How to get an iPhone 5 with unlimited data

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Unlimited data plans haven’t quite gone the way of the dinosaur, but they’re lurching toward extinction. Want to stay free from tracking the gigabytes of data your new iPhone 5 is sucking down? Here’s a rundown of your dwindling options, listed in order from the easiest to the most agonizing.

1. Get Sprint. The last remaining national iPhone carrier to offer unlimited data to both new and current customers is Sprint (S, Fortune 500). So whether you’re upgrading from a previous Sprint phone or switching carriers, you can get an iPhone 5 on Sprint without worrying about going over a data limit.

2. Keep your legacy AT&T plan.AT&T has done away with unlimited data for new customers, but millions of existing AT&T subscribers are still holding onto their legacy unlimited plans. If you’re one of them, you can upgrade to the iPhone 5 and keep your plan — unlimited data and all.

If you’re not, then no unlimited data for you. (Next!) AT&T (T, Fortune 500) only offers tiered plans to new customers or current subscribers who have given up their unlimited data plans. The tiered plans come in two flavors: individual or “Mobile Share,” the latter of which allows customers to share one pool of data among multiple devices.

Those customers clinging to unlimited data plans may not have to monitor their gigabytes, but they also won’t get everything the iPhone has to offer. The new iOS 6 operating system that comes with the iPhone 5 offersApple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) FaceTime video chat service over the cellular network for the first time, but AT&T has restricted that feature. It’s only available to the company’s Mobile Share customers.

3. Buy an iPhone 5 at full price and keep your legacy Verizon plan.Like AT&T, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) has killed off unlimited data for new customers. But Big Red took

How to get an iPhone 5 with unlimited data

Apple promises maps app will 'improve'

Apple has responded to fierce criticism of its mapping software, saying the application will “improve”.

The mapping software angered users who said it was riddled with inaccuracies, misplaced towns and cities and omitted key landmarks.

Apple said it appreciated all the customer feedback it was receiving about the app and would work hard to improve it.

The problems emerged a day before the global launch of its iPhone 5 handset.

Hundreds of people have camped out for days to ensure they are among the first to buy one of the smartphones. At Apple’s flagship store on London’s Regent Street almost 1300 people were in line for one of the phones.

The mapping system comes with updates to Apple’s phone operating system and is bundled in with the iPhone 5.

Lost towns

Apple embarked on the development of its own mapping software after deciding it no longer wanted to use Google’s equivalent. Apple’s own system has been created using data from navigation firm TomTom and others.

In a statement Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the launch of Apple Maps was a major undertaking for the firm.

Rory Cellan-Jones compares Apple’s new map app with Google maps

“We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get,” she said.

“We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better,” added Ms Muller.

Apple was also planning to work closely with external developers to put the work they have done on apps for local transport into the mapping software, she said.

It is unclear whether this will be enough to mollify users who took to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media networks to mock the failings of the mapping application.

The BBC received a lot of complaints about Apple’s maps, with users saying that some towns, such as Stratford Upon Avon, were missing and others were in the wrong place.

In addition some places, including a train station, were shown to be in the ocean and many others were wrongly labelled.

Before the release of the iOS6, Apple’s updated mobile operating system, many developers had warned about the poor quality of the mapping app. It was particularly poor, they said, at finding local businesses via search.

Apple seems to be aware of a need to beef up its mapping expertise. Many tech news sites noted that Apple had placed a lot of adverts on its jobs site for mapping experts in the past week or so.

There is not currently a Google Maps app available in Apple’s App Store, although Google’s system is still accessible via the phone’s web browser.

Apple promises maps app will 'improve'

Microsoft releases fix for IE bug

Microsoft has released a temporary software fix for a bug in its Internet Explorer web browser.

Cybercriminals used the flaw to install the Poison Ivy trojan on users’ computers.

This piece of malware can steal data or take remote control of a PC.

Microsoft said in a blog the Fix It tool was “an easy, one-click solution that will help protect your computer right away” but “not intended to be a replacement for any security update”.

Microsoft said there had been an “extremely limited number of attacks”.

Before releasing the fix, the company had suggested workarounds such as disabling Active X controls and Active Scripting or downloading its Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit.

Another suggestion had been to change the security-zone settings on the browser to “high” and run IE in a restricted mode.

