Year: 2012

Apple’s WWDC conference keynote hits YouTube

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 15, 2012

Apple today finally posted its WWDC keynote talk to YouTube. The presentation saw CEO Tim Cook and other executives take the wraps off of iOS 6, unveil MacBook Pro with Retina display and more.

A lot of people prefer YouTube over any other video delivery system. So, if streaming the keynote through Apple's website isn't exactly your cup of tea and you're not comfortable downloading the entire presentation as a high-definition iTunes podcast, enjoy this YouTube clip on whichever device you happen to use.

Me? I like my Apple keynote on my Apple TV...

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Shocker: millions won’t qualify for iPhone 5 upgrade this fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 15, 2012

Do you own an iPhone 4S? If so, you and tens of millions of others like yourself in the United States and abroad won't qualify for a fully subsidized upgrade this fall. Blame it on the disparity between yearly iPhone cycles and carriers' policy of locking smartphone buyers with two-year contracts.

Apple's phone is enjoying stellar sales, moving 37.1 million units last holiday and 35.1 million last quarter, thanks partially to last summer's pent up demand.

The question is, will iPhone 4S owners - now locked into wireless service contracts and not eligible for fully subsidized upgrades - be willing to pay extra to obtain an early iPhone 5 upgrade this fall?

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iPhone 5 with transparent iClear Retina display and laser projection keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 15, 2012

If you can't get enough of futuristic mockups like a holographic iPhone, this one's guaranteed to pique your interest.

It's viral now as clearly a lot of work has gone into rendering such a surprisingly realistic-looking depiction of a next-gen iPhone.

The basic premise definitely salivated our mouth and made us wish someone out there paid notice and engineered a device like this. Not like it's happening anytime soon, mind you, but perhaps Samsung's collective brain trust  is crazy enough to take a shot at it?

After all, the South Korean conglomerate is working on phones and tablets featuring flexible displays so...

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New iOS 6 3D Maps ported to iPhone 4

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 15, 2012

With its in-house mapping solution in iOS 6, Apple basically pulled a Siri in that folks in Cupertino have limited this headline feature to the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 or later (full iOS 6 device compatibility list is here). Now, I realize graphics-intensive 3D Flyovers require A5-enabled devices. But turn-by-turn? Seriously, Apple?

Worry not, those crazy Russian hackers have cracked the code to run the new iOS 6 Maps on the iPhone 4, complete with 3D Flyovers and turn-by-turn navigation - without even using Cydia...

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Angry Birds Seasons gets 30 water-themed levels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

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Two weeks ago, Finnish developer Rovio updated Angry Birds Space, the latest installment of its addictive pig-pounding series, with a bunch of food-themed levels. Today, Angry Birds Seasons gets some love as Rovio issues a free summer update which brings thirty new underwater levels.

Building upon the concept of gravity first introduced in Angry Birds Space, Rovio has now brought gravity-defying action to the Seasons. You can fling the birds underwater and, yes - pigs sink to the bottom of the ocean...

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Apple researching a device with swappable camera lenses

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 9, 2018

It's always interesting to see the different patent applications that Apple submits to the USPTO. Even though most of them rarely make it into consumer products, they give us a glimpse inside Apple's top secret R&D labs.

The latest one to surface in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database covers a device with a removable back panel, which could bring about swappable camera lenses and other attachements...

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New app promises to increase your iPhone battery life

Cody Lee ∙ June 15, 2012

If you told me that you had an app that would improve the battery life of my iPhone, or other device, I'd probably laugh. How could third-party software, especially in Apple's walled garden, substantially affect battery life?

Well Carat, a new application by AMP Lab, is promising to do just that...

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Dropbox app updated with automatic media uploads and more

Cody Lee ∙ June 15, 2012

With more than 50 million users, Dropbox is in a league of its own when it comes to third party cloud services. Its drag-and-drop storage platform allows users to keep their content synced across all of their devices.

Well the service just got a little bit better for iOS users. Dropbox 1.5 popped up in the App Store last night, bringing with it new features like automatic photo and video uploads, and an all-new content gallery view...

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HTC vows to fill its patent vault to aid its battle with Apple

Oliver Haslam ∙ June 14, 2012

Once was a time when companies would do battle at the tills, but those days are now long gone. Nowadays however, it seems battles in the courtroom are much more commonplace than good old product lines butting heads, fighting it out for the customer's hard earned money.

HTC, in the middle of a legal spat with iPhone maker Apple, is about to take to the patent office in order to gain the upper hand over the company that is also going after the likes of Samsung.

The news that HTC will be fleshing out its patent portfolio comes after chairwoman Cher Wang vowed that the company would file more patents for its technology in order to protect itself from Apple's own legal shenanigans...

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T-Mobile lighting up more iPhone-friendly HSPA+ sites in June and July

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Still wondering about those unlocked iPhones that clocked much faster data speeds on T-Mobile's network at WWDC's Moscone West building in San Francisco? Well, Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier, the nation's fourth-largest, today shared some interesting updates concerning "4G" rollout,  which includes the iPhone-friendly 1900MHz band on its HSPA+ network...

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Apple looking to take Find My Friends to the next level with iOS 6

Cody Lee ∙ June 14, 2012

Apple debuted Find My Friends last fall during their iPhone 4S event. Similar to Google's Latitude service, Find My Friends uses GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to track the locations of its members.

While the platform certainly has potential, it's failed to garner much user-traction thus far. But it appears that Apple is looking to change that in iOS 6, with a new geofencing notification system...

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