As part of a series they're doing on the "i-economy," the NYT published a piece over the weekend pointing out that Apple, despite making insane, record-breaking profits last year, paid hardly a dime more in corporate taxes than they had the previous year. How'd they get away with that, you ask? The same way many corporations do these days, by keeping offices in low-tax places like Nevada, Ireland, and Luxembourg and skirting around existing tax law however they can. more ›

Google Drive launched today, as you may have heard everywhere on the internet. It's like Apple iCloud, or any other cloud-storage thing, only it's a virtual hard drive, and syncs up with your other Google stuff, and its name isn't as pretty. more ›

Apple is working on an iPad mini, or so says the rumor mill. How mini, you ask? An average yet still very satisfying 7 inches. It will run a bit longer than the iPhone, which measures a small 4.5". It will reportedly be available this fall (to coincide with the release of Windows 8). An estimated 6 million units will be ready for launch, and it could sell anywhere between $249 to $299. more ›

Setting aside for a moment that Chinese workers may or may not be getting mistreated and overworked so that you can have your iPads and iPhones, we bring you this heart-warming tale of a seventeen-year-old student in the city of Chenzhou, China, who decided to sell one of his kidneys in exchange for $3,500, with which he bought an iPhone and iPad. "Where'd you get the money for that?" his mother asked, noticing one of his shiny new Apple products. "Oh, I sold a kidney," the kid apparently told her. more ›

At the risk of ruining the start of the work week, we have some worrisome casting news: Ashton Kutcher, star of That ’70s Show and Two and a Half Men, will play Steve Jobs in an upcoming indie flick. The movie, tentatively titled Jobs, will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern and written by Matt Whiteley. It will center around Jobs's life "from his relatively wayward youth to his involvement in the creation of Apple," notes NYT. more ›

Hindsight is 20/20 and blah blah. It's easy for us to go negative on the much-besmirched character of Mike Daisey, the monologist who took on Apple and has come away just sounding butt-hurt that anyone ever tried to make him into a journalist. "It's theater!" is his basic excuse, and more recently, "My wife made me do it!" But we saw Daisey perform one of his other monologues, The Last Cargo Cult, at Berkeley Rep last year, and not only did it kind of annoy us, it left us feeling like we'd just been preached at for two hours by a sweating man sitting at a table whose favorite punctuation mark was the F-word. more ›

Do a few Kindles and iPods and iPads really pose a threat to airline safety? We have always wondered this. Especially while sitting on the ground at JFK waiting an hour to take off. And it turns out the FAA really isn't sure, and no one has tested different scenarios involving planes and the various and sundry devices that are now like extra appendages, with us at every waking moment. Likely under pressure from wealthy Apple and others, the FAA is now bringing together "key stakeholders" in the great electronic-device debate to see if we can't come to a compromise that will allow you not to be bored for fifteen minutes, ever, during takeoff and landing. more ›

In a conference call for Wall Street and tech reporters this morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the company would pay out some $45 billion to investors over the next three years by issuing a $2.65 per share stock dividend and buying back $10 billion in stock. With the dividend plan, the company hopes to attract a new set of investors looking to hop on board with Cupertino Gravy Train. more ›

As expected, a crowd of roughly 100 eager gadget hoarders gathered at the Apple Store on Stockton Street last night and early this morning to wait out those final sopping and anxious hours before the release of the latest high-resolution miracle toy. more ›

Just like the release of the iPhone 4s and iPad 2, tomorrow's new iPad release at the Stockton Street Apple store in San Francisco will play host to a group of protesters. And this year, things could get more rousing than that previous Apple store melee. This American Life, as you may recall, recently revealed that the working conditions at Foxconn — one of Apple's primary factories, where workers "toil for low pay in exploitative conditions to make our shiny Apple products" — are, well, deplorable. more ›

Those of us with an iPhone 4S boasting Apple's personal-assistant Siri, we understand the frustration when the nice lady inside our phone doesn't grasp a word we're saying. However, one New York man has had enough of Siri's hearing impairment so he's taking the Cupertino company to court. As reported in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Frank M. Fazio has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, "saying that the company has been 'misleading and deceptive' about what the iPhone 4S virtual assistant can do." more ›

