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.

Google acquires iPhone app-maker Fly Labs for its Photos team

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Fly Labs, the maker of popular photo and video editing apps for iOS, announced on Friday that it's been acquired by Google. The company's software library includes apps like Clips, Tempo, Crop, and Fly, which made Apple's 'Best of the App Store' list in 2014.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but we do know that the folks at Fly Labs will be joining the Google Photos team and plan on pulling their apps from the App Store in 3 months. As a peace offering, they have made all of their apps free with no IAPs until then.

Vine app updated with hearts and new ‘Similar Vines’ feature

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Twitter on Friday pushed out an update for its popular video-sharing Vine app, bringing the iPhone client to version 4.3. The update is a minor one, as the release notes only mention a few changes, but there are two new features worth mentioning.

The first is the addition of Hearts, which bring the app more in line with Twitter's other products. Like the social network did earlier this week, Vine has replaced its 'Favorites' (the smiley face) feature with a new, more meaningful heart-shaped icon.

Apple adds digital license plate engineer to Project Titan team

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Apple recently added digital license plate expert Rónán Ó Braonáin to its growing Project Titan team, reports Electrek.co. The site points to Braonáin's LinkedIn profile, which notes that he served as Director of Engineering at Reviver before becoming a "Secret Agent" working on special projects at Apple.

Before working at Reviver, a company that makes digital license plates, Braonáin wrote fleet management software to read data from electric vehicles for Vision Fleet. And prior to that, he worked at German auto manufacturer BMW as a software engineer on the team responsible for its connected car apps.

Apple said to be planning colossal 4.15 million square foot campus in San Jose

Cody Lee ∙ November 4, 2015

Apple is in talks with the city of San Jose over a potential development deal that would allow it to build a massive campus in northern San Jose, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal. According to city records, the company is asking for up to 4.15 million square feet of space—larger than both its current Infinite Loop campus and "spaceship" campus 2.

Facebook reportedly launching standalone news app next week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Facebook is preparing to launch a new standalone news app next week, according to The Financial Times. Citing sources familiar with the project, the outlet says that the app is going to be called Notify, and it is going to feature content from dozens of media partners including CBS and Vogue.

As reported by BusinessInsider in August, the app will look similar to Twitter, in that it will allow publications to blast short push notifications to “followers” when they have urgent news to share. If users want to read more about a headline, the can click a link that will take them to the full story.

Tweetbot 4.1 is out with support for Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

The folks at Tapbots on Tuesday issued an update for their popular Twitter client Tweetbot 4, bringing the iOS app to version 4.1. The update brings about a number of fixes for bugs including timeline jumping and in-app browser issues, as well as proper Apple Watch support.

With Tweetbot on Apple Watch, you can view your 'Activity' feed—which shows things like @ Tweets, Favorited (or liked) Tweets and new followers—and reply to those notifications. You can also Favorite Tweets, reply to Direct Messages and compose Tweets using voice dictation.

Belkin Charge Dock review: the best iPhone and Apple Watch dock available

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Shortly after Apple announced that it would allow manufacturers to include Apple Watch charging pads in their accessories, Belkin unveiled the Charge Dock. It's a charging dock with a built-in magnetic charger for the Watch and an adjustable Lightning connector for iPhone.

The Dock checks all of the necessary boxes: it looks sharp, is very well-made and it carries Made for iPhone and Apple Watch badges, meaning it's passed Apple's certification tests. And after using one for the past few weeks, I felt it was good enough to warrant an in-depth review.

Apple launches new app on iOS and Android for controlling its Beats Pill+ speaker

Cody Lee ∙ October 29, 2015

Apple on Thursday released a new application for Android and iOS called Beats Pill+. As the name suggests, the app allows device users to manage and control their Beats Pill+ Bluetooth speaker, which was announced earlier this month.

In the description, Apple says the Beats Pill+ app "puts you and your friends at the center of your music like never before." You can use it to easily pair your device with your Pill+ speaker, rename it for fast identification and much more.

Minimal puzzler ‘rop’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ October 29, 2015

Heads up gamers, Apple has just named MildMania's 'rop' its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you can pick up the popular puzzler for free for both iPhone and iPad, a $1 savings over its usual price.

For those who haven't played it, rop is described as a mind-bending, minimal puzzler with nearly 200 beautiful levels. In each of those levels, you must rearrange the different pieces of rope on a hexagonal grid to match the shape that you are given.

Apple posts hilarious new iPhone 6s ad with actor Bill Hader

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 3, 2016

Apple on Tuesday posted a new iPhone 6s commercial, highlighting the hands-free capabilities of the just-released smartphone. The ad stars Bill Hader, the long-time Saturday Night Live actor who appeared in Apple's "Backstage" video at WWDC this year.

The spot demonstrates how users can tap Siri to read and respond to emails using voice commands, with a bit involving the well-known "foreign prince wants to help you get rich" scam. As you can imagine, it's pretty entertaining. Watch the 30-second clip below.

US government renews jailbreak exemption, adds iPad and other devices

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

The US Library of Congress on Tuesday issued a set of exemptions to the notorious circumvention provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The provision makes it illegal for users to circumvent restrictions put in place by manufacturers, but every three years, the Copyright Office has the ability to grant exemptions to products and practices.

This year's exemptions are far-reaching, granting permission to tinker with everything from smart TVs to vehicles, but the part we're most interested in has to do with jailbreaking. The US government not only renewed the ability to jailbreak smartphones, but it added tablets into the mix. So for all intents and purposes, it's now legal to jailbreak your iPad.

15 interesting points from Apple’s Q4 2015 earnings call

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple announced its financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2015 this afternoon, and the numbers are pretty solid. The company sold 48M iPhones and earned $51.5B in revenue, handily beating numbers from last year but falling short of Wall Street's expectations.

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.