MacRumors

A number of mostly international iOS users on MacRumors forums, Apple's support forums, and Twitter are reporting issues with failed app updates today. According to affected users, the process of updating apps in the iOS App Store produces a warning that "the update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled."

Reader Vinamra on MacRumors forums:

"I go 4 app updates today and as soon as I clicked the update button, the App Store app popped up with the following message:

"Update Unavailable with this Apple ID - This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled."

I have always used a single Apple ID and this phone (5S) was bought new and have never had this problem in the past."

Member Albertus8898 on Apple Support Forums:

i didnt change or log out from my apple id at my iphone 5. But when i wanted to update one of my apps it said "update is not available for this apple id either becuase of using different id or...." then i checked my apple id's apps and most of my apps gone. what should i do to make them back to my apple id account? and i tried to delete those apps and redownload them but it gave the same message.

One user contacted an Apple Support representative, who confirmed there was a server issue on Apple's side that was affecting app updates. Apple is working on the problem, but the company has not provided a timeline for the fix.

At this time, this issue that you're experiencing with updating apps is being investigated. There are no possible fixes at this current time, as [it's] an issue with our servers, but we are working on it and should have it functioning properly later today.

While such an error message may appear when users are managing multiple accounts or changing countries, the number of complaints surfacing today and reports from several users indicating that they are only using one account with no changes in country suggest that there is indeed a broader issue with Apple's systems today.

Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple patent application number 20140125825 that describes a method of producing super-resolution images using optical image stabilization (OIS) and burst-mode photos (via AppleInsider). This may allow future models of the iPhone to generate images that exceed the megapixel resolution limits of the camera hardware.

The invention uses a camera with an optical image stabilization module that can take multiple images with each subsequent capture offset by a small amount. These lower resolution images are then intelligently stitched together by a dedicated image processor to create a resulting high-resolution photograph.

A system and method for creating a super-resolution image using an image capturing device. In one embodiment, an electronic image sensor captures a reference optical sample through an optical path. Thereafter, an optical image stabilization (OIS) processor to adjusts the optical path to the electronic image sensor by a known amount. A second optical sample is then captured along the adjusted optical path, such that the second optical sample is offset from the first optical sample by no more than a sub-pixel offset. The OIS processor may reiterate this process to capture a plurality of optical samples at a plurality of offsets. The optical samples may be combined to create a super-resolution image.

Image stabilization allows for sharper photos and videos by utilizing motion tracking and other technology to remove the effects of device shakiness during capture. Apple currently offers software-based image stabilization in which the device takes four photos in quick succession and the combines them to reduce blurring., but the company has been rumored to be looking to improve this system. While OIS would embed the technology directly into the camera hardware, improved electronic image stabilization would allow for the iPhone to have a slimmer camera that does not protrude outside the device.

Rumors from earlier this year suggested Apple could incorporate Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology into its upcoming iPhone 6, possibly contracting with InvenSense to supply the necessary hardware. The company's work on the technology has also surfaced in other patent filings, leveraging the expertise of Richard Topliss an engineer recruited from Cambridge Mechatronics in early 2012. The most recent rumor from ESM China analyst Sun Chang Xu claims, however, that Apple may equip the iPhone 6 camera with an improved sensor module and an electronic image stabilization system.

As a part of its latest financial results briefing (via Engadget), Nintendo has unveiled a new web-based service optimized for smartphones to coincide with the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8. The web app will allow all users to view gameplay videos and other information, while those with a Nintendo Network ID will be able to upload videos, establish their rankings, and see friend activity over time.

This is the layout for a smartphone. This web service will enable more people to easily watch Nintendo’s official videos, view rankings, watch videos that their friends have shared and videos of tournaments in which they have participated.

This “Mario Kart TV” (temp.) web service is available even for players without NNIDs, but by logging into the service with an NNID, they will be able to easily find their rankings, videos that their friends have shared, videos of tournaments in which they have participated, and it will be convenient to access this service through smart devices even when they are not at home.

The reveal of the new service comes four months after Nintendo president Satoru Iwata acknowledged that the company would consider "a new business structure" that involves smart devices after a third consecutive annual loss. Shortly after Iwata's comments, Japanese business newspaper Nikkei reported that Nintendo's mobile push would focus on marketing demos and not full games, with those claims later denied by Nintendo.

Nintendo has faced heavy competition from mobile platforms in recent years, with App Annie and IDC finding that consumer spending on games for iOS and Android rose to 4x that of dedicated gaming handhelds.

Nintendo's investors have also called on the company to develop titles for iOS and other platforms, while others have suggested that Nintendo should "buy its way" into the smartphone market by either acquiring technology or developing their own. While this newest web service may not be a large initial showing, it may also indicate that Nintendo is testing the waters ahead of more full-fledged efforts in the future.

