Apple wins ‘Brand of the Year’ for computers, smartphones and tablets

Apple may be losing smartphone and tablet marketshare, but it's still the top brand in those categories. This, according to data from a recent US-based study on consumer brand perception by Marketing research firm Harris Interactive.

The firm polled some 38,000 Americans regarding their perceptions of their favorite brands, and Apple came out on top in 3 categories. As a result, Harris named the company the 'brand of the year' for smartphones, tablets and computers...

Google+ Local app shutting down next month following Google Maps integration

Google+ Local for iOS, the reincarnation of Google Places, will be pulled from the App Store on August 7th, according to an email from the Mountain View company. The move comes just over one year after the app first launched for iPhones and iPads.

For those who aren't familiar with the software, it allows users to voice search for nearby restaurants and businesses, as well as read and post reviews. But now that it's been fully integrated into Google Maps, Google says the standalone app needs to go...

Penguin agrees to end Apple ebook deal to appease the European Commission

The EC announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with book publisher Penguin, ending its antitrust probe into the company. As part of the settlement, the New York-based firm has agreed to terminate its iBooks deal with Apple.

Penguin is one of 5 major publishers that allegedly conspired with Apple to lower ebook prices, sparking antitrust investigations in both the US and Europe. But it looks like this resolution will put an end to the European Commission's quest...

Popular gadget reseller says new Nexus 7 isn’t attracting iPad owners

On Wednesday, Google unveiled a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet. And on paper, it looks great. It's both thinner and lighter than its predecessor, and features a number of upgrades, like a hi-res 1,920 x 1,200 display. But so far, iPad users aren't impressed.

That's at least according to electronics buyback site Gazelle. The company says it hasn't seen any kind of spike in iPad trade-ins since the new Nexus 7 was introduced, or in the rumor-filled weeks leading up to it. But first-gen Nexus 7 trade-ins on the other hand...

Apple randomly signing iOS 6.0.x firmware [update: signing is over]

Good news for folks who lost their jailbreak updating their iOS device to try out iOS 7, it appears that Apple is currently signing 6.0.x versions of iOS firmware. This means that you should be able to downgrade your iPhone or iPad to iOS 6 and re-jailbreak.

Well-known iOS hacker and jailbreak developer iH8sn0w was the first to spot the reopening of the signing window, and we have since had multiple users confirm to us that they have successfully downgraded and re-jailbroken their devices. More after the fold...

Free Dailymotion Caméra arrives, get downloading

Dailymotion, a French video-sharing website, today released its first video recording application on the App Store. The aptly named Dailymotion Caméra software can be used to capture, edit and share HD clips across Dailymotion's web, mobile and connected video platforms. Featuring the pause/resume recording functionality, the app also includes the obligatory filters, contrast/brightness controls, is flattened and doesn't cost a dime. What more could a gentleman ask for?

Verizon asks Obama to prevent upcoming iPhone sales ban

In April, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ordered an import ban on the iPhone 3G/3GS/4 after determining Apple had violated Samsung's 3G cellular technology patent. Apple was hoping the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) would overturn ITC's decision on the basis that Samsung was asserting a standards-essential patent.

Needles to say, Apple asked ITC to stay an order while the court considered the appeal, arguing the sales ban would "sweep away an entire segment of Apple's product offerings." And in an interesting twist earlier this week, the nation's top carrier Verizon Wireless pressured President Obama to intervene in the Apple v. Samsung case and veto the impending ban...

Yahoo updates Fantasy Football app with new UI and mobile drafting

Yahoo has posted a major update today to its popular iOS Fantasy Football client, bringing the app to version 5.0. The update features a slew of new features and improvements to get you ready for the start of the 2013 NFL season.

Former users of the app will note some nice UI tweaks and other enhancements, but the biggest addition is perhaps the ability to draft players. Previously, fantasy team owners were required to use a computer to conduct their drafts...

Warning: new phishing scam exploits Dev Center outage

As most of you know, Apple's Developer Center has been offline for going on 7 days now. The company posted an update to the situation yesterday, outlining when services will be available, but it's still not clear when the portal will be fully functional again.

The breadth of the outage is far-reaching—Apple has hundreds of thousands of app developers worldwide. So it's no surprise that some not-so-nice people have decided to exploit the situation by sending out malicious emails, pretending to be the company...

‘BMarks Bar – Chrome’ adds a bookmark bar to the Google Chrome app

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; it hasn't been too often in the past few months that I've been genuinely overjoyed by a tweak; such an occurrence has been few and far between. But this new tweak, Thankfully, BMarks Bar - Chrome came out of nowhere and it genuinely surprised me with how good it is. Put it this way, if you're a Chrome user on iOS who happens to be jailbroken, stop reading right now, find a dollar, head over to Cydia and buy this thing.

BMarks Bar - Chrome places a true bookmark bar on your Google Chrome app, just under the address bar like it's supposed to be. Why Google has omitted such a feature thus far is anyone's guess, but who cares at this point? We now have such a feature. Take a look at our full video walkthrough inside.

iPad to keep losing ground until new models arrive

During the June quarter, sales of Apple's iPads declined fourteen percent from a year earlier. And as Mac and iPod shipments dropped, too, the iPhone stood out as Apple's lone booming product - the company sold twenty percent more handsets than a year earlier.

Analysts and suppliers now speculate iPad shipments will keep on falling due to stiff competition in the table sector and the aging lineup - at least until Apple's blockbuster Fall brings us an iPad 5, a cheaper iPad mini and maybe even a Retina iPad mini...

Apple could have to pay nearly $500 million in ebook case

According to a new report, Apple could have to pay half a billion in damages in its ebook pricing case. That amount is based on the settlements the book publishers, named in the case, have already paid.

For those who haven't been keeping up with the ordeal, federal judge Denise Cote found Apple guilty earlier this month, of colluding with five publishers to fix ebook prices at the launch of its iBookstore...