Month: February 2012

Tweetbot Updated to Version 2.0

I find Tweetbot to be "over designed," meaning its user interface it's too heavy for my eyes. I hear it's still people's favorite Twitter app for iPhone though, so they must definitely be doing something right.

Today, Tweetbot was updated to version 2.0, bringing the following new features:

New Vonage iOS App Promises 30% Lower Rates Than Skype

Vonage has come out fighting in its ongoing battle with the king of VoIP, Skype. The company has just released a new iOS app along with a low calling rate that is sure to put the frighteners on Skype.

Available to download for free right now, the Vonage app allows VoIP calls between Vonage users across iOS and Android as well as cheap calls to traditional landlines, too.

Vonage claims to be 70% cheaper than traditional telcos, and 30% cheaper than Skype...

ContactPrivacy: a New Jailbreak Tweak That Warns You When Apps Try to Access Your Contacts Data

Following yesterday's Path debacle about how the app uploads your entire address book to its servers without your knowledge, jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich decided to do what Apple should have done in the first place: having a notification for when apps try to access your contacts data.

The jailbreak tweak is conveniently called ContactPrivacy and is a free download from Cydia. After installing ContactPrivacy on your iPhone, you won't find any new icon or settings to tweak...

Sprint Sold 1.8M iPhones Last Quarter

Sprint Nextel is expected to release its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011 later today, and it appears that numbers are even worse than they were during the previous quarter.

For the three months that ended on December 31st, Sprint lost $1.3 billion on revenue of $8.7 billion. That compares to a loss of $929 million on revenue of $8.3 billion for the same quarter the previous year.

Everything isn't that bad for Sprint though. The company managed to sell 1.8 million iPhones, of which 40% were new customers..

Siri Accounts for 25% of Wolfram Alpha Queries

Siri has been met with mixed feelings from consumers since it debuted on the iPhone 4S last Fall. While some folks think the feature alone is worth the handset's price tag, others find it to be little more than a novelty.

Well in case anyone was wondering how often 4S owners are actually using Siri, the New York Times has the answer. In a recent report, the site notes that 25% of Wolfram Alpha's queries come from Apple's digital assistant...

Apple Asks European Organization to Standardize Patent Licensing

Apple and Motorola have really been going at it over the last few weeks. Motorola seems to have the upper hand in the ongoing patent lawsuit, as it recently won a court decision forcing Apple to remove some of its products from its online store.

But Apple's [obviously] not going down without a fight. It claims that the patents that Motorola is holding against it are standards-essential patents (required to function), and, if nothing else, should be licensable under FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non Discriminatory) terms...

US Air Force Looking to Buy 18,000 iPads For Cargo Aircraft

Following suit with American Airlines and other commercial airlines, the United States Air Force hopes to rid of all of the paper and charts in their cargo planes with iPads.

All of those pilot manuals, which weigh a ton, will be replaced with iPads that have the manuals preloaded digitally. Tab Times reports that the Air Force hopes to buy a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 18,000 iPad 2s...

App Booster SDK Lets Developers Add In-App Notifications For Free

Some of the best ways we keep engaged with our favorite apps is through notifications. Whether it's an in-app notification or a notification pushed to our homescreen, they help us stay in the loop with what's going on at the present time.

Sometimes they can be hard to implement for developers, but luckily, there is now a free tool in order to help create in-app notifications for better engagement...

Tiny Umbrella Developer Reminds Us to Save Our iOS 5.0.1 Blobs

Are you enjoying your newly jailbroken devices as much as we are? If so, you may want to make sure that you have saved your iOS 5.0.1 SHSH blobs. If not, you could risk losing the ability to jailbreak in the future.

It's been over a month since Apple released iOS 5.1 beta 3, so it wouldn't surprise us to see a public release sometime in the near future. And from what we've heard, the new software will patch the Corona exploit...

Use Your iOS Device to Control Your TV and More with the VooMote Zapper

The iOS accessory space has seen a number of universal remote control add-ons over the last few years. There's the Peel, and the Griffin Beacon — both of which allow you to control your entire entertainment center with your iOS device.

But now there's a new kid on the block, the VooMote Zapper. And unlike the aforementioned accessories, it doesn't require an external infrared receiver. The Zapper plugs directly into your device's 30-pin dock connector, and doesn't require batteries...

The ‘App Economy’ Has Led to 466,000 New Jobs in the US in Four Years

We all know developers are hard at work to create our favorite apps. With over 500,000 apps currently on the iTunes App Store alone, there is sure to be a ton of developers that need to create these apps, and make a living in doing so.

According to a new report released today from TechNet, the "App Economy" -- which includes both iOS and Android -- has sparked an impressive 466,000 new jobs in the last four years in the US alone. Obviously being the first to launch a market place for apps, Apple is the leader of this booming app industry...

Proview Asks Apple for $1.5 Billion Over iPad Trademark Hiccup

It seems that Apple's legal team just cannot catch a break these days, and the company's lawyers certainly seem to have their work cut out if they are to avoid a large payout to Proview, a monitor and display company.

Proview is apparently the owner of a Chinese trademark for the term "iPad" and is currently locked in a legal battle with Apple over the use of the word for its – you guessed it – iPad.

The matter has already found its way into the courts, with large sums of money currently being discussed. The biggest number to come across our computer screens today is a staggering one, with Proview apparently set to ask Apple for a cool $1.5 billion in compensation for the whole ordeal...