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Trust Twitter and Google, not Apple, to protect you from government data demands

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2013

Well, this is certainly noteworthy. According to the third annual report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) titled "Who Has Your Back?", gadget giant Apple along with carriers AT&T and Verizon, Google's rival Yahoo and the forgotten social network MySpace all are very likely to give in to Uncle Sam's data demands.

Specifically, Apple and Yahoo scored one out of six possible stars, with Verizon and Yahoo rather ingloriously earning zero stars each. These companies' weak safeguard implementation does little to circumvent data demands and protect your private information from the government's prying eyes.

Whereas Apple and Yahoo only fight for users' privacy rights in Congress, companies like Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Dropbox go to great lengths to ensure privacy of your data, earning four out of six stars each...

iPad mini reportedly accounted for over 60% of Apple’s tablet sales last quarter

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

The iPad mini has been extremely successful for Apple since it launched late last year. How successful? Well according to a new report, it accounted for more than 60% of the 19.5 million tablets the company sold last quarter.

Apple's iPad sales showed significant growth last quarter–they were nearly double what they were during the same 3-month period last year. And a lot of industry watchers have attributed the jump to the mini's popularity...

AllThingsD reaffirms Apple is working on ‘deForstallization’ in iOS 7

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2013

After months of silence, reports regarding the next major version of iOS have really picked up in recent weeks. Most chatter points to the same thing: iOS 7 will sport an all-new, flatter interface, and the redesign has Apple running behind.

And this afternoon, those two points are reiterated in a new report by AllThingsD. The tech blog says that, according to its sources, iOS 7 is such a big design overhaul, Apple has had to pull engineers from other projects to help it along...

Twitter for iOS updated with better Vine support, location-based Trends

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2013

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service which in March 2013 passed 200 million users, on Wednesday updated its mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms. Twitter version 5.6 for the iPhone and iPad now lets you see location-based Trends or browse Trends tailored to your interests. The application also features improved playback of Vine videos and contains a few other minor tweaks, included after the break...

T-Mobile completes MetroPCS deal, adds 9 million subscribers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

It's official. After passing all necessary regulatory approvals last month, T-Mobile and MetroPCS have officially completed their merger. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier made an announcement on the company blog this morning.

The deal, which has been in the works since last fall, combines the United States' fourth and fifth largest wireless carriers, which combine for a total of 43 million subscribers. The new entity is now trading on Wall Street under TMUS...

Apple’s iPad seen preventing pilot injuries

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 1, 2013

Lugging around all the charts and papers required by commercial pilots can be a pain - literally. Now comes word Apple's iPad is taking a load off pilots of one airline, replacing 40-pound flight bags with a 1.5-pound tablet. By the end of May, 8,600 American Airlines pilots will swap the heavy bags of charts, maps and manuals for the iPad, easing one of the industry's largest sources of injuries...

AT&T will now give you $100 credit for your old smartphone

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 1, 2013

The nation's second-largest carrier, AT&T, on Wednesday upgraded its cell phone trade-in program at its brick-and-mortar retail stores. The new terms incentivize customers to trade-in their old smartphone for one of the latest models and receive a $100 credit on-the-spot, which can be immediately redeemed against any AT&T smartphone or accessory purchase.

If you have an old iPhone or an Android phone that is less than three years old, the $100 trade-in credit lets you purchase a brand new iPhone 5 for just $99. Or, you could settle with an iPhone 4S wit zero bucks in upfront payment. By comparison, the entry-level 16GB iPhone 4S/5 normally sets you back $99/$199 after a two-year contract...

AT&T U-verse subscribers can now access streams in WatchESPN, Fox Now iOS apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

If you're subscribed to AT&T's U-verse, are a sports fan and love Fox shows, good news here as the nation's second-largest carrier has cut deals allowing users of the WathESPN and Fox Now iOS apps to stream content and watch live feeds.

The latter app also added another provider for TV episodes, Suddenlink. U-verse subscribers should go download these updates to immediately gain access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU live feeds and such shows as Hell’s Kitchen and Family Guy, straight in these apps...

Amazon updates Kindle app with new accessibility features

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2013

Amazon today announced a nice little update for its Kindle iOS app, bringing the title to version 3.7. The update includes a handful of bug fixes and improvements, but the biggest change has to be the new VoiceOver support.

Tapping iOS' Accessibility features, Amazon has made it much easier for blind and visually impaired users to navigate their way around the Kindle app through the use of VoiceOver. More details and full change log after the fold...

Instacast for iOS makes a jump on the Mac, now available in Public Beta

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 28, 2018

We love Instacast as much as the next avid Apple fan. It's the ultimate podcasting app for the ultimate podcasters: Instacast lets you both manage and stream podcasts on your iPhone and iPad, and do so in style. As a cloud-based streaming solution, it can be best described as Netflix for podcasts.

Since its March 2011 debut, Instacast has seen numerous updates that brought additional features, with an iPad version arriving in November 2011. It certainly leaves Apple's stock iOS Podcast app in the dust and beats every other podcasting app out there. That said, small wonder developer Vemedio has responded to popular demand and brought Instacast over to the Mac...

Leap Wireless reports improved iPhone sales after dismal quarter

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Back in February, Leap Wireless submitted a rather alarming filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It had been seeing much weaker demand for the iPhone than expected, and it was only on track to sell through half of its first-year commitment.

But apparently, the problems were only temporary. Yesterday, the company—who sells the iPhone through its subsidiary Cricket Wireless—reported its earnings for its first operating quarter this year, and it told investors that it is seeing much better iPhone sales...

Apple’s new Wall Street runaway hit: iDebt

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 1, 2013

Wall Street is nothing if not fickle. Questions over Apple's future profits sent the company's stock into a tailspin for the past six months, then a recovery of sorts is now underway.

The iPhone maker Tuesday floated a record $17 billion in debt, an action that literally had investors falling over themselves.

Consider that Apple up until now was literally the only major technology corporation with zero debt on its books. By the end of yesterday, $50 billion in orders were received for what now looks to be Apple's latest hot product: the iDebt...