The second trailer for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises (which I'm really looking forward to, as both a huge Batman fan and a big fan of Christopher Nolan's work) has broken records on Apple's iTunes movie download site, boasting a full 12.5 million downloads in just 24 hours, topping the previous record by 2 million. That's a pretty...

Samsung has lost another battle in its ongoing patent war with Apple. Its request to have iPhone 4S sales banned in Italy has been denied by the Italian courts. This comes barely a month after France similarly denied Samsung's request for a sales injunction against the iPhone 4S. Samsung had already tried and failed to block the...

A one-day "Red Friday" sale on Apple's online store has hit several Asian countries in celebration of the Lunar New Year, including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Discounts on the Hong Kong store are broadly similar to the modest discounts Apple offered during its Black Friday promotion,...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below....

There are plenty of weather apps, and lots of navigation apps, but there are few apps that allow you to plan a road trip taking current conditions or forecasts into consideration. Road Trip Weather does that. The US $0.99 app allows you to input your current location or starting point, a mid-point on your trip, and your destination....

Apple has reportedly opted to settle a patent dipute with Elan to the tune of US$5 million. The settlement allows the company to avoid a trial and possible ban of Apple products. Elan's complaint was over two multi-touch patents. Early last year, an International Trade Commission judge decided in Elan's favor when Elan brought a...

"What? I thought you already named a winner for the TUAW Best of 2011 in the iPad productivity app category!" Yes, yes we did. But there were some nomination and voting irregularities, not to mention that a number of TUAW readers let us know that our previously named winner had some serious issues. As a result, we're doing the right...

Smile-recognition technology is nothing new. Dozens of camera brands support this feature but it isn't yet part of iOS's built-in camera system. Now for US$0.99, you can purchase HappyShutter. It's built using new iOS Core Image technology to detect both that faces are within-frame, i.e. not cut off, and when subjects are smiling....

The latest TUAW Best of 2011 award should come as no surprise, particularly since the winner also topped the iPhone utility app voting. 1Password Pro (US$14.99) was voted by TUAW readers as the best iPad utility app of 2011, pulling in a whopping 56.6 percent of the votes. Why has this app captured the attention of TUAW readers? It's...

China isn't the only region Apple is targeting for expansion in 2012. The company is also eyeing Canada. Now home to 22 retail stores, the North American country may be getting four new outlets in the upcoming year. According to allNovaScotia.com and ifoAppleStore, Apple may open a store next to Sears in the Halifax Shopping Center....

Amazon has trailblazed; Apple has followed. Apple's iBooks program currently allows authors to self-publish ebooks. Authors create their own business built around iTunes Connect, just as they do for self-published apps. So where does Apple have room to improve? What follows is one of several posts about how iBooks can improve to...

A strange Apple-built iOS app called GameStore appeared and then quickly disappeared in the App Store last week. After its disappearance, we picked the app apart and determined that GameStore was essentially sample code that demonstrates how to perform in-app purchases. Many people downloaded the app sight unseen since it came from...

Verizon's iPhone sales doubled during its last financial quarter, with 4.2 million handsets sold. In its previous quarter, Verizon sold a mere 2 million handsets compared to 2.7 million sold at rival US carrier AT&T, according to Bloomberg. Despite its lower iPhone numbers in the third quarter, overall Verizon apparently had...

Apple's MagSafe power cables are great. They quick release from their port and protect your notebook from clumsy adults and over-zealous children who get tangled in your power cord. The first generation of these cords, however, had a defect that caused the wires to fray; that posed a potential fire hazard to customers. The problem...

Apple's iAd service hasn't been as successful as the company hoped. While Apple has been able to keep iAd "premium" by keeping up ad costs and only bringing in high profile clients interested in putting out high quality advertisements, it hasn't actually made much money with the service, either for itself or developers who are...

Rovio says that it saw a whopping 6.5 million downloads of Angry Birds this past Christmas Day, which is just phenomenal, even for this overwhelmingly popular game. That number is very close to the number of iOS and Android devices activated overall, which means that most people who got an iPhone or other mobile device that runs...