In a new legal resources page posted on its website Wednesday night (via 9to5Mac), Apple outlined its guidelines regarding requests for customer data from from U.S. law enforcement agencies, specifying what information the company can and can not retrieve from devices upon the receipt of a search warrant or legal notice.

Regarding the extraction of data from passcode locked iOS devices, Apple states that it may only retrieve information from its own first party apps, which includes SMS messages, photos, videos, contacts, audio recording, and call history. However, Apple can not provide access to email, calendar entries or third-party app data. The company says the data extraction process itself can only be performed on devices in "good working order" at its Cupertino, California headquarters.

Apple will also assist law enforcement in returning lost iPhones to their rightful owners, agreeing to contact the customer of record and have them contact law enforcement to get their property back pending available information.

The new page follows a report from The Washington Post last week which stated that the company would begin notifying its users of secret personal data requests from law enforcement. Apple has become increasingly concerned about privacy matters since the discovery of PRISM, a secret intelligence program ran by the NSA.

CEO Tim Cook was noted as saying that the NSA would have to "cart [Apple] out in a box" before it could access the company's servers, as Apple also hired certified privacy professional Sabrina Ross last month to oversee the protection of consumer data.

Over the past several weeks, a number of photos and videos have shown cases and even physical mockups of Apple's rumored iPhone 6. Most of the cases and mockups appear to have been based either on alleged design drawings published by Japanese magazine MacFan in late March or on essentially identical information leaking through other channels.

MacRumors has now obtained one of these iPhone 6 cases and separately 3D printed a very rough physical mockup based on the MacFan drawings for the 4.7-inch model. Together, the case and the mockup give a good idea of the feel of a larger iPhone.

The larger iPhone definitely makes one-handed operation more difficult, even for relatively large hands, but many users are already accustomed to using two hands much of the time. With the larger body, Apple appears to be shifting the sleep/wake button from the top edge of the device to the right side, and this new location feels very natural in our hands, with the index finger sitting right on the button in a left-handed grip.

Our physical mockup includes our mocked up home screen showing that a 4.7-inch screen at the same 326 pixels per inch as the iPhone 5s would yield a 1334x750 display that could display an additional row of icons. While the mockup is based on the design drawings posted by MacFan, we did elect to slightly depress the surface of the device in order to help its physical features stand out more.

With the case and mockup in hand, we encourage readers with questions to share them in the discussion thread associated with this story and we'll do our best to address them.

Katie Cotton is retiring from her position as VP of worldwide corporate communications at Apple, reports Recode. Cotton has worked in Apple's public relations department for almost twenty years, serving under both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

“Katie has given her all to this company for over 18 years,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in a statement. “She has wanted to spend time with her children for some time now. We are really going to miss her.”

Cotton has confirmed her retirement, saying it was an extremely difficult decision to make as "Apple is a part of my heart."

Cotton is known for having been fiercely protective of Apple executives, particularly Steve Jobs, serving as gatekeeper for all media access and shepherding executives through their formal and informal meetings with the press. Given Apple's penchant for secrecy, Cotton has long been tasked with keeping a tight rein on the company's PR operations, managing Apple's image and contributing to the company's presentations.

Apple revolutionized aluminum manufacturing when it adopted the unibody design for its MacBook Pro line of notebooks, advancing the production process in a way that benefitted the industry as a whole. Now, the company is poised to change the nature of sapphire manufacturing in a similar way, but this time the sole beneficiary will be Apple, argues The Verge.

When Apple introduced the aluminum unibody MacBook Pros in 2008, the company was relying on third-party suppliers to provide the material needed for the notebook line. Backed by Apple's cash, manufacturers were able to streamline and scale up production to meet demand for the new unibody machines. Once rare, processes like aluminum extrusion and forging became commonplace, with Apple "reinventing a whole new supply chain around the material."

"Aluminum is now cheaper and easier to implement thanks to Apple itself," says noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities. His assessment, shared by many others, is that Apple’s demand drove "related suppliers of aluminum casing to invest more on capacity and technology." They were all competing for the lucrative prize of satisfying the MacBook maker’s need to extrude, machine, anodize, and recycle vast quantities of the metal.

Apple may have kickstarted the aluminum revolution, but it did not control the production processes it advanced and the adoption of the metal spread across a variety of industries. With sapphire, Apple is taking a different approach. The company is again poised to overhaul a new manufacturing industry, but this time Apple is in a better position to keep most of the benefits to itself.