Part of what makes Apple's fandom so rabid is the act and art of opening up a new Apple product. Like mainlining heroin, it's a quick high that the buyer can never reach again no matter how long or hard they use the doohickey itself. Apple is smart like that. A first look at the new iPad being unboxed, touched, and caressed comes to us from Vietnam, where users got their hands on an LTE-capable model days ahead of Friday's official launch, notes Apple Insider. more ›

Siri — the iPhone 4S's personal-assistant feature that lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls, set reminders, and ask filthy questions — has come under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union for being a shady lady. Why? Because, it seems, she's sending Apple your precious personal data "for a variety of purposes." more ›

Before Apple's big next-generation iPad media vent hits Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday, word has it that the Cupertino company will drop the numbers game when it comes to naming the new iPad. Specifically, they're going to call the new tablet the "iPad HD" and not "iPad 3." The name will reflect the device's new high-definition capabilities and look. more ›

Laughing Squid brings our attention this this video, created by Boing Boing's Rob Beschizza, showcasing almost every Apple design in 30 seconds. Enjoy. more ›

Hey, rabid iPad fans, get ready to change your pad for one that's clearer, crisper, and thinner. According to All Things D, Apple will announce the iPad 3 (or, worse, the iPad 2S) in the first week of March. "Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these." more ›

Sigh. Remember Google TV? Yeah, we barely do. Anyway, the Bay Area's most well publicized employer is working on their first real foray into the world of entertainment hardware, with the intent of releasing something that's only being referred to as an "entertainment device" sometime this year. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the thing is a music device for the home, probably Bluetooth-enabled, and we're guessing unattractive. more ›

Apple reports its highest quarterly revenue and earnings ever, due in large part to sales of remarkable iPhone 4S. (We love our new white iPhone 4S more than anything else on Earth. This SFist editor and every privileged tween girl in SoCal thank you for the bitchin' phone, Apple!) "Apple's stock was up about 8% in after-hours trading about two hours after the market closed, which put its share price at $454," reports Information Week. "At that value, Apple's market capitalization stands at $423 billion, more than previous market cap leader Exxon Mobil, worth $418 billion." more ›

Aside from speculation that Steve Jobs' last initiative as CEO of the revered technology company was to finally conquer the clunky interfaces of television and the usual "when does it come out?" rumors about the next version of the iPad, news out of Cupertino in the wake of Jobs' passing seems calmer than the usual feverish flood of fanboyism. So, just imagine for a moment the gloss of disappointment in the eyes of hardware fetishists everywhere when AllThingsD broke the news that this month's big announcement from Apple will focus on (snooze) iBooks, publishing and possibly advertising as well. more ›

There is a fresh "assault" in the works from Apple on the TV industry, and a piece in today's Wall Street Journal focuses on some recent meetings that Apple execs have been having with a range of media companies, some at the request of said companies which are nervously biting their nails trying to figure out what Apple has up its sleeve next. more ›

The contract that established Apple Computer Company sold at auction today for a whopping $1.59 million. Purchased via phone by an anonymous bidder, the contract was signed on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. more ›

Sunday's New York Times features the eulogy Steve Jobs' sister, writer Mona Simpson, delivered at his funeral. Describing her brother's last hours, she reveals his simple yet touching final words: more ›

Filmed on October 19 at the Cupertino headquarters, Apple posted the entire Steve Jobs memorial on their site. It's available on Safari, so if you're using Chrome (like any rational, clear-thinking person) or Firefox, you can't view it just yet. However, if you're on a Mac, go to your "recent items" and click on the oft-ignored Safari icon to see Al Gore and Tim Cook talk about the fallen Apple visionary. You can also watch Gwyneth Platrow's husband's band perform a song in honor of Steve Jobs, among other notables moments. more ›

Before he died, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted to world to know that he deeply regretted "wasting time" on alternative medicine while trying to combat his pancreatic cancer. During a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson said: more ›