Apple

It's not every day that someone throws down more than $40,000 for a short document, but that is exactly what Tristar Productions CEO Jeff Rosenberg did Thursday.

This was no ordinary document, however. It was a signed legal agreement between Steve Jobs and businessman Robert Friedland from August 17, 1978. The 8-page document was up for auction at RR Auction house and sold for $40,045.

"In 30 years of business we have only offered one other Jobs item -- a signature; this document, incredibly substantial and significant in its connection to a major figure in his … Read more

A University of Tokyo professor and industrial designer had high praise for the iPhone 5S' quality and attention to detail.

Shunji Yamanaka, founder and president of Leading Edge Design and associate professor at University of Tokyo, said the iPhone 5S has been improved over the iPhone 5 and in small -- and in most cases imperceptible -- ways that point to Apple's meticulous approach to design.

He was cited as part of an article Nikkei published Thursday (subscription required), titled "iPhone 5S' beauty is in the details."

The design improvements for the 5S can be compared to … Read more

Apple's iPhone 5S could see sales of 175 million for the current fiscal year and 193 million the following year, predicts Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley.

These latest estimates are an upgrade from the previous predictions of 171 million for fiscal 2014 -- which ends next September -- and 186 million for fiscal 2015. Why the bump? Walkley attributed the new forecast to two factors.

Surveys taken by Canaccord Genuity point to strong iPhone 5S sales, pegging it as the top-selling smartphone around the world and at all four of the major US carriers. A report out Thursday from … Read more

Apple has cooked up a novel way to thwart cybercriminals who serve up malware via spoofed Web pages.

A patent application called "Graphical user interface element incorporating real-time environment data" published Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office describes a method to automatically update your browser's interface in real time. Okay, so how would that impede Web page spoofers?

To trick people into visiting malicious Web sites, the bad guys can mimic or spoof parts of your browser's GUI (graphical user interface). Clicking on a link or entering log-in credentials on one of these spoofed … Read more

Apple may be one step closer to selling the iPhone 5S to the vast number of China Mobile subscribers.

A new reservation page posted by the carrier touts the coming of a 4G LTE phone, inviting people to sign up for preorders. The page doesn't mention Apple's smartphone by name but clearly shows an image of the 5S smack dab in the center.

And in a tip received from a couple of CNET readers, lopping off the yuyue/order.html part of the page's URL results in http://www.bj.10086.cn/service/mobile/mingxingji/, which lists … Read more

A 15-year-old factory worker in a Pegatron facility in Shanghai died recently of pneumonia. And according to Apple's medical experts, conditions in the Pegatron facility had nothing to do with it.

Apple last month sent medical experts to the Pegatron facility in Shanghai to determine whether the worker's death had anything to do with the working conditions at the factory where iPhones and iPad Minis are built. The pneumonia, the medical experts determined, did not relate to work in the factory or the production of Apple products.

"Last month we sent independent medical experts from the U.… Read more

Apple's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5 both outsold Samsung's Galaxy S4 worldwide in October, says market researcher Counterpoint.

In its latest Market Pulse report released Thursday, Counterpoint said that the iPhone 5S retained its top spot for global smartphone sales in spite of supply shortages that forced customers to wait to snag the phone. As 5S supply has ramped up, the research firm expects Apple to meet even stronger demand for November and December.

The iPhone 5 took home second place in Counterpoint's rankings, leaving the Galaxy S4 in third. The iPhone 5C was No. 4, followed … Read more

Apple's older iPhones and iPads will still be allowed for sale in South Korea.

A judge for the Seoul Central District Court dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday that was brought by Samsung and aimed to ban sales of Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2, according to Reuters. Samsung's claim was for more than $95,000 in damages.

"We are disappointed by the court's decision," a Samsung spokesperson told CNET. "As Apple has continued to infringe our patented mobile technologies, we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights.&… Read more

Google filled in a missing piece of its Chrome Apps puzzle on Wednesday when it announced it finally has added Mac support for its new app-ification of the Web.

Chrome Apps are Web apps that function even without an Internet connection, and they must be run in Chrome. They can display desktop notifications, they have access to Bluetooth and USB, and they can interact with digital cameras and other peripherals like native apps. But they also act like Web sites, with cross-platform syncing and in-app payments.

The ecosystem has faced criticism for "breaking the Web," an accusation that … Read more