Apple’s under fire again for labor abuses by one of its manufacturing partners again, this time Pegatron. Bizarrely, though, the report incriminating them also confirms the plastic “budget” iPhone, the so-called iPhone 5C.
Apple’s “pinch to zoom” patent, which features prominently in a patent dispute against Samsung, has been dismissed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. According to documents filed by Samsung in a U.S. federal court, all 21 claims of the patent have been rejected in a “final office action.”
The Toffee Cases Fold Wallet takes a different approach to iPhone wallets that most others. Instead of trying to squeeze your cards and cash into a few tiny slots stuck onto the back of the iPhone, Toffee’s Fold Wallet is more like a regular billfold, only with an extra pocket inside for your iPhone.
The above photo shows what is allegedly Apple packaging for an unreleased “iPhone 5C.” The packaging comes from the supply chain overseas and was first posted on the Chinese forum WeiPhone. It’s important to note up front that there is no way of confirming the packaging’s authenticity, but if it’s real, it has most likely revealed the name for the rumored budget iPhone.
This week on the ‘ol CultCast: why Google’s new Chromecast is great for us Apple fans; the 5S might be the biggest S-upgrade ever; Apple’s earnings make a low-cost iPhone look likely; how to best connect your iDevice to your car stereo; the Dev Center gets hacked; and then, Tim Cook sings Barbie Girl!
Have a few laughs and get caught up on this week’s best Apple stories. Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin.
Thanks to Bitcasa for sponsoring this episode. Show notes up next.
We’ve seen tons of leaked photos claiming to be the rear shell of the budget iPhone, and here’s the latest one we can add to the pile. The photo was posted on Weibo and looks pretty similar to images we posted two days ago.
The iPhone 5S and the new low-cost iPhone are expected to launch on Friday, September 6, according to a “very credible” source. That’s roughly two weeks earlier than the iPhone 5 went on sale last year, and it suggests Apple will announce the devices in late August.
Market research firm Harris Interactive conducts a fairly extensive poll each year in the area of consumer electronic brands. This year, Apple again took the top spot in three major categories, named the best brand of tablet, computer, and mobile phone. The iPad, Mac, and iPhone scored the best across an array of specific brand markers, like brand recognition, emotional response to the brand, and purchasing consideration.
Since the beginning of this year, reports have been saying that Apple is working on a cheaper, ‘budget’ iPhone. In the last several months, we’ve seen part leaks and more info point towards Apple releasing the plastic-enclosed device this fall alongside the flagship iPhone 5S.
Apple has always dropped the price on the previous iPhone model by $100 when a new one comes out, but that business model hasn’t been able to help the company grow in emerging markets around the world. The budget iPhone is expected to cost around $300 unsubsidized, which would unlock a whole new market of potential customers.
There has never been two independent iPhone lineups at once, so introducing a totally separate model would be a big move for Apple. But what if the multi-colored, plastic iPhone everyone expects is just a retooled version of the current iPhone 5?
Yahoo announced today that it’s launching a completely redesigned Fantasy Sports app for iOS and Android, just in time for the all-important fantasy football season looming on the horizon.
The redesigned app now lets you sign up for a league and draft players from your iPhone or iPad. There’s even some mock drafting help built-in to prepare you for that big day where you pull your hair out debating which elite running back won’t have a season-ending injury.
All the fantasy football features will be available for other fantasy sports as well. To get the word out on the relaunch, Yahoo enlisted beef-cake ahtletic-super-freak J.J. Watt to cajole you into trying app. Take a look at the trailer:
This Cult of Mac Deals offer features a bundle of style for your iPhone 5. Essentially, this bundle of iPhone protection gear comes with several components, including a glass shield screen protector. With that component alone, you can be confident that if your iPhone takes a beating –its glass screen won’t shatter upon impact.
This iPhone 5 Full Armor Pack – courtesy of Spigen – can be yours during this limited time offer for just $26.99. That’s a savings of 59%!
Apple has added a new page to its website in China which urges customers to use official Apple USB adapters with their iOS devices. The move comes after two Chinese iPhone users were electrocuted by third-party chargers this month, which left one dead and the other in a coma for ten days.
