Apple

Investors seem to be getting comfortable with Apple Inc.'s stable of executives amid uncertainty about Steve Jobs' return to the helm of the consumer electronics titan he founded. Apple shares have surged in the 10 weeks since Jobs stepped away on a five-month medical leave.

The stock is up more than 45 percent since it bottomed out at a two-year low on Jan. 20, days after Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, announced he would hand over day-to-day duties to lieutenant Tim Cook to seek treatment for an undisclosed condition.

Every time it updates its professional-level workstation, Apple brands the new Mac Pro as "the fastest Mac ever." It's an interesting dilemma for the company, because the boast -- albeit true -- is both exciting and humdrum. Wouldn't it bum you out if the latest top-of-the-line Mac weren't also the fastest?

The founder of Austrian site Benm.at claims to have found multiple unused graphical controls that relate directly to video editing. Among the controls are grab points that would let users define the start and end of clips as well as repeating, tile graphics and references to an 'edit bar.'

Brought to English readers through Gizmodo, the rumor doesn't yet show an actual video editor but further supports evidence of video capturing as a staple feature in iPhone 3.0.

It appears some Russian hackers have released an updated version of QuickPwn which works on iPhone OS 3.0 beta 2! This is not an official release from the iPhone Dev Team and using this unofficial release will kill yellowsn0w and any possibility of a software unlock -- maybe FOREVER.

Anyone who has any hopes that Apple might eventually loosen its grip on the iPhone can stop holding their breath. A new version of the “iPhone Developer Program License Agreement” goes so far as to prohibit jailbreaking.

As first noted by Ars, the relevant clauses in the new agreement state:

Phishing attacks and mobile scams are on the rise thanks to unsuspecting users and hackers employing more elaborate tricks. However, the newest version of Safari will let you know how secure a website is.

The newest Beta version of Safari for the iPhone will identify web pages that have a trusted user certificate ensuring your data is safe. Visiting popular online retailers will show the protected certificate available for the website automatically where as it remained out of site in earlier iPhone builds.

The second beta of the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 was released to developers yesterday (the build number is 7A259G). Aesthetically there aren't that many changes noticeable however the speed and responsiveness of the beta has definitely improved by leaps and bounds - with beta 1, rebooting your phone would be a daily affair as the phone would become unresponsive or just hang all together. In addition the keyboard would sometimes lag for no apparent reason.

Apple on Tuesday afternoon provided its vast developer community with a second beta release of iPhone Software 3.0, which arrived alongside a promise by the company to gradually open its live Push Notification service and In-App Purchasing to beta testers in the near term.

The Cupertino-based iPhone maker reportedly told developers downloading the build, labeled iPhone OS beta 2 build 7A259, that they could begin developing applications that will rely on the company's new Push Notification service immediately.

While an official Skype client for the iPhone was a welcome announcement, the news that carriers’ and Apple’s Terms of Service prevented VoIP calls being made over 3G connections put a dampener on things. Now it seems that Skype running on handsets using iPhone OS 3.0 is able to use a 3G link for voice calls, in addition to WiFi.

As standard, only WiFi connections should be available for Skype calls. It’s unclear what in OS 3.0 is confusing the software, but right now people aren’t complaining.

The Royal Bank of Canada is maintaining its bearish near-term outlook on shares of Apple, claiming that although consumer interest in a new version of the iPhone remains healthy, sales of the new device are unlikely to provide the company with the same boost seen during the transition from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G.