iPhone 5 sales top 5M units over first weekend, Apple says

Eager fans wait for the iPhone 5 at Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan.

Apple said it sold 5 million iPhones over the weekend, topping the mark set by last year’s iPhone4S by 1 million units.

The Apple frenzy continued its memorable run with lines snaking out of some of its most high-profile stores on Friday as consumers eagerly snapped up the company’s latest smart phone. The figure, however, isn’t quite as high as some analysts expected, with one notably calling 6 million his “worst-case scenario” for first-weekend sales.

Still, the iPhone 5 reestablishes Apple’s dominance in the smartphone business. While Samsung Electronics may lead the market in total smartphones sold, no other company can garner the kind of excitement and anticipation for a new product, and few companies can reap the sheer amount of profit that Apple can with the iPhone.

The success comes despite criticism that the iPhone 5 isn’t a ground-breaking upgrade from the previous version, and that its key features – a bigger display and a 4G wireless connection — are elements that should have been included in the iPhone 4S.

More embarrassing is Apple’s own maps application, which contains a number of errors, distorted images, and a lack of detailsin different locations that have many wishing the company hadn’t booted Google Maps off ofiOS 6.

Still, the phone garnered strong reviews and the lack of a major change in its aesthetics or the map flap haven’t hurt demand. Apple said that more than 100 million devices have upgraded to iOS 6, the latest version of its mobile operating system.

Wall Street had higher expectations, with estimates as high as 10 million units sold over the first weekend. The company could sell as many as 50 million units in the fourth quarter, according to J.P. Morgan.

Still, it remains to be seen whether the long-term demand for the iPhone continues with the competition stepping up its game. Samsung has already gone after Apple with a few advertisements taking shots at the iPhone 5, while Microsoft is readying the launch of its Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 campaign.

On Thursday, the Apple will release the iPhone 5 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

iPhone 5 sales top 5M units over first weekend, Apple says

How push notifications can save your app from getting dumped

Generally, I’m not a fan of apps shooting push notifications out to my phone.

No, “Words with Friends,” I don’t care that I’m about to forfeit my game. There’s a reason I stopped playing it. I don’t need an alert any time I get a new friend on Facebook.

But apparently, notifications do make a difference when it comes to engagement, and sometimes they’re what keeps an app from getting deleted off the phone or being one of the myriad of unused “zombie” apps left ignored on a smartphone. With many of these apps now relying on the “freemium” model of charging for premium content, constant use is vital. Sure, you spend a lot of money getting someone to download your app, but how do you keep them using it?

“You’re going to see this battle for engagement instead of just a battle for downloads,” said Josh Martin, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.

Urban Airship, which provides the notification platform for many apps, including CNET’s own app, provided me with some data on how notifications actually boost engagement. The company looked at the percentage of people who continued to open an app after a period of time between one and six months.

Predictably, the percentage dropped over time, but those with push notifications performed significantly better than those that opted to not have notifications. By the sixth month, 31 percent of people who downloaded the app still opened it if notifications were in place, compared with 14 percent for regular apps.

Of course, Urban Airship has a vested interest in people using notifications, so I approach the stats with a healthy dose of skepticism. Push notifications are relatively new, after all, and it wouldn’t be difficult to show progress after such a short period. Plus, can you imagine if all of your apps starting sending notifications?

“If all apps use it, does it become white noise?” Martin said. “That becomes a concern over the long term.”

Urban Airship acknowledges that risk, and is active in educating developers on how and when to apply notifications. The company is sensitive to apps going overboard on the notifications, which can send them straight into the delete category.

“You’re basically interrupting people,” Brett Heiggelke, chief marketing officer of Urban Airship, told me. “It’s like the six o’clock dinner phone call, will they appreciate it? Because if not, they’ll shut off the notification and even kill the app.”

Still, Heiggelke believes notifications will be key to getting people back to all sorts of apps, including games and even retail brands.

Heiggelke pointed to snowboard gear maker Burton’s app as an example of notifications done right. Rather than just a simple app with directions to a local store or a catalog of its equipment, the app offers a “Pow Alarm” that provides alerts when fresh powder hits a local resort. Users can select their favorite ski resorts, how much powder should trigger the alert, and what days work best.

