Did you update to iOS 6 yesterday? Well if you did, and you're looking for ways to try out the new Passbook application, Target just added support for the payment platform.
The national retailer updated its iOS app yesterday with support for the iPhone 5's larger display, iOS 6, and the new ability to push store coupons to the Passbook app...
...but it ain't a kind of thorough analysis we'd come to expect from repair experts iFixIt. Instead, a German blog has obtained an iPhone 5 and pried it open, exposing the innards of Apple's new device to the world. As you know, the iPhone 5 goes on sale in the United States and eight international markets tomorrow at 8am.
This teardown does prove, however, that a bunch of parts that leaked in the run-up to the iPhone 5 keynote were legit. The layout of components appears to closely resemble both the slides and the promo video Apple execs used during the keynote. For true teardown analysis, we'll have to wait until iFixIt gets their hands on the iPhone 5...
Apple is asking the Department of Justice to turn over interviews it held with Amazon employees as part of the recently-approved ebook pricing settlement. According to the Cupertino, Calif. iBooks firm, Amazon "was the driving force behind the Government's investigation, and it told a story to the Government that has yet been scrutinized." The Justice Department is scheduled to haul Apple, along with Macmillan and Penguin into court next June.
Exploiting a record $25 million settlement Google negotiated with The United States Government over the iOS Safari privacy breach that erupted back in February 2012, software giant Microsoft put together a little web page meant to convince Apple users to use Bing as their default search engine.
The Windows maker is reminding us of Google's failed promise of not tracking Safari users without their permission, suggesting Google's credibility has been tarnished beyond repair. Want to do something about it?
Use Bing instead, the company proposes...
If you thought the legal wrangling between Apple and Samsung was settled with August's patent-infringement jury decision, you were wrong. In a patent infringement lawsuit filed in February in the same San. Jose, Calif. courthouse that awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, the two rivals are preparing for a grudge match. Now the Wall Street Journal reports the South Korean smartphone maker "anticipates" it will add the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 4S in its list of allegedly infringing devices.
If you're a blogger, then you'd be crazy not to use TextExpander. TextExpander is an app that runs on the Mac, that automatically expands shortcuts into larger lines of text.
For example, I have a shortcut named jb, which expands fully to the word jailbreak. It works with phrases to, for instance, jbt = jailbreak tweak. Needless to say, TextExpander is a life saver for those of us who have to type the same words and phrases over and over again, day in, and day out.
Apple introduced a sort of "TextExpander light" in iOS 5, and it came in the form of Keyboard Shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts work, but unlike TextExpander, they don't immediately expand; instead, the shortcuts appear as suggestions, and then you have to use the space bar to fully expand them.
Xpandr 2, is the jailbreak tweak that seeks to put an end to this issue. Check out our full video walkthrough inside...
Apple is suffering harsh criticism over its in-house mapping solution in iOS 6 which has for better or worse effectively replaced a Google Maps-backend. Apple Maps have been called a disaster waiting to happen and even pundit John Gruber called the system a downgrade. With more than 65 percent of the world's population left with no transit directions, traffic data and street-level imagery, Apple Maps understandably drew ire from users around the world.
No wonder nearly 85 percent of our readers think Google should write a native Maps app for iOS, just as it's done with the excellent YouTube iOS app. Commenting on the situation, Google UK Marketing Director Dan Cobley asserted that a standalone app could be released soon...
Google with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich introduced a new way to unlock a device using facial recognition technology. It doesn't always work as intended (especially in low-light situations), is taxing on resources and can be hacked. Still, face unlock is one of the "wow" capabilities Android phone owners like to brag about.
Samsung took facial recognition to the next level with the Galaxy SIII smartphone. The device tracks eye movement, preventing the screen from going dark when you’re looking at it. According to a patent filing published Thursday by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple is researching automatic facial analysis to automate locking and unlocking of future iPhones, iPads and iPods...
The Korea Times reported on Monday, citing unnamed company officials, that Samsung is getting ready to announce the next-generation Galaxy S4 smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February 2013, followed by March 2013 availability. The story claimed the Galaxy SIII successor would be "more than enough to curb Apple’s latest iPhone". However, the report is inaccurate as Samsung was quick to deny the rumor via its Korean account on Twitter...
AquaBoard is a new jailbreak tweak currently in development by Elias Limneos. As you'll see from the video inside, it adds cool water effects to your device's Lock screen, and Home screen.
Currently, the tweak is set to be compatible with the iPad, iPad 2, The new iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S. I'm pretty sure that at the very least, the iPod touch 4th generation will probably be shown some love as well.
One of the more under the radar items in iOS, is the TextExpander inspired Keyboard Shortcuts feature. Keyboard Shortcuts allow you to create quick shortcuts, which then expand to larger words or phases. It's a feature that's best used for stuff that you tend to type over and over again, which helps reduce repetition, therefore making you more productive.
In the past with iOS 5, these shortcuts resided independently on each device, meaning you had to setup all of your shortcuts on each device individually. If you do a lot of blogging or other forms of writing on your iOS device, then chances are, you can benefit from having a decent array of shortcuts. With that thought it mind, it's a headache to have to setup each device manually with the same shortcuts.
We already knew that iOS 6 would feature custom dictionary iCloud syncing, but it was never really clear whether or not Keyboard Shortcuts fell within that area. It's been one of the features that I've been saying would benefit from iCloud syncing for a long time now, and thankfully, it looks like Apple took care of that with iOS 6.
According to iOS hacker Joshua Hill aka p0sixninja, many security vulnerabilities have been stamped out in iOS 6.
Earlier today, Hill tweeted that pod2g's SMS exploit was among one of the security issues addressed.