Year: 2014

Epic and Kamcord partner on in-game iOS recording using Unreal Engine 3

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Epic Games, which publishes the elegiac masterpiece that is the Infinity Blade series, also licenses its industry-leading Unreal Engine to hundreds of games makers and developers. Today, Epic announced a new partnership with Y Combinator-funded startup Kamcord which makes a popular in-game recording technology.

The move integrates Kamcord's in-game recording platform with Unreal Engine 3, allowing iOS developers who license Unreal Engine to ship iPhone and iPad games with Kamcord's features for seamlessly recording and sharing gameplay videos...

‘Haunted Empire,’ a scathing book on post-Jobs Apple by former WSJ editor, coming March 18

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 24, 2017

Reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane had enjoyed unparalleled access to Apple in her five-year tenure at The Wall Street Journal, during which time she published numerous scoops like the 2009 story about Steve Jobs's secret liver transplant.

She recently penned a new book on Apple that's coming out on March 18. Titled 'Haunted Empire, Apple After Steve Jobs,' it offers a scathing look at post-Jobs Apple and, in the author's view, the gloomy prospect the company is facing under Tim Cook's leadership...

A list of devices and patents involved in upcoming Apple-Samsung trial

Cody Lee ∙ February 5, 2014

Ahead of their high-profile trial, scheduled to start in March, Apple and Samsung have submitted a list of all of the patents they are accusing each other of infringing, and applicable devices. Well this is a pared down list, trimmed by each side at Judge Koh's orders.

This is the second time the two will meet in Koh's northern California courtroom. The first time around, Samsung was found guilty of infringing on a few Apple patents and was forced to pay close to $1 billion in damages. This time, there may be even more at stake...

Steve Jobs said to have approached Sony about using OS X in VAIOs

Cody Lee ∙ February 5, 2014

As serious as Apple has always been about making all of its own hardware and software, it's hard to believe that OS X almost wound up on Sony VAIO PCs. But it's true, according to Japanese freelance writer Nobuyuki Hayashi.

It's even harder to believe that the effort was spearheaded by Steve Jobs himself, but it was. In a recent blog post, Hayashi recounts a time when Jobs and other Apple executives met with Sony and pitched them the OS X VAIO...

Apple restarting iPhone 4 production for India and other markets

Cody Lee ∙ February 4, 2014

Apple has reportedly resumed production of the discontinued iPhone 4, according to a new report. Citing sources familiar with the company's plans, The Economic Times is reporting that Apple hopes to sell the handset in places like India, Indonesia, and Brazil.

The Mac-maker is hoping that the device will help it recoup market share in these countries and other developing markets, where few carriers offer subsidies on their smartphones and prices of consumer electronics tend to run much higher than the global average...

‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ coming to iOS this spring

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Gameloft and Marvel announced the official tie-in game for the upcoming Captain America sequel this morning. It’s called ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier' and it will be arriving on iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms this spring.

We don’t know much about the game, outside of its title. But judging by this trailer Gameloft posted this afternoon, it's not going to be your typical hack-and-slash marketing vehicle, as it features Borderlands-style graphics and unique gameplay...

Microsoft buys $15 million stake in Foursquare

Cody Lee ∙ February 4, 2014

It's been a pretty big day for Microsoft. Following the news earlier today that Satya Nadella has been named the company's new CEO, and Bill Gates would be stepping down as chairman, comes word that the Windows maker has made a sizable investment in Foursquare.

The deal, which has been confirmed by both parties, is said to be worth $15 million, and it will give Microsoft access to Forsquare's mountain of mobile data. The company plans to utilize the data in its Bing mapping software and various other Windows Phone applications...

Apple reportedly poaches sleep and activity monitoring Philips expert for iWatch team

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

In another round of high-profile corporate hires, Apple has apparently poached a sleep research expert from the Dutch technology company Philips.

Specifically, Roy J.E.M Raymann used to lead sleep research at Philips Research, the company's research and development arm. Not anymore: it's now assumed he joined Apple's iWatch team.

According to a new report, this particular guy is experienced in wearables, sensors and non-pharmacological methods of improving sleep quality, an indication that Apple's rumored wearable project will be much, much more than a smartwatch...

Evernote for Mac gets natural-language searching

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 4, 2014

Evernote for Mac has expanded on its stock search capabilities by introducing natural-language processing for your queries.

Activated from Evernote’s search bar and dubbed Descriptive Search, the feature allows for descriptive searching across your images, notes, documents, attachments and other data.

With Descriptive Search, Evernote fans can now search their notes by place, file contents, date ranges and lots more. This feature is now live in the new Evernote 5.5, available free of charge in the Mac App Store.

The full reveal is after the jump...

More evasi0n7 exploits patched in iOS 7.1 beta 5

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Shortly after iOS 7.1 beta 4 was released, we learned that the update patched a key kernel exploit used in the evasi0n7 jailbreak. And today we've received word that beta 5, which was seeded to developers earlier this afternoon, patches 2 other exploits.

Developer and hacker iH8sn0w tweeted out a few moments ago that Apple has fixed the 'chown' vulnerability and 'afc sandbox escape' used by the evad3r's popular jailbreak utility in beta 5. So it looks like iOS 7.1 will indeed be the death of the iOS 7 JB...

Google Wallet updated with loyalty card scanning, notifications for local merchants

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 4, 2014

Released last September following the public launch of iOS 7, Google's Wallet for iPhone application has since seen one major refresh and a couple maintenance updates.

In December, for example, the app gained the ability to authorize users using Single Sign-On and add a credit or debit card to Wallet by taking a picture of the physical card using the iOS device camera.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could add loyalty cards by scanning? Now you can, thanks to a new Google Wallet version 2.0.13611 update, now available in the App Store...