Tim Cook flies to Sun Valley, presumably exploring deals with media moguls

By Christian Zibreg on Jul 11, 2012

Apple’s boss today made a surprise appearance at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, an annual retreat, to attend a session called “Iran vs. Israel”, The New York Post reported. No one knew if he would put in an appearance and upon arriving he kept a low-key profile.

Apparently, Cook has lined up a bunch of powerful media executives for one-on-one meetings, looking to cut deals. After all, Apple is a media company (a powerful one, too) and it’s been long-rumored that Cupertino’s been persuading Hollywood moguls to provide premium programming for the mythical iTV… Read More

 

Check out Google’s pricey, albeit cool-looking media streaming sphere, Nexus Q

By Christian Zibreg on Jun 27, 2012

I’m sorry for polluting your reading list with more Google news, but this thing warrants a quick mention. So we already told you about impressive Android stats, Google’s own tablet called the Nexus 7, a new Android version (4.1, called Jelly Bean) that sports Siri-like features and a brand new native Google+ app for iPad and Android tablets. Google also surprised us with the coolest live tech demo ever: a parachute landing on the Moscone West building, seen through the eyes of the participants’ Google Glasses.

By the way, Tweetbot developer has gotta win the coveted title of The Most Original Google I/O Review for his tweet. So, one thing that especially captured my imagination is this cool-looking accessory aimed at streaming media at your home. Classed as a yet another piece of hardware designed and engineered by Google, the Nexus Q sports unique industrial design calling for a round chassis which reminds me of a lot of a sci-fi-like alien probe. It’s also got some noteworthy features, as seen in a video demonstration… Read More

 

Apple Unveils iBooks 2 — A Brand New Textbook Experience for the iPad

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 19, 2012

Apple’s ongoing Education media event located at NYC’s Guggenheim Museum is all about learning, and facing the challenges in the field of education today.

Apple unveiled some slides that paint a pretty startling picture about the state of the United States’ educational system when compared to other places in the world, citing overflowing class sizes and lack of enough textbooks, among other dire problems.

With all of this in mind, Apple is trying to help — and it’s no surprise that the iPad is at the center of two initiatives — one of them is to reinvent textbooks. iBooks 2 is at the center of the reinvention process… Read More

 

Apple Planning Media Event in New York This Month

By Sebastien Page on Jan 2, 2012

AllThingsD reports that Apple is planning a media event sometimes this month in New York. Apparently, this event will not be related to the upcoming iPad 3 or even the rumored Apple television.

That leaves some kind of advertising or even publishing announcement, which might be the case, since Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is reportedly involved.

Cue is in charge of a large swath of Apple’s media units, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, as well as iAd and its iCloud services.

What do you think it’s going to be about?

 

App Picks of the Week: Codify, Plex, Batch

By Alex Heath on Oct 31, 2011

It’s time for our app picks of the week! We frequently comb the far reaches of the App Store to bring you awesome apps to check out.

This week, we’ve got a cool app that lets you code on your iPad, an updated media server app, and a social network that specializes in batch photo uploading. We hope you enjoy this week’s picks! Read More

 

Seagate Introduces Wireless Storage for iOS Devices

By Cody Lee on May 16, 2011

Though the iPhone has certainly evolved into a top-notch smartphone, it’s not completely perfect. In fact, one of its major downfalls (as Android-toting skeptics are quick to point out) is the lack of expandable memory.

The iPhone comes in 2 flavors, 16GB and 32GB. Chose wisely, because whatever you decide, you’ll pretty much be stuck with. With no SD card slot, many users are forced into unreliable cloud solutions for extra space. Now for the alternative… Read More

 

Apple Did Buy iCloud.com

By Kickstar13 on May 1, 2011

 

According to anonymous sources cited by All Things Digital, Apple has indeed purchased the iCloud.com domain.

Earlier this week, GigaOM reported that Apple had allegedly purchased iCloud.com from Xcerion for the sum of $4.5 million. Apple is rumored to be announcing a major revamp to its current MobileMe cloud service at this summer’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Although All Things D confirms that the purchase was made, its sources declined to confirm the rumored $4.5 million purchase price.  Read More

 

Apple’s New Cloud Service to be Called iCloud?

By Alex Heath on Apr 28, 2011

Apple has allegedly bought iCloud.com for the sum of $4.5 million. The domain was previously owned by Xcerion’s cloud service that has now been rebranded to be called CloudMe.

A major revamp of Apple’s current cloud service, MobileMe, is expected to launch at WWDC this summer. Apple has also been talking with major record labels for the purpose of introducing a cloud-based media locker for customers. Read More

 

MobileMe Only Available for 60-Day Free Trial, Will Most Likely Become Free Service Next Week

By Alex Heath on Feb 26, 2011

Apple has removed the paid version of MobileMe from its retail stores and website. You can now only sign up for a free 60-day trial on the web.

Apple is holding an event next week, and MobileMe will most likely be revamped alongside the introduction of a new iPad model. Up until now, MobileMe has cost $99/year. There’s a good chance that Apple will make their cloud-based service free for customers, or introduce some type of tiered, “pro” pricing alongside the standard MobileMe package.

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XBMC Now Available For the iPhone And Other iOS Devices

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 22, 2011

I can honestly say that I never expected to see XBMC running on my iPhone in a million years. It’s still kind of surreal adding the Cydia repo, downloading the packages, and installing the whole shebang.

The good news is that it’s definitely XBMC, in fact it looks like the devs applied a shrinking ray to my 50″ TV, because the port is dead on from a looks perspective.

