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Airline Industry Remains Divided Over Personal Electronics Usage During Takeoff and Landing

Earlier this year, we noted that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was continuing to look at the use of personal electronic devices during the taxi, takeoff, and landing phases of commercial flights, hoping to take action by the end of the year to loosen restrictions currently requiring that all devices be powered down during these times.

Bloomberg now provides another update on the situation, noting that the airline industry remains divided over whether restrictions should be relaxed as reports of possible interference between these devices and aircraft electronics continue to surface. The report leads with a brief anecdote involving an iPhone:
The regional airliner was climbing past 9,000 feet when its compasses went haywire, leading pilots several miles off course until a flight attendant persuaded a passenger in row 9 to switch off an Apple Inc. iPhone.

“The timing of the cellphone being turned off coincided with the moment where our heading problem was solved,” the unidentified co-pilot told NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System about the 2011 incident. The plane landed safely.
Despite the fact that correlation does not necessarily imply causation, some pilots and airlines remain concerned over the potential impact of these electronic devices on their aircraft. The International Air Transport Association collected a list of 75 suspected cases of interference between 2003 and 2009 and airlines are continuing to see occasional reports, although some remain in favor of relaxing the regulations.
Even Delta Air Lines Inc., which argued for relaxed rules,

Apple Blames Book Publishers in E-Books Antitrust Lawsuit

Reuters is reporting that Apple has responded to the Justice Department's accusations that the company colluded with publishers to increase e-book pricing, saying that it negotiated with the publishers separately and reached different agreements with each.
But Apple said the publishers had decided, independent of Apple, to eliminate discounts on wholesale book prices of e-books, to sell lucrative hardcover books first to bookstores in a practice called windowing and to take other measures to push Amazon to raise prices.
In a court filing dated April 26 but released on Tuesday, Apple said it had approached publishers to create an online bookstore that would eventually become the iBookstore and had demanded a 30 percent commission, that publishers would not undercut prices paid to Apple, and that "windowing" be scrapped.

Apple said that points of contention in early negotiations centered around Apple's demand for a 30 percent commission and price caps. Apple went on to note that each publisher immediately offered its own counterproposals in what Apple described as "tough negotiations."

The company also claims that before it entered the market the publishers were engaged in a battle to break Amazon's grip on the low-cost e-book market, with Apple laying the blame for any potential collusion on the publishers.

The lawsuit was originally filed in April 2012 and included HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan and Penguin, but the Justice Deparment settled with the publishers and has since concentrated on Apple. Recently, CEO Tim Cook was ordered

Google to Unveil Streaming Music Service at Google I/O Tomorrow

Google is set to announce a new music subscription service tomorrow at its annual Google I/O conference, reports The Verge, having finalized deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment., and Warner Music Group.

The service is said to be a direct Spotify competitor, offering up songs on demand that can be streamed to a computer or mobile device for a set monthly fee.

Though Google has had an existing music service since 2011, it operates in a manner that is similar to iTunes, allowing users to purchase individual songs and albums. It also has a "locker" that lets users store digital entertainment collections.

Pricing information on the new service has yet to be released, but The New York Times claims that Google will not offer a freemium ad-supported tier.
Google's streaming service will not include a free tier, according to the people briefed on the plans who did not want to be identified discussing confidential matters. The subscription rate was not known, but is expected to be similar to that of Spotify and other competing services, like Rhapsody and Rdio, which tend to charge about $10 a month.
While Google's streaming music service will be released ahead of Apple's rumored iRadio service, the two are fundamentally different. With a Spotify model Google will be able to offer songs piecemeal, while Apple's iRadio is said to closely resemble Pandora, which plays a selection of random songs based on user preference. As of last week, Apple was still in negotiations with music labels.

Google's subscription music service will be connected to Play,

Tim Cook Coffee Auction Ends with $610,000 Bid

The CharityBuzz auction for coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook has just ended, with a final bid driving the price up to $610,000. Previously, the auction had stagnated at $605,000, where it remained until 30 minutes before the bidding closed.

