Hasta La Gadget!

An unencrypted file stored in iPhones and iPads constantly records a user's location data. An open source application was used to plot the location data from an iPhone belonging to a Wired.com reporter.

Two Apple customers have filed a lawsuit accusing the Cupertino, California, company of committing violations of computer-fraud laws by recording location data of iPhone and iPad customers.

Vikram Ajjampur, an iPhone customer in Florida, and William Devito, a New York iPad customer, filed the suit in federal court April 22 in Tampa, Florida.

“The accessibility of the unencrypted information collected by Apple places users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking” (.pdf), the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit revolves around a discovery publicized last week that a file stored on Apple’s mobile devices contains a log recording geographical data that dates as far back as 10 months ago.

Wired.com reported last week that Apple acknowledged in a letter to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) last year that the company deliberately collects anonymized location data from mobile devices in order to build a comprehensive location database that provides improved location services to customers.

Ajjampur and Devito allege that Apple has violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by intentionally accessing the location information without authorization.

“By secretly installing software that records users [sic] every moves Apple has accessed Plaintiffs’ computers, in the course of interstate commerce or communication, in excess of the authorization provided by Plaintiffs as described in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” the lawsuit says.

Ajjampur and Devito are seeking class action status to represent U.S. iPhone and iPad customers. The complaint seeks an injunction requiring Apple to disable the data collection in a software update, and it also seeks damages for violations committed.

See Also:

• Why You Should Care About the iPhone Location-Tracking Issue
• Why and How Apple Is Collecting Your iPhone Location Data
• iPhone’s Location-Data Collection Can’t Be Turned Off
• iPhone Tracks Your Every Move, and There’s a Map for That

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that despite Apple’s Location Services being in the off position, iPhones are still collecting your general location data.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Since we first peeked the new Sandy Bridge-equipped Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 back in February we haven’t heard much about these mobile workstations. We still don’t have prices or a release date, but a leaked manual has finally delivered some specs — and CAD enthusiasts won’t be disappointed. Both the 15.6-inch M4600 and the 17-inch M6600 can be configured with up to a Core i7 Quad Extreme 2920XM and 32GB of RAM. The smaller, 6.3-pound M4600 comes standard with a 1GB AMD FirePro M5950 and can be upgraded to an NVIDIA Quadro 2000M with 2GB. The more beastly 7.5-pound M6600 starts with a 2GB FirePro M8900 and has options ranging all the way up to a 4GB Quadro 5010M. Both machines also come packing two USB 3.0 ports, a pair of USB 2.0 connectors, an eSATA jack, and an IEEE 1394 port, giving you plenty of room to plug in all the external drives, cameras, scientific instruments, and cat-shaped mouse cozies your little heart desires.

[Thanks, Wolf]

Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 specs emerge in leaked manual originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hot on the heels of yesterday’s leaked 10.1-inch ThinkPad tablet comes another juicy tidbit about another forthcoming device from Lenovo. This is my next reports that in the PC-maker has a 7-inch Honeycomb-equipped slate in the pipeline sporting a high resolution 1280 x 800 display and ARM dual-core processor. The slides also indicate the presence of the “Lenovo family UI,” which most likely means Le OS. Release is purportedly slated (ugh) for Q4, but given the presence of a placeholder image and the fact that these slides are at least a month old, most of this is subject to change. Still, we hope Lenovo takes the time to get things right with its Honeycomb customizations, since its the little differentiating touches that make all the difference in burgeoning sea of screen-centric devices.

Lenovo 7-inch Honeycomb tablet coming Q4 according to leaked PDF, Le OS genetics in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the major issues with electric cars, at least in colder climates, is how much cold weather affects their range. Using a heater can be a significant drain on a car’s battery. In fact, some Nissan Leaf owners have claimed a range decrease of 20 percent when using a heater. To alleviate this Nissan has announced that a new cold weather package will be available in the future.

The package will come standard on cars sold in colder areas and will be available as an option elsewhere. It includes heated seats, mirror, and steering wheel, as well as some form of temperature management for the car’s battery pack.

Unfortunately for cold Leaf owners there’s no word yet on when the package will be available or just how much it will cost. Hopefully we’ll learn that information before winter sets in.

Via PlugInCars.com