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.

iOS 9 Picture-in-Picture feature hacked to run Doom

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Developer Adam Bell has hacked together a demo of the popular first-person shooter game Doom running on an iPad in iOS 9's Picture-in-Picture mode. A video shows him opening apps and performing other functions on his iPad, while a demo of Doom runs in a smaller window.

Bell says that his iPad isn't jailbroken, and he's not using any kind of process injection. His method involves the use of public developer APIs, which means there's theoretically nothing stopping devs from implementing this in their apps, although it's unlikely Apple would approve it.

AT&T fined $100 million by FCC over unlimited data throttling

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

The US Federal Communications Commission announced plans on Wednesday to fine AT&T $100 million for unsuitable throttling practices. The Commission issued a press release on its website this morning proclaiming the decision, charging the carrier with violating the '2010 Open Internet Transparency Rule.'

The move comes as the result of an in-depth investigation, where the FCC found that AT&T—the second largest wireless provider in the US—had not adequately informed its customers with unlimited data plans that it would be dramatically slowing down their Internet access once they crossed a particular threshold.

Square Enix: ‘Final Fantasy VII’ coming to iOS this year

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Final Fantasy VII is coming to iOS this year, reports gaming publication IGN. The outlet was in attendance at Square Enix's E3 press conference earlier today when company executive Shinji Hashimoto announced a mobile port for the title is in the works.

Apple pulls Monster’s MFi license following Beats lawsuit

Cody Lee ∙ June 16, 2015

Apple has revoked Monster's MFi license in wake of its Beats lawsuit, reports The Wall Street Journal. Monster, the A/V company who manufactured headphones for Beats in its early days, filed a lawsuit against the company in January for duping it out of potential proceeds from the Apple acquisition.

Monster’s general counsel David Tognotti said Apple's move to pull its MFi license is in retribution for the suit, and that it can significantly disrupt their business—which still involves building premium headphones. “It shows a side of Apple that consumers don’t see very often,” he said. “Apple can be a bully.”

iOS 9 code hints larger ‘iPad Pro’ could have 2732×2048 display

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

The oft-rumored 12.9-inch 'iPad Pro' could feature a 2732x2048 display, according to evidence found in the first iOS 9 beta. Developers Hiraku Wang and Steve Troughton-Smith point to code in the beta that refers to a 1366x1024 device, which implies a true resolution of double that using @2x scaling.

That works out to a display area of roughly 12.93 inches and a PPI of 263, which lines up with previous reports. In January of last year, NPD DisplaySearch cited supply chain sources, saying that Apple had a tablet in development with a larger 12.9-inch display, a resolution of 2732x2048 and PPI of 265.

You can now watch Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote on YouTube

Cody Lee ∙ June 15, 2015

It's taken a week, but Apple has finally uploaded this year's WWDC keynote to YouTube. The replay has been available as an embedded video on Apple's website, but it required that you be on a device with QuickTime installed to watch it.

So folks who missed Apple’s WWDC keynote last week, or would just like to watch it again, things have just been made much easier. You can now view it within YouTube's desktop or mobile web app, or via the native mobile YouTube app.

Apple posts four new ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ videos

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Apple has added four new clips to the World Gallery films section of its "Shot on iPhone 6" microsite. The company launched the Shot on iPhone 6 campaign earlier this year, showcasing beautiful photos and videos taken with its latest smartphones.

The new videos are very similar to the previous ones, in that they are 15 seconds long and accompanied by an analogous soundtrack. They were captured by photographers from countries around the world, including the US, Australia and Norway.

Apple seeds OS X 10.10.4 beta 6 to developers, public testers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple on Monday seeded the sixth beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 software to both developers and public testers. The update, labeled build 14E36b, is available through the Update tab in the Mac App Store, and the Dev Center for all registered Mac developers.

OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid-April, and we have yet to see it bring about any significant user-facing changes or new features. It appears that the release will be more of a maintenance update, as Apple attempts to iron out remaining bugs and other known issues.

Developers hack Apple Watch to run native apps

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Developers Steve Troughton-Smith and Adam Bell, with the help of saurik, have managed to hack watchOS 2 to run fully-native apps. As noted by 9to5Mac, Troughton-Smith posted a video last night showing evidence of the feat.

The big deal here is that even though Apple says that support for native apps is coming in watchOS 2, developers are still going to be limited on what they can do. This hack, however, breaks those limitations, allowing the use of all accessible iOS UI frameworks.

Apple posts ‘Backstage’ video shown during WWDC keynote

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Apple posted a new video to its YouTube channel Thursday night called "Backstage." Those who watched Monday's WWDC keynote will recognize the comedy sketch, which aired at the beginning of the live stream before Tim Cook took the stage.

The four and a half minute video stars SNL alum Bill Hader as director David LeGary, who is attempting to produce an over-the-top opening number for WWDC. It features several celebrity cameos, and inside jokes about apps and Silicon Valley.

Apple leases large office space in Pittsburgh

Cody Lee ∙ June 11, 2015

Apple has leased a large office space in Oxford Development Company's 3 Crossings project in Pittsburgh, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times. The Cupertino firm is slated to take a floor and a half, or 26,000 square feet, when the building opens in the fall.

The deal is interesting because there's no word on what Apple plans to do with the space—it's clearly too big for retail, but also smaller than the company typically rents out for standard office stuff. In Sunnyvale, Ca, for example, it's leasing 290,000 square feet.

Twitter to remove 140 character limit in Direct Messages

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Twitter on Thursday announced that it will be removing the 140-character limit in Direct Messages. Starting in July, DMs will have a new limit of 10,000 characters, bringing it in line with other instant messaging services.

The move makes sense, given that the nature of a DM is typically more private and intimate than that of a Tweet, thus requiring more typing space. Twitter says the character limit for public-facing Tweets will remain at 140.