Twitter’s Vine app now has a 17+ age rating, user reporting tool
After pornography was found on Vine, Twitter has quietly updated the app with an age-rating warning and a user/content reporting tool. Read more »
How we’ll know when Google Play really has caught up to the iOS App Store
Android is catching up to iOS in terms of apps for sale and developer attention. But the most influential mobile companies have yet to bypass iOS for Android. Read more »
A potential clue about Apple’s streaming music service surfaces
9to5Mac say they found unused “buy” icons in the iPad’s Music app that appear to be linked to streaming radio, a service Apple has been said to be working on. Read more »
Flurry courts mobile developers with free crash reporting tool
Crash reporting was the No. 1 most requested feature when Flurry polled its users at the end of 2012. Read more »
FTC to mobile app makers: More disclosure to consumers, please
The FTC recommends app makers disclose to users how their personal info is being used, and it wants ad networks and mobile platforms to work together on a mobile version of Do Not Track. Read more »
With 18M iPhones sold during Q4, Apple outsells Samsung in U.S.
photo: Samsung
While whole year sales are another story, during the fourth quarter of 2012 Apple sold more smartphones than any other seller in the U.S. market, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Read more »
HBO Go on Apple TV? It could arrive this year
Time Warner and Apple are negotiating over bringing the pay TV service HBO Go to Apple TV by mid-2013, according to a Bloomberg report. Read more »
Apple to stop Mac Pro shipments to EU ahead of promised 2013 update
Apple won’t immediately have a new model ready that meets new safety regulations. But CEO Tim Cook promised last year something “really great” is coming in 2013. Read more »
Even as the iPad grows, Apple loses ground
Apple is the world’s biggest tablet maker. But despite increasing shipments by 48 percent, it’s continuing to lose ground to Samsung, Asus and others. Read more »
Apple’s Siri coming to 2013 Honda Accord & 2 Acura models
After Chevy, Honda is the second car company to announce new car models coming with Siri this year. Read more »
Judge denies new trial, keeps Apple’s $1B verdict over Samsung intact
A set of rulings issued late Tuesday mean there won’t be a retrial of Apple v. Samsung, but neither will Apple be getting more money: Judge Lucy Koh found Samsung patent infringement was “not willful.” Read more »
A few tweaks later, 500px back in iOS App Store after pornography snafu
With better search filters, a user reporting tool, and a new 17+ rating, the popular photography app 500px is back on the iOS App Store a week after being booted by Apple. Read more »
So that 128GB iPad? It’s real, and it’s available from Apple on Feb. 5
Apple framed the move to release its biggest-ever capacity mobile device as a way to help professionals in a variety of industries replace their traditional computers with the iPad. Read more »
OpenTable gobbles up Foodspotting for $10M
Three years after its founding, SF-based food discovery app Foodspotting announced it is joining OpenTable. The deal is worth $10 million. Read more »
Apple makes it easier to find Passbook apps in iOS 6.1 update
Apple has restored a page within Passbook that explains what it does as well as the vital link that takes users to “Apps for Passbook” in the App Store. Read more »
Apple updates iOS 6 with new Siri, iTunes Match features and more LTE coverage
The iOS 6.1 update is available via iTunes or over the air update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. Read more »
Does Vine get a free pass from Apple due to Twitter partnership?
