Year: 2012

The inconvenient truth about Retina iPad gaming

Back in March, I analyzed whether the new iPad has enough oomph to drive graphics-intensive games natively at the new iPad's 2,048-by-1,536 pixel resolution. The crux of the article: framer rates in Retina-optimized games can drop to well below what the iPad 2 delivers.

With no change on the CPU side and only 2x speed gain on the GPU side, the new iPad clearly has issues offseting the Retina display's 4x pixel count increase.

Today, The Verge sheds more light on the matter by putting the device through its paces in real-world tests based on a handful of latest triple-A games. The findings may surprise even the most hard-core gamers among you...

The Chronic Dev Team is working hard to bring iPad 2,4 support to Absinthe

If you happen to own a newer WiFi only iPad 2,4, you undoubtedly know what it feels like to be left out of the fun. That's because the iPad 2,4 is one of the very few iOS 5.1.1 devices that can't be jailbroken with the new Absinthe 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak tool. Outside of the Apple TV 3, you're among some pretty lonely company.

Fortunately, it looks like all of that is about to change. During the initial release of Absinthe, the team of hackers stated that iPad 2,4 support was coming soon, and it looks like that statement is holding true.

Jukebox adds an awesome music widget to Dashboard X and Notification Center

Jukebox is an upcoming Notification Center widget that also does double duty as a Dashboard X widget. Its purpose is to allow you to control your music from literally anywhere, which is primarily attributed to its flexibility as both a Notification Center widget, while at the same time maintaining a spot on your Home screen.

The initial release of Jukebox will only feature integration with the stock Music app, but the developer is hard at work at making it play nice with 3rd party music apps like Spotify and Pandora. Besides this one obvious shortcoming, Jukebox is shaping up to be a top tier Notification Center widget, and by far the best Dashboard X widget yet...

Blackout changes your status bar to black, looks great with Zephyr

Blackout is a simple tweak that replaces the stock silver status bar with a solid black background. It's a change that's purely aesthetic, and it features no options or settings to configure.

Developer, Adam bell, suggests that Blackout looks best when paired with chpwn's Zephyr tweak, and I have to concur. The black status bar blend seamlessly when switching between apps using Zephyr's multitouch gestures. Take a look inside for our full video walkthrough of Blackout.

Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether updated with support for iPhone 4 (GSM) 5.1.1/9B208 build

The Rocky Racoon 5.1.1 Untether was just updated to version 1.0-2, and is now available for download in Cydia. This is the package that is installed on iOS devices that utilize the 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak, whether you obtained it via Absinthe, or via the Rocky Racoon installation on a 5.1.1 tethered jailbreak.

This update brings support to the iPhone 4 (GSM) 5.1.1/9B208 build that was recently released by Apple.

What to expect from tomorrow’s Tim Cook talk at D10: All Things Digital

As announced last month, Apple's head honcho Tim Cook will kick off the Wall Street Journal's annual technology conference, better known under the D: All Things Digital moniker.

The three-day event begins Tuesday, May 29, and takes place at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

This will be Cook's first appearance at such a high-profile media even that gathers Silicon Valley celebrities who will join columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on stage for some seriously unscripted hard talk.

Cook's predecessor, the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, made headline appearances at the conference twice: once in 2007 when he sat down with Bill Gates in what went down in history as an eye-opening exchange between the two tech titans, and the other time in 2010, when Jobs commented on Apple's war on Flash, let us in on how the iPad and iPhone came to be and touched upon other controversial topics, incuding app rejections and his take on the state of the television industry.

Cook will be the opening-night speaker at D10. Expect Mossberg and Swisher to grill him on tongue-in-cheek topics, the least significant being his vision of post-Jobs Apple. While Cook lacks the energy and charisma of his predecessor, he is in charge now and the media, fans and rivals are sure to pay attention to his every word.

iDB we'll be on hand, posting the most interesting tidbits right as they happen. Here's what to expect...

Unlockize brings six high quality animations to your iPhone’s Lock screen

Anton Kudin's "fold to unlock" concept didn't stop short at just inspiring one Cydia developer to turn the concept a reality, it inspired two.

Unlockize is the latest jailbreak tweak to harness key aspects from Kudin's concept, but it doesn't just stop there. Unlike the previously released Unfold, Unlockize features five additional lock screen animations, and they're all very unique. Extra animations do come at a cost, however. Is Unlockize worth its $1.99 asking price?

Double-dock iPad prototype pops up on eBay

MacRumors points us to an eBay listing showing an interesting prototype of the first-generation iPad that features two dock connectors, one for portrait and the other for landscape mode.

An Apple patent application from September 2010 first indicated Apple had at early stages considered giving the iPad a second dock connector for landscape docking. This also confirms an old rumor that Apple originally planned on launching a dual-dock iPad, but changed its mind in the last minute.

Interested?

The double-dock iPad prototype can be yours in exchange for a cool $4,800...

Apple allegedly began assembly of iTV prototypes

According to a report out today from Chinese-language China Business News based on "informed sources", Apple this month allegedly begun producing the first prototypes of its rumored HD TV set. As the first batch of iTVs get assembled, Cupertino is said to be ramping up production later this year...

Absinthe 2.0 proves jailbreaking is as popular as ever

If you were wondering whether or not people were still wildly interested in jailbreaking, then wonder no more. The Chronic Dev team, the folks behind the Absinthe 2.0 jailbreak tool for iOS 5.1.1, have stated via twitter that its tool has been used to jailbreak over a million devices since it was released on Friday morning.

Unsurprisingly, those numbers look to be a tad higher this time around when compared to the release of the original Absinthe tool back in January.

Obviously the comparisons aren't exactly scientific, but I think it's safe to say that jailbreaking has maintained and/or increased its popularity since earlier this year...

Did LG Display just out full HD 440ppi screen for Apple’s rumored Galaxy Note-killer?

Apple debuted the Retina display in June 2010 on the iPhone 4. Fast-forward to today and it remains the gold standard for smartphones in terms of crispness and pixel density. Yes, most high-end Android handsets now top the iPhone's 960-by-480 pixel resolution by way of using bigger panels that however don't always introduce denser pixel.

A good example is Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone which has a 4.65-inch display with the native HD resolution of 1,280-by-720 pixels and a pixel density of 316 pixels per inch (ppi), safely above the Retina requirement of at least 300ppi for a smartphone display so the pixels appear indistinguishable to the human eye with a 20/20 vision.

Enter LG's newly-announced five-inch mobile display. It rocks a whopping 1,920-by-1,080 pixel resolution and an astounding density of 440 pixels per inch. If Apple was looking for the perfect display for its rumored five-inch iOS device, this could be it...

ZAGG offering 20% to 50% off on everything for Memorial Day

ZAGG, the makers of InvisibleSHIELD among other accessories for iOS devices is having a massive sale starting today, and going on until tomorrow.

Almost everything on ZAGG.com will be discounted. ZAGGsparqs, ZAGGsmartbuds, invisibleSHIELDs and their skins will be 50% off. The iPad keyboards, including the ZAGGfolio, will be 20% off, which is a pretty darn good deal if you ask me...