iPhone News

Security experts contracted to attempt to bypass iOS 7’s Activation Lock feature

Earlier this year, San Francisco's district attorney George Gascón met with Apple's government rep Michael Foulkes to discuss the rising number of iPhone thefts. He felt like the company could be doing more, on a technological level, to thwart these would-be thieves.

Apple responded in a major way. In June, the company introduced a new feature in iOS 7 called Activation Lock, which can prevent thieves from activating a stolen handset without the proper credentials. But while Gascón says he appreciates the effort, he's not convinced...

Welcome to the post-PC world, Microsoft: $900M in unsold Surface RT inventory

Microsoft last June unveiled its iPad contender, the ARM-powered Surface RT tablet. We've suspected all along that it hasn't been much of a smash hit.

Nine months later, the Windows giant admits defeat by announcing it will be taking an astounding $900 million loss over unsold Surface RT inventory.

The top dogs called it an “inventory adjustments”. Our take: these things would not have been collecting dust in the warehouse if they were flying off the shelves like hotcakes...

If Gunner Z is half as good as the trailer…

In a flurry of unimaginative iOS games releases every now and then a brave developer comes forward, daring to change the status quo.

While the premise of BitMonster's upcoming shooter Gunner Z may revolve around milking the zombie theme for all its worth, top-notch execution will make it worthwhile, courtesy of the all-powerful Unreal engine.

At any rate, you have to give it to BitMonster for the novel night-vision turret combat style. If the game is half as good as the trailer, I'm definitely sold...

Comparing device upgrade plans: AT&T vs Verizon vs T-Mobile

Last week, T-Mobile unveiled 'Jump,' an ambitious new upgrade program that allows subscribers to pay $10 per month for the chance to upgrade their devices more frequently. At the time this hadn't really been heard of, as most carriers were on a 2-year upgrade model.

But that changed almost immediately after T-Mobile's Jump event. Just a few days later, AT&T introduced its Next device upgrade program, and this morning, Verizon made its Edge offering official. So what's the difference between all of these options? Let's take a look...

‘ayra’ brings slick new features to the iOS Lock screen

Ladies and gentlemen, ayra, one of the more polished tweaks that we've seen in recent weeks, has finally touched down on Cydia. This is a tweak for users of iOS 6, and among other things, brings an iOS 7 inspired Lock screen to the table. Along with its gorgeous Lock screen design, comes the ability to open Notification Center directly from the Lock screen to interface with toggles and notifications.

This is a tweak that has been developed by two well known figures in the jailbreak community — Surenix, the designer of many things, but best known for his legendary ayecon theme, and Bensge, a great developer in his own right, and the mind behind the uber-popular Velox. When you combine good design with good development, then the results are usually more good than bad, and that's exactly the case with ayra. It may not knock your socks off like some of the other projects that these two have been involved with, but it's a solid jailbreak tweak for those of us who are still proudly using iOS 6.1.x as our daily driver.

Of course, I previewed ayra a week ago, but now I've had the oppurtunity to play around with the completed version of the tweak. What did I find? Have a look past the break as it's all broken down via our video walkthrough...

VLC media player makes a comeback, following a 2-year App Store hiatus

Following a range of issues with copyright holders that had forced the team to pull it from the App Store some two years ago, the popular video player VLC has returned to Apple's platform as a brand new iPhone and iPad app.

Re-written from the ground up to take advantage of modern technologies, the new VLC brings with it a refined user interface that's reminiscent of the original release and features such as subtitles and support for multi-core decoding and a bunch of iOS-unfriendly media formats, including .mkv files.

Jump past the fold for the full reveal...

Verizon confirms early smartphone upgrade program Edge coming August 25

DroidLife on Monday leaked Verizon's upcoming early upgrade initiative that some critics readily labeled a knee-jerk reaction to AT&T's Next initiative,in and of itself a hastily created response to T-Mobile's Jump, arguably "the best upgrade program in America" (in T-Mobile's parlance).

Ending speculation, the Big Red telco during today's earnings call officially announced the rumored program dubbed Edge. Available only to subscribers who are on one of Verizon’s Share Everything plans, Edge is being pitched as a "flexible equipment payment plan" which lets you spread the retail price of a new phone over a 24-month period...

‘SearchCollapse’ allows you to collapse results in Spotlight search

After reviewing SearchAmplius an hour or so ago, it was only appropriate to review its sister tweak, which is entitled: SearchCollapse. SearchCollapse is a tweak that can work in tandem with SearchAmplius, but it should also be noted that it can function on its own as a standalone tweak.

SearchCollapse, as its name not so subtly implies, allows users to collapse their Spotlight search results, either automatically, or by tapping on the app icon associated with the result. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside for more detailed information.

‘SearchAmplius’ brings advanced search features to Spotlight

SearchAmplius is a new jailbreak tweak that brings some really cool new features to the Spotlight search page. Normally, I've found that tweaks of this nature absolutely fail to impress me, but SearchAmplius is one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

The tweak, which is simple in design, allows you to configure additional search modules for use in Spotlight. For example, you can search YouTube videos directly from Spotlight, and play them via the official YouTube app with just a tap on the search result. You can also search Cydia releases in much the same way, tapping on the name of the release to be whisked away to the Cydia install page for the tweak in question. App Store apps are there, too, and work much the same.

Other tweaks have tried to do similar functions in the past, but SearchAmplius is definitely at the top of the list when it comes to supercharging Spotlight. Have a look at our full video walkthrough inside for more information regarding the tweak.

Meet Apple’s iWatch dream team

As evidence pertaining to a rumored Apple smartwatch mounts, so do Apple's recent tech celebrity hirings. For example, the past few weeks saw the poaching of former Adobe CTO and Flash proponent Kevin Lynch, who joined Apple as VP of Technology.

Another example: the outgoing French fashion label Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve is joining Apple to work on special projects as a Vice President reporting directly to Apple’s boss Tim Cook.

Along with the company's long-time hardware guru Bob Mansfield, head of all Design and Human Interfaces across the company,  Jonathan Ive, iOS/OS X boss Craig Federighi and other high-profile execs, Apple is assembling an all-star cast tasked with figuring out its next breakthrough - wearables...

Suppliers say Apple ramping up iDevice chip orders

We've witnessed recently a mishmash of wildly unlikely predictions, genuine-looking iPhone 5S production shots, plenty of various other leaks and big media confirmations, all seemingly pointing to Apple flexing its manufacturing muscle ahead of upcoming new product launches.

Hot on the heels of this chatter, a Taiwanese trade publication chimed in Thursday claiming Apple's chips suppliers are seeing a boost in orders from Apple, which could be interpreted as another solid indication that the company is ramping up production as it gears up for the next iDevice refresh cycle...

HalfPeeled releases Ruby app for easy Reddit viewing

For the Reddit fans out there looking for a slick way to interact with your feeds and threads, a new app will solve your woes. Until now, there were limited options in the App Store for easy Reddit enjoyment. Today Ruby hits the market, granting easy access to your favorite threads in a crisp package. Having been a beta tester for the app over previous weeks, I really like the UI and functionality.

This is not HalfPeeled's first time around the app development block. When it comes to apps, their innovation is starting to show. Published by Nate Chiger, a 2012 and 2013 WWDC Scholarship Recipient, Ruby is his newest offering and follows several other quality apps. Take a step inside for a quick run down of the nice features...