Apple pulls Mac OS X 10.7.3 “Delta” update following crashing issues

Earlier this week, Apple released the third maintenance update, OS X 10.7.3, for its Mac OS X Lion operating system. The update addresses several bugs that have been plaguing users since the launch of Lion last summer, and also adds support for new languages. The update, however, did not go as smoothly for some users, who have been reporting of "CUI" errors and applications crashing. 

In response to the massive user feedback, Apple has elected to remove the "Delta" updater to OS X 10.7.3 all together, leaving users only with the option of using the combined installer to update. The only difference between the delta and combined installers is that the combined installer includes all maintenance updates to Mac OS X Lion (10.7.1, 10.7.2, and 10.7.3), while the delta one includes only the latest version (10.7.3). In turn, the file size of the combined installer is significantly larger. 

If you're noticing issues with Lion 10.7.3, it's recommended that you try installing the combined update over your current system. This can be downloaded from Apple's Support Website here. 

iOS developer “reluctantly” admits to building Internet tethering easter egg into “iRandomizer Numbers” app

According to a report from InformationWeek, iOS developer and CEO of Shmoopi, LLC, Nick Kramer, has admitted to including a so-called "easter egg" in his iRandomizer Numbers app, which is currently available on the App Store, that allows users to take advantage of Internet tethering without paying extra through a carrier. 

Kramer says that he initially built the feature for his "family and close friends" and didn't think that the extra, unannounced "feature" would leak out to the general public. To use Internet tethering through the app, you have to enter the number "1984" in the minimum field and "31337" in the maximum field. Normally, the app is just a random number generator. 

Kramer goes on to explain that he published the app at a high price tag of $4.99 to discourage normal users from purchasing the app, because of the hidden Internet tethering feature included. 

Including an undocumented or hidden feature in an iOS app is against Apple's current App Store Review Guidelines for developers, which means iRandomizer Numbers is subject to removal by the company. It would join an ever-growing list of apps that attempt to sneak in Internet tethering into the App Store, the last being the app "Handy Light" back in 2010. 

Nick Kramer, CEO of Shmoopi, LLC, acknowledged in an email that his app supports tethering. "Reluctantly, I will admit that my application 'iRandomizer Numbers' does have a hidden tethering feature," he wrote. "I say reluctantly because I didn't plan on the feature being released. I designed the tethering functionality for my family and close friends not thinking it would be disseminated outside that circle."

If you're thinking about picking this app up, now is probably the time to do it.

Apple Genius Bar employee not following procedure resulted in customer receiving errant iMessages

The Loop has posted a statement from an Apple spokesperson regarding the reason of why one Apple customer began receiving iMessages on their iPhone that were meant for the Genius Bar employee that helped the customer diagnose an issue with the device. According to previous reports, the customer had an issue with the iPhone, brought it into an Apple Store for checkup, and shortly after began receiving messages that were intended for the employee that worked on the device. 

The Loop says that the employee followed incorrect and unofficial procedures by using the SIM card from their iPhone in the customer's iPhone, leading to confusion of phone numbers between the smartphones. It was initially believed that this was a bug with iMessage, Apple's iOS-to-iOS messaging service that debuted in iOS 5, but Apple has since stated that this is a "rare situation." 

“This was an extremely rare situation that occurred when a retail employee did not follow the correct service procedure and used their personal SIM to help a customer who did not have a working SIM,” Apple representative Natalie Harrison told The Loop. “This resulted in a temporary situation that has since been resolved by the employee.”

Apple denied preliminary ban request on Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus in Germany

According to Bloomberg, a German court has denied Apple's request of a preliminary ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.N and Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the country. Apple claimed that a patent it controls related to touchscreen technologies in tablets and smartphones is being infringed upon in Samsung's devices, but the Munich Regional Court thought otherwise. 

"Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection," Presiding Judge Andreas Mueller said when delivering the ruling.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N is a modified version of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 designed specifically for sale in Germany. The tablet went on sale late last year and sports a slightly modified bezel design and different speaker location. 

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.7.3 software update

Following months of developer testing, Apple today has released the Mac OS X 10.7.3 maintenance software update to customers. The update brings support for new languages and addresses a number of bugs in Apple's OS X Lion operating system. 

Full release notes for the update are below:

The 10.7.3 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that: 

• Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support 
• Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X 
• Resolve issues authenticating with directory services 
• Address compatibility issues with Windows file sharing

Alongside this release, Apple also released Security Update 2012-001 for OS X Snow Leopard users in order to address security concerns with the older OS. 

