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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple’s former VP of retail, Ron Johnson, is tapping former Apple colleagues to join him at his new job as CEO of JC Penney. Next to Steve Jobs himself, Ron Johnson has had more impact than anyone on Apple’s incredibly successful retail division over the years.

Johnson officially left Apple nearly two weeks ago for the position of JC Penney CEO. He is reportedly coaxing former Apple talent to join him at JC Penney, including two men that used to be very high up on Apple’s employee food chain.

On the iPhone 4S, you can trigger Siri in one of two ways. You can either long press the home button, or you can turn on the “Raise to Speak” option under System Preferences and trigger Siri just by lifting your 4S towards your face.

That might not seem like a big deal, but that little feature led to Apple redesigning the way the iPhone’s IR proximity sensor works in the iPhone 4S.

We’ve mentioned before that TextEdit’s icon under OS X has Apple’s entire “Think Different” essay written on it, if you blow it up big enough.But this one’s new to us: it also appears in its majority on Lion’s new All My Files icon.

Here’s to the crazy ones indeed… crazy to write an entire essay on an icon meant to be rendered in less than 80 pixels squared. Very cool.

[via Finer Things In Mac]

Some people count down the days until Christmas, but for me, Christmas is coming early this year with the December 1st debut of Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade 2, their widely-anticipated sequel to a game I still think is an elegiac action masterpiece.

I’ve only got another three weeks to wait, but in the meantime, Justin Davis over at IGN got a chance to take Infinity Blade 2 for a hands-on. What to expect? Don’t expect just a couple new areas, a few new helmets and a cool new sword or two. This isn’t just a phoned-in sequel, it’s a generational leap at least four times beefier than the first game… already one of the most sizable titles on the App Store.

Over the course of the last ten years, Apple has built over 350 Apple Stores, so Thomas Park decided to put up a huge gallery of every single one of their store fronts.

The results are here, and it’s actually fascinating to be able to scroll past of all the storefronts in a go. Early on, Apple seemed to favor flanking each entry way to the Apple Store with a piano black monolith emblazoned with the Apple logo, but that quickly fell out of favor in lieu of brushed aluminum and glass whenever possible. As always, though, it’s the exception Apple Stores that are the most interesting in their design: places like the 5th Avenue location, or Convent Garden.

You can find the whole gallery here.

Apple would love to sell the iPhone to China Mobile’s 628 million subscribers, but there is a hitch to any agreement: the carrier wants a piece of the App Store pie. But a pact isn’t needed, argues one Wall Street watcher, especially since there are already 10 million Apple smartphones on the China network.

Despite losing its exclusivity to the iPhone back in February when Apple introduced the CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon, AT&T is still the most dominant iPhone carrier in the United States, enjoying 60% of iPhone 4 subscribers.

Apple takes pride in making its products environmentally friendly. It has worked to reduce its carbon footprint by keeping its product packaging to a minimum, removing toxic materials from its entire product line, making its devices more energy efficient and lots more.

However, the company isn’t the greenest of tech companies. It ranks fourth in Greenpeace’s “Guide to Greener Electronics,” with HP, Dell, and Nokia leading the way.

Someone fell down the rabbit hole, returning with a whopper of a rumor. The iPhone 4S – you know, the Apple handset that’s been flying off shelves and setting record pre-sales – is actually a dog. Seems Apple is having a hard time getting rid of these things and has told suppliers to back the truck up – like into next year.

The only problem with this rumor? It’s total bunk, says a prominent Apple analyst.

A couple of days ago, security researcher Charlie Miller discovered a doozy of a bug in iOS 5’s Nitro Javascript engine that allowed any app to remotely download and execute malicious, system-level code on an iPhone.

Apple was pissed. So pissed, in fact, they kicked Miller out of the App Store and Developer Program within hours of his exploit becoming known.

While most of the aspects of this bug may seem pretty dire for users of Apple devices, especially those who can’t even trust App Store apps anymore, it is great news for jailbreakers. In fact, Miller’s bug may lead to a proper, untethered iOS 5 jailbreak for all iDevices, including the iPad 2 and new iPhone 4S.

After years of promises and over a year of buggy, lame Android builds, Adobe’s finally ready to concede that Apple was right all along: Adobe is finally admitting that Flash is wholly unsuitable for phones and tablets and halting development, once and for all.