The $610,000 bid was placed by a newcomer to the auction who had not previously bid before, known only as "a********s." While CharityBuzz will not release the name of the high bidder, it is possible that the winner will come forward to take advantage of the publicity surrounding the auction.

Currently, the money that the Tim Cook auction has brought in is more than twice as much as the total of the current high bids on the other 118 auctions that are supporting the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Because the bidding totals ran so high with bidders clamoring for a moment in the spotlight, CharityBuzz was forced to implement bank qualification terms before additional bids could be placed, which slowed bidding considerably.

Under the terms of the auction, the high bidder is entitled to a 30–60 minute meeting with Cook at Apple headquarters on a mutually agreed upon

Media Streaming Challenges App Store Downloads for Leading Share of iTunes Store Traffic

Networking company Sandvine has released a new report that breaks down North American iTunes traffic on fixed networks, examining how iTunes customers are using the service. Surprisingly, the largest portion of iTunes traffic is not generated from streaming, but from the App Store.

Direct App Store downloads account for 38.1% of total iTunes traffic, while 36.15% of traffic comes from iTunes streaming, which includes movie and song previews, along with iTunes Match.

With iTunes Match, customers can stream music and video purchases to both mobile devices and Apple TVs. Apple's streaming traffic may increase in the coming months with the introduction of iRadio, the company's rumored streaming radio service.

Media downloads, which are non application purchases such as music, movies, and books make up the third largest portion of iTunes traffic at 20.47% and the final 5.33% of traffic is generated from iTunes Browsing as users visit various App Store and iTunes pages.

As Tim Cook noted in Apple's Q2 financial results call, iTunes has been experiencing phenomenal growth with record quarterly billings of $4 billion. Apple's App Store is nearing 50 billion downloads and has paid out more than $9 billion to developers.

Sandvine's report also points out that Apple manufactured devices generate 35% of all streaming audio and video on fixed access networks, with the iPad generating the most traffic at 10%.

To generate its report, Sandvine examined a cross-section of customer data, gathered over a one-month period and compiled a 24-hour profile of each network

Siri Updated to Respond to Long Questions With Quotes on Brevity

Apple has quietly given Siri the ability to answer user responses with quotes, citing famous passages from notable people like William Strunk and Thomas Jefferson. First noticed by iLounge, the quotes are used when Siri is asked a question that is excessively long, tactfully reminding the user of the value of brevity.

When Siri is given a request that is too lengthy, she will now respond with one of several different quotes that suggest that the user shorten the question. For example, one quote from Thomas Jefferson reads, "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

Siri has a range of different quotes in her repertoire, including one from the 1970's television show MASH.

It is unknown when the change to Siri was implemented, but a Reddit thread from last week appears to contain the first known instance of the phrasing, suggesting that Siri's new quoting ability was added within the last week or

BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS This Summer

BlackBerry has announced that it will bring its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) platform to iOS this summer. BBM was one of the first proprietary mobile messaging services -- not unlike Apple's iMessage service -- and remains hugely popular.

The company reports that BBM has 60 million monthly active users and that BBM users send 10 billion messages per day. In January, Apple claimed iMessage users were sending 2 billion messages per day.

Moreover, there are a number of popular so-called 'over-the-top' messaging services including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger -- both of which move billions of messages a day.
BBM set the standard for mobile instant messaging with fast and reliable service and an added layer of engagement with delivered and read statuses. You’ve shared with us your stories about how BBM has kept you connected when it mattered most to you. Upon release of the multi-platform BBM service, you can broaden that real-time connection to friends and colleagues on other supported mobile platforms.

