Month: January 2013

A new concept from the designer of Auxo improves Do Not Disturb

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 14, 2013

I think it's safe to say that the Auxo jailbreak tweak was a resounding success. As you may remember, it initially started out as a concept posted on The Verge forums. Its designer, Sentry, hooked up with a more than capable developer, and eventually the pair made the concept into a successfully reality.

Well it appears that Sentry is back, this time with a new concept aimed around improving the functionality of Apple's built in Do Not Disturb feature. While Apple may not think that it needs improvement, judging from the advertisement spot it just released showcasing the feature, Sentry believes that he can improve Do Not Disturb by meshing it with Notification Center.

Apple offering new interest-free payment plan in China

Cody Lee ∙ January 14, 2013

Last week, Tim Cook made it clear that Apple intends to beef up its presence in China. The CEO said that although the country is only its second largest market right now (behind the US), it will soon be number one.

With that, comes a report today that Apple has introduced a new interest-free installment payment option to its web store in China as a way of enticing potential customers that may not have enough cash on-hand...

Poll: is the time nigh for an Apple phablet?

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NNNHLjMc9I

Many watchers, this author included, never thought phablets would make an impact. But they are taking off, mostly due to Samsung's Note series, an Android-driven smartphone/tablet computer hybrid (hence, a "phablet") introduced in October 2011. It tallied a respectable ten million shipments as of August 15, 2012. Not bad for a product category that virtually didn't exist a couple years back. Its successor, the Galaxy Note II, was released in August 2012. With its massive 5.55-inch screen sporting the native 720p (1,280-by-720) resolution, it's the perfect epitome of the phablet trend.

There's no denying that phablets are slowly but surely becoming the new normal as deep-pocketed smartphone users now yearn for devices with a greater screen real estate and more computational power to handle even more tasks previously handled by the struggling notebook or the traditional PC. That being said, today we're asking you to opine on whether or not Apple should release a phablet of its own, a 5+ inch iPhone of sorts...

‘Better Switcher Position’ aims to create a better app switcher

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Better Switcher Position is a simple jailbreak tweak that switches the position of the rotation lock button and the music button found in the app switcher. The idea behind the tweaks is that it more closely aligns the volume control slider found in the app switcher, with the music button.

While the position of the app switcher buttons never really dawned on me before, I guess the developer of Better Switcher Position has a point. Take a look at our hands-on video inside to see what I mean.

Tim Cook is design-savy after all

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2013

When it comes to industrial design, watchers stubbornly refuse to give Apple's boss Tim Cook the benefit of the doubt. Cook is not a product person, critics argue.

He's a numbers guy who obsesses over spreadsheets while paying little attention to product design, haters often cry. And because of this, Apple of course is doomed.

Journalist Nick Bilton shares an interesting little anecdote in his Sunday piece for The New York Times that I think proves the opposite, that Tim Cook is very much aware of the importance of design in product development...

US holiday Mac sales rose as PC shipments fell

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Apple Mac holiday sales in the US rose by 5.4 percent, countering the PC industry's overall 2.1 percent decline. The new numbers by research giant Gartner indicate Apple shipped 2.1 million Macs during the fourth quarter, up from two million for the same period in 2011. Meanwhile, pretty much every other vendor experienced a decline, with Dell reporting an abysmal sixteen percent decline.

Dell's US market share slid to 19.2 percent, down from 22.5 percent in 2011. All told, Apple now holds a 12.3 percent share of the US PC market, up from 11.4 percent last year, putting the company in the No. 3 spot, right behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell. PC vendors are now seeing US households letting the computers "age out" as they increasingly use tablets like the iPad for common tasks such as e-mail and web surfing...

AAPL tanks below $500 on ‘weaker than expected’ iPhone 5 demand rumor

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

AAPL fell briefly below $500 this morning following The Wall Street Journal and the Nikkei newswire reports of the iPhone 5 part orders halved amid what's being claimed a 'weaker-than-expected' global demand for the handset. Specifically, shares briefly sank to $497 in pre-market trading Monday as investors reacted to the news.

It's the first time since February 2012 that AAPL tanked below $500 a share. AAPL lost nearly 26 percent since a September 2012 all-time high of $705.07 a share. In the last three months alone, the Apple stock lost seventeen percent of its value. Rival Samsung seized its opportunity, having released this morning official numbers proving flourishing sales of its Galaxy S smartphone series, which surpassed the accumulated sales record of 100 million units (from the supply side) since its launch in May 2010...

Samsung Galaxy S device sales surpass 100M mark

Cody Lee ∙ January 14, 2013

Hot on the heels of reports that Apple has had to cut iPhone 5 part orders due to weaker-than-expected demand, Samsung has announced that its handset sales are still flourishing.

It appears that the Korean company's popular line of Galaxy S smartphones has recently reached a major milestone, crossing the 100 million unit mark in less than three years...

Apple seen cutting iPhone 5 part orders due to weak demand

Cody Lee ∙ January 14, 2013

The Wall Street Journal issued a report late last night, claiming that it had it on good authority that Apple has been telling its suppliers to cut their iPhone 5 part orders due to, what is believed to be, weak demand.

The publication's sources, who — you guessed it, are familiar with the situation — say that Apple has cut orders for multiple iPhone 5 components, but say screen orders specifically have been cut by nearly 50 percent...

CES 2013: the iOS accessories that impressed us the most

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated May 1, 2017

As you all know, CES came to a close Friday afternoon at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but only after an exciting week of new product announcements and unveilings. Sebastien and I made the Vegas trek to see the action first hand and we scoured the floor looking for the hot new iOS compatible products that will be hitting it big in 2013. Step inside for a run down of what we really liked and what could be making a splash over the next 12 months...

Facebook ‘totally’ ready to launch Messenger for iPad on Tuesday

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

You may have heard that Facebook has issued invites for a media event due this coming Tuesday to “come and see what [they're] building”. People in the know claim the news conference is a pretty big deal as Facebook could announce a brand new mobile operating system, even a so-called Facebook Phone of some sort. And now, another source has stepped forward with knowledge that the social networking giant will also launch an iPad version of its mobile Messenger app, which in a recent update has gained VoIP capabilities...

DismissMyKeyboard allows you to quickly hide the iPhone’s keyboard

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

DismissMyKeyboard is a recently released jailbreak tweak for jailbroken iPhones that allows you to easily dismiss the software keyboard. While the iPad already benefits from such a feature due to the device's larger area of real estate, the iPhone's keyboard has no room for a dedicated dismiss keyboard button like you see on its larger brethren.

DismissMyKeyboard solves this issue by allowing you to perform a swipe gesture right on the keyboard in order to dismiss it. Take a look at our video walkthrough inside to see how it functions.