IOS

At a time when all eyes are on Apple with its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off 10 a.m. PT on Monday at Moscone West center in San Francisco, a latest report said, citing an industry analyst, that Apple would unveil the iOS 6 Golden Master in early September, which would be followed by next-generation iPhone later the same month.

So much for doubling down on secrecy. On Friday, several San Francisco residents snapped photos of banners being raised in the Moscone Center's west exhibition hall, one of the event sites for Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), for the iOS 6. Even though WWDC 2012 will apparently center around the Mac, Apple will nevertheless find time to introduce developers to new tools and features for the iPhone's and iPad's next-generation operating system.

This year's Worldwide Developer Conference is all set to kick off 10 a.m. PT on Monday at Moscone West center in San Francisco. Here's is a list of websites where you can get the complete coverage of the Apple event. These sites will be live blogging the WWDC 2012 event.

Just hours before Apple's yearly pilgrimage for developers kicks off Monday, an intriguing post at Chinese forum WeiPhone made much buzz around the tech world Sunday, claiming to have a full list of links to beta builds of iOS 6 and Safari 6 Developer Preview for OS X Lion.

Apple is expected to unveil a ton of new products next week at the 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, but on Friday, Gadget Lab tweeted a picture from Wired's Roberto Baldwin of a banner put up in Moscone West, one of the WWDC event locations, which showcased iOS 6: The world's most advanced mobile operating system.

Thousands of software and application engineers have already sold out next week?s developers conference mounted by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company. Here are four key highlights.

On June 22, Cricket mobile will begin selling Apple's flagship iPhone 4 and 4S without a contract. Buy the phone from Cricket (for $399 and $499, respectively) and pay a $55 monthly charge for unlimited calls, data and messaging. Don't like the deal anymore? Then just cancel.

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s Virgin Mobile announced Wednesday that it would start selling contract-free versions of Apple iPhone 4 and iPhne 4S with prepaid plans ranging from $30 to $50 a month, starting June 29.

Both Virgin Mobile and Cricket Wireless will be among the first U.S carriers to launch Apple's iPhone on a pre-paid service.

Google unveiled its new 3-D map technology Wednesday. To provide a three-dimensional perspective for these maps, the search engine giant has deployed a fleet of planes to fly above U.S. cities and capture images.

On Tuesday, Fremont, Calif.-based Tactus Technology unveiled its solution to the touchscreen keyboard at SID Display Week 2012, showing off a prototype of an interface with appearing and disappearing keys that rise out of the touchscreen to provide a guide for your fingers and feedback to confirm the selection. A similar technology was reportedly being built for Apple's sixth-generation smartphone, presumably called the iPhone 5.

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding the timeframe for the release of the next generation iPhone, presumably called the iPhone 5, irrespective of what Apple finally decides to name it.

It's been almost eight months since Apple released iOS 5, the most comprehensive update to its mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Now, in the weeks leading up to Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), insiders believe Apple will again announce a major update to its mobile platform and unveil iOS 6.

Could Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, be getting a new jolt from the burgeoning China market, its second largest?

Just a week before the WWDC 2012 kicks off, the iPhone Dev-Team has released updates to four of its free jailbreak software - the PwnageTool, RedSn0w, Ultrasn0w and Cinject - in order to include the Rocky Racoon jailbreak and the iOS 5.1.1 untether jailbreak developed by @pod2g and @planetbeing.

Cricket Wireless will be the first mainland prepaid wireless carrier in the U.S. to sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4 and 4S, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Breaking the tough technical shackles, the much-anticipated untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 was finally made public by the Chronic Dev Team last week. Here's a list of a few of the gems available in Cydia store that would provide unique functionality for your jailbroken iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 5.1.1.

The Chronic Dev Team has pushed out yet another update of the Absinthe tool. The popular untethered jailbreak tool has been updated to version 2.0.4 that includes support for the previously left alone iPad 2,4.

Apple?s next operating system update, iOS 6, will emphasize 3-D technology when it comes to its map app. While this has yet to be officially confirmed, images leaked through BGR that indicate its next operating system upgrade will see a revamped map app.

The name Steve Jobs has become synonymous with Apple Inc., but some may not know that the late co-founder and former CEO of the iPhone manufacturer once worked for iconic game-maker Atari. Sotheby's is taking Apple and Atari fans back in time by auctioning a handwritten memo penned by Jobs himself during that period.

Since Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004, the social network has become one of the most important centerpieces in society, especially as it becomes increasingly digital and mobile. Yet, the value of Facebook has not yet translated to revenue dollars. That may change, however, if Facebook decides to build its first-ever piece of hardware: A Facebook smartphone.