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Apple unveils faster, more powerful iPhone

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:24:00 +0000

Apple Inc. unveiled a faster, more powerful iPhone on Tuesday in its first major product event in years without Steve Jobs presiding.

New CEO Tim Cook led the show after Jobs, who has been battling health problems, resigned from the post in August.

Cook, wearing a navy blue button-down shirt and jeans, opened by calling his nearly 14-year tenure at Apple "the privilege of a lifetime." Those in the audience clapped as he entered, but the reaction seemed more muted than what Jobs had recently received.

Cook said the latest iPhone, which came out in June 2010, sold more quickly than previous models, but the iPhone still has just 5 percent of the worldwide handset market.

Apple is hoping to grow that with a new model. The new iPhone 4S has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor. The processor is faster, which helps run smoother, more realistic action games. It's also a "world phone," which means that Verizon iPhones will be able to useable overseas, just as AT&T iPhones already are.

Apple is including a "personal assistant" application called Siri, which responds to spoken questions and commands such as "Do I need an umbrella today?" It's an advanced version of speech-recognition apps found on other phones.

Google says Chinese hackers broke into Gmail

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:54:44 +0000

Google Inc. is blaming computer hackers in China for a high-tech ruse that broke into the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

The breach announced Wednesday marks the second time in 17 months that Google has publicly identified China as the home base for a scheme aimed at hijacking information stored on Google's vast network of computers.

This round of attacks isn't believed to be tied to a more sophisticated assault originating from China in late 2009 and early last year. That intrusion went after some of Google's trade secrets and triggered a high-profile battle with China's Communist government over online censorship that has made it more difficult for the company to do business in the world's most populous country.

The latest duplicity appeared to rely on so-called "phishing" scams and other underhanded behavior that hackers frequently use to obtain passwords from people and websites that aren't vigilant about protecting the information.

Apple unveils new iPod lineup, box for streaming TV

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:05:00 +0000

Apple says it will sell a new, smaller version of its Apple TV device for streaming movies and television shows over the Internet and into the living room.

The new Apple TV will only let people rent, not buy, content. For first-run high-definition movies the day they come out on DVD, people will have to pay $4.99. High-definition TV show rentals will be 99 cents.

Apple TV has been around since 2007, but it hasn't caught on with the mainstream. It doesn't record shows the way TiVo and other digital video recorders do.

At an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Jobs says the current Apple TV setup is too complicated for average consumers.

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Mintz reported from Seattle.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announced a new line of iPods on Wednesday, including a Nano model that has a touch screen and lacks buttons.

Like previous versions, the Nano has a built-in FM tuner and can display photos. But instead of buttons, controls for playing, pausing and selecting music are right on the screen. It will cost $149 for the 8 gigabyte version and $179 for 16 gigabytes.