Cody Lee

Cody Lee, iDownloadBlog.com’s longest-serving Editor, joined the site in 2008. He specializes in uncovering the best deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories. With years of experience in technology journalism, Cody helps readers save money while staying informed about the latest trends and updates in the Apple ecosystem. Cody’s history with smartphones goes almost as far back as he does. As the son of a Nokia employee, he was exposed early on to handsets like the N91 and the Communicator. He has since been involved in nearly every aspect of the mobile phone industry. While going to college, he worked at a Nokia factory, building handsets, and later moved on to a sales position at a major wireless carrier.

Apple investing $1 billion in SoftBank Vision Fund

Cody Lee ∙ January 4, 2017

Apple is investing in SoftBank Group's new technology fund, reports The Wall Street Journal. The company confirmed its plans with the outlet to invest $1 billion in the SoftBank Vision Fund to help finance new technologies that it could use in the future.

“We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told The Journal. She also noted that Apple has been working with SoftBank for several years.

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DJI introduces new Osmo accessories for iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ January 4, 2017

Leading drone manufacturer DJI late Tuesday introduced two new Osmo accessories for iPhone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: the Osmo Mobile Silver and the Osmo Zenmuse M1. The former is a silver edition of DJI's already popular gimbal stabilizer, and the latter is a smartphone mount for the original Osmo stabilizer.

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Latest New Yorker cover illustrated using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

The latest cover of the popular New Yorker magazine was drawn on an iPad. The artist, Jorge Colombo, used an iPad Pro, an Apple Pencil stylus and the app Procreate to sketch the image for the New Yorker's cover story "Waterways."

Colombo says that he likes to work at the local café, library, or the Staten Island ferry. "The ferry is a great place to work: there’s the smell of the water, and late at night there aren’t many people. It’s like being in a grand hotel lobby."

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Kevin Hart stars in hilarious new Apple Watch Nike+ ads

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

Nike on Tuesday posted 7 new videos promoting the Apple Watch Nike+ featuring celebrity Kevin Hart. Hart was issued the first Nike+ Apple Watch back in October of last year, and the ads offer a look at what he has been up to since.

As you'd expect with Hart, the videos are pretty funny, portraying the comedian on an introspective 700+ mile run into the desert. Throughout the clips he can be seen running in Nike gear, and showing off various Apple Watch features.

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Apple posts new ‘Best of 2016’ video

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

Apple has shared a new video on its YouTube channel entitled 'Best of 2016.' As the name implies, the 53-second clip is a recap of some of Apple's favorite music, apps, movies and games from last year.

Set to an upbeat soundtrack, the video features several picks from Apple's Best of iTunes lists it released last month. including Drake's song Hotline Bling, the movie Deadpool and the photo app Prisma.

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Intel announces Kaby Lake processors for Macs and more

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

Intel on Tuesday officially announced its full 7th generation Intel Core processor line, known by many as Kaby Lake, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There are over 40 new performance-class processors in the family, which are based on Intel's 14nm+ process technology, that offer more speed, productivity and security than previous generations.

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AirBar gives your MacBook Air a touchscreen display

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

You'll soon be able to give your MacBook Air a touchscreen display, courtesy of AirBar. Neonode on Tuesday unveiled a Mac version of its laptop dongle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that will allow you to navigate macOS via touch.

The AirBar magnetically attaches to the bottom of your 13.3-inch MacBook Air display and connects via USB. It uses Neonode's patented zForce AIR technology to emit an invisible light field that can sense touches from fingers, gloves, and even a paintbrush.

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Report: new Apple Watch coming this fall with better battery, similar design

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 5, 2017

Apple plans to introduce a next-generation Apple Watch in the third quarter of this year, reports Economic Daily News. Citing market watchers, the Chinese outlet says the new wearable will feature better performance and longer battery life.

The Watch is expected to be manufactured by Quanta Computer, who was responsible for building the first and second-gen models, and their focus will be improving the battery. The hardware will not likely see much change, the report added.

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Rumor: Apple seeding first iOS 10.3 beta on January 10 with new ‘Theatre’ mode

Cody Lee ∙ January 2, 2017

Apple is going to begin seeding iOS 10.3 betas next week, reports Sonny Dickson. The noted tipster tweeted out over the weekend that iOS 10.3 beta 1 is currently scheduled to be released to developers on January 10 with an all-new 'Theatre' mode.

Dickson doesn't go into detail on exactly what 'Theatre' mode is, but does say that it will feature a popcorn-shaped icon in Control Center. It's possible this is a stealth mode of sorts, with either a dimmed display or dark UI assets for less distraction.

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Beautiful iPhone 7 photos show New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world

Cody Lee ∙ January 2, 2017

New Year's Eve may be over, but Apple invites you to relive the festivities with these beautiful iPhone 7 photos. According to CNN, the Cupertino company partnered with 15 photographers to highlight NYE celebrations from around the world using iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices.

In the above photo, taken by noted writer and iPhone photographer Samah El Ali, you can see fireworks going off above the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Australia. And below, photographer John Lehmann's image captures the party scene in Vancouver.

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Picky, Dashpop, Timebomb Messenger, and other apps to check out this weekend

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Happy holidays everyone! It's been kind of a slow week in terms of news and app releases, but don't worry, we were still able to put together a solid list of apps and games for you to check out this weekend. The roundup includes an app that uses AI to pick out your best photos, a new todo list app with a fun twist, and a messaging client that lets you decide when your messages can be opened.

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