apple

After weeks of rumors regarding an impending iPod announcement, the day has come. Late Tuesday, Apple sent out invitations to a media event on Wednesday, September 5 in San Francisco called "The Beat Goes On." Although the company did not explicitly ... reveal the event's focus, the silhouette of a dancing iPod user left a big hint. "The Beat Goes On" was the final phrase used in The Beatles' last news release in 1970. Rumors have been swirling that Apple will soon reveal the availability of the entire Beatles catalog at the iTunes store. In a report released Wednesday, analyst Gene Munster said ... (view more)

Can't afford one of those flashy new iPhones in the window? Try a refurbished version of the device, now being offered by Apple Inc. itself for $100 less than retail. The service has been available since last Monday, when Apple began displaying the ... popular iPhone (4GB edition) for just $399. Those customers interested in a bit more space can also save $100, with the 8GB version knocked down to $499. It's not a new business practice for Apple, which typically sells its wares second-hand for discounted prices. Most, such as the iPod, Apple TV, and its computer hardware come with a one-year ... (view more)

Sony is jumping on the 'save the earth' bandwagon with its "Take Back Recycling Program". Starting September 15, 2007, Sony will recycle its customers' Sony-brand electronic products free of charge. Sony's new recycling program is coming at a good ... time. Lately, electronic waste has been growing; in 2005, between 1.9 million and 2.2 million tons of electronics products were discarded in the U.S., and as little as 345,000 tons was recycled. With the increase in the number of electronic gadgets being produced and the decrease in prices, once a new product comes along the old one ... (view more)

Love your iPod, iPhone, or iMac? If you're an owner of any of these popular devices, there's a good chance you've been impressed with Apple's products in the past. For the last few years, it has experienced almost unrivaled satisfaction from ... consumers. Unfortunately, that seems to have changed. According to the University of Michigan's annual rankings (cited through the American Customer Satisfaction Index, or ACSI), Apple dropped some five percentage points in its overall customer satisfaction ranking. That's a plummet from an impressive 84 to a still-stellar 79. Also dropping in the ... (view more)

Apple has just released iWork 2008. New additions, such as a spreadsheet called "Numbers", are impressive but the real excitement is over iWork's ability to handle the Open XML file format. This particular format is native to Microsoft's Office 2007 ... application suite. Until now, no application has been more important for the long-term survival of Mac than Microsoft Office. However, Apple's new iWork may change this fact. Why is Microsoft no longer the only drug that can keep Mac healthy? Quick answer: the Redmond-based company contracted its own illness; Microsoft faced problems in ... (view more)

Although we've all been entranced with the beauty and sheer media power of the Apple iPhone, it's hard to imagine all that innovation could have come from just one tech company. Well, it might just be too good to be true, according to a recent suit ... alleging that the phone's maker lifted its whimsical keyboard design. SP Technologies argues that it has held the patent rights to the iPhone's keyboard since the year 2000. The popular touch-screen feature, which has been responsible for much of the materialistic fanfare behind the device, was apparently developed seven years ago. That's clear in ... (view more)

Okay, so Apple isn't always on the cutting edge. Sometimes they go back to the fundamentals for financial inspiration, even if basic economics suggest otherwise. That appears to be the case with CEO Steve Jobs' recent unveiling of Apple's redesigned ... iMac, the desktop computer and device many credit for the company's comeback. Released long before the iPod or iPhone, many tech consumers will remember the late '90s iMac's simple design graced by bright colors uncharacteristic of the market or even industry. Today's new iMac boasts a much slimmer design than those rollie-pollie old iMacs of the ... (view more)

The success of Apple can be seen in the figures reporting 450,000 iPhones sold within its first two days of sales. For one consumer though, Apple has left out a major drawback of the iPhone: the limited battery life. Jose Trujillo is suing Apple, ... claiming that the company neglected to inform users of the limited life of the iPhone battery or that replacement batteries cost $86 each. (Source: iht.com ) Trujillo has filed his case in Illinois state court, accusing Apple of consumer fraud. Trujillo also hopes for class-action status in addition to subsequent monetary damages. Larry Drury, ... (view more)

Anyone who has heard one of Eminem's songs knows that making nice isn't his top priority. Now that Eminem has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Apple for selling his music on iTunes, it appears that the technology giant is no exception. ... On Monday, Eminem's producer Eight Mile Style and his copyright manager Martin Affiliated filed a suit which claims that Universal Music Group was never authorized to permit the rapper's songs to be downloaded from iTunes. Allegedly, Apple is not complying with the lawsuit's requests. "Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist ... (view more)

iPhone users have flooded the Apple support site, as well as numerous other sites, complaining about problematic iPhone screens. Consumers are angry that the screens labelled as LCD panel ID "7" display a faint grid of dots and are dimmer than those ... with a panel ID of 5. (Source: realtechnews.com ) Entering *3001#12345#* (including the asterisks) on an iPhone and hitting the Call button puts the phone into Field Test Mode. From this mode, users can view information about the iPhone's hardware, such as the firmware versions and the LCD panel ID number. The panel IDs that start with a 7 are ... (view more)