“It’s branding at its best,” Heiggelke said, adding that marketers need to think differently when applying notifications to their apps.

Urban Airship is working to make its notifications more targeted and relevant to consumers.

Games, meanwhile, are increasingly dependent on notifications to keep people coming back. Many use the freemium model, and need to build a high enough interest level that the gamer will actually fork over real money for virtual goods.

Whether it’s a notification of new levels, or showing an alert when the person hasn’t played in a while, social games in particular have been leading the charge with finding new ways to utilize notifications.

Zynga has been particularly good at pioneering the use of notifications, Martin said, and he expects the social-gaming company to continue to do so.

“They’re leading the market in terms of innovation,” he said.

Notifications may be hot because there are no other real answers to the issue of engagement. As such, don’t expect them to go away.

Just in case, I’m bracing myself for the avalanche of alerts on my iPhone.

How push notifications can save your app from getting dumped

Friend mining: Facebook preps for social search future

No other company in the world holds as much personal data as Facebook, which puts it in an ideal position to cull data from your friends and friends-of-friends, and even those you don’t know, to bring you answers to your deepest questions. Such as, “What sushi restaurants have my friends gone to in New York in the last six months and Liked?”

Ok, maybe that’s not your deepest questions, but it’s the example that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used during an interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference earlier this month when he was talking about the intersection of Facebook and search.

“Search engines are evolving” to “giving you a set of answers,” Zuckerberg said. “Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer a lot of questions people have.”

You could call Facebook’s notion of search “friend mining,” extracting specific answers to question by mining the immensely data-rich social graph. Zuckerberg was coy about when Facebook would launch a more capable search engine, but allowed, “At some point we will do it. We have a team working on search.” His remarks certainly got the attention of Facebook watchers and Wall Street analysts, who have been speculating about how Facebook, with its nearly one billion users, could harness all that personal data and generate Google-like revenue from search.

“People have been waiting for years for Facebook to jump in to search,” said Jed Williams, a senior analyst with interactive media research firm BIA Kelsey. “This is such a big opportunity.” Search is an $18 billion business in the U.S. alone, according toresearch firm eMarketer.

The company is taking small steps. On Friday, the company began tracking search activity in addition to everything else users do on site.

At this point, people don’t associate Facebook with search, despite the fact that the company says it processes 800 million queries a day. The vast majority of those queries is people searching for other people, rather than the kinds of search queries common to Google and Microsoft Bing.

You can search the broader Web from within Facebook, but Facebook doesn’t make that task easy. Type ‘sushi’ into the Facebook search bar, for instance, and you’ll get a list of Facebook pages about sushi, based on popularity and which ones your friends ‘like.’ Then, lower on the page, a little box lets you search outside Facebook’s walls via Bing, with which Facebook has a partnership.

According to August 2012 ComScore search data, Google had 66.4 share of the U.S. market and Bing 15.9 percent. Yahoo, which also uses Bing search, has 12.8 percent. Microsoft wouldn’t disclose how much traffic it gets via Facebook.

While Bing has Facebook integrated into its search engine — so that what your friends like on Facebook shows up alongside your Bing search results, and you can easily post to Facebook to ask a question — presumably Zuckerberg’s search team is working on something that would derive a set of answers from Facebook first and wouldn’t require a visit to Bing.

Quora, Yelp, FourSquare 

To hear Zuckberg talk, Facebook’s search sounds partly like Quora on steroids. Quora, founded by former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo, let’s users post questions that people can answer. Facebook launched a similar service, a minor foray into a social-type of search, in 2010, but has since killed it.

Like Wikipedia, Quora’s value comes from those who decide to participate. But Facebook wouldn’t need people to weigh in before it gives you useful answers to all sorts of questions — because, in effect, they already have. They’ve ‘liked’ restaurants, movies, bands and perhaps a page for the Toyota Prius. They ranted and raved about services. They’ve told Facebook where they work, lived, and on and on and on. And they’ve been doing it for years, with no sign of slowing.

Facebook’s job is to determine what data points matter for what type of question. That’s no small task. Eventually, Zuckerberg envisions a question-answer-search service that not only answers basic questions about which restaurants your friends have ‘liked,’ but one that can offer up meaningful responses for less straightforward questions, such as this example Zuckerberg gave: “Which of my friends or friends of friends work in a company that I might like to work at?” That’s not a particularly tricky question when you think about what data Facebook has and how it could mine it to deliver useful answers. To answer the question Facebook would need the right set of data, data you would see on another social networking site, the business-focused LinkedIn.

