Year: 2012

Dropbox gains enhanced video playback, support for password-protected Office docs

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Cloud-storage startup Dropbox has quickly become my favorite solution for storing and sharing files in the cloud, collaborating on projects, backing up my photos and more. Today, an update to the free Dropbox iOS client has been issued, bringing with it a couple new features and tweaks. For starters, streaming of video files from your Dropbox is now improved. Another nice-to-have: Dropbox finally features support for password-protected Microsoft Office documents, an iOS 6-only capability...

Samsung’s audit of Chinese suppliers finds excess overtime hours, but no child labor

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 26, 2012

No children are building Samsung devices in China, the South Korean smartphone maker announced Monday. According to an audit of 105 Chinese suppliers, there are problems with too much overtime and being fined for lateness or absences. The four-week monitoring of its suppliers' production facilities follows earlier accusations that one of Samsung's suppliers hired underage workers.

Although Samsung insisted it has "zero tolerance" about child workers, the company said today it will require that all suppliers follow new hiring procedures, including the use of a device that spots false IDs. By the end of the year, suppliers must stop fining workers when they are late or absent, the firm announced today...

China Telecom starts taking iPhone 5 pre-orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2012

Echoing earlier reports, folks in China can now officially get an iPhone 5 as China Telecom, the smallest of the country's three telecom carriers, started taking pre-orders for the device yesterday. According to a local report, a member of the customer service staff at the carrier's Beijing branch confirmed iPhone 5 pre-orders in mainland China.

The country's largest home appliance retailer, Suning, started taking pre-orders for the device earlier in the month. No word on availability of CDMA iPhone 5 models on Apple's long-time iPhone distributor, China Unicom...

Sprint lights up LTE in 11 new cities

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Carrier Sprint, the nation's #3 telcon, announced Monday that its 4G LTE rolled out to customers in eleven new United States markets, including Harrisburg, Pa., South Bend/Mishawaka, Ind., Muncie, Ind., Peabody, Mass., and Salina, Kan. Per usual, folks can enjoy boosted data speeds on Sprint's 4G LTE network with an Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM, which includes unlimited data, texting and calling to and from any mobile network in the country. Sprint and other major US carriers started selling the iPad mini in mid-November...

iPhone 5 could hit Taiwan mid-December

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2012

If a report published Monday by Focus Taiwan is to be trusted, Taiwanese should have a chance to get their hands on the iPhone 5 starting December 14. Local carriers Far Eastone Telecommunications, Taiwan Mobile and Chunghwa Telecom all confirmed they are in the final stages of signing a distribution agreement with Apple as the sides are apparently working out the details. Taiwan's carriers plan to start taking pre-orders for the device a week before the planned December 14 launch...

iPhone 5 shipping times improve to one week

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Demand for Apple's latest handset continues to outstrip supply, but availability has been improving lately. Throughout September, Apple's online store consistently quoted a 3-4 week shipping estimate for the handset before improving to 2-3 weeks mid-November. And as the handset became easier to find in Apple's brick-and-mortar stores, some international online Apple Stores today updated iPhone 5 shipping times to just one week.

This bodes well for Apple's holiday sales because it indicates the company is catching up to iPhone 5 demand. Apple is expected to soon roll out the device to additional countries, per its promise to make the iPhone 5 available in about a hundred countries and through 240 carriers by year's end...

Apple Stores outsold Microsoft Stores nearly 5 to 1 in Black Friday purchases

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX1eTBeWoyw

A quick side-by-side video MacWeekend.com shot early morning on Black Friday at Lone Tree's Park Meadow Mall where both Apple and Microsoft have their respective retail stores shows one is packed and the other is not. Apple's place is much smaller versus Microsoft's so it feels busier, of course. And over at the Apple Store in the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster and his crew counted heads at both Apple's store and the Microsoft Store directly across the hall.

Although non-scientific, their comparison survey tells us that shoppers picked up nearly five times as many items per hour at the Apple store. We already knew the iPad dominated mobile shopping on Black Friday. And if you ask kids, Apple's tablet is the #1 item on their holiday wish list. Looks like Apple's gonna own Christmas this year...

Internal Apple video gives insight into its retail prowess

Cody Lee ∙ November 26, 2012

Apple launched its first retail store(s) on May 19, 2001. It was the fruition of Steve Jobs' vision to improve Mac sales by giving consumers a top-notch shopping experience. Several analysts, of course, predicted the failure of the chain.

But as we all know, Jobs proved everyone wrong. Apple Stores have since exploded, and there are now close to 400 of them around the world, making more money per square foot than high-end jewelry stores. And here's how they did it...

Best Buy ad highlights all things Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEKer84625Q

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is airing an interesting new television commercial 100 percent dedicated to Apple products found at its outlets. The ad is titled "Gifts That Do: Finding Santa" and depicts a retail employee telling a kid that he can do pretty much everything with Apple products, including reaching Santa over FaceTime...

Apple acquired ‘Lightning’ trademark from Harley-Davidson

Cody Lee ∙ November 26, 2012

Back in September, Apple fulfilled the prophecies of the rumor mill and introduced a new charging port for its iOS devices called 'Lightning.' As expected, it had 9 pins, and was reversible, so you could insert the plug either way.

Interestingly enough, two trademark applications published on Sunday by the EU Patent & Trademark Office show that Apple actually had to acquire the 'Lightning' trademark from the motorcycle-maker Harley-Davidson...

Facebook urges employees to switch to Android

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

This is kind of an interesting story. Apparently Facebook has launched an internal campaign to get its employees to trade in their iPhones for Android devices. After years of giving its workers Apple handsets, the social networking giant is urging them to make the switch to Google's platform in an effort known as Droidfooding...

The iPad dominated mobile shopping on Black Friday

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

The annual day-after-Thanksgiving sales blitz known as Black Friday is now behind us. We'll likely see several more deals and discounts over the next month, but the long lines and door busters are gone.

The lines, though, were noticeably shorter this year than they were in 2011, despite the fact that retail sales were up. And that can only mean that more people are doing their holiday shopping online...