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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is close to completing a list of rules for cellphone unlocking with US carriers, according to a report. The new rules would govern how a carrier advises a consumer about unlocking and the timing of the unlocking process itself, with the deal between the mobile phone networks and FCC expected to be agreed upon in the near future.
A report issued by the advocacy group Fair Labor Association has praised Foxconn for continuing to improve working conditions. An audit reportedly found that three of Foxconn's factories in Longhua, Chengdu and Guanlan, each tasked with assembling iPhones and other Apple devices, have satisfied nearly all of the goals that were outlined last year in a reform plan.
Southwest Airlines is allowing users of Apple's iOS devices to send iMessages while in flight for just $2. A post on the company's blog revealed that the airline will be rolling out in-flight iMessaging for $2 per day for users with a device running iOS 5 or later. The feature was enabled on Southwest flights on Wednesday, and it joins a number of other digital-oriented features the airline has rolled out of recent.
Instagram has introduced a new feature, Instagram Direct, that enables users to privately share messages, photos and videos. The announcement marks a shift from the company's previous system, which was designed solely for public sharing. Users can now choose to send content to another individual or groups of up to 15 people.
Apple has rejected claims that an underage worker's death at a Pegatron factory was due to poor working conditions. The Cupertino-based company reportedly sent its own team of medical investigators to the factory, which is said to assemble the iPhone 5c, however the experts agreed with Pegatron's assertion that the assembly line environment was not a contributing factor in the pneumonia death.
Yahoo has acknowledged that a number of users were not able to access Yahoo Mail for part of this week, with the company apologizing for the outage on the official blog. The mail downtime commenced on Monday, with the company claiming to have fixed the issue for the majority of affected users last night, though support teams are apparently still working on some loose ends.
Facebook has updated its iOS app to automatically play videos that appear in a user's news feed. Version 6.8 of the app does have the videos set as muted by default, reports TUAW, and though there is no option to turn off the autoplay aspect of the videos, there are settings to allow it to work just on Wi-Fi connections rather than cellular. Both videos from users and advertising will be affected by the change, though it is not known when it will appear in versions on other software platforms.
Adobe on Wednesday updated its photo-management and editing program Lightroom to version 5.3 after more than a month in beta, adding support for a number of cameras as well as bringing tethered capture to the Canon EOS Rebel T4i. The company also updated Adobe Camera Raw to version 8.3, which now supports the iPhone 5s lens among others as well as many other camera models, and brings some new features such as auto-straighten and new camera profiles.
An official China Mobile page which lets Beijing-based users make reservations for its new "4G" LTE service features a graphic of the iPhone 5s and (on a different page) a jewel-encrusted golden apple -- which both confirms that the world's largest cellular carrier will be including the iPhone at long last, and hints that pre-orders for it could begin as early as late Thursday. China Mobile is the last of China's major cellular providers to carry the iPhone, the result of nearly six years of negotiations.
Samsung's tales of woe against Apple in court continue -- this time in its South Korean home. Samsung has lost an attempt to ban assorted iPhone and iPad models in South Korea, as the presiding judge dismissed a lawsuit that had Samsung claiming patent infringement against the Cupertino manufacturer.
In a move likely designed to compete with T-Mobile's recent discounting of iPhone down payments, US retail giant Walmart will cut its up-front price for the 16GB models of the iPhone 5s and 5c by $72 when purchased with a two-year contract from either AT&T or Verizon. The promotion, which begins Friday December 13, coincides with the launch of Walmart's contract-free iPhone sales with service through Straight Talk or NET10 Wireless.
A pair of ex-Pixar employees have formed 180g -- a software development company that has now released an e-book publishing tool, Vellum. The new OS X software package allows authors and small publishers to easily create, modify, and publish elegant e-books compatible with the three major US platforms: Apple's iBookstore, Amazon's Kindle, and Barnes & Noble's Nook.
Apple's good fortune in Japan continue apace, with the company's iPad offerings making up six out of the top 10 bestselling tablets in that country. This according to BCN, which measures electronics sales in Japan and found that Apple tablets were overall the most popular. Topping BCN's list was the iPad Air, followed by the iPad mini.