Yelp also offers clues about what Facebook’s possibly cooking up on the search front. Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities Internet analyst, even suggests that Facebook could take on Yelp big time. While Facebook currently doesn’t have Yelp-like reviews, Pachter points out that it could amass them quickly.

 

“If I write on Facebook that I had a phenomenal meal, Facebook could have a text box pop up that would ask me if I would like to rate it, give it a thumbs up,” said Pachter. “It could be a full-fledged Yelp.” And that would give Facebook more data points, including from its bazillions of images, for its friend-mining version of search, providing a big opportunity for snagging local ad dollars.

Yelp, which like Facebook was founded in 2004, has seen its business skyrocket with the spread of mobile phones – and that’s something that Zuckerberg is surely keenly aware of as he oversees Facebook’s challenging shift to mobile.

The importance of mobile is why Danny Sullivan, editor SearchEngineLand.com and a CNET contributor, says he expects Facebook search to resemble Foursquare’s ‘explore’ button. That lets users search for, say, nearby restaurants or stores based on your location and other criteria, including where you’ve checked in previously. Foursquare also surfaces recommendations based on users reviews, and it shows where your friends have checked-in, what reviews they have written.

Searching for revenue

The crowd that’s super excited by Facebook and search is Wall Street. Facebook’s beaten up stock, still roughly 40 percent off its IPO price of $38, has been on the rise ever since Zuckerberg’s interview. It closed Friday at $22.86 a share, up about 30 percent from its low of $17.55. One reason cited is Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm for search, which, rightly or wrongly, Wall Street equates with Google and fat profits. Google made $2.79 billion in the last quarter, dwarfing Facebook’s earnings.

For sure, Facebook social search offers a big money opportunity on several fronts. The market for local mobile ads alone — think Facebook adding Yelp and Foursquare-like features — is expected to hit $1.3 billion this year alone and quadruple over the next few years, according to research firm BIA Kelsey.

More broadly, Facebook could start selling ads — or its so-called Sponsored Stories – against queries. One possibility, according to Pachter, is that Facebook could let advertiser drop deals into search results based on keywords. If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, for example, you could ask the question, “Where’s a good place to visit in Hawaii?” Facebook could then mine your friends’ status updates and photos to bring you their past vacation haunts. Facebook could then insert Hawaiian hotel packages in these results.

Whatever Facebook comes up with as it builds out its search products, it needs to tread carefully when it comes to new ways of using user data. Ultimately, it’s all about making a search that becomes a seamless part of the Facebook user experience. Because, if it’s not, Facebook will have some unhappy users — and then it will have fewer friends to mine.

Friend mining: Facebook preps for social search future

Apple supplier Foxconn confirms worker riot at Taiyun factory

Foxconn, a contract manufacturer to Apple, closed a northern China factory for the day followingan early Monday riot that, according to the company, began as a fight between workers. Details remain scarce.

The company said several people were injured and sent to the hospital after the incident, and that some were also detained by police. The factory in question employees about 79,000 workers.

Other reports, however, described a riot possibly involving as many as 2,000 people and, by one account, potentially sparked when a guard struck a worker. Photos posted by a user on the Chinese Internet service Baidu depicted lines of helmet-clad riot police surrounding what appeared to be workers and rooms littered with detritus and glass from broken windows.

Earlier this month, a Shanghai Evening Post journalist claimed to have gone undercover at the Taiyun plant. He described his orientation, plant security and his job, which was supposedly to manufacture the back plate of the iPhone 5.

Back in March, the head of human resources at the Taiyun factory reportedly told a South Korean newspaper that Foxconn had “just got[ten] the order” for the iPhone 5. That was just a few weeks after a reported strike involving hundreds of workers over a pay dispute at the Taiyun plant.

We’ll update this story as we know more.

Apple supplier Foxconn confirms worker riot at Taiyun factory

Kim Dotcom: Inquiry ordered into 'unlawful spying'

An inquiry has been ordered into whether New Zealand intelligence staff engaged in unlawful spying prior to the arrest of Megaupload owner Kim Dotcom.

