iPhone News

Apple pushing to open Arizona sapphire plant to start producing ‘critical’ component

Cody Lee ∙ January 29, 2014

By now, most of you have probably heard that Apple has teamed up with manufacturing partner GT Advanced Technologies to open up a plant in Mesa, Arizona for producing sapphire. The plant is nearly ready to open, and Apple has already begun hiring engineers.

Up until now, though, little has been known about what kind of parts this sapphire factory would be producing. But some new documents just surfaced that may help fill in the blanks. Apparently, Apple is going to use the plant to produce a new 'critical' component...

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 42: The blue screen of death show

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Episode 42: Sebastien talks about using his Pebble Smartwatch with several different jailbreak tweaks. Jeff raves about controlling his Philips Hue lighting system via Control Center, and Cody talks about his experience with the new quick reply tweak, Couria. The crew collectively discusses Filippo Bigarella's latest Springtomize installment, and Jeff gushes about using his PS4 controller with jailbroken iOS devices.

Dutch theme park tapping iBeacons to boost visitor engagement times

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple's indoor positioning technology, iBeacons, is cropping up in some unlikely places. No, I don't mean grocery stores, trade shows, Apple Stores, stadiums and bars. According to a Dutch blog, one of the country's theme park will be deploying iBeacons in March to provide visitors with useful information right on their iOS devices.

It's also interesting that Apple's finance boss felt the urge to mention during yesterday's earnings call that the company is now using iBeacons in a number of its retail outlets to beam relevant product information and promotions as customers get near an iBeacon...

Flipboard updates iOS app, revamps Cover Stories to surface cool content

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Flipboard, the wildly successful magazine-format news aggregator, has updated its iPhone and iPad application with a pair of tweaks while announcing a redesign of Cover Stories aimed at making your story highlights resemble newspaper front pages. In addition to some bug fixes and performance improvements, Flipboard 2.2.3 now makes it possible to add bookmarks to your Safari Reading List.

Another minor change: you can now copy an article's URL in your device's browser, then open Flipboard for the option to add it to your magazines. You'll be more interested in the redesign of Cover Stories which Flipboard hopes will surface more relevant content from your subscriptions...

Google selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.9 billion

Cody Lee ∙ January 29, 2014

Well this is an interesting turn of events. It appears that Google has decided to sell its Motorola Mobility arm to electronics giant Lenovo for $2.91 billion. The deal is said to include the entire Motorola division and some 10,000 of its 17,000 patents.

If the deal gets approved, Google would be selling Motorola for far less than the $12.5 billion it paid for it back in 2011. It looks like it's holding on to some of Motorola's IP though, and retaining licenses to its other patents, so it wouldn't be a total loss...

Bug in iCloud web portal hints at future Bookmarks support

Cody Lee ∙ January 29, 2014

It's been discovered today that an error on Apple's iCloud web portal displays a "Coming Soon" message for iCloud Bookmarks, suggesting that the feature may soon be available on the website. This would allow users to remotely access their bookmarks using virtually any browser.

The page, which you can see in the screenshot above, appears briefly when visiting this URL from your computer. It was originally accessed by installing the Chrome extension for the iCloud Control Panel for Windows on a PC, and so far, no one is quite sure what to make of it...

Flex 2: create your own jailbreak tweaks for iOS 7

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

When a jailbreak app inspires the creation of its very own subreddit, you know it's something special. Flex 2 is the follow up to one of the most popular apps of last year, and like its predecessor, it allows you to change the way your favorite apps look and feel without having to know the intricacies of iOS development.

To be sure, it doesn't hurt to have some knowledge of development in general, and the logic behind the way things work, but it's not a requirement. Flex features a well-designed and intuitive interface to help you easily modify the way your favorite apps work.

Flex 2 is a much-improved version of its predecessor, and has been re-built from the ground up for iOS 7. But even if you don't run iOS 7, Flex has maintained its compatibility with both iOS 5, and iOS 6, a remarkable feat for a jailbreak app of this nature.

For those of you new to Flex, you should watch our video walkthrough inside for a demonstration of how it works. If you're already a Flex user, then check inside for some of the vital upgrade details that make Flex 2 a worthy successor.

Good deal: 75% off this pocket-sized USB battery pack

Cody Lee ∙ January 29, 2014

One of the most popular tech gifts and/or stock stuffers, this past holiday season was the portable USB charger. I know I included one in my Holiday gift guide, simply because they're small enough to take with you when you're on the go and very convenient.

But for those of you who didn't score a new portable USB charger this Christmas, you may be interested to know that Stack Social is running a deal on the Keychain Power Bank. For a limited time, you can grab the 2600mAh battery pack for less than $15...

Twitter updates app with enhancements for Tweet replies and photo viewer

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Folks who use the native Twitter app will be happy to hear that the social network has updated its official iOS client this afternoon. The update brings the app to version 6.1, and it includes a number of enhancements and improvements.

On the enhancements side, Twitter has made it so that users can quickly reply to a Tweet with a photo, as well as easily mention others when Tweeting a photo. And on the improvements side, it's made photo editing easier to do on the fly...

Microsoft’s Bing Rewards program now available on iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Microsoft launched Bing Rewards in September 2010 in a desperate attempt to get people search the web with Bing. Bing Rewards provides credits to users of major desktop browsers through regular Bing searches and special promotions.

Today, Bing Rewards is going mobile as the program has just been extended to owners of iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Rather surprisingly, the Windows maker said that Bing Rewards was “coming soon” to Windows Phone devices. Bing Rewards replaced Microsoft's similarly conceived initiatives, SearchPerks! and Bing Cashback...

Apple releases iOS 7.0.5 with minor bug fixes for select iPhones

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 5, 2014

Apple has released a public update for iOS this morning, bringing the firmware to version 7.0.5. The release comes more than two months after iOS 7.0.4, and appears to only bring about a handful of bug fixes.

In fact, what the change log says is that the update is only available for certain models of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sold in China—meaning many won't see it. It corrects network provisioning for the handset...

Automatic’s software update just turned your car into an iBeacon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Automatic's app-enabled smart driving assistant is genius. The $99.95 accessory connects to the mobile app to not only give you driving feedback and crash alerts, but also help diagnose check engine codes and lots more - because "small changes in your driving behavior can lead to huge savings over time".

And with the latest software update, every Automatic on the road has just became an iBeacon.

iBeacon, as you know, is Apple’s Bluetooth 4.0-based micro-positioning wireless standard. The new software opens the door to some pretty exciting possibilities, stuff like auto-payments for parking or gas fill-ups, for example...