The FitBit Flex is a $99 rubber band you wear around your wrist to track how many steps you’ve taken every day. It connects via Bluetooth to your iPhone, or through a dongle to your Mac. If you are utterly sedentary, it’s a fantastic gadget that may very well encourage you to make some slight adjustments to your lifestyle before your heart explodes in front of your computer desk one day. If you are already even lightly active, though, the FitBit Flex is a puzzle of a product that seems fetishistically focussed on how much you walk while utterly ignoring how much you bike, swim or even run.

Apple is expected to announce a new low-cost iPhone later this year in an effort to compete with rivals like Samsung in emerging markets. Reports have suggested that to keep costs low, the Cupertino company will give it a plastic form factor similar to that of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

And now that plastic shell appears to have been leaked for the first time.

Have you ever contemplated just how many displays Apple’s manufactured for the iPhone since 2007? And then, have you ever thought how cool it’d be to combine all those iPhone displays into one gigantic Monophone that’s docked in the middle of Manhattan?

Josh Orter over at Stupid Calculations was wondering what such an object would look like too, so he did all the calculations and discovered the Monophone screen would stretch 5,059 feet into the sky, and measure 2,846 feet across, for a total surface area of 23-acres. It would be enough screen space to watch Game of Thrones on all fours sides of fourteen World Trade Centers.

Here’s another picture of what the Monophone would look like in Manhattan:

We’ve already seen hacked carrier updates for iOS devices on AT&T and T-Mobile, and now there’s one for customers on Verizon, too. Like the others, this one promises to increase the 3G and 4G data speeds on your iPhone 5, iPad, and iPad mini — and it doesn’t require a jailbreak.

Apple is looking to diversify its presence in the Asian supply chain, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Instead of partnering with Foxconn to make the rumored budget iPhone, Apple has reportedly commissioned Pegatron, a rival factory, to build the device.

Foxconn has been making the majority of Apple’s products for years, but under the leadership of Tim Cook, the umbilical cord is being cut.

We’ve already brought you some of the most interesting topics that came up during Tim Cook’s interview at D11 last night, but if you’d like to watch the entire thing yourself, you can do so right now. AllThingsD has posted the entire thing — which runs for one hour and 20 minutes — online this morning, and you can watch it below.

The iPhone 5’s call speaker is pretty good, but there are times when it could be a little louder — like when you’re in a crowded place. As always, the jailbreak community has a solution to that problem. It’s called Volume Amplifier, and it’s a new tweak that promises to amplify your iPhone’s call speaker volume by 200%.

We’ve already heard one crazy rumor about the iPhone 5S today, and now we have another, even more ludicrous one, about the iPad. Apparently, Apple is planning to launch a bigger “iPad maxi” in early 2014 which will step up the tablet’s fight against ultrabooks and other small notebooks with a 12.9-inch display.

The iPhone 5 is the best mobile phone ever made, in my opinion. And the iOS platform has the best mobile apps.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t add up to the best phone experience anymore.

What Apple lacks is the best experience with using Internet-based services. And Apple will fall much further behind on June 26.

Here’s what Apple needs to change in order to offer the best overall mobile phone experience.

Apple might not make bumpers anymore, and Antennagate may be a thing of the past, but there are still some good bumpers out there… and top of the list is the AL13.