Your iPhone or Mac May Lose Apple Repair Support in June

According to the internal documents obtained by 9to5mac, multiple iPhone and Mac models will be tagged as obsolete on June 9

According to the internal company documents obtained by the folks over at 9to5mac, Apple is about to axe support for multiple models of Macs, iPhone, and other products, as reported about Apple news. The Apple Care warranty will end as Apple purportedly plans to tag multiple models as “obsolete” this coming June and will stop providing support.

Once a device has been tagged as “obsolete” or vintage by the company, it will stop to provide services and repair facilities to users of those devices at its retail outlets, which are located in numerous locations across the world and operated by authorized service providers. The only exception to this rule are Apple Stores in Turkey or California, where if a device is marked as obsolete, the company still offer continued support. However, there’s no need to be alarmed, as Apple only adds 5-7 years old models to the list, which is more or less a lifetime in terms of tech devices. The list of devices with the vintage tag is maintained on the official website according to latest Apple news.

In addition to this, this year the original iPhone model will also finally loose its vintage tag in the United States. Apple previously tagged the device as obsolete in almost all the countries in 2013.

Quite a few Mac models are also going to be tagged as obsolete in June. These models include MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid-2009), iMac (20-inch, mid 2007), and iMac (24-inch, mid 2007). If any of these products are brought in for repair or service in AP/CN/EU/JP/LA/US stores, Apple personnel will decline service of the devices. Same as the original iPhone, a few more devices are also losing their vintage status, after gaining the obsolete tag in 2013. These devices include Xserve (Late 2006), MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHZ), MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHZ) AirPort Express Base Station, and Xserve RAID (SFP, Late 2004).

The status change for all the aforementioned devices will officially happen on June 9, 2015. Although, Apple is axing repair support for these devices by Apple Stores or Resellers, the company will offer continued support over phone for customers who have signed up for the AppleCare service.

The complete list is includes iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, along with the ones manufactured in China, along with original iPhone. As far as Macs are concerned, then these includes, MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2009), 2007 models of iMac- 20 and 24 inch. MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHZ) and MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHZ).

Alibaba's Gambit in Fighting Counterfeit Goods

Alibaba has been asked to look into the counterfeit goods that have been on its online stores for long now and the latest strive by the company is to create authentic brands in country for these illegal sectors.

Latest Alibaba news is regarding the criticism it has faced and also sued by Gucci, a luxury brand for the e-commerce giant facilitating the trade of counterfeit goods. At the same time, the company has been quietly planning a scheme in order to try curbing the fakes at this source.

Alibaba has been working with almost 17 shoe manufacturers in Fuijan, coastal city of Putian, to nurture the brands that are home grown, invigorate the flagging industry and also offer the would-be counterfeiters a source which is better or legal for livelihood. According to the critics, this planning and scheme is mistaken and the company should be focused on cleaning the marketplaces of all the listings of fake products which its online stores comprised of.

However, the “Made in China” plan is the reason, to some proponents as to why there has been little or limited progress in order to eliminate the fake goods; there is significant lack of alternatives that are this attractive for the ones that are creating and also hawking the goods that trespass on the property rights of others.

Alibaba news reports that Song Zonghu expressed, "You can crack down forever and never see an end to it. Creating new opportunities while cracking down is the way to go. Everybody has to eat."

The Internet Security director for the Chinese e-commerce giant, Ni Liang says that this scheme is an essential counterfeit initiative which the company has taken this year. The organization aims to expand this to the bags, toys, household electronics and various other industries. It hopes that by introducing local brands, these manufacturers involved in fake goods shall be turned away and shall serve the legit sectors.

The e-commerce giant has skilled the shoe manufacturers when it comes to the online business, or marketing and quality control, and how to run the sales promotions. A 3 day campaign was held and the shoe brands had sold more than 4 million pair of shoes.

A businessman, Song has seen the scheme of the e-commerce giant as one lifeline towards economy and also says that his Siweiqi brand shoes have a future depending on the continued support with exposure and sales promotion. The canvas shoes by his brand look like the Converse All-Stars.

Sales bump is one aspect, however building a brand that is successful is an entire other story. The CMR China says that the key for Alibaba is to let the world know that it is striving to crack on fakes. Making a new brand out of nowhere is a difficult thing that it is looking into.

Twitter Under Fire For Promoting Anti-Transgender Tweets

A tweet bullying the transgenders gets promoted on Twitter and causes stream of anger in the users.

Latest Twitter news that has been taking rounds since a long time and is not doing well in favor for the social network giant is regarding the sexist tweets being promoted. It had allowed a troll who could promote an abusive message which stated the transvestites should kill themselves.

The message had been written by a person who had been posing as Australian feminist Caitlin Roper who is a campaigner too. The person was posing under a fake account of the campaigner.

The tweet, as sexist as it could be, read “Trannies, getting surgery won’t change your gender. It will only turn you into a deformed freak. End your miserable existence. Kill yourself.”

