Apple

After months of speculation and rumor, Apple jumped into the small-tablet market Tuesday with the iPad Mini, a downsized addition to its line of iPads that in less than three years has spawned an entirely new consumer niche. Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage at San Jose's restored California Theatre, where Steve Jobs once shared the spotlight with Bono to unveil new iPods. Although Cook led off with other impressive advances in Apple's product lineup, the iPad Mini was clearly the star of the show: a 7.9-inch iPad small enough and light enough to fit into a hand.

If you fret about viruses, Trojan horses, or other malicious software infecting your home or office computer, there was reason to be cheered by this week's Federal Trade Commission multi-barreled crackdown on some smarmy malware profiteers. But not really to be reassured. The FTC announced on Tuesday a $163 million judgment against a "scareware" operation it first targeted four years ago, centered on a company that called itself "Innovative Marketing Inc. " - scammers with a sense of humor!

NEW YORK - Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized Friday for the company's error-ridden new mobile mapping service, pledging to improve the application installed on tens of millions of smartphones and, in an unusual mea culpa, inviting frustrated consumers to turn to the competition. In a letter posted online Friday, Cook said Apple "fell short" of its own expectations. "Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us," Cook said, "and we will keep working nonstop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Here's a look at smartphone applications to foliate a family tree, digitize and post old family snapshots, and probe for family connections among obituaries published around the world. Ancestry , by Ancestry.com, for Android and Apple, is free - at the start. When you load Ancestry, it asks you to sign up. You'll have to decide if the family tree you'll build is public or private. Going public makes it a bit easier for possible distant relatives to find you and get in touch. To start building your tree, tap on the icons marked with your name, "Add Father," and "Add Mother" to fill in details and add photos.

Company description: Grilled chicken, hearth-roasted apples, candied pistachios, dried cranberries, feta, mixed greens and caramel vinaigrette. Chain: Cosi. Calories: 515, with 26 grams of fat, 27 grams of protein and 597 mgs of salt. Location: 833 Chestnut St. Order time: A few minutes. Price: $7.99. Review: It takes a lot to get the Chain Gang to not order a Cosi thin crust flatbread pizza. But we always like to try their specials, too, and the Autumn Apple Chicken Salad is a winner.

BEIJING - The company that makes Apple's iPhones suspended production at a factory in China on Monday after a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people. The fight, the cause of which is under investigation, erupted Sunday night at a privately managed dormitory near a Foxconn Technology Group factory in the northern city of Taiyuan, the company and Chinese police said. A police statement reported by the official Xinhua news agency said that 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.

In a now familiar global ritual, Apple fans jammed shops across the globe to pick up the tech juggernaut's latest iPhone. Eager buyers formed long lines Friday at Apple Inc. stores in Asia, Europe, and North America to be the first to get their hands on the latest version of the smartphone. In New York, several hundred people lined up outside Apple's 5th Avenue store. Jimmy Peralta, a 30-year-old business management student, waited three hours before getting the chance to buy his new gadget.

Need a job? Smartphone applications by the dozens offer help. This selection can provide you with a nearly instant resume, give pointers for getting and surviving interviews, and even assist you in quitting a job with flair. Pocket Resume , $2.99 for Android and Apple, is by Mani Ghasemlou. About 30 seconds after I'd opened the app for the first time, it accessed my LinkedIn account - with my permission - and generated a bare-bones resume from my profile information on that social-networking site.

Longer. Thinner. Lighter. Faster. Larger screen. Better camera. Same price and colors - black or white, that is. No product stirs more buzz nowadays than a new Apple iPhone, and Wednesday's unveiling of the iPhone 5 punctuates the point. Yes, I plead guilty to participating, though I'm plainly torn in two directions - eager to get my hands on one and also a wee bit embarrassed to care. At one pole are analysts such as the Yankee Group's Carl Howe and Tim Bajarin, president of California's Creative Strategies Inc. After trying out the new iPhone at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens, each volunteered a strikingly similar analogy for the new glass-and-aluminum smartphone.

NEW YORK - This Southern California team would be a big hit on Broadway. The Trojans have a star-studded cast, capable of breathtaking performances, and there is often some kind of drama swirling around them. A rare trip to the New York area for No. 2 USC seems perfectly timed for Matt Barkley and Co., but the Trojans will actually be playing off Broadway - albeit on a huge stage. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the home of the Jets and Giants, will be the site of their game against Syracuse on Saturday.