Apple already has a problem consistently enforcing App Store rules across an ecosystem of 800,000 apps. But it seems even more complicated when partners are involved. Read more »
After stock slide, Apple no longer world’s most valuable public company
photo: Shutterstock / emin kullyev
Exxon retakes the lead in market capitalization as Apple’s stock continues its precipitous drop since posting its best ever revenues ($54 billion) and profits ($13 billion) and all-time best iPhone and iPad sales. Read more »
Apple ends contract with Chinese supplier over underage workers
In its 2013 Supplier Responsibility Report, Apple names one company with more than 70 incidents of hiring workers younger than 16 to work on assembling circuit boards used in Apple products. Read more »
Too soon to tell if it’s the beginning of the end for the Mac
One of the questions coming out of Apple’s earnings is whether the Mac is soon going to be following in its PC brethren’s footsteps. But it’s a bit too early to say. Read more »
With 250M users, Apple plans to invest much more in iCloud and other services
Apple added more new iCloud users in the last quarter than it sold new iPhones. The company says it will continue to invest in its data centers that power its growing online services. Read more »
Tim Cook to Apple investors: Keep calm and stop listening to rumors
photo: http://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com
Record revenues and best-yet iPhone and iPad sales weren’t enough to keep already-skittish investors from continuing their freakout of Apple’s future fortunes. Apple CEO Tim Cook did his very best to assure them that he has a plan. Read more »
Apple posts biggest quarter yet: $54B in revenue, 47.8M iPhones sold
Wall Street was looking for between $52.01 billion and $59.55 billion in revenue, and earnings per share between $11.97 and $15.50. iPad sales also were at their highest ever, with more than 22 million sold. Read more »
Samsung zooms past Apple in semiconductor buying in 2012
Spending on chips actually shrank 3 percent in 2012, but was helped out by Samsung and Apple’s seemingly insatiable appetite for semiconductors. Read more »
Emails show Steve Jobs took hard ball approach to prevent employees from leaving
A recent ruling made emails between the heads of Silicon Valley tech firms public, and the content shows these CEOs were pretty brazen in their approach to keeping their employees from going to competitors. Read more »
Apple pulled 500px photography app over child porn complaints [Updated]
After early reports that Apple removed the popular photography app without much notice, Apple says it had to after receiving complaints of possible child pornography. 500px disputes the claim. Read more »
Despite evidence of strong Q4 iPhone sales, Apple investors nervous for earnings
All signs point to Apple reporting a great holiday quarter. But sinking investor confidence about Apple’s future will hang over the earnings call. Read more »
Apple said to target another developing market with new store, online sales in Indonesia
Apple’s vision for selling its devices in emerging markets in Asia is bigger than Greater China. Indonesia’s capital city is reportedly set to get the country’s first Apple retail store. Read more »
Why Apple needs to retake the core of the iPhone in 2013
Apple’s biggest competitors — Facebook, Google and Amazon — are getting really good at finding ways to systematically insert themselves between Apple and its customers. Read more »
iOS Newsstand offers early peek at new magazine issues
So far, the only publisher participating is Hearst. There’s no set standard for how early a look each Newsstand issue will offer, Hearst told AllThingsD. Read more »
US iPhone users can now make free calls through Facebook
The Messenger app will get a new button that will allow Facebook friends to call each other over a Wi-Fi or data connection. The update will roll out automatically starting Wednesday. Read more »
FaceTime over cellular coming for more AT&T customers
On Wednesday, the carrier said it would open the capability to iPhone or iPad users on tiered data plans. The update will be rolled out sometime over the next couple of weeks. Read more »
To make iPhones more affordable in China, Apple now offering payment plans
Apple is now offering payment plans, including some that are interest-free. It’s a part of a series of moves starting more than a year ago at Apple to make its products more palatable to customers in China. Read more »
Apple loses retail exec: is it close to hiring a new SVP?
Former VP of Retail Jerry McDougal was said to be a candidate for SVP. His departure may indicate he was passed over and that Tim Cook is getting closer to appointing a new head of retail operations. Read more »
Reports say Apple iPhone parts orders cut in half
While a 50 percent cut in demand does sound big, at least one Apple analyst is urging perspective with regard to Apple’s typical fiscal second quarter sales. Read more »
Meet the guys behind the iPhone’s best calendar app
The two men behind Fantastical are, in many ways, very different from each other: they work on opposite coasts and graduated college decades apart. But their laser focus and exacting standards are a good match when it comes to building great iOS and Mac software. Read more »
Apple disables Java 7 OS X plug-in after security threat found
photo: Flickr/spcbrass
Apple stopped developing Java for OS X in late 2010 and no longer includes it as pre-installed software on new Macs. But for those who manually installed the plug-in, Apple has blocked Java 7 for now. Read more »
Apple CEO says China will be its biggest market
photo: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Tim Cook told China’s state-run news agency that he sees the country becoming its largest market. He’s not just flattering his hosts: the greater China region represents about 15 percent of Apple’s total revenue, bringing in $23.8 billion during Apple’s fiscal 2012. Read more »
The PC had a really, really rough holiday quarter
For the PC, heavily impacted by the rise in popularity of tablets, it was the worst showing for a holiday quarter in more than five years. PC sales were down 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. Read more »
Resolved: “cheap” iPhones aren’t “the future” of Apple’s business
If Apple decides to make and sell an iPhone whose full, unsubsidized cost is less expensive than previous models, it’s going to sell it as a different iPhone that’s “more affordable for users,” not “the cheaper iPhone.” Read more »
