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.

Plex update adds free Chromecast support, automatic photo uploads and more

Cody Lee ∙ March 13, 2014

Good news for Plex users this afternoon. The popular streaming media platform has updated its iOS client, bringing the app to version 3.4. The update brings about a number of changes, including free Chromecast support, as well as support for play queues & shuffle support.

While the Plex app previously supported Google's Chromecast digital media player, the feature required a [paid] Plex Pass subscription. But now, it's available to everyone for free, allowing all users to stream videos, photos and music from their iOS devices to their television sets...

T-Mobile plans to have most of its 2G network upgraded to LTE by mid-2015

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

T-Mobile announced today that it has plans to upgrade its entire 2G/EDGE network to 4G LTE. The carrier, which is the fourth largest in the US, says it hopes to be halfway complete with the upgrade by the end of 2014 and expects to be substantially complete by the middle of next year.

The promise to quickly bring its network up to speed with its competitors should help appease customers, who complain of lower speeds in rural and suburban areas. While T-Mobile currently has LTE in many major US cities, a lot of its coverage map is still made up of EDGE and HSPA...

Google cuts prices for Drive storage, putting pressure on Dropbox and others

Cody Lee ∙ March 13, 2014

Google announced some drastic price cuts for its Drive cloud storage today, dropping its 100GB plan down to just $1.99 per month. The service now significantly undercuts rivals like Dropbox, which charges $10 per month for 100GB, and iCloud, which doesn't even offer a 100GB option.

To be fair, Google's Drive pricing was already lower than Dropbox, with a 100GB plan costing $4.99 per month vs. $9.99. But that extra $3 per-month savings equates out to $36 per year, making it even more attractive. Don't mind paying $9.99 monthly? Drive now offers 1TB at that price...

Fox and TinyCo reveal first images of upcoming ‘Family Guy’ game

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Back in December, Fox and San Francisco-based mobile gaming studio TinyCo announced that they were partnering up to build a Family Guy game. They didn't offer up many details about the title, but they did say that it would launch sometime in 2014.

Today, we get to see our first screenshots of the game, and we have to say it looks exactly like we imagined it. In the image above you can see Peter doing his popular injured leg gag, and Chris, Quagmire and Mort all fighting outside of the Drunken Clam...

SoftBank CEO tells how he landed the iPhone in 2008

Cody Lee ∙ March 13, 2014

During a television interview with Charlie Rose that aired this week, SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son told an interesting story of how he landed the iPhone in 2008. Apparently Son met with Steve Jobs two years before Apple launched the infamous handset to discuss...smartphones.

Son told Rose that he arranged a meeting with Jobs solely to show him a crude sketch of an iPod with mobile capabilities. Obviously, since the iPhone project was already well underway, Jobs didn't need the drawing, but the meeting still spawned a relationship between the two...

Microsoft launches new iOS app for Windows Azure Active Directory users

Cody Lee ∙ March 13, 2014

Microsoft has launched a new iOS app for Windows Azure Active Directory users this week. The app is compatible with both the iPhone and the iPad, and it provides instant sign-in to dozens of cloud applications using a single Windows Azure account.

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft's Azure Active Directory service, it's described as a 'comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution.' But the feature that the iOS app focuses on is single sign-on access to various web apps and services...

United Airlines to launch free inflight movie service for iOS devices next month

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

United Airlines is looking to introduce a new inflight movie service for iOS users next month, according to a new report. The service will allow iPhone and iPad owners to watch over 150 movies and 200 TV shows on their devices for free.

Users will have full control of the content, meaning they can stop, pause, rewind and switch between videos. And it sounds like all you'll need to access the service is the United Airlines app—no purchase of an in-flight Wi-Fi plan required...

Hidden AirPlay feature discovered in Apple TV 6.1

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2014

Apple released version 6.1 of its Apple TV software alongside iOS 7.1 on Monday. The update seemingly included little in the way of changes, outside of a new option that allows you to hide channel icons from the main menu.

But apparently there's a hidden feature in the new firmware that hasn't been talked about much, and it's actually a fairly big deal. According to a new report, ATV 6.1 enables you to discover AirPlay connections via Bluetooth...

Eddy Cue talks iTunes Festival in SXSW interview

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Apple's iTunes Festival kicked off last night at the Moody Theater in Austin, TX. The 5-day concert is the company's first in the United States, and is headlining South by Southwest—a set of film, tech and music festivals—this week.

As we noted this morning, Apple's SVP of Internet software and services Eddy Cue was on hand for last night's show, and reporter Jim Dalrymple was able to sit down with him. The two talked about iTunes Festival, SXSW and more...

FiftyThree’s Paper updated with new iOS 7 design, improved zoom and more

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2014

FiftyThree announced a significant update for its popular Paper for iPad drawing app this afternoon, bringing the app to version 1.6.1. The update brings about an iOS 7-inspired redesign with new fonts, buttons and toggles, as well as a handful of other improvements.

Among those improvements are more powerful zoom and ink—when you zoom in on your artwork, your tools do too, giving you finer control over the smaller areas—and better dot control. Now, the dot size in your Draw and Erase tools is linked to how long you press...

MLB Advanced Media teases upcoming RBI Baseball reboot

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2014

Earlier this year, the MLB and its in-house development studio MLB Advanced Media announced that they would be teaming up to revive the classic RBI Baseball franchise. The game series, which first debuted on the NES in 1986, hasn't seen a new addition in nearly 20 years.

But that's set to change soon with RBI Baseball 14 for mobile devices and consoles. And judging by the comments made by MLBAM's VP of games Jamie Leece today, it's going to feature the same fast-paced gameplay and simple controls that users loved about the original title...

Rovio says upcoming ‘Angry Birds Epic’ game is a turn-based RPG

Cody Lee ∙ March 12, 2014

Over the weekend, Rovio posted a teaser trailer for an unknown, upcoming Angry Birds title. The clip was short, and offered up few details about the game outside of showing a bird wearing knight's armor and announcing countries that would participate in the soft launch.

Well today, the studio revealed that the game is going to be called Angry Birds Epic and it's not going to be the typical bird-flinger. In fact, far from it. The new title will actually fall into the 'adventure role-playing' genre, with a turn-based combat system and extensive crafting...