Year: 2012

iPad rules China with 70% tablet share

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Even though Apple's third-generation iPad arrived in China four months late (blame it on the Proview situation), it appears that the device has helped push Apple's tablet market share in the 1.33 billion people country past the 70 percent mark.

That's quite an achievement considering that Apple only operates six company retail stores in China (two more are opening soon in Chengdu and Shenzhen).

It's also worth a headline knowing that most Chinese cannot afford expensive gear and especially with large-scale buyers paying scalpers to stand in the line and purchase iPads in bulk for the purpose of reselling them on gray market...

Acer warns against Surface, Microsoft already working on a sequel

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

Acer is the most vocal opponent of Microsoft's Surface tablet. Its founder Stan Shih went on the record two days following the Surface's announcement, opining that the gizmo was just a ploy to drive Windows 8 adoption.

Today, Acer CEO JT Wang drove the point home by begging Microsoft to "think twice" about the Surface because tablet making is is not something the Redmond company is good at. Meanwhile, Microsoft is speculated to be already at work on a Surface tablet sequel...

iOS 6 found to be scalable for taller displays, supports 5 rows of icons

Cody Lee ∙ August 7, 2012

It's widely believed that the new iPhone will, for the first time, feature a larger screen. It seems like it's been all but confirmed with reports from major news outlets and leaked next-gen iPhone parts.

But if you're still skeptical about Apple enlarging the screen on its smartphone, you might want to check this out. iOS 6 has been discovered to be completely scaleable to fit a taller, 640 x 1136 display...

Poll: how often do you use the stock iOS YouTube app?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Yesterday's release of iOS 6 Beta 4 has brought another proof of the de-Googlification of iOS, with Apple unexpectedyl removing the native YouTube app because "our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended". Google, of course, was quick to point out that it will be releasing its own YouTube client on the App Store shortly.

It's much ado about nothing, really: the vast majority of videos embedded in web pages play in-line in the mobile Safari browser and users can always browse a much larger selection of clips via the mobile YouTube site.

That didn't stop Twitter and Techmeme from lighting up yesterday with hysteric reports over Apple's move. Heck, it apparently rattled one guy so much that he announced switching to Android...

Here’s how much Apple is demanding in damages per each Samsung device

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

It was recently suggested that Apple wanted Samsung to pay as much as $2.5 billion in damages for allegedly copying its iOS devices: $500 million in lost profits, $25 million in royalty damages and a whopping $2 billion for the profits Samsung “unjustly received” using Apple’s intellectual property.

A new report breaks down the figure on a per-device basis, as outlined in an exhibit prepared by accounting consulting firm Invotex Group, which specializes in calculating royalty rates for litigation...

How to simplify banner notifications

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

We already showed you how to miniaturize your banner notifications, but what about simplifying them? As you may have guessed, the appropriately named SimpleBanners steps up to the plate to handle that task.

SimpleBanners is a tweak that will allow you to remove certain facets of a banner notification. For instance, you can remove the body of text, the app icon, sound, etc. Check out the video walkthrough for the full scoop...

Steve Jobs warned Samsung not to steal inertial scrolling patent

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As part of iOS chief Scott Forstall's deposition in the Apple v. Samsung mega-suit, it was revealed that Steve Jobs explicitly advised Samsung against copying or stealing the rubber band scrolling, a feature Jobs specifically underscored during his January 2007 iPhone keynote.

Another tidbit describes how Jobs felt about Samsung lifting the iPhone's rectangular appearance and its icons...

How to miniaturize banner notifications

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

MiniBanners is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to shrink your banners into miniaturized versions. To accomplish this feat, the contents of the banners are removed, leaving only the app icon, the name of the app pushing the banner, and the number of notifications received.

Along with this, MiniBanners retains all of the functionality of a normal sized banner. Check out our video walkthrough inside.

Apple hit with China lawsuit over FaceTime patent

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 25, 2016

It just doesn't seem like Apple's legal team can catch a break these days. Even when it's not fighting major handset-makers in high profile patent trials, it's still dealing with smaller lawsuits over Siri and other features.

And today we add another one to the list. A Taiwanese man is claiming that Apple's FaceTime service directly infringes on a patent he holds regarding "voice network personal digital assistant," and has just filed a lawsuit...

Rokform v3 Bike Mount rules the trails [review and giveaway]

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated December 28, 2016

As a CES design award nominee, Rokform never ceases to impress with their array of iPhone and iPad accessories. If you happened to miss our Rokbed v3 Custom Case review and giveaway, you didn't know Rokform has an extensive list of useful items designed to enhance the overall functionality of the v3 cases.

The Rokbed v3 Bike Mount Kit works seamlessly with the included Rokbed v3 case and keeps your iPhone front and center while hitting the trails. Thanks to our friends at Rokform, we've been able to test our own and give you a chance to win a case and mount too...

The Woz spells trouble for the cloud

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 7, 2016

If it were any other company, an executive going on the record with an unfavorable comment regarding the cloud when his or her company was a major player in that space would have been met with swift punishment. But this is Apple and the executive in question is Steve Wozniak, the outspoken tech activist and everyone's favorite geek who doesn't shy away from criticizing anything and anyone, even the company he co-founded.

Following a special performance of Mike Daisey’s monologue "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs", the Woz took the stage for a Q&A session with the audience. His take on the cloud (and consequentially Apple's iCloud)?

It's a ticking privacy bomb waiting to explode and nuke our digital selves from orbit. We cannot even begin to wrap our heads around such a security nightmare because most of us haven't been through a mass-scale cloud disruption (yet). Those BlackBerry email server outages and T-Mobile's Danger incident? Just timely warning signs of things to come.

TIMELY: Conveniently, AT&T just suffered what one blog described as a "massive outage".

Increase iPhone battery life with ‘BattSaver’

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

BattSaver is a new jailbreak app from Xvolks — probably best known from his work on the Absinthe jailbreak tool.

He's been cooking up his latest effort for quite some time now, and it's received endorsements from many users, including fellow Chronic Dev Team associate, pod2g.

BattSaver touts the ability to increase the iPhone's battery life; up to double, and at times, even more. Does BattSaver live up to these lofty claims? Check inside for the full in-depth video walkthrough and analysis...