Apple

Apple has admitted it deliberately slowed down older iPhones, saying the move improved performance. It's ended years of speculation, but sparked a flurry of lawsuits. Every time a new iPhone comes out, a conspiracy theory emerges that older iPhones ... suddenly started getting slower. Critics claimed Apple was deliberately slowing down the models so that people would be more tempted to upgrade to the new model in the hope of regaining their former performance. Apple has always denied this and a study a couple of months ago found no clear pattern of processor performance and speed slowing down, ... (view more)

Apple stands accused of failing to enable a potentially life-saving iPhone technology. Advanced Mobile Location (AML), already used in Android handsets, lets emergency services staff know precisely where a caller is located. The accusation comes ... from the European Emergency Number Association (EENA), which coordinates the European equivalent of 911 call technology. It already works with Google on AML, which is credited with saving multiple lives. The idea of AML is that it doesn't require any special action on behalf of the user: there's no need to change settings or install dedicated ... (view more)

Apple is to introduce a safe driving mode to stop drivers being distracted by their phone. The mode aims to maximize safety without taking all usability away. The changes follow a lawsuit against Apple by the parents of a child killed in a car crash ... . The driver responsible for the crash had been using FaceTime video calling while driving at 65 miles per hour. The parents said Apple shared some responsibility, as it had developed technology to prevent FaceTime from working in a moving car, but chose not to use it. The new mode will debut with iOS 11, an update that will be distributed to the ... (view more)

Uber has denied it continued tracking users even after the app was removed from phones. Apple boss Tim Cook reportedly threatened to ban the app from iPhones if it used such practices. The New York Times made the claim in a lengthy profile of Uber ... boss Travis Kalanick, the man behind the company which brings passengers and drivers together via a smartphone app, without the need to hail a cab in the street or phone to book one. According to the report, Cook called Kalanick in for a meeting after discovering Uber had altered its code to hide the fact that it was "secretly identifying and ... (view more)

Apple experts warn that spammers are abusing the iPhone's calendar system. They say users should be wary of responding in any way to unexpected "event" invites. The problem appears to affect multiple Apple products, including Mac computers, iPhones ... and iPads. It takes advantage of the way Apple's system lets users create events and then invite friends and family by inputting their email address. The spammers, who appear to be based in China, are using large lists of email addresses to send invitations to non-existent events, usually listed as special offers on consumer goods ... (view more)

Apple is to make it easy for iPhone users to sign up as organ donors. The move is designed to recruit people who are OK with the idea of organ donation, but don't get round to filling out the necessary paperwork. The drive will involve the Health ... app in the forthcoming version 10 of the iPhone operating system. The app lets users gather together fitness and health information and already includes the option to store medical information such that it's accessible from the lock screen. That's meant to allow first responders to immediately get potentially vital information about a ... (view more)

Apple has reportedly ditched plans to launch an Internet-based alternative to cable TV. It is said to have failed to convince channel providers to back its plan for a cheap, basic subscription package. It's no secret that Apple has been working on ... such an offering for some time. The idea was to use gadgets such as the Apple TV box to offer a package that replaces the need for cable TV altogether, rather than simply supplementing it. Had the plan worked, it would have been the next stage of so-called " cord cutting ." That's the trend for people refer to as "cutting ... (view more)

An iPhone feature Apple said could help make Internet use faster has led to a proposed class-action lawsuit. The claimants say Apple's decision to switch "WiFi Assist" on by default left them with unexpected cellphone service bills. The idea of the ... feature, introduced with iOS9 (the latest edition of the iPhone operating system) was to solve the problems that come when an iPhone has problems connecting to a WiFi connection, especially if the signal is low. Because most phones are always set to prefer WiFi connections over cellular data when possible, this can lead to the ... (view more)

Apple has lost a federal appeal against a ruling that it conspired to keep e-book prices artificially high. The verdict means it will have to pay $450 million in penalties and compensation. It marks the ending of a case dating back to 2012 based ... around two different models of pricing for electronic books. Amazon, which dominated the market before Apple started selling ebooks, uses the same model as with print books: the publisher sets a wholesale price and then the retailer decides how much to charge customers. Apple instead pushed for the "agency model" in which the publisher ... (view more)

Apple is making its technology available to medical researchers to conduct mass studies. Participation is entirely voluntary, and the company insists user privacy will be protected. The technology is called ResearchKit, and it's a set of tools ... available to researchers to make use of data gathered by smartphones that could relate to health and medicine. As well as collecting data from Apple products such as the iPhone, ResearchKit will be able to use data from fitness gadgets from other firms such as Fitbit. Using ResearchKit, researchers will be able to develop iPhone apps, even if they don ... (view more)