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 acquires education startup LearnSprout

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple has acquired education-technology startup LearnSprout, reports Bloomberg. The outlet has received confirmation of the buyout with the boilerplate statement, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Terms of the deal are not known at this time, but we do know that the San Francisco-based LearnSprout has raised more than $4 million from investors. The company specializes in education tracking and analytical software, which it has rolled out to more than 2,500 US schools.

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Facebook expanding Live Video feature to all iPhone users in the US

Cody Lee ∙ January 28, 2016

Facebook on Thursday announced that it would be expanding its live video broadcasting feature to all iPhone users in the United States. The company began testing the feature, aimed directly at Twitter's Periscope, in December, along with its photo collage update.

To share a live video, make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook mobile app and open up the Update Status sheet. You should see the Live Video icon sitting above the keyboard. Type a brief description and choose your audience before tapping it to go live.

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Apple planning to unveil iPad Air 3 at March event, report says

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple is planning to unveil a third generation model of its 9.7-inch iPad Air in March, reports 9to5Mac. The site's well-sourced Mark Gurman says that the tablet will likely make its debut at an event during the week of March 14, alongside the rumored 4-inch iPhone and new Apple Watch bands.

Gurman doesn't offer much in terms of what the new tablet will look like, though the consensus is the design will resemble the previous Air, or what kind of internals it will have. He does however say that Apple has been testing 9.7-inch panels that support the Pencil, which for now is iPad Pro-only.

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Microsoft launches ‘News Pro’ app for iOS

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Microsoft on Tuesday released a new app for iOS called News Pro. The company describes the app as "your work news brief," and says it will help you search for news around your work every day, and fuel your unique interests with over a million topics.

The app comes from Microsoft's experimental project group Microsoft Garage, and it looks pretty much like Flipboard and the slew of other news aggregating apps out there. You login using Facebook or LinkedIn, and pick which topics you want to follow.

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Tim Cook: virtual reality is really cool and has some interesting applications

Cody Lee ∙ January 26, 2016

During Apple's Q1 2016 earnings call on Tuesday, Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed the company's performance over the past 3 months. We've put together a nice little roundup of all the interesting stuff, but we thought this particular exchange was worth a separate post.

In the Q&A portion of the call, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster—who made a name for himself through his tireless predictions that Apple was building a TV set—asked Tim Cook what he thought about virtual reality. And in his first public comments on the topic, Cook answered.

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15 interesting points from Apple’s Q1 2016 earnings call

Cody Lee ∙ January 26, 2016

Apple announced the financial results for its fiscal first quarter of 2016 this afternoon, and the numbers are pretty solid. The company broke its own records on handset sales, moving 74.8 million iPhones, and revenue, garnering nearly $76 billion during the three-month holiday period.

We’ve just finished up the conference call, where Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed Apple’s performance over the three-month period, and offered up some insights into its future. And as usual, we’ve rounded up the 15 most interesting points from the call below.

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Tim Cook: Apple has surpassed 1 billion active devices worldwide

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

"Our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices," Tim Cook said in a statement for the company's Q1 2016 earnings press release. The news comes on the back of a record-breaking quarter, where Apple sold 74.8M iPhones and garnered nearly $76 billion in revenue during the 3-month holiday period.

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Apple’s Q1 2016 earnings: 74.8M iPhones, 16.1M iPads, $75.9B revenue

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple on Tuesday released its earnings report for the first [fiscal] quarter of 2016. As most of you know, this was the iPhone-maker's holiday quarter, where most consumer electronic companies—particularly Apple—tend to put up monster numbers. And of course Tim Cook and his team did not disappoint.

Once again, Apple has delivered a record-breaking first quarter. The company sold 74.8 million iPhones, up slightly from last year's 74.5 million, and increased its revenue by more than $1 billion. Not all of the numbers are impressive though, as Mac sales are slightly down and iPad sales continue to tumble.

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Apple planning to offer subscription content in News app, report says

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple is looking to add support for subscription content in its News app, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the outlet says the move will give publishers with paywalls a new way to control who sees their articles and track who is reading them.

Such a change would help differentiate the struggling Apple News with Facebook's Instant Articles, which does not currently offer subscriber-only content. It's unclear right now how Apple plans to authenticate subscribers, or if it's going to take a cut of in-app subscription fees.

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Microsoft’s incoming iOS keyboard to feature special one-handed mode

Cody Lee ∙ January 25, 2016

The Windows Phone keyboard Microsoft is bringing to iOS will feature a special one-handed mode, reports The Verge. Speaking with sources familiar with the company's plans, the site says that an early version of the keyboard is currently in internal beta, and it will soon be available to public testers.

One of the more interesting things the beta has revealed thus far is that the iOS version of Microsoft's Flow keyboard will feature a special one-handed mode. Yes, the Windows version also has a one-handed mode, but those who have tried the iPhone version say that there are a few noticeable differences.

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Samsung said to be porting several of its device companion apps to iOS

Cody Lee ∙ January 25, 2016

Samsung is preparing to port several of its applications to iOS, reports SamMobile. The site says it has received information from trusted insiders that the South Korean company plans to bring "most of its apps (if not all)" to Apple’s mobile platform.

Of course, Samsung already has a handful of apps in the App Store, and the tech giant confirmed at CES that it will be adding iPhone support for the Gear S2 later this year. But today's report says S Health, Gear Fit Manager and others are on the way.

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