News

Apple's two-step verification now enabled in Canada, additional countries

By Richard Devine, Friday, May 10, 2013 a 10:40 am

Apple's two-step verification service first rolled out in March, though only to a limited number of countries. Anyone outside the U.S, UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand was out of luck, but as 9to5Mac reports, the service has just been switched on in a host of new locations.

Magnets in iPad discovered to be strong enough to shut off implanted defibrillators

By Richard Devine, Friday, May 10, 2013 a 8:01 am

Magnets are bad for implanted defibrillators, this isn't a new discovery. The iPad 2 onwards contains magnets, those little ones around the edges to hold down the Smart Cover and the top of the Smart Case. Combining these two pieces of information, a science project by 14-year-old Gianna Chien has determined that the iPad might not be the best thing to hold close to your chest if you have one of these devices implanted. Bloomberg reports:

Apple releases stability fix firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt

By Richard Devine, Friday, May 10, 2013 a 7:13 am

Users of a Thunderbolt equipped Mac will want to head on over to the Apple Support pages and grab the latest firmware update. It's not a huge update, in fact the download is just 1.22MB in size, but does promise stability fixes for Thunderbolt and for Target Disk Mode. And we'll always welcome stability fixes.

YouTube launches paid channels, watch them back on your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV

By Richard Devine, Thursday, May 9, 2013 a 6:37 pm

Having been much rumored in recent weeks, YouTube has finally pulled the trigger on launching paid channels. The subscription based channels start at a monthly rate of $0.99 and all come with a 14 day free trial period. Best of all, once subscribed the channels are available to enjoy on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV beyond the browser on your Mac.

iPhone 4 to be available for 50p per day at UK high-street retailer

By Richard Devine, Thursday, May 9, 2013 a 12:57 pm

The iPhone 4 in the UK is about to get a whole lot cheaper. According to Pocket-Lint, beginning May 10 high-street retailer Carphone Warehouse is set to offer the iPhone 4 on contract for £17 per month with a free phone. Or, to put it another way, you'll be able to pick up an iPhone 4 for just 50p per day.

AT&T launches Aio Wireless, offers the iPhone on prepaid. Anyone tempted?

By Joseph Keller, Thursday, May 9, 2013 a 12:44 pm

AT&T has just launched Aio Wireless, a new prepaid cellular service that boasts the iPhone as one of their flagship devices. Since it is a prepaid service, Aio offers plans without a contract, and users can either bring their own compatible device, or buy it from Aio at full price. AT&T touted the simplicity of the service in a statement today.

T-Mobile Q1 2013 earnings are out showing good numbers for iPhone 5 sales

By Richard Devine, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 a 8:39 am

T-Mobile has released their Q1 2013 earnings report, and it shows good news for the carrier on the iPhone front. The iPhone 5 only launched officially on April 12, yet T-Mobile reports that they have sold around 500,000 units to new and existing customers. Perhaps coincidentally, they're also reporting an uptake in net customer additions for the quarter, standing at 576,000.

Apple cracking down on app discovery apps?

By Joseph Keller, Tuesday, May 7, 2013 a 4:38 pm

Apple has apparently started removing an increasing number of apps that allow users to search App Store contents and recommend apps to their friends. Apps that have been found to violate App Store regulation 2.25, which prohibits apps that could be confused as app stores, have been removed, and Apple seems to be broadening the scope of that rule. According to PocketGamer.biz:

iOS 6.0 gets US federal government's security stamp of approval

By Derek Kessler, Tuesday, May 7, 2013 a 3:42 pm

Since the dawn of time, BlackBerry smartphones have been the mobile communicator of choice for the United States federal government. The federal National Institute of Standards and Technology has been approving hardware and software to meet the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) since 1995, and today iOS 6.0 was granted FIPS 140-2 certification. Specifically, the iOS CryptoCore Kernel Module 3.0 was assured to to meet the security requirements of the government.

Apple reportedly having trouble signing new carriers, high subsidies an issue

By Joseph Keller, Monday, May 6, 2013 a 3:29 pm

With potentially billions of customers on the line, Apple is reportedly having trouble negotiating with wireless providers in emerging markets like Russia and China, and in established markets like Japan. The carriers are, apparently, holding out for better terms from Apple than those currently enjoyed by carriers in United States under the subsidy model. Bloomberg reports: