A number of high-quality photos are included with the listing, showing a complete lack of Apple branding on the exterior of the device. Most notably, the Apple logo has been replaced with a distinct logo that was previously seen in a Twitpic posting in February 2010. The standard "iPhone" text on the rear of the device has also been replaced by "Prototype", along with text noting that the device has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission and can not be sold until such authorization is granted.
Sonny Dickson has also provided an overview video of the device showing off several of the features of the device including the software and a lack of screws on the bottom of the device that is consistent with some of the earlier leaked prototypes.
As seen in the video, the serial number of the device indicates that it was manufactured during the 43rd week of 2009, which corresponds to late October, nearly eight months before the device was made available to the public.
The auction for the prototype currently carries a single bid of $4,500, with the seller advertising in the listing that a $10,000 offer would be acceptable to halt the auction process and simply purchase the device.
Late last week, AT&T announced that it will be restricting usage of Apple's FaceTime over Cellular feature in iOS 6 to customers on its new Mobile Share plans officially launching tomorrow. Beyond a backlash from consumers who do not wish to change their current service plans, the policy has also raised net neutrality concerns.
AT&T has now issued a lengthy response to those concerns, stating that the move will not violate either of the two basic net neutrality provisions regarding transparency or the blocking of competing services.
AT&T’s plans for FaceTime will not violate either requirement. Our policies regarding FaceTime will be fully transparent to all consumers, and no one has argued to the contrary. There is no transparency issue here.
Nor is there a blocking issue. The FCC’s net neutrality rules do not regulate the availability to customers of applications that are preloaded on phones. Indeed, the rules do not require that providers make available any preloaded apps. Rather, they address whether customers are able to download apps that compete with our voice or video telephony services. AT&T does not restrict customers from downloading any such lawful applications, and there are several video chat apps available in the various app stores serving particular operating systems.
AT&T argues that its move is expanding access to FaceTime, which has until now been limited to Wi-Fi usage only, and the carrier says that it is limiting the feature's cellular access to Mobile Share customers "out of an overriding concern for the impact this expansion may have on our network and the overall customer experience. "
The latest version of Counter-Strike -- Valve's flagship series and one of the most popular PC gaming titles ever -- has arrived on the Mac via Steam. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the fourth title in the CS series, which has sold more than 27 million units in its lifetime.
Along with Portal 2, this is the second time that Valve has launched a flagship game simultaneously on the Mac and the PC, and the first Counter-Strike release since Steam launched on the Mac in 2010.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched 12 years ago.
CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.
The Mac version has fairly liberal system requirements, with CS:GO looking for an Intel Core Duo processor with 2GHz or better, 2GB of RAM, and an ATI Radeon HD 2400 or better or a NVidia 8600M or better.
MacRumors has received word from multiple Apple Premium Resellers in Europe that Apple has requested they set aside additional table space for iPad displays over the next few weeks. One of the sources specifically cites September 12 as the Apple-imposed deadline for the adjustments to be made, while another source indicates that their store is already at work on tripling the amount of display space dedicated to the iPad.
We're told that the emphasis on iPad display space is coming at the expense of Apple's Mac Pro and Mac mini computers, which are reportedly being removed from display entirely at these locations. Displays of iPods and associated headphones are also reportedly being trimmed back to release space for the iPad.
Apple rendering of partial reseller display layout with increased iPad presence
The reasons for the changes are not entirely clear, but the September 12 deadline suggests that they may have something to do with Apple's media event that is widely expected to be held on that date. Apple is expected to introduce the next-generation iPhone at that event, and may also be introducing the "iPad mini". Apple resellers could easily slot the iPad mini into some of display space now being shifted over to the full-size iPad, but it is unclear why Apple would be making these adjustments ahead of time rather than waiting until the iPad mini is announced to revamp the product display mix.
Apple is also rumored to be planning to launch a tweaked version of the full-size iPad as soon as next month, with some sources reporting that Apple will primarily be focused on shifting to the company's new, smaller dock connector standard alongside some minor internal changes that will be mostly invisible to users.
