Admittedly, this post should probably be titled “Apple Trends” – the past week’s been pretty saturated with fruit. So be it.

iPhone location tracking

In a blowup that we’ve all heard about, iOS 4′s been discovered to store a file, consolidated.db, that contains latitude and longitude coordinates of its location history.  The issue’s hit the mainstream news, and a good amount of people are now freaking out that “Apple knows where I am”. It’s important to understand that the file is stored locally, not on Apple’s servers. Maybe I’ve been conditioned by the use of Foursquare and the like, but I don’t see a huge cause for concern. The lack of user consent is a little disconcerting, but as long as users act with responsibility in the security of their device, there shouldn’t be an opportunity for anyone to snatch the file. That means don’t jailbreak, install OpenSSH, and leave the default password.

iPhone 5 (4S) buzz building

It’s been pretty well-circulated that the iPhone 5 won’t be coming until after June, and if Reuters is anywhere near the mark, it looks like September is the magic month. The next-generation phone’s also being rumored to sport an A5 processor; BGR somehow picked up a T-Mobile test device which backs up the theory. Deetz on the naming scheme weren’t given, but I’d hope Apple continues with “iPhone 5″ for the sake of consistency, although my bets are on the rumored “iPhone 4S” based on the history of “3G” and “3GS”. Both are consistent in their own right, though, depending if you compare it to numerical progressions or past devices.

Apple sues Samsung…and vice versa

Apple’s suing Samsung based on allegations that TouchWiz has too many user interface similarities to iOS.  I’ve never used a Samsung device full-time, but I’m not sold on the similarities between the two platforms, especially when a lawsuit’s in play. The whole idea of skinning Android has never been something I’m fond of, but Apple’s taking the wrong approach in granularly comparing color schemes and icons. An OS shouldn’t be defined by textbook UI elements, but by the overall feeling that washes over the user when using the device. In that respect, TouchWiz can’t *touch* iOS; unfortunately, that “overall feeling” is extremely difficult to quantify. So let’s just sue each other.

Phat beats in the cloud

Reuters is at it yet again, claiming that Apple’s positioned to beat Google to market in rolling out a cloud music storage platform. Regardless of internal progress, I doubt Apple will announce anything too soon, even at WWDC. The scenario that makes the most sense to me would be an expansion of their typical September music event to include the unveiling of the iPhone 5/4S in conjunction with the music service. The race to 1.0 probably won’t be as huge of a deal as it’s being made out to be, though – both Apple and Google have a solid base of users, and each platform’s users will end up using the respective service independent of the other.

Thoughts? Nervously looking around and taking a hammer to your iPhone? Supporting Apple or Samsung in the series of lawsuits? Comment away!

I’m Flipping out!

After a pretty decent run in the portable video space, Cisco‘s finally admitting defeat to smartphones. They’ve just discontinued the Flip line, cutting a good 550 jobs. The entire purpose of the Flip was to be quick and portable, but now that cameras in phones have finally caught up, it’s losing in its own category. Bound to happen at some point.

Re-Kindle your love for cheaper gadgets

Really dying to get your hands on a Kindle, but short $25? Amazon’s running a promotion where Kindles will go on sale for $114 with banner ads and sponsored screensavers. It’s interesting to see the ad-supported model sneak into the hardware space, although it’s not too different with what usually happens with bloatware-loaded PCs. The potential for equivalent jailbreaking might be possible, as well; I’m sure that someone along the way will figure out how to disable the ads. Not that I’m condoning that or anything.

Sony settlement reached in a Hotz minute

As of March 31, Sony’s settled with George Hotz. As part of the terms, Hotz will have to remove all of his PS3-hacking shenanigans from the Internet, although he never claimed to support piracy. The full terms weren’t released, but I’m glad to see this finally come to an end. Let’s just move on and start pumping those dollars back into developing better products, instead of targeting those who could, if correctly channeled, be a huge asset to the community.

Windows on ARM

The idea of Windows running on ARM processors has been floating out there for a good while, but has just now been confirmed. The strategy from Microsoft’s end seems to be an effort to keep up with the onslaught of tablets in the market, but I’m not sold on that alone. Windows isn’t the answer for tablets – they need to find a happy medium between Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 that works well specifically for a tablet form factor. Perhaps “Windows Tablet 7″?

AT&T-Mobile

Credit: Robert X. Cringely

AT&T is now acquriring T-Mobile for $39 billion. The fusing of the two will result in the US’s largest carrier, although the complete process will take a good year to go through. I suppose AT&T won’t have to worry too much about people unlocking to go to T-Mobile anymore, although I’m definitely curious to see how the buyout affects the quality of service. It’s a little concerning that AT&T wasn’t investing $39 billion in quantifiably bettering their network, although, granted, the acquisition won’t be in straight cash.

AT&T brings the hammer down on tetherers

It’s bad news for all of those out there running MyWi on jailbroken iPhones – AT&T is finally catching on. They’re sending out messages to tetherers letting them know they’ll have a plan added if they don’t stop. It’s interesting to see this start to happen right as the T-Mobile acquisition was announced; I’m curious if there’s some undisclosed agreement that AT&T would do this, or if they just decided to start cleaning up the network. Or make up for the $39 billion dent in their bank account.

IE9

Figured I'd stick with the Death Star meme.

In a vast improvement from IE6, Microsoft’s newly released IE9 is hitting the presses, being downloaded roughly 27 times per second. I’ve stayed as far away as possible from Internet Explorer in my entire life, but after giving IE9 a spin in a virtual machine, I actually don’t hate it. The user interface places lots of emphasis on the actual website; the browser seems to fade away. But regardless of how much improvement Microsoft’s made, it’s as much of a branding issue as it is a technical issue.

Full feature film promoted on BitTorrent

This is plain awesome. Paramount Pictures is actually leveraging BitTorrent in a positive way to get a new movie, Tunnel, out to the masses. They’re taking donations from individuals across the web, and will publish a torrent free of charge when production’s completed. I’m surprised at how easily  Paramount’s going along with this, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.