The iPhone 5 rumour mill revs up again

The past week has to mark a peak in the profits of Apple, both literally and metaphorically. Emerging as the number one smartphone vendor worldwide, thanks to the huge success in sales terms of the iPhone 4S, a release of sales figures in the fourth quarter of 2011 up to 37 million and record profits. It is definitely a good time to be Apple. Ultimately, such as the UK mobile market is with fierce competition, once a success is announced expectation looks to the next thing. And so the iPhone 5 rumours start again.

The iPhone 5  is really ramping up the curiosity factor and like all gossip stories about superstars the rumour mill is working hard despite Apple producing different prototypes so no one can predict which one will actually hit the market.

The latest suggestion is that the iPhone 5 will have a four inch screen. This would put it directly in competition with Android even further, as the big screen was the trend that began with the Samsung Galaxy S2 and only increased as the year went on until the HTC Titan and Edge. This feature has been suggested for a while, and was one of the main things expected with the iPhone launch back in October.

The iPhone 4S is nothing to be sniffed at in screen terms. At 3.5 inch (diagonally, 960 x 640 pixel resolution with 326ppi  it is one of the clearest screens with the sharpest image, graphic and text offer, beaten only in the last month with the Sony Xperia S. To be disappointed with this screen seems somewhat churlish. Yet to some extent this is what Apple needs to do. As the demand for larger screens continues they need to keep up with their competitors.

It is not simply a question of making the screen larger for the next model. If the iPhone 5 does have a four inch screen then iOS apps would need rewriting, the display would need to be improved, that 8MP camera that was so feted on the iPhone 4S would also need enhancing. That does not make it seem more unlikely. Analysts have long suspected Apple will opt for a redesign of their iconic iPhone when the next generation is unveiled. It follows the pattern of the iPhone to the iPhone 3G and 3Gs to the iPhone 4 which saw a much squarer design and modified interface that represented a big jump from its predecessor. Some have even suggested the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, left the design for the iPhone 5 before he left the firm. Whether this is the case remains to be seen. There have been suggestions Apple has moved away from its MacBook Air style and is working with LG for a revamped design. Even a more symmetrical shape has been hinted at but as Apple is so secretive those rumours will only be confirmed or denied once the device is actually in the hands of the first lucky few who can see it.

The production line has begun, if the reports are to be believed which suggests testing in late spring with a summer release earmarked. That would fit with the usual July or October announcements by Apple, suggesting the iPad 3 could be the autumn revelation.  

So how far should we believe the iPhone 5 rumours? Not at all, if past experience is anything to go by. Yet a lot rests on this device. No one expects Apple to mess it up but even with a late release on the iPhone 4S in 2011, and wild expectation followed by disappointment that that device was not the iPhone 5, Apple continued to set new records and break the ones they had already made. Some analysts are already asking whether Apple has peaked and if it is possible for it to do even better in 2012. If Apple’s sales figures illustrate one thing, it is that the Californian firm can never be written off.

Apple updates Final Cut Pro X with previously promised features

Apple today announced the release of an updated version of Final Cut Pro X, version 10.0.3, which brings a number of previously promised features to the widely criticized "professional" video editing software.

New features in this update include: "multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos; advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app; and enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem." In addition, the major software update includes a "beta of broadcast monitoring that supports Thunderbolt devices as well as PCIe cards."

Apple launched Final Cut Pro X back in June of 2011, but the software was quickly criticized for turning a previously "professional" video editing suite into something for "amateurs." The Cupertino-based company quickly responded by announcing new features would continue to be re-released in future updates, this being the third of those updates. 

The update is available for free via the Mac App Store. 

Apple names John Browett new Senior Vice President of Retail

Yesterday, Apple announced that John Browett has been named the company's new Senior Vice President of Retail and will be reporting to chief executive Tim Cook. Browett has been CEO of European technology retailer Dixons Retail since 2007 and will be joining Apple in April of this year. "He will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world."

Browett will be replacing Ron Johnson, Apple's former Senior VP of Retail, who left to be CEO of J.C. Penny late last year. 

Apple updates AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule firmware; releases AirPort Utility 6.0

Earlier today, Apple released AirPort Utility 6.0 for Mac OS X Lion customers, overhauling the user interface of the application that allows users to manage their AirPort / Time Capsule Base Stations. The app now appears to be nearly identical to the iOS AirPort Utility app, which was released last year. The app requires Mac OS X 10.7.2 to install. 

