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.

Get ready, new iPads are starting to arrive at retail stores

Even though some folks appear to be getting their new iPads early, the rest of us are stuck waiting until March 16th. Pre-ordered units are scheduled to start arriving this Friday. And the tablet is slated to hit retail stores the same day.

The good news is that if you plan on braving the lines this week, there are several retailers expected to be carrying the tablet on launch day. In fact, it looks like Best Buy has already started receiving inventory of new iPad units...

LG Display also tapped as panel supplier for new iPad

Yesterday, we reported that Samsung was the sole manufacturer of the Retina displays Apple is using in its new iPad. Although Sharp and LG were expected to be the main panel suppliers for the tablet, word is that they couldn't meet Apple's tough QC standards.

But it appears that this may not be the case — at least for LG anyways. Reuters is reporting today that it has heard from an anonymous source that LG Display is also filling Retina display panel orders for the new iPad...

How 1080p content in iTunes compares to Blu-ray

iTunes 1080p movie on the left, Blu-ray movie on the right

The new iPad and the new Apple TV have one thing in common — full HD video. Both products recently received significant hardware upgrades to allow them to playback 1080p content. Heck, the new iPad can even capture its own hi-def videos.

But is full HD video really worth the upgrade? Ars Technica published a report this morning aiming to answer that very question. The site takes a look at the difference between iTunes files encoded in 720p and 1080p. And 1080p versus Blu-ray...

How to use Ultrasn0w Fixer to unlock your A4 device on iOS 5.1

When Apple released iOS 5.1 last week, the update didn't just break the previous jailbreaks. It also broke the software unlock for the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 known as Ultrasn0w.

While this may not be a very big deal to most people, it's rather inconvenient for folks who need to use their iPhone on multiple networks. Luckily, a temporary fix has surfaced in Cydia known as Ultrasn0w Fixer. And even luckier, we're going to show you how to install it...

Sn0wBreeze updated with bug fixes and Apple TV support

A few days ago, iH8sn0w released v2.9.2 of his popular jailbreak tool, Sn0wBreeze. The update added the ability for users to jailbreak their iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 5.1 (yes, it's still tethered).

Then last night, the hacker seeded another version of the software, bringing it to v2.9.3. This update includes a minor bug fix, but also features new jailbreak support for Apple TV's on iOS 4.4.3 and 4.4.4...

Apple subpoenaed by the FTC regarding its search engine deal with Google

So this is pretty interesting: AllThingsD is reporting that Apple has been subpoenaed by the Federal Trade Commission as part of an ongoing anti-trust investigation into Google's business practices.

It seems the FTC is particularly interested in the agreement Google made with Apple to become the default search engine in iOS. The deal, which we talked about a few days ago, is rumored to be worth more than a billion dollars...

Ironically, the new iPad Retina display is made by Samsung

In the months leading up to the unveiling of the new iPad, the rumor mill seemed pretty confident that the tablet would be getting a high resolution Retina display. But we weren't quite sure who was going to be making them.

There was a lot of speculation regarding Sharp as a possible manufacturer. And the same with LG. But according to a new report from Bloomberg, the sole display-maker for the new iPad has been none other than Samsung...

Here’s the first unboxing video of the new iPad

While the rest of the world has to wait until later this week to see Apple's new tablet up close, the folks over at Tinhte.vn appear to have already gotten their hands on one.

As noted by MacRumors, the Vietnamese site posted a video last night of the first unboxing we've seen of the new iPad. The slate's packaging doesn't seem to be much different than that of its predecessor, but you can immediately spot the new Retina display...

How you can help hackers discover vulnerabilities in iOS 5.1

A few days ago we told you that the infamous iOS hacker pod2g had already started working on finding vulnerabilities in iOS 5.1 to use in a new jailbreak. The new software includes patches for the previous jailbreaks for both A4 and A5 devices.

Today, pod2g has come forward with another announcement. He is calling on the jailbreak community, or any iOS user for that matter, to help him find bugs in Apple's mobile OS by sending him crash reports. Keep reading for details...

Jony Ive explains some of the secrets to Apple’s sauce

Jonathan Ive has made quite a name for himself over the past few years. And for good reason too. Apple's SVP of industrial design is largely responsible for creating the look and feel of several popular products, including the iPod and the iPhone.

The London-born designer has a reputation for being fairly quiet, and rarely does media interviews. So you can imagine our surprise when we found out that Mr. Ive recently opened up to the London Evening Standard about a broad range of topics...

HBO to finally allow Universal and Fox movies into iCloud

According to recent reports, Apple is secretly trying to put together its own TV subscription service. And by the sounds of things, it doesn't seem to be going very well. Studios are afraid to let Apple anywhere near their multi-million dollar industry.

But it appears that at least one major content provider is coming around. The Wall Street Journal has learned that HBO is finally going to relax its terms enough to allow iCloud users to stream previously purchased content to other iOS devices...

Shocker: next iPhone expected to launch later this year with LTE

BGR passes along a report from DigiTimes this morning which claims that Apple is planning to launch a new iPhone later this year equipped with LTE technology. You don't say?

Well, considering that Apple has released a new iPhone every year for the past 5 years, it's safe to assume that we'll see another one in 2012. And given the fact that the company's latest tablet contains LTE, it's not hard to fathom that its next handset will too...