Still rocking grandfathered unlimited data through Verizon Wireless? Better enjoy it while it lasts, because the carrier plans to drive a stake through its heart when Big Red makes the switch to family data plans this sunny summer. Should make good fodder for Sprint’s future marketing, since they continue to be the only U.S. carrier offering truly unlimited data plans. Meanwhile, here’s the rest of what’s making news for this Wednesday, May 16, 2012.
Fierce Wireless is reporting that grandfathered unlimited data plans may soon go the way of the dinosaur, at least if Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo has anything to say about it (and sadly, he does). Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference this week, Shammo explained that as its 3G data customers migrate to 4G LTE, Verizon will require data sharing plans that will not be compatible with the faster speeds, nor sharing between multiple devices. The move is part of the carrier’s plan to shift to a “revenue per account” metric, rather than the current model which measures individual users’ data usage. With shared data plans in the works for mid-summer, there’s likely to be a lot of unhappy veteran users longing for the unlimited data days…
Cnet is reporting that the Retina Display screens everyone assumes will soon find their way to the MacBook line could be a pricy endeavor for Apple — almost 0 more, judging from component costs of 15.4-inch display panels already in the supply chain. The real question becomes, will Apple eat those costs or pass them on to Mac users in the form of increased prices? “What’s clear is that Apple’s pushing it. They’re pushing panel makers to come out with higher resolution panels because they’ve created a market demand for it, starting with their phones, now going to their tablets,” explains NPD DisplaySearch senior analyst Richard Shim. “Now what we’re seeing in the supply chain is that they’re going to move that to their notebooks, and it’s becoming a premium feature.” Apple currently spends for the display panel of a 15-inch MacBook Pro, but that figure is estimated to balloon to 0 if and when the rumored Retina upgrade arrives. Would you be willing to fork over the extra dough, if push comes to shove…?
AllThingsD is reporting that Sprint will likely continue to bleed red ink where the iPhone is concerned for three more years. That’s because the carrier made a whopping .5 billion commitment to Apple’s iconic handset over a four-year period — meaning the company won’t make a profit from the iPhone until 2015. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse doesn’t seem too concerned, despite having to take a .25 million pay cut this month to appease investors unhappy with the deal. “We believe in the long term,” Hesse explains. “And over time we will make more money on iPhone customers than we will on other customers.” Assuming, of course, the third-place carrier can make it that long.
If you’ve ever wondered just how fragile the stock market can be, look no further than a new DigiTimes rumor claiming that Apple recently placed a huge order for DRAM chips with Japanese firm Elpida — and dealt a fatal blow to Samsung’s market value in the process. According to Reuters, the rumor — whether it’s true or not — sent shares of Samsung Electronics Co. down more than six percent on Wednesday, “wiping billion off the electronics giant’s market value” all at once. “It looks like Apple doesn’t want to see Samsung and hynix dominate the chip market,” remarks Choi Do-yeon, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities. “Apple wants to maintain its bargaining power by keeping Elpida running.” Japan’s Elpida is currently running under bankruptcy protection as it attempts to restructure due to “tough market conditions and global competition.” Perhaps Apple just wants to level the playing field after watching Samsung continually ape its smartphone and tablet products?
Did you know May is Teacher Appreciation Month? Makes sense, since this is the last month most students are in school before the sunny summer vacation — and their minds are probably on anything but studying. To celebrate the occasion, the folks at iStoryTime are offering their Kung Fu Panda 2 storybook app absolutely free through Sunday, April 20. Kung Fu Panda 2 is perfect for engaging children’s creativity and encouraging them to read in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, German, French, Portuguese, Russian and Korean, so teachers and students across the globe may enjoy the adventures of Po. “Teachers are our super heroes,” said Woody Sears, founder of iStoryTime. “They are the foundation of our children’s education and we are extremely humble in honoring teachers worldwide by offering our Kung Fu Panda 2 storybook for free.” Hey, we just like the sound of free apps, but kudos to iStoryTime for recognizing the heroes, too.
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Apple is finding out the hard way that with financial success comes increased scrutiny of their business practices, and onetime friend The New York Times seems to be pulling no punches in the wake of co-founder Steve Jobs’ death in their “iEconomy” series. The newspaper has moved from reporting on Chinese factories to how Apple uses the system to cut down its own tax bill — but no matter which side of the debate you happen to agree with, it’s a fascinating read. Some details left out of the NYT report and more in the recap for Monday, April 30, 2012 ahead!
