Month: February 2013

OtterBox lets you customize Defender Series cases for a limited time

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

Phew, today is an accessories day. Logitech owned the morning with its iPad mini Bluetooth keyboard, then Cody blogged about Mophie's 1500mAh Juice Pack Helium for the iPhone 5.

Shortly after came word of Griffin's artsy Designer Series cases which add a little bit of flair and wit to your iPhone 5.

Not to be outdone by its rivals, OtterBox has launched a case customization program for owners of the iPhone 4/4S/5 and Samsung's Galaxy S III. What's this for, you ask. How about 35 different combinations of polycarbonate and silicone cases for your iPhone 4 or 4S and a remarkable 72 combinations of different designs for the iPhone 5?

How to manually fix the Weather app issue after jailbreaking with evasi0n

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated December 29, 2016

As you may be aware, the initial release of the evasi0n untethered jailbreak broke a few minor features in iOS 6, most visibly the native Weather app on the iPhone and iPod touch. Word from the developers is evasi0n's exploit corrupted an important plist settings file for System apps like Weather, Siri, and the App Store. Lucky for our tech savvy readers, there's an easy fix that can replace the broken plist file in minutes. The script we are working with come from pod2g himself...

Griffin announces its artsy Designer Series cases are now available for iPhone 5

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

If a cell phone is an extension of your personality, shouldn't you at least try adorn your iPhone with some unique designs and memorable artwork? That's what Griffin's Designer Series is all about. And starting today, these cases are finally available for your iPhone 5.

Now, I don't use iPhone cases for they hide Jony Ive's beautiful industrial design. But if I did, I'd definitely consider the Designer Series. They look great, are printed locally in small batches and present new looks that go beyond the boring designs which are too often forced upon us by so many uninspired case makers out there...

Mophie unveils Helium Juice Pack for iPhone 5

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

This must be 'unveil your latest product' week for accessory makers. Logitech took the wraps off its new Ultrathin Keyboard for the iPad mini yesterday, Griffin just announced new designer iPhone 5 cases, and now Mophie has come forward.

The California-based designer and manufacturer introduced the iPhone 5 version of its popular battery case line today, the Juice Pack Helium. The case is 13% thinner than any previous Juice Pack, and features a built-in 1500mAh battery...

Apple making big hiring push for iOS Maps team

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

It seems like criticism for Apple's Maps app has died down in recent months. What was once the favorite topic of critics and naysayers has been replaced with talk of iPhone 5 part order cuts and the company's floundering stock.

But that doesn't mean that the Maps app is up to snuff yet, and Apple knows it. That's why it's been working hard to improve the software and, according to new job listings, is making a major hiring push for its Maps team...

Quick Reply for Viber now available in Cydia

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Are you a fan of the BiteSMS jailbreak tweak, but prefer using services other than iMessage or SMS to send texts to your friends? Back in June, Delicious Inc. released Quick Reply for WhatsApp; which essentially brought BiteSMS's quick reply pane to WhatsApp's notifications. Today, on the heels of the release of the evasi0n jailbreak, the developers behind BiteSMS bring a similar tweak to Viber in iOS 5 and iOS 6.

Viber is another cross platform messaging app that allows users to make free calls, as well as send texts and photos. The original app works between iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Nokia, and Bada. It's a free alternative platform that is compatible with every major smartphone on the market. Viber is growing in popularity, so it's ripe for a jailbreak tweak of its own...

Instagram launches photo stream on the web with comments and likes

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 5, 2013

Good news for iPhone photography buffs who love to show off their snaps on Instagram. The Facebook-owned photo sharing service announced Tuesday that people can now view their entire feed of photos in any web browser, including Instagrams shared by the folks they follow on the service.

Commenting and liking is supported and the web app is optimized for both desktop and mobile browsers.

With these new capabilities, users can bypass the mobile app and instead interact with their followers using any device that runs a standards-compliant web browser. That's a new territory for Instagram as it was dependent on the free iOS/Android app. There's one thing missing from the new web app, however...

Self-published works get a home on iBookstore ‘Breakout Books’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple has launched a new U.S. iTunes Store section dedicated to highlighting exclusive, self-published works from emerging talents. Sometimes, one has to expose oneself to books that cannot be found on The New York Times bestseller list. This section is aimed at surfacing cherry-picked content you'd otherwise have a hard time discovering. The move mirrors Amazon's self-published Kindle books and Apple says new titles will be added “as they begin taking off”...

Evasi0n has been downloaded over 1.7 million times so far

Sébastien Page ∙ February 5, 2013

In the first 10 minutes that evasi0n was online, it had already been downloaded 100,000 times, an incredible number if you ask me. For those of you that aren't impressed yet, Cydia's saurik has shared some stats in an article published earlier today by Forbes.

According to saurik, Cydia was installed on over 1.7 million iOS devices since evasi0n was released yesterday...

Analyst: Apple is ‘leaving money on the table’ by not pursuing phablets

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 29, 2017

With half the respondents voting for an Apple phablet in our non-scientific poll and the growing number of pundits making the case for a 5+ inch form-factor iOS device, little wonder that analyst are joining the fray and calling for a jumbo-sized iPhone. A good example is Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu, who opines that Apple is losing out by not pursuing a phablet of its own.

We're not sure what to make of this. Apple under Steve Jobs stubbornly stuck with the '3.5 inch fits all' philosophy. With the iPhone 5, four inch became the new 3.5 inch. But with the growing number of users yearning for an even larger iPhone and with ten million Galaxy Notes shipped in 2012 and another ten million expected in 2013, maybe analysts are right...

Dell eats the humble Apple pie: returns the money to shareholders, goes private

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

Asked to comment on the hole the then nearly bankrupt Apple had gotten itself into, Michael Dell famously said back in 1997 that he’d “shut the company down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

Fast forward fifteen years and Dell’s founder and CEO is giving the money back to his own shareholders as the company he built goes private amid widening losses as the global PC market experiences a severe slump.

What goes around comes around.

Michael Dell should have known better by paying attention to Steve Jobs's advice: it indeed is best not to mess with karma...

Logitech launches iPad mini Ultrathin Keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 5, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsqsORSx23U#at=31

Accessory maker Logitech just announced its $79 Ultrathin Keyboard for the iPad mini. Billed as "the other half of your iPad mini", it's really thin and light and connects to your tablet wirelessly, over Bluetooth. Just like the Archos ultra-slim iPad keyboard, Logitech's baby incorporates the QWERTY key layout which comes in handy for prolonged text entry. We also love its aluminum cover which protects the iPad mini's display...