A man from Pennsylvania has filed a suit against Apple citing "unlawful exploitation" of children. The suit is based on Apple's in-app purchase policy. Apple did revamp the system with the release of iOS 4.3; you now need to input your iTunes password. Apple has still not done enough according to Mr Meguerian.

Minors 13 and older are permitted to open their own Apple accounts, and minors younger than 13 may purchase Game Currency by using their parents’ general Apple password (no special Apple password is required to purchase Game Currency),” according to the suit, which was filed in a Northern California district court.

Mr Meguerian's nine year old daughter ran up around $200 with in-app purchases through games like Zombie Cafe, Treasure Story and City Story. This was all prior to the changes in March; when iOS 4.3 was released. Mr Meguerian claims he was shocked to find the charges on his account. He is suing Apple for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, chasing damages and attorneys' fees and costs.

Have any of our readers been affected by younger family members using their accounts for in-app purchases? Are you more careful with your iTunes password than Mr Meguerian? Let us know in the comments!

[PC Mag]

Apple facing law suit over in-app game purchases is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The Motorola Xoom launched to sales that were okay but not breakthrough, the BlackBerry Playbook has gotten hopeful though mixed reviews, and now Digitimes reports other would-be iPad 2 competitors may be getting cold feet.

But sales of Xoom tablet PCs have been lower than expected, said sources at Taiwan’s notebook makers, citing brand image, pricing, insufficient applications and the unstable performance of Android 3.0 as reasons for the doldrums. [...] With Google unable to offer sufficient support to cooperation partners at present, many players have decided to delay the launch of Android 3.0 tablet PCs, the sources added.

Last year we debated whether Apple had created a mainstream tablet market, or simply an iPad market, and whether tablets would end up being like iPods with Apple dominant, or like Smartphones with many players in contention. It’s far, far too early to tell but it is telling that a year post-iPad launch the competition is still feeling their way out the of gate. (If not entirely flummoxed as Steve Jobs suggested at the iPad 2 event.)

We know some of you are considering the PlayBook, an Android Honeycomb tablet, or an HP/Palm TouchPad, what do you make of the struggle to get a strong competitor to market?

[Digitimes]

iPad competitors considering delays in the face of tepid market reception? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Private Info: DIgital wallet, photo vault, video vault, file vault and wireless file storage and privacy app. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• GemCraft: Experience a completely new chapter in the GemCraft series featuring an all new user interface, stunning retina art, and levels designed specifically for mobile gaming. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• NewsTweet: A news reader for iPad that brings you web feeds and Twitter mashed up in a fresh Scandinavian design. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

• Instacast: Consume audio and video podcasts. Huge update brings support for OPML file format, ability to copy podcast URL to clipboard, Auto-Refreshing of subscriptions, and much more! [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• Navigon: Now with all new NAVTEQ map data, reality scanner, TrafficCheck and more. [prices vary - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Friday, April 15 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Employees of Apple have joined the likes of US President Obama, other companies, entertainers, students, and many others in contributing a suicide prevention video to the It Gets Better Project.

Watch it after the break.

Apple employees contribute video to It Gets Better Project is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

i0n1c has just confirmed via his Twitter account that the exploit behind the current untethered jailbreak is still working and alive on iOS 4.3.2. Apple has not patched it. He is currently running the jailbreak on his original iPad. Odds are that this will work for all devices minus the iPad 2.

I would still hold off on upgrading until a jailbreak tool has been updated if you can. But if any of you try out redsn0w on iOS 4.3.2, let us know what happens and how it turns out in the comments! If you run into any issues, check out our TiPb jailbreak forums too.

