Year: 2016

10 great gift ideas for a smarter home

Welcome to the latest edition of iDB’s ongoing Gift Ideas series, where we provide curated roundups of some of our favorite products. Throughout the year we cover and test a number of devices and accessories, so we decided to use that experience to help those searching for the perfect present. Today’s roundup is focused on gift ideas that help make homes smarter.

iOS 10.1.1 jailbreak could be released in the near future

Hot on the heels of this week's announcements about upcoming iOS 8.4.1 and iOS 9.3.x jailbreaks, there have been stirrings today which suggest we may also see our first iOS 10 jailbreak soon. It must be noted that these are at present just statements of intent rather than concrete, but that being said, they are more encouraging than most that we have seen lately, and in my tentative opinion will result in something being released sooner rather than later.

How to bypass jailbreak detection in Super Mario Run

The highly anticipated Super Mario Run platformer game from Nintendo launched on the App Store Thursday afternoon, but anyone who has a jailbroken device is in for a surprise when they try to play, as it appears Nintendo built jailbreak detection into the game.

This is particularly common among a number of hit games from the App Store, including Pokémon GO, and causes the app in question to do nothing but crash whenever you attempt to launch it, but there is a way around it if you still want to play Super Mario Run on your jailbroken iOS devices, and we’ll show you how.

Jailbreaking news update: unexpected developments for iOS 8.4.1 and iOS 9.x

Whilst most are no doubt still eagerly awaiting a jailbreak for the just-released iOS 10.2, there are those who still have devices on various flavours of iOS 9 and older, who have fallen through the cracks of the most recent Pangu releases. For them, this week brought some hope, with two separate announcements of upcoming jailbreaking tools, in addition to the release of a browser-based tool from Luca Todesco. This round-up will cover the various pieces of jailbreak release news that came to light over the past few days.

Apple will charge you $69 to replace a lost AirPod

Apple will charge you $69 to replace a lost or broken AirPod, according to the company's iPhone Service Pricing support page. The wireless earbuds went on sale online earlier this week, and will be available in Apple Stores starting Monday.

It doesn't look like Apple will be offering its extended AppleCare warranty on the AirPods, so it has laid out a simple pricing table for what repairs and replacements will cost. Battery service, for example is $49 in the 1-year warranty, $69 out.

AirPods will be available in Apple Stores Monday

Apple will start selling AirPods in its retail stores on Monday, reports MacRumors. Citing a retail source familiar with the matter, the outlet says the company has begun informing its stores about the imminent launch and has even started shipping inventory.

The news follows the launch of AirPods online sales earlier this week, where shipping estimates quickly slipped beyond 4 weeks due to short supply. So for those hoping to score a pair of the wireless earbuds before Christmas, in-store is really your best bet.

26 Super Mario Run moves to help you go further in the game

Super Mario Run just launched on the App Store, and as you can imagine, there has been a lot of energy from Apple and Nintendo fans around the world.

Being made for a smartphone rather than a handheld gaming unit as these kinds of games are usually made for, the game mechanics for Super Mario Run are a little different from your average Super Mario game.

In this post we'll be outlining the many different moves you can perform in Super Mario Run and explain what they do.

Instagram passes 600 million users

Aping Snapchat seems to have paid off in a major way for photo-sharing service Instagram as it announced passing a whopping 600 million users earlier today. The last hundred million Instagrammers joined the service in the past six months, said the Facebook-owned company.

Instagram infamously ripped off Snapchat Stories with its own Stories feature, which debuted in early-August.

You can now play Lara Croft GO, Hitman GO and Deus Ex GO on your Apple TV

Good news for those of you who still play Asphalt 8 on your big screen TV just because it's one of the best-looking titles available on the fourth-generation Apple TV: developer Square Enix just updated its award-winning GO titles—Lara Croft GO, Hitman GO and Deus Ex GO—with tvOS compatibility.

Already bought these games on iPhone and iPad? Get them on Apple TV at no additional charge via tvOS App Store's Not on This Apple TV section!

Apple posts two new ”Go” ads for Apple Watch Series 2

“Go” concept of latest Apple Watch ads has worked out well for Apple because the company just posted a pair of new commercials for Apple Watch Series 2 on its YouTube channel. Titled “Go Ride” and “Go Surf,” the 30-second videos highlight water resistance and position the wrist-worn device as the perfect companion for cyclists and surfers. Check them out and let us know how you liked them.

Video: how Mario games have evolved over the years

With Super Mario Run now live on the App Store following its announcement at the iPhone 7 event back in September, both Apple and Nintendo are now promoting the game like crazy. Early reviews indicate that Super Mario Run has all the hallmarks of the Mario franchise even though the game is optimized for one-handed gameplay so Mario constantly moves forward through the courses. Celebrating Mario's App Store debut, Nintendo has put together a little video showing how the game has evolved over the years.

iOS 10.2.1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.3 now available to public beta testers

After seeding iOS 10.2.1 beta 1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.3 beta 1 to members of the Apple Developer Program yesterday, Apple today released versions of these software updates for public beta-testing. If you sign up at the Apple Beta Software Program website to become a beta tester and install an appropriate configuration profile on your device, you too will be able to install the first beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.3 on your Mac and take iOS 10.2.1 for a spin on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.