Carl Icahn buys additional 2.8 million Apple stock

Apple’s long standing investor Carl Icahn has just bought 2.8 million shares at Apple worth close to $1.7 billion, bringing his total value in the company to $4.5 billion. He now owns a total of 7.5 million shares in Apple, making him one of the largest share holders in the company.

Apple only recently announced its plans to bring a 7:1 stock split in June which will give back shareholders $130 billion as part of its capital returns program. The company also announced the increase of its share repurchase authorization costs to $90 billion from $60 billion.

Apple repurchased $14 billion worth of its stock in January, which is something Icahn has been urging Apple to do following several meetings with the company’s top brass.

Icahn was clearly pleased with this news which has now led to him buying more stock in the company. He claimed that the stock remains “meaningfully undervalued” and that “many analysts fail to understand the company”.

In addition to increasing his stock in Apple, Icahn also disclosed his stock with eBay while decreasing his stake in Netflix. You can find the complete list of Icahn’s stock purchases in the SEC link below.

[SEC via WSJ]

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

EFF highlights Apple’s improved transparency and user data privacy in latest report

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today published its annual “Who Has Your Back?” report for 2014 that rates companies based on how well they protect user data from both government and law enforcement requests.

Unlike previous years, Apple earned six stars in all of the categories measured by the EFF, including warrant requirements; telling users about government data requests; publishing transparency reports; publishing law enforcement guidelines; and fighting for users’ privacy rights both in the courts and Congress.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation commends Apple for making “remarkable” improvements in its commitment to protecting user data over the past 12 months. Apple, in past years, earned only a single star and lagged behind its competitors in the area or transparency and user privacy. Here is the EFF’s explanation of why Apple earned a star in each category measured by the EFF:

Warrant for content. Apple requires a warrant before providing content to law enforcement. Specifically, in its November transparency report it stated: “As we have explained, any government agency demanding customer content from Apple must get a court order.”

Inform users about government data demands. Apple promises to tell users if the government seeks their data.

Publish law enforcement guides. Apple publishes its law enforcement guidelines.

Fight for users privacy in courts. Apple is adding the following statement to its transparency report update, scheduled for May 2014.

Oppose mass surveillance. Apple is a member of the Reform Government Surveillance Coalition, which affirms that “governments should limit surveillance to specific, known users for lawful purposes, and should not undertake bulk data collection of Internet communications.”

After the public was made aware of the US government’s controversial Prism data collection program, Apple took steps to disclose government requests for user data in order to assure users it was not collaborating with the NSA in this bulk data collection. CEO Tim Cook also took a public stance against the NSA practices saying that he has “been pushing very, very hard to open the books and be totally transparent.”

Other companies earning a full six star rating from the EFF include Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter,  and Yahoo.

[Via 9to5Mac]

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Make Your Ears Happy Anywhere with the SP-1 Bluetooth Speaker [Deals Hub]

Do you spend your days tapping out beats to songs stuck in your head, or humming along to a melody that only you can hear? You should be able to share those songs with anyone who wants to hear–and in some cases, cover up your singing because it’s nowhere near as good as the real thing. That’s why you need the SP-1 Bluetooth Speaker with you at all times. You can get it on sale right now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub.

Music is meant to travel with you, and you can blare your favorite tunes no matter where you are when you have the SP-1 Bluetooth Speaker. Built with high quality sound and portability in mind, the SP-1 Bluetooth Speaker offers ten hours of battery life so you can get a full day’s worth of tunes played over high quality speakers. And if you find yourself needing to take a call, the built in microphone makes it the perfect accessory for when work comes calling.

You can get the SP-1 Bluetooth Speaker on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $54.99. That’s a savings of 45% off the retail price. That’s a great deal for a speaker that you’ll want with you everywhere, so grab this offer today.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Apple granted patent that prevents you from sending embarrassing messages to the wrong person

Apple has been granted a new patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office called “Generation of a user interface based on contacts”, which reveals the company is working on a user interface that dynamically changes its background based on who you’re talking to in Messaging applications.

The patent explains how the background of apps like Messages app can be replaced with the image associated with the contact while the user is in a conversation. If an image is not associated with a contact then the system would generate a default male or female image based on the contact information. The background image could be dimmed or alpha-blended with a background color to ensure that it does not impact the readability of messages. This could prevent a user from sending embarrassing messages to the wrong person while chatting with multiple people at once.

