trading

Trade-in service sees big boost ahead of new iPhone

With the release of Apple's next iPhone expected to be just around the corner, at least one third-party trade-in service is seeing what it calls an unusually high amount of trading activity from people trying to offload last year's model.

Gadget buyer Gazelle, which purchases iPhones, iPads, and devices from other manufacturers, today said it's seen an 84 percent "spike" in people trying to sell off their used iPhones to the service compared to the same time two weeks ago.

"This launch has been so delayed and overdue, there's definitely a lot more of a hype," said Anthony Scarsella, Gazelle's "chief gadget officer" in a phone interview. "For us, this is really an unprecedented behavior, as gadget owners always wait--usually until a new product is announced--to trade in."

Scarsella suggested that the spike is even more peculiar given that the iPhone is a type of device where people usually only sell it after getting their hands on a replacement.

"This is especially true with mobile phones, because you can't really trade in your phone and go without it. With a tablet, and other categories, you can trade in your camera, wait two months, and buy a new camera. But with a cell phone, it's kind of like you need one on you at all times," Scarsella said. … Read more

Verizon offering $100 to smartphone upgraders

Verizon Wireless is offering some incentives to convince basic feature phone owners to upgrade to a smartphone.

Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told CNET that customers with basic phones who are eligible to upgrade between now and the end of the year can currently upgrade to a smartphone. Such customers have until September 30 to make the switch.

In return for trading in their current feature phone, subscribers will receive a $100 gift card from the carrier via its Wireless Trade-In Program. The gift card can then be used for any type of purchase at Verizon, including paying off a bill. … Read more

iPhone criminal case gives Apple more options

Criminal charges recently filed against two men who allegedly sold a prototype iPhone to Gizmodo.com have a not-so-obvious side effect.

A successful conviction in San Mateo County will make it easier for Apple to win a civil suit against the gadget blog, if it pursues one as its lawyers threatened last year, legal experts tell CNET.

"Will the criminal case help them? Absolutely," says Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who's a former federal public defender. "They're going to learn a lot more about what happened." (See related story … Read more

Scottrade Mobile lets you trade on the go

Scottrade Mobile puts all of the online brokerage's trading tools in the palm of your hand. It lets you conduct research on securities, manage your account, and place trade orders just as easily as you would on the full Web site.

From anywhere in the app, you can get stock readings by hitting the Get a Quote button on the bottom of the screen. Type in a ticker symbol or company name to bring up all of a stock's vitals, as well as options to find relevant news, set alerts, and add the stock to your Watch List. … Read more

110 Stories app adds Twin Towers back to skyline

The 10th anniversary of the fall of New York's World Trade Center towers is fast approaching. Brian August and his team of developers at Kickstarter are looking to memorialize the tragedy with 110 Stories, an augmented-reality app for iOS that will place the iconic buildings back into the New York skyline.

110 Stories is still in development, with a Kickstarter fundraiser wrapping up within a few days. The app will work by directing the user to point an iPhone camera at the former site of the towers. It will then etch an image of the towers over the picture … Read more

The 404 876: Where 92 percent of our hosts are fake (podcast)

Which would you rather give up for a week, your toothbrush or your iPhone? We welcome CNETer Kenley Bradstreet back on the show today to help us answer this hypothetical question and more.

Of course, Joey Kaminski is here, too, and we have a minefield of a story rundown to test his self-control, such as a nail polish inspired by bruises and bodily fluids, a world-record-breaking attempt going down tomorrow on the corner of Seaman and Dyckman Streets, and a report that 92-percent of Newt Gengrich's 1.3 million Twitter followers are actually robots.

The 404 Digest for Episode 876

Nail polish names inspired by bruises and blood. Report: 92 percent of Newt Gingrich's Twitter Followers Aren't Real. iPhone users would trade shoes, sex for phone. N.Y. lingerie shop to break world record for simultaneous breastfeeding. No lasers were harmed in the scanning of these cats.

Episode 876 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

ITC judge in Kodak vs. Apple, RIM case retires

A decision from the U.S. International Trade Commission on whether Apple and Research In Motion are infringing on a patent held by Eastman Kodak could face additional delays and a new outcome following the planned retirement of the judge who was presiding over the case.

The Wall Street Journal reports that ITC Chief Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern retired from the agency today, and that cases he was presiding over--including this one--have now been reassigned to other administrative law judges.

The Journal notes that Luckern has worked as an administrative law judge with the agency since 1984 and was … Read more

Automated stock trading poses fraud risk, researcher says

An emphasis on speed and a lack of security makes automated trading in financial markets ripe for exploitation and fraud, a security researcher warned today.

Most stock trades in the U.S. and many around the world in general are now made by data-crunching computers that buy and sell stocks in microseconds--something that used to take human traders minutes to do. With these algorithm-based, high-frequency trades a fraction of second can be worth millions of dollars for an investor. (See CBS 60 Minutes report on this.)

In the push for greater speed and thus higher profits, security is sacrificed, James … Read more

Symform offers 100GB cloud storage for free, kind of

Symform, a once business-oriented cloud storage provider, announced today that it is giving general consumers 100GB of online storage for free. Considering the fact that most other online storage services offer just 2GB or 3GB for free, this seems like a great deal.

However, as there's no such thing as a free lunch, this huge amount of online storage comes with a possibly even larger catch. In order to get the "free" online storage, you must contribute 150GB of your local storage on a device that's always on a broadband-connected home network.

This is because Symform, … Read more