News

Reports that iPhones are tracking and storing your every move are causing some Congressional leaders concerned about privacy to question Apple's motives. Reactions to yesterday's revelations that a single unencrypted file on iPhones has been recording location data since the installation of iOS 4 has been mixed.

Some have reacted with amusement, looking at maps of their whereabouts using the open source iPhone Tracker software posted on the web by researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden. Others are wary of Apple's purpose and concerned that this location data is routinely backed up to computers using iTunes.

So much for the Verizon iPhone 4 launch causing a bloodbath at AT&T Mobility. Post-exclusivity numbers are in, and AT&T reports a 38 percent growth in iPhone activations last quarter over the same time period last year. A total of 3.6 million iPhone activations were logged, with almost a quarter of these subscribers new customers to AT&T.

The company was expected to lose subscribers thanks to the Verizon iPhone 4 launch, however AT&T ended the first quarter with a net gain of long term contracts. Almost half of AT&T customers already own a smartphone, and 60 percent of smartphones sold in the first quarter were iPhones.

All of those smurfberry sales have led angry parents to sue Apple over its in-app purchasing policies, thanks to kids racking up credit card bills via iTunes. The problem is that minors playing free games on the iPhone or iPod touch made headlines when hundreds or thousands of dollars in in-app purchases was showing up on their parents' credit card bills.

One notorious game is Smurf Village from Capcom Interactive, which allows the purchase of a $99 wagon of smurfberries. The lawsuit, filed in US District court in San Francisco, states that "these games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more."

It's been a long time since we've been able to run a story on the white iPhone 4 without a question mark in the title. Now Bloomberg reports the long-awaited white iPhone 4 will be available by the end of this month. Previous reports have also pointed to an April release, however nobody is counting their chickens before they hatch.

Best Buy leaks pointing to a February 27 white iPhone release have already turned out to be false. Apple continues to stick by its spring 2011 launch schedule although the season officially began on March 20. After a 10-month wait since the iPhone 4 keynote what's a few more weeks?

Apple has released the latest firmware files for iOS devices containing bug fixes and security updates. Verizon iPhone 4 owners were not left out of the fun this time, getting their own iOS 4.2.7 updates specifically for the CDMA device. Those experiencing blank or frozen FaceTime video issues should find that the firmware update fixes these problems.

Both iPhone 4 and iPad 2 owners reported the FaceTime issue was affecting Apple devices running iOS 4.3. Another issue that was widely reported in the news was a connectivity problem causing issues with the iPad connecting to 3G networks.