The New York Times exposé on Apple’s tax situation continues to make headlines today, but it appears the newspaper missed a few things in their report. AllThingsD decided to set the record straight with a few details of their own, including the fact that the NYT story is about seven years too late — Apple’s Nevada subsidiary has existed for years, for one. While the report tries to paint Apple as a vampire upon the city of Cupertino, slowly draining the city government of corporate taxes, the reality is that state governments are largely responsible for funding the likes of De Anza College, the community college which the Times seems to indicate has fallen on hard times thanks to the loss of tax dollars from Apple and other corporations. The report also ignores sales taxes paid to states where Apple hardware is sold, which could account for another .7 billion more paid out across the country than noted. For its part, Apple is boasting about the number of jobs it’s been able to create, apparently implying those hold more value than any lost revenue from corporate taxes.
We’re still holding out hope for a Mac version of Tweetbot, but until then, developer Tapbots LLC continues to refine the existing iOS apps for both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, with both hitting version 2.3 earlier today. Among the features in the update are a new tweet detail view with inline conversations and replies, new gestures, a new conversation view, Droplr support, optional setting for timeline sync bookmarks, a reorganized tweet drawer and oh so many more cool little things. Seriously, it’s easier to just head to the App Store and get your update going than to sit here and read about it — just make sure to come back and finish up when you’re done, naturally.
There’s still no prepaid iPhone available from Verizon (or any other big U.S. carrier), but Verizon Wireless announced today that the carrier will be rolling out some new prepaid plans starting tomorrow, May 1. The Android-powered Samsung Illusion will be available for 9.99 from retailers nationwide, but the more compelling prospect is Big Red’s new Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L, which can be picked up for 9.99. Prepaid 4G LTE plans are available starting at for 250MB, with 3GB available for per month or 10GB for per month. Or, you know, you could just go buy a 4G LTE-equipped new iPad and have it double as a mobile hotspot. We’re just sayin’…
MacRumors is reporting that iTunes Match appears to be going live in a number of new countries around the globe, with confirmed launches in Austria, Greece and Italy thus far. Users in those countries are being required to agree to updated iTunes Store terms and conditions which specifically address the iTunes Match service, while some users have actually been able to sign up for the service as well. Apple has yet to announce additional countries, but evidence suggests that iTunes Match may also be rolling out to Bulgaria, Portugal and Slovenia as well. Any MacLife.com readers in these countries seeing some Match love?
The Skype iOS apps for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad got bumped to version 4.09 today, including a variety of improvements to the user interface as well as a new feature, the ability to move the video preview on your own screen, particularly handy on smaller screens like the iPhone. Both apps will now automatically restart if they unexpectedly shut down, with improved accessibility and stability overall. Skype 4.0 now includes a new sign in screen with an updated design for contacts and messages as well as other minor UI improvements. As always, both apps are available free of charge from the App Store, so hit the links above to grab ‘em.
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Verizon Wireless customers often feel like they live in some kind of safe haven from the evils of Ma Bell (i.e., AT&T) — that is, until the Big Red carrier starts acting just like their competitor. The upgrade fee has clearly irritated their most loyal users, but given how AT&T charges for the same thing, this controversy is likely to fade away until you actually have to fork over for a lust worthy phone. But that day isn’t today, so sit back and lower your blood pressure with some tech news for Wednesday, April 11, 2012.
You may not be using Google+, but that doesn’t mean the search giant isn’t continually making improvements to it in your absence. The Google Official Blog today announced “a simpler, more beautiful” Google+ with enhanced navigation controls. Apps can now be dragged up or down to put them in the order you prefer, while hovering over certain apps reveals a new set of quick actions. The folks in Mountain View are also sprucing the joint up with “full bleed photos and videos that’ll make you really proud to post,” “a stream of conversation ‘cards’ that make it easier to scan and join discussions” and “an activity drawer that highlights the community around your content.” Last but not least, Google+ Hangouts gets a dedicated page with an always-updated list of invitations from the people in your Circles and a rotating billboard of popular hangouts. Are these changes enough to make you give up Facebook yet?
April is Autism Awareness Month, and developer iStoryTime is doing its part to contribute by making its Meet Biscuit storybook app free through Sunday, April 15 on both iOS and Android. “We believe digital devices such as the iPad, iPhone and other devices are great tools to enhance the learning process,” said Graham Farrar, founder of iStoryTime. “The fact that we’ve received a large amount of feedback from parents with autistic children makes us feel that our efforts in reinventing the art of storytelling is making a positive difference.” Biscuit, a little yellow puppy, is a longtime family favorite with over 16 million copies in print, and the app includes a storybook as well as digital coloring book, memory game (iOS version only) and puzzle ready made for little fingers. Meet Biscuit is an 80.7MB download from the App Store and the universal app is compatible with all devices running iOS 4.3 or later.
