Month: March 2013

Automatic Link in-car dongle brings your car’s diagnostics to iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 12, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AyXNeRbpRk

Automatic today announced an interesting new dongle which connects to your iPhone and leverages its Bluetooth connection to retrieve some useful data from your car’s onboard computer, adding a dash of Google Maps and gas pricing info so you can plan your trips and track fuel efficiency, but also keep tabs on your vehicle's critical data, check those engine alerts with actionable recommendations and more.

It connects to your car's OBD-II Data Link Connector to retrieve fuel, mileage and engine data and beam it to your iPhone via Bluetooth. A companion iPhone app combines this data with your GPS location, current fuel pricing and map data to track your drives, offer assistance for a bunch of issues and even automatically call 911 and your family members in an unfortunate case of a car accident...

Chrome for iOS updated to fix jailbreak-related startup crash

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2013

Last week, Google rolled out an update for its Chrome browser on iOS. The update included a new sharing feature, the ability to quickly view your browsing history, and unfortunately, a major bug for jailbroken devices.

Users on jailbroken iPhones and iPads noticed that after installing the update, Chrome would crash upon startup. And it's a good thing we found a fix for it when we did, because Google is just now getting around to it...

PPSSPP: The first PSP emulator for iOS

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 12, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELqzUY-SZEA

PPSSPP is a PSP emulator that looks quite amazing. Yes, the framerate is slow, but that's to be expected for an early build of a hardware emulator. The fact that this is running a PSP game (Wipeout Pure), and it looks almost exactly like it does on the PSP, is pretty incredible.

According to the audible YouTube commentary, the emulator is running so slow, because it's using interpreter instead of Just In Time compilation (JIT), which would increase performance significantly. If the developer, Henrik Rydgard of Dolphin Emulator fame, and the rest of the development community can solve this issue, then we'll have a pretty solid PSP emulator on our hands.

AudioExplorer+ lets you extract audio from any app and import as a ringtone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Looking to create some awesome ringtones? Then look no further than AudioExplorer+, a new jailbreak tweak, which scans all of the apps you have installed on your device in search of audio files. You can then use the audio files found, and import them into iTunes and use as ringtones.

After a few minutes of usage, I can firmly say that AudioExplorer+ is worth its $1.99 asking price, especially if you're someone who likes to have custom ringtones. This means that any music contained with an app — whether it's an email client with a particular jingle that you enjoy, or the music from your favorite game — can be used as a ringtone, or saved to your iTunes library. Check inside for a demonstration as to how it works.

Apple’s smaller A5 chip is still being fabbed by Samsung

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

As we reported Monday, a retooled version of Apple's $99 set-top box has been found to have a die-shrunk version of the iPad 2's A5 chip rather than the A5X package, as previously speculated. Some market watchers even thought the new package is fabbed on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) new 28-nanometer process. However, after conducting a thorough analysis of the silicon under sophisticated microscopes, chip wizards over at Chipworks and Silicon-IP have determined that the new A5 package is being fabbed on Samsung's 32-nanometer process after all...

Alleged Google Now for iOS promo video surfaces on YouTube

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

This is pretty interesting. An alleged promotional video showcasing a Google Now—Google's impressive voice assistant that debuted in Android Jelly Bean last summer—for iOS app surfaced on YouTube this afternoon.

The big deal here is that while Google added some Now elements to its iOS Search app last fall, it kept location and contextual-based features exclusive to Android. But if the promo clip is real, that could be changing soon...

RokDock is the new iPhone throne [review + giveaway]

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated March 27, 2013

Rokform is quite a regular on the review stream around these parts and it should come as no surprise. Before you assume, no, this is not a sponsored post. Simply, Rokform makes extremely quality products and I am always impressed by them.

The most recent chunks of T-6061 aircraft grade aluminum that Rokform CNC machined into a usable hunk of metal is the RokDock. The heaviest accessory on my desk, the three pound dock is a hyper-masculine throne upon which my iPhone rests. The RokDock is just awesome, no need to complain about my open love affair with their products...

As smaller tablets catch on, IDC expects Android to overtake iPad in 2013

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Research firm IDC today updated its tablet shipments forecast to reflect the growing popularity of low-cost tablets coming from the Android camp.

IDC now predicts that Android tablets will overtake the iPad in terms of volume during the course of 2013.

The firm pegged Apple's share of the global tablet market in 2012 at 51 percent, with Android-driven tablets accounting for 41.5 percent of shipments. The new forecast calls for Android’s share hitting a peak of 48.8 percent in 2013, mostly at the expense of Apple’s iOS predicted to drop down to 46 percent this year.

But why stop there, IDC futurists project tablet shipments nearly four years into the future: in 2017, they expect Android to own 46 percent of the market, with the iPad dropping to a 43.5 percent share. As we know all too well, Apple isn't one to blindly pursue market share, as evident in smartphones where it captures three-quarters of industry profits with barely one-tenth of total handset shipments...

iWatch concept, the traditional edition

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Hot on the heels of releasing a set of renditions depicting what an iPhone 6 with a 4.6-inch screen might look like, 3D artist Martin Hajek is out with a new concept for the iWatch, Apple's rumored iOS-powered smartwatch that has been reportedly cooking in Jony Ive's kitchen for quite a time now.

Unlike a bunch of sci-fi renderings and some pretty radical mockups that couldn't be farther from the real thing (or so we hope, from the bottom of our hearts), Martin's new renderings featured on the April cover of the MacUser magazine employs a more traditional approach to what an everyman's app-enabled wristwatch should look like...

LinkedIn reportedly buying Pulse for up to $100 million

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2013

When word started spreading around yesterday that Pulse was about to be acquired by a "major platform" company, I would have guessed it was either Yahoo or Microsoft. The popular news reader app seems like it would be a great fit for either firm.

But according to the latest reports, the buyer is actually the social networking site for business professionals LinkedIn. The company has allegedly already sealed a deal with Alphonso Labs, the maker of Pulse, worth between $50-$100 million...

Twelve South launches sleek BookArc stand for iPad mini

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Twelve South makes some of the finest and most beautifully designed accessories for Apple gear, such as its highly-regarded BookBook case series for the MacBook Air, iPad mini, iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5, the premium, nearly invisible SurfacePad iPhone sleeve or the charming PlugBug charging kit.

Today, Twelve South announced an iPad mini variant of its iPad stand. The arc-shaped BookArc stand looks like a piece of sci-fi furniture and is designed (like its MacBook Air counterpart) to support your iPad in either portrait or landscape on a bunch of flat surfaces...