It is shocking to read this tweet or see it on the social network that is famous for freedom of speech being taken into consideration but this was rude. The situation was worsen when the troll got allowed to promote the tweet by using the paid for ad services by Twitter.

Usually the way it works like is, the social network gets paid by the business a small amount which is usually of £2.50 per engagement and along with that, their message gets shared on the timelines of particular users. It is usually called ‘promoting a tweet’. However, in this case an abusive and sexist tweet got sent out and promoted which was not supposed to be promoted or exist for that matter. Therefore, unsurprisingly, there was a stream of anger and criticism that was experienced by the users on social media. After the tweet was reported by numerous users, the social network eventually removed the tweet and also suspended the account of the user via which such tweet got into limelight.

Twitter news reports that this is still not known to anyone, as to how such tweet got promoted in the first place. The social network was reached out by TWW (Telegraph Wonder Women) for an explanation towards such incident. The statement that was received is, "Twitter does not allow the promotion of hate content, including hate speech against a group based on sexual orientation or gender identity. As soon as we were made aware we removed the ad and suspended the account."

The incident has been disturbing in the context as to how CEO had been expressing his worries regarding the bullies and catering such issues on the platform, he had been on the mission of eliminating bullying and it was on the first priority for him. He had admitted that the social network was not up to the mark as far as security and scamming had been concerned.

Jack Ma Takes Pride In Women Employees At Alibaba While Silicon Valley Struggles Through Hiring Women More

Alibaba has 30 percent of total female workforce at the organization and it is more than that of Facebook and Google.

Latest Alibaba news is regarding the fact that the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant taking pride in the 34 percent leadership roles being held by women of the organization. The percentage that has been reported is higher than the one in Silicon Valley or the companies in it.

If we come to realize it, there have been many alleged accusations on the big tech giants showing signs of sexism. We are not sure how much of that is true but we do know that there are a very few women on the leadership roles for big tech giants. However, at the same time, Alibaba, Chinese e-commerce giant who has begun making its global presence with acquisitions and partnerships, has 34% females leading various departments or sectors in the organization. Alibaba news reports that the founder and driving force behind the e-commerce giant, Jack Ma has taken pride in this fact and calls the women “secret sauce” of the company.

The comment was made by the founder in the midst of first Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship by Alibaba being conducted in China where the organization had welcomed various high-profile renowned women who had been an inspiration as well. The list included Jessica Alba, Queen of the Netherlands, Arianna Huffington who is the founder of Huffington Post. The event had been utilized by the Chinese e-commerce site to promote the female entrepreneurship and also to display the gender diversity of the organization. This gender diversity has made the world question the other world renowned tech giants now. As of summer 2014, the female employees in Alibaba made up approximately the 34 percent of high level managers and also third of founding partners of the company. The company has stated that more than 40 percent of the workforce of the organization consists of female employees.

Ma expressed, “I feel proud that more than 34% of senior management are women. They really make this company’s yin and yang balanced.”

If we compare it with the other tech giants, for instance, Facebook’s total female workforce if 31 percent and the leadership has 23 percent of it. Google’s female workforce consisting of women is 30 percent and 21 percent of the company’s leadership. Cisco has 23 percent of female workforce and only 19 percent of the leadership.

However, despite the fact that Ma has shown feminist sentiment, his choice of words some times are stereotyping and too simplistic. At one point he has fallen short when there is ageism. Many eyebrows raised when he announced that CEO Jonathan Lu, had been replaced by Daniel Zhang as the motivation of having younger blood in the business.

LG Launches G4 Products

LG has introduced new high-tech smartphones.

The South Korean phone manufacturer, LG, has introduced new high-tech phones. LG news reported that the launched products, G4 Stylus and G4c, are two new variants of the company’s G4 smartphone, which would be offered in the coming weeks. The Stylus version would be available as LG G Stylo in the markets of Korea and North America.

LG news today informed that the product would arrive with third generation (3G) configurations and long-term evolution and would be supplied in floral white or metallic silver colors. The G4c would be released in a number of colors, including ceramic white, shiny gold colors, and metallic grey. Company sources have reported that the prices of the products and other details would be disclosed locally at the time of sale.

The features of stylus encompass a 5.7 inch display, a random access memory of 1 gigabyte, built-in storage of 8 gigabytes, micro universal serial bus, 5-megapixel front camera, Bluetooth 4.1, IPS display with a pixel density of 258ppi, microSD card, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC, etc. LG breaking news affirmed that a removable 3000mAh battery has been installed in the product. The stylus would be available in third generation (3G) and LTE variants.

Two different processors have been installed in the different versions of Stylus. LTE model would feature a 1.2 GHz quadcore processor, while a 3G version would come with a 1.4-gigahertz octa-core processor. Industry sources have informed that the 3G version would be equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, while the LTE version would feature a 13-megapixel camera.

