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Apple launches Back to School promotion in Australia and New Zealand

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

Apple has launched its Back to School promotion in Australia and New Zealand ahead of the new school year. The promotion is open to students, parents and staff members of K-12 or higher education schools and requires an eligible purchase be made between January 15 and April 1. Akin to the company's Back to School promotion in the US and Europe last June, students in Australia and New Zealand who purchase a 9.7-inch iPad with Retina display will get a free AU$50 (NZ$65) Student Gift Card. Some notable Macs are also eligible...

Russian Railways sues Apple over trademark infringement

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2013

I don't know what it is with Apple and European railways, but another one has taken up a beef with the Cupertino company. Today, Russian Railways announced that it has issued a trademark infringement suit against Apple.

The reason behind the lawsuit is still not entirely clear, but it looks like it has something to do with third-party apps in the App Store that use RZD's (that's the abbreviation for Russian Railways) logo without permission...

Samsung to preempt the iPhone 5S with the Galaxy S IV rocking a full HD display

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

South Korea-based Samsung through its subsidiary Samsung Electronics is expected to update the flagship Galaxy S III smartphone in the first quarter of this year. The Galaxy S IV successor is expected to make much noise ahead of Apple's next iPhone release, especially with its full HD 1080p five-inch display and powerful innards thought to run Samsung's new quad-core system-on-a-chip.

And if you consult Samsung's latest AMOLED release schedule, the first device incorporating the firm's full HD mobile display is coming in the first quarter of 2013...

Smartphones top tablets as hungriest data gadgets

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

For carriers, the name of the game is data consumption. The more data consumed, the more revenue. For observers, data consumption also provides a clue to how new devices are used.

For the first time, smartphones are outpacing tablets as the "hungriest" mobile devices.

In 2011, tablets comprised two out of three of the devices consuming the most data. By 2012, all of the top three mobile devices were smartphones, led by the iPhone 5.

According to Arieso, a European company helping optimize networks to meet changing demand, iPhone 5 users consume four times as much data as the iPhone 3G users, and 50 percent more than the iPhone 4S owners. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III and the HTC Sensation XL rounded out the most voracious devices in Europe...

iPhone 5 order cuts not nearly as severe as demand remains robust

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

After The Wall Street Journal relayed the vague and anonymously-sourced Nikkei newswire report on the supposed iPhone 5 order cuts amid what the Journal interpreted as a "weaker than expected" demand for the handset, nervous investors have immediately hit the panic button and punished the stock. Sane analysts, however, now are putting down the flames of the rumor, warning that the iPhone 5 demand remains robust as those order cuts aren't nearly as severed as originally reported...

Watch out for the iPhone ‘danger zones’

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

I've been a proud iPhone owner over the past six years, ever since the original iPhone debuted in June of 2007. I happen to pride myself with keeping my devices in pristine condition so I go the extra mile to handle my iPhone with care.

For instance, I typically lay it flat on the table on top of a napkin. And only a rare few people get to ever touch my device to play with it. And yeah, I do remove everything from my pocket before slipping an iPhone inside. It's suffice to say I'm overzealous about handling my baby.

But six years is six years and something had to give. A month ago, it just treacherously slipped out of my hand and fell on the concrete floor, its front glass smashing in an instant. Some of you could tell a similar story, I'm sure. But where are such accidents most likely to occur? Third-party warranty company SquareTrade has issued a report outlining so-called iPhone 'danger zones'...

Apple’s warranty practices in Europe draw ire of a Belgian watchdog

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

Apple's warranty adventure in the European Union is far from being over. After the company failed to properly communicate to its Italian consumers that they were entitled to a EU-wide two-year warranty (first warranty year provided by the manufacturer and the second by the seller), for which it was fined $264,000 last month and $1.2 million in March, now Apple has gotten itself into trouble with a Belgian consumer watchdog, Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats...

Glitch in Sprint’s GPS service points Find My iPhone users to innocent man’s house

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2013

Imagine you are awoken in the middle of the night by someone pounding loudly at your door. It's a man and his girlfriend, and they're upset because someone just stole her iPhone, and the Find My iPhone app led them straight to your house. Now imagine this is a regular occurrence.

Unfortunately for Wayne Dobson, he doesn't have to imagine. Due to a glitch in Sprint's location-tracking services, phone finding apps have been sending owners of missing iPhones and other handsets, as well as police, to Dobson's home in North Las Vegas for the past two years...

Budget iPhone to feature hybrid plastic/metal design, due later this year

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2013

Last week, DigiTimes released a report, claiming that its sources had seen prototypes of a low-cost iPhone floating around Apple's supply chain. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg corroborated the story via their own independent informants.

Today, DigiTimes offers up a few more details about the fabled handset, claiming that Apple is toying with both an all plastic and a hybrid plastic/metal chassis for the cheaper handset, as well as a special 'see-through' design. More details after the fold...

The Daily Recap – Jan 14, 2013 edition

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 14, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4TCj5ah64

Welcome to The Daily Recap for January 14th, 2013. Watch our video for a quick look at some of the top stories from the day in less than two minutes. If you missed out on any of today's big news, this is a great way for you to get caught up fast.

For your convenience, you'll also find links to all of the stories listed in today's recap inside...

Cellular version of new iPad and iPad mini to go on sale in China on January 18

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Back in December, Apple rolled out the Wi-Fi only versions of both the 4th generation iPad and new iPad mini in China. The Cellular version was missing from the launch, however, and there was no word when it would land.

Then last week, Tim Cook confirmed that carrier-flavored versions of the two tablets would be available in the country in late January. And today, Apple delivers on that promise, announcing an official arrival date of January 18...

Write your own jailbreak tweaks on the fly with upcoming ‘Flex’ utility

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

John Coates, the developer behind the MissionBoard Pro jailbreak tweak, has posted a thread on Reddit about an upcoming jailbreak app called Flex. Flex is an exciting new app that allows users to make and share their own runtime patches, not just to iOS itself but to any app you have installed.

What can you do with Flex? From the looks of it, you can modify just about any app's behavior. In the preview screenshots, there are patches for unlimited skips in Pandora, removing the lock screen's camera grabber, nixing the ratings warning when downloading from the the App Store, and even cheating in games like Tiny Tower. Think of it as a Game Genie for iOS...