The country’s Prime Minister John Key said some communications were obtained “without statutory authority”.

Mr Dotcom is fighting extradition to the US where he faces accusations of copyright theft on a huge scale.

In June, an NZ court ruled that a search warrant used for a raid on Mr Dotcom’s home was illegal.

The court also said that Mr Dotcom should be allowed to see evidence on which his extradition hearing will be based – a decision US authorities have appealed against.

‘Public trust’

The latest statement from Mr Key will be seen as another blow to the integrity of the US case.

The prime minister asked for an investigation into “circumstances of unlawful interception of communications of certain individuals” working for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the country’s main intelligence agency.

He added: “I expect our intelligence agencies to operate always within the law. Their operations depend on public trust.

“I look forward to the inspector-general’s inquiry getting to the heart of what took place and what can be done about it.

“Because this is also a matter for the High Court in its consideration of the Megaupload litigation, I am unable to comment further.”

Mr Dotcom, writing on his Twitter account, backed the inquiry call.

“I welcome the inquiry by @JohnKeyPM into unlawful acts by the GCSB,” he wrote. “Please extend the inquiry to cover the entire Crown Law Mega case.”

Works of art

Authorities arrested Mr Dotcom and his colleagues at his country estate in January, confiscating computers and hard drives, works of art and cars.

His website Megaupload – which allowed users to upload and share large files – was also forced to close.

The FBI accuses Mr Dotcom of leading a group of employees responsible for earning more than $175m (£110m) since 2005 by copying and distributing music, films and other copyrighted content without authorisation.

Mr Dotcom – also known as Kim Schwartz – insists his website was merely an online storage facility.

Since his arrest, he has gathered some high-profile support, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Despite his ongoing legal battles, Mr Dotcom said a new version of Megaupload, called Megabox, was “90%” complete.

He said “lawyers, partners and investors are ready” to back the site which is expected to launch before the end of the year.

Kim Dotcom: Inquiry ordered into 'unlawful spying'

How to wait in an iPhone 5 line

(CNN) – Want to get an iPhone 5 on Friday?

You’ll probably need to wait in line. Or pay someone to do it for you.

Hipster-looking shoppers already have plopped down in folding chairs outside Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

And in San Francisco, a man working through a micro-tasking company (more on what that means in a second) has been diligently waiting in line, for a price, since Monday.

“You’re going to wait here until Friday? God watch over you,” a stranger told that person, who was using a service called TaskRabbit, according to his Twitter feed.

Massive demand awaits Friday’s iPhone 5 sale

TaskRabbit nabbed the first-in-line spot to try to promote its online service that allows people to pay someone else to do a menial task for them. In this case, according to CNET, you can find people online who for about $40 to $150 will stand in line to purchase the iPhone 5 on your behalf.

That sort of idea isn’t all that new, and line-standers also are offering their services on craigslist. “If you are looking to buy the iPhone 5 when it is released, but not looking to stand in the line. I’ll do it for you!” wrote one person in Los Angeles. “I’ll get in line at 6 a.m. for 40 bucks. Camp overnight for 70,” wrote another stander, this one from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Other people are posting craigslist ads asking others to stand in line for them. One such ad, in Los Angeles, says the patron will offer the stander “a reasonable amount” … “and on top of that, I’ll even buy you breakfast.”

For those who don’t want to spend even more than the hefty price tag for the iPhone, but do want to pick up a phone on Friday, perhaps the line is the way to go.

Unless you hopped online within the first hour or so last Friday, pre-ordered iPhones aren’t expected to arrive for weeks.

But plan to get up early on Friday morning.

While opening-day iPhone lines vary by location — what passes as early enough at a Radio Shack in Nevada may not work for an Apple store in New York – analysts generally say advance consumer demand for the iPhone 5 is outpacing previous models. Early reviews of the phone have been positive.

Apple recently announced it had received 2 million pre-orders for the new phone, which is taller, faster, lighter and slimmer than the previous model, the iPhone 4S. That’s about double what the company experienced for the previous iPhone, Apple said.

That could foreshadow long lines. Or it could mean more consumers are skipping the line-waiting game and, instead, have chosen to order the phone online.

iPhone 5 pre-order shipping dates pushed back

The line waits are part exercise in extreme consumerism, part homage to Apple.

