iPhone News

Apple buys Embark, maker of free transit apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

The former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin has some high-quality sources at Apple and has enjoyed the kind of unprecedented access to company executives that only News Corp. could bring to the table. In between forming a team of star bloggers for her upcoming news venture and tweeting, she finds time to post an exclusive every once in a while. Back in July, for instance, Jessica scooped a story about Apple's rumored ad-skipping feature for an upcoming television service.

And during her WSJ tenure, she revealed that Apple had snapped up indoor GPS company WiFiSLAM for $20 million, confirmed a chip deal with TSMC and scooped many, many other exclusives. Today she broke on her blog that Apple has acquired another transit app startup, a small Silicon Valley upstart called Embark, for un undisclosed sum...

Upcoming Mac utility lets you bypass the passcode on jailbroken devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

An upcoming Mac utility by jailbreak developer, Majd Alfhaily, (better known by his Twitter handle, @freemanrepo) allows users to outright bypass passcode lock protection on jailbroken iOS device.

Alfhaily sent us a beta version of the tool, which we were able to run successfully and unlock our passcode protected iPod touch. Take a look at our preview video walkthrough for more details.

Apple updates Find My Friends and Find My iPhone ahead of iOS 7 release

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

With less than three weeks left until Apple's big Fall reveal, the company has started updating some of its own apps on the App Store to bring them more in line with the all-new iOS 7 look.

Find My iPhone and Find My Friends apps have both been updated with bug fixes and stability improvements, but no new features have been added and the design remained unchanged.

Find My iPhone is particularly interesting. Not only has the update broken the app for non-developers, but the software now comes with a brand new flattened icon which essentially mimics its counterpart on the recently revamped iCloud Beta website. More findings right below...

BlackBerry Messenger for iOS user guide posts ahead of launch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

While people may not be interested in BlackBerry handsets, there is one product release a lot of folks seem to be looking forward to: BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and Android. The company confirmed earlier this year that the apps are in the works.

CEO Thorsten Heins has since said that the cross-platform Messenger software will be out before the end of the summer, which is rapidly approaching. But we must be getting close to launch, because BlackBerry just posted user guides for the two apps...

iTV said to come with pay-TV service

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

The Apple television saga continues with a new report by Quartz today offering a fresh insight behind the curtain of Apple's ongoing negotiations with content owners. The crux: while the talks have stalled as Apple's faced significant hurdles, the company is cunningly hoping to get at least a few content providers on board for a rumored iTV launch.

Afterwards, Apple is hoping to get cable companies to play along, the report notes. Apple's ultimate goal is to have the rumored standalone television set launch with a pay TV service that would see Apple “essentially becoming a cable company itself”...

Reuters profiles Apple’s Cook as ‘methodical’ and unafraid of tough decisions

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 22, 2013

Apple CEO Tim Cook, often compared to the iPhone maker's mercurial co-founder Steve Jobs, is pictured in a new profile as a nuts-and-bolts technocrat able to balance a softer corporate image with the ability to make hard choices. After two years at the helm of the consumer electronics giant that is Apple, Cook is being described as a "methodical" and "no-nonsense" guy not afraid to make tough decisions.

Ahead of launching a new version of the flagship iPhone, Reuters speaks with Cook's co-workers and colleagues, showing the Apple CEO is "as different as could be from that of his predecessor"...

Former Hulu exec Pete Distad is now Apple’s VP of Product Marketing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Bloomberg last mont asserted Apple had poached Hulu executive Pete Distad to help push forward its stalling negotiations with media moguls and cable companies. According to a new report out today, the executive has now started work at Apple in marketing capacity: Hulu has killed Distad's bio page and the executive's LinkedIn profile now lists him as Apple's Vice President of Product Marketing.

Distad was Hulu's Senior Vice President in charge of marketing and distribution so he clearly knows a thing or two about the complex web of licensing deals, though it remains unclear if his product marketing role entails dealing with content owners at all...

Star Wars: Force Collection hitting App Store on September 4

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Konami yesterday announced it will be releasing Star Wars: Force Collection on iOS and Android on September 4.

It's going to be the first Star Wars digital card battle game, Konami said. Star Wars: Force Collection will challenge players to collect over over 230 character cards and discover special vehicle blueprints to create the ultimate Battle Formation comprised of the famous aircrafts like X-Wings, AT-ATs and Tie Fighters.

Once your deck is fully built, you'll be set to challenge rivals in strategic battles, solve quests, participate in massive in-game events, level up among the Jedi or Sith Orders and more. Go past the fold for the full reveal...

Multiple iCloud services are down, all over again

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

In what's quickly becoming a worrisome pattern for Apple, a number of iCloud services are down as of this morning. The iMessage system is acting up (all over again), as are Photo Streams, Documents in the Cloud, Backup services and iPhoto Journals, according to Apple's iCloud Status Page.

The downtime started at around 12:30am Eastern / 9:30pm Pacific. None of the services have been restored as of post time.

As things stand now, the affected users have been unable to access the aforementioned services for more than ten straight hours. Fortunately, only a small percentage of users appear to have been affected by Apple's ongoing cloud woes...

Documents by Readdle gains drag-and-drop, Starred files and Photo Library integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

Documents by Readdle, along with the excellent Files app from German developer Sonico Mobile, are my go-to apps for managing files and documents on iOS devices in one central place. And while the latter has been lacking in terms of frequent updates, Readdle has today issued an update to its Documents software bringing three useful features to the party: drag-and-drop support, the ability to star files and integration with the iOS Photo Library...

First Steve Jobs Schools open in Netherlands with iPad focus

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 22, 2013

A month after the educational concept of schools based on the iPad was first unveiled, the first seven 'Steve JobsSchools' have opened in the Netherlands. The Apple iPad is central to the groundbreaking educational effort, creating a "virtual school" with standard iOS apps tailored to meet the needs of students, parents and teachers.

While two of the schools expect to see the iPad replace text books, school schedules and traditional courses for all grades, the majority will initially start with early learners, according to the foundation promoting the effort...

New ‘VideoPane’ updates adds bug fixes, redesigned preferences, and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Ryan Petrich's uber popular VideoPane tweak has been updated with a load of features since we initially talked about it. In usual fashion, Petrich has provided a barrage of new features, bug fixes, and optimizations for the tweak.

If you haven't had the chance to check out our original review of the tweak, then I highly suggest you do so now. Otherwise, if you're already familiar with VideoPane's inner-workings, you'll enjoy the long list of improvements.