Apparently seizing upon an opportunity since Apple is dragging their feet getting their own solution pushed out, Russian antivirus film Kaspersky Labs has released the Flashfake Removal Tool. According to MacRumors, the free Mac app “quickly and easily detects and removes the malware,” which is said to have afflicted upwards of 600,000 computers worldwide. The Mac-based tool follows Kaspersky’s release yesterday of a free web-based checker, which uses your computer’s UUID “to see if it has registered on the firm’s servers as an infected machine.” F-Secure, the company who first sounded the alarm on the Flashback trojan malware, is also offered their own free Flashback Removal app — so there’s no shortage of ways to get rid of this sucker way before Apple gets its act together.
MacLife recently reviewed the nifty iStopMotion for iPad app, and one of the few complaints we focused on is how difficult it was to keep the tablet steady while you’re animating. Developer Boinx Software must have been reading our minds, because this week they’ve pushed out version 1.3, adding the ability to “now use the headset remote play/pause button to capture, both in iStopMotion and the iStopMotion Remote Camera app.” Awesome idea! The app has also been localized for French, Japanese and Chinese users and includes a new spinner in the top bar so you’ll know when the app is busy performing lengthy operations. Users creating larger movies will find the app now works a lot smoother overall, and some additional Retina Display graphics have been in thrown in for good measure as well. The update is free for existing users and .99 for new buyers, now available in the App Store.
Hope you’re not a Verizon Wireless customer ready to upgrade your tired old cell phone. According to Reuters, Big Red will start charging customers per upgrade on top of the cost of the hardware itself, which is being at least partially blamed on high subsidies paid to Apple for each iPhone sold by the carrier. “Carriers pay such subsidies because devices like the iPhone help to attract new customers and boost revenue,” the report reveals. “However, upgrades can be less attractive to operators because despite paying a subsidy for the new device, mobile companies often get no extra revenue from existing customers who switch phones.” The fee won’t kick in until April 22, so we wouldn’t wait much longer to grab that smartphone you’ve been lusting after — and take heart, because rival AT&T already socks its customers with a upgrade fee. Ouch!
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So yeah, Apple still has the moxie to rake in the big bucks, as you’ve no doubt heard from Cupertino’s fiscal first quarter results earlier today. We can’t help but think that this bubble has to burst eventually, but hey, it’s a wild ride while it lasts, right? Unfortunately for U.S. carrier partner Verizon Wireless, the quarterly financials weren’t quite as rosy. Ready to find out more? Then read on and discover all the news that’s fit to print for this Tuesday, January 24, 2012.
We all know that Apple just clocked in another record quarter with 37.04 million iPhones sold — and according to Bloomberg, 4.3 million of those were activated last quarter on Verizon Wireless. Unfortunately, the Big Red carrier’s news wasn’t all rosy, with total smartphone sales of 7.7 million — about 1.5 million shy of analyst projections. Despite total sales of .4 billion (a 7.7 percent increase over last year), Verizon as a whole lost .02 billion last quarter compared to its .64 billion profit a year ago, which the company blamed on handset subsidies paid out to wireless customers.
Fortune writer Adam Lashinsky’s book Inside Apple hits stores tomorrow, and much like Walter Isaacson’s official bio on Steve Jobs, nuggets of information have been leaking out in the last week or so in advance of the release. According to NetworkWorld, one such detail outlined in the book examines a room in Apple’s headquarters dedicated to product packaging — a secret area “only accessible to a select few with the requisite security badges” for the purpose of testing boxes. “To fully grasp how seriously Apple executives sweat the small stuff, consider this: For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks — opening boxes,” Lashinsky reveals. The attention to detail even extends to the unboxing experience as well. “One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box,” Lashinsky writes. “Getting it just right was this particular designer’s obsession. What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab.” Shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who’s owned an Apple product…
It’s no secret that the iPad makes a great vehicle for reading and even editing PDF files, which is why developer Readdle continues to innovate with their PDF Expert for iPad. The company just pushed out a new version 3.2 update, adding full text search across your entire PDF library — no more simply searching by file name, the complete text of every PDF document inside the app is available to you. PDF Expert 3.2 also adds a new sorting panel for reordering files based on Name, Date or Modified Date, along with support for the Tab and Arrow keys on Bluetooth keyboards while filling out PDF forms for lightning-quick text entry. Last but not least, the update introduces a new Eraser tool for your handwriting, located in the Pens toolbar. PDF Expert 3.2 is available now from the App Store for only .99, and is a free update for previous owners.
The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs left us with many memorable quotes, but somewhere near the top of that list resides “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” According to Cnet, the expression now has a new lease on life, with the words emblazoned on the side of a new Airbus A320 aircraft as part of the Virgin America fleet (photo above, if you don’t mind squinting).“”The ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ aircraft name was actually submitted as a tribute to Mr. Jobs by one of our employees in an internal plane naming competition,” Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini explained to CNET on Monday.“”The idea behind Virgin America was to reinvent the travel experience by thinking differently about design and service–we are known for the tech-forward amenities we offer onboard.” Considering Virgin’s presence in Silicon Valley and the company’s “fleet-wide Wi-Fi with touchscreen entertainment and power outlets at every seat,” we think Jobs would approve.
