Apple has launched an iPhone repair pilot program for Apple Certified Service Providers in Canada that will allow certain certified centers to offer iPhone repairs after store technicians have completed Apple-required iOS Certification. According to a tipster, the third party service sites will be able to offer repairs for the battery, camera, speaker, and more, after the program launches in the next few weeks. In addition to passing an iOS Qualification exam, Service Provider technicians have also been required to attend several training sessions to learn how to disassemble the iPhone. While the program is currently limited to Canada, it seems reasonable to suspect that it may roll out to other countries in the future should the test run prove successful. Documents given out to technicians suggest that Apple is aiming to provide a quality alternate repair option for its customers in Canada, while cutting down on unauthorized Apple repairs.Program Overview – Goals 1....

DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim is going back on statements he made back in May, when he said the next model of the iPad mini -- expected this fall -- would come equipped with a Retina display and an updated processor. In an added twist, before he made that statement, Shim said the Retina iPad mini would not ship before 2014. Now, Shim writes that Apple will refresh its iPad mini line later this year, but the Retina display will not make an appearance before 2014. Apple is expected to refresh its iPad mini in the second half of the year. The new iPad mini will continue to use a 7.9-inch display with a 1024×768 resolution, but it will use the iOS 7 operating system and an A6 processor, in a slimmer design than the...

Though Microsoft has been making a strong push to disrupt Apple's foothold in the education market by offering K–12 schools its Surface tablets at the low price of $199, its pricing incentives didn't have an effect on the Los Angeles Unified School District, reports AllThingsD. On Tuesday night, the school board voted to spend $30 million dollars on Apple iPads, which will see the company equipping every student in the district with a tablet.The deal, which was approved in a 6–0 vote by the district's school board, will see Apple supplying about 35,000 iPads to 47 LAUSD schools at a cost of about $678 per device. That's higher than retail, but I'm told the devices are to be preloaded with an assortment of educational software prior to distribution —...

When tethering an iPhone or an iPad, iOS users have the option of using an automatically generated password for their personal hotspots, which Apple implemented to provide all users with a secure password option. According to researchers at Germany's University of Erlangen (via ZDNeT), the way that the keys are generated – with a combination of a short English word along with random numbers – is predictable to the point where the researchers are able to crack the hotspot password in less than a minute. In their paper, the three researchers detail the process that they used to figure out the weak spots in the hotspot's protection. Apple's word list uses approximately 52,500 entries, so initially, cracking the hotspot took almost 50 minutes. After finding a WiFi connection, the...

Apple today announced a software update for its Apple TV set-top box adding new channels including WatchESPN and HBO GO. The update also brings live streaming of the UK's Sky News, as well as anime site Crunchyroll and music concert and documentary streaming service Qello.“HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We continue to offer Apple TV users great new programming options, combined with access to all of the incredible content they can purchase from the iTunes Store.” WatchESPN and HBO GO require that customers be subscribed to appropriate cable TV services, while Sky News offers free live streams to users in the US, UK, and Ireland. The update arrives as Apple TV software version 5.3 and is available now for the second- and third-generation...

The US Patent & Trademark Office recently showed activity in a series of Apple trademark filings related to Siri. Three were updated on June 13 and another was updated in mid-May. We usually don't cover many trademark applications as we now cover trademarks when USPTO deems them to be Registered Trademarks. Yet there are always exceptions and in the case of Siri, Apple may have provided us with a few hints at what could be next for our intelligent personal assistant. One of them was for ...

Last year, roughly a month before Apple released OS X Mountain Lion, it extended its beta program to certain Apple Retail Store staff members. This year, the company appears to be doing something similar. 9to5Mac reports that retail store staff are again being invited to try the beta of OS X Mavericks. You are invited to participate in the pre-release OS X Mavericks seed program. Participation, including submitting feedback, is completely voluntary and not an expectation of your job. If you accept, we will provide you with a pre-release version of OS X Mavericks to install and use. You will get to preview all of the exciting new features like iBooks, Maps, Calendar, Safari, iCloud Keychain, Multiple Displays,...

During last week's WWDC Keynote, Apple's CEO Tim Cook emphasized a series of iOS strengths in the form of statistics. Market share stats, of course, don't always tell the full story. For instance, Android is statistically the leading smartphone operating system in volume, but not in profits. Apple still rules the profits stat where it really matters. That being said, Apple's CEO kept hammering stats home to their developer community to show them that iOS is still number one in the market. Yet the ...

Macotakara points to a blog post [Google translation] from case design firm MGM showing off a new case intended to fit Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone. The photos reveal a case that is largely identical to iPhone 5 cases, with the exception of being approximately 2 mm thicker. iPhone 5 case (left) vs. lower-cost iPhone case (right) Macotakara has also posted a hands-on video of the case. In the video, an iPhone 5 is placed into the case and appears to fit fairly well. It is clear, however, that the case is intended for a device with rounded edges rather than the squared edges of the iPhone 5. Descriptions of the lower-cost iPhone having curved rear edges date back to a...

Earlier today, we noted that photos of what was claimed to be the bare logic board of the iPhone 5S had surfaced, showing some changes to the board's layout compared to the iPhone 5 and perhaps even a slight narrowing of the board itself. Several repair firms, including iHeart Repair, have shared with MacRumors a new set of images from a supplier showing the display assembly of the iPhone 5S. While the low-resolution images do not immediately reveal any significant changes to the technology behind the device's display, there is one item of interest supporting the claim that the logic board photos from earlier today are genuine. iPhone 5S display assembly The iPhone 5 and 5S display assemblies each contain a pair of connectors on flex cables at the top of the part, supporting the display itself and the digitizer for registering touch input. On the...