Year: 2014

Scotland Yard spending $360M on tablets, trial purchase comprising 600 iPad minis

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 10, 2014

Scotland Yard - yes, Scotland Yard - has joined the post-PC revolution by announcing a tablet investment worth £200 million, or about $360 million, part of which is the trial purchase comprising 600 iPad minis.

Scotland Yard, which is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, the territorial police force responsible for policing most of London, said the iPad minis will be used as a replacement for police notebooks.

As part of the trial program, officers in Hammersmith and Fulham will be using Apple's tablet to record crimes and taking witness statements using custom-made apps by the Metropolitan Police...

DoJ reprimands Samsung over leveraging standards-essential patents for import ban

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 10, 2014

The Galaxy maker Samsung has been reprimanded by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) over its improper use of standards-essential patents in litigation. As Samsung leveraged standards-essential patents to seek an import ban against older Apple products into the United States, DoJ has decided to scold but not fine Samsung as a message of sorts to other companies that asserting these patents to hamper competition isn't acceptable. The full reveal is after the break...

AT&T tops Verizon in customer service survey, T-Mobile most improved

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

J.D. Power and Associates published its bi-annual report on wireless customer care performance this week, ranking the top 4 US carriers based on various stats related to customer service.

The marketing research firm asked more than 7,000 subscribers how satisfied they were with the customer service they received from their cell phone provider, and here is how they scored...

Chevy’s new Equinox ad stars Siri Eyes Free and it’s funny

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 10, 2014

General Motors a few days ago started airing a new television commercial for its brand now 2014 vehicle, the Chevrolet Equinox. The car features integration with Siri Eyes Free, an Apple-made voice-activated system which debuted in 2012 allowing drivers to interact with Siri on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using their voice, without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Watch now how a perfectly normal conversation between a husband and wife goes wrong thanks to Siri...

Used iPhones with Flappy Bird installed going for $100K on eBay

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Here's an entertaining little anecdote to start your week off. By now, I'm sure most of you know about Flappy Bird; that it essentially became an overnight success, and that its developer pulled it from the App Store yesterday. But the saga may not be over just yet.

Shortly after the game was pulled on Sunday, iPhones with Flappy Bird installed started appearing on eBay. It's not too surprising that folks would want to capitalize on its popularity, but what may catch you off guard is that some of them are going for big bucks...

How to enable Guest Mode on iPhone

Joe Rossignol ∙ February 9, 2014

While multiple user account support exists on OS X and certain Android devices, the same cannot be said for iPhone. Enter GuestMode, a new jailbreak tweak by computer science graduate student Ian Burns that offers a fully customizable guest experience like none other.

Allow your kids to play games on your smartphone without accidentally calling someone, or let your friends control your music without lurking through your Facebook or Photos app. Find out how it works…

Flappy Bird has been removed from the App Store

Sébastien Page ∙ February 9, 2014

As promised by Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen yesterday, he has removed the hugely popular game from the App Store, without giving any really convincing reason as to why.

Nguyen claims that he was fed up with the unwanted attention he was receiving after the unexpected success of Flappy Bird, a game that had been released months ago, but which only recently started getting traction...

Wallpapers of the week: starred night sky

Jim Gresham ∙ February 9, 2014

Another post arrives in the Wallpapers of the Week section, as the calendar turns to another Sunday. Last week, we posted Apple's newest teaser wallpaper which debuted in their Valentine's Day advertisement for iPad Air. As the wallpaper was pink, it seems our hyper masculine readership did not take very well to the selection.

Considering the small rebellion, today the wallpapers are photo images, which is a complete break from any Apple replicated gradient images. We try to monitor the sentiment of readers through the comment section. If you want to help direct the wallpapers, keep the comments coming, but we rely on positive comments too...

Vimeo updated with new gestures, improved AirDrop support and more

Cody Lee ∙ February 9, 2014

Vimeo users will notice that the video-sharing site pushed out an update for its iOS client this weekend, bringing the app to version 4.0.8. The update includes enhancements such as new gestures, deeper AirDrop integration and more.

As far as the new gestures go, you can now swipe left or right on a video thumbnail to share it, like it, or watch it later, or add it to your device. And with the improved AirDrop support, you can quickly share videos from device to device...

What an iPhone would have cost in 1991

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 19, 2018

As inexpensive and powerful as technology is today, it's easy to take it for granted. You can buy a smartphone today that could outperform desktop machines from 20 years ago, at a fraction of the size, for a fragment of the price.

To really put things in perspective, analyst Bret Swanson decided to do a rough calculation of what the iPhone would have cost to build in 1991. And to give you an idea of how pricey it gets, a 1GB HD cost around $10K back then...

Flappy Bird developer is pulling the game from App Store tomorrow

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

In a rather interesting turn of events, Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen has announced that the chart-topping game will be removed from the App Store in less than 22 hours. In a series of tweets made just minutes ago, Nguyen stated that this move is not due to legal issues, but rather because he "just cannot keep it anymore." Take a look for yourself…

How to password protect individual apps with iAppLock

Joe Rossignol ∙ February 8, 2014

While setting a passcode on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch can go a long way towards improving the security of your device, it is meaningless in situations where it is already unlocked and an invasive family member decides to read through your Messages history or tamper with your ongoing Candy Crush Saga game.

Fortunately, a myriad of jailbreak tweaks have been released over the years that password protect apps on iOS devices. iAppLock stands as one of the first candidates to be updated with support for iOS 7 or later, and it has some useful features. Read ahead for a complete rundown…