Thieving Christmas Scrooge Gets Caught By Stealing Neighbor’s iPad

This isn't the first time that Apple's Find my iPhone service has helped to recover a lost device, but with Christmas involved in this particular story (as well as a resoundingly happy ending) we thought we would share it.

At around 3:30am on Christmas morning, a Westlake Village man was awoken by the noise of a burglar stealing Christmas gifts from his house. Amongst them was an iPad, which had, thankfully, already been activated and set up with an Apple ID. After a short foot chase the thief got away, but not for long.

The next morning, the owner of the iPad set about tracking the device and discovered that it was only a few doors away...

Chpwn Unveils Zephyr, an Awesome Multitasking Tweak for the iPhone

Hot on the heels of the release of his popular Siri port, Spire, the infamous iOS hacker known as chpwn has released another jailbreak tweak. The utility, known as Zephyr, will change the way you switch between active apps.

The program is a two-part tweak with a focus on multitasking. Chpwn has been talking about Zephyr for several weeks, saying things like "you guys are really going to love this." And tonight, it finally hit the Cydia Store.

Rumor: Apple to Release Two iPads in 2012, Better Battery Life Expected

An interesting rumor from overseas publication Digitimes this evening claims knowledge of Apple's iPad plans for 2012. The sometimes-accurate publication reports that Apple is planning to unveil two iPad models at once next year during the Macworld|iWorld conference in January.

Apple allegedly has two iPads for the low-end and high-end consumer markets, with the latter model boasting double the battery life of the iPad 2. This isn't the first time we've heard such claims, but this new report seems questionable.

New Siri Project Will Allow You to Launch Apps and Toggle Settings

Siri has been grabbing a ton of headlines lately. Between the recently released jailbreak app called Spire and the ongoing development of SiriProxy, it seems like folks can't get enough of the digital assistant.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that we've come across another project starring the voice control feature: SiriPrefs. The utility allows you to launch iPhone applications and toggle system settings using Siri.

iPhone 4S Causes 83% Surge in November App Store Downloads

When Apple launches a new iPhone or iPad, it invariably has an affect on the rest of its business.

The number of downloaded apps is one metric that will always see an increase when Apple brings a shiny new iOS device to market, simply because of all the new customers want to get some apps! Whether they are paid or free apps, Apple benefits in the long run.

The release of the iPhone 4S was no different, with new numbers showing just what a jump it caused in those all-important download figures. The iPhone 4S helped the App Store see an 83% increase in app downloads for November when compared to the same month last year...

How Apple Could Make $10 for Every Android Device

The patent wars that Apple and leading Android device makers are fighting is costing a lot of money in legal fees for everyone. Intellectual property expert Kevin Rivette speculates on how Apple could stop wasting money on attorney fees, and start cashing in from Android:

Tim Cook, who took over in August when Jobs announced he would be unable to come back as CEO, has many other ways to take advantage of the company’s patent portfolio. The company could probably collect as much as $10 in royalties for every device sold, more than the amount analysts speculate Microsoft (MSFT) receives from Samsung and HTC, which use its mobile technology, said Rivette at 3LP.

Not a bad idea, except when we know that Steve Jobs swore to go on a "thermonuclear war" with Google instead of settling. There's a new boss at Apple, though...

Apple Awarded Core Multitouch Patent, Android Partners Beware

Apple had a hunch that its iPhone would be popular enough with consumers to "inspire" the competition. That's why the company was so adamant about protecting its technology in the handset, filing for over 200+ patents. But it didn't help.

Apple's legal team has seen mixed results in its ongoing patent war with Android manufacturers over the above-mentioned intellectual property. But the company was just awarded a core multi-touch patent that could turn the tide in its favor...

Argentina Blocks iPhone Sales in Order to Fight Inflation

Yes, you read that title right! According to Manuals.ws:

The Argentinian Government have took some measures to reduce the inflation level and strengthen the Pesos / US dollar currency parity. One of them was to block the sales of certain electronics temporary, among them iPhone and BlackBerry phones.

In order to continue to sell iPhone smartphones, Apple and BlackBerry must build plants in Argentina, a move that companies like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and LG already made.

If you get passed the bad English of this quote, you'll still get the message. Apparently, this has been going on for over a year.

Cydia Might Be Slow or Unresponsive, But It’s OK

If you've been trying to use Cydia for the last day, you might have noticed that it is slow, sluggish, or even unresponsive. Before you start thinking that your iPhone may be the cause of the problem, relax and don't freak out, because it's not.

Since the release of the iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak yesterday, potentially hundreds of thousands of people have been jailbreaking, launching, and refreshing Cydia sources in the same short period of time, resulting in server overloads for many repos...

Beware! Fake Apple Billing Information Emails Circulating

When you are as big as Apple, bad guys will always seek to use you as a means to take people's money, and unfortunately there is a new scam making the rounds.

According to The Mac Security Blog, the latest method of stealing people's money comes courtesy of fake emails which purport to be from the iPhone maker, claiming that the user's billing information is out of date. Obviously, the "helpful" email offers a link that gives the lucky recipient an easy way to make things right.

Of course, that link doesn't take you to Apple's billing pages, but rather a third party who wishes to steal your information...

How to Fix “Device Not Eligible for Upgrade, Restore, Requested Build” Error

When trying to update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to a newer firmware to take advantage of an untethered jailbreak, you might have encountered various problems, such as error message 1013, 1600, 1601, 1602, 1603, 1604, etc. These errors might tell you that your device is not eligible for upgrade, or that it's not eligible for restore, or even that it isn't eligible for the requested build.

There are fairly common errors, and thankfully there is an easy fix. All it takes in a few seconds of your time.

RedSn0w Updated to Fix iOS 5.0.1 Untethered Jailbreak “Launchctl” Error

Just like Corona yesterday, RedSn0w just got an update to fix the "launchctl" error that we previously reported on. By releasing RedSn0w 0.9.10b2, the Dev Team now takes care of this problem that plagued a few users on the iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak.

If you were one of those users affected by the issue, you can simply run RedSn0w 0.9.10b2 on top of your current jailbreak...