Intuit has upgraded the iOS app for its Mint personal finance tool with two new "most-requested" features that should keep users from ever having to go to the Mint.com website. Until now, there were several important budgeting tasks that required users to head to Mint's website to manage.

Users can now create new budgets and edit existing budgets, using a clever "budget slider" to set and adjust existing budgets.

Also new is the ability to split existing transactions into multiple categories, such as turning a large Wal-Mart shopping trip into $200 of groceries and $75 of household supplies for more accurate budgeting. In fact, the new transaction splitting feature is even easier to use than the same feature on the Mint website.


The Mint app is a free download for iPhone and iPad. Users can sign up within the app. [Direct Link]

Wired points to a recent Technology Review interview with IBM chief information officer Jeanette Horan highlighting the issues of the "bring your own device" trend in which employees choose their own mobile devices to bring to the workplace and use for company business. But even when employees wish to use their own devices, IBM locks down a number of features for security reasons, cutting off access to Siri, iCloud, and Dropbox among other services.

Horan calls IBM's security outlook "extremely conservative", noting that the company is concerned about Siri queries being stored on Apple's servers. As Wired notes, Apple does indeed store such information in order to perform transcription and offer results, as well as keeping it for some time in order to help improve overall performance.

It turns out that Horan is right to worry. In fact, Apple’s iPhone Software License Agreement spells this out: “When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text,” Apple says. Siri collects a bunch of other information — names of people from your address book and other unspecified user data, all to help Siri do a better job.

How long does Apple store all of this stuff, and who gets a look at it? Well, the company doesn’t actually say. Again, from the user agreement: “By using Siri or Dictation, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information, including your voice input and User Data, to provide and improve Siri, Dictation, and other Apple products and services.”

Because some of the data that Siri collects can be very personal, the American Civil Liberties Union put out a warning about Siri just a couple of months ago.

Apple is far from the only company to store users' personal information on its servers, but its popularity unsurprisingly places the company in the spotlight and is a particular focus for those such as corporate security personnel seeking to maintain privacy and control over such data.

TiVo owners can control their devices via an iOS app on the iPhone and iPad, but -- for the moment -- can only watch shows on their television.

But that's all going to change in a few months. According to a report from ZDNet, TiVo is launching an external decoder box that would plug into the TiVo Premiere set-top box and would deliver content to an iPhone or iPad.

The unique part is that the company claims that the TiVo Stream is the first product to enable streaming (or downloading) shows simultaneously to multiple devices without interrupting what’s playing on the television. The Verge tested a prototype in January and wrote that it "streamed a show from the TiVo across the room without any hiccups."

TiVo says they will release the TiVo Stream box "in the coming months", but didn't share any details about pricing.

Our sister-site TouchArcade notes that Chillingo's excellent physics puzzler Feed Me Oil is free today for both the iPhone and iPad. It's normally $0.99 for iPhone and $1.99 for iPad. Feed Me Oil is something of a mix between World of Goo and Where's My Water?.

Every level features two things: A spigot where oil shoots from, and an area (usually designed as a mouth of a strange creature) where you've got to get the oil to. Completing each level involves getting the oil from the spigot to the goal area utilizing widgets you can drag into the game area. For instance, oil flows off simple platforms, it can be curved by magnets, and even blown in a different direction by fans.

Feed Me Oil was shockingly popular when it first hit last summer, so there's a decent chance you already have it. If this is the first you've heard of it though, make sure you don't miss this freebie.

Feed Me Oil is available free for today for iPhone and as an HD version for iPad. [Direct Link: iPhone/iPad]

Several years ago, Comcast began instituting bandwidth caps of 250GB per month on its residential customers. In 2008, this was plenty for most customers, but with the advent of streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu, WatchESPN and others, some users have been concerned about whether the 250GB cap was sufficient for their needs.

Today, Comcast has announced it is revamping its cap system, instituting larger caps with the ability for customers to purchase additional gigabytes in blocks.

The first new approach will offer multi-tier usage allowances that incrementally increase usage allotments for each tier of high-speed data service from the current threshold. Thus, we'd start with a 300 GB usage allotment for our Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance Tiers, and then we would have increasing data allotments for each successive tier of high speed data service (e.g., Blast and Extreme). The very few customers who use more data at each tier can buy additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 for 50 GB).