Unfortunately, though, that’s where the inherent problems start to arise, at least on the iPhone’s teeny touch screen…

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Tutorial: How To Save Your iOS Game Progress Before A Restore [Jailbreak Only]

By Alex Heath on Jan 17, 2011

There are a ton of great games to play on the iPhone. Most of them have multiple levels and achievements to unlock. You wouldn’t want to lose your game progress and achievements in the event that you have to restore your iPhone.

For jailbreakers, backing up data is essential. To upgrade to a new version of iOS, a jailbroken iPhone is completely wiped and updated to the default setup of the next iOS release. A new jailbreak has to then be applied, and all personal data (media, contacts, jailbreak apps, etc) has to be synced back onto the iPhone.

Through the magic of SSH, you can save your iOS game data on your computer in the event that you have to restore. Here’s how to do it…

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Hacked iTunes Accounts Are Being Sold in China

By Alex Heath on Jan 14, 2011

The Global Times recently discovered that over 50,000 illegal iTunes accounts are being offered for purchase in China. Potential buyers are promised access to purchase iTunes content for free; amounting to seven times the amount paid.

Toaboa.com, China’s largest consumer auction site, is offering hacked iTunes accounts with stolen credit card and contact information to potential customers. These accounts are registered by real people with real personal information, but this blatant form of organized crime has (so far) gone unpunished.

At prices of 1-200 yuan (about $30 a pop), these hacked accounts are distributed through the iTunes login credentials associated with the account’s payment information…

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Installing VLC Player From Cydia: A Video Walkthrough

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 9, 2011

Yesterday, Alex posted an in-depth article explaining the reasons why VLC Media Player was removed from the App Store. As you know, VLC Media Player is the popular video application that allows you to play a variety of video formats on your iPhone.

VLC Media Player is extremely popular on PCs and Macs, so it’s wasn’t surprising that it was an app that many looked forward to on the iPhone.

Sadly, as you know, the app has been removed, but don’t weep too many tears; VLC can still be installed on your iPhone, and this video walkthrough will show you how, step-by-step…

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VLC for iPhone Pulled From App Store, Now Available On Cydia

By Alex Heath on Jan 8, 2011

Awhile back, we reported that the popular, open source media player “VLC for iPhone” was released in the App Store. It was a pretty big deal, because the VLC client duplicated a lot of functionality that was already in the native iPod app. (Apple doesn’t usually like apps that duplicate the iPhone’s native features.)

The biggest pro to VLC for iPhone was its ability to playback file formats that iTunes doesn’t support. iTunes has a somewhat limited amount of video formats it can playback. VLC was a simple, free app that allowed more types of videos to be playable on the iPhone.

While it was nice for an app like VLC to be in the App Store, the media player was very buggy. Lots of users reported problems with playback and file format support. However, the bugs were not the reason that the app was pulled. In fact, Apple had nothing to do with the takedown…

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The 10 Best App Store Apps of 2010

By Alex Heath on Dec 30, 2010

The App Store has never been a very quiet place. 2010 was no exception; thousands upon thousands of new apps were submitted to the App Store. Most of them aren’t worth mentioning, but there have been some exceptional apps that have risen to the forefront of what the App Store has had to offer throughout the year 2010.

We’ve covered a lot of App Store apps this year on iDB, with the goal of keeping our readers in the know.

Now, we’d like to take some time to reflect on our favorite App Store apps of 2010. Being included on this list doesn’t necessarily mean the app was released in 2010, it just means that it was amongst our most utilized of this year. Drumroll, please…

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5 Awesome iPhone Utility Apps

By Alex Heath on Nov 16, 2010

I love apps that make my life easier. And when they’re really useful, I don’t mind paying a little for them. The 5 apps I will mention in this list are not jailbreak apps, so everyone can use them.

Each of these apps is either designed to increase your productivity or make some aspect of your technology life better. They all aren’t necessarily cheap, but there are free/lite versions of some. These 5 apps are utilities I use on a daily basis, so they’re near and dear to my heart…

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Omnio Reveals the “WOWKey” Keyboard With iPhone Integration

By Alex Heath on Nov 9, 2010

Does an iPhone-integrated keyboard for your Mac or PC sound interesting? The Korean tech company, Omnio, thinks so.

The WOWKey device is a desktop keyboard that boasts iPhone integration through a built-in dock. This “made for iPhone” keyboard is the first of its kind, offering extensive integration with iOS. This inventive gadget opens up a world of possibilities…

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VLC for iPhone Released

By Alex Heath on Oct 25, 2010

VLC media player was just updated as a universal app for iPhone and iPad in the App Store. The popular, open source, cross platform media player has been a favorite on Windows, OS X and Linux for years.

Awhile back, VLC released an iPad app in the App Store, and surprisingly the app was approved. VLC for iPhone allows you to play nearly every kind of video format known to man. The app clearly duplicates (and in my opinion, makes better) the video playback functionality of the the native iPod app. So, it’s interesting that Apple has finally approved it.

The developers of the VideoLAN player just got the VLC 1.1.0 update approved, which lets VLC run on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and recent iPod touch models. I downloaded the app, and I was impressed.

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Why Does Apple Lead All Tech Coverage?

By Guest Author on Sep 28, 2010

I can say from first hand experience that there are thousands of tech related stories that come across the wire each day. Sifting through them all to bring you relevant stories for the iPhone allows me to see just how much of a daily media buzz surrounds the Apple world.

The news surrounding Apple is mostly positive and is the most plentiful according to Mashable. Their report shows a study done by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism that has Apple leading the news race with just over 15% of all tech stories including Cupertino as the main topic… Read More