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.

Apple calls DoJ e-books settlement proposal ‘draconian’ and ‘punitive’

Earlier today, the Department of Justice filed new court documents, offering Apple a settlement for its e-book price fixing case. The iPad-maker was found guilty last month of conspiring with 5 major book publishers to raise e-book prices.

In the filing, the DoJ essentially asked that Apple completely restructure its e-book business model. And unsurprisingly, it filed its own brief this afternoon, calling the proposal a "draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business..."

New jailbreak tweak FaceHalt brings Samsung’s Smart Pause feature to iOS devices

Samsung's Galaxy S4, released back in the spring of this year, is loaded with a number of unique software features. And one of them that has been getting a lot of attention is Smart Pause, a mechanism that auto-pauses a movie when you look away.

While I myself have never lusted after such a feature, I can see how it would come in handy in a variety of situations. So I was happy to find out that you no longer have to buy a Samsung device to get it. You just need the new 'FaceHalt' jailbreak tweak...

Netflix launches ‘Profiles’ feature, will roll out to iOS devices over next few days

Netflix users should keep an eye on their iOS devices this weekend. The streaming service has officially launched its new Profiles feature, and says it will be rolling it out to iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs (and other devices) over the next few days.

The news comes after several users, who had been given access to Profiles early, reported that the feature was showing up in the Netflix app of their Apple TVs. Now it looks like everyone is going to be able to get in on the fun in the near future...

Verizon introduces new 500MB shareable data plan

The actions of major US wireless carriers are fairly easy to predict—particularly with AT&T and Verizon. If one does something, you can bet the other is going to follow suit, and vice versa. Just recently it happened with the device upgrade plans, and now this.

Hot on the heels of AT&T announcing its new 300MB share plan, Verizon has introduced a similar option for its customers. Starting this month, Big Red subscribers will be able to snag a new 500MB shared data plan for their smartphone, for $40 per month...

Leap Wireless says it won’t have to purchase unsold iPhones following strong sales

Leap Wireless held its quarterly earnings call yesterday. And aside from losing some 360,000 subscribers to 'increased competition,' and droopy revenues, its numbers actually look pretty good. Smartphone sales are up, ARPU is up, and churn is down.

But the number that really interests us is that the company's iPhone sales were up during the quarter. In fact, Leap's CFO Perley McBride said during the call that the carrier won't have to purchase $100 million in unsold iPhones as it originally thought...

Apple only considering outside candidates for new SVP of Retail

During its major executive shakeup last fall, Apple announced that its newly-hired SVP of Retail John Browett would be leaving the company. The move wasn't surprising, as Browett had come under heavy fire from the media following drastic retail strategy changes.

What is surprising, though, is that here we are, almost a year later, and Apple hasn't filled the job yet. But a new report from The Wall Street Journal this afternoon helps shine some light on the situation, saying the company just simply hasn't found the right fit yet...

Best Buy offering free Apple TV with purchase of 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro

If you happen to be in the market for a new Mac laptop, you may want to check out your local Best Buy. Not only has the retailer knocked $200 off the prices of its Retina MacBook Pros, but it's also now offering a free Apple TV with purchase.

The promotion is good for all 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro purchases, and includes a free third-generation Apple TV at checkout—no mail-in rebates or anything. And between that and the aforementioned discount, that's a savings of at least $300...

Motorola introduces the customizable Moto X

As expected, Motorola unveiled its new Moto X handset today at an intimate event in New York City. Though Motorola has unveiled a few new devices since it was purchased by Google last year, this is said to be the first true product of their collaboration.

Initial feedback on the phone has been positive. In line with previous leaks, the X has a 4.7-inch display, a number of customizable hardware options and some unique software features. But will it be enough to make a dent in the crowded smartphone market?

Pebble smartwatch gets email notifications courtesy of app update

Good news for Pebble owners this afternoon. The company just posted an update for the smartwatch's companion iPhone app that adds support for incoming email push notifications, meaning you can get alerts on your Pebble watch when new emails arrive.

The app has to be running in the background of your iPhone for it to work, and it's only compatible with Gmail and other IMAP email services. But the feature should get substantially more functionality when iOS 7 is released, as it has better accessory support...

Apple’s stock had a nice little July, but why?

At the time of this writing, Apple's stock is hovering around $456 per share. While that's still painfully lower than its peak of $702 back in September of last year, it's a major improvement over the $398 per share low it hit last month. So what happened?

The truth is, APPL had a nice little July. After starting the month at $405, the stock spiked around the 23rd—the day it announced its 'disappointing' Q3 earnings—and has been on the rise since. But why? Are investors gaining confidence in Apple again?

planetbeing wins Pwnie award for ‘privilege escalation’ used in evasi0n jailbreak

If you've followed the jailbreak scene for any extended amount of time, you know that it takes a person with high-level skills to exploit iOS. There's only a handful of people in the world that can do it, and let's just say they're very, very talented.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that planetbeing—one of the 4 members of the evad3rs—was recognized at this year's Black Hat hacking convention. He took home the Pwnie for privilege escalation, which was used in the evasi0n jailbreak...

iOS 7 includes fix for malicious charger exploit

Back in June, a group of researches discovered a flaw in iOS that would theoretically allow an iOS device to be hacked  using a malicious USB charger. Their proof-of-concept allowed them to invisibly install malware on non-jailbroken iPhones and iPads.

The results of the experiment were called 'alarming,' and brought to the attention of Apple in hopes for a quick fix. The Cupertino company must have gotten the message, because according to a new report, the exploit has been patched in the latest iOS 7 beta...