Last year some of the line-standers made pilgrimages to Apple stores in part out of a sense of tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died a week before the phone went on sale. Fans set up mini-memorials in his honor at some Apple stores.

To get a sense of what the most dedicated Apple fans are willing to go through, check out this chart from The Atlantic, which shows the longest Apple gadget waits.

If you’re just in the market for purchasing the new iPhone, not the in-line circus, there are several other stores that plan to carry the iPhone 5 on Friday.

They include AT&T, Sprint and Verizon stores, as well as select Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart locations. Check with stores in your area for details.

Still want to brave the Apple store? Doors open at 8 a.m. local time Friday in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK. The iPhone 5 will roll out to 22 more countries on September 28.

How to wait in an iPhone 5 line

Fighting pandas set to join World of Warcraft

Warcraft’s online gaming world is about to get a bit bigger.

The next expansion for World of Warcraft, known as Mists of Pandaria, goes live on Tuesday.

The expansion introduces the continent of Pandaria and its many inhabitants, including martially-adept pandas, to the game.

The Asian-themed game is seen as an attempt to shore up WoW’s dwindling subscriber base and cement its popularity in China.

Competition time

In early August it was revealed that the number of people playing World of Warcraft has dropped to its lowest level since 2007.

In 2010, WoW claimed to have more than 12 million players but in June 2012 this had dropped to nine million. About half of these subscribers are believed to be in China.

WoW creator Blizzard has tried several different strategies to keep people playing the game. It has introduced a version that is free to play in the early stages of the game. In addition, it let subscribers get a free version of its other hugely popular title Diablo 3, if they signed a 12-month contract for WoW.

Part of WoW’s decline has been put down to growing competition from other top tier games that have launched in recent months. Titles such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Runescape and many other free to play games have all drawn players away from the ageing title.

Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion for the massively multiplayer online game. Those who buy the expansion will get the chance to play as one of the Pandaren – the fighting pandas. The game also introduces a new character class to the game – the monk who uses martial arts rather than weapons to fight.

As with other expansions, Blizzard is overhauling many other parts of the game at the same time as introducing Pandaria. The expansion will let players control ever more powerful characters; will see changes to the way characters improve their abilities; introduce short challenges for high level characters and let players pit their in-game pets against each other.

Fighting pandas set to join World of Warcraft

Apple Maps in iOS 6: What you need to know (FAQ)

Welcome to Apple’s maps

(Credit: Screenshot by Kent German/CNET)

It’s only been a day since iOS 6 went live, but the world has sounded with a Greek chorus of complaints over the new Maps app made by Apple.

In case you don’t already know, iOS 6 makes a big change in your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch‘s mapping features. It removes the Google Maps app that long you’ve long used and replaces it with Apple’s home-baked mapping service. At first, you may not notice the change since the app’s icon, and much of the interface looks almost the same. Once you try to use it, though, you’ll see differences straight away.

Maps woes in Apple iOS 6: How bad? (pictures)

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In our initial anecdotal testing for CNET’s iPhone 5 and iOS 6 reviews, we noticed both good and bad points. On the upside, the new turn-by-turn directions were intuitive and pretty reliable, and the 3D flyover feature was lovely. Yet, we also found that search results weren’t quite as robust and transit directions weren’t an option at all.

It was a decent effort for a first pass, but now that Apple Maps are being crowd-tested by millions of new iOS 6 users around the world, problems are becoming more apparent. Put simply: there’s plenty of icing, but the cake ain’t finished baking. So where does that leave existing iOS users who want to upgrade to iOS 6 — and prospective iPhone 5 buyers who will get it by default? In this FAQ, CNET will tell you everything that you need to know.

The 3D maps are amazing.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Q: What does the new Maps app add that the old Google app did not?

A: Most importantly, turn-by-turn directions. Up until now, you had to reply on paid, third-party apps for that feature, even though Android users had been getting it for years. So that’s a big plus.

For iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and the new iPad, iOS 6 also adds 3D views and a flyover feature (with the latter it’s like you’re zooming over a city in a low-flying airplane). Both features are more entertaining than useful, but they pack a pretty big wow factor, at least for the first few minutes.

Other little touches include the capability to physically reorient the map with two fingers and see reviews of points of interest.

