President Obama Isn’t Allowed To Use The iPhone Because It Isn’t Secure Enough

Apparently Apple’s security isn’t quite up to par. The Secret Service forbids Obama from using the premier smartphone, which he told people at an Affordable Care Act awareness event.

“I’m not allowed for security reasons to have an iPhone” Obama

He has been photographed using Macbooks and iPads in the past, so the ban does not extend to all Apple products. The President’s phone of choice is a 2007 Blackberry, a company much more trusted by Federal clandestine agencies.

The Reuters coverage of this story had a couple fascinating nuggets of information. Obama said that only about 10 people have his personal email address, but that is enough for him to need a smartphone.

Their report also shared that former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton both did not send any emails during their presidencies.

H/T: Reuters, Top Photo Credit: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

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Walmart to sell iPhone 5C for $79, iPhone 5S for $189

With Apple's two new devices poised to hit stores, the retail chain unveils a discount with the standard two-year contract and will offer a trade-in deal for people looking to get rid of certain older smartphones.

The iPhone 5C.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Consumers looking to pick up either of the two new iPhones can save a bit of cash via Walmart.

The company announced Thursday that it will sell the 16GB iPhone 5C for $79, or $20 off the full retail price, and the 16GB iPhone 5S for $189, a savings of $10 off the full price. Those prices require the standard two-year contract with the carrier of your choice.

But existing smartphone owners who wait until Saturday, September 21, can save still more by trading in their current phone to Walmart for a 5C or 5S accompanied by the usual two-year agreement.Customers can preorder the 5C starting Friday at their local Walmart store. Preorders will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis and must be picked up by September 25. The 5C goes on sale Friday, September 20. Apple didn't make the iPhone 5S available for preorders, so customers will have to wait until September 20 for the chance to snag one.

Walmart is also treating Apple's older fleet of iPhones to a discount.

As of today, the 16GB iPhone 5 drops in price to $79 from $98. The 8GB and 16GB iPhone 4S now are priced at just 97 cents. And starting September 16, the iPhone 4 will cost you a dime and come with a $100 Walmart gift card. All of those prices naturally require a two-year agreement.

Buyers who prefer an unlocked iPhone can purchase the iPhone 5 for $549 and the iPhone 4 for $349 through Walmart's Straight Talk prepaid plan. Both represent a savings of $100 from the previous price and will be available to customers starting Saturday.

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Apple invention would let you check the status of another iPhone user

A newly-published patent application outlines a method to check the availability of another iPhone user that you want to call.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple has envisioned a way to see if a fellow iPhone user is free to talk before you even complete the call.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent appropriately called "Methods to determine availability of user based on mobile phone status," describes just that process.

How many times do you call someone only to get dumped into voice mail? Maybe the person isn't available or is in a dead zone or has just turned on Airplane mode. Apple's proposed invention seeks to eliminate that uncertainty by alerting you to the person's status right off the bat.

To accomplish this feat, a person's iPhone would talk to Apple on the backend to report its status and call preferences. Such settings as location, signal strength, battery life, and mode (Normal, Airplane, or Vibration) would be sent to Apple's servers. A fellow iPhone user who attempts to call that person would see the status of the callee's phone on the screen and can then decide whether to complete the call.

(Credit: Apple/USPTO)

In essence, your phone would borrow a key feature from instant messaging in which you can see if someone is online, offline, free, or busy.

As Apple describes it in typical patent language:

A command is received at an operating system of a first mobile phone for displaying contact information of a remote user having a mobile phone number of a second mobile phone. In response to the command, a request is transmitted to a remote server from the first mobile phone over a cellular network requesting an operating status of the second mobile phone. The operating status of the second mobile phone is received from the remote server over the cellular network. The operating status of the second mobile phone is displayed on a display of the first mobile phone as a part of contact information of the remote user associated with the second mobile phone, where the operating status includes current locality of the second mobile phone.

Such an invention does bring up privacy issues. What if you don't want Apple and other people to know your status? Assuming this feature ever even sees the light of day, Apple would presumably offer you a way to simply turn it off.

(Via AppleInsider)

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In US: More phone buyers ditch Samsung for Apple

More people are ditching Samsung for the Apple iPhone than the other way round, according to new figures from the US.

The figures suggest Apple has poached three times as many new phone buyers from Samsung in the past year as Samsung has pinched from Apple.

A survey of US customers by the numbercrunchers at Consumer Intelligence Research Partners checked in with 500 mobile phone buyers every three months over the past year. The Telegraph reports the figures show a fifth of new iPhone buyers are ditching Android for Apple, but only seven per cent of Samsung buyers are coming the other way.

Comparing Apple to Samsung is fair considering Samsung is the biggest phone manufacturer in the world. But it's worth pointing out that someone ditching Android only really has Apple to choose from, whereas someone abandoning Apple has a lot more choice: Samsung, HTC, Sony and so on.

However, when buying a smart phone for the first time, the figures suggest most people go for Android rather than Apple. That's probably got a lot to do with the vast range of phones running Android -- and the friendlier range of price tags.

Meanwhile 42 per cent of iPhone buyers upgrade from a previous iPhone. iPhone buyers also tend to be younger, richer, and better educated.

Which is better: Apple or Android? Do you think things are the same here in the Philippines? 

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Best Buy kicks off new iPhone trade-in deal

The new promo doles out a $100 or $200 gift card in exchange for a working iPhone 4 or 4S, good toward the purchase of an iPhone 5.

(Credit: Screenshot by Catherine Beltran)

Best Buy has launched its latest trade-in deal for iPhone 4S or 4 owners looking to score an iPhone 5.

People who trade in a working iPhone 4S will receive a $200 gift card, while those who trade in an iPhone 4 will snag a $100 gift card. Those gift cards can then be applied toward the purchase of an iPhone 5 with the usual two-year agreement.

Available only in Best Buy stores, the promo started on Thursday, August 15, and runs until Sunday, August 18. As always, certain conditions apply. The offer is good for Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint customers, but not for those on T-Mobile. No-contract iPhones are also off the list. And customers have to be eligible for a new two-year contract.

The phone that you trade in must be able to power on. Units damaged by water and those with cracked screens won't be accepted.

Assuming you and your phone meet the conditions, the deal is a good way to get an iPhone 5 at a more budget-friendly price

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