Apple

Foxconn reportedly facing strikes as it prepares for next iPhone production

The China Morning News is reporting that Foxconn, Apple's goto manufacturing partner, is currently in the middle of a significant hiring binge. The company hopes to increase numbers by 20,000 at its Taiyuan plant in Northern China.

According to the report, the push is in preparation for the production of the next-generation iPhone. The handset isn't expected to hit the market until later this year, but Foxconn is said to have already received orders from Apple...

Steve Jobs said no to the new Apple TV UI design five years ago

A former Apple TV engineer took to Twitter last night discussing the latest UI that has been implemented on the Apple TV. For those unfamiliar, the new Apple TV UI was announced at the March 7th media event, along with the new 1080p Apple TV. The new UI isn't much of a change, but brings larger buttons to the home page. Some love it, many hate it.

Michael Margolis, who formerly served as an Apple TV UI designer, said on his Twitter last night that Steve Jobs said no to the latest UI changes five years ago, however Apple's senior executives recently approved the new UI...

Apple confirms Apple TV-related iTunes issues

Have you recently been having problems with your Apple TV not downloading iTunes content? Well if so, you're not alone. TheNextWeb is reporting that Apple has just confirmed that it is experiencing some issues with its iTunes service.

The problem is accompanied by an error message that reads "this item cannot be downloaded on this network, you must be connected to a Wi-Fi network," and is preventing folks from downloading or streaming content to their Apple TVs...

Best Buy sells almost as many iPhones as Apple’s retail stores

Back in 2008, Apple made the decision to allow Best Buy to carry and sell its beloved handset. And that choice is proving to be a fantastic one today as reports are coming in regarding the retailers' iPhone sales.

Citing a study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, AllThingsD reported this morning that Best Buy outlets have been selling almost as many iPhones as Apple itself...

Apple updates Trailers app for Retina iPad, Netflix promises high-def streaming “soon”

Ahead of the original iPad introduction in the April of 2010, the blogosphere had been abuzz over an unnamed Hollywood exec who allegedly saw a prototype in person and claimed the product would be awesome for watching movies. It ended up being quite enjoyable for this purpose, but hardly awesome due its modest 1024-by-768 pixel resolution.

Fast-forward to today and the new iPad, which has a million more pixels than an HDTV, is perfect for watching Hollywood movies in all their 1080 glory. As developers of popular apps update their offerings with Retina support, Apple isn't wasting time neither. Yesterday, the company issued an update to its iTunes Movie Trailers app, basically a pretty-fied frontend to its movie trailers page released last October.

At the same time, Netflix pushed an update to its video streaming client for iOS with support for Retina graphics. Though the program does not enable high-definition video streaming yet, it's in the works and should follow "soon"...

Samsung designer on ripping off the iPhone: “The Galaxy is original from the beginning”

One could easily opine there are only so many ways to design a tablet or a smartphone. The argument has its merits and isn't far from truth. With today's mobile gadgets increasingly becoming basically a piece of glass framed by a bezel of sorts, the question of who's copying who gets muddied.

As you know, Apple filed the first in a series of “look-and-feel” lawsuits against Samsung in April 2011 over the design of the iPhone and iPad, forcing the South Korean consumer electronics conglomerate to fire back with infringement allegations of its own.

As both companies remain entangled in a complicated web of lawsuits in courts around the world, Samsung Mobile’s vice president of design Lee Min-hyuk has gone on the record to say he did not rip off the iPhone when designing the original Galaxy S smartphone...

Safari exploit that allows URL spoofing discovered in iOS 5.1

Although iOS is considered to be one of the safest mobile operating systems on the market, it's not perfect. This is something that those of us in the jailbreak community know all too well.

With that in mind, it's not terribly surprising that another security bug has recently been discovered in Apple's software. Reports are surfacing today that an exploit has been found inside mobile Safari...

Some Smart Covers aren’t fully compatible with new iPad

When Apple unveiled its new tablet earlier this month, the consensus seemed to be that it would continue to work with all iPad 2 Smart Covers. After all, the new iPad's frontside dimensions are identical to its predecessors.

But apparently that isn't the case. As noted by iLounge, the new iPad uses a slightly different magnet system that causes some newer Smart Covers, and similar third party magnet-driven cases, not to work properly...

Target knocking $25 off the iPhone 4S this month

Those who haven't picked up Apple's latest handset yet might be interested in this deal. 9to5Mac is reporting that some Target locations are taking $25 dollars off of multiple iPhone 4S models through the end of the month.

The site received a photo from a tipster showing the discount on an in-store advertisement at a store in Orlando, FL. And according to the ad, the deal applies to both 16GB and 32GB models, as well as all three carrier versions...

Don’t stop charging your iPad when it says 100%

With all the hoopla around the new iPad getting a little bit toastier than its predecessor, Dr. Raymond Soneira is in high demand these days. Yesterday, he explained how the demanding Retina display and brightness levels affect the iPad's run time. Today, he's back at it, warning the device keeps charging even when it claims to have been filled.

Is this an iOS software flaw akin to a "bug" in cellular signal levels on the iPhone 4 (later fixed with a software update)? Hard to tell. All we know is it keeps charging for as much as an hour after the battery gauge hits the 100 percent mark. This, too, might explain why some people experience shorter run times with the new iPad versus its predecessor...