Update: We've heard a bit more from our reseller sources, who now share that the changes started rolling out three months ago but that Apple is just now pushing them out to the "V2" store locations. The reasoning behind the shift stems from the iPad accounting for 55% of dollar share and 61% of unit share among sales at the resellers but only representing 15% of display space. With the changes, the iPad will account for 45% of showroom space.
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) today announced the release of a status report outlining progress that has made since the group's initial high-profile audits of several Foxconn facilities in China serving as assembly plants for Apple products. In follow-up visits to the plants in late June and early July, the FLA found that Foxconn has made a number of changes to help meet the group's recommendations for improving working conditions.
“Our verification shows that the necessary changes, including immediate health and safety measures, have been made. We are satisfied that Apple has done its due diligence thus far to hold Foxconn accountable for complying with the action plan, including the commitment to reform its internship program,” said Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association. “When we finished our initial investigation in March, Foxconn promised to address concerns with its internship program by ensuring that student interns do not work overtime, their work has a more direct connection to their field of study, and they understand that they are free to terminate the internship if and when they wish.”
Foxconn has also begun taking steps toward meeting working hour goals by July 2013, already moving to limit workers to 60 hours per week including overtime and making plans to reduce hours further to 40 regular hours and nine overtime hours per week while still protecting worker salaries.
“The verification confirmed that Apple and Foxconn are ahead of schedule in improving the conditions under which some of the world's most popular electronics are being made,” said van Heerden. “Apple and Foxconn’s progress since the March assessment, combined with the additional actions planned through July 2013, would create the roadmap for all Chinese suppliers in the tech industry.”
Human Rights First, one of the groups backing the FLA, has also acknowledges that significant progress has been made at Foxconn's facilities in China, but also continues to push Apple to hold all of its suppliers to similar standards.
“Foxconn has completed nearly 80 percent of the FLA actions recommended in March. They are ahead of schedule in implementing many of the changes necessary to ensure the health and welfare of Foxconn employees and bring the company’s work conditions into compliance with basic human rights standards,” said Human Rights First’s Meg Roggensack. “This is a win for the employees of Foxconn and for the FLA’s new assessment process. Now, Apple must continue to take steps that ensure all workers within its supply chain have access to these same standards.”
Full details on the Fair Labor Association's status report are available on the group's site, and Apple offers its own information on supplier responsibility on its site. According to Apple, tracking of over 700,000 workers throughout the company's supply chain reveals that 97% of worker weeks were compliant with the current 60-hour maximum standard in July, up well over ten percentage points since the beginning of the year.
TechCrunch reports that it has received word from a Verizon employee that the carrier is imposing a company-wide vacation blackout from September 21 through the end of the month, a timeframe in line with the rumored September 21 launch for the next-generation iPhone in the United States. Apple is expected to introduce the new iPhone with a media event on September 12.
A trusted Verizon employee has just confirmed to TechCrunch that the carrier is having an all-staff vacation blackout from the dates of Friday, September 21 to the following Friday, September 30. You know what that means, right?
Similar blackouts have been instituted around the launch of previous iPhone models and other high-profile Apple products, although these blackouts are sometimes subject to change or extension depending on Apple's exact plans.
Earlier this month, we pointed to testing by Ars Technica showing that upgrading to OS X Mountain Lion on a test Retina MacBook Pro substantially degraded its battery life. The testing showed a 38% decrease in battery life, moving from eight hours of battery life on a single charge under OS X Lion to just five hours under OS X Mountain Lion.
Softpedia now reports that it has heard from one developer claiming that OS X 10.8.1, which entered developer testing just days after Ars Technica's report, does indeed address this battery life issue.
“Until I installed 10.8.1, my MacBook was showing 4h:05m after a full charge,” he said, referring to the amount of time before the battery would deplete completely.