So-called zero-day, or newly discovered, vulnerabilities are rare. According to security company Symantec, only eight such bugs were spotted in 2011.

Symantec research manager Liam O Murchu said their novelty made them dangerous.

“Any time you see a zero-day like this, it is concerning,” he said. “There are no patches available. It is very difficult for people to protect themselves.”

The flaw, present in all versions of Internet Explorer except IE 10, was spotted by Luxembourg-based security expert Eric Romang, when his PC was infected by Poison Ivy last week.

Microsoft releases fix for IE bug

US patent office seeks aid to spot bogus patent claims

Members of the public are being asked by the US Patent Office to help weed out bogus patent applications.

It wants the public to contribute to a website that will spot applications for patents on technologies that have already been invented.

People will also be able to flag up applications on the site which they think are bogus.

The site runs Google software to finds examples of older inventions – “prior art” – to filter out fake claims.

Trivial tech

The website, called Ask Patents, will be run by US firm Stack Exchange that has a track record of operating Q&A websites.

“Our hope is that Ask Patents will reduce the number of patents mistakenly granted for obvious, unoriginal non-inventions, especially around software,” said Stack Exchange boss Joel Spolsky in a blogpost about the site.

In the past some individuals and organisations have used the award of a patent to win cash from firms that do not have the financial resources to launch legal action against such claims.

Mr Spolsky said that although US patent clerks worked hard they typically had less than 22.5 hours so spend on each application.

This made exhaustive searches for all prior art all but impossible and meant many “trivial” patents slipped through.

He said Ask Patents would be a “collaborative effort” that would let anyone examine patent applications.

“It is opening up a process that has been conducted behind closed doors for over 200 years,” he wrote.

The site will also act as a repository of prior art to make it easier to spot when applications are filed for innovations that already exist, or have already been granted.

In an interview with technology magazine Ars Technica, Mr Spolsky said he thought that searching for prior art would be the trickiest part of the whole project.

“However,” he told the tech news site, ”the truth is, there are probably hundreds of patent applications every week that aren’t true inventions.”

US patent office seeks aid to spot bogus patent claims

iPhone 5: The wait is over

(CNN) – For the most devoted Apple aficionados, it’s been a long week.

But as Thursday night became Friday morning around the world, some of those diehards who spent hours waiting in line were greeted with open doors at Apple stores and other retailers selling the new iPhone 5.

Announced September 12, the iPhone 5 features a bigger screen, lighter and slimmer frame, faster processor and, for the first time, 4G LTE wireless connections.

If a handful of tech writers were unimpressed with the specs, that didn’t translate into lack of consumer interest.

Apple took 2 million pre-orders for the phone in the first 24 hours they were available last week, and some analysts think it could sell more than 10 million by Monday.

Tokyo fans line up for iPhone 5

Conan’s waiting for the iPhone 5

Assessing Apple’s new iPhone

Evolution of the iPhone

That first-day total was double the number of iPhone 4S pre-orders the company took last year, and an initial Friday shipping date was quickly pushed back. People who pre-order the phone now, or did so in the past few days, could be waiting more than three weeks for their phones to ship.

For those who opted to get personal, the doors at Apple retail stores open at 8 a.m. local time Friday in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK. The phone will roll out to 22 more countries on September 28.

Gallery: The world’s hottest smartphones

Despite morning rainfall in Tokyo, hundreds of eager customers lined up outside an Apple store in the city’s Ginza shopping district. Store employees handed out umbrellas to waiting customers, some of whom came sporting face paint to celebrate the occasion.

“It’s almost like a festival, people just camping in the center of Ginza, just drinking and playing and talking to each other,” said Taiyo Nakashima, a 34-year-old web designer. “It’s not really just buying the phone, it’s just enjoying the party, really.”

In Sydney, Australia, customers camped out in tents and folding chairs. Cheers erupted when the store’s doors opened.

Todd Foot told CNN affiliate Network Ten that he waited for more than 70 hours to get Australia’s first iPhone for sale and review it online.

In Hong Kong, the situation was calmer. To avoid chaotic crowds,like those seen in Beijing in January, the Apple store in central Hong Kong was only selling the new iPhones to customers who had reserved a device online.

