iPhone 3Gs explodes in man’s face, Apple retailer refuses to cover cost of repairs

Another iPhone has exploded in a person’s face. In this incident a New Taipei City resident’s iPhone 3G exploded while he was listening to music. An Apple retailer said the accident was caused by the iPhone’s aging battery and said the user had to cost of repairs.

Ashton Kutcher will play Apple’s Steve Jobs in biopic

Ashton Kutcher will play the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs in an upcoming indie biopic, reports Variety. The movie will be a sojourn through Jobs’ incredible life, showing how a child of the 1960s counterculture became of the most celebrated tech visionaries ever. One would think Apple fans would be thrilled to see their idol Steve Jobs immortalized on the silver screen, but some are less than impressed with director Jonathan Michael Stern’s casting decision in Ashton Kutcher. The 34-year-old star has garnered a reputation for playing the loud-mouthed party boy, with credits that include That 70s Show, Dude, Where’s My Car? and most recently, the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. That’s not…

What Apple should have done with its US$100 billion stash

Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave. Flush with US$100 billion in cash, Apple has announced its first dividend since 1995. The Cupertino, California based company announced on Monday that it will pay $2.65 per share to its stockholders. That’s nice, but watch this animation to see what we think Apple should have done with its US$100 billion. Apple never paid a dividend during Steve Jobs’ second stint as CEO, which began in 1997. That year, Apple was supposedly on the verge of bankruptcy and accepted a $150 million investment from Microsoft. Jobs saw Apple’s cash hoard as something to be saved to prevent Apple from falling into the same situation again. Microsoft once…

Goldman Sachs banker Greg Smith slams firm in NYT

Greg Smith, a London-based Goldman Sachs vice president, publicly resigned from the financial firm in a scathing New York Times op-ed piece published Wednesday. In the article, Smith lashed out against Goldman’s “toxic” culture which, he feels, places profit above the best interests of clients. Smith likened the business to an elephant hunt, where bankers push investors into deals that will make the most money for the firm. Adding insult to injury, Smith claimed clients were consistently referred to as “muppets” in internal emails. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Garry Cohn defended the firm in an internal statement. It cited a survey in which an overwhelming majority of Goldman employees said they think the…

Instagram hits 27 million users, tests Android app

Instagram, the free iOS app that allows shutterbugs to enhance and share their photos, now boasts 27 million users. And soon among them will be people whose phones run Android. Both bits of information were revealed by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, who is among the tech luminaries who have posted up at the all-things-cool festival South by Southwest. Speaking to the addictive nature of the app, Systrom boasted that 67 percent of the previous week’s active users had “Instagrammed” in the previous 24 hours. Up until recently, all of that usage had been carried out on iPhones, as Instagram was designed solely with Apple’s iOS mobile platform in mind. But Systrom confirmed rumors that an…

Apple iPad 3 / iPad HD features released

Apple will reportedly unveil its new iPad 3 — or iPad HD, as some suspect it will be called — today in San Francisco. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who succeeded the late Steve Jobs, is expected to do the honors. Invitations to the event were sent to the press last Tuesday, adding to the air of mystery that has come to surround Apple product launches. Against a backdrop of what looks to be an iPad are the words “We have something you really need to see. And touch.” The only other information included in the email were details on when and where the event will take place. The cryptic invitation intensified an already fevered rumor…

Airline offers ‘mile-high club’ membership for US$425

Sex in the car? That’s so yesterday! Flamingo Air, a private air company in Ohio State is promoting a new ‘mile-high club’ package. The plane takes passengers up into the air in a light aircraft while offering them a place to have sex…

iPhone, iPad maker Terry Gou has an image problem

Terry Gou is the head of Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics and is the major supplier of the iPhone and iPad. Foxconn is also famous for 18 suicide attempts by workers in 2010, which gave rise to reports of military-style management and sweatshop work conditions at its factories in China. Obviously, Terry Gou has an image problem. It bothers him because it potentially affects his bottom line, which is probably why he lashed out at American business during a press conference in Taipei last month. A few days later, he compared his workers to animals during a company event held at the Taipei Zoo. From an article…