iPhone

A new lawsuit claims Apple's latest headphones could be confused with a line of hearing aids bearing a similar, trademarked name.

In a complaint filed late last week, Randolph Divisions and Hearpod Inc. said Apple's EarPods headphones infringe on its trademark for "Hearpods." Randolph Divisions filed for the name in February 2005, and ended up using the name in its line of hearing aids.

"Both Plaintiffs' Goods and Defendant's Goods are similar in nature in that, among other things, they are inserted into the ears of their users and are used to facilitate and … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Goldman CEO Blankfein: Equality is good business.

- Subscribe to Jill's podcast on iTunes and send your questions to askjill@jillonmoney.com.

- Follow Jill Schlesinger on Twitter.… Read more

The last time Apple held a summer iPhone introduction, it was 2010's iPhone 4. The company now may be returning to that calendar timetable as The Wall Street Journal has reported that "a possible summer launch" is in the cards for the next version of its flagship device.

The unit is described as being "similar in size and shape" to Apple's current iPhone. Meanwhile, the Journal says that the company continues to work on a less expensive unit that could see the light of day sometime during the second half of the year.

Apple … Read more

If you've always wished you could watch 3D content on your mobile device, you're in luck. A team of Singapore-based researchers has developed a special film that turns the screens of mobile devices into 3D-capable displays.

The EyeFly 3D film, which looks just like a typical screen protector, actually consists of 500,000 miniaturized lens-like structures that measure about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. When applied to a mobile device, the filter works with dedicated iOS and Android apps to render stereoscopic 3D content for playback. Nanovue, a startup set up to bring the EyeFly 3D to market, is working on apps to convert existing 2D content to stereoscopic 3D.

There's one tradeoff: In our tests, the film made the iPhone 5's Retina Display look like it had a lowered resolution, as text and icons appeared to have jagged edges. Screen brightness remained the same. … Read more

Waiting on hold may not be so dull if a newly patented Apple technology ever ends up a reality.

Granted to Apple today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent called "Communications system that provides user-selectable data when user is on-hold" envisions a system for showing useful and interesting information to mobile phone callers waiting on hold.

The information being displayed would be adaptive and contextual, according to the patent, meaning it would vary depending on the caller, the caller's location, the date and time, and other items. As one example, the caller might … Read more

The Steve Jobs era may not quite be over at Apple.

The late co-founder may have been involved in the development of the next two versions of iPhone, according to a report in the San Francisco Examiner. That information was supposedly imparted to San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón by Apple's government liaison, Michael Foulkes, during discussions with Apple regarding the growing problem of mobile phone theft.

Gascón described his hour-long discussion with Foulkes as "very underwhelming," saying that Foulkes did most of the talking.

"It was incredible. He would just go … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- In Jeff's words, April Fool's is a day for unfunny people to tell jokes. With that, I'm pretty sure this prank was posted two weeks early.

- The OPMOD/ThinkGeek Battle Mug: an elegant drink receptacle for a more civilized age.

- Boston police go undercover online to stop DIY punk shows.

- Latest Japanese schoolgirl trend: Fake Dragon Ball attacks.

- Walmart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers.

- Sales of twin-size beds drop as Tweens demand bigger beds...for their tablets.… Read more

San Francisco Bay Area photographer Brad Mangin -- a veteran shooter of baseball games and other sporting events for Sports Illustrated -- uses a high-powered dSLR for most of his work, but turned to an iPhone and Instagram to capture a more personal view of the 2012 Major League Baseball season. His upcoming book, "Instant Baseball: The Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin," features many sights only a pro photographer would have the chance to observe. The book comes out in late April. … Read more

Apple's nearly year-and-a-half old iMessage service has been found to be vulnerable to an attack that uses a flood of messages, or messages so long that the application is rendered unstable.

According to a report from The Next Web, a small group of developers have found themselves the target of an attack that does one of those things -- sending what could be thousands of messages.

The source is suspected to be someone with involvement in pirated iOS software, who could have gotten some basic information needed to send another user a message through Apple's messaging service, The … Read more