MacRumors

Following a report from earlier this week that appeared to show photos of the iPad 5's silver rear shell, Mac Otakara (via Sonny Dickson) has released a brief video that allegedly shows the front panel and back shell of the iPad 5 assembled together for the first time.

A second video from Mac Otakara shows alleged rear shell and front bezel parts from Apple's lower-cost iPhone, which has been rumored to be called the iPhone 5C. A similar pairing surfaced in high-quality photos from Techdy last month with a full display assembly rather than just the bezel, although it is unclear if those parts were indeed genuine.

Apple on Thursday altered its iTunes Terms and Conditions to permit children under the age of 13 to operate individual iTunes accounts created at the request of an "approved educational institution," reports Macworld.

Previously, Apple restricted iTunes accounts to children aged 13 or older, but the company announced it would be changing its policy with the release of iOS 7.

These App and Book Services are only available for individuals aged 13 years or older, unless you are under 13 years old and your Apple ID was provided to you as a result of a request by an approved educational institution. If you are 13 or older but under the age of 18, you should review this Agreement with your parent or guardian to make sure that you and your parent or guardian understand it.

With Apple's new educational policies, schools will have a program to facilitate Apple obtaining "verifiable parental consent for personal Apple IDs for students under age 13." In addition, Apple also plans to introduce better tools for teachers.

iOS 7, which is expected to be released to the public in the fall, offers new Mobile Device Management options allowing teachers to set up managed apps, configure accessibility options, and restrict changes to accounts. Teachers will be able to lock student iPads to a particular app as well, to ensure that students are "on the same activity at the same time."

The new operating system will also bring an App Store Volume Purchase Program designed to allow educational institutions to assign apps to users while maintaining ownership and control over app licenses.

Apple's policy shift comes as the company continues its push for iPads in educational institutions. Apple has been involved in several large deals in recent months and won a $30 million contract from the L.A. Unified School District in June that will see the district purchasing iPads for every student in its 47 schools. Apple also met with the Turkish President earlier this year about a potential $4.5 billion deal that would provide Turkish schoolchildren with as many as 15 million tablets.

Earlier this week, Apple executive Bob Mansfield stepped down from his management duties at Apple in order to focus on 'special projects' -- reportedly working on the development of entirely new products for the company.

Now, 9to5Mac has additional details about how the shake-up affects other executives.

Dan Riccio, who was promoted to lead Apple's hardware engineering teams when Bob Mansfield first retired last year, will gain oversight of the company's antenna design teams in addition to his current leadership of Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod engineering.

Jeff Williams, who, as Senior Vice President for Operations, has been Tim Cook's right hand man for years, will take over the job of managing Apple's special projects engineering teams, while Mansfield gets to continue working with Apple's newest and most cutting edge designs without the distraction of management.

According to a source familiar with the former Technologies team, there has been a lack of formal internal communication regarding the reasoning behind the management shift. However, the company did make the new executive roles clear to these employees. Even with the lack of communication, sources say that the change is not unprecedented. Over the last couple of months, Mansfield is said to have been increasingly focused on chips (and some aspects of wireless) while delegating his other teams to other executives.

9to5 goes on to note that though Mansfield would like to retire at some point, he will likely never fully leave the company. Given the lengths that Tim Cook went in order to keep Mansfield at Apple, it's likely he will be given free rein to work whatever hours and on whatever projects he wishes.

Following the Department of Justice's release of a proposed remedy to address Apple's e-book price fixing, Apple has filed its own brief (via The Next Web) that calls the plan a "draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business, wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm."

Plaintiffs propose a sweeping and unprecedented injunction as a tool to empower the Government to regulate Apple’s businesses and potentially affect Apple’s business relationships with thousands of partners across several markets.

Plaintiffs’ overreaching proposal would establish a vague new compliance regime—applicable only to Apple—with intrusive oversight lasting for ten years, going far beyond the legal issues in this case, injuring competition and consumers, and violating basic principles of fairness and due process. The resulting cost of this relief—not only in dollars but also lost opportunities for American businesses and consumers—would be vast.

The DOJ's remedy would require Apple to terminate its existing agreements with the five major publishers that the company is accused of conspiring with in addition to allowing its e-book rivals like Amazon and Barnes and Noble to offer links to their own bookstores within their apps.

It would also require Apple to allow a third party to monitor its continued adherence to internal antitrust compliance policies and prevent the company from entering into agreements with music, movie, TV show, and book providers that could increase prices for rival retailers.

The App Store section of the proposal is particularly troubling for Apple, as it would potentially allow major e-book retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble to link to outside bookstores and sell e-books without being subject to Apple's 30% in-app purchase fee. According to Apple, its App Store is outside of the scope of the case and unconnected to evidence that was presented at trial.