Disappointed that your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S has just one SIM card slot? If you’re one the few that answered ‘yes’ to that question, then check out the Vooma Peel PG920 — a case for your new iPhone that not only features a backup battery, but also a second SIM card slot.

Apple retail employees are reportedly holding an overnight tonight which will be used to construct express lanes that will make shopping easier during the busy holiday period. The lanes provide customers with quick and easy access to popular products and accessories, and are staffed by several Apple Specialists.

Siri is undoubtedly one of the biggest selling points for Apple’s new iPhone 4S, so it’s understandable every iOS user wants to see it on their older devices. But despite a report that claimed the Cupertino company is working on Siri for the iPhone 4, it has confirmed it currently has no plans to bring Siri to older devices.

I went down to the local Apple store this evening with my son Lyle. The store is usually packed, and paying for something isn’t always easy.

That’s what Apple has developed EasyPay, a new system for scanning and paying for goods yourself using your own iPhone. You just scan the barcode and hit “Pay.” It’s so easy, Apple staffers joke it should be called “EasyTheft.” But it’s a pretty radical new way to go shopping.

Here’s a short video of us buying some goods, showing how quick and easy it is to use:

I’ve seen a lot of weird videos on the internet over the years, but ‘iMac Believer’, a video tribute to Steve Jobs takes the cake. It’s probably the most bizarre video tribute I’ve ever seen.

Steve Jobs is the leading contender for Time‘s annual Person of the Year award, even though it’s not usually awarded to someone who is no longer alive.

“The smartphone has changed the world as much as the Bible has,” said celebrity chef Mario Batali, who was pro-Jobs at Time‘s annual POY panel debate in New York.

Apple has released an update for Java on Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 the updates are available now via Software Update on your Mac.

Check out all the exciting details about these updates after the break.

According to a new report by Chitika Insights, nearly 40% of iPhones are currently running iOS 5. Apple released its latest mobile operating system to the public on October 12th, and users are continuing to install the new OS at a rapid pace.

Nearly one month has now passed since the release, and iOS 5 can be found on 38% of iPhones, 30% of iPads, and only 12% of iPod touch devices.

The Criterion Collection consists of the “important classic and contemporary films” from around the world. 46 of its films from throughout the years have been made available in iTunes for film aficionados to download.

The films in the collection are considered to be titles that have made a significant impact on the world of cinema. Many titles have been remastered and released in the highest quality possible for iTunes distribution.

Microsoft allegedly aborted a deal with a Swedish mobile blogger because he uses an iPhone.

Toni Johansson, at the helm of site winMobile.se, said that responding to an email with the “sent from my iPhone” signature cost him a funding deal from Microsoft. As a result, he’s closing the site.

We recently told you about the hidden panorama mode in the iOS 5 Camera app that could be enabled by editing a .plist file. Since then, a jailbreak tweak called “Firebreak” has been released that automatically enables the feature on any jailbroken iOS 5 device.

Panorama mode in the iOS Camera actually works, and you can get it on your own device right now without jailbreaking.

Pilots use them. Maintenance crews use them. Now you can rent an iPad to boost your entertainment options in flight.

The much-touted iPad entertainment system has finally take off at Jetstar, a subsidiary of Australian airlines Qantas. They will keep the minds of passengers off priority boarding irks and missed upgrades on a Nov. 9 flight from Melbourne to Auckland and will be on board for all flights over two hours.

Has your Mac’s MagSafe adapter been worn down to the wires? Apparently, many people have experienced problems with MagSafe power adapters damaging where the cord and connector meet. So much so, in fact, that Apple had to redesign the MagSafe adapters to the L-shaped ones we know and love today just to try to resolve the problem, but to no avail.

No worries, though. Apple has launched an official Adapter Replacement Program for customers with damaged cables and broken hearts. There are now steps in place for getting your MagSafe adapter replaced and your money refunded.

The iPhone 4S’s mysterious battery drain issues under iOS 5 are notorious, and now Apple is seeding a beta version of iOS 5.0.1 to customers who have complained about battery life as part of its AppleSeed program.

In addition, Apple has also told its Genius Bar employees that any customers who come in reporting battery life issues should be told to wait patiently until iOS 5.0.1 is released in a “few weeks” if no hardware issues are found.

“A few weeks” sounds like an official iOS 5.0.1 release time table to me, but “suck it up and wait” is still pretty hard guidance to hear for the many people with new iPhones that bleed out their full charge every few hours.