After great wailing and gnashing of teeth about its banishment from Apple’s App Store earlier this year, AppGratis is back – for Android users. The app recommendation product was yanked by Apple after it outlawed iOS apps which promoted other apps. Now in the Google’s Play store Android repository, developers claim AppGratis “is designed from the ground up” for the iOS rival. Yet, the service appears much like the AppGratis ejected from the app’s first choice, the iOS App Store…
Eight months into its September 2012 launch, Apple’s iPhone 5 is still a pricey gadget to service.
Be it a smashed screen, an earpiece that needs replacing or its most unreliable iPhone component – the Home button - some replacement components for the handset remain pricey compared against prior iPhones.
In an in-depth piece, MarketWatch looks at the iPhone aftermarket to conclude that the iPhone 5 repair costs remain high due to Apple’s tight control of Asian supply chain for components and replacement parts… Read More
I love my Mac but sometimes it does some strange things, such as showing me duplicate entries in the “Open With” contextual menu you get when you right click on a document. While I’m not sure why it happens, I hear it’s due to the Launch Services database.
Of course, there probably is a valid explanation as to why and how it happens. Some people might even be able to convince me it’s more of a feature rather than a bug, but the fact of the matter is that it drives me absolutely insane.
If like me, you are annoyed by this, I’ll show you how to delete duplicate entries from the “Open With” menu on your Mac… Read More
The iPad edition of the media fingerprinting and discovery app Shazam has been updated today with a couple noteworthy enhancements.
First and foremost, the app can now auto-tag the music, television shows and ads playing around you (most likely on your telly), even when the app is in the background (you’ll see the red bar when auto-tagging is running).
This interesting television-tagging capability lets you surf the web, check your email and chat with your friends, for example, while Shazam dutifully identifies what’s playing on the radio or your telly. You can then revisit those tags later to pick the media you’re interested in.
And, a redesigned homescreen makes it easier to see what your Facebook friends have been watching and listening to, explore popular tags by continents, countries, regions, cities and towns and browse the most tagged TV shows in the past few hours… Read More
Mailbox, the popular Gmail-based email application for the iPhone and iPod touch that Dropbox snapped up back in March, has been updated with native iPad support. Yes, you can now triage your email on the bigger screen. Taking best ideas from the iPhone build and borrowing cues from Apple’s stock Mail app on iPad, Mailbox on your Apple tablet increases your productivity by dividing the interface in landscape mode into two columns: the lefthand one which lists your email messages, with message content rendered on the right side. We’ve gut the full breakdown and a promo video right below the fold… Read More
In a somewhat surprising move, longtime technology analyst Michael Gartenberg has joined Apple’s marketing team, Forbes reported Wednesday. Although Gartenberg has yet to confirm the development via his Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, a number of retweets of other people’s congratulatory tweets could be viewed as a confirmation of sorts.
Though details on his role at the company are slim, Michael will likely be evangelizing the platform given he’ll be reporting to marketing head Phil Schiller… Read More
Apple is the largest tech companies in the world. They literally sell millions of iPhones every year. On any given day, someone who has just started using an iOS device will start reading iDownloadBlog. Because we know that there are a lot of “noobs” out there who don’t know every aspect of their iPhone or iPad, we like to have a tutorial on the basics every once in a while.
We know that a lot of our readers are well versed in the nitty-gritty of their devices and don’t need a refresher course. However, we also know that there are plenty of new readers who could use some pointers, but are afraid to ask. That’s why we write these basic tutorials. We want everyone to know how to do everything on an iOS devices.
In this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to get a PDF file on your iBooks shelf for safekeeping and easy access… Read More
As photography mixes more and more with social networking sites, it is becoming popular for app developers to find ways to create fun and interesting ways to share photos. Instagram is no longer the top dog when it comes to connecting friends and family through pictures.
Bamboo Loop is an iPhone app from the company that brought us Bamboo Paper and the popular Bamboo Stylus. This social app lets you upload pictures and draw funny faces on them or leave little notes. Then, they can tag you right back on the same image, thus creating the Loop… Read More
It’s almost impossible to stand out in the crowded space of smartphone accessories these days. This year’s CES alone saw nearly 1000 new mobile add-ons, from 590 different manufacturers. And that’s just a single 4-day trade show.
But it’s no surprise that the folks over at iLoveHandles have managed to do it with their new ‘Trunk’ Lightning cable. The understated accessory may look like just another Lightning to USB cable, but it actually doubles as an iPhone stand… Read More
Avid Google Voice users will be happy to hear that there’s a new jailbreak tweak out that integrates Google’s SMS service into the stock Messages app. We’ve seen tweaks like this before, such as SMS GV Extension. But to my knowledge, none of them made it to iOS 6.