The busy store still had extra security and measures to control crowds in place.

The most popular single smartphone since the existence of such a device, the iPhone has sold more than 244 million units around the world since then-CEO Steve Jobs unveiled it six years ago.

In a sign of the continued reverence for Jobs around the world, the Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong is set to unveil a wax figure of his likeness next week.

According to research firm IDC, the iPhone and its iOS operating system make up 16.9% of the worldwide smartphone market, coming in behind the cluster of phones running the Android operating system, which account for 68.1% of the world’s smartphones.

The iPhone 5 is 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the current version, the iPhone 4S. It has a 4-inch screen, measured diagonally, compared with a 3.5-inch screen on previous versions of the phone. It is the same width as the iPhone 4S but taller, and the iPhone 5 is made entirely of glass and aluminum.

iPhone 5: The wait is over

Japanese defense panel: Cyber attacks can be basis for military self defense

A Japanese defense ministry panel defined the country’s “cyberspace” as part of its territory, on par with land, air, sea and space


A Japanese military panel on Friday released a new set of guidelines for dealing with cyber attacks against the nation, saying that in certain circumstances they could warrant a military response.

The panel, assembled under the Ministry of Defense to consider responses to such attacks, said that they could endanger core infrastructure of the military, as well as national infrastructure and private concerns. It defined cyberspace as “a ‘territory’ where various activities such as information gathering, attack, and defence occur, on the same way as land, sea, air and space.”

While careful to state that online attacks should be considered on a case-by-case basis, the panel made clear Japan’s right to respond to hostile attacks against its infrastructure. It called for a new cyber-military group that would exist separately from the country’s existing ground, sea and air forces.

“It is difficult to define the relationship between cyber attacks and military attacks, and whether or not a specific situation is a military attack or not should be determined by considering the individual, specific circumstances, but if a cyber attack takes place as part of a military attack, this can be considered to fulfil the first condition for invoking the right of self-defense,” a report issued by the panel read.

Japan’s constitution officially forbids it from using force to settle international disputes, but the country operates a large and well-equipped military, as well as hosting large numbers of U.S. troops, planes and ships. While the recommendations released Friday are not official policy or legally binding, they are a rare public statement from the ministry on the issue of cyber defense.

“This is the first time the Defense Ministry has consolidated its stance on cyber attacks,” said ministry spokesman Daisuke Kono.

The panel called for Â¥21.2 billion (US$270 million) in funds for new cyber defense activities, the bulk of which would be devoted to monitoring Japan’s networks and establishing a system for quickly responding to attacks.

It said that considerations for future meetings will include establishing a legal framework for dealing with online attacks, the establishment of a cyber defense group, and cooperation with industry and other countries.

Japanese defense panel: Cyber attacks can be basis for military self defense

Baig: Apple iPhone 5 makes glowing first impression

SAN FRANCISCO - Over the past several weeks and months, I can’t tell you how often I’ve gotten the question, “When is the new iPhone coming out?’” We now know the answer to the question. Apple announced a brand new iPhone 5 today. The obvious follow-up question: “Is it worth it?”

My true answer must wait until I’ve had a chance to put the iPhone 5 through its paces, and details are still emerging as I sit in the audience at Apple’s event here. But the new iPhone looks awfully inviting from my vantage point. Like many people, I’ve had an iPhone 4 that has frankly grown stale. But I also postponed the purchase of a new smartphone — waiting to see what Apple would do.

The new iPhone 5 has the same retina display as on its predecessor. But Apple finally upped the screen size to 4 inches, up from the 3.5-inch display that was on all its predecessors. That permits a fifth row of app icons on the home screen. It’s still a smaller screen than the display on many rival Android devices. But the extra real estate is welcome, just the same.

Apple says the new device a little taller than its earlier models and is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever made — 18% thinner, in fact, than its immediate predecessor, the iPhone 4S. And the iPhone 5 is one-fifth lighter than the 4S. It is made entirely of glass and aluminum.

GRAPHIC: A leaner, more powerful iPhone

VIDEO: Talking Tech: iPhone5

And yes — as had been rumored and as I had hoped — the iPhone 5 can tap into speedy wireless 4G LTE networks. Apple will be working in the U.S. with AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless, as well as several other carriers in Canada and overseas.Apple says users will get up to 8 hours of 3G talk time off its battery.

