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WSJ wants antitrust judge taken off e-book case over conflict of interest

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2017

After the July trial found Apple guilty of ebook price-fixing, the iPhone maker last week filed a complaint over exorbitant lawyer fees. Specifically, court-appointed Michael Bromwich billed the company an unbelievable $138,432 (or the equivalent of 75 percent of a federal judge’s annual salary, as Apple wrote in the complaint), plus a fifteen percent “administrative fee” on top, for a fortnight’s worth of work on overseeing the electronic books price-fixing antitrust case.

It has now come to light that Bromwich and Denise Cote, the very same federal judge who found Apple guilty of price fixing, are in fact old friends. The finding prompted The Wall Street Journal to issue a scathing editorial lambasting Cote over conflict of interest and demanding that the antitrust judge be taken off the case...

Apple moves to recover $15 million in legal fees from Samsung

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2013

Just a day following the mid-November Appeals court ruling which gave Apple another chance to ban Samsung's infringing devices, the iPhone maker made its case on why it’s entitled to an additional $379 million in pending damages over patent infringement and lost sales in the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit.

Following a short period of deliberation, a jury of six women and two men reached a conclusion for the retrial between Apple and Samsung over damages, ruling the Galaxy maker must pay Apple an additional $290 million on top of more than the $500 million in damages already awarded last year.

But Tim Cook & Co. aren't stopping there. As reported by an expert patent blogger, Apple is now demanding a cool $15 million in legal fees from Samsung, or one third of Apple attorneys' fees that total over $60 million...

Official: iOS 7 hits 74 percent adoption rate

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2013

If you had any any doubts concerning popularity of the iOS 7 which caused - and continues to cause - quite a commotion among the punditry with its light design, here's your wake up call. According to Apple's official data, iOS 7 is now installed on more than three-quarters of iOS devices in active use.

Specifically, Apple's data indicates a 74 percent adoption rate for iOS 7 as of December 1. Apple released iOS 7 on September 18, 2013.

The 74 percent iOS 7 adoption rate is a huge share no matter how you look at it, especially versus the 22 percent seen by iOS 6. The company put the older iOS versions at just four percent.

By comparison, Android 4.4 KitKat is currently installed on a meager 1.1 percent of Android devices. That the iPhone maker has been able to put iOS 7 on three out of each four devices in the wild in less than three months iOS 7 has been on the market is nothing short of phenomenal...

Contradictory report reveals Apple hasn’t inked China Mobile deal yet

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

After the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday said that anonymous sources claimed Apple and China Mobile have finally inked an iPhone distribution agreement, most outlets, including us, reported it as a fact.

Add on top of that the carrier's Suzhou subsidiary opened a reservation system for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c and the fact that China Mobile is gearing up to launch its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile network this month and it's no surprise that everyone bought the WSJ report.

But now, an influential news organization relays words of a China Mobile official who insisted that the deal has not been inked yet...

1Password for Mac gains custom password fields, better search, auto-save and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

AgileBits' 1Password is my favorite program to manage all of my secure notes, passwords, logins, credit card information and other sensitive data.

The developer in mid-October updated the 1Password for iPhone and iPad client with local Wi-Fi sync, improved iCloud support and other tweaks and today a major new version of 1Password for Mac is scheduled to go live in the Mac App Store.

1Password 4.1 for Mac, which has been in beta testing for weeks, includes a host of changes and improvements, like the all-new custom password fields which vastly expands the software's usefulness, an improved search, an auto-save feature and lots more. Go past the fold for the full breakdown...

Razer’s upcoming Kazuyo MFi iPhone game controller leaks

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

With Moga’s upcoming Ace Power iPhone game controller recently shown in leaked photos and Logitech now selling its $99 PowerShell controller, other accessory makers have taken notice and are now working on their own Made for iPhone (MFi) iOS 7 game controllers.

One of them is Razer, a privately-held American accessory maker that specializes in high-performance hardware specifically marketed to gamers. On Friday, Twitter user @evleaks leaked what appeared to be a legitimate press shot of Razer's upcoming iOS 7 game controller called the Kazuyo...

Apple launches iBeacons in retail stores with In-Store Notifications via Apple Store app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Apple has begun rolling out iBeacons in its retail stores, with first iBeacon transmitters being deployed in its 24-hour Fifth Avenue store in New York City. Apple has also rolled out a server-side update allowing its free Apple Store app for the iPhone and iPad to let shoppers elect to receive In-Store Notifications about products and orders, including information such as a customer's upgrade availability and trade-in options.

Approving In-Store Notifications within the Apple Store app requires enabling Bluetooth and the iOS Background App Refresh feature, which allows the system to locate your device and issue product-related information as you check out products inside the store...

Diptic Video review: make video collages with just a few taps

Lory Gil ∙ December 6, 2013

I may have already mentioned this in the past, but I do take a lot of pictures with my iPhone. I also like taking video clips, especially of bands. I like to document my life as much as possible. Maybe I’m worried that I’ll forget it all someday.

Diptic Video is the follow-up release from Peak Systems, the creator of Diptic. With it, you can create photo and video collages with multiple clips that you can add a soundtrack to and share on your favorite social networking sites…

PDF Wordsmith turns your PDFs into Word documents

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 28, 2018

If you have ever tried to convert a PDF to a different type of file, like a .doc, for example, you know what a pain it is to successfully get all of the letters, graphs, and markups to show up correctly. Sure, you can turn just about anything into a PDF, but reversing the operation is another story.

PDF Wordsmith takes those pesky locked up PDFs and turns them into readable, editable, useful Word documents with a simple tap. Easily export them to another application and have full use of your new document…

Spotify reportedly planning to introduce free mobile music service

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 23, 2017

Spotify is reportedly planning to launch a free mobile music service. According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, the Sweden-based company has reached licensing deals with all three of the global music companies to use their recordings.

Spotify currently offers a free service for desktop and laptop computers, and offers a Pandora-like radio feature via its mobile app. But this new service would allow smartphone and tablet users to play a limited number of songs on-demand, with ads...

Verizon wins approval for $130 billion purchase of Vodafone’s stake in VZW

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Back in September, Verizon announced that it had reached an agreement with Vodafone to purchase its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. The carrier, which was founded in April of 2000, has thus far been a joint venture between the two companies.

With a purchase price believed to be approaching $130 billion, the deal will go down as one of the largest acquisitions in history. And it looks like it will be happening sooner, rather than later, as the FCC has just given the transaction its approval..

iPhone 5s shipping times improve to 1-3 days for many countries

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Good news for folks trying to snag an iPhone 5s in time for the holidays. Shipping times for the popular handset have improved in Apple's web store yet again, and now read 1-3 days in the US, Canada and several other countries.

This applies to all models of the smartphone, meaning all carriers, colors and capacities. So essentially, if you ordered a gold iPhone 5s—which at one point was backordered for more than a month—you'd get it in a couple of days...