Even before an expected debut on the world's largest cellular provider, China Mobile, is announced, Apple's new iPhone models have led to a surprising surge in Chinese sales, vaulting the company from sixth place in marketshare to third place since it debuted its latest models. The popularity of the iPhone 5s and 5c have been such that the company tripled its marketshare in a single month, according to a report from market researchers Counterpoint.
Foxconn – also known as Hon Hai, assembler of Apple's iPhones and iPads – is looking to capitalize on the anticipated boom in wearable tech by starting an investment fund to finance nascent companies working in the segment. Sources familiar with the project told Bloomberg this week that Syntrend Creative Park Co., a Foxconn unit, will administer the NT$200 million ($6.8 million) fund aimed at giving the firm a hand in the development of wearable devices in the vein of Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, the Google Glass eyewear computer, and the suspected Apple iWatch. The move is the latest by Foxconn to diversify its operations to handle more things than the construction of iOS devices for its most lucrative partner.
Tony Fadell, one of the creators of the iPod and the founder of Nest, appears to have been the individual who purchased special edition gold Apple EarPods and a red Mac Pro at an auction at Sotheby's. This according to photographer Kevin Abosch, who tweeted images of Fadell with the auctioned items on Wednesday. All told, the two one-of-a-kind Apple products are believed to have cost Fadell around $1.4 million.
Promise Technology today announced the availability of Pegasus2, the only RAID 5 storage solution in the market thus far that is designed to work with Thunderbolt 2-enabled systems such as the forthcoming new Mac Pro. The enclosure -- designed for photographers, video professionals, and other users needing extremely high data transfer rates -- delivers 20Gbps of bandwidth, allowing for simultaneous transfer and display of high-bandwidth 3D and 4K video files.
RealNetworks' RealPlayer Cloud, a dual-purpose video player and cloud service, has announced its new partnership with Google's Chromecast. Consumers can now watch their personal video collection on their TV by accessing content on the RealPlayer Cloud through its own app, pushing the content to a TV using the Chromecast dongle.
Google has formally introduced Chrome Apps for OS X, enabling the web-coded apps to "behave and feel" like native software on Macs. Titles can be placed on the Dock or searched for by name in Spotlight, opening in separate Chrome windows that omit the search bar, tabs and other browser-specific features.
The National Security Agency (NSA) may have been using cookies from web advertisements in order to track individuals, according to a report. A PREF cookie, a unique identifier typically used in Google's advertising system, has apparently been used by the NSA alongside location data, in order to locate individuals of interest to the agency.
Japan has reportedly taken the lead position in mobile app revenue for both iOS and Android platforms, according to data collected by analyst firm App Annie. The US previously held the top spot, however Japan's four-fold jump in revenue from mobile game sales has helped the country maintain a stronger growth rate over the past year.
Spotify has rolled out its free music streaming service to tablets and smartphones, just as speculated by reports last week, along with a number of other announcements. While the tablet version of the app will have a similar service to that of the free desktop version, smartphone users will be forced to use a new free "Shuffle" mode instead.
Felix has released its latest phone cases for the iPhone 5 and 5s today: the HandHold, and the CrossWay. Designed to be minimalist, the cases protect the phone as well as store thin items such as credit cards, a license, or cash.
The Apple TV set-top device got a wave of new content on Wednesday, with Bloomberg TV making its debut on the Apple streaming device, alongside a number of other new channels. As well as the new Bloomberg app, Apple TV owners will now have access to Crackle, Watch ABC, and KORTV. The apps should be available now via a background update.
Rovio has released the latest addition to its Angry Birds series of Apps on iOS with Angry Birds Go! The new entry in the popular franchise is a Mario Kart-like downhill racer with the eponymous fowls facing off against each other, as well as their ever-present porcine nemeses. The entry also brings into play a number of physical toys that open up new items in the game's virtual world.
Chinese supplier Pegatron is facing renewed criticism following a spate of employee deaths associated with its iPhone 5c production factory. In a particularly disturbing example, 15-year-old Shi Zhaokun succumbed to pneumonia after working nearly 280 hours in his first month at the plant, in apparent violation of local labor regulations and Apple's supplier code of conduct, according to a New York Times report.
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