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Apple’s USB charger trade-in program coming to UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

Earlier this month Apple launched Takeback Program, a trade-in initiative encouraging buyers to dispose of third-party (especially knock-off) USB power adapters and buy Apple's chargers at a discount.

The sudden and unexpected offer is in response to relentless reporting by China's state-run media describing a fatality involving Chinese stewardess who electrocuted herself after using a knockoff charger to power her iPhone.

Takeback Program started on August 9 in China and will roll out to United States this coming Friday, August 16. While it was initially thought the offer was US and China only, a reliable blogger has learned that's not the case as Apple is gearing up to launch the trade-in program in its other key markets, including Canada, France, Germany and United Kingdom...

Facebook app updated with hashtag support, restaurant reservations and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Facebook just posted a significant update for its iOS client, bringing the app to version 6.4. The update brings about a number of new features and improvements, including support for the social network's new hashtag feature.

Version 6.4 also includes a new feature that allows users to make restaurant reservations from within the Facebook app. So if you see a place you'd like to try in the local business Pages, you can set that up with a single click...

BlackBerry considers selling itself to stay alive

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 12, 2013

It seems we may be nearing the end of a long and tortuous death march by Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry. After attempting to beat Apple and its own game, then talking about doing a Dell and going private, BlackBerry is now putting out the "For Sale" sign.

Underlining its latest move, BlackBerry's biggest investor resigned from the company's board. However, with a market share hovering near 0 percent, will the smartphone maker attract a buyer?...

Low fingerprint sensor yields may cause iPhone 5S availability issues

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

With Apple's September 10 media event now all but confirmed and the iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor rumors reaching fever pitch, the somewhat reliable Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes warns the handset could be initially in scarce supply due to low yield rates of a brand new delicate component, the fingerprint sensor.

The report mentions that the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is building these tiny sensors Apple secured after buying the leader in this field, Israeli-based AuthenTec, a year ago. Due to the fingerprint sensor manufacturing challenges, Apple could only put 3-4 million iPhone 5S units on sale in the third quarter versus the original ten million units target...

Alleged iPhone 5S glass wedge part with dual-LED flash hole surfaces

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 refresh, the iPhone 5S, is expected to further appease to iPhone photographers by increasing the back iSight camera resolution from eight megapixels on the current model all the way up to twelve megapixels.

Pixel count matters but there's more to photography than megapixels (hint: more powerful LED flash).

Apple is thought to be giving the iPhone 5S a dual-LED flash module, a first for the iPhone. The technology should allow for improved low-light shooting and more natural looking photographs, especially those taken under artificial light.

The French blog NowhereElse.fr on Monday published a photo showing what looks like a back iPhone part - the top glass strip to be precise, with a taller LED flash hole next to the iSight camera hole...

Apple to unveil new iPhone at September 10th event

Cody Lee ∙ August 10, 2013

Apple will take the wraps off of its next generation iPhone, believed to be the iPhone 5S, on September 10, according to a new report from The WSJ-owned AllThingsD. The blog says that sources have confirmed the company is planning a media event for the date.

While we haven't seen near the amount of "leaked" parts for the new iPhone as we have for the rumored budget model or the iPad 5, we still think we have a pretty good idea what to expect: a familiar-looking device with internal upgrades and an improved camera...

Nintendo president explains why we’ll never see an official Mario game in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 25, 2016

Nintendo released their most recent financial results last week, and the numbers didn't look good. As suspected, the Wii U is selling quite poorly (the company only sold 160,000 during the quarter) and overall sales are down 1.9% year-over-year.

So with sales of its 9-month-old console already slipping, and no new hardware on the horizon, industry watchers are again calling for Nintendo to consider porting its library of games to, and developing new games for, other consoles and platforms.

But president Satoru Iwata reiterates that won't happen while he's in charge...

T-Mobile ending ‘no money down’ promotion for iPhone 4S,5

Cody Lee ∙ August 9, 2013

If you were planning to pickup an iPhone 4S or 5 on T-Mobile anytime soon, you better act fast. According to a new report, the carrier is ending its popular '$0 down' promotion on the two handsets that it just started in late July.

The deal, which is said to be ending tomorrow for the aforementioned models, allowed new T-Mobile subscribers to purchase an iPhone with no downpayment, and monthly payments of around $25 until the phone was paid for...

AT&T cuts Next pricing, iPhone 5 now $27 a month

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2013

AT&T's new device upgrade program called Next has managed to enrage rival T-Mobile, which thinks the initiative is just plain "sneaky and underhanded." The early upgrade program is indeed a bad deal for consumers so the nation's second-largest telco has tweaked pricing earlier today, making a number of devices more affordable.

This includes Apple's iPhone 5, which can be now had for $27 per month for the entry-level model with sixteen gigabytes of storage. That's $5.50 per month cheaper compared to the previous $32.50 per month iPhone 5 pricing under AT&T's Next.

Sticking it to Verizon, the new $27 per month tier is also a buck per year cheaper versus Verizon's Edge plan...

Cincinnati Bell landing the iPhone 5 on August 16

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

Another regional United States telco is about to land Apple's iPhone 5 soon.

Cincinnati Bell, the leading wireless carrier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, will start offering the Apple smartphone next Friday, August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper has confirmed.

Although the device will be priced a bit higher versus other prepaid carriers, the launch festivities are said to include a nice $100 trade-in promo. I've included the full details after the break...

Without iPhone exclusive, China Unicom now turns to low-cost handsets

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 9, 2013

There is a surge of demand for low-cost smartphones in China. Latest to ride the wave: local carrier China Unicom, which lost its exclusive deal to sell iPhones in 2012.

Apparently, the shift toward inexpensive phones is paying off, the company reporting a 55 percent jump in profits for the first half of 2013.

While there is still room for high-end smartphones, vast growth is seen selling inexpensive handsets to emerging markets, such as China and India. Apple could unveil a plastic iPhone aimed at first-time smartphone owners and still make "decent profitability" one analyst said Thursday...

Best Buy offering iPhone discounts, double trade-in value this weekend

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

The only thing better than scoring a cool gadget is scoring a cool gadget at a discount. So of course we just had to pass along this information regarding some hot deals that Best Buy will be running this weekend for smartphones and tablets.

As noted by CNET, starting today, the electronics retailer will be offering double the trade-in value on mobile devices for folks purchasing a smartphone from one of the 3 major carriers. Additionally, it's also taking $100 off select iPhone models...