As part of its never-ending efforts to improve working conditions at overseas plants where its devices are being assembled, Apple has enlisted help of eight professors from top U.S. universities to establish an academic advisory board for its Supplier Responsibility program.
The academics will provide guidance and advice to improve working conditions within Apple's worldwide supply chain and help provide "safe and ethical working conditions wherever its products are made"...
Actor Ashton Kutcher in a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno spoke about passing on an opportunity to meet Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs, whom he likened to "the Leonardo da Vinci of our generation". As you know, Kutcher channels Jobs in the upcoming bio pic titled jOBS.
And as the studio's promo machine kicked into high gear ahead of the upcoming August release, Kutcher sat down with The Verge editor Joshua Topolsky to share his thoughts on the technology landscape, his portrayal of Apple's co-founder, investing in tech startups, re-tweeting versus RT-ing and lots more...
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday played Captain Obvious, telling Microsoft workers the company may have overestimated demand for its Surface tablets. Really? The revelation comes only after the software giant announced a nearly $1 billion writedown after slashing Surface prices.
Not willing to take such things as a sign to go off and do something else, Ballmer and operations chief Kevin Turner reportedly told a closed-door town hall meeting a new Surface is now being tested...
Are you concerned about the personal data collected by various mobile apps? A U.S. government agency feels your pain, sort of. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a draft of a voluntary code of conduct it hopes will improve user privacy.
Although the NTIA is an arm of the same government rifling through your emails and other Internet activities, the agency head modestly called the voluntary guidelines a "seminal milestone" in protecting mobile privacy...
Although Apple's Siri uses Nuance's speech recognition technology, the digital assistant may be getting a new voice soon. Although Nuance continues to power Siri's speech recognition, a number of former Nuance employees reportedly are now part of Apple's in-house efforts to develop a new speech recognition technology to power Siri, reducing its technological dependency on third-parties.
For instance, a number of former employees of VoiceSignal Technologies, a speech software firmed acquired by Nuance, now appear in leading roles developing Siri as an in-house application for Apple, according to a Friday report...
Accessory maker Belkin back at January's CES 2013 unveiled a handheld home theater system for Apple's iPad, the Thunderstorm. The amplification system docks your iPad with integrated front-facing speakers and air channels for the powerful bass sounds. The speaker case was initially limited to older 30-pin iPad 2 and third-generation iPad devices. Today, Belkin announced Thunderstorm availability for iPads outfitted with Lightning I/O, namely the iPad 4...
Although Apple managed to surprise investors with better-than-expected iPhone sales, some observers see a more daunting future for the flagship Apple smartphone.
Apple's global smartphone marketshare may have fallen by some estimates to as low as fourteen percent amid increasing pressure from rivals seeking higher margins and more sales.
Strategy Analytics describes the iPhone being "trapped in a pincer movement" between Android cheapos and high-end monster phones with five-inch screens. In other words, as iPhone competitors that churn out inexpensive handsets increasingly march toward the mid-range in hopes of gaining more profit, Apple's high-end rivals are now moving toward the middle, seeking increased sales...
Here's a nice little nugget naysayers should chew on. A photograph that surfaced on a Chinese website earlier today appears to seemingly depict a plastic chassis, presumably belonging to Apple's rumored less-pricey iPhone model.
Now, we've seen these things previously shown off extensively in a high-resolution video, hires close ups and a bunch of previously published photographs. What distinguishes this particular "leak" from others are the certification markings on the back - and that's an unexpected treat in my book...
T-Mobile USA today announced an awesome summer deal for smartphone buyers: zero dollars down for all devices, including Apple's iPhone 5. Previously, buying an iPhone 5 from T-Mobile required a down payment of $149.99 plus 24 installments of $21 per month.
With today's announcement, smartphone buyers get their device free from T-Mobile and pay it off completely via monthly installments. In the case of the iPhone 5, you'll be paying $27 per month for 24 months so you're looking at a total cost of ownership of $648 over a two-year period, plus of course monthly wireless service fees.
Samsung's Galaxy S4, HTC's One and BlackBerry's Q10 are available for $25 per month over 24 months. Nokia's Lumia 925 will set you back $20 per month for 24 months. The limited-time promotion is available starting tomorrow, July 27. Full details are right below...
The Google TV project has seen modest success (and that's putting it nicely), but nowhere near the level of interest of Apple's set-top box which holds more than half the world's market for streaming boxes.
People who are serious about software make their own hardware, Alan Kay once famously said. In this regard, Google is just as eager to become a hardware maker as Apple is adamant to double-down on online services.
That being said, it's no surprise Google is rethinking its approach to the living room. Earlier this week we were offered a glimpse of Google's renewed living room effort as the search giant announced a $35 TV dongle called the Chromecast, alongside the second-gen Nexus 7 tablet.
That's just the beginning, though. The Wall Street Journal now reports that Google is working on its own set-top box hardware with built-in motion recognition technology akin to Microsoft's Kinect...
Last month, word got out that Apple had won a bid for a colossal tablet deal with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The district, which is the second-largest in the country, agreed to buy some $30 million worth of iPads.
Today comes more details about the massive tablet rollout. According to a new report from CITEWorld, the LAUSD plans to distribute over 30,000 free iPads to students this school year in an effort to improve education...
Until Apple launches iOS 7, we are stuck with a native calendar app that looks like it was designed in 2007. Oh wait, it was. I know I’m tired of those gray blocks and blue tabs. App developers are quickly releasing attractive new calendar apps that are in sync with iOS 7 and offer functionality beyond what Apple can do.
Agenda Calendar 4 is one of those new apps that has turned event creation into a two-touch action and the look of your calendar into something livelier…