[@i0n1c]

i0n1c confirms current untethered jailbreak works on iOS 4.3.2 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Do you sync your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch email, contacts and calendars from Mail or Outlook via iTunes or have you moved to the MobileMe, Google, Yahoo!, or Microsoft cloud? For many people, especially in business, Outlook is life but connecting a cable and launching iTunes isn’t a very convenient way to stay current. MobileMe had a rocky start but has been stable for a while now, and rumors persist that Apple is about to re-invent it (especially now that the $99 box is almost impossible to find). Google is huge with geeks but does things in its own way and provides little to no support when things go wrong. Yahoo! was once a power house but now you almost never hear about them anymore. Meanwhile Exchange is huge in enterprise and Hotmail has become Microsoft Live Mail and is finally playing nicer with iOS thanks to ActiveSync.

When it comes to files there are even more choices. You can still sync via iTunes to apps that support it, or you can use Apple’s iDisk, Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync, or a number of options from Microsoft including Skydrive and SharePoint (though you seldom see any of them when it comes to iOS.)

Have you standardized on a single solution or do you use more than one? For example, do you use different accounts or even services for home, work, school, private info, etc.?

Vote in the polls and let us know the details in the comments?

Poll: Which iPhone and iPad sync solution do you use? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Gameloft has released a teaser video of its soon to be released N.O.V.A. Elite first person shooter game. The video concentrates solely on the multiplayer part of the game; rumors do suggest that this game may be multiplayer only.

Rumors also point to the game being available for free with in-app purchases of weapons and power ups. This would encourage more customers to get online initially to build up momentum and create a vibrant online player base, which is critical for a multiplayer game to succeed.

We will have to wait and see what the final release will bring; it shouldn't be too much longer! In the mean time, take a look at the video after the break and let us know if you plan on picking this one up when its released!

[touch Arcade]

Gameloft teases us with a N.O.V.A. Elite trailer [video] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
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Rene, Ally, Craig, and Seth discuss white iPhone (again!), Steve Jobs’ biography, enterprise going iPhone, crazy gesture patents, 3D demos, Shairport, IMEI unlocks, and the week in apps. This is iPhone Live!

Show notes and all the week’s iPhone news after the break!

News

• Official Steve Jobs biography coming in 2012!
• Clorox bleaches BlackBerry, goes 92% iPhone
• Apple working on new multitouch gestures for iOS 5, illuminated smart bezel for iPhone 5??
• iPad 2 and iPhone 4 3D demonstration, no glasses required [video]
• AirPlay private encryption keys cracked, AirPort meet Shairport
• Buyer beware: Remote carrier unlocks for iPhone

Discussion

• What does Apple have to do to re-revolutionize the iPhone?

Jailbreak

• Want to get rich? There's a jailbreak for that!
• Poll: Are you having issues with iOS 4.3.1 untethered jailbreak?

Apps

• iPhone vs. Android app UI
• Apple rejects PopCap's Unpleasant Horse for mature content
• Tweetbot for iPhone begins hitting App Store
• Angry Birds to get cross device game sync features by the summer, new Easter update coming for Angry Birds Seasons
• Facebook for iPhone allows 'liking' comments… sometimes

Hosts

• @reneritchie (Rene)
• @imuggle (Ally)
• @ibanyan (Craig)
• sethclifford (Seth)

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

iPhone Live 146: White iWhen now? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Wondering what’s the fastest way to charge iPad 2? Yes, it’s true — not all charging methods were created equal. If you’ve ever wanted to take your iPad out with you and only have a few minutes to spare before you have to leave this tip will help you get the most charge for of your device. Stick with us after the break to find out more!

The iPad 2 uses a lithium-polymer battery, which is also used in the iPhone, the Pod touch, and even Apple’s MacBook line of laptops. In the iPad 2’s case, the 25 watt hour lithium-polymer battery fills up most of the space inside, which is why it can last for 10 hours of surfing, listening to music or watching videos… provided it’s charged. Here’s how to get it that way as fast as possible.

10W USB Power Adapter

Apple includes a 10W USB to AC power adapter right in the iPad 2 box and this is the absolute faster way to charge your iPad 2. Just plug your 30-pin Dock cable into your iPad, plug the USB connector into the adapter, and plug the adapter into a wall socket. Apple even sells an extended adapter if you need it.

