorks iPad Recliner arrived on my doorstep for review at just the right moment. I was at the beginning stages of a project that required me to email 600 individual postcards as part of a marketing campaign using Postcard Express. I was struggling, trying to find a comfortable position in which to place…

Solar Walk, from Vito Technology, is a beginner’s introduction to the Sun and the planets. Basic information about the distance from the Sun, the length of the day, and the internal structure of each planet is provided. It’s a simple app, really geared towards U.S. Grade School level. Launch At launch, the solar system is…

Assuming the photos are legit, and that the display really is touch-sensitive, Apple could also be working on a redesigned iPod nano or iPod shuffle with touch interfaces, or possibly a new      input device for the Mac.Apple.pro has previously gotten its hands on what turned out to be legit images of iPhone 4…

The Mini Portable Speaker SP-i150, from Genius, looks like a flying saucer and offers a 360-degree sound field. It has a single on/off switch. Volume is controlled by your portable device. The speaker easily fits in the palm of your hand. There is a built-in lithium battery that gives up to eight hours of service…

“Apple told me that an extremely small percentage of users, about  400 of the 150 million iTunes users — that is less than 0.0003 percent of iTunes users, were impacted,” he said.Concerns that Apple’s App Store had been hacked surfaced over the weekend when some users reported they were being charged for ebooks without their…

“Apple knows what you’ve downloaded, how much time you spend interacting with applications and knows even what you’ve downloaded, don’t like and deleted,” Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at marketing firm iCrossing, told Bloomberg. The company is able to put to put together a behavior profile based on all this information, which allows the company…

Real world 3G data upload speeds tend to be all over the board, but can climb upwards of 1000 kbps. In some cities, however, that seems to be capped at 100 kbps, according to chatter on the Mac Rumors forums.Cities that appear to be impacted by upload performance issues include New York City, Suffolk County…

This mouse fits very comfortably in smaller hands, but is not so small that larger hands can not handle it with ease.  The 2.4GHz digital cordless technology works up to 10 feet away and delivers interference-free operation. Genius Travler 900 Wireless MouseAs clearly stated in the accompanying literature, it should not be used on glass or…

Palm CEO and former Apple employee, Jon Rubinstein, will run HP’s Palm global business unit.Palm was known for helping kick start the PDA industry with its Palm Pilot electronic organizer. Later, it released the Treo smartphone, and most recently it introduced webOS and the Pre smartphone. The Pre and the followup phone, the Pixi, however,…

“Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong,” Apple said in its statement. “Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”Some iPhone 4 owners have been complaining of…

An attorney who is familiar with Apple and the events so far has provided TMO with some background that helps clarify how legal events will proceed. It’s not just a question of Apple offering a free bumper at this point.First, Apple needs to have its own technical understanding of the problem. Field evidence, tests conducted…