In the first version of multi-platform BBM, iOS and Android users are expected to be able to experience the following BBM features:

- The immediacy of BBM chats
- Multi-person chats
- Voice note sharing
- BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

The team here at BlackBerry has definitely been working hard to bring the much-adored BBM experience to a wider group of mobile users.
It was rumored back in 2011 that BlackBerry was planning to port BBM to iOS.

BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and

Philips 'Hue' Receives Major Update With Geofencing, Visual Alerts, and More

Late last year, Philips launched its "Hue" lighting system, offering sets of wireless-enabled LED lightbulbs that allow users to remotely control their lighting, including adjusting to a rainbow of colors, from an iOS app. Hue has been exclusively sold through Apple's online and retail stores, and Philips has been working hard to both bring more features to the system and to open it up to developers to build even more functionality.

Philips today announced the "next phase" of Hue with a major update bringing a number of new features. Perhaps most interesting is integration with If This Then That (IFTTT) protocols to allow Hue to provide visual alerts for a wide variety of situations.
The next generation of the Hue app (version 1.1) can now hook up to your essential internet services via your smartphone or tablet, meaning your bulbs can act as indicators for weather, stock quotes, sports scores, email, social media and more. They can be set to behave in any way you choose. For example, to change color if it’s going to rain; to blink if you receive an urgent email, Facebook message from someone special; illuminate gradually as the sun sets; or even flash in your sports team’s colors when they score.
The new Version 1.1 of Hue also adds geofencing, automatically turning lights on as the user approaches their home and turning them off as they leave, as well as other customizable options. The update also brings recurring schedules, allowing users to simply set a schedule once and have it repeat each day.


Philips is also announcing an expansion in availability for its

Sketchy Rumor Claims Sapphire-Covered Capacitive Home Button for iPhone 5S

Cult of Mac points to a report [Google translation] from Taiwanese site TechNews claiming that Apple will be including a sapphire-covered capacitive home button on the iPhone 5S in order to accommodate the fingerprint sensor rumored to be coming as a differentiating feature for the device.
Apple is expected to do away with the traditional physical home button, which has long been one of the most unreliable components on iOS devices. It’s thought that using sapphire crystal, which has a hardness second only to diamond, will prevent the button from getting scratched and ruining the fingerprint sensor. [...]

They insist Apple will employ a capacitive touch home button for the first time with the iPhone 5S, eliminating one of the most unreliable components in an iOS device (the physical home button has a tendency to fail after long periods of use).
TechNews has not, however, been a regular source of Apple rumors, and thus it is difficult to place much faith in this rumor. Rumors of a capacitive home button to replace the physical button that has been a staple of iOS devices since the launch of the original iPhone in 2007 have circulated for several years, but have never gained serious traction.

Reports of a fingerprint sensor for the iPhone 5S have been gaining steam following Apple's acquisition of mobile security firm AuthenTec last year, with high-profile Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo repeatedly predicting that the device will include such a feature "under" the home button, although details on exactly how it will be incorporated into the device remain unknown.

Apple Seeks to Add Samsung Galaxy S4 to U.S. Patent Lawsuit

Just weeks after the launch of Samsung's latest Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone, FOSS Patents reports that Apple is seeking to add the device to a patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung in the United States.

Judge Lucy Koh has already ordered Apple and Samsung to narrow their case, which is expected to go to trial in March 2014. Each side will ultimately be required to limit their cases to ten targeted devices, although the current stage is seeing the companies pare their lists to 22 devices each.
The filings reveal a major new disagreement: Apple has analyzed the Galaxy S4, Samsung's new top-selling product, and "has concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product". Apple's current list of 22 accused products does not include the S4, but a footnote contains the statement from which I just quoted. Apple says it will drop another product from its list of 22 accused products once it has permission to add the S4 to this litigation.
The two sides are also continuing to disagree over what constitutes a single product, with Samsung arguing that each carrier version of its devices should count as a separate product, seeking to shift the balance by taking advantage of its significantly larger number of devices compared to Apple's lineup.