The iPhone 5, in black or white aluminum, ships Sept. 21 in the U. S. and will be available for preorder on Friday. Prices: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB. (With a contract, the iPhone 4 will be free; iPhone 4S, $99.)The new iPhone runs off a zippy A6 chip, Apple says, meaning you can launch photos, music, and various apps much quicker. I’m anxious to compare this to its predecessors.It has an improved iSight camera that Apple says increases performance in low light. Apple says it can capture pictures 40% faster than before.

Apple’s Phil Schiller joked about the pictures you can take with the new camera: “Kids look happier.” (I’ll let you know if I’m happier after taking my own pix.) With the new phone, you can also capture panorama images. On stage, Apple showed a stunning 28-megapixels panoramic image of the Golden Gate Bridge.Apple also improved the front-facing FaceTime camera. And the phone has three microphones, and what the company says are better speakers.

Apple has incorporated new “wideband audio” technology to bolster sound by filling up more of the frequency spectrum.Now a controversial topic: iPhone has used the same 30-pin connector that has been on the iPhone since 2003. Of course, there are now lots of other ways to connect — Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi syncing. And now Apple is evolving the connector to something called Lightning, playing off the name of Apple’s other emerging connector, Thunderbolt.

The new connector is 80% smaller and Apple is working with Bose, JBL and others. But what of all the accessories you have that use the older connector, like those in your car. Apple is coming out with an adapter that would let you hook up those other devices. But this is a potential inconvenience, and it’s not yet known if Apple will throw in the adapter for free or charge for it. Either way, it’s just something else you have to worry about taking with you — and not losing.At the core of the new iPhone, of course, is the previously announced iOS 6 software upgrade.

Apple is late to the party with turn-by-turn audio directions, a feature that has been on Android phones for a while. (Third-party developers have helped fill the void on the iPhone up to now). But better late than never, and the built-in Maps and directions in iOS 6 are very sweet. You can zoom in to get virtual photo-realistic tours of an area through Maps. During the event, Apple zoomed in on London’s Big Ben.IOS 6 made enhancements to Notification Center and Safari. Through iCloud Tabs, you can access webpages that were open on your computer back home. Among the new Mail features is the ability to make certain senders your VIPs, so you can easily access their mail amidst all the junk.I’m particularly high on another iOS 6 addition called Passbook, a repository for boarding passes, coupons and such.

You can even display your boarding pass from the iPhone lock screen.With iOS 6 comes Shared Photo Streams. As the name suggests, it’s a way to share images with friends.Apple has also made improvements to Siri, letting you ask the phone’s chatty virtual assistant for sports scores, movie recommendations and to launch apps.Facebook has been implemented throughout iOS 6.

And you can make a FaceTime call over the cellular data network — previously it was just Wi-Fi. Apple says there are more than 200 new features in iOS 6.Separate from the iPhone5 announcement, Apple spent some time talking about its handsome new versions of iTunes for iOS and for computers. Among the enhancements: You can now see the contents of your music library and playlists at the same time. One potentially useful, if not overly exciting, feature is called Up Next. Yes, it lets you know what’s about to play next (though you can rearrange the order).

Apple improved the new mini-player that appears when you’re doing something else on your computer. You can search from within the mini-player.iCloud is built right into iTunes, so you can pick up watching a movie right where you left off. Apple says is coming out with a new iPod Nano that’s 38% thinner, multi-touch, has an FM tuner with live pause and a 2.5-inch display. Widestream video is coming back. Bluetooth has been added. And it has the all-new Lightning connector.

Apple says it will offer up to 30 hours of battery life.Changes are also coming to the iPod Touch, especially popular with gamers. The new 5th generation version is just 6.1mm thin, almost as thin as the Nano. It weighs 88 grams. And it has the same 4-inch retina display as on the iPhone 5. It has a faster dual core chip (the A5, not the A6 in the new iPhone) and superior graphics. 6.1mm thin, almost as thin as the Nano. It weighs 88 grams.

And it has the same 4-inch retina display as on the iPhone 5. It has a faster dual core chip (the A5, not the A6 in the new iPhone) and superior graphics.

Baig: Apple iPhone 5 makes glowing first impression