The tweak we’re going to be talking about today, however, does support iOS 6 (as well as later versions). It’s called SMS on GV, and like the others we’ve seen, it allows you to send and receive text messages using your Google Voice account from within Messages… Read More
This is kind of cool. Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone on a lengthy road trip and found yourself falling asleep while driving. I know I have. Just last month I drove halfway across the country, and I caught myself dozing off on a number of occasions.
But there’s an iPhone app out that promises to make that a thing of the past. It’s called Drive Awake, and it uses eye-tracking technology to keep tabs on you while you drive. Close your eyes for too long, and the app will emit a shrieking audible alarm… Read More
It’s not unusual to see Microsoft and Apple products pitted against each other in a TV ad. Back in the early 2000s, Apple had success with its ‘I’m a Mac’ spots. And just recently, MS took on both Apple and Samsung in its ‘Don’t Fight’ commercial.
But this new Windows 8 tablet ad takes the rivalry thing to a whole new level. Using the voice of Siri, Microsoft highlights a number of things that the iPad can’t do, that a tablet running its latest OS can. As always, we have the video for you after the fold… Read More
Folks looking forward to seeing Apple launch its iWatch product this year probably shouldn’t get their hopes up. According to a new report from well-respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, there’s a good possibility we won’t see the rumored accessory until late 2014.
Kuo says that due to the vast changes coming in iOS 7, Apple won’t have the resources to build out software for the wristwatch-like device. And he thinks that, and an immature component market for wearable devices, will delay the project until the end of next year… Read More
Realmac has updated its Clear app today for both the iPhone and the Mac today, bringing it to version 1.2.2 (or 1.0.1). The update brings about e-mail list sharing—which was a highly requested feature—as well as new themes and other improvements.
On the iPhone, the new list sharing feature can be activated simply by shaking the handset while Clear is open. Doing this brings up the email tool that includes the active list, plus a link that lets the recipient open it within their own version of Clear… Read More
Remember how Apple – after a major security hole let attackers reset your Apple ID password using only your email address and date of birth – has enabled two-step authentication for Apple ID accounts? You’d be forgiven for thinking that every popular web service out there has by now adopted heightened security features, but that’s not really the case.
Google, for example, last year enabled two-step process for Google Accounts, with Dropbox following suit a few months later. Today, micro-blogging platform Twitter joined the fray with its own version of two-step verification designed to keep the bad guys out of your account.
You should enable it immediately and iDB, as always, has you covered with a handy tutorial on that… Read More
This is pretty interesting. It appears that OtterBox, a well-known maker of heavy-duty smartphone and tablet cases, has announced this afternoon that it will be acquiring LifeProof. The San Diego-based startup makes durable cases for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
OtterBox, the brand, has become synonymous with device protection in recent years, thanks to hit cases like Armor and Defender. The company claims that it is the #1 selling smartphone case in the US, and that it controls over 20% of the global case market… Read More
You knew this was coming. Well-known developer Adam Bell has figured out a way to route push notifications from iOS through Google Glass. By design, the pricey accessory—which is only currently available to devs—doesn’t communicate with Apple’s mobile OS.
Bell, known for jailbreak tweaks like Stride and Blackout, is working on a hack that will allow Glass users to receive all app push notifications from their jailbroken iOS devices. It’s not quite finished yet, but he’s just posted a demo video showing the mod in action… Read More
Google is on a roll these days. Hot on the heels of updating its desktop Chrome browser with Siri-like conversational search earlier today, the Internet giant just published a post over at the official Chrome blog confirming that Chrome for iPhone and iPad with voice search is “coming soon.”
A Chrome update for the iPhone and iPad will be ready “over the coming days” and will let you speak your searches into Omnibox, which in Google’s parlance means Chrome’s combined search and address box.
You’ll even get certain results spoken back to you, right in the Chrome browser – how cool is that? Read More
Twitter, the leading micro-blogging service turned media platform, has just updated its Mac client with a much-needed native support for OS X Mountain Lion’s Notification Center. The new Twitter version 2.2.1 also includes half a dozen fixes. The native OS X Notification Center support lets you not only receive notifications when someone mentions you or when you receive a direct message, but also for any new tweet surfacing in one’s stream… Read More
Hot on the heels of this morning’s update from Pandora comes a new version of the Rdio app for iOS. The update brings the music client to version 2.2, and includes a number of new features and improvements.
Perhaps the biggest change in today’s release is the addition of ”Find People,” a new tool that will make it easier for users to find friends and discover artists to follow. And the UI improvements are also blatant… Read More