Apple's list of 22 products currently covers a number of Samsung's smartphone and tablet devices, while Samsung's own list includes virtually every device and service offered by Apple, including all iPad and Mac models, all iPhone models dating back to the

Apple Continues Building iWork Team, Adds New Job Listings

Apple has been beefing up its iWork team since early February, and has posted several new job listings in recent weeks.

The latest job posting, which was added this morning, seeks a software QA engineer. As noted by Apple Bitch (via AppleInsider) the position specifies that the engineer will work on "the next generation of Desktop, Mobile, and Web application/services."

Apple is currently hiring a number of employees for its iWork team, including three QA software engineers, a Production Specialist, a Technical Production Ninja, a Verification Engineer, a Visual Motion Designer, and a HiDPI Image Specialist to focus on Retina displays.

Apple's iWork suite includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, for both iOS and Mac. The software is overdue for an update as it was originally released in 2009 and has seen only minor improvements since that time.

While early iWork job hirings focused on senior software engineers, the newer listings for quality assurance software engineers suggest that the company might be inching closer to releasing a new version of

Tim Cook Coffee Auction Closes Tomorrow, Current High Bid at $605,000

With one day to go before bidding closes, the CharityBuzz auction for coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook is at $605,000. Bidding has slowed considerably since the first couple of days, with only one bid -- the current winning mark of $605,000 -- since April 26th.

The current high bid for coffee with Tim Cook is worth twice as much as the total of the current high bids on all 118 other auctions supporting the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights in the current campaign on CharityBuzz. The site running the auction was also forced to implement financial verification checks for bids on the Tim Cook listing after a bid was placed using a stolen credit card.

The auction's bidding quickly rose to $500,000 in the first two days with a number of bidders affiliated with third-party accessory makers looking for publicity or simply a business meeting with the Apple CEO.

Bidding closes tomorrow, May 14, at 1:08 PM Pacific

AT&T to Discontinue 'Facebook Phone' HTC First?

AT&T is planning to discontinue the HTC First, better known as the "Facebook Phone," reports BGR. Released on April 12, the HTC First was touted as the first device to come with Facebook Home preinstalled, a feature that has not enticed buyers to purchase the phone.
Our source at AT&T has confirmed that the HTC First, which is the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home pre-installed, will soon be discontinued and unsold inventory will be returned to HTC. How much unsold inventory is there? We don't have an exact figure, but things aren't looking good. According to our source, AT&T sold fewer than 15,000 units nationwide through last week when the phone's price was slashed to $0.99.
When contacted, an AT&T spokesperson gave MacRumors the following statement in regards to BGR's report: "As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans."

The Facebook Home software, which can be installed on a number of Android devices, has also proven to be unpopular with Android users. The app has a two star rating in the Google Play store and has seen just a million downloads since it was released last month.

Facebook is hoping to drive additional downloads with an upcoming software update, which was demoed last week at a small press event. The upgrades are intended to make Facebook Home less intrusive, reports the LA Times, namely by making apps easier to find with a quick access dock at the bottom of the home screen.
The upgrades were designed to address the chief complaint from users: that Facebook takes over the phone at

New York Attorney General Presses Apple and Google on Smartphone Thefts

With New York City seeing significant increases in the theft of Apple products in recent years -- up 40 percent in 2012 from the prior year -- New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has written to a number of smartphone manufacturers to ask what the companies are doing to combat the thefts of their devices, reports Bloomberg.

San Francisco district attorney Georce Gascón has previously pressed Apple about the possibility of a 'kill switch' in iOS devices to disable them if stolen, but said he was 'underwhelmed' by Apple's response.

A national stolen phone database that was rolled out recently has reportedly had little effect on smartphone thefts.
In his letter to the companies, Schneiderman cited the April 2012 murder of a 26-year-old chef at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan who was killed for his iPhone on his way home, and a February incident this year in which three people were stabbed on a subway platform in the Queens section of New York in a fight over an iPhone.

