Jordan Golson

The iTunes Store is giving away the Red Hot Chili Peppers' latest album for free, in a manner of speaking. iTunes is serving up a stream of the entire album for free, and accepting pre-orders for the disc, which will be released on August 30 [iTunes]. We can't remember Apple offering up an entire album via streaming before. It's likely that RHCP's record label is paying a hefty price to...

Techspansion, Tyler Loch's now-defunct company that created VisualHub, has released a small update to the software to allow it to run properly -- for the moment -- under OS X Lion. VisualHub was a very popular OS X application to convert video files to any number of formats, including optimizing video for iTunes, WMV, or Flash. In 2008, Tyler closed the company and stopped selling or...

Apple has lowered the price of a refurbished entry-level 16GB iPad 1 to $299. The price seems to have been dropped this weekend and is the lowest price we've seen for an iPad direct from Apple. All Apple's refurbished products come with the same warranty as new ones and include a new battery and aluminum outer shell. This weekend HP slashed the price of its now-cancelled TouchPad tablet...

Square has updated its very popular credit-card charging app for small businesses and released the Square Card Case, announced this past May. The Square app has been updated to improve transaction speed, add support for $0.00 price points (so merchants can keep track of notes on orders like 'no cheese') and stopped requiring signatures for purchases under $25. As for the new Square Card...

Earlier this week, it was reported that Delta Air Lines was testing iPads to improve real-time communications with flight crews. Now, British Airways is giving iPads to cabin crews to improve customer service in the air. The iPad lets crew quickly identify where each customer is seated, who they are travelling with, their Executive Club status and any special meal requests. It gives cabin crew ...

Apple Australia managing director Tony King has agreed to speak with Australian Member of Parliament (MP) Ed Husic about technology prices that are significantly higher in Australia than the rest of the world. Technology prices in general are much higher in Australia, even when accounting for exchange rates. The Australian Dollar is much stronger than it was two years ago, and now is trading...

As the iPhone 5 gets closer to release, resellers are starting to offer reduced pricing on older iPhones. Canadian carrier Telus is offering the iPhone 4 for CAD$99 with a 3-year plan. The Telus deal runs through September 7. We are also hearing that Best Buy will be offering the 3GS for free with a 2-year plan on August 22 as part of a larger promotion. Best Buy has done this particular ...

Evernote, the notetaking and archiving service, announced today it had acquired image editing and sharing app Skitch for an undisclosed sum. Skitch is currently available on the Mac App Store for $19.99, but Evernote CEO Phil Libin said it will soon be offered for free as a "fundamental part of Evernote going forward." He also announced versions of Skitch for iPhone and iPad to be released...

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer participated on a conference call hosted by investment firm Gleacher and Company earlier this week. During the call, a participant asked Oppenheimer about Google's $12.5 billion proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility: $12.5 billion is a lot of money.The Motorola acquisition is by far the largest by Google and many times larger than the biggest deal Apple has ever...

Interested in an iOS-controlled model helicopter, but turned off by the Parrot AR.Drone's $299.99 price tag? Griffin has announced the Helo TC, a $49.99 helicopter controlled via an iOS app. It's not nearly as fancy as the AR.Drone, but at 1/6th the price, it could be a fun toy for users looking to fly something with their iPhone. Instead of using WiFi, the Helo includes a "case" that the...

This info graphic from Reuters is an updated version of one the Guardian built nearly a year ago. In a single graphic, it shows how many companies are involved in litigation over mobile patents, and how they are all interconnected. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the lawsuit coverage on MacRumors recently, Apple is at the center of more lawsuits than any other...

Delta Air Lines is testing 22 iPads as "EFBs" or electronic flight bags, in an effort to save weight and improve communications with its pilots, according to Flightglobal. Steve Dickson, Delta's senior vice president for flight operations, said that each iPad is loaded with "Jeppesen Mobile TC charting software, a GoodReader document viewer that contains all of our manuals in an electronic...

After a more than 15-year absence from the Mac, Autodesk released AutoCAD for Mac last year. Today, Autodesk released AutoCAD LT 2012, the "lite" version of AutoCAD, on the Mac App Store for $899.99. The company also announced a new version of its flagship AutoCAD for Mac software, and AutoCAD WS mobile product. Autodesk is the first third-party developer to launch a high-end product on the...

Apple and Starbucks have expanded their music partnership to offer free apps as well. The coffee chain is now offering customers free "Pick of the Week" cards with App Store redemption codes for featured apps. The first app is Shazam Encore, a music-identification app that normally sells for $5.99. Apple and Starbucks have had a relationship for years, originally offering free songs and...

Amazon is targeting college students with a new iPhone app, aptly named "Amazon Student". The app ties together a number of features in a package specifically for students. Users can compare prices, buy or sell textbooks, and sell other items they don't need (like video games or DVD's that are no longer needed) as well. The app includes Amazon's barcode scanning software too. The idea is a...

During its teardown of the 2011 Mac Mini's released last month, iFixit discovered plenty of room inside to install a second hard drive. One of our readers discovered the proper process to install a second hard drive in his Mini, but now it's even easier. iFixit has released the Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit for $69.95 that includes all the necessary components to install a second hard drive...

Chinese authorities have discovered another 22 unauthorized Apple resellers in the city of Kunming, according to Reuters. The world's most famous fake Apple Store is also located in Kunming. The 22 stores were ordered to stop using Apple's logo by China's Administration for Industry and Commerce. The market watchdog agency said it would set up a complaint hotline and boost monitoring, the...

Apple has begun shipping Lion USB Recovery Media to some customers, reports 9to5Mac.com. However, we don't think these aren't the $69 thumb drives that Apple plans to put on sale at some point this month. These are likely the keys available free to certain users via AppleCare. We spoke to an Apple representative on Apple's sales line at 800-MY-APPLE. He told us that the $69 Lion USB...

Apple passed ExxonMobil as the most-valuable publicly traded company several times yesterday, but ExxonMobil ended the day ahead of Apple. Both companies' stock prices were down today, but XOM fell quite a bit farther, making Apple the most valuable public company in the world. Apple closed the day at $363.49, with a market cap of $337.17 billion. Exxon Mobil ended at $68.03, with the...

Yesterday Apple revealed the changes it is making to the iconic Fifth Avenue Cube in a drawing on the side of the temporary construction barriers. The multi-million dollar upgrade will reduce the number of glass panes from 90 to 15 by using larger, seamless pieces of glass, and will give the cube a much cleaner, more streamlined look: The above rendering of the new cube, provided to Gothamist...