Q: What does the new Maps app losecompared to the old one?

A: The number one thing is Google’s database. Apple Maps sources its location information from Yelp, which so far is less reliable than Google’s offering. For example, in his iPhone 5 review, CNET’s Scott Stein found that a search for coffee showed him only Starbucks and not a locally owned shop across the street. Also, a search for Mac repair did not turn up a business that has always showed on Google Maps. This issue should get better, but for now it’s not great. Losing Google’s database also means you lose Street View.

Also, you totally lose mass transit directions, which always existed on Google Maps. Though there is a button with a tiny bus icon, it shows only a list of third-party transit apps (so why include the button at all?). If you already own such an app it will appear at the top of the list, and when pressed, kick you out to that app. Otherwise, you’ll be directed to the iTunes App Store to download a title. That’s not really helpful for a few reasons.

With Apple Maps comes turn-by-turn navigation

(Credit: Screenshot by Kent German/CNET)

First off, switching to a third-party app for transit directions takes you out of the mapping feature. That means a lot of switching back and forth between the transit instructions and the map of the surrounding area (Google Maps had it all on one screen). Also, the third-party apps don’t always tell how to get to the transit stop and then on to your final destination. Again, Google Maps told you the whole story.

Granted, only people who take transit will care about this feature. But the point is that Apple has removed a useful feature that you formerly got for free. Some of the third-party options are great, and they may even be better than Google Maps, but you now have to jump through an extra hoop. And more importantly, some of those other apps will cost you.

Q: Can I go back to the old Maps app?

A: Sort of. At this point, a real Google Maps app like you used to have is not available.

But as Matt Elliott explains here, you can point your iPhone’s browser to maps.google.com and get that same mapping information, complete with business listings, directions, public transit data, and even bike routes. What you’re missing is street view and use of the compass to help direct you.

Q: What do I lose with maps.google.com compared to the old Google-powered maps app in iOS 5?

A: Since it’s not an actual app, it will be a much different experience than what you had before. The interface is changed, though not negatively so, and the performance will depend on the speed of your connection. Of course, that was also the case with Google’s app, but the browser is a different feature so performance will vary.

You also lose a fair number of features including Siri integration, address book integration, and, as mentioned, Street View.

Q: Are Apple’s turn-by-turn directions accurate?

A: In initial testing, they’re reliable. When we put Apple Maps against Google Maps on an Android phone and maps.google.com, we didn’t notice any significant problems. There were some issues — for example, it misplaced us by a few blocks and it wasn’t as accurate in directing us to a destination, but it performed well on the whole. We’re going to keep testing, though, and remember that we tested in San Francisco, in the back yard of Google and Apple and one of the most mapped cities on Earth. Your experience may be different.

Talk about a bumpy landing.

(Credit: theamazingios6maps.tumblr)

Q: Where is Apple getting its actual map data?

A: Apple’s maps come mostly from longtime GPS player TomTom, which also supplies some apps to Google. Some maps lack the detail we had on iOS 5 — see our slideshow and CNET UK’s comparison – but outside of a misplaced museumwe haven’t see many problems in San Francisco. Still, we hope that Apple fills in the gaps soon.

Q: What about the satellite view?

A: Even after one day, we’ve seen an abundance of screenshots showing quirky things like a roller coaster Manhattan Bridge or a pockmarked Toronto airport. These mistakes won’t affect your navigation, and we remember crazy satellite images from Google Maps, but some of the mistakes are pretty hilarious.

Q: Is Apple Maps really as bad as people are saying?

A: It depends on what you value. If mass transit directions or Google Street View were must-haves, this may be more of a downgrade. Ditto for contextual local searches.

On the other hand, you now have free turn-by-turn directions, which was never a [free] option on the iPhone before. And the properly 3D-mapped cityscapes are stunning — again, if you live in a location that’s mapped well.

Another big factor: where you’re using it. Some areas have very good 3D, local listings and accuracy. Others, not so much.

Q: Has Apple said anything about this?

A: Without admitting to any issues, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told us the feature is still being improved:

Apple Maps in iOS 6: What you need to know (FAQ)

Facebook friends mapped by Wolfram Alpha app

More than 400,000 people have used an app that analyses the information they have put on Facebook.