The G4c would feature an IPS display offering 294ppi, 1.2-gigahertz quadcore processor, a RAM of 1 gigabyte, 8 gigabytes of built-in storage, etc. Market sources affirmed that two different cameras would become a part of the phone – an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. The other features of the product encompass a removable 2540 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.1, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of LG Electronics, Juno Cho, has stated that these advance phones are enough to exemplify the meaning of a premium high-tech phone experience. He further added that the management is interested in launching products that not only perform well but also look good. It is anticipated that the newly launched devices would attract a large number of users, as they have been equipped with modern features.

The company should now devise strategies to efficiently penetrate the products in different markets. The response of the users would determine and evaluate the performance of the devices.

Alibaba Sued For Counterfeiting Goods

Luxury brands have filed a lawsuit against Alibaba over counterfeiting goods on its platforms

Alibaba Group Holding is one of the biggest names in the world in the online wholesale and retailing market. The company has managed to grow immensely in a very short span of time where it is now competing with the biggest online retailers in the e-commerce market. Undoubtedly, it is the largest B2B business in the world. The fame of its unique online marketplace platforms for both buyers and sellers are in every corner of the world. However, it is believed that the company is being sued over counterfeiting goods by luxury brands.

Alibaba Group is known as one of the most reliable option in the online shopping world that guarantees quality at comparatively cheaper rates. However, the owners of various luxury brands of the world that are available through Alibaba’s online marketplaces are taking an action to take the e-commerce giant to court, according to latest Alibaba news. The luxury brands have filed a lawsuit against the Chinese company over fighting the sales of counterfeiting their products on its online platforms.

The few luxury brands that filed a lawsuit on Friday in the federal court in Manhattan includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and brands owned by Kering Sa, a Paris based company. According to Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit over counterfeiting good allegation indicates that “Alibaba and its associated companies knowingly encourage, assist, and profit from the sale of counterfeits on their online platforms.”

However, Alibaba has denied all the allegations and claims from the luxurious brands regarding counterfeiting goods on its online marketplace platforms, as reported for current Alibaba update. The company stated that all of these are false allegations with no basis and strong stance. The company assured that it has a strong track record that will help it to fight counterfeits against such brands.

A spokesperson of Alibaba, Bob Christie stated “We continue to work in partnership with numerous brands to help them protect their intellectual property, and we have a strong track record of doing so. Unfortunately, Kering Group has chosen the path of wasteful litigation instead of the path of constructive cooperation. We believe this complaint has no basis and we will fight it vigorously.”

The company has been previously alleged to counterfeit prices of goods on its online marketplace platforms as well that include Tmall and Taobao. However, this time the company is sure that nothing of this sort will happen again because such allegations are giving the company an ill name in the market. Due to this, Alibaba stocks were also flat in the market on Friday as they were being traded at $88.46.

Facebook Unveils Instant Articles Feature On Its iPhone App's News Feed

Facebook has been on the ambition of monetizing the business and enhancing the user experience, for that matter, Instant Articles is one of the steps.

Latest Facebook news is regarding the unveiling of “Instant Articles” by the social network giant which had been making the rumours since couple of months. Instant Articles is a program that is aimed to hosts the native publishers’ content in the News Feed for its phone app. The feature has debuted last week with Rich-media stories consisting of stories from The New York Times, National Geographic, Buzz Feed and six other channels which shall be visible across the globe from the iPhone app for the social network. This feature will let the users view the content without having to click out and wait for these websites to load. The Instant Articles can be viewed by the users, in order for that they are supposed to visit the Facebook Page of the feature on an iPhone.

Appeasing the fears of publishers that the social network giant might keep all the data, it has aimed to share the analytics with the companies and also Instant Articles is well-matched with the audience measurement and acknowledgment tools which include Omniture, comScore, Google Analytics and etc. The advertisements shall appear inside the Instant Articles, where the 100% revenue will be kept by the publishers if they decide to sell them and the social network giant will keep the standard 30% if it is successful in selling the ads.

Facebook news reports that the Instant Articles section will not be receiving any preferential treatment from the News Feed algorithm of the social network giant’s app only due to its format. However if the users like, click, share or comment on these articles more often as compared to others then it will be displayed higher and also frequently in the feed which is the case for any popular content. This is possibly going to implicitly force or incentivize the publishers to mould as per the new format for hosting.

Beyond the articles being loaded faster, the social network giant will also parse the HTML and RSS in order for the articles to be displayed with layouts, fonts and formats that make the feature in News Feed have a feel like that of a publisher’s website. There are multiple media options that social network giant has been providing such as zoomable pictures, maps and videos with the options for audio and also the ambient videos feature.

If the users encourage the Instant Articles feature and it gets a good feedback, Facebook hopes to cater more publishers in the forthcoming weeks with the ambition that it will be available for all the outlets that are there to share stories on the social network.