iPhone News

Apple clueless on iMessage purgatory syndrome

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 28, 2023

Apple's iMessage platform is great for heavy texters. Integrated deeply into the bowels of the operating system, iMessage simply disappears so normals are completely oblivious to the fact they're actually using the system. When you start typing a recipient's name in the stock Messages app in iOS or OS X, iMessage checks with Apple to see if a person has iMessage enabled.

If so, the chat bubble turns blue to indicate that the message will be sent as an iMessage, thereby bypassing your carrier's SMS service. Problems arise when you switch to another smartphone platform only to discover that your phone number has not been removed from your Apple ID.

As a result, this could turn your phone number into a black hole for text messages...

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More evidence of Fall iPhone 6 launch as Apple blocks off employee vacations in September

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 14, 2014

With all the rumors seemingly pointing to Apple sticking to its Fall release schedule for iPhones, established with the October 2011 introduction of the iPhone 4s, today the company again hinted at an upcoming iPhone 6 release by blocking off employee vacations for September 15–28 at its German outlets.

September is Apple's usual iPhone launch window (new iPads typically come a month later).

What's different this time around is Apple blocking employee vacation dates four months in advance versus a few weeks ahead of a major new product introduction, like before...

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Badland update brings 4 player co-operative mode, 120 new missions and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 14, 2014

Following up on last month's release of Doomsday level pack for its atmospheric sidescrolling platformer taking place in a beautifully rendered fairytale forest, developer Frogmind today issued another major update to Badland which enables a co-operative mode for up to four players.

There are also new missions - 120 new ones to be exact - as well as seven new achievements and a couple technical improvements in the latest version of this 2013 App Store iPad Game of the Year and the winner of the 2013 Apple Design Award.

The new version sporting the aforementioned goodies is free for folks who've purchased the game. Badland is otherwise a $3.99 value...

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Student research project brings native iOS apps to Android devices

Cody Lee ∙ May 14, 2014

This is pretty interesting. A group of six PhD students from Columbia University's Department of Computer Science have developed 'Cider,' an OS compatibility architecture capable of running iOS apps on Android.

The research project utilizes binary compatibility techniques to run both domestic and foreign binaries on the same device. So essentially it can trick an app's code into thinking it's running on Apple's XNU kernel...

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Apple releases iBooks version of its ‘iOS Human Interface Guidelines’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Last night, Apple published an iBooks version of its 'iOS Human Interface Guidelines.' The move is notable because until now you could only access the user interface guidelines for iOS 7 via the developer portal, which required a $99-per-year membership.

For those unfamiliar with the document, the guidelines are essentially Apple's suggestions to developers for designing their iOS applications. The goal is to ensure that all 3rd party apps share similar UI principles, so that they're both cohesive and intuitive...

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‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ coming to iOS this summer

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

DeNA and Hasbro announced the official tie-in game for the upcoming Transformers sequel this morning. It’s called ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ and it will be arriving on iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms this summer.

The game will be a 3D combat runner, where the players' mission is to take down new enemies featured in the movie as they run, dash and change forms through fast-paced missions. Keep reading for more details and hi-res screenshots...

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Tim Cook charity lunch auction sells for over $330K

Cody Lee ∙ May 13, 2014

Last month we told you about Tim Cook's CharityBuzz auction. Folks were given the opportunity to bid on a one hour luncheon with Cook, the CEO of the world's largest company, with proceeds going to benefit the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

The lunch, which was donated by Cook himself, will take place at Apple's Cupertino headquarters and had an estimated value of $100,000. But as expected, bidders blew well past that amount. The auction ended this afternoon with a final bid of $330,001...

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Alleged case for 5.5-inch iPhone 6 surfaces

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Given everything we've seen thus far, it seems likely that the iPhone 6 is going to come in two flavors: a 4.7-inch model and a 5.5-inch model. Most of the alleged leaked cases and renders that have surfaced in the last few months, however, have just been for the former.

But today, photos of a new case popped up on the web believed to have been made for the 5.5-inch model. Our friends over at Nowhereelse.fr share the images, which show a physical mockup of the alleged handset in the snap-on case, sitting next to a 4.7-inch version...

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Google Search 4.0 is out with several Google Now improvements

Cody Lee ∙ May 13, 2014

Google today released an update for its popular Google Search app. The update brings the iOS client to version 4.0, and includes a number of improvements to the Google Now feature such as support for smarter conversations and faster load times.

With smarter conversations, users can now ask follow-up questions to their originally search queries. So for example, if you ask Google Now what the weather is like, you can follow that up with: 'what about tomorrow?' or 'how about this weekend?'

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LG releasing Lifeband Touch Activity Tracker and Heart Rate Earphones this Sunday

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 9, 2017

This coming Sunday, May 18, LG will release a pair of new wearable products. Designed to work with iOS and Android, the Lifeband Touch Activity Tracker, as the name implies, is a wrist-worn fitness band which measures your physical activity performance - stuff like speed, steps taken, calories burned and covered.

And LG's new Heart Rate Earphones with built-in sensors will measure your heart rate as you listen to your music, make calls or just chill.

Used together, these two products promise to help you reach and maintain your fitness goals while fusing advanced activity tracking, biometric data, Bluetooth app connectivity with easy access to your music and iOS device and what not. Both accessories can be pre-ordered now through Best Buy prior to launch...

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Castro podcast app gains better audio, continuous play, sleep timer, crisper UI and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

The high-fidelity Castro podcast player for the iPhone and iPod touch debuted last December and today got bumped to version 1.1. Despite the incremental change in version number, developers have added numerous new capabilities and refinements that will improve upon your already top-notch Castro experience.

There's now a new continuous play feature for episodic listening, a sleep timer, vastly improved audio quality of slow-speed playback, rich new options inside in-app settings, a cleaner user interface with nicer typography and much more.

From before, the app supports non-iTunes subscriptions. Today's update is free to existing owners of the software. For newcomers, Castro is a $3.99 download from the App Store...

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