Best Buy to offer $100 for old phones towards purchase of iPhone 5s, 5c

It appears that Best Buy is on the verge of launching another smartphone trade-in promotion next week. According to a new report, the retailer will begin offering a minimum of $100 for select older, working handsets.

The catch here is that this trade-in money must be used to purchase a new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c at the subsidized price—meaning you'll have to sign a new two-year agreement with one of Best Buy's carrier partners...

T-Mobile offering unlimited texting and 2G data in 100 countries

T-Mobile announced some major changes to its 'Un-carrier' smartphone plans last night. In addition to unlimited texting and data here in the US, the provider is now offering free unlimited texting and 2G data in 100 major countries.

"There’s just so many pieces of data that suggest to us this is a huge issue and pain point," says T-Mobile CEO John Legere. Legere notes that over 40% of customers turn off their phones while overseas in an effort to avoid high charges...

Apple’s iPhone trade-in program reportedly headed to the UK

Following rumors and speculation, Apple officially launched its iPhone trade-in program on August 30. Available in all US Apple Stores, customers can use the program to turn their old iPhones into cash—up to $280.

At the moment, Apple is only accepting trade-ins in the United States, but that could be changing soon. According to a new report, the company has plans to launch the program in the UK within the next few months...

Shares 2 offers a ridiculously simple way to track your stocks

Keeping track of your stocks can be a burden if you are using Apple’s native Stocks app. You can see increases and decreases from the day’s opening, but figuring out how much you’ve made or lost takes additional time, and usually a calculator.

Shares 2 gives you a simple and elegant view of the companies you’ve invested in, plus gives you an overview of how much money you’ve made or lost overall…

New photos offer clear look at Apple’s upcoming iPad 5

I would say 'spoiler alert,' but I'm sure it's far too late for that. Photos of shells and components belonging to Apple's fifth-generation tablet have been bouncing around the web since January of this year.

But these new images offer an extremely clear look at the so-called iPad 5—perhaps the best we've seen thus far. And they give us a really good idea of what we can expect to see from Apple later this month...

Foursquare app updated with new design and real-time recommendations

Foursquare has issued a fairly significant update to its iOS client today, bringing the app to version 6.4. The update includes a number of improvements, including new UI and an all-new 'Nearby' button.

But easily the biggest addition to Foursquare 6.4 is the new Real-time recommendations feature. With it enabled, the app will send you useful location-based information, like current specials at a restaurant...

Twitter unveils ‘See This’ button: watch TV shows and change the channel from a tweet

Ending weeks of speculation, Twitter today announced a new feature that has the potential to take social television to the next level.

Twitter users will soon start seeing a new See It button embedded in tweets that, when clicked, lets folks immediately tune into live programming through their set-top box or a mobile devices such as a smartphone or a tablet.

To replace your remote, Twitter partnered with cable provider Comcast and its fully-owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, giving Xfinity customers the ability to also schedule DVR recordings on-the-fly, directly from Twitter. The feature will debut with NBCUniversal offerings including The Voice and Sunday Night Football.

Go past the fold for the full reveal...

Apple seeks expert in China Mobile’s TD-LTE ahead of iPhone deal

Apple is a bit like a black hole: only by detecting its effect on nearby objects can observers discern its real intention. The latest clue to Apple's China card is a job posting seeking a networking expert in a technology only used by China Mobile. The engineer would be based in Beijing, supporting China Mobile's 3G technology TD-SCDMA, as well as TD-LTE, which the world's largest carrier is testing.

This latest report comes as the iPhone maker supposedly nears a deal with the carrier, which counts 63 percent of China's 1.2 billion wireless consumers among its subscribers. Still, Apple refuses to comment...

Limited offline viewing coming to YouTube in November

I've always hated how Google's official YouTube apps on iOS, Android and other mobile platforms don't allow for offline caching of videos. Sometimes I want to save a particularly funny clip or a music video to my device to show it to friends without having to waste my cellular data. YouTube doesn't allow this.

Worse, Google's been clamping down on third-party apps that cache YouTube videos, such as MCTube for iPhone, for example. The reason: the Internet giant wants to serve ads no matter what.

Playing back cached videos defeats that purpose. Recently, the company hinted it's willing to reconsider its stance: mobile users will be able to save videos for later after all, but with some strings attached...

Flickr gains background auto-uploading on iOS 7

Yahoo yesterday issued a major revamp of its Mail service across the web and mobile platforms and today the Internet company pushed a new version of Flickr for iPhone.

In addition to a slightly refined user interface for iOS 7, folks who've upgrade their iDevices to iOS 7 can take advantage of a new Auto Upload feature that will “seamlessly upload and save your photos in full resolution." Other tidbits include fixes for Google sign-in issues and a brand new Auto Straighten feature...

Facebook testing iPhone client with Graph Search, revamps Messenger for iOS 7 style

The social networking giant Facebook used to irk fans with its sluggish mobile clients that used to be second-class citizens on smartphones and tablets. Blame it on Zuck & Co. for taking the easy route by wrapping the mobile-optimized HTML code into "native" apps. That changed last year after Facebook hired a few former Apple engineers like Greg Novick and tasked them with rewriting these apps from the ground up to be snappier and more responsive than the web app disguised as a native one.

Although Novick has now reportedly departed Facebook and will return to Apple, the company has been busy developing major new updates to mobile Facebook and Messenger clients on iOS and Android. Both applications are now apparently dogfooded to company employees for testing purposes. Here's what's in store for the revamped Facebook and Messenger...

iPhones and iPads remain the top pick among US teenagers

Despite Samsung's attempt to label the iPhone as past its prime, Apple remains the top pick among US teenagers. More than half of American teens own an iPhone with nearly three quarter of young people choosing an iPad when it comes to tablets.

When it comes to purchasing decisions, popularity of cheaper Android devices have barely moved the needle, if at all. The figures from Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster bode well for Apple and its continued growth among the key consumer demographic now driving technology purchases...