There was no evidence admitted at trial, and certainly no finding by this Court, that Apple's general policy requiring e-book retailers to pay a commission on in-app digital sales was part of the conspiracy that this Court found. Likewise, there is no evidence that Apple conspired to restrain the distribution of e-book apps or to impose less favorable terms on such apps.

In addition to calling the remedy punitive and draconian, Apple argues that the DoJ's terms are "absurdly broad" and that the proposed compliance monitorship would be "unprecedented and unwarranted."

Apple asks the court to reject the proposed injunction entirely, or greatly narrow its scope. A hearing to discuss the proposal is set for August 9.

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced its proposed remedy in the e-book price fixing case that saw Apple found guilty last month. The proposed remedy includes nullification of Apple's existing "agency model" deals with a number of major publishers, as well as a requirement that competitors such as Amazon allow direct links to their own e-book stores from within their iOS apps.

The department’s proposal, if approved by the court, will require Apple to terminate its existing agreements with the five major publishers with which it conspired – Hachette Book Group (USA), HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc. – and to refrain for five years from entering new e-book distribution contracts which would restrain Apple from competing on price. [...] To reset competition to the conditions that existed before the conspiracy, Apple must also for two years allow other e-book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to provide links from their e-book apps to their e-bookstores, allowing consumers who purchase and read e-books on their iPads and iPhones easily to compare Apple’s prices with those of its competitors.

Back in February 2011, Apple rolled out in-app subscriptions, also instituting a new App Store rule preventing developers offering both subscription and purchased content from including in their apps direct links to their own stores that would allow user to bypass Apple's in-app purchase system. Amazon complied with the requirement by removing links from its Kindle app in July of that year, and Barnes & Noble made a similar move with its NOOK app.

Under the proposed remedy, Apple would be required to allow those direct links to return to competitors' apps for a period of two years. A hearing on the proposed remedies is scheduled for August 9.

Following an update to its Apple Store iOS app late last month, Apple has now begun offering the reported free iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore content through the app (via Flo's Weblog [Google translation]).

As in the leaked sample screenshot, the initial offering is Color Zen, a puzzle game typically priced at $0.99. The free content is accessed by visiting any of the pages for individual Apple retail stores in the app. Users do not need to be physically present in the store for the offer to appear.

Codes for Color Zen distributed through the app are valid through August 27.

Following a report from yesterday that appeared to show photos of the iPad 5's silver rear shell, FanaticFone has posted new photos of the alleged silver casing of the next generation iPad mini. While the photos highlight typical features such as a rear facing camera, speakers and the Lightning port, it does feature an embedded black Apple logo, which is a change from the current iPad mini that uses a printed mirrored logo.

Aside from the change to the Apple logo, the shell appears essentially identical to the current iPad mini.

Apple is expected to launch the next-generation iPad mini with a potential Retina display sometime in the fall, while the fifth-generation iPad may appear as soon as next month.

Motorola today announced its new 4.7-inch Moto X smartphone, which comes equipped with a number of impressive features like a 720p AMOLED Display, Touchless Control via Google Now integration, multiple customization options, and unique camera controls. The phone has been described as Google and Motorola's flagship iPhone competitor.

The Moto X is the first phone where Google is in control of both the hardware and the software, giving the company greater control over the end user experience. Google's Moto X does not utilize a skin like other Android smartphones, but Google does allow carriers to add pre-loaded apps and other software. There will, however, be a Google Play edition available for users who prefer a stock Android experience.

The phone includes the Motorola X8 Computing System, with a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 1.7Ghz dual-core Krait CPU and quad-core Adreno 320 GPU. It offers 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 10-megapixel rear camera, and a 2,200mAh battery that offers up to 24 hours of battery life.

To support its Touchless Control feature, the phone includes a dedicated processor that listens for voice commands while preserving battery life. This feature allows users to obtain weather information, directions, and more with hands-free controls.

Though the Moto X is available through multiple carriers, customers purchasing an AT&T version of the phone will be able to customize it, choosing a black or white faceplate with sixteen different back case color options and accents.

The Moto X is set to launch in late August or early September and will be priced at $199 with a two-year contract.

Apple is only looking at outside candidates for the head of its retail division, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The position has been empty since last fall when John Browett was let go after less than a year on the job, with the retail division reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Potential external candidates have been wary about taking charge at Apple Retail, largely because the company has not been clear about its future plans for the division, and many outsiders were seen as a poor fit for the job.

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.

Apple doesn't consider internal candidates to be an option, according to a third person familiar with the matter.

The article does note that a focus on customer service has returned to the stores after, during Browett's tenure, the company began aggressively focusing on sales with a drop in customer satisfaction ratings reflecting that change.

Prior to Browett, Ron Johnson was the head of Apple Retail for more than ten years, making Apple's stores into one of the most profitable retail chains in the world. Johnson left the company to be the CEO of JC Penney, though he was fired from that position earlier this year.