Schneiderman said he would be “especially concerned” if the companies, which may have failed to live up to representations to consumers about safety and security, have benefited from increased sales of replacement devices.
While Apple and other smartphone makers would receive some minor monetary benefit from victims purchasing replacement phones, the revenue would be a drop in the bucket compared to the overall smartphone market.

Additionally, the goodwill generated by disabling stolen phones would more than outweigh any fiscal impact. Apple does offer a free service called 'Find My iPhone' that

T-Mobile Raises iPhone Price by $50, Down Payment on iPhone 5 Starts at $150

When 4th-place U.S. cell carrier T-Mobile launched the iPhone last month, customers could purchase it for a $100 down payment with 24 monthly payments of $20 to cover the full cost of the phone.

Now, however, T-Mobile has ended that promotion and the 16GB iPhone 5 has a $150 down payment with the same monthly payments, effectively raising the cost of the phone to $630 from $580 over the life of the plan, TmoNews reports.

The 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5 models have seen a similar $50 price increase. Buying a 16GB iPhone 5 through T-Mobile is still slightly cheaper than buying an unlocked iPhone from Apple. That phone is $650, though there is no monthly payment option.
Ah T-Mobile, I knew your introductory pricing of $99 down payment wasn’t going to last. As of today, T-Mobile will ask well-qualified customers to drop $149 as their down payment instead of $99 as has been the case since the April 12th launch. I don’t recall anyone or anywhere telling me the $99 price was only good for one month, but in hindsight I should have seen the writing on the wall.
T-Mobile will continue to take trade-ins of current iPhone models to reduce the down payment required. The company reported last week that it had sold more than 500,000 iPhones in less than a month after

An Emotional Bill Gates Talks About Steve Jobs on '60 Minutes'

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was interviewed by Charlie Rose on this week's edition of the long-running television news program 60 Minutes, and part of the interview focused on Gates' relationship with Steve Jobs, including a few details of their final conversation before Jobs passed away in 2011.

Gates grew emotional as he recalled visiting Jobs just before his death. The billionaire welled up as he described their last conversation, which he described as "forward-looking."

"He showed me the boat he was working on," said Gates, "and talked about how he's looking forward to being on it, even though we both knew there was a good chance that wouldn't happen."

Embedded above is a "60 Minutes Overtime" follow-up interview of Charlie Rose talking about Gates and Jobs, interspersed with Jobs-related clips from the Gates interview. The full segment of Rose interviewing Gates is also available.

Apple to Update AppleCare with Subscription Service and In-Store Repair Options

Apple has some changes in store for its service and support program AppleCare, according to a report from AppleInsider.

The site claims Apple held a town hall session yesterday that outlined a number of changes to AppleCare that will soon be rolling out across the U.S. first, and then internationally at a later date.
"The biggest announcement, was the way repairs for iPhones will be handled soon," the person, who asked not to be identified due to their active status as an Apple employee, told AppleInsider. "The way it is now, if almost anything is wrong with an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the entire device is exchanged for a like-new re manufactured (sic) device, whether brought into an apple store or sent in for mail in repair. Now we are starting to actually repair the products and return the same device to the customer."

Currently, Apple Stores have the tools to replace speakers, receivers, home buttons, the vibrator motor and battery. Come June, capabilities will be expanded to display replacement, and by July cameras, sleep/wake buttons and logic boards will be dealt with in-store.
By replacing parts on defective iPhones instead of replacing the units entirely, Apple reportedly hopes to save $1 billion per year.

The site also says Apple will be changing its AppleCare service -- which currently attaches to individual devices, requiring customers to buy a new AppleCare plan for each computer and iOS device they purchase -- into a subscription service that will attach to a particular customer instead of a product. Apple's One to One program works in a similar manner.

