Apple introduced short links for the App Store last Friday, providing developers with an easy-to-remember short URL for use in advertising. As noted by several sites, the new service made a public debut during last night’s Super Bowl as part of a commercial for the next installment of the J.J. Abrams Star Trek saga. On…
Jim Tanous
Articles by Jim Tanous
Crash Almost Any OS X App By Typing These Specific Characters
An odd bug in OS X causes nearly any application to crash by typing in a short string of characters, according to a bug report published last Thursday and brought to our attention by tech site Neowin. Typing the world “File” (with a capital F), a colon, and three forward slashes will crash most apps…
iOS 6.1 Jailbreak Named "evasi0n," Launches Within a Week
The previously mentioned and highly-anticipated iOS 6.1 jailbreak will be released within a week, likely as soon as this Sunday, February 3, according to the jailbreak’s development team. The jailbreak will be called “evasi0n” and evad3rs, the team responsible, has set up a website to inform the public on its progress. All recent Apple devices…
Siri "Eyes Free" Integration Coming to 2013 Honda & Acura Models
Honda and its Acura luxury line will include support for Siri’s hands-free integration, called “Eyes Free” in some 2013 models, the carmaker announced Wednesday. The 2013 Honda Accord and 2013 Acura RDX and ILX models will offer Eyes Free as a dealer-installed option. Eyes Free was introduced by Apple during the 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference.…
U.S. iPhone Owners Have Most Expensive Monthly Wireless Bills
iPhone users pay more on average for their monthly wireless data plans than those of any other phone platform, according to new research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), provided Wednesday by AllThingsD. The iPhone also has the highest retention rate among both smartphones and basic “feature” phones. The survey of U.S. consumers asked respondents…
Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 SP3 Fixes Outlook, PowerPoint Bugs
Microsoft Office users on OS X may not get the new Office 2013 that was released for Windows Tuesday, but the Redmond-based company has at least released an update with important bug fixes for the existing retail and subscription users of the Office for Mac 2011 productivity suite. The update, version 14.3 (a.k.a. “Service Pack…
Upcoming iOS 6.1 Jailbreak to Support Nearly All Devices
With the public release of iOS 6.1 now available, many iDevice users will start to look forward to an eventual jailbreak. According to a member of jailbreak team evad3rs, users won’t have long to wait and nearly every iDevice made in the last three years will be supported. MuscleNerd, a member and spokesperson for…
Easily Create and Customize iPhone Ringtones With iToner 3
Mobile phone ringtones are an odd category. Even before the launch of the iPhone, millions of users with basic “feature phones” were spending up to $3 each for low quality, 30-second samples of their favorite songs. Apple eventually joined the ringtone game, too, by offering ringtones for up to $1.29 each on the company’s iTunes…
Wozniak Turned Down Involvement in "jOBS" Due to "Crap" Script
The independent biopic jOBS, which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival, was not produced with the help of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak due to a highly inaccurate script which Mr. Wozniak described to The Verge as “crap.” Mr. Wozniak previously told Gizmodo that an interaction between Steve Jobs and Mr. Wozniak depicted in the…
iOS Beta and Retailer SKUs Hint at 128GB 4th Gen iPad
Apple may soon add a 128 GB capacity option to its iPad tablet line, according to information found in a beta version of iOS released Saturday and reported by iDownloadBlog. As first discovered by Twitter user iNeal, the fifth and latest beta of iOS 6.1 contains a new reference to a 128 GB partition size.…
Sharp "Nearly Halts" Production of 9.7-inch iPad Displays
Sharp, a key Apple supplier for iDevice displays, has “nearly halted production” of the 9.7-inch display found in Apple’s full-sized iPad, according to two sources speaking with Reuters Friday. It is not yet known if the cuts are due to shifting demand to the smaller iPad mini, or a result of an excess in supply…
Apple Board Member Al Gore Exercises Stock Options Worth $29M
Former vice president, environmental activist, and longtime Apple board member Al Gore exercised stock options Tuesday to purchase 59,000 shares of AAPL for $7.475 per share. As of the close of the markets Thursday, Mr. Gore’s new stock acquisition is worth about $29,650,000 at a cost of only $441,000. With Apple set to reveal its…
Infographic Reveals Where & How Your iPhone is Likely to Die
