Year: 2012

More iPhone 5 cases surface that look just about right

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2012

CydiaBlog points us to a few purported cases for a sixth-generation iPhone, currently on sale over at TVC-Mall. These look just about right given the rumors calling for a taller iPhone with a two-tone design and a metal backplate that have been piling up recently. These cases also confirm leaked schematics and engineering samples which depict a FaceTime camera at the center and a smaller dock connector at the bottom.

It's been reported this morning that thousands of job seekers are currently lined up outside of Foxconn’s Chengdu, China plant, all vying for a number of summer job openings which could mean that Foxconn is ramping up hiring as it is getting ready to manufacture the iPhone 5, as the Japanese blog Macotakara suggested last week...

AT&T announces shared data plans, available in late August

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2012

The nation's #2 carrier, AT&T Mobility, today announced shared data plans, in response to Verizon's shared data option which became available June 28. And just like the Big Red carrier's Share Everything plans, new plans from AT&T allow new and existing subscribers to share cellular data across smartphones, tablets and other devices, plus get unlimited talk and text.

According to a media release, current customers, including business users, won't be required to switch to the new plans. Should they decide to switch, they can do so without a contract extension. More importantly, AT&T says there will be no changes to its device upgrade policy...

Foxconn ramps up hiring ahead of next-gen iPhone launch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 25, 2016

A new report is out this morning claiming that thousands of job seekers are currently lined up outside of Foxconn's Chengdu, China plant. Apparently, the applicants are all vying for a number of summer job openings that were recently posted by the manufacturer.

It doesn't take a lot of brain power to guess the nature of these positions. Apple, who just so happens to be Foxconn's largest client, is widely expected to unveil two new major products this fall. One of which, the "iPhone 5," is believed to already be in production...

Judge rejects requests for secrecy in Samsung-Apple case

Cody Lee ∙ July 18, 2012

This is interesting. US District Court Judge Lucy Koh has just rejected several secrecy requests from both Apple and Samsung in their ongoing patent dispute.

The proposals were made in hopes to keep patents and other "key documents" out of public view during the trial, which is set to kick off at the end of the month...

AT&T CEO comments on FaceTime charging rumors

Cody Lee ∙ July 17, 2012

We were pretty excited when we found out that FaceTime-over-cellular was coming in iOS 6. Finally, users would be able to natively video chat away from Wi-Fi networks (without jailbreaking).

Needless to say, our excitement dropped off yesterday when we found out that there's a chance that AT&T is going to charge users separately for the feature, the way it does for mobile hotspot...

NotiPad: Growl like notifications on the iPad

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

NotiPad is an upcoming jailbreak tweak that promises to provide Growl like notifications on the iPad. The notifications that appear with NotiPad replace the standard banners present in iOS 5 and above.

Each notification can be tapped to launch its respective app (or double tapped, if you prefer to dismiss it). There are also options contained within the Settings app, that allow you to configure the animation style and switch the position of incoming notifications.

Take a look inside for the full video walkthrough...

Chrome accounts for 10.3% of third-party browsers on iOS

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 20, 2016

Google pushed out its widely popular Chrome browser to iOS last month to much fanfare. In fact, it took less than 24 hours for the app to reach the #1 spot in the App Store's list of top free offerings.

Now here we are, nearly a month later, and the initial buzz has warn off. So how many people are still using the browser? A new report from online advertising firm Chitika gives us some insight...

Samsung snaps up UK’s fabless chip maker CSR to better compete with Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 4, 2018

Adamant to strengthen its portfolio of wireless patents (that seem to be all the rage these days) and help differentiate its smartphone and mobile chip businesses, Samsung ponied up $310 million for the mobile business of Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) PLC, based out in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

With this transaction due for completion by the fourth quarter this year, Samsung will control CSR's patents related to Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS and obtain interesting handset technology that could help differentiate its flagship smartphones.

Samsung is of course embroiled in patent fights with Apple in courts across the world. At the same time, the company dedicates substantial resources to fabbing mobile chips found inside Apple's iOS devices.

Samsung appears keen on taking advantage of CSR's research and development capability as it looks to improve its own mobile chips, possibly leading to unique hardware features down the road...

Poll: what should Apple call the next iPhone?

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 17, 2012

We now have the "new" iPad but assumably nothing gets blood running through our readers' veins as the all-important question of a moniker under which Apple will market the forthcoming hardware refresh of the iPhone. Is the sixth revision really going to be referred to as the iPhone 5? How about the iPhone 6? Maybe it's going to be just the iPhone or perhaps something entirely different this time around?

We already asked you whether the next iPhone should have a bigger screen. Today's poll offers a few possible name suggestions for Apple's next handset and we ask you to choose one you're most likely to associate with...

Jobs biographer on his admiration for Mark Zuckerberg

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 12, 2018

Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs' official biography, was on stage with Facebook board member Don Graham this morning at Fortune's annual Brainstorm Tech conference. And as usual, the topic turned to the Apple founder.

Graham mentioned what a big impact Steve Jobs had on Facebook's young CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and he asked Isaacson if Jobs had ever mentioned him. As you might have guessed, the writer's response was pretty interesting...

Former iAd VP Andy Miller now heads 3D motion-control startup Leap Motion

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As noted by The Next Web, Apple's former chief of iAd unit Andy Miller became chief operating officer at Leap Motion, the company wrote in a release. Miller founded mobile advertising startup Quattro Wireless whose chief rival at the time had been AdMob, later acquired by Google.

When Cupertino snapped up his company in January 2010, Miller was named the head of Apple's iAd platform. He left last August amid talk that iAd was going nowhere. Now, Leap Motion is a very interesting company, especially their Kinect-like device (video right after the break)...

Twelve South unveils new black BookBook iPhone case

Cody Lee ∙ July 17, 2012

Twelve South's BookBook for the iPhone is arguably one of the most popular cases on the market today. Not only does it hold the handset, but it has a built-in wallet.

Jeff reviewed the original BookBook case for us last fall, calling it one of his favorite iPhone accessories. But up until now, the cover has only been available in brown...