Year: 2014

The best iOS 8 jailbreak tweaks

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. It's the end of 2014, and that can only mean one thing: it's time to compile our list of the best iOS 8 jailbreak tweaks of 2014.

To be eligible to make this list, the jailbreak tweak or app must have been released in 2014, it can't be an update or a sequel to another tweak released prior to 2014, it must work on the latest iOS 8 jailbreak, and it must be compatible with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. That means that tweaks like Auxo 3, which would have otherwise made the list, are not included. I know those are some pretty tough regulations, but by doing it this way, we ensure that we have an original list full of fresh and new jailbreak apps and tweaks that you can use today.

Okay, enough talk. Let's get into our list of the best jailbreak releases of 2014. Will your favorite tweak make the list?

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Interview: TaiG team offers elusive answers to important questions

Sébastien Page ∙ December 30, 2014

The first time we heard about TaiG was a year ago, when the evad3rs released the evasi0n7 jailbreak, bundling the Chinese installer to their jailbreak utility for users in China. Long story short, TaiG wasn't what the evad3rs thought it was, as it was clearly an installer that facilitated piracy. A backlash followed, which led to evad3rs unbundling TaiG from their tool. But it was too late. Damage was done. Reputation was tarnished. TaiG then stuck in our heads as the embodiment of piracy in a country we culturally don't understand.

Fast-forward to November 2014 and the unexpected release of the TaiG jailbreak for iOS 8.1.1. It came out of nowhere and surprised everybody, and despite the sour taste TaiG had left in the community a year before, we were all quick to forget all about it. For most people, having a jailbreak for the latest software version was all that mattered.

If the TaiG jailbreak was one of the most popular of the year, the company behind it still remains quite a mystery, at least here in the US. Who is the team behind the TaiG jailbreak? Maybe more importantly, what is TaiG, the company, and what does it do? What are its goals?

We reached out to the TaiG jailbreak team, comprised of a single member, and tried to ask those embarrassing questions. As you can see below, the answers are short and don't address the main points, usually avoiding the question altogether. Besides a few elusive replies to important questions, we do get a few interesting answers about the future of the TaiG jailbreak.

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Apple files patent stylus that can capture writing on any surface

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Apple has been granted a patent by the USPTO on Tuesday that describes a stylus that will allow a user to write on any surface, and translate it onto their iPhone or iPad. The feature set is similar to the Livescribe 3 Smartpen, that works on Livescribe Dot Paper by using an onboard camera.

However, the technology Apple has applied for sounds more advanced and more seamless. Instead of using a camera and specialized paper, Apple's stylus uses accelerometers and motion-sensing to activate only when picked up, its nib is pressed to paper, withdrawn from a dock or manually turned on by the user. 

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VLC media player returning to App Store soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

VLC media player has had something of a rocky history on the iOS platform, getting pulled from Apple's mobile platform several times thus far over various licensing issues.

Having been absent from iOS for nearly four months, the popular cross-platform media player which renders dozens of non-iOS-friendly video formats will be relaunching on the App Store in the coming days.

According to Felix Paul Kuehne, lead developer for VLC for iOS and OS X, the app has already been submitted to Apple for approval and could be heading back to the App Store later this week.

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BBM updated with stickers in group chats, iPhone 6 and iOS 8 compatibility improvements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2014

Following last month's preview of a major new update to its BBM for iPhone messaging software, BlackBerry today released BBM 2.6.1.31 featuring an improved support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus alongside additional iOS 8 compatibility updates and other enhancements.

There's a new timer option and you'll also notice certain improvements for the message retraction feature and refinements to timed pictures and messages.

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Apple dominated Christmas, activating 2.9 devices per one Samsung

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Mobile analytics firm Flurry is out with its December Christmas week research, like it does every year, and one thing is extremely evident - Santa loves Apple. The iPhone accounted for 51 percent of new device activations from December 19th to December 25th, putting a pretty good beating on Samsung, who only accounted for 18 percent.

Flurry found that for every one Samsung device that was activated, Apple activated 2.9 devices. For every Microsoft Lumia device activated, Apple activated 8.8 devices. We'll have to wait until Apple's earnings call probably sometime in January for more of a per-device breakdown, but it looks like the iPhone 6 far outweighed any other version of the iPhone.

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The best Productivity apps of 2014

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 29, 2018

Apple’s newest desktop and mobile operating systems have supercharged productivity in a big way. We’re not just talking about complex task lists, but new ways to create, save, and share documents and files, better access to important information, and syncing across devices better than anything in the past. This year, we submitted our favorite productivity apps to launch in 2014 and voted on them. Below is a list of the winner, the runner-ups, and our all-time best productivity app.

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