It was just about a two weeks ago when we were discussing Apple's last mini-scandal over app permissions and user privacy, when it we learned that apps were gaining access to the contact books of users, despite not formally requesting any permission to do so. The ire wasn't so much with the developers creating these apps, but at Apple for approving them for sale despite such behavior. Apple did some quick damage control, and ultimately announced that it would require apps to now specifically ask your OK before getting access to your contacts. Today we read more

It's official. Apple has set a date for what's sure to be the most important tablet announcement of 2012: the unveiling of the third-generation iPad. The coming week will bring a flurry of media anticipation and commentary, with some retrospectives on the iPad's legacy, and speculation on what's to come. Before the inevitable lines start forming at Apple stores around the country, though, we thought we'd take a look at some changes we'd like to see in the next iteration of the iPad's OS. Let's chat. Multitasking The two dominant tablet OSes read more

Over the last month or so, we've really seen interest in Apple's next tablet heat up. Presumably to be called the iPad 3, we've spent the last several weeks fielding rumors about the tablet's hardware, checking out some leaked photos, and wondering when Apple will finally announce the device. We looked at one pretty well-reasoned argument that the day would finally come on March 7, based on the timing for past Apple iPad events and scheduling availability for the venue the company seemed likely to use. Sure enough, today Apple's sending-out invitations read more

The companies behind the various smartphone app stores put a lot of effort into making app discovery as easy as possible. After all, it's in their interests for you to be downloading as much as you can, so the more these companies can do to introduce you to new apps, the better. Making recommendations based on what you've previously downloaded can be a tricky business, though. Does downloading a cookbook app mean you'd be interested in other cookbooks, or that you already found the one you wanted and have no need for more? Apple may be about to get quite read more

At the beginning of February Motorola scored an important win against Apple in Germany. The German Mannheim Regional Court granted a permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud push email service (as well as the predecessor, MobileMe) and any devices that can access it. Now Apple has quietly published a support document acknowledging the situation: "Due to recent patent litigation by Motorola Mobility, iCloud and MobileMe users are currently unable to have iCloud and MobileMe email pushed to their iOS devices while located within the borders of read more

The legal saga that for the last two years opposed Proview Electronics and Apple over the use of the "iPad" denomination has opened a new chapter, according to reports. Proview has filed a lawsuit against Apple, on February 17, at the Superior Court of the State of California. This lawsuit, which was previously unreported, claims that Apple committed fraud when a company, called IP Application Development Ltd., was set by one of Cupertino's law firms to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview, in December 2009, for $55,000. Proview claims they were read more

The 30-pin dock connector has been taking up space on the bottom of Apple's devices for quite some time. The iPhone and the iPad both use the "Apple cable" to charge and sync data but this is going to change, according to recent reports. Forget about microUSB before you get your hopes too high! Neither that nor the Thunderbolt are valid options because of microUSB's slow transfer speeds and Thunderbolt's limited support. Instead, Apple may be replacing the 30-pin dock connector with a different but smaller version of it (which might or might not have read more

If you fire up iTunes on your iPhone, iPad or computer, you'll see that there is a brand new section inside the store called "Mastered for iTunes". This way Apple tries to deliver best possible audio quality encoded files for all those details inside the tunes. Audio files are delivered in iTunes Plus format which has a variable bit rate of 256 kbps for the AAC file format (compared to 128 kbps AAC files available in the early days). Publishers will be able to submit better quality recordings and the end user, regardless if we talk about your average read more

An iOS 5 bug allowed pictures to be displayed on a password-protected iPhone if the time on the device was set to an earlier time and date than the real timestamp of the pictures. A new security flaw has been discovered, this time on iOS 5.0.1, but it takes a very persistent villain several tries to get passed the lock screen. In theory, the password protected iPhone must have a missed call. Swiping the missed call notification in an area without network coverage, or by removing the SIM card from the phone, could expose, after several attempts, the read more

This morning we showed you an image that supposedly depicted Microsoft's Office suite running on one of Apple's iPads. We weren't too sure just how legitimate the image might be, but looked at what it might be able to tell us, should it be genuine. In the hours since, there have been several follow-up comments regarding the picture, both from the site that sourced the image and Microsoft itself, that make for some interesting new developments. The Daily's Peter Ha is steadfastly defending that the picture is nothing less than the genuine article. read more

I got an email today advertising a $250 two-day workshop about iPhone Photography that I immediately scoffed at and wondered who would need two days of instruction to learn how to open the camera app, point the iPhone at something, and press the shutter button. Okay okay, you also have to learn how to hold the phone steady in low-light and turn the flash on or off, but still it's no where near the amount of skill and knowledge you would need to operate a high-end camera with any kind of creativity. That is until you factor in the filtering and read more

There were rumors of a certain Microsoft Office suite to come in the future for the iOS-powered iPad but so far there was no exact information regarding the software bit. However, the image above, showing an Apple tablet running an alleged version of Microsoft Office just surfaced. While the veracity of the image can't be verified at the moment, the rumors claim this is a working prototype of the Suite. However, it is described as having an overall Metro-look and the Excel, Word and Powerpoint icons are clearly visible. The application allegedly read more