Messaging App LINE Ordered by Apple to Remove Paid Sticker Gifting

Popular free messaging app LINE was forced to remove one of its key sticker features today, eliminating the ability for its users to purchase and send sticker sets as gifts to friends.

Stickers are an important monetary source for LINE, notes The Next Web, bringing in $17 million last quarter, which represented 30% of the company's total revenue. Stickers can be sent in chat messages and represent different characters and emotions. The stickers, which are bought in sets, can also be gifted to friends for their own use. A set of stickers generally costs $1.99 and includes 40 different sticker options.

We received a request directly from Apple who operates the AppStore, that this sticker gifting function will have to be withdrawn from the app, and we do apologize for the disappointment this may cause to all of you who are having fun sending stickers as gifts to your friends.

Functions withdrawn from the iPhone version of LINE:
- Gifting function of paid-for stickers to friends
- Purchasing of Coins necessary to use the gifting function
LINE does not explain what aspect of paid sticker gifting triggered the removal, but the app does use a complicated system for sticker distribution. Stickers purchased for self use are standard in-app purchases, but sticker sets that are purchased as gifts for others require the purchase of in-app coins, a secondary currency that is then used to distribute the gift stickers.

It is still possible to send free sticker sets to friends, and remaining coins can continue to be used to purchase stickers, but no new coins are available.

Apple Has Backlog of Requests From Police to Unlock Seized iPhones

Apple has created a 'waiting list' for law enforcement requests to unlock seized iOS devices, according to a report from CNET.

The article notes a case in Kentucky where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was the lead agency, and investigators contacted Apple for assistance after they were unable to locate any law enforcement agency in the country with the forensic capabilities to unlock an iPhone crucial to the case.

The agency contacted Apple but was told by a representative in Apple's litigation group that there would be a seven-week delay.
The ATF's Maynard said in an affidavit for the Kentucky case that Apple "has the capabilities to bypass the security software" and "download the contents of the phone to an external memory device." Chang, the Apple legal specialist, told him that "once the Apple analyst bypasses the passcode, the data will be downloaded onto a USB external drive" and delivered to the ATF.

It's not clear whether that means Apple has created a backdoor for police -- which has been the topic of speculation in the past -- whether the company has custom hardware that's faster at decryption, or whether it simply is more skilled at using the same procedures available to the government. Apple declined to discuss its law enforcement policies when contacted this week by CNET.
While it's easy to erase an iPhone when it has been locked, for law enforcement, it appears to be considerably more difficult -- but not impossible -- to retrieve data from seized devices.

In its privacy policy, Apple says it may disclose personal information "by

PayPal Executive Looks for Apple to Adopt Fingerprint Sensors, Lead Charge Away From Passwords

CIO reports on an Interop keynote presentation yesterday by PayPal chief information security officer Michael Barrett in which he discussed the future of account security and suggested that passwords and PINs will soon be a thing of the past. Barrett currently serves as president of the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance that is seeking alternatives to these traditional security methods.
The FIDO Alliance protocol allows users a choice of authentication method while shifting control to providers who can make authentication user-transparent and limit the risk of fraud. Essentially, FIDO combines hardware, software and Internet services. A FIDO user will use a FIDO Authenticator or token that they've chosen or that's incorporated in their device; it could be a built-in fingerprint scanner, a USB memory drive with a password, a voice reader or something else.
In an age where increasing numbers of online accounts lead to insecure reuse of passwords and phishing scams have resulted in a number of high-profile incidents involving compromised accounts, FIDO looks to take advantage of the increasing ubiquity of electronic devices to enable more personal and direct authentication tools.

AuthenTec mobile device fingerprint sensor offered at time of Apple acquisition
Barrett noted that FIDO-enabled devices will begin appearing in the market this year, and hinted that he is looking to Apple and other smartphone manufacturers to lead the charge.
"It's widely rumored that a large technology provider in Cupertino, Calif., will come out with a phone later this year that has a