Year: 2014

Sprint will cut your wireless bill in half if you switch from AT&T or Verizon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 30, 2017

You know holidays are around the corner when greedy carriers start putting out promotions offering substantial savings and other perks if you jump ship. Announced on Tuesday, Sprint's new promotion promises to cut your wireless bill in half if you switch to Sprint from AT&T or Verizon Wireless beginning Friday, December 5, for as long as you remain on the Sprint plan.

Plus, Sprint will buy out your contract up to $350 per line. “You’ll get unlimited talk and text to anywhere in the U.S. and we’ll match your data,” the carrier teased. As an example, a Verizon customer paying $140 per month for four lines and ten gigs of data can get four lines and the same ten gigs of data on Sprint for $70 per month, or half the Verizon's price.

Jump past the fold for the full reveal and fine print.

TaiG talks about iOS 8.2 jailbreak support, possible cooperation with Pangu Team, Mac support, and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Lots of interesting information is now available about the TaiG jailbreak for iOS 8.1.1, and it comes straight from the horse's mouth. First, TaiG has posted an FAQ of sorts for their jailbreak where they answer some of the most pressing questions.

In the FAQ, we learn why the team decided to roll with the iOS 8.1.1 jailbreak as opposed to waiting it out. We also learn that iOS 8.2 is indeed supported in the jailbreak (it's just disabled for the time being). Along with that, additional interesting tidbits have surfaced regarding the Mac version of TaiG. Yes, a Mac version is being worked on, and it could possibly be released in the future.

Step inside for more details. It paints an interesting picture of who the TaiG team really is.

Pandora previews UI redesign with emphasis on thumbing, new Station Personalization and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2014

Pandora, the popular U.S. based music streaming and automated music recommendation service, on Tuesday showed off an upcoming iPhone app update sporting a revamped interface with new Station Personalization features, greater focus on thumbing and more.

Though still a few weeks away, developers were kind enough to share a few screenshots showing the streamlined interface featuring a thumbs-up icon on the Now Playing screen for rating songs, personalized genre and artist suggestions at the top of your list of stations and more.

Developers of Clear release Typed, a gorgeous Markdown editor for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Realmac Software, the creators of Clear, Ember and many other apps, on Tuesday released a beautiful Markdown editor for the Mac, Typed. Whether you run your own blog on a daily basis or just want an easy to use app for writing, Typed has you covered with full support for Markdown.

For those unaware of Markdown, it's a plain text formatting syntax designed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber which makes it easy to style your documents and easily convert them to HTML and many other commonly used document formats.

Typed features a minimal user interface with Auto Save support, customizable keyboard shortcuts, the ability to generate, preview and export HTML code and much more.

Video mockup gives a feel of iPad Pro size

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2014

Thanks to YouTube user Canoopsy (via Nowhereelse.fr), we now have a good sense of the size of Apple's allegedly upcoming 'iPad Pro'. The mockup video depicts how a 12.2-inch iPad would stack up against the current-generation current iPads, iPhones and 13-inch MacBook Pro in terms of size. The video is included after the break so give it a quick watch and meet us in comments.

Zengrams is a mind-bending puzzle game for minimalists

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

The art of the tangram puzzle dates back thousands of years. It comes from China and the goal is to form a particular shape out of a variety of pieces. It may sound simple, but the complexity of the pieces and their flexibility make tangrams a challenge for even the most seasoned players.

Zengrams combines the puzzle gaming of the ancient Chinese tangram with a paper crafting style of cutting shapes and rearranging them into new ones. You don’t have to force puzzle pieces into a particular shape, but you do have to know how to cut new ones.

Declutter your life with the NeatConnect cloud scanner

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

In a recent attempt to go paperless, inspired by our own Jeff Benjamin, I began the search for a solid document scanner about this time last year. Thankfully, December is the month before CES and I hunted for a solution at the world's largest end-user computer conference.

Finding the right scanner was not particularly important, because I had no idea what should accompany a scanner purchase. What features does one need when it comes to scanning? Other than using primitive scanners back in college or a full blown office scanner, there is no personal benchmark for home-use that I could rely upon. In my quest through confusion, I stumbled upon the Neat team members, who promised a scanning option that did not require tethering to a computer. The NeatConnect is a powerful desktop tool without the requirement of annoying USB cables.

Apple broke its own rule by pushing a (RED) promo message. So what?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Apple on Monday tapped its Push Notifications mechanism to remind users that they can donate money to (RED) charity by purchasing (RED)-branded iPhone and iPad apps.

The company has also created a donation page in the App Store (the first banner below ‘Games for (RED)’ section) for simple, convenient and frictionless donations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200.

A dedicated donation webpage is available at RED.org, but it requires you to use a web browser and type in your credit card information, as opposed to the simplicity of iTunes billing.

Reminding folks to “get great apps and help (RED) fight AIDS” via a push alert did not sit well with some nit-picky watchers. I'm talking about Instapaper and Tumblr creator Marco Arment whose blog post insists Apple broke its own rule about using Push Notifications for promotions.

Apple stops signing iOS 8.1, downgrade now impossible

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 1, 2014

iOS 8.1's day has come and gone. Today, in fact, just a few minutes ago, Apple stopped signing the firmware.

If you missed out on iOS 8.1, there is no way to either upgrade to it, or downgrade to it. Instead, you'll have to go directly to iOS 8.1.1.

Fortunately, like the firmware it replaces, iOS 8.1.1 is jailbreakable as well. Check inside to see what this means for the future of jailbreaking iOS.

Google revamps Play Books for iOS with Material Design, adds new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2014

Google on Monday issued a major update to its Play Books client in the App Store, introducing a thorough Material Design rethinking of the somewhat neglected iPhone and iPad software. The app now includes a host of much welcomed new features.

For starters, the ability to read the previously uploaded PDF and EPUB files is now available in the new Play Books 2.0.

Next, you can now access the books you’ve read most recently in a new Read Now view, where you can also tap to read free samples of e-books carried on Google's store.

Jump past the fold for the full list of changes in Play Books 2.0.

Dropbox for iOS now lets you rename files and folders in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Dropbox on Monday issued a small refresh to its iPhone and iPad client, bringing out the notably missing ability to rename files and folders on the go to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Bumped to version 3.6, Dropbox has also gained a new more actions button when viewing files which on iPhones includes additional item details such as the full file name, size and more.

A new swipe gestured has been added as well, with the recently announced ability to Edit Office documents and save them back to your Dropbox now being added for everyone.

Microsoft buys email app Acompli for $200+ million

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Confirming an inadvertent leak last month, Windows and Office maker Microsoft on Monday said it's buying Acompli for more than $200 million. For those who haven't heard about Acompli, it's an efficient email app for iOS and Android that features an integrated calendar.

Framed as “part of our company-wide effort to help people accomplish more with their mobile devices,” the deal will bring San Francisco-based Acompli team together with work currently in progress by the Outlook team.

Microsoft's stated goal is to“ deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services” people use today to help them accomplish more and Acompli seems to fit the bill nicely.

“It will expedite our work to deliver the full power of Office to mobile devices,” said the software giant.