Month: September 2012

Jonathan Mann wishes Siri a happy birthday

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 26, 2012

Musician and songwriter Jonathan Mann made a name for himself by writing a song a day and sharing it on YouTube. He's been doing it for over a thousand days straight, every single day. The song-a-day man scored big with fans of Apple when he posted the amusing Antennasong on the eve of Apple's hastily organized presser two years ago to deal with the aftermath of the iPhone 4 antenna debacle.

Steve Jobs even played that song to kick off the presser. And now, John's back with a new song celebrating Siri's first birthday, though nine days early. More clips right after the break...

The HackStore is a viable alternative to the Mac App Store [sponsored]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

Back in April, a handful of developers launched the HackStore, an alternative to the Mac App Store. Similar to Cydia for iOS, the HackStore hosts third-party Mac applications that for one reason or another didn't make it past Apple's approval process.

In our first take, we noted that while the Store looked good, it needed some work. It was a bit buggy, and only contained around 50 apps. But after nearly 6 months and a number of updates, we figured it was time to give the HackStore another run-through...

Introducing the Apple iShiv

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 26, 2012

In addition to Mapgate and Scuffgate, another controversy involving Apple is making rounds on the web. Comedian and television host Conan O'Brien jumped on the opportunity to scold Apple over the rioting which swept the iPhone 5 plant in Asia. Take a look at the iShiv, a new tool designed to "revolutionize factory riots". Because assembly line workers "just love the thinnest, lightest factory riot weapon yet". The clip is right after the break...

Poll: Has your battery life improved with iOS 6?

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 25, 2012

After installing iOS 6, I've noticed a significant improvement with battery life on my iPhone 4S. Usually, I'm not someone who really likes to talk about battery life, as I'm always near a charger during the day.

I'm certainly not one of those that tends to either complain or rave over battery life. To me, it is what it is.

But I've noticed such an improvement with battery life on my iPhone 4S after installing iOS 6, that I just had to talk about it. It's way better, like, by a big margin. So the question stands to be asked, how is your battery life on iOS 6? Has it improved?

Instagram updated for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6

Sébastien Page ∙ September 25, 2012

Instagram has finally been updated for iOS 6, and more importantly, the app has been updated to take advantage of the 4 inches of screen real estate the iPhone 5 has to offer.

Besides the few bug fixes that you might not even notice, the big changes come to the photo uploader and filters. iPhone 5 users will appreciate that the filters don't overlap on the photo anymore, leaving you plenty of space to see what your photo will actually look like...

iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S Screen – Stock Apps Comparison

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 25, 2012

If you've yet to lay eyes on an iPhone 5, or compare the iPhone 5 to stock apps running on lesser iPhone hardware, then this video is for you.

Inside, we take a look at the majority of the stock iPhone apps, and compare them side-by-side running on the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S hardware. Besides the obvious added spacing, most of the differences are fairly subtle.

One thing you will notice, however, is that keyboard keys are slightly larger, and there's more room on screen to see content like messages, and message composition panes. Simply put, once you get used to the iPhone 5's roomier screen, anything less seems claustrophobic.

Mapgate gets Der Führer treatment

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 25, 2012

I'm tellin' ya, this thing has gone mainstream and it's pretty obvious it needed a Hitler meme. I'm guessing Team Coco will wanna take a look into Mapgate as well. In the meantime, Apple Maps haters needn't worry: Garmin has you covered. More on amazing iOS 6 Maps right here...

Where’s my iOS Wi-Fi Plus Cellular toggle?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 11, 2018

Apple in early-August seeded iOS 6 Beta 4 to its registered developers. With it came a new feature in Settings, called Wi-Fi Plus Cellular. As Jeff explained in a lengthy post the following day, this toggle basically ensures that apps having trouble with WiFi can automatically switch over to cellular data. But why go implement and then remove this handy capability from iOS 6?

Report: the iPhone 5 may be headed to China Mobile

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Outside of North America, China may be Apple's largest market. Although the iPhone 5 is set to be introduced by China Unicom and China Telecom during the first three months that the new smartphone is available, the biggest audience is still China Mobile's 700 million subscribers.

Now Apple watchers believe new technology quietly added to the iPhone 5 could improve the chances the iconic handset could soon be sold by the world's largest mobile carrier.

According to The Wall Street Journal, TD-SCDMA is supported in a Qualcomm chip found in the iPhone 5 when the phone was torn down by the folks at iFixit. The transmission technology is China Mobile's version of 3G and a clue that Apple wants the carrier as its third partner in the Asian giant. It's intriguing then that Apple doesn't mention TD-SCDMA in its technical specifications of the iPhone 5.

Apple poaches Google’s Sally Cole as Communications Director

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Apple is already thought to be aggressively recruiting Google Maps employees and now it appears Cupertino is after other high-ranked individuals currently employed by the search giant. Like Sally Cole, who had up until last month used to be Google's Director of Internal Communications for almost six years.

She is now employed in a very similar capacity by Apple. Cole arrives at a time when the growing rivalry between Apple and Google is turning into an all-out war. Perhaps Cole will reorganize Apple's PR department which appears to be out of sync lately.

Scuffgate, reports of teething problems with the iPhone 5 and recent cutbacks blamed on the new retail head John Browett all seemingly indicate that Apple is increasingly becoming prone to unusual PR missteps...

pod2g: I’m not working on a jailbreak for iOS 6

Sébastien Page ∙ September 25, 2012

With the recent release of iOS 6, many jailbreakers have held back on the update so they can keep enjoying their favorite tweaks. Looking at conversations on iDB and Twitter, it appears that most jailbreakers are anxious to get on iOS 6, but not at the expense of their jailbreak. Those that find themselves in this situation are now patiently waiting for a jailbreak to be released.

Though there is definitely encouraging news on the iOS 6 jailbreak front, an untethered jailbreak as yet to be released. Pouring some cold water on everybody's hope, iOS hacker pod2g confirmed on Twitter today that he is not working on a jailbreak for iOS 6...

Samsung-made A6 chip has dual ARM CPU cores, 3 PowerVR GPU cores, 1GB RAM

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple claims the iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the iPhone 4S (which is no slouch) in terms of processing and graphics power, thanks to the in-house designed A6 chip. You could even say that the A6 pushes the iPhone 5 ahead of competing smartphones, at least in Javascript and Geekbench tests.

The A6 is clearly a beast of a chip, not just in terms of sheer power but also in delivering the world’s first phone powered by ARM’s Cortex-A15 CPU platform, completely customized to Apple's needs. In addition to two CPU cores, the first diffusion image by UBM TechInsights has also showed three GPUs.

And now, repair wizards iFixit teamed up with chip experts Chipworks who put the A6 silicon under a sophisticated microscope. Here's what we could glean from so-called "floorplans"...