News

Apple announced today that Beyoncé’s newest album has become the fastest selling studio release ever on the iTunes Store. The self-named album sold 828,773 copies in just its first three days while breaking first week album sales in the US. The album also earned the number one slot on the music charts in 104 countries, according to the Apple press release.

Beyoncé was released exclusively worldwide on the iTunes on December 13. This is the fifth solo release by the artist and her first "visual album," which features 14 new songs and 17 videos shot around the world. Beyoncé's last album"4" sold 310,000 copies in its debut week in July of 2011, according to Billboard.

Sprint announced today that its 4G LTE network now spans 70 new markets. The large list of Sprint LTE-enabled cities now includes major additions such as Green Bay, San Diego, Little Rock and Orlando. You can see a complete list of all the cities now covered by Sprint's LTE network below.

Sprint also recently announced that its Sprint Spark would soon be available on Samsung Galaxy S 4 handsets. Spark is an enhanced LTE network which allows tri-band devices to move seamlessly between spectrum bands. Sprint promises its new Spark network will help devices like the Galaxy S 4 reach "unprecedented speeds" and improve in-building signals and call quality / clarity. Spark is also the first network to reach 1GB download speeds over-the-air, according to Sprint.

In their online introduction to iOS 7, Apple affirmed that iOS in the Car would be coming soon. Today's release of iOS 7.1 beta 2 added credibility to that claim in the form of a 'Car Display' toggle under Settings>General>Restrictions. In addition, according to 9To5Mac, "Apple has greatly increased the amount of iOS in the Car references in both iOS7.1 beta 1 and in the new beta 2."

When asked about iOS in the Car on an earnings call earlier this Summer, Apple CEO Tim Cook described it as "part of the ecosystem, just like the App Store is a key part of the ecosystem... having something in the automobile is very, very important." Although Apple has not yet released iOS in the Car, all of this points to a release date sooner rather than later, perhaps alongside iOS 7.1, which is slated for early 2014.

Apple has released iOS 7.1 beta 2 for registered developers. The update which carries the build number of 11D5115d is now available via Apple's developer website. The second beta comes a few weeks after Apple released iOS 7.1 beta 1 in mid-November.

The second beta removes the option to enable the ‘dark keyboard’ which was introduced in the original version. It also fixes a few bugs, offers a few redesigns and adds a new "Button Shapes" option. You can see the brief iOS 7.1 beta 2 change log and release notes below.

Competition between carriers offering unsubsidized iPhones, contract-free data plans and other options keeps getting hotter. AT&T Mobility has taken another step in this direction, and now offers its Mobile Share plans with no-contract pricing. Mobile Share Value Plans are now available, promising to save AT&T subscribers $15 per month.

The new plans officially launched on December 8th. AT&T seems to be directly competing with T-Mobile's recent offerings, which remove subsidized devices from the equation. With AT&T Next, customers can choose to purchase a new iPhone outright with no contract or sign up for a monthly installment payment plan.