Joe Rossignol

HTC has denied claims that its new flagship One A9 smartphone copies the iPhone. At a press briefing in Taiwan, company executive Jack Tong said that "it's Apple that copies us" in terms of antenna design—the Taiwanese handset maker was first to release a metal unibody smartphone nearly three years ago. The HTC One A9 compared to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (via The Verge) The response was...

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released shipments forecasts for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch for upcoming fiscal quarters. Kuo estimates between 70-75 million iPhone and 3.5-4 million Apple Watch shipments during Q1 2016 of the fiscal year, which encompasses the busy holiday shopping season in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Europe and many other regions. In a research note, a ...

Google today announced YouTube Red, a new subscription service that provides unlimited ad-free access to YouTube videos for $9.99 per month on Android, desktop and the mobile web, and $12.99 per month on iOS due to Apple's in-app purchase tax (via TechCrunch). The membership also includes several other benefits. YouTube Red features the option to save videos for offline playback and to play...

Apple has honored "Back to the Future" day by updating Siri with at least ten humorous responses related to the popular movie Back to the Future II, released in 1989. iPhone and iPad users can invoke Siri and say "happy Back to the Future day" to receive one of the responses below at random. Today is "Back to the Future" day because October 21, 2015 is the date that Marty McFly and Dr....

Apple has leased Tech Place on 101, a 202,000-square-foot building under construction at 2509 Orchard Parkway in north San Jose, California, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The new building is located next to a large parcel of vacant land, owned by realty firm Steelwave, where up to two more office buildings could be built to accommodate around 3,000 workers. Steelwave render of Tech ...

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 75 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has over 600 participating issuers nationwide, and several more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future. HSBC Atrium in Buffalo, New York HSBC, one of the ten...

Activision today released Guitar Hero Live for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch in the U.S., following a five-year hiatus in the iconic video game franchise. The app is accompanied by an optional $99.99 bundle including a Bluetooth LE six-button guitar controller, guitar strap, redeem code and 2 AA batteries, available through major U.S. retailers. A two-guitar bundle is also offered for $149.99.Guitar...

SourceDNA, an analytics service that tracks iOS and Android code, has discovered hundreds of iOS apps that collect personally identifiable user information, including Apple ID email addresses and device identifiers, through a Chinese third-party advertising SDK called Youmi that is prohibited by App Store guidelines. The analytics firm, using its new developer tool Searchlight, found 256...

Electric motorcycle startup Mission Motors has ceased operations after losing some of its key talent to competitors such as Apple, and failing to develop a viable business model, according to Reuters."Mission had a great group of engineers, specifically electric drive expertise," [former CEO Derek] Kaufman said. "Apple knew that - they wanted it, and they went and got it."The report claims about...

Apple has announced that it will be opening its 21st retail store in China in Dalian, a major port city in southern Liaoning Province, on Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 AM local time. The new store will be located in the six-floor Parkland shopping mall at 19 Jiefang Road in the urban Zhongshan District. Parkland six-floor shopping mall in Dalian, China (Image: yongonthego) In early 2012, Apple ...

Apple has issued an internal notice about a new Quality Program that addresses anti-reflective coating issues on MacBook and MacBook Pro models with Retina displays, as confirmed by multiple sources. These issues include the anti-reflective coating on displays wearing off or delaminating under certain circumstances. Apple will replace Retina displays on affected MacBook or MacBook Pro models ...

Just weeks before the Apple TV 4 is expected to be released worldwide, select Apple Authorized Resellers in Europe have begun accepting pre-orders for the new set-top box. The Apple TV 4 is officially slated to launch in late October, but the majority of orders are unlikely to be fulfilled until November. Electronics retailer Elgiganten, equivalent to Best Buy in the Nordic Region, is...

iFixit has published detailed teardowns of the new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2, providing a closer look at the internal design and several matching components inside the trio of accessories. The teardown experts first pried through the Magic Keyboard's adhesive to uncover its logic board, rechargeable 793 mAh lithium-ion battery, Lightning connector cable and...

Apple received final approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on October 15 for the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil ahead of their November launch. FCC regulatory documents show that Apple filed applications for both LTE and Wi-Fi models of the upcoming 12.9-inch tablet, as noted by G4Games. There are still at least two weeks remaining until the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil are...

Apple today announced that researchers from Duke University, Johns Hopkins and Oregon Health & Science University are launching three new ResearchKit studies on autism, epilepsy and melanoma.“We’re honored to work with world-class medical institutions and provide them with tools to better understand diseases and ultimately help people lead healthier lives,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s...

Apple has announced that its first two retail stores in the Middle East will open in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two most populous cities in the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, October 29. The nearest Apple Stores to the UAE are currently located several hours away in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. The new Apple Store in Dubai will be located at the Mall of the Emirates, and will...

Apple has raised its prices for the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Pro this week in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey as the values of foreign currencies continue to fluctuate against the U.S. dollar. MacBook Air prices in New Zealand, for example, ranged between NZ$1,399.00 and NZ$1,799.00 for stock configurations prior to the ...

Apple introduced a trio of new keyboard and mouse accessories in the Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 this week, and the first hands-on unboxing videos of the new products are now available. YouTube reviewer Michael Kukielka has uploaded an unboxing and video review of the Magic Mouse 2, $79, providing a closer look at the mouse's new bottom-facing Lightning port for...

As carriers move away from two-year contracts, and towards financing programs that break down the full price of an iPhone into equal monthly payments, it is worth a reminder that Apple offers partial refunds for unused AppleCare+ coverage, minus the value of any service already provided. Since many carrier financing programs enable customers to upgrade to a new iPhone after a minimum of 12...

Apple's new 21.5-inch 4K and 27-inch 5K iMacs released yesterday have been subjected to early Geekbench 3 benchmarking, and the results show the late 2015 models are expectedly faster, with improved single-core and multi-core scores compared to previous-generation models. The new iMacs are between roughly 7% and 20% faster than previous models in Geekbench testing, but it should be noted the...