As expected, the Dream JB is a fake – updated

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Okay, I'll bite. Again.

Yesterday I called out the developer of "Dream JB" for promising to bring a jailbreak to the iPhone 5 when he knew good and well that he couldn't fulfill that promise.

Understandably, a lot of readers were miffed that I had the audacity to dash their hopes for a jailbreak. We've waited a long time for a jailbreak for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, so it didn't really surprise me when I was labeled a pessimist, although I was surprised a bit that my journalistic integrity was questioned. Fair enough, I was pretty positive that in due time this "jailbreak" would be exposed for what it really was.

Due time came today.

As I stated, I too wish for a jailbreak, it's in my best interest to have one...but I and many others saw through this for what it was — a fake. Now the developer has released a video showcasing his fake work. And although it's a pretty ambitious job of fakery, at the end of the day it's still fake.

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Facebook confirms Instagram will have ads

Cody Lee ∙ December 12, 2012

Brace yourselves, it looks like advertisements are coming to Instagram. Since its release in late 2010, the popular photo sharing service has managed to remain ad-free. But once Facebook took over the reigns earlier this year in its legendary $1 billion buyout, speculation has been rampant that this would change, and Facebook just confirmed it...

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As rivalry with Samsung and Google intensifies, all eyes are on iTV

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Here's the latest on the Apple television front: it will certainly be announced in the next three years and it will look like, well, something. But whenever and whatever Apple unveils, rivals are sure to copy it. So says venture capitalist, the founder of Netscape and one of the early architects of the web, Marc Andreessen.

Andreessen, who sits on the board of Facebook and HP, is just the latest voice in what's become a deafening roar of rumor, leaks and knowledgeable guesses surrounding talk that Apple will get into the television business. Somehow. Sometime...

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Australian police: flawed Google Maps putting people’s lives at risk, too

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Look, digital maps are imperfect - some more than the others. Australian police earlier in the week issued a public safety warning over a major flaw in Apple Maps which incorrectly put the town of Mildura in the middle of Australia’s Murray Sunset National Park.

It wasn't Apple's fault entirely as the company was working on data from The Australian Gazetteer, a company run by the Geosciences Australia agency which supplies Gazetteer with mapping data sourced from the state of Victoria itself.

And now, we learn that the police in Colac, west of Melbourne, warn of safety concerns from Google Maps. Ouch!

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RadioShack price-matches Best Buy, knocks $50 off iPhone 4S/5 on any carrier

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

RadioShack previously lowered its asking prices for the iPhone 5 by a cool $25, but that was only for the AT&T version of the popular handset. Sweetening its holiday deal, the American franchise of electronics retail stores has now shaved $50 off both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, regardless of your preferred carrier. The retailer is basically price-matching Best Buy's promotion where they also knocked $50 off all iPhone 5 models. Go past the fold for additional terms and conditions...

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Microsoft turns to retailers to help flagging Surface sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 12, 2012

Microsoft's Surface tablet just isn't selling. But the company knows - or thinks it does - the reason. The problem with sales is that the Surface just isn't available in enough stores, the software giant turned tablet maker says. Currently, the Surface is mainly sold in about three dozen Microsoft's own retail outlets in the country.

After being stung by reports that its tablet wasn't even selling in Microsoft-owned stores (are you reading this, Oprah Winfrey?), the company announced it will put the Surface on the shelves of third-party retailers, such as Staples. If 'build it and they will come' isn't working, will 'stock it and they will buy' be any better?

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Samsung dissing Apple’s Maps in Sidney

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

You can't blame Samsung's marketing team for pouncing on Apple's every misstep. Remember the Apple Maps snafu in Australia that led to the police issuing a public warning advising against using the mapping product because it incorrectly placed the town of Mildura in the middle of Australia’s Murray Sunset National Park? Seen at the top is a new display banner found on Sydney’s George Street.

A mud-soaked SUV and a sign that reads “Oops, should have got a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can trust” really needs no description. The wrong data Samsung's ad is referring to was supplied by the Australian government, iDB reported yesterday, and was incorrectly rendered in other mapping products...

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Project Azalea: a $10 billion Apple mobile chip plant

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2012

We've suspected for a while now that Apple's been making moves ultimately aimed at taking its chip contract elsewhere. Clearly Apple ain't interested (any longer than it needs to) in letting Samsung enjoy an early peek at the technological solutions developed for the engine that drives its iPhones and iPads.

Currently, all of Apple's in-house designed A-series processors are being built exclusively by Samsung in its $14 billion chip plant in Austin, Texas.

The iPhone maker was also rumored to be contemplating a switch to Intel's x86 mobile chips for iPads, as outrageous as the very thought of it may seem.

But what if Tim Cook and his newly-minted chief of Technologies and long-time hardware expert Bob Mansfield have a radical solution in mind? A report Wednesday has it that the California firm could be seeking to invest up to ten billion dollars into a dedicated chip fab in New York, presumably in order to take control of its silicon destiny...

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iTunes movies, rentals launch in 42 new countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2012

As part of the massive iPhone 5 holiday roll-out in fifty new countries, Apple last week launched the iTunes Music Store in 56 new countries, including Russia, Turkey and South Africa. Now, early reports revealed places like India, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey got access to iTunes movies as well. Apple on its part promised in a media release that the movie store "will be available in select additional countries". According to a new report, the company on Wednesday activated iTunes movie store in as much as 42 new countries where the music store just launched...

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Analyst projects higher iPhone sales, cannibalized iPad purchases

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

As we enter the last weeks of December, Wall Street analysts are adjusting their forecasts for Apple and its keystone products, the iPhone and iPad.

Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu Wednesday told investors increased supplies of the iPhone 5 likely means more sales, while tablet buyers are shifting toward the iPad mini, resulting in slightly fewer sales overall.

After talks with supply chain sources, Wu expects Apple to sell this quarter 47.5 million of the new handsets, up from his earlier projected 47.3 million units. As for iPads, the analyst trimmed his sales forecast to 23.5 million, down from 25 million. In both cases, supply was the critical factor...

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Analyst: Apple could buy out TomTom to fix Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2012

Apple's boss Tim Cook in a recent shakeup at the company's top added Maps and Siri to the already vast range of responsibilities of SVP Eddy Cue. Apple's 'Mr. Fixer', as he's been called because of his expertise in Internet software and services, also a member of the Ferrari board, could be looking to make a takeover bid for TomTom, a Dutch vendor of automotive navigation hardware and software and Europe's leading maker of navigation systems.

TomTom is a major data provider for Apple Maps and bringing the company's expertise and data sets under Apple's roof could help accelerate the pluming work needed to fix Apple's service. Rabobank analyst Hans Slob wrote in a research report today that there's a 30 percent chance that Apple will seek to acquire TomTom "because the Dutch software maker has the capacity to make speedy changes to correct any mapping errors or create new functions"...

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