policy change

Apple tweaks Lightning spec following Kickstarter project gone awry

Apple has changed course on a technical specification that recently put a third-party charging accessory out of luck.

The company today said it's now allowing its newer Lightning adapter specification to coexist with the older (yet still quite popular) 30-pin adapter in the same accessory.

"Our technical specifications provide clear guidelines for developing accessories and they are available to MFi licensees for free," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told CNET. "We support accessories that integrate USB and Lightning connectors, but there were technical issues that prevented accessories from integrating 30-pin and Lightning connectors so our guidelines did … Read more

Dismal voter turnout may doom Facebook's quasi-democracy

Update, 12:10 p.m. PT: Well, it's past noon PT. Facebook hasn't officially called it yet, but a look at the Facebook app tallying votes, show only 588,923 votes cast. That's not nearly enough to make the decision of users stick.

So much for a quasi-democratic Facebook. So far, the social network's users haven't cast anywhere near enough votes to preserve users' ability to veto Facebook's policy changes.

Facebook users have until noon today to vote on Facebook's recently proposed policy changes relating to data use and privacy. Unless at least … Read more

Facebook users seek answers on advertising, privacy

When given the opportunity to question those who lead Facebook's privacy team about proposed changes to the social network's data use policy before voting on the matter, Facebook users were more concerned with how the site currently manages its data.

Questions during today's half hour live Web talk (archived here) included ones about how posts on Timeline are displayed, what information is shared with advertisers, online bullying, what happens if your account is hacked and, of course, what about that viral copyright post. (It's fake.) One user wasn't even sure there was a vote: "… Read more

Facebook users have a week to vote on privacy policy changes

Beginning today, Facebook users will have one week to vote on whether the company should adopt proposed changes to its privacy and user rights policies.

Facebook allows people to vote on revised policies if a revised policy gets more than 7,000 comments, which both its proposed Data Use policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities documents have in recent months.

To be binding, more than 30 percent of Facebook's 900 million-strong base of active monthly users (people who have either logged in or taken some action on the site in the last month) will need to cast votes. … Read more

Apple updates iPhone 4S AppleCare+ policies

AppleCare+ was introduced in conjunction with the iPhone 4S, offering buyers of Apple's latest mobile phone technology the ability to protect their purchase for two years, even if the incident is accidental (a feature not available with previous versions of AppleCare).

The original plan for AppleCare+ was to offer the ability to purchase it at the same time as your iPhone 4S purchase. For $99, users receive phone support and in-store technical support for two years from the purchase date of their phone as well as the ability to get the phone replaced at a discounted rate of $49 … Read more