disturbance

You might have been one of those who noticed over the New Year that your iPhone 5 wasn't disturbing you.

This was quite some time after it was supposed to disturb you.

And quite some time, even, after Apple had released an ad that celebrated this fine feature.

I would like to disturb you with some news.

Apple support has posted a notice that admits there might be a little problem.

Somehow, the Do Not Disturb function is staying on, even when people thought they had programmed it only for a certain period of time. (For those who don'… Read more

Last update: January 2 at 11:13 a.m. PT

However walled your garden, rodents still pad around, cockroaches still shuffle.

One can only, therefore, feel sympathy for Apple's new ad for the iPhone 5.

It features the mysterious and wonderful Williams sisters. They are in a dream. They are playing the dreamy Jeff Daniels at ping-pong.

And yet the ad also features the phone's "Do Not Disturb" feature, which users can switch on to silence in-coming calls, alerts, and notifications, or set up to perform such silencing during a preordained period of time. And who … Read more

When Apple unveiled iOS 6 last June at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, a new feature called Do Not Disturb was one of the key functions highlighted.

Do Not Disturb, when turned on, will not only completely silence your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, but it will prevent the screen from turning on when an alert is received.

To enable or disable Do Not Disturb (DND), launch Settings, where you'll find a toggle switch. Alerts will then be silenced until you return to Settings and turn DND off. But there's more to it than that. Since you're … Read more

In December 1998, a U.S.-based hacker group called Legions of the Underground declared cyberwar on Iraq and China and prepared to protest human rights abuses in those countries by disrupting their Internet access.

About a week later, a coalition of hackers from groups including Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), L0pht, Chaos Computer Club in Germany, and hacker mags 2600 and Phrack issued a statement condemning the move. "We - the undersigned - strongly oppose any attempt to use the power of hacking to threaten to destroy the information infrastructure of a country, for any reason," … Read more

Once game consoles hit their stride in the '80s and '90s, the platform game became enormously popular. Especially with the release of the now legendary Mario games, just about every developer rushed to produce a game that offered that perfect mix of running, jumping, and collecting items for points, all while exploring a strange and often fantastical world.

This week's collection of apps includes modern twists on the old-school platform games many of us remember. The first lets you explore deep mines for treasure; the second will bring back memories of precision-heavy, rage-inducing platform classics; and the last offers up cartoonlike graphics as you explore a dreamlike fantasy world.… Read more

With 2010 coming to a close, it's time to look back at some of the greatest games to hit the iOS over the course of the year. I have many more favorites than I've listed in this slideshow, but I guess I have to make a cutoff somewhere. In any case, many factors have contributed to the iPhone becoming one of the greatest gaming platforms yet, and I think it will continue to get even better in 2011.

There's no question that the popularity of the iPhone made game developers see an opportunity to create something special … Read more

In a Q3 earnings call on Tuesday, Apple said third-quarter profits rose more than 77 percent largely from the success of the iPad and iPhone 4--probably not a big surprise for anyone. But the more shocking announcement (in my eyes) is that Apple set a record for the most Macs they've ever sold in a quarter with 3.47 million.

Obviously, I've always been a big fan of Mac computers, but I guess with the emergence of handheld devices like the iPad, iPod, and iPhone, I figured Apple's desktop and laptop business would not be as strong as it once was. Perhaps all these new iPhone users are deciding to give Apple computers a try. Whatever the case is, I'm glad to hear Mac computers are still selling well.

If you're one of the people who recently picked up a Mac (apparently there are quite a few of you), check out our Mac Starter Kit for some must-have software you can download right away.

If you're an iPhone user, make sure to come back and check out this week's apps, which include a simple free to-do list app and a platform game that challenges you to dig deep into the depths of dangerous mines.… Read more

Apparently a Chuck E. Cheese/Showbiz Pizza Place animatronic band has found new life singing modern hits like "Lithium" from Evanescence, "London Bridge" from Fergie, "Dani California" from RHCP, and my favorite, "Ms. New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx (shown after the break).

If you've never experienced the delicious trauma of seeing the Chuck E. Cheese furry robot band as a kid, then these videos will probably be more funny than creepy. For the rest of us who remember crying under the table while holding back pizza vomit, these videos tap into an especially dark place populated by H.R. Pufnstuf episodes and David Bowie's musical interludes in Labyrinth.… Read more