Month: April 2013

T-Mobile reports ‘gangbusters’ iPhone opening

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 31, 2017

T-Mobile kicked off sales of Apple's popular smartphone by airing its first iPhone ad yesterday evening. The ice-breaker commercial is part of the reportedly massive nationwide campaign, with print and digital ads to follow soon after. While the carrier did not release the official first-dale sales data at press time - and probably won't until its next earnings report - its marketing honcho did bother taking to blogs to say T-Mobile saw "gangbusters" opening, whatever that means in terms of hard data.

Be that as it may, the addition of T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier, to the list of US carriers selling Apple's handset is bound to improve Apple's bottom line. Any iPhones T-Mobile sold won't be reflected in Apple's second fiscal 2013 quarter, which ended last month. The Cupertino company announced it will be releasing earnings on April 23...

New Twitter Music app launching this weekend

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Twitter Thursday announced on, well, Twitter that it snapped up We Are Hunted, a music startup which tracks what songs people share the most across social networks.

But that's so yesterday. Just 24 hours later, Twitter on Friday announced its music service is crawling out of obscurity, having changed from "invite only" to "coming soon." Not much is known about the service as of yet except for a tidbit here and there.

According to some well-informed people, the micro-blogging service will be launching an app for iOS devices as well, timed to the start of the Coachella music festival this weekend. Matter of fact, if you're Ryan Seacrest, a filmstar, an influencer or some such celebrity, you could start using Twitter Music today...

PebbleOS v1.10 for Pebble SmartWatch released

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Today, Pebble released the v1.10 update for PebbleOS, which powers the Pebble SmartWatch. This update brings some highly anticipated new features along with a slew of bug fixes to the table.

The update can be accessed via the the Pebble app available on the App Store. If you're a Pebbl SmartWatch owner, simply open up the Pebble app to get started. Check inside for the full change log.

Apple asks devs to localize apps, launches Chinese Support forum

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Apple appears to want its apps to lose the 'outsider' label. In an email communication to its registered developers sent earlier this week, the App Store owner encouraged programmers to localize their applications because it's "never been more important." Also, in the latest round of moves aimed at Chinese consumers, the iPhone maker updated its online support forums to handle the native language...

Here’s how Velox will interface with the Mail app

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

A few new screenshots were posted on Apex Tweaks' official site, and one of them shows the way that Velox will interface with the Mail app. This is significant, because this wasn't available in the preview version that I demoed a few days ago.

The screenshot shows the typical Velox view, with what appear to be scrollable messages with titles and a two line preview of the message. It looks, judging from the screenshot, that a swipe gesture, or a tap of the email, may allow you to reply directly to messages from Velox's enhanced email folder.

Don’t waste your time using MyStat for Notification Center

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 12, 2013

So I just installed MyStat for Notification Center, as it just appeared on Cydia's BigBoss repo a few minutes ago. Here's a word of warning: don't bother installing it yourself.

To put it plainly, it's a sad attempt at a statistical Notification Center widget. Your time would be better spent elsewhere.

Record ‘n’ Torch enables the camera flash toggle while recording video

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 12, 2013

Did you know that you cannot enable or disable the flash while shooting video with the stock Camera app? I didn't either, until I stumbled upon a new jailbreak tweak called Record 'n' Torch. This is a tweak that lends the ability to be able to enable and disable the camera flash while in the middle of recording video. Check out more details inside.

Not a joke: Verizon just tightened eligibility terms, killing early upgrades

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Straight from the 'what-were-they-thinking' department comes news that Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading carrier, Friday updated its upgrade eligibility terms, but unfortunately not for the better.

If you're on a two-year agreement, you'll be now eligible for an upgrade at 24 months as opposed to today's early upgrade eligibility at 20 months.

Remember, this is a carrier that just two years ago eliminated the 12-month upgrade. The first customers impacted by this change are the ones whose contracts expire in January 2014. Verizon cynically states that people are always free to "purchase a new phone at the full retail price at any time."

Monthly installments, much?

They even had the nerve to argue the change is "consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today". So, folks are actually eager to commit their soul to Verizon's long-term agreements with no easy way out? Seriously? Let me guess: if consumers demanded it, the company would eliminate contracts, right? Looks to me Verizon didn't get the memo. But wait, there's more...

Computer Chronicles episode highlights Apple in the late 90’s

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 12, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-hD7xT_SbU

TUAW stumbled upon an old episode of Computer Chronicles — a show that aired on PBS during the 80's and 90's — which highlighted Apple's late 90's recovery, the iMac, and various other interesting Apple tidbits.

If you're feeling nostalgic, I highly recommend that you check out this episode, which was uploaded last August to YouTube. It just helps you to put into perspective how close Apple was to death back then.

Sleeper Tweak: BannerDisable

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 12, 2013

We talk about a lot of interesting things on Let's Talk Jailbreak, and one of them is the concept of sleeper tweaks. These are great tweaks, that for whatever reason have been forgotten, or fly under the radar. We've talked about a few of them on the Podcast, and I'd like to periodically talk about them on the blog.

One of the first sleeper tweaks that comes to my mind is BannerDisable. It came out before Do Not Disturb hit iOS, and it's a lot more forceful than iOS' built in DND feature. If you absolutely do not want any notifications disturbing you for any reason, then you should definitely have BannerDisable installed on your device.

Apple to pay $53 million in iPhone warranty class-action settlement

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 12, 2013

Have you been frustrated by Apple's repair or replacement policy? You could be in for some cash, according to a Friday report.

The iPhone maker supposedly has signed a settlement deal worth $53 million ending a class action lawsuit that claimed Apple dragged its feet on honoring warranties for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The settlement, reportedly signed Wednesday by Apple's head litigation attorney, could affect "hundreds of thousands" of iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS owners, as well as people who bought the first three generations of the iPod touch media player...