Year: 2014

Apple reshuffles iPod touch lineup: lower prices, new $199 model with rear camera in six colors

Apple on Thursday quietly refreshed its aging iPod touch lineup with a new $199 entry-level model with sixteen gigabytes of storage and a rear camera added to the mix.

Additionally, existing iPod touch models with 32 and 64 gigabytes of storage have been slashed to $249 and $299, respectively.

The lineup now comprises of the 16/32/64GB variants priced at $199/$249/$299 and offered in black, space grey, pink, yellow, blue and (Product)RED. The media players are now available through the Online Apple Store and ship within 24 hours...

Costco now selling iPhones and iPads for up to $120 off

After a four-year hiatus, Costco has began selling select iPhone and iPad models at steep discounts of up to 70% off. The big box retailer had stopped selling Apple products in 2010 following a dispute in which it was not allowed to carry the iPad, but it appears that the two companies have now reconciled their business relationship.

Costco now offers a limited selection of iPhones on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon through its online store, including the 16 GB iPhone 5s in space grey, silver or gold for just $77.99. The smartphone regularly retails for $199.99 with a new two-year contract, making this one of the better deals for an iPhone 5s you will find. The devices are not available in stores… 

iOS 7.1.1 compatible jailbreak tweaks

It has been a few days since the Chinese team Pangu surprised us with an iOS 7.1.1 untethered jailbreak, and the dust is finally starting to settle. After learning that the jailbreak is safe to use, we've gone ahead and shared video guides on how to jailbreak iOS 7.1.1 on Windows and how to jailbreak iOS 7.1.1 on OS X. We also answered some of the other pressing questions surrounding the jailbreak, including the two exploits used for this method.

We've been receiving a lot of questions on our social platforms and comments about which jailbreak tweaks are compatible with iOS 7.1.1, so we've gone ahead and compiled a list based off this shared document by JailbreakQA moderator iAdam1n. While our jailbreak guru Jeff Benjamin has tested some of these tweaks, we cannot guarantee that all of the packages listed will work with your specific iOS device, version or other tweaks installed… 

Audibly lets you play your music in sync across multiple iOS devices

Whenever I go camping, if I’ve forgotten to grab a wireless speaker, I have trouble getting the music from my iPhone loud enough to be heard over the roar of the fire. I’ve figured out a way to create a bigger sound by resting my device inside a metal bowl, but it is still fairly quiet.

Audibly lets you connect multiple iPhones together to create a stereo-like experience. Broadcast music from one iPhone and the others will pick it up and play it as well. Talk about DIY surround sound…

Yahoo app finally runs natively on iPad

Yahoo's main iOS client is great. Not only does it double as a portal to Yahoo's key mobile apps and services, it's basically a handy one-stop shop for copious amounts of curated and original news content summarized by Yahoo.

With articles available across twelve distinct categories - News, Business, Celebrities, Entertainment, Finance, Health, Media, Politics, Science, Society, Sports and Technology - it's easy to get accustomed to firing up the app on mornings and skim through headlines before getting out of bed.

I generally tend to avoid reading news on the iPhone's tiny screen whenever possible so you could imagine I'm really glad that Yahoo's software has finally leaped onto the iPad...

Apple seeds OS X 10.9.4 build 13E25 to developers

Apple has seeded the fourth beta of OS X 10.9.4 to registered Mac developers for testing. This latest OS X Mavericks beta has the build number 13E25 and arrives just six days following the third OS X 10.9.4 beta release. As with most of these minor build releases, it is unknown exactly what changes that Apple has made, but we should be nearing a public release soon… 

Microsoft updates OneDrive with camera backups in the background and more

The free OneDrive app for the iPhone and iPad (formerly SkyDrive) has just gotten a lot better with features like photo backups in the background and other perks that allow you to do more from your phone.

And thanks to proper support for Microsoft's mobile Office apps, getting your photos and videos into OneDrive to import them into your Office projects on the iPhone and iPad is a trivial affair now.

That's the gist of a blog post Microsoft somewhat hastily put together today to counter a Google Drive app update and a plethora of announcements that have been coming out of Google I/O since this morning...

Google I/O 2014 keynote recap: Android in your car, living room, on your wrist and more

Earlier today, Google kicked off its two-day summer conference for developers with a keynote talk. It always pays to keep tabs on competition, my colleague Joe Rosignoll and I have been covering key advancements concerning the Android platform in the form of Android L, Android Wear, Android Auto and Android TV announcements.

Making sense of it all, I've put together this recap of the most important developments from the Google I/O 2014 keynote. Give it a read and feel free to chime in with your thoughts and analysis in the comment section...

Slides app arriving to iOS in the coming weeks, says Google

Back in April, Google finally decided to release standalone Docs and Sheets apps for the iPhone and iPad, the former a text editor and the latter a spreadsheet app.

But Google's mobile productivity efforts are comprised of a trio of apps - Docs, Sheets and Slides, a presentation software. Today at Google I/O, the search company has rounded out the trio with a new Slides for Android app that will be available on iOS "in the coming weeks"...

Google Drive for iOS updated with activity stream, incoming view, faster uploading and more

The official Google Drive app for iPhone and iPad has been updated to version 3.1 with several added features. An all-new incoming view displays files that have been shared with you as they arrive, alongside an activity stream for viewing changes to files and folders made by you and others from the details panel. We've recapped some of the other changes and have the official release notes after the break… 

Google details Android Auto with APIs for audio and messaging apps

More than forty partners have joined Open Automotive Alliance, which Google announced in January as an Android initiative for your car.

The program has received a significant boost with today's official introduction of Android Auto, an in-car software solution which strives to put the right information for the road ahead at your fingertips.

Android Auto extends the Android platform into the car in a way that Google says is purpose-built for driving and focused on navigation, communication and music. Jump past the fold for the nitty-gritty...

Google unveils Android Wear enhancements, releases full SDK to write native apps for wearables

Google has kicked off its two-day conference for developers with a keynote address in San Francisco and we're continuously covering major announcements to deliver you important news as it happens.

Company executes took to the stage to announce changes coming to Android Wear, Google's platform for wearables based on Android that was previewed back in March...