The patent also explains how this can be implemented in case of both single and group conversations.  As seen below, in case of group messaging, the background image of the contact who last sent the message could be highlighted by greying out others.

 

The patent also describes other methods such as showing contact thumbnails in a Cover Flow, rotating carousel or contact cards with animated transitions.

It remains to be seen if Apple will include this feature in iOS 8. It is an interesting concept. Let me know what you think in the comments.

[USPTO via AppleInsider]

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

One third of smartphones sold in Q1 2014 had 5-inch or larger displays

Apple is rumored to be working on at least one, and possibly two, iPhone models with larger screens. Rumored to arrive later this year, these models will enter a growing market of large-screened phones, which according to a recent Canalys report numbered 90 million in the quarter.Overall, these larger phones accounted for a third of all smartphones sold globally in Q1 2013.

This super-sized smartphone category was wildly popular, with the market for these large-screened devices growing 369 percent year-over-year. The sweet spot is between 5.0 to 5.5-inches, with only 12 percent of phones exceeding the 5.5-inch size and 22 percent coming in with a smaller screen.

Smart phones with 5? and larger screens grew 369% – a substantially greater rate of growth than the overall market. Worldwide, they represented just over a third of shipments (34%), and in Greater China the figure hit 39%, and 43% in Asia Pacific.

[...]

Consumers now expect high-end devices to have large displays, and Apple’s absence in this market will clearly not last long. It is notable that 5? and above displays featured on almost half (47%) of smart phones with an unlocked retail price of US$500 or more. Of the remaining 53% of high-end smart phones, 87% were iPhones.

Documents released during Apple’s latest patent infringement trial with Samsung show that Apple is aware of consumer interest in a large-screen smartphone. Apple’s response to this demand may come in the form of a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 in the fall, followed by a 5.5-inch model several months later.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Apple acknowledges iMessage issue that hijacks your number when switching to Android

The Messages iOS app ties your phone number to your Apple ID, and ensures that people sending texts to your number arrive over iMessage, a free service, rather than SMSes through carriers, which is paid. This is great for all iPhone users, unless you happen to switch to an Android or Windows Phone.

Even after switching to a different platform, the Messages app on your friends’ iPhone continues to think that you still have an iPhone, and texts they send are delivered over iMessage, which means that you won’t see these texts on your Android phone. Moreover, the messages show up with a “Delivered” status on the sender’s iPhone, so they won’t even come to know that these messages aren’t going through.

Adam Pash, formerly of Lifehacker, had the same problem. He spoke to Apple tech support about this issue, and found that a lot of users are facing the same problem, but Apple doesn’t have a clear solution:

[Apple tech support] called me back, then explained

1. This is a problem a lot of people are facing.






2. The engineering team is working on it but is apparently clueless as to how to fix it.






3. There are no reliable solutions right now — for some people the standard fixes work immediately; many others are in my boat.

One of the solutions to this problem is removing your iPhone from My Support Profile (instructions), but this hasn’t helped Pash solve the issue. Other solutions include resetting the Apple ID password, logging out of FaceTime and iMessage from all iOS devices, but these haven’t helped Pash either.

Apple is probably not doing this intentionally, but for a user, this acts like a lock-in, and makes it very difficult to switch from an iPhone, given that there’s no easy way to fix this issue or let people know that you’re no longer on iMessage.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Wallpaper Wednesday 5 Space-Themed iPhone Wallpapers

We’re back today with the reintroduction of the Wallpaper Wednesday feature! This week we’re bringing you 5 space-themed wallpapers that you’ll most definitely love. Apple includes some space-y wallpapers as part of iOS, and these will surely compliment your collection.

To set these images as your Lock Screen or Home Screen wallpaper, head over to this article on your iOS device and download the image by tapping on the ‘download link’ found below the image. From there, tap and hold on the image until you get a browser pop up and be sure to tap “Save Image”. It should automatically save to your camera roll and you can set your wallpaper from there, or head to the Settings app under the “Brightness and Wallpaper” section.

Download Link

Download Link

Download Link

Download Link

Download Link

Be sure to leave a comment down below letting us know when of these is your favorite! And be sure to tune in next Wednesday as we bring you even more beautiful wallpapers for your iOS devices!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.