Joe Rossignol

The continued rise of smartphone and tablet adoption and the addition of Podcasts as a stock app on iOS 8 has resulted in significant growth for podcasts in the United States, reports Ad Age. Overall consumption of podcasts experienced 18% growth in the U.S. between Spring and Fall 2014 as Americans now listen to approximately 21.1 million hours of podcasts per day, according to Edison Research. ...

A federal jury in Tyler, Texas has ordered Apple to pay $532.9 million to patent licensing firm Smartflash LLC for using its patents without permission, reports Bloomberg. The court found certain iTunes apps to be infringing upon the Texas-based company's patents related to digital rights management, data storage and managing access through payment systems. Apple argues that Smartflash is...

The latest numbers from research firm IDC reveal that the smartphone market continues to be a largely two-horse race between iOS and Android, which accounted for 19.7% and 76.6% market share in the fourth quarter respectively. The mobile operating systems combined to dominate Windows Phone, BlackBerry and all other platforms with 96.3% market share during the three-month period ending December. ...

Tim Cook tweeted this morning to honor what would be the 60th birthday of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Cook shared a quote from Jobs' heartfelt commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, in which he said "the only way to do great work is to love what you do." Jobs co-founded Apple...

Visa announced on Tuesday that it will be rolling out tokenization in Europe, an essential technology that allows for secure and convenient contactless payments using various technologies (via The Next Web). The tokenization service will be available to financial institutions in mid-April and helps pave the way for the launch of Apple Pay in Europe. “This is an exciting time to be in the...

While it remains unknown if Apple will ever release a new budget smartphone to succeed the iPhone 5c, which was a plastic-backed carbon copy of the iPhone 5, a new gallery of renders from 3D Future provides an early look at what the so-called "iPhone 6c" could look like. The concept smartphone essentially combines an iPhone 5c and iPhone 6 into one, which would seem like a logical move if Apple...

Apple has added a support document to its website stating that customers who use an AOL username to sign into the iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store will be unable to continue doing so starting March 31 (via 9to5Mac). Apple customers must convert their AOL username to an Apple ID account in order to maintain access to the storefronts following the deadline."Starting March 31, 2015, AOL will...

Google announced on Monday that it has released YouTube Kids [Direct Link] on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The new app provides children and families with a kid-friendly portal to discover and explore videos about anything they can possibly imagine. The family-focused content is appropriate for children and broken down into four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. YouTube...

Apple is hiring away Samsung employees working on next-generation technology, including signal- and visual-processing management, according to The Korea Times. The report, citing unnamed officials at the South Korean tech giant, also claims that Apple has expanded its recruitment efforts to focus on Samsung personnel with expertise in battery technology amid rumors that it is working on an ele...

Apple announced on Monday that it will invest €1.7 billion to build and operate two new data centers in Europe. The state-of-the-art facilities will be located in County Galway, Ireland and the Central Jutland Region of Denmark, powering Apple's online services such as the App Store, iTunes Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers.“We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in ...

Apple's alleged automotive team consisting of hundreds of employees working on an electric vehicle includes several former Tesla, Ford and GM employees, according to 9to5Mac. The report reveals that Apple has also recruited talent from smaller firms in the automotive industry and other fields, including A123 Systems, MIT Motorsports, Ogin, Autoliv, Concept Systems and General Dynamics. The...

Snowman on Thursday released its highly-anticipated title Alto's Adventure [Direct Link] on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Alto's Adventure is a beautiful endless runner featuring physics-based gameplay, procedurally generated terrain based on real-world snowboarding, fully dynamic lighting, dynamic weather effects, six unique snowboarders and more. The game departs from the freemium model...

Google on Thursday quietly released an update for Inbox by Gmail [Direct Link] with universal support for iPad, as spotted by TechCrunch. The latest version of the app should be rolling out on the App Store in the United States and elsewhere today, transforming the previously iPhone-only software into a universal iOS app. Version 1.2 also includes an assortment of bug fixes and performance...

Earlier this week, in a report about the Apple Watch's missing health features, The Wall Street Journal claimed that Apple has placed 5 to 6 million Apple Watch orders with overseas suppliers ahead of the wrist-worn device's launch in April. The report specified that half of the first-quarter orders will be allocated to the entry-level Apple Watch Sport, while one-third of shipments will be...

Touch ID could be headed to the next-generation MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, according to a sketchy rumor from Taiwanese website Apple.club.tw [Google Translate]. The report, citing sources, claims that the fingerprint scanner will be positioned above the trackpad on MacBooks and integrated directly into the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad for desktop Mac users....

Apple has invited third-party developers to its headquarters in Cupertino, California to allow them to test and finalize apps for the Apple Watch, according to 9to5Mac. The report claims that developers have been arriving at One Infinite Loop this month to work with Apple engineers on finishing WatchKit-based apps in categories such as sports, productivity and finance."The developers invited by...

Google's security team Project Zero recently announced some changes to its bug disclosure policy after controversially exposing Apple and Microsoft security flaws when the companies failed to meet the 90-day deadline. The new disclosure deadline has a 14-day grace period and excludes weekends and public holidays, providing tech companies with more time to properly address security vulnerabilities ...

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive has been interviewed in an exhaustive profile with The New Yorker, in which he discusses a number of topics ranging from Steve Jobs to the Apple Watch. The interview provides a rare glimpse inside Apple's design studio at Two Infinite Loop at its Cupertino headquarters, as Ive shares some of his experiences working at Apple over the past few decades. The...

A largely unmarked van with rooftop cameras, similar to the one originally spotted roaming Bay Area streets earlier this month, has been captured on video in Palo Alto, California. MacRumors obtained the footage from reader Jonathan Shiu, who recently recorded the van driving past Juana Briones Park on Clemo Avenue, a residential side street located approximately 10 miles from Apple's...

French website Nowhereelse.fr has shared new photos for another possible third-party case for the so-called "iPad Pro" tablet. The black protective cover has cutouts for a Lightning connector, rear-facing camera and microphone, volume rocker, mute switch and power button, consistent with previous iPad Air and iPad mini designs. The case does not have a cutout on the left side like the to">purporte...