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.

Facebook said to be developing Twitter-like app for breaking news

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Facebook is working on a standalone mobile news applications, Business Insider reported on Tuesday. The site says the app looks similar to Twitter, in that it will allow publications to blast short, 100 character push notifications to their "followers" when they have urgent news to share.

"Business Insider has reviewed screenshots of the new product and spoken to a source who has been playing around with the Facebook for Business platform." The outlet believes the app is part of Facebook for Business, but different than the Facebook at Work initiative we saw last year.

Apple expected to debut new iPhones, iPads and Apple TV on September 9

Cody Lee ∙ August 7, 2015

Apple is planning an event for Wednesday, September 9 to announce new products, according to BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski. The well-connected reporter is hearing that the company will use the stage to unveil new iPhones, iPads and Apple TV.

In line with previous rumors, Paczkowski says the new iPhones—which the press has been referring to as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus—will feature pressure-sensitive Force Touch displays, improved camera systems and significantly faster processors.

Apple merges product and store pages in major site redesign

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple on Thursday launched a new version of its website, Apple.com, featuring merged product and store pages. The standalone 'Store' tab has been removed from the top navigation bar, as is the infamous 'store.apple.com' domain.

Now, the online store is integrated throughout the website, with purchasing buttons and options pinned at the top of every product page. The goal here is to streamline the experience, allowing you to explore and shop in one place.

3D photo editor Matter goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 6, 2015

Apple has just named Pixite's "Matter" its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the impressive 3D photo editor for free on both iPhone and iPad—a solid savings of $1.99.

For those unfamiliar with Matter, it allows users to add realistic 3D objects to their photos, and customize them using a variety of effects. Sharing is quick and easy, and the app comes with a number of sample backgrounds for you to play with.

Jimmy Iovine talks Apple Music, Taylor Swift and more in new interview

Cody Lee ∙ Updated September 6, 2017

Newly-acquired Apple executive Jimmy Iovine sat down with Evening Standard's Jimi Famurewa to talk about Apple Music this week. As you'd imagine, the former record label chairman-turned-Beats-co-founder has a lot to say about Apple's new streaming service.

Perhaps one of the most interesting tidbits from the interview have to do with Taylor Swift's infamous open letter to Apple. Iovine says that he woke up to the letter early that Sunday morning and immediately hopped on the phone to try and get the issue sorted out.

HBO NOW updated with support for Google’s Chromecast

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

HBO pushed out an update for its NOW mobile app this morning, brining the iOS client to version 1.2. According to the change log, the release includes performance improvements, and support for push notifications and Chromecast devices.

That latter item is by far the most significant, given that HBO's streaming service has been exclusive to Apple TV since it launched in April. Now, those with Google's $30 HDMI dongle can enjoy HBO NOW content on their big screen TVs.

Apple releases watchOS 2 beta 5 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ August 6, 2015

In addition to iOS 9, Apple on Thursday released the fifth beta of watchOS 2 to developers. The update can be downloaded and installed over-the-air using the Apple Watch app, but be careful because it requires your iPhone be on a recent iOS 9 beta and it's very difficult to downgrade.

Today's beta 5 comes a little over two weeks after beta 4, which activated Apple Pay and fixed issues with Apple ID in the Messages app and the Activity complication. It also arrives roughly two months after Apple first unveiled watchOS 2 during its June developer conference keynote.

Apple seeds iOS 9 beta 5 to developers, beta 3 to public testers: here’s what’s new

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple on Thursday seeded the fifth beta of iOS 9 to developers. The update is available to registered developers as an over-the-air download via the Settings app for those on beta 4, or as a standalone download from Apple's developer portal.

Today's release comes more than two weeks after Apple released the fourth beta to developers, which brought about redesigned Settings icons and other changes, and two months after it first unveiled the software during its WWDC keynote.

Adidas buys fitness app maker Runtastic for $239 million

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Runtastic has been acquired by sportswear giant Adidas, the company's CEO and co-founder Florian Gschwandtner announced in a blog post on Wednesday. The deal is said to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 million euros (or $239 million).

For those unfamiliar with Runtastic, it develops and maintains a number of fitness apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. It has also dabbled in hardware with a GPS watch, a heart rate monitor, and the recently-released Orbit fitness tracker.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.5 beta 3 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ August 5, 2015

Apple on Thursday seeded the third beta of OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 to developers. The software, labeled build 14F25a, is available to all registered Mac developers in the Updates section of the Mac App Store, or as a standalone download from Apple’s dev portal.

Beta 3 of 10.10.5 comes just one week after the second developer beta, suggesting that the software is nearly ready for a public release. The most recent OS X update, 10.10.4, arrived at the end of June with Wi-Fi fixes, and improvements to Mail and Photos apps.

Facebook launches live video streaming for celebrities

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 31, 2018

Facebook on Wednesday announced a new video streaming feature for its Facebook Mentions app called Live. The feature allows Mentions users, which is currently limited to "verified public figures using Pages," to quickly and easily share live video.

With Live, Facebook's Vadim Lavrusik explains, celebrities can take fans behind the scenes, host Q&As, share announcements and more. And the social network says that The Rock, singer Luke Bryan and many others have already signed on to participate.

Apple’s streaming music deals include permissions for additional Beats stations

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Beats 1 may not be the only live radio station on Apple Music for long, reports The Verge. Citing sources with knowledge of the agreement, the outlet says that Apple's current music licensing contracts include permissions for up to five additional Beats radio stations.

"As part of the deal it struck with the major labels for Apple Music Radio," says The Verge's Micah Singleton, "Apple has licenses for up to five additional stations like Beats 1." So it could essentially create a lineup of 6 radio stations without needing to renegotiate.