Apple now locking App Store screenshots to cut down on scamming

Have you ever downloaded an app on your iPhone or iPad, and it didn't look anything like the screenshots in the App Store? If so, you wouldn't be alone. Switching screenshots after Apple has approved an app has become a popular tactic for scammers.

But we have some good news this afternoon. Apple announced to developers today that, starting this week, all App Store screenshots will be locked after they are approved. And they'll stay that way until a developer submits a binary for an app update...

Apple slashes $49 Thunderbolt cable to $39, adds new $29 option

As is the case with the new Lightning I/O, part of the reason why Apple's official Thunderbolt cable costs fifty bucks is the authentication chip and electronics inside the connector on each end of the cable. So if you're in the market for a Thunderbolt cable, there's some good news: Apple has generously slashed the price of the 2-meter Thunderbolt cable by ten bucks, from $49 to $39. And in order to appeal even more to price-conscious buyers, the company is adding a new 0.5-meter cable to the mix, priced at $29...

Anobit founder on pressures at Apple: everything has to be amazing

Apple snapped up Israeli startup Anobit, a fabless designer of flash memory controllers, in December 2011 for a reported $390 million. It was a typical acqui-hire, a talent-related acquisition, that brought Anobit's engineers under Apple's wing to improve the efficiency of flash storage in its products.

For the first time since the transaction, former Anobit CEO Ariel Maislos, who left Apple last month for personal reasons, has shared a few juicy details on what it's like to be working for the man and how Apple goes about its engineering process...

Samsung looks to China as Apple cuts chip orders

Samsung is preparing for the day Apple - its rival and largest customer - stops placing orders with the South Korean corporation. Ahead of a CES keynote speech, a Samsung executive said it is looking to court Chinese smartphone makers which use the company's own Exynos-branded chips.

After a string of contentious court battles, Apple is planning to untangle itself from Samsung, finding new suppliers. Although Apple is expected to spend $80 billion with Samsung for everything from CPUs, flash memory and flat screens, the paycheck could shrink 80 percent by 2017, according to a Wall Street analysis...

iPad Inc: Apple tablet earns more than McDonalds on Fortune 500

Has all the gloom-and-doom talk about the iPhone and iPad gotten you down? Are you worried Apple's three-year-old tablet is a bit long in the tooth - especially against Samsung and other Android devices? Well, turn that frown upside down. The iPad isn't going away. Indeed, one analyst says iPad sales are bigger than McDonald's, Nike and many other Fortune 500 companies. In 2012, iPad sales reaped $32 billion, amounting to 60 percent of tablets sold. If the iPad was a company, it would be eleventh largest tech firm in the United States, says Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi.

We won't see a repeat of that in 2013, however. No, the iPad is expected to rake in an astounding $46 billion and grow 75 percent...

Tablets to crush notebooks in 2013 as PCs become trucks

The argument over whether tablets should be classified as PCs could soon be moot. Shipments of devices such as Apple's iPad are expected to overtake notebook PCs in 2013. The cause: tablet (iPad) shipments are growing by double-digit percentages while PC demand is falling off a cliff - even in emerging markets...

CES 2013: $150 Pebble smart watch starts shipping January 23

The Pebble project has gone a long way since its early Kickstarter days. In fact, last April it became Kickstarter's most highly funded project to date. Nine months later, the customizable electronic-paper watch gets its release date as the company just confirmed in a media conference that the E-Paper Watch will be shipping to its backers on January 23...

Why your iPhone should always be locked

Los Angeles-based stand-up comic, actor and writer Chris D'Elia is funny as hell and he sat down with Conan O'Brien to talk pranks involving reaching someone's unlocked iPhone and tweeting out something very embarrassing, probably involving your parents. Your video is right past the fold...

Verizon activates 9.8M smartphones in Q4 amid a ‘higher mix’ of iPhones

Verizon announced it activated 9.8 million smartphones during the holiday 2012 fourth quarter. In a statement to federal regulators, the nation's largest carrier said there was a "higher mix of smartphones", causing some observers to believe the wireless provider sold more than 5.3 million iPhones during the three-month period.

Rival AT&T yesterday told the Securities and Exchange Commission it sold 10 million smartphones during the fourth quarter, prompting one analyst to suggest the Dallas-based carrier sold at least eight million Apple handsets...

Why T-Mobile is the right fit for the $99 iPhone mini

With both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg now reporting that Apple is considering a less-pricey iPhone for emerging markets with the unsubsidized price starting as low as $99, the question is arising which of the top wireless carriers will get the honors of launching the handset here in the U.S. And if by its very nature Apple's upcoming new iPhone is targeted at the low-end where people are unwilling to buy heavily subsidized devices with long-term contracts, shouldn't T-Mobile be the most logical launch partner?

Bloomberg: less pricey iPhone to cost $99 to $149, arriving late-2013

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal (again) backed the swirling rumors previously calling for a redesigned and inexpensive iPhone model aimed at China and developing markets, where handsets are more often than not sold contract-free. Today, Bloomberg piggy-backs on the rumor with its own take, saying this new and less expensive iPhone model could cost anywhere from $99 to $149. That's the full, unsubsidized price customers would be paying without having to commit their soul to a carrier...

CES 2013: Magic Cube laser-projects a big virtual keyboard on any surface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia8mamWybcY

Fan-made concepts envisioning an iPhone with a laser projection keyboard are so captivating that even Fox 5 News thought the iPhone 5 has one built-in. While we have our doubts as to whether or not Apple would even consider such a technology, the prospect is tantalizing, at least on the paper. And now, one company has sought out to turn it into a reality. Enter the aptly named Magic Cube from Celluon.

What this gadget does is it enhances your device with a cool laser projection keyboard while also doubling as a virtual multi-touch mouse for your computer. Just to dispel any doubts: it’s not a proof-of-concept. This thing is as real as real gets and works as advertised. The little Bluetooth accessory will effectively laser-project a full-size QWERTY keyboard on nearly any flat, opaque surface to let you type away on its big virtual 'keys'...