Monthly Archives: August 2017

Accessory manufacturer MixBin Electronics has issued a recall for iPhone cases it has produced for a number of well-known brands, including Victoria’s Secret, following reports of the glitter and liquid-filled cases causing chemical burns and skin irritation to consumers in the United States.

The notice posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, alongside counterparts Health Canada and Mexico’s PROFECO, advises the recall concerns MixBin-produced cases for the iPhone 6, 6s, and 7. While varying in color and style, the transparent cases in question all feature a liquid and glitter-filled section on the rear, usually overlaid with artwork and branding.

The cases pose a risk to a user’s health if the liquid compartment is damaged, with breaks and cracks allowing the contents to leak out. None of the notices mention what the liquid contains, but that it does cause itching, redness, blisters, and chemical burns when it comes into contact with the skin.

Read more here

On the most recent episode of the Debug podcast (iTunes link here), former Apple managers Don Melton and Nitin Ganatra got together and discussed, amongst a slew of other fascinating topics, the hectic and always-on work schedule that comes with being a manager at Apple.

The entire podcast is a must-listen and is chock full of interesting anecdotes about what it’s like to work at Apple, how the culture at Apple shifted once Steve Jobs returned, how Apple executives are 24/7 work machines, and much, much more.

In a particularly interesting excerpt, the two talk about how the work week at Apple, for them, effectively began on Sunday because Apple executives famously get together for a meeting every Monday morning. Melton, who worked under and reported to former Apple executive Scott Forstall, calls Forstall was “the most prepared person I’ve ever met in my life.” And so naturally, working under a guy like that provided little room for relaxation.

Read more here

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei aims to become the world’s largest smartphone maker by 2021, ahead of both Apple and Samsung, and the latest market share data suggests it continues to make progress towards that goal.

Huawei shipped an estimated 38.4 million smartphones in the June quarter, a 20 percent increase over a year ago, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. By comparison, Apple reported it sold 41 million iPhones in the same period, up nearly 2 percent from 40.4 million iPhones in the year-ago quarter.

Huawei’s market share rose to an estimated 10.7 percent in the quarter, putting the Chinese company well within striking distance of Apple’s estimated 11.4 percent market share in the quarter. Samsung continued to lead the market with a 22.1 percent share of shipments, according to Strategy Analytics.

Read more here

From techcrunch.com

“Apple Watch sales are up more than 50 percent since last year, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He mentioned this when discussing Apple’s strong third-quarter results on the investor call Tuesday.

Overall, Apple beat analyst expectations with $1.67 per share, versus the anticipated $1.57 per share. Revenue was $45.4 billion, when Wall Street forecast $44.89 billion.

Shares were quickly up 5 percent in initial after-hours trading on the good news, but one often overlooked category is “other products,” where they group in the performance of things like Apple Watches, Apple TVs, Beats electronics, iPods and Apple-branded accessories.

This category brought in $2.74 billion in revenue and is up 23 percent since the same period last year. One product that is contributing to the annual revenue growth is AirPods, the wireless earbuds that Apple released in December of last year. (I personally think they look a tad dorky, but everyone I know who has them loves the sound quality.)”

Awesome news. Google Earth is finally available for FREE on Apple App Store.

You can get it here 

The end for the iPad 2 has finally come. On March 18, 2014 Apple released it’s 8GB iPhone 5C (really? I thought you were done with 8GB iOS devices…) and it reintroduced the iPad with Retina Display AKA the iPad 4. People have complained and are right about the fact that the iPad 2 doesn’t give enough for the premium price. Let’s review the iPad 2 and it’s long life, the longest of any iPad model ever.

The iPad 2 was introduced by Apple on March 2nd and went on sale on March 11th (also the day of the deadly 2011 Japan Earthquake, may those souls rest in peace). I remember the moment clearly standing in line for the iPad 2, my first iPad, the day it came out.  Now Ipad 2 is an ancient dinosaur. Time flies…. 

Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday defended his companies decision to pull security applications from the Chinese App Store, saying the iPhone producer is basically abiding to the law of the nation, similarly as it would in the U.S.

Cook’s remarks, which came amid Apple’s Q3 2017 income call, take after the organization’s evacuation of virtual private system, or VPN, applications from the App Store throughout the end of the week, drawing feedback from protection advocates and application producers alike.

VPNs enable clients to bypass China’s “Great Firewall,” which it uses to screen and square its web clients’ entrance to destinations the administration considers subversive to its reasoning.

The force for the expulsion of the VPN applications, Cook clarified, was the administration’s restored push to implement controls that prohibited VPNs that haven’t been authorized by the Chinese government.