Month: September 2012

Predictably, FBI denies involvement in UDID scare

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 4, 2012

If you've been anywhere near an electrical outlet today, you already know about the latest privacy scare reportedly involving the hacking group AntiSec publishing a million UDIDs they allegedly lifted from a laptop belonging to an FBI agent. It's been all over the news and concerned citizens jumped to the rescue by writing a web app to check if your device identifier has been compromised (though I wouldn't be typing in my UDID into some web form if I were you).

Well, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known under the widely popular FBI moniker, issued a public statement related to the scandal. No, the Bureau absolutely had nothing to do with collecting Apple UDIDs. Its agent wasn't carrying around a file with a whopping twelve million device identifiers, thanks for your question. And of course they refuted the story and denied any wrongdoing. Sometimes, it's easier to believe in God than to trust the Government, isn't it?

Looking to sell? Amazon offers top dollar for iPhone trade-ins

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Apple sent out media invites this morning for a September 12 event where many believe it will unveil the new iPhone. The handset is expected to become available for pre-order the same day, and launch in stores the following week.

The news has kickstarted the pre-announcement ritual of folks looking to sell off their old Apple gear to help pay for the new stuff. And if you're looking to do the same, Amazon appears to be offering top dollar for old iPhones...

Will the iPhone 5 outsell Samsung’s Galaxy S III?

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 4, 2012

Now that we have the official confirmation of Apple's iPhone event taking place at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts next Wednesday, the second part of iMore's report mentioning September 21 availability (it's a Friday) is almost certainly a done deal as well. Which means Apple will get to sell the iPhone 5 (or whatever you think it's going to be called) for just ten days during the September quarter.

Despite this, resident Apple analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray is convinced that the device will shatter all previous sales records, moving as much as ten million units in its first week of sale, enough to make Samsung's lead short-lived and re-take the crown of the best-selling smartphone in the United States...

New survey shows 1 in 3 US smartphone owners have an iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ September 4, 2012

Android handsets started really picking up steam in late 2009 with the release of the Motorola Droid. Shortly after that, Google's mobile platform took over the smartphone industry and it has since controlled around 50% of the US market.

But Apple hasn't taken the challenge lying down. Thanks to its iPhone 3GS-4-4S lineup covering all price points, and its new partnerships with several smaller carriers, Apple's handsets now account for a healthy 30% of the same US market...

Spiffy up iOS screenshots with Screentaker for Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 28, 2017

A while back we brought you a look at Preview Maker — a jailbreak app that allows you to doctor up your screenshots with the body of the iPhone.

That app continues to work well, but what if your device isn't jailbroken? Of course, you can always fire up Photoshop, but there is a much faster alternative, and it's dedicated to making your iOS screenshots look better.

Screentaker is the solution to that problem. It's a Mac app that has been available for some time now; perhaps you already use it? At any rate, it continues to be one of the simplest methods for dressing up iOS screenshots, making them look more professional.

This upcoming tweak adds custom animations to the iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

There's no shortage of tweaks that allow you to customize the animations in iOS, but you can never have too much of a good thing, can you?

FunBoard is such a tweak that allows you to customize the Home screen icons, dock, and more. How does it work? Check out our hands-on video preview inside...

Report: Samsung can delay $1B payment to Apple until 2013

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

It's a good thing Apple is filthy rich and doesn't need the $1 billion in damages from Samsung any time soon. Due to the timing of post-trial paper-shuffling and other courtroom delays, the South Korean company may not pay its bill until 2013 -- if ever.

The two rivals are set to meet Dec. 6 for pre-trial motions. Then any jury award to Apple will get an automatic 14-day stay. Judge Koh could also modify the damage amount. Foss Patents also reminds us that Apple could ask for something off Samsung's huge parts bill.

“It’s almost here”: Apple sends out invites for September 12 media event

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 4, 2012

Apple just issued invites for its long-anticipated media event related to the next iPhone and scheduled to take place on next Wednesday, September 12, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am.

As has increasingly been the case, the confirmation comes via The Loop's Jim Dalrymple whose strong track record of accurate Apple reporting has made him an unofficial mouthpiece for the company...

Analyst guesstimates the Galaxy S III outsold the iPhone 4S in the US

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 4, 2012

Citing "channel checks", one analyst estimated that Samsung's three-month-old Galaxy S III smartphone has manage to outsell Apple's iPhone 4S in the United States during the month of August. Take it with a grain of salt as Apple doesn't break down iPhone numbers by model and Samsung stopped reporting phone and tablet sales for competitive reasons a year ago.

If true, this isn't terribly surprising given that the iPhone 4S is now almost a year old and especially knowing folks have been withholding their purchases in anticipation of the next iPhone...

Angry Birds spinoff Bad Piggies arrives September 27 for iOS, Android and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Two months ago, we learned that Finnish developer Rovio is working on a new Angry Birds pig game said to be focused on the piggies and slated for release just in time for the pre-holiday rush. Then last week, Rovio posted a teaser that offered a few glimpses into the upcoming game that turns the formula on its head by challenging you to to protect the eggs you’ve grabbed from the birds. Today, Rovio released a few more details and confirmed that Bad Piggies (that's the official title) will be released for iOS, Android and the Mac on September 27...

Conveniently, T-Mobile begins distributing Nano SIMs to retailers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 19, 2022

With just eight days left until next Wednesday's iPhone 5 unveiling, Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile telco has begun distributing Nano SIMs to retailers. As you know, the forty percent smaller SIM card standard proposed by Apple has been ratified by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute back in June.

A month later, news reports indicated that European carriers had begun stockpiling supplies and testing Nano SIMs in partnership with Apple, ahead of the iPhone 5 launch.

Since then, a Nano SIM tray said to belong to the next iPhone has been leaked in both images and on video. Apple's phone should become the first mobile device to utilize the new standard, helping mainstream the technology much in the same way the iPhone 4 popularized the Micro SIM standard...

Check if your iOS device has been compromised by the FBI breach

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 15, 2024

Yesterday, news broke that the hacking group AntiSec published a million UDIDs from an alleged trove of twelve million device IDs claimed to have been stolen from a laptop belonging to an FBI agent. Even though the hackers had removed some of the identifiable information from the list, your UDID might be exposed out in the wild, along with 999,999 other IDs posted on the web.

And why would you want to know if your UDID is out there for everyone to see? Good question. Your UDID uniquely identifies your device and expert hackers could use it to glean all sorts of information from other data associated with your UDID.

Yeah, it's a privacy catastrophe, one that might potentially even lead to identity theft. Perhaps even more important than that, wouldn't you like to know if your device is on the FBI's watch list?