Report: Apple Considered Dropping AT&T Many Times

Citing unidentified sources within Apple and T&T, Wired said that Apple has been frustrated with AT&T’s approach to managing the increased data demands the iPhone has placed on the company’s network. For instance, AT&T came to Apple to request that the company limit the YouTube app that shipped on the iPhone, or to make other…

Intel Turns to Former Apple Employee for Smartphone Reference Designs

“Mike will help build and lead a team with the charter to build breakthrough smartphone reference designs with the explicit intent of accelerating Intel architecture into the market,” Anand Chandrasekher, Senior Vice President of Intel’s ‘ultra-mobility’ group, told The Journal in a statement. The company also emphasized that he will be focused exclusively on smartphone…

HTC, Samsung Fire Back at Apple’s Reception Claims

“The reception problems are certainly not common among smartphones,” HTC chief financial officer Hui-Meng Cheng told the Wall Street Journal. “They (Apple) apparently didn’t give operators enough time to test the phone.”Samsung defended its Omnia II, one of the phones Mr. Jobs used in his demonstration by saying it “hasn’t received significant customer feedbacks on…

Vacation in the Hood Edition

The museum is housed in a small building, in the front of which is a small cafe where you can get a really good cuban sandwich. In the back nearly every square inch of floor and shelf space is packed with antique printing paraphernalia. Typesetting machines, printing presses, typewriters, and drawers and trays of moveable…

iPad Expands into 9 More Countries on July 23

Shoppers in the nine new countries will be able to get their hands on the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi plus 3G models on launch day.The iPad is a multimedia tablet that runs iOS and includes a 9.7-inch multi-touch display. It supports most iPhone apps, includes movie and music playback, supports Bluetooth keyboards, supports Apple’s iBooks ebook…

Phone Makers on Apple’s Press Conference: Nuh-uh!

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…

Apple Posts Antenna Page & Video Tour of “Antenna Design and Test Labs”

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…

NYT Reiterates: No iPhone 4 Recall

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 Rejects Bloomberg’s Report that Antenna Expert Warned Steve Jobs

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…

Report: Apple Also Tried to Buy Palm

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…

Senator Jumps into iPhone Antenna Game with Open Letter

“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…

Report: Apple, HTC Take a Bite out of Moto, RIM

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…

Analyst Estimates iPhone 4 Recall at $1.5 Billion

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 Buys Internet Coding Company Poly9

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.…

Tawkon Explains its iPhone Radiation App

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…

Everyday Looper is Fabulous and Fun, Too!

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…

App Store Cache Bug Trips up Father & Son

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 LapWorks iPad Recliner Rocks

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…

Tiny Touch Screen Hints at New Apple Product

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 Genius Mini Portable Speaker SP-i150

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: 400 iTunes Accounts Hit with Fraud

“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…

Analysis: Apple Uses iTunes Data for Targeting iAds for Competitive Edge

“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…