Apple

Apple updates Safari, AirPort, and Multi-Touch

It was a busy Tuesday for Apple's software team. The company released updates for its Safari Web browser, its wireless AirPort client, and the Multi-Touch trackpad for users who have Windows installed on their Mac.

Safari 4.0.3 comes just six days after Apple released an upgrade for Safari 4.0.2 as part of its Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 update, indicating fixes were not implemented in the previous version or problems were caused by its release.

Among the changes in Safari 4.0.3 are several stability improvements, including enhancements for Web pages that … Read more

Apple's Schiller responds to angry developer

For the second time in less than a week, Apple executive Phil Schiller has responded via e-mail to criticism of the company's App Store.

The latest response from Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, came in an e-mail over the weekend to Steven Frank, co-founder of Mac developer Panic.

In a recent post to his personal blog, Frank had said that Apple's rejection of Google Voice was the last straw for him, reported TUAW, which stands for The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

"My position is not that every app should be approved -- it'… Read more

Report: Apple's smartphone market share rises

It was a good second quarter for Apple's iPhone as the company maintained third place in global sales among smartphone companies, according to a new report from market research firm Gartner.

In fact, Apple had the largest gains in the smartphone market, selling more than 5.4 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2009 compared to 892,000 in the second quarter of 2008, according to Gartner. First reported by AppleInsider, the increase in sales boosted Apple's market share for the category to 13.3 percent from 2.8 percent in the same period in 2008.

Gartner … Read more

iTunes 9 screenshots probably not the real deal

Juicy screenshots purporting to show new features in the next version of iTunes popped up online Tuesday morning and are generating a lot of excitement. But here's the thing: they're probably fake.

The three images, which show Facebook, Last.fm, and Twitter integrated directly into iTunes, came from a Chinese discussion forum, conveniently after several days of rumors bouncing around about everything from Blu-ray to Twitter making an appearance in iTunes 9 later this year. The images mainly show what it would look like if Last.fm's online music streaming and recommendation service were built into Apple'… Read more

Apple adds antiglare to 15-inch MacBook Pro

Apple on Tuesday added an antiglare upgrade option to its 15-inch MacBook Pro line of notebooks.

The option of an antiglare display has already been available on the 17-inch MacBook Pro. The 13-inch counterpart continues to offer only a glossy display.

First reported by AppleInsider and confirmed for CNET by Apple, the antiglare display is a $50 upgrade via Apple's online store.

The glossy versus antiglare debate has been ongoing since the glossy version was first introduced on notebooks. For some, it's a matter of aesthetics or eye strain. And then there are creative professionals who maintain that … Read more

USAA app lets iPhone users deposit checks

In the latest twist on electronic banking, customers of financial services firm USAA will now be able to deposit checks directly through their iPhones.

USAA on Tuesday updated its iPhone app to allow customers to deposit checks wirelessly. By taking a photo of both sides of the check using the iPhone's built-in camera, customers can send an image of a check directly to USAA where it can be verified and deposited.

The new USAA Deposit@Mobile feature expands on the bank's existing iPhone app, which debuted in May and has been downloaded almost 140,000 times, says USAA. … Read more

Apple working on software fix for MacBook Pro hard drives

Owners of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks with 7200rpm 500GB hard drives have been complaining for months of clicking sounds followed by temporary stalling. According to Apple, a fix is in the works.

"We are aware of the issue and are working on a software update," Apple representative Bill Evans, told CNET News on Monday. He gave no time frame for the release of the software update.

People have been reporting that they hear a beep from the computer shortly before the hard drive clicks and then the computer stops responding. The computer is unresponsive for 10 seconds or … Read more

Report: Apple, Google agreed not to poach each other's workers

Apple and Google are said to have had an unofficial agreement not to poach each other's employees--or at least they did while Google CEO Eric Schmidt served on Apple's board, according to TechCrunch.

Unnamed sources told TechCrunch that no formal, written agreement exists, and that employees of one company were welcome to apply for jobs at the other, but that the two companies said they would not actively pursue hiring away each other's workers.

It is unclear whether any such agreement would still be in effect now that Eric Schmidt has stepped down from Apple's board of directors. … Read more

Google Voice to be retooled as Web app for iPhone

Even though Apple prevented it from listing Google Voice on the iPhone App Store, Google is planning on retooling the application as a Web-based app, according to The New York Times.

In David Pogue's Friday column regarding the ongoing saga of Apple and Google Voice, he reveals that Google has already found a loophole:

Already, Google says it is readying a replacement for the Google Voice app that will offer exactly the same features as the rejected app--except that it will take the form of a specialized, iPhone-shaped Web page. For all intents and purposes, it will behave exactly … Read more