Apple

Apple on Tuesday announced the release of a public beta Safari 4 for Windows and Mac, promising a much faster browser with improved navigation and searching.

The company said the newest edition of Apple's browser for both Mac OS X and Windows will run JavaScript commands 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, and also claims to deliver better JavaScript and HTML page loading than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla's FireFox 3. Apple also added the Cover Flow interface now found in almost every piece of its software to let users scroll backwards through browsing history … Read more

An application that did nothing beyond showing a person was willing to spend gobs of money for it didn't last long on Apple's App Store, but now we'll begin to see if Google lives up to its more laissez-faire approach to its rival Android Market.

Apple banned Armin Heinrich's "I Am Rich", which cost $1,000 and only showed a red ruby, from its App Store last August. Now the conceptually similar "I Am Richer" has arrived on the Android Market from Mike DG.

Perhaps owners of T-Mobile's G1 phone are … Read more

A new set of leaked screenshots of Apple's upcoming Mac OS X release, Snow Leopard, appears to confirm that the most sweeping changes to the operating system won't be visible.

World of Apple has screenshots up on its site, along with a video, of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A261, the latest version released for testing. When Apple announced plans for Snow Leopard in June, it said that Mac OS X 10.6 would focus more on improving the performance and stability of the operating system, rather than adding features.

And that seems to be the case, … Read more

Correction 11:56 a.m. PST: We messed up. The 9 to 5 Mac blog we cited below is in fact from September 2008, so it turns out this is an old rumor. Because it showed up in our RSS feed Saturday, we, like a number of other publications, took it as a recent post and went from there. Apologies for the confusion.

There have been rumors buzzing around the Internet for some time Apple is secretly preparing a CDMA version of the iPhone, probably headed to Verizon Wireless, and probably by the end of this year. It's no … Read more

Apple has confirmed that CEO Steve Jobs will miss Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting for the first time since he returned in 1997 to the company he co-founded, Bloomberg has reported.

Jobs is currently on a medical leave of absence until the end of June to deal with unspecified health issues that have caused him to lose a significant amount of weight over the last year, so his absence is not a total surprise.

Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is running the show in Jobs' absence and will likely serve as master of ceremonies for the meeting Wednesday morning at … Read more

Either Apple's about to launch a Mac Mini, or somebody is really determined to get into the Apple Rumor/Hoax Hall of Fame.

A day after a photo surfaced supposedly showing Apple's design for a next-generation Mac Mini--which was then debunked through some crazy spectral analysis or something--a video has surfaced in the forums of MacRumors claiming to depict a new Mac Mini. The computer shown in the video has the same five USB ports and MiniDisplay port that graced the Mac Mini shown in the photo.

An immediate discussion regarding the video's authenticity flared … Read more

iPhone users have very short attention spans.

Just 30 percent of people who buy an iPhone application actually use it the day after it was purchased, according to Pinch Media, which analyzed over 30 million downloads from Apple's App Store. And the numbers plunge from there: after 20 days, less than 5 percent of those who downloaded an application are actively using it. The drop-off is worse for free applications.

Those are amazing numbers. It's not a new pattern--GigaOm and TechCrunch noticed this last August--but back then, with the App Store just a month old, it was … Read more

If you're looking to jump into the iPhone world, now might be a good time. AT&T is again offering refurbished iPhones on its Web site, but this time with even better deals.

The 8GB iPhone 3G can be purchased for just $99, and both 16GB iPhone 3Gs (black and white) can be had for just $199, the regular price of the 8GB phone. Nice upgrade.

These prices are, of course, coupled with two-year contracts, so they're not for everyone. But if you were going to make the switch to AT&T anyway, this might be … Read more

It's been clear for a while that Apple seems to have settled into midyear iPhone refresh cycles as it closes in on the two-year anniversary of its debut, but more signs are pointing to a summer launch.

Think Equity Partners put out a report this week, spotted by AppleInsider, that says Apple has essentially cleaned out Samsung's supply of flash memory in recent weeks. Apple has also asked Toshiba and Hynix to step up with more flash memory, according to Think Equity, as it prepares for an iPhone launch.

Apple has a contract in place with the three … Read more