In addition, the Cupertino-based company also released a firmware update, version 7.6.1, for its AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule. The update addresses a bug with performance and adds support for iCloud accounts. It can be installed via the AirPort Utility on either a computer or iOS device. 

This update is for all 802.11n AirPort Express, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models. It fixes an issue with wireless performance and provides support for remote access to an AirPort disk or a Time Capsule hard drive with an iCloud account.

Judge rules that Apple, Google and others are still involved in antitrust lawsuit

According to a report from Bloomberg yesterday, U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh has ruled that Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Walt Disney, and Intuit are all still involved and responsible for an antitrust lawsuit dating back nearly five years. The lawsuit claims that these technology companies entered into agreements not to recruit each other's employees. "They still have an antitrust claim that’s going forward so I don’t want to see any obstruction on discovery," the Judge told lawyers. 

The case is a private lawsuit brought on behalf of employees that mirrors claims the companies settled with the U.S. Justice Department in 2010 following a probe. The companies agreed to refrain from placing “cold calls” to lure workers from competitors, the government said at the time.

Koh didn’t take issue with the allegations about the agreements between individual companies, Joseph Saveri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an interview after the hearing. Instead, Koh has questions about “how it ties together,” or claims of an over-arching conspiracy between all the companies, he said.

The next step in the lawsuit is for the defendants to produce documents that describe the supposed agreements. 

“Speaktoit Assistant” launches in iOS App Store as another Siri alternative

We've just been exclusively informed of the initial release of "Speaktoit Assistant" into the iOS App Store (link). The app functions similarly to Siri in the sense that, the user inputs a question (either by typing it out or speaking), and the assistant will give you a response. Speaktoit also allows you to customize the avatar that you see on the screen, giving the app a little personal feel to it. 

Speaktoit is powered by Nuance technology, just like Siri and Evi, the also relatively new competitor to Siri released earlier this week. 

Speaktoit Assistant is a virtual buddy for your iPhone or iPod that uses natural language technology to answer questions, find information, and connect you with various web services, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Evernote, and many others.

The Assistant works with your device to get maps, search for news and images, look up weather reports, convert currency and measurements, send email, and much more.

No need to memorize special commands or complex interfaces - simply speak or type in everyday language and the Assistant will understand and respond with what you need.

A major feature of the app is the ability to speak to it naturally, meaning users won't have to follow strict language guidelines to receive an intelligent response. 

The app is currently available on the App Store for $0.99. 

Motorola Mobility files lawsuit against Apple over patent infringement

According to Reuters, Motorola Mobility has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Florida federal court, claiming that Apple infringes upon some of its patents. The company, which was acquired by Google last year, believes that Apple is using six of its patents in the iPhone 4S and iCloud. The patents in question deal with wireless antennae, software, data filtering and messaging. 

This lawsuit is only the newest in what has been a long battle between Motorola Mobility and Apple over several different patents relating to smartphone technologies. 

[UPDATE] Apple reports first quarter of 2012 financial results – record-breaking $46.33 billion revenue

Apple just released preliminary financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2012,  which ended on December 31, 2011 and lasted 14 weeks. In the quarter, Apple reported a record-breaking $46.33 billion revenue and a record-breaking $13.06 billion net profit. Gross margin for the holiday quarter was at 44.7%, up from 38.5% in the year-ago quarter. 

Apple announced that it sold 37.04 million iPhones in quarter one, a 128% increase in unit growth year-over-year. The company sold 15.43 million iPads, a 111% increase in unit growth year-over-year. 5.2 million Macs were sold in the time period, while the iPod continued its graduated decline with 15.4 million units sold. 

According to the press release, Apple expects second fiscal quarter revenue to be around $32.5 billion. 

The company will be live streaming its financial results call beginning at 5:00 PM Eastern time later today. 

UPDATE: Apple's stock (trading under the symbol "AAPL") is up nearly 8% in after-hours trading at this time. The company's stock, however, was down on the day by 1.64%. 

‘Evi’ is a Siri-like artificial intelligence app for iOS devices

Last week, "Evi," a voice-powered artificial intelligence system that's awfully similar to Apple's Siri feature on the iPhone 4S, was released into the App Store (link). The app functions similar to Siri in the way that information is inputted and displayed to the user. The app is powered by Nuance speech technologies, just like Siri as well. 