USB Port

Because iPad 2 needs a lot of power, it will only trickle-charge in a standard USB port (i.e. charge very slowly). Sometimes one port might be better than another, for example many laptops have some USB ports that are independently powered and others that share power. Try different ports until you find the one that works best.

Some laptops, like Apple’s MacBook Air which was designed to power an external DVD drive over USB, or the brand new MacBook Pros, have higher power USB ports that could charge faster.If your laptop has a high power USB port, that’s what you’ll want to use.

Car Adapters

If your car has a USB or AC port, follow the directions above and charge away. If you have a standard car port/cigarette lighter port, you’ll need a car adapter. Not all car adapters support iPad so make sure you get one that states it works with iPad 2.

Battery packs

If you’re traveling a lot you might want to invest in a battery charger pack. For iPad 2, these are typically large packs that plug into the 30 pin Dock connector and transfer their charge to the iPad. Depending on the size of the battery pack, and they can offer anywhere from a partial to a full charge.

Check before you go

While iPads have up to a month of standby time that means the battery is still discharging over the course of that month. While no one here at TiPb can imagine going a few hours, much less a day or week without using our iPads, if you haven’t used yours in a while you’re going to want to check it well in advanced of leaving home. If it’s only got a little power left, charge at home with the AC adapter before you go!

Cycle the battery monthly

To give your iPad 2 battery the longest life possible you want to make sure you completely cycle it once a month. That means charging it to 100%, draining it down to 0 (until it automatically shuts off), and then charging it all the way to 100% again.

Hopefully this helps you keep your iPad charged. If you have any other tips on battery charging, let us know!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: How to quickly charge your iPad 2 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Today Apple released both iOS 4.3.2 and iOS 4.2.7. The first was for almost all iOS devices except the Verizon iPhone. The second was for the Verizon iPhone. Like iPad last year, which shipped with iOS 3.2 and didn’t unify with the rest of the iOS family until iOS 4.2, the Verizon iPhone shipped with iOS 4.2.5/4.2.6 and won’t unify with the rest of the iOS family until some future update, perhaps not until iOS 5/5.x.

Yet despite this fragmentation — or more properly bifurcation — of the iOS software, Apple still delivered both updates at the same time, across the world, and across both major US carriers, AT&T and Verizon.

Compare this with Google who took weeks and weeks (and weeks) to bring Android Gingerbread to their own phone, the Nexus One, and even then released it as a trickle update that took weeks more to become available to all devices (including mine.) And that’s nothing compared to how long it’s taking for non-Google Android phones to get Gingerbread, to even get confirmation from their manufacturers and carriers that they’re in fact getting Gingerbread.

Compare this with HP/Palm webOS where despite Palm’s previous assurances, older devices probably won’t get webOS 2.x, and even the just released Palm Pre 2 on Verizon sounds like it might never go from 2.0.x to 2.1, never mind a unified release across all devices, on all carriers, at the same time.

Compare this to Windows Phone which, despite Microsoft’s claims of speedy and steady updates, pre-update updates have caused havoc, actual updates have been delayed, and everyone from the community to Microsoft itself seems frustrated to the point of fuming.

There’s no money in free updates. Carriers and manufacturers would typically prefer you get the new software by buying new hardware. Google and Microsoft have to contend with this carrier and manufacturer disinterest. HP/Palm has to deal with carrier aspect. All of them have to deal with partners who lack incentive because they don’t believe consumer good-will and customer service alone constitute incentive.

Apple has to deal with this as well. But they don’t care. Since 2007 they’ve pushed out update after update, whole new iOS versions, major point updates, and minor bug and security fixes alike. They’ve been relentless.

Even over the last 2 years, with different branches for iPad and iPhone/iPod touch and now for most iOS devices and Verizon iPhone, they’ve kept pushing them out. They’ve been unstoppable.

That’s what Apple customers are used to now. And it’s something the competition is letting become a competitive advantage.

Updates is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog