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.

In addition to Local, Google shutting down Shopper app next month

It looks like Google isn't done axing its iOS apps yet. In addition to pulling Google+ Local from the App Store next month, the search giant has announced today that it will also be shutting down its 'Shopper app' for iOS at the end of August.

For those unfamiliar with Google Shopper, the app acts as a portal to Google's web-based shopping service, which through curation helps people track down products and prices online, as well as in their local area. More details after the fold...

Apple seeds Apple TV 5.4 beta 3 to developers

Alongside iOS 7 beta 4, Apple has seeded beta 3 of Apple TV 5.4 software to developers this morning. The update isn't nearly as expansive as its iOS device counterpart, but it does bring about a number of improvements and bug fixes.

Interestingly enough, the new beta also appears to allow users running iOS 7 to setup their Apple TV with their iPhone or iPad after a full restore or resetting all settings (iPhone 4 and iPad 2 not supported). Release notes after the fold...

Gruber: there’s nothing punitive with Bob Mansfield’s role change

Yesterday, a jarring change was discovered on Apple's executive leadership page: the company's SVP of Technologies Bob Mansfield had been completely removed. Apple later confirmed the news, saying that Bob would no longer be on Apple's executive team.

And despite the fact that Apple said that he would stay on with the company to work on 'special projects,' the news was worrisome, as Mansfield has been crucial to Mac and iOS device success. But a new report claims there's "nothing punitive" about the role change...

Authenticity of leaked ‘iPhone 5C’ boxes questioned, but name said to be real

Over the weekend, some photos of packaging allegedly belonging to Apple's low-cost iPhone surfaced on the internet. Admittedly, the boxes looked fake, as there were a number of visible inconsistencies, but the 'iPhone 5C' branding on them was intriguing.

Today, our friends over Nowhereelse.fr confirmed our suspicions, highlighting a number of issues with the boxesm including odd blurred and distorted areas, and missing Apple logos. But as it turns out, the name 'iPhone 5C' might actually be legitimate...

Former Apple store employees file lawsuits over lost wages due to bag searches

Former employees at Apple stores in both New York and Los Angeles have filed a class action suit against the Cupertino company, claiming the iPad-maker owes them lost wages. The filing alleges that Apple forced them to stand in line for up to 30 minutes, without pay, every shift and wait for a manager to search their bags.

The lawsuit was filed by Amanda Frlekin, who was employed at Apple’s Century City location in Los Angeles, and Dean Pelle, who worked at Apple's prestigious Soho store in New York. Both worked as specialists until this spring, and are now looking to sue on behalf of thousands of Apple workers across the United States...

FindIt: a simple iPhone app for searching Gmail, Dropbox and more

Folks with Gmail, Dropbox and/or Google Drive accounts will be happy to hear that there is a new app available that allows you to search through them with a single tap. It's called FindIt, and it can locate emails and files for you on all three services.

Need to pull up an old email? No problem. Just type in the name of the person who sent it to you, or part of its subject line, and FindIt will track it down. And the same goes with media and other file types. Think Spotlight search for your cloud apps...

Apple to distribute free iBooks to employees ahead of Mavericks, iOS 7 Launch

Apple will begin providing its Apple Store employees with free iBooks titles next week as part of a new 'iBooks Discovery' program. According to a new report, the company announced the initiative at its quarterly retail meetings, which took place over the weekend.

The move is said to be part of an effort to get retail staffers more familiar with both the iBookstore and the iBooks app ahead of the arrival of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks this fall. Apple is reportedly looking to make a heavy retail push for both operating systems...

Apple investigating claims of ‘serious’ labor rights violations at Pegatron

New York-based China Labor Watch has accused Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron of 'serious' labor violations this morning. In a new report out today, the organization claims the device-maker is committing of 86 labor rights violations in three of its factories.

Among the infractions listed in the filing are the employment of underage workers, insufficient employee wages, and poor working conditions. In all, the watchdog group says that it found Pegatron to be guilty of 36 legal infringements and 50 ethical infringements...

HopStop adds real-time incident reporting and more in first update since Apple acquisition

Earlier this month, Apple confirmed that it had acquired yet another mapping software company. Its name is HopStop, and it's behind the highly popular smartphone app of the same name that provides subway schedules, maps, and a slew of other useful transit data.

And this weekend, the app gets even better with its first update since word got out about Apple's acquisition. The update brings the app to version 2.6, and includes a handful of new features and improvements such as real time delay and incident reporting, and more...

Huge collection of forgotten 80s Apple ads surface on YouTube

If you're looking for a way to kill your Sunday afternoon, you might try checking out the YouTube channel EveryAppleAds. The channel, as the name implies, hosts a massive collection of TV commercials for Apple products from the past few decades.

These guys have been steadily posting ads over the last several months. But just within the past week or so, they've started adding vintage Apple television spots from the 1980s that you've either forgotten about, or more likely, never knew existed...

Sketchy photos claim to show budget ‘iPhone 5C’ packaging

A new set of photos hit the web this morning, showing a number of boxes with the label 'iPhone 5C' on the side. Our first instinct is, of course, that these boxes belong to one of the many iPhone clones circulating about Asia. But on the off chance that there's more to it than that, we've posted them.

The images come courtesy of Nowhereelse.fr, who has posted accurate photos of leaked parts in the past, and their theory on them is actually quite interesting. The site suggests that it's possible that these plastic boxes are the packaging for Apple's rumored budget iPhone, expected to debut this fall...

Viber attack may have been more broad than initially thought [updated]

Internet companies beware, hackers are out in full force this month. In the past two weeks, we've seen Apple's Dev Center hacked, several Instagram accounts hacked, and the popular voice and messaging service Viber attacked.

Viber claims, though, that the damage it suffered from its breach was minimal, saying the attacker only gained access to two minor support systems. But a quick glance at its App Store description suggests that wasn't the case...