Some of Evi's features are listed below:

• Voice or text input - Chat to Evi in plain English and she will understand
• Local information for UK and USA - Shopping, news, dining and more. Evi knows where you are and gives answers based on your location
• One tap words - Allowing you to build your question super-fast
• Built in browser - No need to swap to a different browser, view web links within Evi's app
• A learning and adapting intelligence - Rate Evi’s answers to help her learn more about the world
• More than a search engine - Evi takes the searching out of search, able to review and compare nearly a billion facts from her database to give you exactly what you need

Evi, however, is not integrated into stock iOS apps like Siri is. 

The app is available for $0.99 and works on any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad compatible with iOS 4.0 or better. 

Report claims that Apple spent $100 million on lawsuit against HTC

According to a report from columnist Dan Lyons, Apple spent about $100 million just in its first legal filing against Taiwan-based smartphone manufacturer HTC. Apple initially filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HTC in 2010, seeking a ban on the import of the company's phones into the United States. 

The report notes that the lawsuit initially began with ten patents in question, but it was eventually narrowed down to four. From those four, one patent was proved to be invalid and two others were not being infringed upon. The fourth and final patent was being infringed upon by HTC, as ruled by the International Trade Commission, but the technology in question was minor (a feature that allowed the user to click on a phone number and see a list of things to do). HTC could simply remove the feature from their phones, or figure out another way to integrate it. 

Was that worth a $100 million, Apple? 

iBooks hits 350,000 textbook downloads in first three days

Just three days ago Apple announced their plans to innovate the textbook with the iPad and iBooks and it has got off to a good start. 

All Things D reports on information from Global Equities Research that Apple's iBooks textbook downloads have surpassed 350,000 in first first three days. In addition, about 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author, Apple's textbook creation application for Mac, occurred during the same period. 

Just last week Apple announced iBooks and textbooks for iPad which offer much greater interaction than an old paper textbook in addition to cheaper prices and always up to date information. Apple also announced iTunes U applications for iOS devices to greater enhance learning for those with iPhones, iPads or iPod touches. 

“Absinthe” untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 released for Windows

Just about 24 hours after "Absinthe," the first untethered jailbreak for Apple's A5-powered devices, the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, was released for Mac OS X users, The Chronic Dev Team has released the same tool for Windows users. An untethered jailbreak means that users will not have to plug their device into a computer every time a reboot is needed. 

At this time, a Linux version is apparently still under development. The tool supports the iPhone 4S running either iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.0.1 and the iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. 

Absinthe is available for download for Windows here (direct .zip file). 

Samsung pokes fun at Apple (again) in upcoming Super Bowl ad

There's two reasons why we watch the Super Bowl every year. The first is obviously the game itself and the second are the advertisements that companies run in between the game. They're what everyone talks about for the next week, maybe even more than the game. 

Samsung will be running an ad during this year's Super Bowl (February 5, 2012) that pokes fun at Apple once again. The ad shows Apple fanboys lining up at one of the company's retail stores, waiting for a new iPhone to be released. Then, one person in line points to a video posted online of an unboxing and another person responds by saying, "That looks like last year's phone." In comes someone holding a Samsung Galaxy S II with turn-by-turn navigation. 

The video below is apparently a teaser of the ad, so we'll all have to tune in to see it in full. 

First iPhone 4S and iPad 2 untethered jailbreak released

Today, a new jailbreak dubbed "Absinthe" was released by notorious iOS hacker pod2g and The Chronic Dev Team. The jailbreak is a form of the popular Greenpois0n tool and adds support for jailbreaking the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 untethered. An untethered jailbreak means that users will not have to plug their device into a computer every time a reboot is needed. 

Absinthe is currently available only for Mac OS X computers, but Windows and Linux versions are said to be coming soon. The tool supports the iPhone 4S running either iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.0.1 and the iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. 

The website to download Absinthe is currently down (likely due to high traffic) and if you're looking for a download, try again later. 

Apple releases iTunes 10.5.3

Earlier today, Apple released the iTunes 10.5.3 software update to both Windows and Mac OS X users, adding support for syncing iBooks textbooks to an iPad from a computer. 

The full release notes for the update is below:

What’s new in iTunes 10.5.3

iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad. These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.

iBooks textbooks are created with iBooks Author — now available as a free download on the Mac App Store

For information on the security content of this update, please visit:support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

At an event in New York City earlier today, Apple unveiled iBooks 2 and iBooks textbooks, which are more interactive and intuitive books for students in college. The company also released a new iTunes U app for iOS devices.