Apple

Apple's iTunes Store in China has kicked out an iOS app that offered electronic versions of books banned by the Chinese government.

Hao Peiqiang, the developer of the bookstore app, yesterday posted a letter that he received from Apple informing him that the app would be removed, because "it includes content that is illegal in China."

Apple's letter explained that while the app is no longer available in China, it can still be downloaded from the iTunes store in other countries.

Apple's form e-mail didn't specify which content was illegal. Known as "Jingdian … Read more

When it comes to smartphones in the U.S., Apple remains on top, a new study from ComScore says.

During the three months ended in February, Apple held onto its title as the No. 1 smartphone vendor in the U.S. the market tracker said. The Cupertino, Calif., company controlled 39 percent of the market, up 3.9 percentage points from the three months ended in November. Samsung, in the No. 2 spot, held 21 percent of the market, up 1 percent point.

There's some bad news for the other Android rivals, however. HTC, Motorola, and LG all saw … Read more

Apple may be eyeing its own "Street View" type navigation system and one that offers a key benefit over Google's version.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's "3D Position Tracking for Panoramic Imagery Navigation" patent filing describes a navigation technology that looks and works like Street View. The system would display a panoramic image of a certain location on your mobile device, allowing you to virtually move around the area.

Google's Street View forces you to swipe your finger or tap on a direction icon to journey along … Read more

Blink, Google's new fork of the WebKit browser engine, is alive.

Yesterday, Google announced the project, which splits its browser work from Apple's in the open-source WebKit project. Today, Blink is up and running.

The first updates -- including a new list of 36 Blink "owners" who have authority to approve changes -- are arriving.

"Chrome 28 will be the first blinking release," Chrome programmer Mike West said in a Hacker News comment. The current stable version of Chrome is version 26; new versions arrive about every six weeks.

"The repository seems to … Read more

Consumers looking to pick up an iPad will find discounts as high as 30 percent courtesy of Best Buy.

The retailer is offering the 16GB version of the 3rd-generation iPad $314, down from $449. The 32GB will run you $384, down from $549. And the 64GB edition is on sale for $454, down from $649.

The discounts also extend to the cellular flavors of the iPad 3, mostly with A&T but at least one with Verizon.

Consumers not interested in the iPad can also land a few discounts at Best Buy.

The first-generation version of Amazon's Kindle Fire is on sale for $99, … Read more

Today, Google launched Blink, its fork of the WebKit browser engine, and members of Google's Chrome team clearly are excited about their liberation.

With the fork, Google will concentrate its core browser development efforts on Blink, which will gradually diverge from the WebKit project on which it's based. You can read more about the context and history leading to Blink in CNET's coverage, or read the official Blink blog post and Blink FAQ for the party line.

But to get a feel for the emotion involved, check the commentary from the Chrome team members themselves. They're … Read more

This week, some old-time rumors reared their heads.

Rumors of a Facebook phone resurfaced after a rather cryptic invite went out last week to "Come see our new home on Android." What could it mean?

Amazon has something secret up its sleeve -- possibly. A former Windows Phone exec recently stated on his LinkedIn profile that he's working on something "secret" and "wonderful." Could Amazon finally be letting its Amazon phone cat out of the bag? Let's hope not.

And finally, not to be outdone, Apple supposedly held some secret meetings at the Game Developers Conference … Read more

A years-long marriage of convenience that linked Google and Apple browser technologies is ending in divorce.

In a move that Google says will technologically liberate both Chrome and Safari, the company has begun its own offshoot of the WebKit browser engine project called Blink. Initially it uses the same software code base that all WebKit-based browsers share, but over time it will diverge into a totally separate project, Google announced today.

The move marks the end of years of direct WebKit programming cooperation between the two rivals. WebKit is an open-source project, meaning that anyone can use and modify the … Read more

Apple apparently is receiving some scrutiny in Taiwan over iPhone pricing.

The country's Fair Trade Commission said today that it plans to investigate allegations that Apple has been interfering in how Taiwan's telecom operators are setting iPhone prices, according to a report from Taiwan's Central News Agency.

The question of whether the U.S. tech giant has violated fair trade rules depends on whether the Taiwanese carriers are seen "as distributors of iPhones or consignment-based sellers," the report said. If Apple were to be found guilty, the maximum fine reportedly would be NT$25 million (… Read more