Day: July 8, 2012

Apple begins taking down sites that sell UDID activations

Apple has begun cracking down on unofficial sites that sell UDID activations to folks who aren't registered Apple developers, letting them download and install iOS and OS X betas on their devices, a strict violation of Apple's agreement with developers.

In fact, a developer's $99 a year membership in the iOS Developer Program can be terminated if pre-release software is provided to non-authorized folks. Apple isn't just revoking access to developers that sell UDIDs, it's now going after sites that advertise UDID activations, filing DMCA requests to hosting firms.

As you can imagine, financial incentives outweigh risks and punishment involved. Savvy "entrepreneurs" have found the business of selling unauthorized access to iOS betas worth tens of thousands of dollars. You don't need an office, staff, a telephone line or even a business name - just a small upfront investment, a web page advertising your "service" and spare time on your hands to get the word out...

Amazon launching new Kindle Fire with better display, camera in Q3?

Online retailer Amazon has reportedly informed select developers that it will be launching a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet some time in the second half of this year, possibly in the third quarter, in time for the holiday shopping season. The new Fire allegedly has a much improved display running at HD-ready 1280-by-800 pixels, matching Google's Nexus 7...

Kickstarter foldable iPhone keyboard pushes all the right buttons

We've brought you plenty of Kickstarter projects over the years. Some iPhone related, some iPad related, and a few of them have been keyboards, too. This particular keyboard though has something of a party trick, with the Spike iPhone case and keyboard combination allowing owners to fold the buttons around to the back for when they are not in use.

Costing around $50 for the premium model, the case and keyboard combo needs to reach $75,000 in order to be fully funded, and is expected to begin shipping around October time.

Don't worry though, you've still got 34 days in order to get your pledge in...

The top 10 iOS news of the week on iDownloadBlog

A new week is coming, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on what happened last week. If you think you may have missed a few of the top stories from last week, don't sweat it, we've got you covered.

We've gathered the top 10+ most popular stories from iDB last week for you to check out. As always, make sure that you're friends with us on Facebook, Google+, and that you are following us on Twitter...