Apple May Shift iMac Production from Quanta to Pegatron
According to the latest rumors, Apple is going to change its main iMac supplier.
Cash payout to be paid to liquid damage suit members
Apple posted faulty moisture indicators for older iOS devices. They were interpreting wrongly that a device had been damaged by water. Therefore, many customers were denied a warranty claim based on the faulty indicators. So Apple agreed to pay $53 million to resolve the lawsuit concerning these indicators.
Currently eligible customers are being contacted through email concerning the class-action settlement and damages. The owners of older iPhone and iPod touch models are likely to receive a cash payment from Apple. Although the court is still to have the hearing concerning the topic of benefits payment.
UniMicron and Foxconn Dump Toxic Waste into Rivers?
Apple suppliers - UniMicron and Foxconn - are accused of dumping toxic waste into nearby rivers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Taking into account numerous accusations and suspicions of local environmental groups, Chinese government decided to begin the investigation of the incident.
Bob Mansfield will be developing new products for Apple
It was reported earlier this week that Apple executive Bob Mansfield has given up his management duties at Apple. He is rumored to have focused on 'special projects', concerning development of new products for Cupertino company. So his responsibilities will be taken over by other executives.
Dan Riccio will be responsible for Apple's antenna design team. Moreover, he will still lead the department of Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod engineering. Dan Riccio was promoted to lead Apple's hardware engineering teams when Bob Mansfield first retired last year.
Jeff Williams will acquire the job of managing Apple's special projects engineering teams. He is the Senior Vice President for Operations and has bee working with Tim Cook for years now. Though it is Mansfield who will focus on Apple's newest and most innovative designs. Thus he will not be distracted with management issues any longer.
Steve Jobs in a Breaking Bad Parody
MondoMedia has released another Steve Jobs video. This time it’s a Breaking Bad parody of the Apple founder and if you don’t like or don’t get black humor, you’d better not watch this short clip.
Here’s what the description on YouTube says:
A terminal cancer diagnosis sends Steve Jobs into beastmode, and into the lab with Jony Ive to cook up the most addictive substance known to man.
Well, the results of Steve’s madness you can see on a video below.
The story's written by two authors - Andy Ochiltree and Aaron Simpson. The latter one is also a director of the video, which is, by the way, is said to be available on iTunes a bit later this August.
Apple is searching for a head of Retail department
Apple stll has not found the head of Retail department, although the sales of Cupertino company are dropping for the first time in a 4-year period.
Apple's search for a replacement, handled by recruiters Egon Zehnder International, has gone slowly, people familiar with the matter said, and the company has yet to settle on a finalist after interviewing several external candidates. Among those interviewed but rejected as a poor fit were wireless and telecommunications-industry executives, one such person said. A CEO of a privately held retailer in France spurned Apple's overtures, believing it would be hard to change Apple's culture as an outsider, another person said.
Now Apple has tuned from searching inside the company to outside, as no current candidate is suitable for the post. After the firing of previous Retail sales John Browett, CEO Tim Cook is handling the retail responsibilities. It was Browett's idea to focus Apple's retail stores on sales and cost cutting rather than on customer service. As a result, the employees were upset as well as the customers, whose satisfaction is declining gradually. The idea seemed unreasonable and John Browett left the post after 6 months.
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ITC ban on Older iPhones, iPads was vetoed
According to WSJ, the Obama Administration has vetoed an ITC ban on the sale of older iPhones and iPads. The law would have prohibited selling of such models as AT&T iPhone 4 and iPad 2.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman made the decision to veto the ban on the Apple devices, citing concerns about patent holders gaining "undue leverage." He said Samsung could continue to pursue its patent rights through the courts. The action marked the first time since 1987 that a presidential administration had vetoed a product ban ordered by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Since now the problem has risen of allowing companies to use standard essential patents to block rival products.
Apple Revises iTunes Policy to Allow Educational Accounts for Children Under 13
You know that the company from Cupertino previously restricted iTunes accounts to children aged 13 or older. However, things have changed and Apple has revised its policy.
iPad 5 with Thinner Bezel and a Translucent Logo?
A video, showing something very similar to the iPad 5 with translucent logo and thinner bezel, has been posted on YouTube by a Japanese website Mac Otakara. There’re no internal details - only the front and back covers assembled together.
Front and Back Panels of iPhone Lite Leaked Online in a Video
There’s a new video posted by Mac Otakara that shows the front and back panels of the rumored lower cost iPhone 5C. This is by the way the first video ever where we can see the front panel of the would-be device.
Let’s get to the video. In the short clip the two leaked details are compared with the iPhone 5. Well, nothing unusual here. As to the back shell, it looks just the same as the panels leaked before, however, the legal notices that were spotted earlier this week are missing.
Anyway, the video also shows us the front panel. It seems that the lower cost iPhone would get the same bunch of sensors and a front facing camera - just like his “older brother” iPhone 5.
Well, that’s all I can say. Enjoy the video below!
Pebble Smartwatch App Got the Update
Pebble Smartwatch in an iOS application developed for... Pebble smartwatch. If you don’t know what’s this, I’ll try to explain. In short, this is a tiny smart gadget you wear on your wrist that is paired to your iPhone via Bluetooth. And here there’s an update for the app that controls this gadget.
FaceHalt Brings the Smart Pause Feature to iOS Devices
One of the most interesting Samsung Galaxy S4’s features is probably Smart Pause. This is the feature that automatically pauses video playback each time you look away. For quite a long period of time those who use iPhones had to put up with the fact that there’s nothing similar for the iOS platform. And then FaceHalt was released.
Steve Jobs Movie - New Details and a Trailer [Video]
We all know that the movie about Apple’s founder Steve Jobs will hit the theaters very soon - on August 16. If you somehow happened to miss the numerous announcements, trailers, posters and whatever else - you have now a chance to catch up the army of the Jobs fans.
Watching a 40-minute long Google+ web-interview under this post, you may listen to the starring actors - Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad - talking about the film and the characters they’ve played. Apart from that, there’s a new movie trailer one may find somewhere around the 8 minute mark.
Looks like this is all I wanted to tell you before you watch a video. Enjoy!
iPad 5's Rear Shell Photos Leaked Online
There’re some leaked photos on the Internet that show how would the new iPad 5 rear shell look like. Without wasting much time on talking about when would Apple release its new tablet, I’ll simply quote the
Our great sources have given us TWO unreleased iPad 5 rear housings, which shows some new exciting features. The iPad 5’s dimensions are surprisingly enough 24×16.8 cm and weighs only 100 gram, which is clearly both shorter and lighter than its predecessors.
Apple Acquires Another Small Outfit - Passif Semiconductor
According to AllThingsD, Apple has recently acquired Passif Semiconductor - a company that specializes in low-power communication chips manufacturing.