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.

Super Mario clone returns to the App Store as ‘Pixel World!’

Earlier this year, a Super Mario clone named Super Bros! made its way into the App Store. Given the company's history of blocking and removing obvious Nintendo game ripoffs and emulators, it was surprising that such a game made it past the review team.

Eventually, though, someone at Apple caught on and Super Bros! was pulled from the App Store, but it didn't stay gone for long. The game returned today as "Pixel World!," with updated sounds and game assets that help tone down the whole "ripoff" vibe a bit.

Chevy’s first CarPlay-enabled vehicles heading to dealers

Chevrolet's first CarPlay-enabled vehicles have begun shipping from production facilities, reports TechCrunch. The automaker shared the above image of the cars rolling off the assembly line, and says that they are on their way to dealers and consumers.

The cars are of the 2016 Corvette Z06 variety, which features a staggering 650 horsepower and a base price of $80K. The Vette is the second CarPlay-enabled vehicle to become available for purchase, after the Ferrari FF, since it was introduced last year.

Apple denies claims that it’s threatening artists to force Apple Music deals

Apple denies claims made by some artists that it's threatening to remove their songs from iTunes if they don't sign up for Apple Music, reports Rolling Stone. A company spokesperson told the outlet that music "will not be taken off" as a result of license negotiations.

The controversy arose earlier this week when Anton Newcombe of psychedelic rock group Brian Jonestown Massacre took to Twitter to complain about Apple and its bullying tactics. "I said what if I say no, and they said we'll take your music off itunes. hard ball?"

Apple Music will not feature Taylor Swift’s hit album ‘1989’

Apple was unable to secure the streaming rights for Taylor Swift's '1989' album, BuzzFeed reports. The outlet says both Swift's label and Apple have confirmed the story, meaning the massively popular album won't be available on Apple Music at launch.

Apparently Apple Music will feature Swift's back catalogue, however, which includes 4 other highly sought-after records. But those can already be found on other subscription services such as Rdio and Tidal, so they won't serve as a differentiating feature.

Apple requested 4K video content from Sony Pictures in 2013

Apple requested 4K video content from Sony Pictures back in 2013, according to recently leaked documents. WikiLeaks on Thursday dumped another 200,000+ documents stemming from last year's staggering Sony hack, and so far at least one Apple-related story has been uncovered.

AppleInsider points to a materials access letter from Culver Digital Distribution, an entity associated with Sony Pictures, that serves as a formal agreement for "testing and/or preparing" 4K film and television content for non-exclusive distribution. And it has Eddy Cue's signature on it.

Oceanhorn, Badland and more discounted in ‘Amazing Fantasy Games’ sale

Gamers will be interested to know that a number of high profile iOS titles are currently on sale in the App Store. Apple is highlighting 16 games in a temporary 'Amazing Fantasy Games' section, which have all been discounted by at least 50% for a limited time.

The games include titles from the popular Final Fantasy franchise, the hit action-adventurer Oceanhorn, and the winner of multiple Apple design awards, BADLAND. There are also some lesser known titles, such as The Bard's Tale, Hero Emblems and more.

Catapult puzzler ‘Warhammer: Snotling Fling’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has just named “Warhammer: Snotling Fling” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the game for both iPhone and iPad for free—a significant savings of $4.

Snotling Fling is essentially an over-the-shoulder take on Angry Birds, set in the Warhammer universe. Players are tasked with slingshotting hapless goblins at enemy soldiers in an attempt to stop Gorbad Ironclaw and save the Realm.

Line launches new Emoji Keyboard app for iOS

LINE launched a new app for iOS today called 'Emoji Keyboard.' As the name suggests, it's a free keyboard app with over 3,000 new and unique Stickers & Emoji that will help you "experience a more exciting and lively chat with friends and loved ones."

For those who aren't familiar with LINE, it's an insanely popular Japanese messaging app. It has more than 500 million users, which are mostly in Asia, but it's hoping its Emoji Keyboard will help make inroads into the United States and other countries.

Samsung asks appeals court to reconsider infringement ruling

Samsung on Wednesday asked the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision to uphold a ruling that will cost it $400 million in damages for infringing on Apple's design patents, reports San Jose Mercury News. In a recent court filing, the company asks for a rehearing with a full 12-judge roster, rather than the 3-judge panel the court used last month.

In 2012, a jury ruled that several of Samsung's products infringed on Apple patents, and awarded the iPhone-maker $1 billion in damages. That number has been reduced down to $548 million in various post-trial proceedings, and Samsung is trying to eliminate another big chunk—some $400 million—by getting the verdicts regarding design patent infringement tossed out.

Unicode 8 includes new hot dog, unicorn and burrito emoji

On Wednesday, the Unicode Consortium released Unicode 8, the next major update to the Unicode Standard. The Standard defines things like special characters and emoji, which many manufacturers, including Apple, use in their software.

Unicode 8 introduces nearly 8,000 new characters, including letters to support new languages and six new scripts. Perhaps more interesting, to us anyway, is that it also includes 37 new emoji and 5 emoji modifiers for various skin colors.

Dark Sky gets huge 5.0 update with new layout, advanced notifications and more

Popular weather client Dark Sky received a significant update today, bringing the app to version 5.0.0. The release includes several improvements like a new layout, advanced notifications, and the ability to collect pressure sensor data from compatible devices.

As for the new layout, it now features a detailed hour-by-hour 24 hour timeline, and you can create custom alerts for that timeline for things like temperature, wind and more. There's also a new weather reporter, so users can provide feedback on their weather.