iPhone News

Apple looking to settle THX patent suit out of court

Earlier this year, sound engineering company THX filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging patent infringement. The studio, which was founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas, claims Apple is using its speaker technology in its iOS and Mac products without a license.

The iPad maker is, of course, no stranger to patent litigation. It just suffered a huge blow yesterday in its ongoing battle with Samsung, and it's involved in countless other frivolous suits. So it's no surprise that reports claim it's trying to settle this complaint out of court...

Apple’s iTunes Festival app gains Passbook tickets

As we count the remaining days until Apple's summer developers conference, British Airways has eventually seen fit to add Passbook support to its iOS client. And now Apple is following suit.

Nearly a year following the introduction of the Passbook app that was unveiled alongside iOS 6 at WWDC 2012, the company has finally update its iTunes Festival London 2013 iPhone app with Passbook integration.

The updated software arrives as Apple last week confirmed its September music festival in London will be headlined by such acts as Jack Johnson, Justin Timberlake and Thirty Seconds to Mars...

iRadio tidbits: audio ads, iTunes Match syncing, no search/song skipping

As you may have heard, Apple is now rushing to close music licensing deals for iRadio. And with Warner Music apparently finally on board, the company should formally take the wraps off its Pandora-killer at the WWDC keynote next Monday.

Bloomberg yesterday explained Apple's ad team is prepping to sell in-app iAds to major brands, which apparently can’t wait to advertise on iRadio. And now a new report by a major advertising trade publication claims Apple is also keen on monetizing the free service by injecting traditional audio ads...

Kindle app updated with line spacing options, multipage highlights and more

Amazon has today released an update for its native Kindle iOS app, bringing the e-reader client to version 3.8. The update includes a mix of a handful of new features and numerous bug fixes and improvements.

Perhaps the most prominent enhancement in today's release is the new line spacing options. You can now adjust the page layout to display text in one of three different spacing settings: normal, loose and tight...

FreedomPop unveils free voice/text/data wireless service

FreedomPop previously caught our attention with its no-commit 1GB of free home Internet each month and an iPad sleeve with Sprint 4G LTE data. But the upstart mobile company isn't resting on its laurels and is pushing ahead by adding free VoIP calling and texting to its data service.

With 500MB of data on top of unlimited texting and 200 minutes of call time, you can now basically turn your iPod touch into an iPhone and pay nothing for calls. Who said that freemium model doesn't work for a wireless service? Jump past the fold for additional highlights and a promo clip...

Analog for Mac gains Analog Camera’s filters, now half price

I recently reviewed Realmac Software's Analog Camera for the iPhone and iPod touch. With its minimalistic user interface, this app from the makers of the Clear to-do app  is probably the fastest and easiest way to take and process images on your iPhone.

Although it crops images for the square format, Analog Camera ships with eight Instagram-like filters and quick sharing options, which is ideal for impulse sharers.

Keeping true to its promise, Realmac today updated its Analog for Mac app with Analog Camera filters. And to celebrate the move, they've shaved 50 percent off its asking price in a time-limited promotion...

British Airways deploys Passbook boarding passes

Responding to market realities, British Airways has added boarding pass integration into Passbook via the new version 4.4 of its existing iOS app. “From now on, all new boarding passes will be presented in Passbook,” the airline said Wednesday.

The refreshed app lets travellers download boarding passes on their iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac devices and add it to Passbook for iCloud sync and offline use in over a hundred airports worldwide.

Although the company's Passbook support is pretty rudimentary at launch, British Airways plans to enhance it by adding direct links from the Lock screen. This will also enable useful alerts whenever flight details change, you arrive at the terminal or your flight is due to depart...

AT&T lights up LTE in 16 new markets, expands in 3 others

It seems like AT&T is determined to keep its promise of adding 80 new LTE markets by the end of summer. Last week it lit up the high-speed service in 10 new markets, and this week it's activated it in another 16.

The latest rollout includes a number of major cities across the US such as Colorado Springs, Colorado; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Olympia, Washington. As usual, we have the full list of new markets after the fold...

Take gorgeous black and white photos with Camera Noir

The camera app space has to be one of the hardest to break into in all of the App Store. Dominated by heavy-hitters like Instagram, and a selection pool of thousands of other options, you'd think it'd be almost impossible to stand out.

But the folks over at Pacific Helm think their new app Camera Noir has what it takes to distinguish itself from the competition. Using a tuned monochrome filter, it promises to help you take 'stunning' black and white photos...

Good deal: $40 off 3-in-1 universal USB charging cable

Those of you whose mobile collection includes newer Apple products, older Apple products, and an Android phone or tablet may want to check out this 3-in-1 universal USB charging cable from Stack Social.

The cable has the ability to charge up to 3 devices simultaneously, and supports virtually any mobile device that has a Lightning, 30-pin or micro USB port. And right now, the deal site is offering it at 67% off...

Hacked Sprint carrier update could improve your device’s network performance

Over the past month or so, we’ve seen hacked carrier updates released for iOS devices on T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. The modded files were posted with the promise of improving data speeds in iPhones, and iPads with built-in cellular capabilities.

Sprint fans will be happy to hear that the developer of the hacks, Joseph Brown, has delivered on his promise of releasing a hacked update for the fourth largest US carrier. Like the others, it has the potential to improve your device's network performance...

Why iTunes may be Apple’s biggest asset

When Apple's iTunes Store debuted on April 28, 2003, it launched with zero customers. Today, Apple has more than half a billion iTunes accounts. While not every account holder gives Apple his or her credit card details, most do. Therefore, it's fairly safe to assume that Apple with its online-only content store is the biggest seller on the web.

Indeed, an analysis by Morgan Stanley reveals that not only is iTunes second only to Facebook's one billion accounts, it also makes more money per account than Amazon. More interesting factoids follow...