Apple partnered with materials manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies to build a sapphire production plant in Arizona and is working on mass producing the material for use in its iPhone lineup and possibly the iWatch. Any advancements the company makes in sapphire production to make it more affordable and to scale its manufacturing output to support hundreds of millions of devices per year will stay within the walls of Apple and GT.

Competitors will have to pursue their own sapphire manufacturing endeavors or concede sapphire to Apple and pursue different transparent cover materials to use in their devices. Most companies will be left behind as they do not have the financial reserves that allows a company like Apple to invest in a full-scale production facility dedicated to a single material used in their devices.

Apple and GT have already started producing small quantities of sapphire in their Arizona plant, with approximately 100 furnaces online producing 2,220 kg of sapphire in early production runs. GT is expected to install more than 1,000 additional furnaces as the company ramps up production for the end of 2014 ahead of the release of the iPhone 6 and iWatch.

Recent reports suggest Apple may incorporate sapphire into its upcoming wearable product and may outfit its high-end iPhone 6 models with a sapphire screen. The company currently uses sapphire as a covering for its iPhone rear camera lens and its Touch ID sensor.

Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly provided the first batch of Touch ID fingerprint sensors to be used in the iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, according to a new report from component information website cecb2b.com citing supply chain sources (Google Translate, via GforGames).

In addition to production at TSMC, the report notes that the fingerprint sensors are being assembled by TSMC subsidiaries Xintec and Suzhou Crystal Semiconductor. A report in January noted that TSMC would begin production on the sensors sometime in the second quarter of this year with a new 12-inch fab processing method, however a report in February stated that TSMC would be using the same 8-inch fingerprint sensor processing method that was used for the iPhone 5s.

The inclusion of Touch ID on the next-generation iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini would also fall in line with predictions from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who noted that both devices would gain the feature alongside processor upgrades and various other improvements.

Apple's head start on Touch ID fingerprint sensor production will likely help the launch supplies of all three devices. The component was said to be a key factor contributing to the limited supplies of the iPhone 5s at its launch last September, with low yield rates at Xintec and iOS 7-sensor integration slowing production.

According to a new report from Taiwan's Industrial and Commercial Times (Google Translate, via Mac Otakara), Apple supplier Pegatron has received 15% of the orders for Apple's upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 6 ahead of the device's launch this September. The report also notes that Pegatron will produce a total of 50 million iPhones this year, which includes iPhone 6, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 4S units.

The report contrasts a story from Taiwan's Liberty Times in January, which stated that half of all iPhone 6 orders were expected to go to Pegatron. A report last month also noted that Foxconn was preparing for iPhone 6 production in the second quarter of this year at its new Kunshan, China plant, as the company has recruited new workers in China to meet the desired number of orders. In addition to Pegatron, fellow Apple supplier Foxconn is also likely to aide with production.

Last year, Apple shifted iPhone 5c production to Pegatron in order to improve supply chain risk management, allowing Apple to balance its supply chain and minimize the risk of potential supply chain disasters.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6 in two different screen sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will likely ship ahead of the 5.5-inch version, as Apple attempts to solve issues with the latter's display and battery. Aside from a larger screen, Apple's next-generation iPhone is expected to include a thinner profile, a faster A8 processor, and an improved camera.

For many years, Apple has used different suppliers for the solid-state drives (SSDs) in its MacBook Air models, with drive performance varying among manufacturer brands. A recent study by Macworld demonstrated rather dramatic differences in SSD read and write speeds between tested 2013 and 2014 models, but at the time it was unclear whether the poorer performance for the 2014 models was still simply due to drive brand variances or if there was something specific to the 2014 machines causing an overall degradation in performance.

Other World Computing (OWC) has now performed some apples-to-apples testing between 2013 and 2014 models with SanDisk SSDs, and has found that performance is nearly identical.

In OWC's testing using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the new MacBook Air model with a 128 GB SanDisk SSD reported read/write speeds of 705/315 MBps, while the 2013 version also with a 128 GB SanDisk drive scored similarly with read/write speeds of 711/316 MBps.

Macworld's testing of four machines (various combinations of 2013/2014 models at 11 and 13 inches) had included drives of two different capacities from three different manufacturers, making it difficult to determine the exact cause of the performance differences.

This variability in brand performance was noticed years ago, when Apple started using both Toshiba and Samsung SSDs in its MacBook Air models. Apple continues to use drives from different manufacturers in its 2014 models, including units from Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk. How various batches of drives from the different manufacturers are assigned to various machines is unknown, and consumers are unable determine which brand of SSD is in their MacBook Air without opening the box and either booting the machine to examine system profile information or physically opening the machine.

Apple's new MacBook Airs are available from Apple's website beginning at $899, while the 2013 models are being sold at significant discounts through a number of retailers.