The app, by Wolfram Alpha, shows Facebook users their account activity in the form of pie charts, graphs and maps.

Pie charts reveal the ratio of their friends’ relationship statuses and maps plot their locations by global city.

If the user has included their date of birth the app will also tell them what the weather was like that day.

Wolfram Alpha works directly from data already online to provide a definitive answer to a question rather than providing links to other websites like a traditional search engine.

British physicist Stephen Wolfram came up with the idea. In a blog post he described the function of the app as “personal analytics for Facebook”.

“I’ve no doubt that one day pretty much everyone will routinely be doing all sorts of personal analytics on a mountain of data that they collect about themselves,” he wrote.

“I think I could spend ages doing it. And coming back at different times to see what’s changed.”

The platform also reveals a user’s most popular posts and generates a word cloud in which the most frequently used words are displayed the largest.

Users can choose to clip and share their graphs on various social networks including both Facebook and Twitter.

The report can be generated by typing “Facebook report” into theWolfram Alpha search box.

Facebook friends mapped by Wolfram Alpha app

iPhone 5 finally hits the streets. Join CNET's live coverage

Media circus: Hours before the iPhone 5 goes on sale, the facade of Apple’s 5th Avenue store in Manhattan is obscured by a giant black cloak. Much of the view is also blocked by a row of satellite trucks parked in front.

What can you say about a device that has been written about as much as the iPhone 5, other than to note that it’s finally here and lots of people across the globe seem to want it?

The smartphones, which are thinner, lighter, and faster than previous versions, are due to go on sale at 8 a.m. local time in multiple countries (read CNET’s review).

CNET reporters and photographers will be on hand at Apple’s flagship Manhattan store on Fifth Avenue, which is expected to see long lines that include a group of more than a dozen protesters from Occupy Wall Street.

We’ll cover similar events at Apple’s Grand Central store in New York and other Apple stores in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Calif., and Paris. On hand for CNET in New York this morning is Greg Sandoval at the Fifth Avenue store and Shara Tibken and Sarah Tew at the Grand Central Station store.

The iPhone will also go on sale this morning at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Radio Shack. Retail outlets of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will also sell the device.

For a final check of the prices: Apple is selling unlocked 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models for $649, $749, and $849 respectively. With a two-year contract from a participating carrier, the same models go for $199, $299 and $399.

In the United States, Apple is supposed to have the weather on its side. The forecast for much of the country is dry with moderate temperatures. Perfect shopping and line sitting weather.

Check in often as we’ll be updating this blog regularly.

 

Alex Cardenas proudly walks first into the Grand Central Station store.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

7:50 a.m. ET Grand Central Store: Grand Central houses NYC’s newest Apple store, but it’s also a busy hub for commuters taking the trains to work. Many are stopping at the steps to Apple’s store to ask how long the line is and what the wait is like. One man said he just was curious about how many people would wait, while another asked if it would be possible to be helped in the store today for something else. Store employee tells him he’s welcome to wait in line, but it’s not going to be quick. The man opted to leave and come back another day.

 

7:48 a.m. ET Grand Central Store: Apple started moving the first people in line to wait on the balconies along the Store. Excitement has picked up as customers get closer to open at 8 a.m. Yousra Atmen, Karim Haraoui and Zakaria Reda traveled all the way to NYC from Morocco, just to buy the new iPhone 5. They’re each getting one phone for themselves and say just want to have the newest Apple device possible. Atmen, 24, says she loves how smart the devices are.

 

iPhone 5 goes on sale at Grand Central Apple Store (pictures)

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7:47 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: So that’s how they did it. Michael Marrero, 23, just told me the secrets to line sitting more than a week at an Apple store. Marrero started camping out last Thursday the 13th. He and some of his fellow line sitters rented a minivan and used to it to stay out of the rain and cold. There wasn’t enough room for everybody and the rules of the line mandate that someone always be waiting in line to watch belongings and guard the turf. He said that the group took a chance and illegally parked the van most of the time. Amazing. In this city and no tickets. Let’s hope he’s as lucky with his iPhone 5.

 

7:45 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: 15 minutes to go before the doors open. Time to stake out a spot in the media line.

7:32 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: Apple employees are handing the prized tickets. Those guarantee the bearer that there will be an iPhone available for purchase. I think people here value these things. Every time I turn my camera towards anyone here, they immediately flash their tickets.