“After installing 10.8.1 it's showing over 8h,” he said. “I'm now able to use my Mac throughout the day again without having to carry my charger,” said the happy developer.
Another report from Apple's discussion forums describes a similar major boost to battery life under OS X 10.8.1, but results from our own forums are less clear. Several users have reported no changes to their battery life while others suggest that there has been some improvement, but it appears that specific testing by those who were affected by the Mountain Lion battery life drop has not been well-documented.
OS X 10.8.1 will be the first maintenance release for OS X Mountain Lion, and such updates are generally pushed quickly through the development and testing processes in order to address the most severe bugs cropping up with the initial public releases of new operating systems. Significant battery life issues would seem to qualify as something Apple would want to address in this update, but the company has not specifically addressed the topic in release notes or other documentation associated with the test builds being distributed.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports that a former Apple employee who was fired last December has filed suit against the company, claiming that Steve Jobs had promised him lifetime job security. The employee, Wayne Goodrich, served as the executive producer for Apple's public presentations and says that he was a confidant of Jobs. Goodrich says that he oversaw the production of a number of important keynote events such as the introduction of the iPhone and iPad, and was the first person to introduce Apple to Siri, which Apple later acquired.
Goodrich, who worked for Jobs since 1998, was promised by late chairman of the world’s most valuable company in a one-on- one meeting in May 2005 that he would always have a job at Apple, according to the complaint. The conversation took place after Jobs’s return from medical leave to receive treatment for pancreatic cancer, Goodrich said.
“This express promise by Steve Jobs was consistent with a practice that Steve Jobs had, acting on behalf of defendant Apple, of promising job security to certain key employees who worked directly with him for many years,” Goodrich said in the complaint.
Goodrich claims that Jobs had reiterated the promise in 2010 but that he was ultimately fired last December so that Apple could avoid paying him restricted stock that had been awarded in 2008, not because of any issues with his job performance.
The Moscow News reports (via 9to5Mac) that Apple is apparently making preparations to begin direct sales of its products in Russia, with retail stores perhaps set to follow in the future.
Apple has registered a company Apple Rus and assigned Vitaly Morozko, the corporation’s local legal advisor, as its director general, Kommersant reported.
In spring 2011, when Apple top managers travelled to Moscow, they were looking for premises for Apple Store, but did not find anything.
According to an unnamed manager of an Apple distributor, the company could start direct sales in Russia in 2013, but it is unclear when first Apple Stores will open.
The report notes that Apple currently uses a network of distributors to handle sales of its products in the country, with Apple being particularly unhappy with iPhone distribution as its carrier partners have been focused on limiting sales of the device to their own stores.
Russia is one of the four "BRIC" countries viewed as major growth markets due to their developing economies. Among those four countries, Apple has been most heavily focused on China, but Tim Cook acknowledged earlier this year that the company has been increasing its emphasis on Brazil and Russia. India is the fourth BRIC country, and while there has been evidence of work toward an expanded reseller network there, Apple does appear to be remaining cautious with its direct expansion plans in that country.
Samsung today announced that it will spend roughly $4 billion to revamp some of its existing facilities in Austin, Texas in order to boost production of its system-on-a-chip platforms that power a number of mobile devices including Apple's iOS products.
The funds will be used to renovate its existing fabrication operations to accommodate full System LSI production.
The remodeled fabrication line will mainly produce state-of-the-art mobile SoCs on 300mm wafers at the 28nm process node.
Starting work this month, the project is scheduled to initiate mass production within the second half of 2013. About 2,500 construction workers and equipment vendors will be at the site to retrofit the facility and set up the equipment.
Samsung's Austin chip production facilities (Source: Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)
Although Samsung does not say exactly who it is making the new chips for, technology industry analysts say the Austin factory is a key maker of low-power system chips.
The two key customers of the Austin fab, analysts say, are almost certain to be Apple Inc., which depends on Samsung to make essential smartphone chips, and Samsung's own smartphone business.
