Another twist to "The Interview" movie: The New York Times reports Sony asked the White House for help in lining up a single technology partner to stream its movie "The Interview", and it wanted help from none other than Apple's iTunes.
The Cupertino-based Apple reportedly was not interested, "at least not on a speedy time table," the New York Times says. An Apple spokesman declined to provide official comment on the matter.
Apple has shared some cumulative end-of-the-year lists for best performing iOS apps of 2014. The lists, which have been posted in the App Store, include top paid apps for iPhone and iPad, top free apps for iPhone and iPad, and the top grossing apps for iPhone and iPad.
There aren't too many surprises here, with familiar names like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat ranking high. Still, it's interesting to see which titles had major success this year, and which ones didn't. Below you'll find the top 10 apps from each of the categories.
Apple's Campus 2 continues to take shape, as evidenced in the latest drone footage. The folks over at AppleInsider used their DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus to capture new video showing the continued progress of the construction site, which now has large amounts of concrete poured and several cranes moving about.
The earth-built ramps previously used to gain access to the site are now gone, and work on an underground channel access has begun. The plan is to connect the main employee entrance off of Wolfe Road to the garage underneath the main Campus 2 building, as well as the two above-ground parking garages.
The Apple-backed Rockstar consortium has agreed to sell off more than 4,000 patents from its IP portfolio to RPX Corp. for $900 million. The move will effectively end several high-profile lawsuits filed by Rockstar, and is another sign that patent wars are starting to cool in Silicon Valley.
To that end, it's worth noting that the $900 million offer is substantially less than the $4.5 billion the consortium paid for the full portfolio just 4 years ago, and that RPX is a San Francisco-based patent clearinghouse, which helps companies protect themselves against patent litigation.
A new report claims Apple is considering the return of the 4-inch iPhone in 2015. In a note to investors (via AppleInsider), analyst Timothy Arcuri of Cowen and Company said he believes Apple could launch three new versions of its handset next year.
Citing sources in the Asian supply chain, Arcuri calls the 4-inch device the "iPhone 6s mini," and says it will likely feature specs similar to the iPhone 5s. Additionally, the phone will sport improved internals, and a curved design akin to the iPhone 6.
Time Warner's Cable News Network (or CNN) has named Tim Cook its "CEO of the Year" for 2014. Cook finished ahead of several other high profile chief executives including Meg Whitman of HP, T-Mobile's John Legere and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer.
CNN justifies its picking of Tim Cook for the prestigious honor by pointing to his company's stock performance this year. "Apple is the apple of Wall Street's eye again" the outlet says, noting that shares of AAPL are up 40% in 2014 an near all-time highs.
A file management app innocently named Floppy Cloud, which contains a hidden emulator of the Nintendo NES and Super Nintendo, is now available in the App Store.
As pointed out by TouchArcade, its developer Kyle Hankinson has cunningly exploited the annual App Store shutdown to sneak Floppy Cloud onto Apple's servers “moments before the iTunes freeze,” which started yesterday and ends on December 29.
Developers are unable to upload new code to the App Store during the iTunes freeze window so Floppy Cloud should be available on the App Store for a few days before Apple pulls it first thing in the morning on December 29.
Pegatron, the Apple supplier at the center of a blistering BBC report last week, said in a statement Monday it will inspect all the negative claims carried in the report and will start implementing improvements to ensure the problems are solved.
Twitter unveiled on Monday that it's added detailed analytics to its official iOS app, allowing users to track engagement with their tweets and profile.
The update is rolling out now on the iTunes App Store. Viewing analytics is as simple as clicking on your tweet, going to its detail page, and tapping "View Tweet Activity."
Apple released a security update on Monday for Mac users, addressing a "critical security issue" with the Network Time Protocol service on OS X Yosemite, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion. The update weighs in at 2.1MB, and you can find download links after the break.
You've seen Apple's moving Christmas ad so how about some Un-carrier holiday greeting? T-Mobile, America's only Un-carrier, did just that with its new holiday ad posted to YouTube on Monday.
Featuring its outspoken boss John Legere, the tongue-in-cheek video depicts the CEO sitting cozily in a chair and grinning mischievously as he reads us a magical story from the land of the Un-carrier.
Need I say more?
As you might imagine, he couldn't refrain himself from dissing competitors and firing potshots at Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. And if you for one second thought a holiday greeting from Legere should be profanity-free, think again!
The proliferation of incredibly varied, feature-rich software keyboards has proven that Apple did the right move opening up iOS 8 to third-party developers more than ever before. That being said, the initial crop of keyboards available in the App Store leaves a lot to be desired, in my personal opinion.
None of the keyboards I've tried and tested thus far — and I downloaded virtually every single one out there — come close to touching Apple's stock keyboard in terms of efficiency and usability. It's more often than not that cramming all the features one could think of into a keyboard does the opposite of elevating the experience.
Sure, Swype makes you a faster typist but I just can't get over its sluggishness and the globe icon that's inconceivably nested under a menu. Another example: Tintype may take typing and swiping to the next level but it takes a lot of time getting used to and its appearance can be a little overwhelming for most people.
I could go on and on highlighting weaknesses and bad design choices in other keyboards that are mostly Android replicas anyway, but I won't as I'm sure our readers have their own gripes with them. On a brighter note, looks like search for the perfect iPhone keyboard could be over soon.
Enter Next Keyboard.