Apple- Page 637 - CNET News

What your iPod playlist says about you

Who do you share your iPod playlist with?

Your lover? Your lover's husband? Your colleagues at the office? The strangely smelling man who sits next to you on the bus?

Well, researchers at the University of Cambridge have a message for you. It reads: "Don't."

According to these flatland boffins, your values, your personality, even your ethnicity, and social class (well, it is England, after all) will be judged by what you slip onto your iPod.

Jason Rentfrow, the chap who dreamed up this vital and surprising study at the university's Department of Social and … Read more

Jobs' surgeon specializes in cancer recurrence

Apple CEO Steve Jobs' liver transplant earlier this year was the work of a surgeon who treats recurrences of the rare cancer Jobs had five years ago, according to a Bloomberg profile of the doctor.

In his first interview since performing Jobs' transplant in the spring, Dr. James Eason told Bloomberg this week that he has replaced the livers of about 10 people with a neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs was treated for that cancer in his pancreas back in 2004, but he hasn't said whether this year's liver transplant was related to a recurrence of the cancer.

Jobs returned to work in June … Read more

Apple sheds light on App Store approval process

It's been over a year since Apple inaugurated its App Store, but we finally have a sense of how the approval process works.

Apple has been reluctant to publicly discuss how developer-created applications get approved, but the federal government forced its hand by sending an official query regarding the rejection of Google Voice several weeks ago. On Friday, Apple answered a series of questions posed by the FCC regarding the App Store and its evaluation policies, and there were several interesting revelations.

First, Apple says Google Voice was not rejected, it just hasn't been approved, and that AT&… Read more

AT&T denies squelching Google Voice for iPhone

Updated at 3 p.m. PDT with additional information and background.

AT&T told federal regulators on Friday that it played no part in Apple's decision to keep the Google Voice application from the App Store, while Apple said it never actually rejected the application.

In response to inquiries from the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T's Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, told the agency, "Let me state unequivocally: AT&T had no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application for inclusion in … Read more

Report: Palm spurned Apple offer on hiring

Two years ago, Palm's then CEO, Ed Colligan, rejected a proposal from Apple chief Steve Jobs to promise not to hire each other's employees, according to Bloomberg News.

According to Thursday's Bloomberg story, which cited unspecified "communications" between the two executives, Colligan in August 2007 said that Jobs' proposal was ill-considered. Jobs was worried about losing key Apple employees to Palm and said "we must do whatever we can to stop this," reported Bloomberg.

"Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual'… Read more

Apple releases fix for MacBook Pro hard drive issues

Apple on Wednesday released a software update it said would fix a problem with its MacBook Pro line of portable computers that have the 7200rpm 500GB hard drive.

Users with the affected computers reported hearing beeps from the computer just before the hard drive would make clicking sounds and then freeze. The issue wouldn't require a restart or force quit-- simply waiting for 10 seconds or so would normally be enough for the computer to return to normal.

The hard drives in question shipped with the June 2009 MacBook Pro, according to Apple.

The software download from Apple's … Read more

EU's exploding-iPhone investigation heats up

Updated at 4:43 p.m. PDT with comment from Apple.

I'm on my third iPhone (having upgraded twice), and I've also owned an iPod Touch. I loved them all dearly, largely because they never exploded into flames, burning me and my family alive. Just saying.

But it seems that other people might not have been so lucky. Numerous reports say the European Commission is now looking into accounts of exploding iPhones and iPod Touches--and Apple is cooperating, according to The New York Times.

Apple said "these are isolated incidents," commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told reporters … Read more

September 9, 2009, could be a Beatles perfect storm

What is it with the Beatles and nines?

As my colleague Caroline McCarthy pointed out in March when the launch date (September 9, 2009) for The Beatles: Rock Band was announced, the band's song "Revolution 9" ends with the words, "number nine, number nine, number nine."

So clearly, the date 09/09/09 has at least some symbolic significance for the band. And now, in addition to that date being the launch of the Rock Band title, it was announced Tuesday that on that same day, the Beatles will release a CD box set of … Read more

iTunes reps 1 in every 4 songs sold in U.S.

Faced with heat from iTunes and other digital downloads, the nearly-three-decade-old music CD is slowly melting away.

iTunes-purchased songs now account for 25 percent of the overall music market--both physical and digital--in the U.S., says an NPD Group report released Tuesday. However, CDs are still the most popular format for music lovers, winning a 65 percent slice of the market for the first half of 2009.

Digital music downloads have jumped in recent years, said NPD, hitting 35 percent of the overall market for the first half of this year, compared with 30 percent last year and 20 percent … Read more

Report: Apple music event September 9

It looks like the annual Apple music event will be held on September 9 this year, according to AllThingsD.

Though it had been reported earlier that the event would take place sometime that week, a source now tells AllThingsD that the exact date will be September 9, and that it will focus on music, meaning no tablet announcement.

If the date is correct, holding an event on a Wednesday would be a departure from Apple's habit of holding these types of events on Tuesdays. The date also gives more credence to the rumor that it might be the day … Read more