Ever wondered which episodes of our own CultCast feature conversations about WWDC? Or which episodes of the original The Talk Show have Dan Benjamin and John Gruber discussing a Bond movie?
Then try Poodle.FM, an experimental search engine for podcasts from the folks behind the podcatcher app Instacast.
Unlike pictures, sound is ambient – you can hear it even when you’re not listening “at” it the same way you have to look at something to see it. And this goes for recording, too. While you have to point a camera at a thing to tape it, you can record sound even if the mic is in your pocket.
And this in turn makes possible an app like Heard, which lets you record any sound you hear, even after you hear it.
The bundles offered at Cult of Mac Deals are arguably the most popular – and when they can be delivered to our readers at no cost then their popularity is a given. Now’s the time for Cult of Mac Deals to offer up another “freebie” bundle, and this one has apps that will help you with your design work, your photos, and your overall productivity.
The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0 features 10 apps that you can get for free – but only for a limted time!
If you backup your iOS devices to your Mac, you will overwrite the latest backup each time you do so, creating a new, fully up-to-date copy of your iOS device, including settings, apps, and data.
But what if you want to save a certain backup as a snapshot, like before you upgrade to a new operating system, or add a troublesome app to your iPhone or iPad?
The trick here is Archiving your backup, which tells iTunes to stop using the backup as the latest one, and instead backup to a new file. It’s easy to do, and here’s how.
The Olloclip must be one of the most useful iPhoneography accessories around. It’s a tiny clip-on widget which adds three additional lenses to the iPhone: macro, wide-angle and fisheye.
And until now, the only thing it was really lacking was a telephoto – after all the more-or-less 35mm equivalent lens on the iPhone is already wide enough for most uses. Olloclip has fixed that with this new lens, and added another handy accessory in the box: A circular polarizer.
We have a good idea what the budget iPhone will look like fully assembled thanks to the pictures we published a little while ago, but if you’re still having doubts that those plastic shells are genuine, take a look at this in-depth video.
We’ve seen lots of pictures of budget iPhone parts in recent weeks, but these images from case maker Tactus show us what the device will look like when it’s fully assembled — complete with a display, a camera and flash, buttons, and a Lightning connector.
ShareThis, the popular content sharing button on many websites, reported a study in which user patterns suggest that the iPhone is the “Most Social Device,” accounting for three times as much sharing as from the desktop, and up to one and a half times as much sharing as any other mobile platform.
In addition, the study found that Facebook is the social network shared to the most, with 60 percent of the mobile sharing going to the big blue website. Twitter and Pinterest, interestingly, are the next two most shared to networks.
Summer isn’t over quite yet, so if you’re still looking for a little motivation to get you back in tip-top shape Nike added a new Challenges feature to its running app.
To start a challenge in Nike+ Running 4.3, simply set a distance and send the invite to your Nike+ friends. The app will keep track of who’s in the lead and if you win you get a shiny digital medal to show off to your momma.
The free app is available in the App Store now for both iPhone and iPod touch.
Here are the full release notes:
Apple just released it’s Q3 2013 earnings report and even though iPhone sales were up to 31.2 million units in the quarter, compared to 26 million last quarter, the company only posted a net profit of $6.9 billion. Samsung on the other hand reported that it made $8.33 billion in profit during the same quarter.
Apple reported a profit of $8.8 billion and $35 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2012, so profit is still down and revenue growth is flat. The company’s year-over-year net profit shrank for the first time in a decade last quarter.
Source: SAI
One of Apple’s biggest antagonist regarding smartphone theft says that he’s pretty happy with the improved security features of iOS 7.
After announcing his efforts last week to test Apple’s new security lock, San Francisco District Attorney, George Gascón says that Apple’s Activation Lock is a “clear improvement” over previous solutions aimed at deterring thieves from stealing smartphones.
Earlier this month, Best Buy kicked off a two-day promotion that offered up a $200 gift card when you traded in your old iPad for a brand new model. It was obviously a big success, because just two weeks later, the promotion is running for a second time.
Path has updated its iOS app today to introduce the ability to hide the Friend Progress Bar from your feed. The release also brings the ability to edit your email address and password within the settings drawer, and new stickers and filters.