App Store

Apple is investigating fraudulent activity following reports of a Russian hacker who found and published a way to make illegal in-app purchases. The Cupertino, Calif., company told the Los Angeles Times it is looking into the reports. "The security of the App Store is incredibly important to us and the developer community," said Natalie Harrison, an Apple spokeswoman. "We take reports of fraudulent activity very seriously, and we are investigating. " Alexey Borodin discovered a method to steal content from iOS apps by making in-app purchases without actually paying any money.

Nvidia, a semiconductor maker, said as many as 400,000 of its users' passwords were stolen by hackers. The company, which makes parts used in Apple and Google products, among others, said attacks this month resulted in hackers compromising its users' encrypted passwords. As a result, the company told the Los Angeles Times, it has suspended five of its websites as it investigates the matter. A spokesman for the company said that despite the passwords being "scrambled using an encrypted algorithim," hackers were still able to steal them, according to a report by the Associated Press . Nvidia told the Los Angeles Times that the accounts belonged to users of the Nvidia Forum, Developer Zone and Research Site, which the company has now suspended.

Details of an upcoming update for Twitter's iPhone app leaked this weekend, showing the app will be receiving a major overhaul in its next version. The leak, which somehow made its way onto the iOS 6 version of the App Store, showed Twitter will be adding a lot more features as well as aiming to improve the app's performance. The 4.3 version of the app will add features for interactivity, better notifications, improved searching and more, according to a report. The Twitter app will receive changes to make it more like the social network's website, including content previews for Twitter's partner websites, which will show videos, images and other material inside tweets within the app. Changes to the app's notifications are getting revamped.

Apple issued a statement late Thursday saying it has resolved App Store issues that were plaguing recently updated apps with crashes. After the problem arose early Thursday with developer blogs and later news reports that more than 50 iOS and Mac apps were being affected by crashes that would immediately shut down apps, the Cupertino, Calif., tech company began telling developers that it was stepping in. Then Thursday evening the company sent...

As many as 64,000 Americans' computers may still be affected by malware that will cause them to lose Internet service come Monday, so if you haven't already, make sure you aren't among them. There's various ways to test your computer for the DNS Changer Malware, and we've included a few in this post. But remember, this applies only to Windows users, so if your computer has an apple logo with a bite taken out of it, you're fine. If you want to go the most official route possible, head to the FBI's site . With the FBI, you know you're dealing with the most trusted source on this matter -- it's the agency that caught the people who began this whole madness -- but its method of checking is also a bit time consuming.

If you've ever been in a did-that-really-just-happen scenario, you might have wished you had a recorder running -- particularly when it comes to run-ins with the law. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey just released an app that allows Android phone users to record and store their interactions with police to "hold police accountable. " The app, cleverly called "Police Tape," also includes legal information about citizens' rights during encounters with law enforcement.

Good artists copy, but does the saying apply to retailers too? Best Buy hopes so, as it's converting 60 of its locations into Apple Store lookalikes, according to a new report. The new stores, dubbed "Best Buy 2.0," take several plays from Apple's book, including a new help desk reminiscent of Apple's Genius Bar, more focus on mobile devices, and the ability to let shoppers pay from more locations. The help desk, called Solution Central, is manned by Best Buy's Geek Squad, according to the report.

Apple's App Store may be experiencing some problems, possibly evidenced by various recently updated iOS apps that are inexplicably crashing. Numerous apps that have just been updated, many of which happened on Wednesday, have been crashing immediately after launching, causing issues for their developers. Instapaper developer Marco Arment wrote about the issue Wednesday, pointing out all the problems his recent app has been suffering that share characteristics with that of at least 50 other apps, on iOS and Mac. Apple hasn't responded to Arment, the Los Angeles Times or other publications' requests for comment, but it appears Instapaper's issues are over.

A report says Apple shut down its MobileMe service Sunday, and on Monday, the company reminded iWork.com users that the end of their service is next. The two moves are part of an effort to steer users toward using iCloud, a cloud-computing service Apple launched last year at its Worldwide Developers Conference similar to the two services Apple is ending. MobileMe launched in early January 2000 under the name iTools, and since then, it underwent several brand-name changes until finally being named MobileMe in 2008 in a relaunch alongside the iPhone 3G, the second version of Apple's mobile operating system and the iPhone App Store.

Today is the day for "iPhone 5" -- well, iPhone's 5th, actually. It was five years ago today that the very first iPhone owners felt the addictive iGot-it rush of the hottest gadget on the planet at that time, Apple's revolutionary device.  More than just an iPod that makes calls, the iPhone's debut and success shifted the already co-dependent relationship between people and their phones to more of a symbiotic synergy, encouraging and ushering...