Year: 2014

LA school district approves $115M initiative to bring iPads to 38 campuses

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2014

The Los Angeles Board of Education has approved a plan to deploy Apple's iPad tablets to 38 campuses ahead of state tests in the spring, which is part of the school district's effort to equip additional classrooms with tablets and computers to "revolutionize instruction", The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The proposal is worth an estimated $115 million - enough to purchase between 40,000 and 70,000 tablets for deployment across 38 campuses, as well as a bunch of laptops for seven high schools...

Judge approves anti-poaching agreement suit against Apple, Google and others

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

A few years ago, if you were a Silicon Valley engineer in high demand, landing a job at Apple, Google, Intel or other technology titans likely meant your career was stalling as a result of these companies conspiring to fix wages by not hiring each others’ employees. A probe by the Justice Department into these 'no solicitation' agreements led to a class-action lawsuit.

And after a federal appeals court refused to let the defendants appeal a class certification order, the affected Silicon Valley software and hardware engineers, programmers, animators, digital artists, web developers and other technical professionals have won clearance to pursue the collusion case as group, Reuters reported Wednesday...

Apple agrees to refund users in FTC settlement over unwanted in-app purchases

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 16, 2022

Parents whose kids were tricked into obtaining virtual items in iPhone and iPad games by way of the iOS In-App Purchase mechanism will get refunded over unwanted spending, according to Apple's settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The penalty dwarfs Google's $22.5 million fine in the Safari website tracking scandal.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was not pleased with the outcome, but acknowledged in a letter to employees that the company "has entered into a consent decree" over long-standing complaints over inappropriate charges in the App Store, alluding his company may have exhausted its legal options and didn't want to risk an enduring legal battle with the government...

Substrate Safe Mode updated with iOS 7, ARM64 support

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2014

Good news this morning for jailbreakers. Following the release of the new Mobile Substrate for iOS 7, Saurik has updated Substrate Safe Mode to be more friendly with the newer firmware and newer A7 devices like the iPhone 5s and iPad Air.

For those unfamiliar with it, Safe Mode is what prevents your device from entering a permanent crash cycle by giving you a chance to uninstall problematic packages. And until now, it wasn't behaving nicely with the Mobile Substrate update...

Apple Maps 3D Flyover coverage expanded in Marseille, Cape Town and Helsinki

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2014

Apple has already boosted 3D Flyover coverage of its Maps service in the United States, France and a bunch of other key markets around the world and today the company has expanded three-dimensional Flyover views in France, South Africa and Finland.

Customers residing in the cities of Marseille (France), Cape Town (South Africa) and Helsinki (Finland) can now take advantage of 3D Flyover maps, which Apple creates by crunching data obtained by sending a fleet of planes that capture high-resolution terrain imagery at multiple angles...

Chrome for iOS updated with data compression, Google Translate

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Google announced an update for its mobile Chrome browser today, which will bring the app to version 32. The update brings about a handful of new features including data compression, Google's popular Translate feature and more.

The search giant says that the new data compression feature can reduce data usage by up to 50% while browsing the web on your device, using Chrome. And with Google Translate for iOS, you can translate full webpages on the go...

If Apple.com is up for flattening, please make it look like this

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2014

Milano, Italy-based user interface designer Sebastiano Guerriero has envisioned this great looking full-on Apple.com redesign which has left me speechless this morning.

I'm especially digging the uniformity, focus on large images with less text and single-colored buttons that much resemble the design language of iOS 7.

But what's really floored me is his awesomely flattened navigation bar at the top. I know Apple has removed some of the shine and depth to it over the years.

But - but - Guerriero's version is so much better! I'm not exaggerating, his mockup is an eye-candy and puts Apple's current website design to shame, hands down. But don't take my word for it, jump past the fold and have a look yourself...

Black Sabbath’s early albums finally selling on iTunes with limited exclusivity

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

iTunes has scored another interesting win as the English rock band Black Sabbath and its publisher have finally relented and agreed to make the band's 1970s albums available on iTunes.

Although Black Sabbath's later material was available on Apple's online content store, this is the first time their 1970s work came to iTunes, including Paranoid and Masters of Reality albums.

Apple was also able to secure limited exclusivity as iTunes will get to sell the band's first eight studio albums, along with three compilations, during a short window of time before the albums hit other streaming services...

Tim Cook goes on television to hype ‘watershed’ iPhone deal with China Mobile

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2014

Adamant to tell the world about his company's landmark iPhone deal with the world's top carrier, China Mobile, Apple CEO Tim Cook did a rare move Wednesday by sitting down with CNBC to talk the specifics of the agreement in a high-profile television appearance.

Even better, Cook shared the spotlight with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua, who revealed that the carrier had netted 1.2 million total preorders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c as of January 13, ahead of the impending launch this coming Friday. That's 60,000 iPhones per day on average since December 25, 2013.

Your video follows right after the jump...

Tim Cook ‘incredibly optimistic’ about China Mobile deal

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 22, 2017

Hot on the heels of a report claiming that Apple had shipped 1.4 million iPhone 5s units to China Mobile for its big launch this Friday comes word from the carrier's Chairman Xi Guohua that the total number of iPhone orders is in the 'multi-millions.'

After years of negotiations, Apple finally inked a deal with China Mobile last month and is set to begin offering iPhones through the provider this weekend for the first time ever. But according to Tim Cook, this is just the beginning of things to come...

The best Winterboard themes for iOS 7

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated March 19, 2018

The recent release of a Winterboard update with 64-bit compatibility marks a convenient time to reflect on some of the best themes for iOS 7 devices to date. It's important to keep in mind that a number of popular themes from iOS 6 have yet to be updated, although it is safe to assume that many designers will release new versions in the ensuing weeks and months. So, without further ado, take a look ahead for some of the best Winterboard themes for iOS 7 available on Cydia or elsewhere right now…

SwipeSelection Pro: one of the best jailbreak tweaks of all time just got better

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

SwipeSelection is one of those tweaks that everyone can benefit from, and for that reason, it's one of my top 5 jailbreak tweaks of all time. Seriously, I'm not using hyperbole here; SwipeSelection is incredible.

Everyone can benefit from SwipeSelection's extremely improved cursor management when compared to stock iOS. I apologize in advance to Kyle Howells, developer of SwipeSelection, but this is one of those tweaks that I wish Apple would straight-up steal; it's just that good.

Kyle has updated the original SwipeSelection for iOS 7, a free download on Cydia's BigBoss repo, but he has also blessed us with a new and improved Pro version, and he's rightfully charging $1.99 for the release. The Pro version includes cool new features like disable-in-app, swipe sensitivity, cursor speed, and more. Plus, it gives us all the opportunity to reward the developer for such an awesome and innovative jailbreak tweak.

We've put together a full video walkthrough of SwipeSelection Pro. Have a look inside to see it in action.