Last month saw six small U.S. carriers begin offering the iPhone for the first time, and it appears that another round of expansion to similar carriers is coming on May 18. Three new iPhone carriers, all operating CDMA networks, have rolled out their announcements so far today: - Bluegrass Cellular (Kentucky) - Golden State Cellular (California) - Nex-Tech Wireless (Kansas) As with other regional carriers, the new entrants will be offering the iPhone at $50 below the standard pricing available through Apple and the major carriers.

Patently Apple reports that Apple had acquired a number of new patents to its arsenal today.

As we've been hearing, Apple is rolling out some "additional security" for App Store customers . When you go to purchase an app, as I just did (it was the free Pocket app, incidentally), you may be prompted to answer three security questions and provide a second email address in case your primary account is compromised.

Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone 4S can now be SIM-unlocked in just a few easy steps, as can any previous version of Apple’s popular smartphone line. The new unlock procedure, mapped out this past weekend by mobile hacker “Loktar_Sun,” will allow iPhone owners to use a SIM card from any compatible carrier rather than just the carrier from which the phone was purchased. Users need only jailbreak their iPhones and follow a simple 13-step procedure to unlock their handsets, though caution should obviously be taken and the procedure will void the manufacturer’s warranty

Although patents are often filed at concept stage, they usually remain pending for a period of time - sometimes several years - before a patent is actually granted by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Today, Apple has finally been granted the patent for the interface of its iconic iTunes Store, some eight years after the patent was initially filed.

Kickstarter is filled with some brilliant, some not-so-brilliant

My old iPod touch finally turned on after 2 years and when I plugged it to my computer but I can't drag the music to my iTunes library or anywhere else on my Macbook Pro.

My itouch is totally locked up with the apple symbol on the screen. Holding down the two buttons makes it flick of for a split second and then it's back to the same screen.

Victor has been promising to write a post about iTunes and how it fails to live up to OS X's potential for over a year. Fortunately, the guys over at Macworld sprang to the rescue, discussing how Apple might want to save their syncing ship .

9to5Mac claims to have some early details about Apple's next version of iTunes.