apple

Apple's use of HTTPS for its App Store isn't winning it any friends from the Chinese government.

The company seems to have recently turned on the more secure protocol for its App Store. Before that switch, censors in China could block Chinese users from searching for certain types of apps, such as VPN software, according to Greatfire.org, which monitors Chinese Internet censorship.

Searching for such apps would cause the actual connection to reset, meaning users in China couldn't download them even if they were available in the Chinese App Store.

But now with the more secure … Read more

Apple has scored a victory in the U.S. with its biggest market share ever, according to data out today from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Looking at the 12 weeks ending November 25, the research firm pegged Apple's U.S. smartphone share at 53.3 percent, thanks in part to strong sales of the iPhone 5. That number was up from 35.8 percent a year prior. And it's likely to grow.

"Apple has reached a major milestone in the U.S. by passing the 50 percent share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to … Read more

How much stock can you put in the many predictions being made for the tech sector in the new year?

Well, here's my record as a tea-leaf reader from last year: 1-for-2 on the major picks. That's right, I was wrong -- dead wrong -- when I said the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would pass. Going into 2012, the entertainment sector appeared to have all the congressional support it needed to pass the legislation designed to make it easier for federal authorities to shut down accused pirate sites. The reason the defeat of the bill was such … Read more

Fun, fun, fun!

That's what digital movies, music, and books are supposed to be about. But for the people who create and sell the stuff, it's been all crumbs, crumbs, crumbs.

The past year was another tough one for the sale of entertainment media on the Web. The irony is that as more entertainment fare is sold online, the less profitable the businesses become.

Few, if any, online music services are profitable. In Web movie distribution, download sales are dismal. Even Netflix, the Web's top video rental service, saw a slow down in the rate it added … Read more

The technology lab behind a Kickstarter-funded project to build a portable device-charging station announced today that it will refund its crowdfunded $139,170 to donors after Apple refused to license rights to its Lightning connector.

POP, a minimalist portable power station, was billed as "the intersection of charging design" and was expected to feature four retractable cords for charging a variety of devices, including iOS and Android devices. The portable charging station featured a 26,000 mAh battery capable of charging 10 iPhones, according to Junior Edison, the company behind the effort.

In addition to its portable convenience, … Read more

The surge in adoption of Apple's iOS 6 may be due more to new users in China than users upgrading to the operating system while grabbing Google's new mapping app.

Adoption of the mobile operating system, which was released months ago, has increased by 30 percent since Google Maps was released to the Apple App Store on December 12, according to data from mobile ad exchange MoPub. iOS users unhappy with the in-house substitute Apple supplied after dumping Google earlier this year flocked to Google's new iOS app, downloading the software more than 10 million times in … Read more

So, congratulations! Perhaps you're the owner of a new iPad this holiday season. If so, you've come to the right place. Apple's tablet is incredibly easy to use, but there are still plenty of ways to set up and optimize your iPad to take advantage of everything it has to offer. Some of these suggestions may be obvious; others might not.

Regardless, here's what I do when I take a new iPad out of its crisp white box. I think you should do the same. At the least, these tips should help you get on your feet.… Read more

Apple today told a U.S. district court judge in San Jose it would appeal her decision earlier this week not to ban sales of a number of Samsung phones.

Earlier this week Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple's bid for a sales ban on 26 Samsung products, saying that any infringing features were just part of a larger feature set, making a sales ban too broad. That decision meant Samsung can continue to sell those devices, which are mainly older models, in the U.S.

That sales ban effort was one of several following a jury verdict in August … Read more

Is Siri more responsive in iOS 6 than she was in iOS 5?

A new study from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster uncovered a slight improvement in the voice assistant in the latest version of iOS.

Based on the analyst's testing, Siri understood 91 percent of queries under iOS 6, compared with 89 percent in iOS 5. Further, Siri correctly answered 77 percent of those queries under iOS 6, versus 76 percent in iOS 5.

In general, Siri was adept at finding local businesses and understanding operating system commands but not so good at tracking down general information or … Read more