The second new approach will increase our data usage thresholds for all tiers to 300 GB per month and also offer additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 per 50 GB).

In both approaches, we'll be increasing the initial data usage threshold for our customers from today's 250 GB per month to at least 300 GB per month.

In its blog post, Comcast notes that it is continuing to "consider other ways to ensure that all of our customers are treated fairly and have a consistent and superior experience while using our residential high speed Internet service in the way in which it is intended."

Reuters reports that China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua has once again publicly stated that the world's largest mobile phone carrier is engaged in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone to its customers.

"We've been actively talking to Apple on how we can cooperate," China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua, who assumed the post in March, told a shareholders meeting. "I can't give you too many details, but I'd like to repeat that both sides do hope to boost our cooperation," Xi added after the meeting.

China Unicom was Apple's launch partner for the iPhone in China, and availability expanded to China Telecom earlier this year. Compatibility with China Mobile's network has, however, been hampered by the carrier's custom technology that would require specialized iPhone hardware to operate on the network. But with future wireless modem chips adding compatibility for China Mobile's network, it is possible that the next-generation iPhone could be directly compatible with China Mobile's network, eliminating the need for custom hardware to suit the carrier.


China Mobile already has 15 million iPhone customers on its network, even though those customers are limited to the carrier's 2G network due to the differences in standards for 3G networks. The carrier has even taken to officially supporting those customers with a SIM-cutting service and other resources.

Xi's predecessor, Wang Jianzhou, stated several times that China Mobile was in talks with Apple about the iPhone, so it is unclear whether Xi's statements indicate that progress is being made or if there is simply an ongoing dialog between the two companies that has yet to lead to a firm relationship.

Apple has filed a motion to dismiss in a case filed by customers over alleged misleading advertising depicting the Siri technology in the iPhone 4S. The lawsuit, filed in March, alleges that Apple's advertising of Siri doesn't reflect real-world usage. When asked for directions or to locate a store, "Siri either did not understand what Plaintiff was asking, or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer."


In a motion to dismiss (via Scribd), Apple attempts to shoot down the Plaintiff's arguments, reports the Wall Street Journal:

They offer only general descriptions of Apple’s advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple’s website materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged—and highly individualized—disappointment with Siri. Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance “soon after” purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty—which remains in effect. Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes. The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.

Apple continues to heavily advertise Siri and the iPhone 4S. The two latest ads for the product feature celebrities Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel using Siri to plan date night and to get tomato soup delivered.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) today released its latest rankings of customer satisfaction in the United States for mobile phones and a number of products and services, with the new mobile phone rankings being expanded to include Apple, Research in Motion, LG, and HTC for the first time.


In its first appearance in the rankings, Apple easily topped the list with a score of 83, outdistancing Nokia, LG, and HTC in a tie for second place at 75. Apple's performance marks the first time a mobile phone company scored above 77 in any of the group's surveys dating back to 2004.

For many users, the advent of smartphone technology has dramatically changed what they look for in a cell phone device. Two smartphones makers, Apple and Research in Motion (RIM), enter the ACSI with very different results. At 83, Apple (iPhone) leads the field by a long shot, while RIM (Blackberry) lags behind as the least satisfying at 69. [...]

At 83, Apple’s iPhone is a game changer when it comes to customer satisfaction. No other cell phone company has ever broken into the 80s. Apple’s nearest competitors this year are three companies tied at 75: Nokia (+3%) and ACSI newcomers LG and HTC.

Apple has routinely topped ACSI surveys for personal computers, and with its new inclusion in the mobile phone category it is now leading that market as well.

On the carrier front, AT&T experienced a significant jump in customer satisfaction this year as other carriers saw drops, significantly tightened the field. Among the four major carriers, Sprint led with a score of 71, followed by Verizon at 70 and T-Mobile and AT&T at 69. All of those major carriers were beat out by the "All Others" category, which garnered a score of 76.

Business Insider reports on a new research note from Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter, who claims that Google is working to bring a version of its Chrome browser to iOS devices. According to the report, Apple "may already be reviewing" the app, which could debut before the end of the quarter.


