Was a Chinese stewardess, just weeks from her wedding, electrocuted by her iPhone 5 charger? That's the claim Apple is investigating following a report widely distributed across a Chinese social media site.
Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old China Airlines flight attendant reportedly died after being electrocuted Thursday when she answered a call using her iPhone 5 that was recharging. The message was reposted more than 3,000 times on Weibo, China's microblogging site...
Judging from last week's online chatter over whether people hate the iPhone 5 or love Samsung's Galaxy S4, you'd have thought the tech press had returned to high school, where the halls are filled with BFFs and everyone dots their 'i' with hearts.
However, there is some actual news coming from that torrent of tweets and Facebook posts.
Apple, long admired for its tight control of information, is great at talking up its brand, but does little to guide the conversation once a product is launched. Hence, the iPhone 5 'most hated' drivel...
When is a tablet a PC? When it's running Windows 8. Conversely, when is a tablet not a PC? When it bears the Apple logo. In a second quarter littered with negative sales figures, it took some fancy footwork to lump Apple Mac shipments in with an industry decline that's lasted five quarters.
In its estimates of PCs shipped during the last quarter, Gartner earlier this week announced PC shipments on average fell 10.9 percent. Even Apple - which has consistently beaten PC numbers - fell 4.3 percent. However, in a curious note, the firm explained the figures included desktops, mobile PCs and mini-notebooks - but not iPads. What gives?...
Quick, name the two hottest brands in the United States. If you picked Apple and Google you'd be wrong.
Although the iPhone maker and Android creator dominate the smartphone industry, the companies have dropped from the list of hot brand names.
By contrast, Amazon and YouTube made the current list of the top 10 hottest US brands for mid-year 2013. In another surprise, basement-dwelling BlackBerry was named the most-improved technology brand - thanks to the new Z10...
Amid cooling iPhone demand, some carriers are having trouble meeting its sales commitments to Apple - and the smartphone maker is in no mood to ignore the issue. One carrier, Verizon Wireless, could be on the hook for up to $14 billion worth of unsold iPhones, one analyst told investors Thursday.
Although Verizon pledged in a 2010 agreement to buy $23.5 billion worth of Apple handsets in 2013, meeting the commitment would demand the U.S. carrier sell more than twice as many iPhones this year as in 2012...
Although Apple said Wednesday it would appeal its loss in the Department of Justice's ebook pricing conspiracy case, the consensus among legal eagles is: good luck, but bring your check book. In her ruling yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote described the iBooks maker as the ringleader in a conspiracy to undercut Amazon's choke hold on the market for electronic books.
Apple's loss yesterday means the company faces triple damages. Despite Cote's wishes to assess damages soon, that phase could be delayed for months more as Apple asks an appeals court to overturn the ruling. But reversing the judge is likely an uphill battle as Apple seeks to do some PR damage control...
How do you get the speed of a computer mouse and the fine control of a trackpad? Apple's answer is to combine the two motion sensors into one device and wrap it all into a patent filed and published Thursday.
The patent application, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is entitled 'Hybrid Inertial and Touch Sensing Input Device'. The 2012 filing outlines a type of motion-sensing traffic cop which determines whether inertia (mouse) or touch (trackpad) should control your iDevice's cursor...
If Wall Street was caught flat-footed by Apple's lower earnings back in April, analysts are preparing for more bad news for the third quarter. Apple is expected to announce lower quarterly revenue and sales, prompting one expert to slice thirteen percent off his previous forecast for the third quarter. Although a $5.4 billion reduction in expectations might seem dramatic, it is actually rosier than a review of what Apple may announce July 24...
So, you want to order a pizza or text sweet nothings to your significant other without the NSA listening? The co-founder of The Pirate Bay, known for swapping illicit copies of movies and software, has a secret - literally. Peter Sunde is raising funds for Hemlis (Swedish for "secret"), a new kind of messaging app for iOS and Android he and his team are working on. They boldly claim the software is designed to keep out the most prying eyes, such as those from the U.S. government's PRISM program...
A court Wednesday found Apple had conspired to increase the prices of e-books, setting a separate trial for damages.
In a 159-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote wrote that "Apple played a central role" in the conspiracy, which the company flatly denied.
The government has charged Apple with working with five publishers together to undercut Amazon's control of the market. In response to the verdict, some watchers opined that the government playing so openly into the hand of a monopolist like Amazon may reduce competition...
Apple and Amazon have taken off the gloves back in 2011, apparently deciding the 'App Store' name is big enough for both companies. An Oakland, California district court pulled the plug on the dispute at the request of the two app providers. The decision to walk away from just who owns the 'App Store' title follows Apple agreeing not to sue Amazon, according to a report this morning...
It's a common practice now under fire from Germany's finance chief: giving corporations tax breaks to locate and develop their patents - and hopefully hire local workers. In a Europe struggling with widespread economic troubles, the tactic known as the 'patent box' should stop, Germany asked a gathering of European Union finance ministers.
At the heart of the dispute between Germany and other European countries are reports Apple and others multinationals used local tax laws to save money...