 

Jessica Mellow flashes her sure-thing tickets outside the Fifth Avenue Apple store in NYC.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

7:25 a.m. ET, NYC Grand Central Store: Starting the line outside last night is causing a little confusion this morning about who’s actually first. Shivanand Majraj, a 28-year-old NYC bouncer and college student, said he was first to arrive at about 7:30 p.m. last night, but he’s now about third in line. Instead, Alex Cardenas, 38, is now at the head of the line. Both say they’re buying iPhones because they love Apple products. Majraj, who has owned every iPhone, is dumping his unlocked 4S on T-Mobile’s service for a new iPhone 5 under contract with AT&T. Cardenas is also opening a new contract for his son, with his son getting his old 4S.

 

7:22 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: Steve Wozniak, one of Apple’s co-founders just sent a nice e-mail reply to an interview request. I wanted to know what he expected from the iPhone 5 and Apple had met those expectations. Woz says he’s been super busy but did wait all night for the phone. He said he did get the phone “with some difficulties.”

This is the rest of what he said: “From what I can tell, the iPhone 5 is a different size with a different SIM card and different power/data connector. It also has some camera/photo improvement/fix. It also has LTE. I don’t know of other differences so it’s mainly the size. iOS 6has many new features but I already had that on my iPhone 4S. One question that I’ll have to get answered when I return is whether the Verizon iPhone 5 is a world phone model.”

 

The magic ticket, outside the Grand Central Station store in NYC.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

 

7:15 a.m. ET, NYC Grand Central Store: It’s pretty steamy for the line in New York’s train station. Customers started waiting last night outside the building but couldn’t enter Grand Central until the terminal opened this morning at about 5:15 a.m. They’re now lined up along the hot train tracks, a big contrast from NYC’s cool weather outside. Apple store employees are keeping them hydrated with plenty of bottled water.

7:12 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: There is a lot of police. I don’t remember seeing this many at previous Apple product releases here. Is that because more than a dozen members ofOccupy Wall Street began camping out two nights ago? They were here protesting Apple’s labor practices but I don’t see them in line. They may be out of view.

7:05 a.m. ET, NYC Fifth Ave. store: Here we go. The line is building fast at Apple’s flagship store in Manhattan. When I got here 90 minutes ago, the end of the line barely went a quarter of the way down 58th street away from 5th Ave. If you know the area, then you know that’s barely past the entrance to FAO Schwarz. Now, the line is all the way down the block.

 

Members of the New York City Police Department patrolled near the Cube at the iPhone 5 launch this morning.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

 

Paris: Hours before Apple stores open in the U.S., early shoppers in Paris already had their iPhones in hand. (And some showed up to air gripes they have with Apple. You can read more here: “Apple fans and critics converge in Paris for iPhone 5.”

Mikhail Vorobyev, one of the early customers to buy an iPhone 5 at Apple’s store in Paris, shows off his new purchase.

iPhone 5 finally hits the streets. Join CNET's live coverage

Apple loses German patent court case

A German court has dismissed Apple’s allegation that Motorola and Samsung infringed some of its multi-touch patents.

The Mannheim court rejected Apple’s claim the two firms had copied how its devices handled data according to how many fingers touched a gadget’s screen.

Apple has 30 days to appeal against the court’s decision.

The Mannheim case is one of several patent trials Apple is involved with in Germany.

Apple filed separate legal claims against Motorola, now owned by Google, and Samsung over what are known as “touch event” technologies. Rather than examine Apple’s claims separately, the German court brought both cases together and issued a joint verdict.

In a blogpost, patent expert Florian Mueller said ”touch event” technology was widely used in tablets and smartphones. If the court had backed Apple, its rivals would have had to “rewrite, recompile and reinstall many apps” that used this technology, he said.

The Mannheim ruling is not the first time that Apple has also lost a case on the “touch event” patent. It lost a case against HTC in the UK over the same technology. A Dutch court also rejected Apple’s claims that its patent was being abused.

In a separate case being heard in Munich, the court backed Apple’s claim that Motorola had infringed its patent on what happened when users scrolled to the end of a page, document or list – a technology known as “overscroll bounce” or “rubber banding”.

Apple loses German patent court case