Google Chrome browser for Android
Google currently splits ad revenue share with Apple for Google searches performed through Safari, a deal that currently sees Google paying Apple roughly $1 billion per year. With a potential Chrome browser for iOS leading to Google keeping all revenue for searches through the browser for itself, Google could see a significant financial benefit if it can achieve a substantial user base on iOS.

The problem for Google is that Apple does not make it convenient for users to take advantage of third-party browsers, with Safari alternatives like Opera and Dolphin representing only tiny fractions of iOS browser share. Systemwide calls for browser actions throughout iOS apps are linked to Safari, meaning that users have to take extra steps to use a different browser, with the inconvenience leading the vast majority of users to simply use Safari for their iOS browsing needs.

Seventeen more states have joined the antitrust lawsuit against Apple and several book publishing houses over the pricing of ebooks. Perhaps more interesting are certain details released in the latest filing that were previously redacted, including one from Steve Jobs. Portions of this email have been seen before, but this is the first chance the public has had to see a major negotiation written by the former CEO.

As reported by PaidContent, Steve Jobs became directly involved in the pricing negotiations after Apple executive "Eddy Cue could not secure one of the Conspiring Publisher’s commitment directly from an executive." Jobs "wrote to an executive at the parent company, in part":

As I see it, [Conspiring Publisher] has the following choices:

1. Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99.

2. Keep going with Amazon at $9.99. You will make a bit more money in the short term, but in the medium term Amazon will tell you they will be paying you 70% of $9.99. They have shareholders too.

3. Hold back your books from Amazon. Without a way for customers to buy your ebooks, they will steal them. This will be the start of piracy and once started, there will be no stopping it. Trust me, I’ve seen this happen with my own eyes.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see any other alternatives. Do you?

The complaint goes on to claim that the publishers and Apple "worked together to force" Random House -- the one publishing company to turn down the agency pricing model favored by Apple -- to adopt it as well. The claim goes so far as to claim that publishing companies tried to convince Barnes & Noble to not feature Random House books in any of its advertising, something that B&N apparently did.

Regarding the case, Apple has publicly defended itself and also said it wants to defend itself in a jury trial, saying that allegations against the company were "simply not true."

AirPlay is a technology that seamlessly moves audio and video from device to device in the Apple ecosystem. It's built into the iPhone, iPad, and -- most importantly -- the Apple TV set-top box. Among other things, AirPlay can be used to send video from iPhone apps like YouTube, MLB.tv, or WatchESPN to the AppleTV.


Apple hasn't advertised AirPlay as strongly as some other features, like the iPhone 4S's Siri, though it did run a television ad after the iPhone 4 was introduced in 2011. That said, it's surprising that Glenn A. Britt, the chief executive of Time Warner Cable said he hadn't heard of the service, according to the New York Times.

"I’m not sure I know what AirPlay is," he said, though he noted that he was an enthusiastic Apple customer. "Today we want to be on every screen. Today it’s a little bit clunky to get programming from the Internet onto the TV — not so hard to get it on your iPad. What’s hard is the plumbing, what wires do you connect, what device do you use. So the current Apple TV, the little thing, the hockey puck, really doesn’t do anything to help enable you to get Internet material on your TV."

Ironically, Apple has solved Britt's problem -- though he wasn't aware of it -- but the company is not pushing AirPlay too strongly upon its users, nor the media companies. The Apple TV natively supports only a handful of third party services like streaming MLB, NHL, and NBA games, as well as Netflix.

However, AirPlay support has allowed many apps to send "programming from the Internet onto the TV", just as Britt wants, and could foreshadow the market segment a rumored Apple television set would fill.

Sparrow today announced that its iPhone mail app [App Store] has been updated to version 1.2, bringing several new features including swipe navigation between messages and new support for composing in landscape orientation.

New features:

- Navigate between messages by swiping up and down
- Landscape composing
- Edit and create label/folder
- Localization in 9 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian, Chinese

Sparrow also provided an update on its efforts to add push notifications, revealing that Apple has declined to allow the feature directly and that Sparrow will have to implement its own solution. As a result, push notifications will arrive in a future update and will require a yearly subscription.