Year: 2012

Apple launching new iPad in 30 additional countries this weekend

As noted by MacRumors, Apple appears to be preparing to roll out its new iPad to a number of new countries this weekend. The company added a total of 30 new countries to its iPad selection page, including Brazil and Argentina.

Apple has been extremely agressive with its international rollout of the new tablet, and this week's move will nearly double the amount of countries in which the third-generation iPad is available. Keep reading for more details..

Gevey Ultra S unlock for GSM iPhone 4S works with iOS 5.1.1

Great news today for folks with a GSM iPhone 4S who are using, or planning to use, GEVEY's Ultra S product to unlock their handset. It appears the popular SIM interposer is compatible with the new iOS 5.1.1 update.

Apple released the update yesterday, equipped with a handful of bug fixes and improvements. And although its future is still a bit murky for jailbreakers, it looks like it's ok for unlockers to upgrade...

Dashtweet: the first dedicated Dashboard X widget

Dashboard X — the new upcoming widgeting system for iOS — has its first official widget in the works, and it's based on Twitter.

Dashtweet is the name of the new widget, and it allows you to send tweets from anywhere on your Home screen.

This is likely the first of many official widgets designed specifically with Dashboard X in mind. Check out our video coverage of Dashtweet in action...

Looks like Apple is taking iOS notifications to iCloud website

A new feature is being tested by Apple, according to reports, that allows iOS banner notifications to be displayed on the iCloud website. It's unknown whether this particular occurrence was only a one-time test or a sign of things to come.

While notifications on the iCloud website may prompt some to scratch their head, this could actually indicate Apple's plans to roll out rich web apps to iCloud that would benefit from the ability to display notifications, much like Google's Chrome lets web apps render unobtrusive notifications even when the browser is minimized...

AT&T may be close to launching its shared data plans, CEO hints

According to a new report, AT&T, the nation's second-largest carrier, could in fact be close to launching its shared data plans, as rumored. The semi-official hint was dropped in a comment made by AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega who described himself as being "very comfortable" about his company offering shared plans in the near future.

The remark came in an interview on the sidelines of the CTIA Wireless trade show. It's a 180-degree turn for the executive, who just a few months ago was unsure about shared family and data plans, citing complicated IT and billing issues...

Three more regional carriers get to sell the iPhone next Friday

You can add Bluegrass Cellular, Golden State Cellular and Nex-Tech Wireless to your list of regional wireless operators that get to carry the iPhone in the United States, alongside the big three carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint).

According to the press releases out this morning, these wireless operators will offer both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S beginning next Friday, May 18, with $50 discounts.

Both handsets will require a standard two-year commitment and will be priced at $149 for the entry-level 16GB iPhone 4S model and $49 for its predecessor, the 8GB iPhone 4...

Gamers, rejoice: TouchArcade lands on App Store, we go hands-on

We here at iDB love TouchArchade, one of the first and arguably the most comprehensive websites out there for up-to-date news and reviews concerning gaming on the iOS platform. In case you haven't heard about it, TouchArcade is a project by our friends over at MacRumors, one of the longest-running Apple rumor publications on the web, run by Arnold Kim.

Born out of AppShopper, another pet project by MacRumors that provides most of the glue which enhances iTunes meta data by tracking app changes, the TouchArcade website has become the go-to source for my iOS gaming needs.

Having tried the app briefly, I'm happy to report that it's everything you've been hoping for - and then some...

Apple to judge: Samsung became top smartphone maker thanks to infringement

Less than two weeks before Samsung and Apple chief executives will meet for court-moderated settlement talks in San Francisco, the two frenemies cut the number of claims roughly in half in an effort to expedite the process and ahead of a summer trial.

That didn’t stop the parties from the usual bickering, with Apple saying Samsung’s copyright infringement practice has allowed the South Korean conglomerate to claim the top spot in worldwide smartphone sales.

Returning favor, Samsung argued Apple is “unable to compete”...

Twitpic for iPhone released, pulls 4 years of your photo-sharing history

Not that long time ago, Twitpic used to be the go-to service to post images to Twitter. This changed last year when the popular microblogging and social media service chose Photobucket as its hosting partner.

In a long overdue move, Twitpic yesterday released an iOS app that lets you edit and share photos in a snap. Though Twitpic still commands a respectable and loyal user base, it really comes a year too late.

The app arrives at a time when Instagrams and Facebooks of this world pretty much rule the social photo sharing landscape and it'll be especially tough for them to compete with Facebook's staggering $1 billion Instagram acquisition...

T-Mobile: iPhone-compatible HSPA+ network coming later this year

Folks looking to move their iPhone service to the often-cheaper T-Mobile network will be happy to hear this. The nation's fourth largest carrier has just announced that it plans to roll out an iPhone-ready network by the end of the year.

According to a recent press release, T-Mobile is modernizing its 4G network this year by launching HSPA+ services in the 1900 MHz band. This will improve data speeds, in-building service, and yes, compatibility with Apple's smartphone...

Samsung’s hand shown, will Apple come through with the next iPhone?

We may still be a good five months away from Apple's expected iPhone 5/Next iPhone announcement, but Samsung has already shown its hand with the Galaxy S III.

Building on the already hugely popular Galaxy S II handset, the third generation of the Galaxy S line will feature some interesting software additions alongside a reasonable speed bump and rather large screen. All in, it's an impressive-looking update for a company that has already shown that it is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with Apple when it comes to kicking out huge sales numbers and satisfied customers.

But shy of taking the Roman numeral approach to naming conventions and calling the next iPhone the iPhone V, what will Apple do to take the fight to Samsung now that the Koreans have firmly placed their stake in the ground? What must Apple do in order to compete with a handset that has seen almost as much excitement and expectation as any Apple product? The truth is that it might not actually need to...

How to launch apps on your iPhone with Alfred

Did you know you can launch an iPhone app or respring your iDevice using Alfred for Mac? It's actually possible. You can invoke a hotkey, type Respring into your Mac, and your iPhone SpringBoard will restart automatically.

This tutorial is not for the feint of heart. It helps if you have a general understanding of OpenSSH, the command line, and scripting with AppleScript or Python. You will need to have a Mac with administrator rights and a jailbroken iDevice. Read on to get started...