Austin is already a hub for both Samsung's system-on-a-chip production and Apple, with Samsung having opened a new factory dedicated to production of Apple's A5 chips just last December and Apple currently pursing a major expansion of its existing presence in the city.
As noted by The Next Web, UK communications regulator Ofcom today announced that it has awarded permission to carrier Everything Everywhere to begin using its existing 1800 MHz spectrum to offer LTE and WiMAX services beginning on September 11.
In a statement on its website, Ofcom announced that it had approved Everything Everywhere’s request to rebrand its 1800MHz spectrum to deliver 4G services from September 11, 2012, highlighting that as a result it would be able to deliver “significant benefits to consumers, and that there is no material risk that those benefits will be outweighed by a distortion of competition.“
It will take some time for Everything Everywhere, which currently operates the Orange and T-Mobile brands in the UK, to roll out the service, but a number of of observers have already pointed out that the effective date comes just one day prior to Apple's all-but-confirmed media event to introduce the next-generation iPhone.
The current-generation iPad only supports LTE over 700 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies, and Apple will need to support several other frequency bands if it wishes to support LTE service in major markets outside of the existing iPad compatibility in the U.S. and Canada. Just last week, Korean carriers reported that they were talking to Apple about supporting LTE service on their 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
While Everything Everywhere is undoubtedly pleased by Ofcom's ruling giving it early permission to offer LTE service, The Verge notes that the carrier's competitors (Vodafone, Three and O2) are less enthusiastic as they look toward the UK's main auction of 800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands early next year, arguing that Everything Everywhere's advantage will distort the competitive landscape in the UK mobile market.
Digitimes reports that the long-rumored 7.85" iPad will begin volume production in September with a target of 4 million units per month.
Supply volume of Apple's 7.85-inch iPad is estimated to reach four million units per month starting in September in order to prepare for demand from year-end holidays, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
The goal is said to launch the new device before the 2012 holiday season.
The timing is consistent with previous rumors that Apple would be ramping production in September. iMorereported back in May that Apple was targetting an October launch for the smaller iPad with a target price in the $200-$250 range. iMore also lumped in the iPad Mini to be announced alongside the next iPhone on the rumored September 12th media event.
The September 12th date seems certain for an Apple media event as it has been verified by a number of publications. Apple has yet to officially announce an event, however.
While a number of part leaks have already revealed what to expect in the next iPhone, iPad mini parts have been quite scarce. This seemingly late ramp up in production may have been intentionally timed by Apple to correspond with their launch media event in order to prevent as many leaks for this new device.
EA/PopCap announced today that it would be releasing a sequel to Plants vs. Zombies in the Spring of 2013. The company hasn't released any information about pricing, systems, or availability -- but did issue a press release with "comments" from characters from the Plants vs. Zombies universe:
“Spring is crullest curlie ungood time, and plantz grow dull roots,” noted an unidentified spokesperson. “So, we are meating you for brainz at yore house. No worry to skedule schedlue plan… we're freee anytime. We'll find you.”
“There was a time we relished a bracing, hearty blend of zombies, in the morning,” said Sonny F. Lower, a representative of the Flora Forever Foundation. “But first, a brisk shower and some strategic pruning are required. Tomorrow is near!”
The first release of Plants vs. Zombies is available on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Digital advocacy organization Public Knowledge has accused AT&T of violating FCC rules on net neutrality with its new policy regarding the use of FaceTime over Cellular. AT&T announced late last week that it will only allow users on its new Mobile Share data plans to use the new FaceTime over Cellular service in iOS 6.
A senior staff lawyer for Public Knowledge told the New York Times that it felt AT&T was violating FCC rules that service providers not "block applications that compete with the provider's voice or video telephony services." John Bergmayer, lawyer for the organization, noted that "there is no technical reason why one data plan should be able to access FaceTime and another not."
The same argument could be made for tethering the iPhone to a laptop -- however, it isn't clear what AT&T service Public Knowledge feels FaceTime is competing with. The rule in question is designed to prevent ISP's from blocking things like VoIP apps or Netflix that compete with their own products.
