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.

Smugglers caught sneaking iPhones into China in glass beer bottles

M.I.C gadget passes along an interesting story regarding a recent smuggling bust that took place at the Sha Tau Kok border in Southern China. Chinese officials seized hundreds of iPhones from a woman traveling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

The craziest part of this story is how the handsets were being transported. The Customs agents found the iPhones hidden inside 25 ounce solid glass beer bottles. How'd the smugglers manage to pull this off? Watch this video...

645 Pro lets you take better photos with your iPhone

If iPhone apps like Instagram and Camera+ aren't producing photos up to your standards, there's a new title that might be worth checking out. 645 PRO, by Michael Hardaker, describes itself as "the photography professional's iPhone camera."

Loaded with tons of high-end features like a real-time ISO and shutter speed reader, and a live histogram, the app promises unparalleled image quality. It even claims to produce "developed RAW" TIFF files and "lossless" JPEG images...

Request anyone’s location, regardless of device, with Space-time for iOS

TheNextWeb points to an interesting new application called Space-time. The software allows you to see the location of almost anyone, regardless of their device, as long as they have a smartphone with a GPS locator.

Of course, the iPhone already has a friend-tracking solution in Find My Friends. But it only works if you are trying to locate a person using an iOS device with the app installed. Space-time is much more universal...

Midway adds iCade support to its Arcade app

Do you have an iCade? Do you like playing old arcade games like Spy Hunter or Rampage? Well if you answered yes to both of those questions, we've got some good news for you. Midway has just updated its Arcade app with iCade support.

For those that aren't familiar with the iCade, it's ThinkGeek's miniature arcade cabinet that allows you to play iPad games. The list of iCade-compatible games is rapidly growing, and now includes Midway Arcade with the following titles...

Rumor: Apple could use in-cell touch panels for thinner, lighter future iPhones

DigiTimes is out with a new report today claiming that it has learned that Apple is looking to adopt in-cell touch panels for future iPhones — possibly even this year's model. As usual, the information in the report is attributed to supply chain chatter.

Why is this a big deal? Well, if it's true, it could make future iPhones significantly thinner. Unlike on-cell panels, which Apple uses in its current handsets, in-cell panels combine touch sensors and color filters into one layer, making the touch panel much thinner...

As it turns out, Tim Cook didn’t visit Valve’s headquarters

Last week, a report made its way around the blogosphere claiming that Apple's CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve's headquarters. This sparked all kinds of speculation regarding the nature of Cook's visit, and the company's future plans in the gaming space.

But alas, the story has been proven to be false. Valve head Gabe Newell debunked the rumor himself during an interview on the weekly Seven Day Cooldown podcast yesterday. And apparently, tech sites weren't the only ones fooled by the report...

Inside JailbreakCon’s massive 13,500 square foot venue

As most of you know, JailbreakCon, the world's largest jailbreak conference, will be taking place in the USA later this year. Hackers, developers and enthusiasts will all gather in San Francisco on September 29th to talk about, what else, jailbreaking.

And for those of you that are under the impression that this is going to be just a tiny get-together, think again. The WWJC (WorldWide Jailbreak Convention) crew just posted a video of a tour inside the convention's massive 13,500 square foot venue...

How the iPad affects our planet

Since Apple unveiled the first iPad back in January of 2010, it has completely dominated the tablet space. In just two years, the company has sold more than 50 million slates, garnering more than 60% of the market.

But with great power, comes great responsibility. Producing 50 million tablets, which will eventually be discarded, can have seriously negative effects on our environment. Want to know more? Keep reading...

Apple Stores see 17 times more sales than the average retailer

We've always known that Apple's retail stores see crazy amounts of foot traffic. In fact, all it takes is a quick glance in your local Apple Store to see that. It seems like they are always busy.

Well today, research firm Asymco published an interesting report regarding the performance of the Mac-maker's worldwide retail chain. And the results are staggering...

Rumor: next iPhone likely to drop in October with new Qualcomm LTE chip

In a note to investors this morning, Piper Jaffray's senior Apple analyst Gene Munster said that Qualcomm is facing supply issues with its new 28-nanometer LTE chips. Munster believes that this cements an October launch date for Apple's next iPhone.

It's widely believed that the Cupertino company's next handset will feature the above-mentioned Qualcomm MDM9615 LTE chipset, as it allows for both voice and data connections over LTE networks. It's also smaller and much more power-efficient...

Why Apple’s next iPhone launch is so important

A week from now, Apple will be announcing its sales figures for the past three months on its quarterly earnings call. Analysts think the company sold in upwards of 12 million iPads and 33 million iPhones, thanks to the continuous momentum of the new 4S.

But according to Goldman Sachs' Bill Shope, Apple's next smartphone launch is the one to watch. The analyst recently raised his Apple stock price target from $700 to $750 on the belief that the sixth-generation iPhone launch is the most important one ever...

New App Store app lets you toggle bluetooth on/off with a single tap (UPDATE: pulled)

As noted by MacRumors, a new app went live in the App Store yesterday called Bluetooth OnOff. As the name suggests, the software enables you to toggle your iOS device's bluetooth settings on or off with a single tap.

This is a big deal for a couple of reasons. For one, Apple has a history of denying or removing apps from the App Store that access iOS settings. And two, it makes toggling bluetooth much easier for non-jailbreakers...