Ready to introduce your child to the forthcoming Valentine’s Day in a special way? zuuka’s iStoryTime line has just published a new title together with HarperCollins Children’s Books entitled Biscuit’s Valentine’s Day. Available as a .99 universal app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, the title is also making its debut on the Amazon Appstore for the Kindle Fire as well as Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color and Nook Tablet devices. The story follows that loveable puppy Biscuit as he delivers “sweet puppy love” to his special friends, including Daisy, Puddles, Grandma and Grandpa. “Biscuit has been a family classic for almost two decades and for good reason as the lovable yellow puppy teaches children life lessons such as how important it is to give rather than receive,” said Woody Sears, founder of zuuka. “We’re very excited to add another Biscuit book to the iStoryTime library and look forward to many more.” The app includes fully animated Read to Me and Read to Myself modes, memory and puzzle games as well as a sticker and coloring book, all wrapped up neatly in a 110MB app that’s available for download from the App Store today.
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(Image courtesy of Cnet)
The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas doesn’t officially close its doors until tomorrow, but most of the buzz and excitement has already waned and life is getting back to normal for many. Over in China, the exact opposite is happening, with thousands having lined up outside Apple retail stores to grab the iPhone 4S, which went on sale at midnight local time there. In case you missed your daily dose of tech news today, read on to find out what else is making news for this Thursday, January 12, 2012.
iOS developers are increasingly moving their software offerings back to the Mac platform, thanks to the attractive lure of the Mac App Store. The most recent developer to take the plunge is Nik Software, creators of the mobile photo editing app that garnered praise as Apple’s “App of the Year” for 2011. As reported just a few days ago, Snapseed has just landed in the Mac App Store with a modest .99 price tag. Much like the iOS edition, Snapseed for Mac makes it easy to make basic adjustments or even creative enhancements to your JPEG, TIFF or RAW image files and takes full advantage of OS X Lion where available (Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher is required). The company pushed out a new YouTube video to show how easy it is to incorporate Snapseed into your life, and for fans of the iOS app, the Mac edition is probably a no-brainer.
The Neat Company hit Las Vegas this year as part of Showstoppers @ CES, announcing their forthcoming NeatCloud and NeatMobile products. This spring, Neat will release version 5 of their digital filing software for the Mac, which will accompany the new mobile offerings aimed at putting your documents, receipts and business cards into the cloud. NeatCloud is described as a customized cloud-based information ecosystem which “provides backup and automatically syncs with Neat’s software to provide users with seamless, unfettered access to their information.” The cloud initiative works hand-in-hand with NeatMobile, which makes use of a camera-equipped iOS or Android device for capturing and storing information to Neat software. Both products will carry a subscription pricing model, but exactly how much they’ll cost remains a mystery for now.
It’s Friday the 13th in China, and that means the iPhone 4S is ready for the masses! According to MacRumors, each of Apple’s five retail stores saw “huge lines for the iPhone 4S,” with hundreds lined up more than 12 hours before the doors opened (see photo above for one such throng). Carrier China Unicom started selling the handset online at 12:01am local time, where the iPhone 4S was offered free of charge with certain contracts. Of course, some of those in line are likely planning to buy the unlocked model so they can resell it again later at a higher price as Apple and China Unicom’s stock is depleted. The more things change, the more they stay the same…
Verizon Wireless made a pretty good splash at this year’s CES show, but they saved their most interesting news for the lull as the show winds down. According to Cnet, “nearly every smartphone, wireless hotspot, tablet and netbook that Verizon offers will come with LTE guns a-blazing” — as in 4G LTE, which the company has been rapidly expanding over the last year. The report claims that 4G LTE is a “hard requirement” moving forward, which leads to the obvious question: Does that mean Apple is getting into the 4G LTE game this year? There have been rumors that the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 models presumably coming in 2012 will come packing Verizon’s LTE antenna, and this announcement seems to slyly confirm this. The report does note one exception to the rule: handsets with push-to-talk, which is currently only available through the company’s existing CDMA 3G network.
The Skype Garage blog today announced the immediate availability of a version 5.5 beta for Mac, which is more specifically listed as version 5.5.0.2069. The new build brings an improved call user interface, changes to the way incoming video calls are accepted (you’ll now have the option to accept video calls as audio-only) and improvements in quality and stability. The beta also squashes a bug which caused the dial pad to randomly pop up when you least expected it as well. Nothing earth-shattering, but bug fixes and improvements are always welcome. Mac users can download the new 5.5 beta from the Skype website.
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