An AT&T spokesperson issued the following statement about the allegations:
FaceTime is available to all of our customers today over Wi-Fi, and we’re now expanding its availability even further as an added benefit of our new Mobile Share data plans.
The FCC had no comment about the matter, and iPhone owners will not be affected by the policy until FaceTime over Cellular is enabled in iOS 6 later this year.
Austin Yang, an industrial designer current living in Edinburgh, Scotland, has created a working iPad typewriter keyboard that uses a hammer with a capacitive touch bumper to touch the iPad's on-screen keyboard.
Oddly, the physical keyboard doesn't map properly to the QWERTY keyboard on the iPad, most likely because of the mechanics of the typewriter that Yang has created. This is the likely reason for the very slow typing speed in the video below.
The two parts fit together extremely well, with screw holes and components lining up perfectly. While the fit is not conclusive evidence of the legitimacy of these parts, it does provide additional confidence that they are intended to be used together. The photos also provide a better idea of what the next iPhone will look like when viewed from the bottom, with the significantly smaller dock connector making room for the headphone jack and a larger speaker grille along the bottom edge of the device.
Next-generation iPhone (left) compared to iPhone 4S (right)
A number of parts claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone have already leaked, giving a good idea of what the device with its taller 4-inch display will look like. One of the key parts observers have been waiting for is the device's logic board, and while photos of one did leak earlier this month, most of the details were obscured by shielding on the part.
Apple is expected to introduce the next-generation iPhone on September 12, with the "iPad mini" potentially seeing an introduction on the same date, although some sources have speculated that Apple will wait to introduce the smaller iPad at a later date.
Following the two grand openings this weekend, Apple now has 375 stores worldwide, and Apple notes that those stores have seen nearly 300 million visitors so far this year, or roughly 3500 visitors per store per day. Those numbers obviously vary significantly from store-to-store and day-to-day, but the company clearly continues to attract both new and existing customers to test drive Apple's products, make purchases, and seek support.
While meeting with Apple, I was able to get a few details about how the retail operation is going overall.
According to Apple, the company has seen almost 300 million worldwide visitors so far in 2012. To give you some type of comparison, by July 2011, the population of the United States was estimated to be 311 million people.
Opening day rush at Apple's new Halifax retail store (Source: The Loop)
On the support side, Apple now reports that the company's retail store Genius Bars are now serving 50,000 users per day, or about 130 per store per day.
Apple has been working hard to meet surging demand for its retail stores, opening new stores on a regular basis and expanding or replacing some of its smaller outdated locations. The company has also been looking for ways to increase Genius Bar availability at its existing stores, increasing multitasking demands on its staff several years ago and even mocking up redesigned Genius Bars that could serve more customers at a time.
Update: The Loop has clarified that the store visitor numbers refer to fiscal 2012 rather than calendar 2012, meaning that the company is seeing closer to 2500 visitors per day at its stores on average.
Late last week, jailbreak hacker pod2g disclosed an issue with the way Apple's iOS handles optional headers in SMS messages, a vulnerability that could allow users to be targeted by SMS spoofing that makes messages appear to originate from people other than the actual senders. While SMS spoofing is certainly not new and can be performed through various services, this specific issue in the handling of reply-to addresses could be addressed fairly easily by Apple.
Engadget reported over the weekend that it had obtained a statement from Apple on the issue, with Apple simply touting its iMessage service as a more secure alternative to SMS.
Apple takes security very seriously. When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks. One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they're directed to an unknown website or address over SMS.
iMessage is of course an Apple-specific messaging service, and is thus only compatible with iOS devices running iOS 5 or later and Macs running OS X Mountain Lion. Consequently, it is generally not possible for users to entirely replace their SMS usage with iMessage. Apple has also not committed to making any changes in how it handles reply-to addresses for SMS, so it is unknown whether they will be directly addressing the issue.
Late last week, AT&T 
Digital advocacy organization 