A study last year by third-party warranty company SquareTrade provides some interesting statistics on where iPhone accidents occur. The study was published in October 2012, but flew under our radar. Thanks to Boy Genius Report for brining it to our attention Tuesday. For those unfamiliar with the company, SquareTrade sells extended warranties for a variety…
How to Watch Live NHL Games on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, & Apple TV
Hockey lovers rejoice! The NHL is back in action this Saturday, January 19th after a lengthy and painful labor dispute that delayed nearly half the season. Thankfully, there are now more ways than ever to get your hockey fix, and Apple is leading the way with several options. First, users must subscribe to the NHL’s…
iPhone 5 Uses Most Data Overall in European Mobile Device Study
The iPhone 5 is having a significant effect on mobile networks in Europe, as users of the latest Apple smartphone use the most data overall and are consuming 50 percent more data than those using its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, according to a new report from mobile research firm Arieso Monday. Heavy data use by…
Amid Customer Loss, Japan's DoCoMo Carrier Opens Door to iPhone
Japan’s largest mobile carrier, NTT DoCoMo, is open to a deal to carry Apple’s iPhone, the company’s president said in a Japanese newspaper report, translated and disseminated by BrightWire Friday. President Katoru Katō reportedly said that his company was eager to add the iPhone to its lineup, but that concerns over alleged sales quotas imposed…
Xerox CFO Luca Maestri to Join Apple As Corporate Controller
Office Technology firm Xerox announced early Friday that its Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, will leave the company in February to join Apple as its Corporate Controller. Mr. Maestri, who has been with Xerox since February 2011, will take on accounting and financial responsibilities under Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Mr. Maestri has served several large…
Schiller: Cheap iPhones Will "Never Be the Future of Apple"
Cheap smartphones will “never be the future of Apple,” according to an interview of Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller by Chinese newspaper the Shanghai Evening News Thursday. Mr. Schiller’s remarks, translated by The Next Web, put a damper on recent rumors that the Cupertino company will launch a low-cost iPhone in the near future. Mr. Schiller…
Ten Years In, iTunes Store Revenue Higher Than All of 2003 Apple
The iTunes application celebrated its 12th birthday this week, but the iTunes Store, launched as the iTunes Music Store in 2003, will hit the ten-year-mark on April 28, 2013. According to an analysis Wednesday by Asymco’s Horace Dediu, the nearly ten-year-old iTunes Store is certainly making its parent proud, as it now generates as much…
Cellular-Enabled iPad Mini to Launch in China in Late January
Cellular-enabled models of the iPad mini will be available in China later this month, according to statements reportedly made by Apple CEO Tim Cook to Chinese reporters Thursday. Wi-Fi-only versions of the iPad mini launched in early December in the country, but stricter regulations delayed a cellular-enabled version while the company sought licenses from the…
To Fight iTunes, Amazon May Offer "Auto Rip" of Purchased CDs
UPDATE: Amazon has just launched the Auto Rip service, covering both new purchases and previous purchases dating back to 1998 for over 37,000 eligible discs. A new “Auto Rip” icon will appear next to physical CD listings in the store to identify eligibility. [Thanks, Bosco, for letting us know!] Online retailer, consumer electronics firm, and…
iMac Delays Due to Low Screen Yields at Supplier LG Display
Following Tuesday’s report of production delays on the new iMac that have led to major shortages of the product at Apple Stores and resellers, new information late Wednesday from DigiTimes corroborates evidence that screen lamination issues at Apple supplier LG Display are to blame. The previous suggestion that screen production issues were preventing maximum levels…
Straight Talk Brings iPhone 5 & $45 Unlimited Plan to Walmart
Mega retailer Walmart and prepaid wireless service Straight Talk announced Tuesday that they will offer both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5 for customers with a no-contract $45 per month unlimited plan starting Friday, January 11. The unlimited plan, exclusive to Walmart, covers voice minutes, texting, and data, and represents significant savings over national…
Nearly 2 Million iPhones Already On T-Mobile, 100K New Per Month
T-Mobile CEO John Legere After announcing a deal in December to finally bring Apple’s iPhone to its network in 2013, U.S. mobile carrier T-Mobile’s CEO revealed Tuesday that his company already serves nearly 2 million iPhones. John Legere, the carrier’s CEO, made the remarks during a management keynote for its parent company Deutsche Telekom, as…
