Chronic Dev Team today announced the release of Absinthe 2.0, which offers users the ability to jailbreak numerous iOS devices running iOS 5.1.1, including the third-generation iPad, without having to tether the device to a computer for booting. The jailbreaking process allows users to load third-party software and hacks not authorized by Apple onto their devices.

As noted by 9to5Mac , the latest developer build of OS X Mountain Lion released last week sets the stage for bringing iOS-like automatic app downloads to Mac App Store purchases. Like on the iPhone and iPad, when you buy and install an app on one of your Macs, all of your other Macs logged into the same App Store account will automatically install the app too

Following last month's announcement that Apple and Samsung had agreed to high-level talks involving the two companies' CEOs in an attempt to resolve ongoing patent litigation, Reuters provides a preview of the session set to begin today in San Francisco. The talks, which will be mediated by a federal judge, are scheduled to take place over the next two days

Russian forensics firm ElcomSoft earlier this week announced that it has discovered a way to easily access iCloud backups of iOS devices, incorporating the functionality into its Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker software. While the Apple ID and password must be known in order to access the iCloud data, once that information has been obtained the software makes it easy for investigators to download full iCloud backups and then follow incremental backups in near real-time to track a device's use without the knowledge of the user. ElcomSoft researchers analyzed the communication protocol connecting iPhone users with Apple iCloud, and were able to emulate the correct commands in order to retrieve the content of iOS users’ iCloud storage.

Each July since 2007, Apple has held its iTunes Festival in London, offering a month's worth of free concerts from some of the industry's top performers. Apple is now beginning to unveil this year's plans , and the most notable change for 2012 is a move to the month of September.

Bloomberg reports that Steve Jobs was intimately involved in the design work for the next-generation iPhone scheduled for release later this year, reiterating claims that the device will be a substantial change from previous designs in part because of a larger display. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has placed orders from suppliers in Asia for screens that are bigger than the 3.5- inch size now on the smartphone, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death in October, one person said

Aaron Sorkin, the creative genius behind The Social Network , The West Wing , and upcoming HBO show The Newsroom was recently confirmed as the screenwriter for Sony's upcoming movie based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs -- though, Sorkin himself says he has a lot of work to do.

Speaking at Fast Company 's Innovation Uncensored conference earlier this week, J.

With long-running rumors of ultra high-resolution "Retina" displays for Apple's next-generation MacBook Pro receiving a significant boost with reports from several sources surfacing yesterday and similar upgrades now being rumored for the iMac , fans of the MacBook Air have been awaiting word on when they might expect Apple's smallest Mac notebooks to gain the feature. 9to5Mac now reports that Apple is indeed unsurprisingly planning to bring Retina displays to the MacBook Air, with that upgrade being the most significant change for the next-generation line. Apple’s new MacBook Air will not see major changes across the entire computer like the next-generation MacBook Pro, but this update will truly be all about the Retina Display

Bloomberg briefly reports that Apple and Disney are in talks to bring sports network ESPN's WatchESPN application [ App Store ] to the Apple TV set-top box. ESPN subscribers with AppleTV would gain access to the network’s Internet service on their TV sets.