iPhone News

The iDownloadBlog top news stories of the week – April 21, 2013 edition

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 24, 2017

Like every Sunday, we bring you the stories that were the most popular on iDB during this past week. Whether it is a news piece, an editorial, a tutorial, a new jailbreak tweak, or an accessory review, we sum it all up in one convenient place.

If you like what you're reading, please make sure to spread the love by sharing our posts on your favorite social network.

We're usually hanging out a lot on Twitter and Facebook, more rarely on Google+.

Would you like it if Cydia looked like this? Atom: a beautiful upcoming Lock screen launcher JellyLock is an Android inspired Lock screen launcher for iOS Grabby is a new customizable camera grabber tweak Live Battery Indicator merges battery percentage with a circular icon FlatIcons: a beautiful two dimensional theme for iOS sn0wbreeze v2.9.14 released And just like that, Chat Heads are a reality on iOS Check out this new “iPhone 6″ concept video Yahoo’s new Weather iOS app looks terrific Facebook 6.0 arrives with Chat Heads, new iPad UI, revamped News Feed, stickers

Of course, don't forget to listen to the latest episode of our podcast, Let's Talk Jailbreak:

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Apple confirms Siri remembers your data for two years

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 19, 2013

Apple has finally disclosed how long Siri keeps your personalized data collected and stored on its servers whenever you pick up your iPhone and ask her a question. In a new report published Friday, an Apple representative was quoted confirming the company keeps Siri data stored in the cloud for two years.

Watchers often express concern over digital voice assistants such as Siri because they store users' voice clips, opening door to a potential privacy nightmare should this private data ever be compromised. Apple on its part argues it stores anonymized data, and for two years only. Other companies that collect data from users, such as the Internet giant Google and industries like telecommunications, have similar data retention policies in place...

Pre-orders for Nomad 3-inch USB-to-Lightning cable open, shipping in June

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 24, 2018

The three-inch Nomad Lightning cable made waves when it was announced back in November 2012. This handy little USB-to-Lighting accessory fits your key ring and comes to the rescue when you find yourself out and about with a dying iPhone and no charger in sight.

Originally a Kickstarter project, creators Kegan & Roberto developed the Nomad according to Apple's strict requirements in order to earn the sought-after Lightning accessory certification. The Nomad cable is available for pre-order now, priced at $24.99 a pop (no shipments expected until June)...

Amazon buys Evi digital assistant, thwarts Apple partnership with Goodreads deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Online retailer Amazon in an interesting personal assistant move has reportedly acquired Evi (pronounced ee-vee), a Cambridge, England headquartered startup that specialises in knowledge base and semantic search engine software. The company makes an iOS and Android app which uses the True Knowledge Answer engine and Nuance speech recognition platform to deliver answers to complex queries using natural language processing.

Apple's Siri also uses Nuance for voice recognition and the iPhone maker even threatened to kick Evi out of the App Store for being too similar to Siri, but later changed its mind. Amazon previously in January 2013 bought Ivona Software, a Polish-based specialist in voice technologies that competes with Nuance.

Combining Ivona and Evi could yield some interesting results, giving Apple's Siri a run for its money, even more so knowing Amazon makes tablets and is rumored to be building a smartphone...

Google’s new Babel chat platform includes ‘first class iOS experience’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

More details are trickling in on what to expect of Google's upcoming unified messaging platform called Babel. Google's internal documentation and code snippets discovered Wednesday indicate the Babel thing will support media transfers during chat sessions and group chatting ability. More importantly, the service will be available as a native app on both Apple's iOS and Google's own Android platform.

Of course, Babel is also going to be available on the web, as a Chrome web app and inside Gmail. The upcoming messaging platform should solve Google's instant messaging conundrum that confuses users with nearly a doze different chat service that include Talk, Gmail, Google+ Hangout, Google Voice and Chat for Drive.

Even if way overdue, Babel will unify Google's many messaging platforms into a single service. The Internet giant is likely to formally announce Babel at its upcoming Google I/O conference, which runs May 15-17 in San Francisco...

One in five would buy iWatch, study finds

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple's rumored smartwatch, dubbed by the media iWatch, is a gadget nearly one in five people would buy, a study by ChangeWave Research has it.

With five percent respondents 'Very Likely' to buy an iWatch if and when it becomes available and an additional fourteen percent 'Likely' to purchase it, a total of nineteen percent of the 1,713 surveyed North Americans would consider a purchase.

Data bodes well for Apple as Gartner thinks the market for wearable smart electronics could be worth ten billion dollars by 2016. And if you ask analyst Katy Huberty, the iWatch could drive an incremental $10-$15 billion in revenue each year, assuming annual sales of 50 million units and an average selling price between $200 and $300...

Sprint, Verizon and AT&T announce major LTE expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Sprint and AT&T, respectively the nation's third and second-largest wireless carriers, announced availability of their fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology in new markets. Sprint confirmed its customers in 21 new markets can take advantage of high-speed cellular downloads, including Los Angeles, Contra Costa County, California, Charlotte, North Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia, and Memphis, Tennessee. AT&T on its part announced it has turned on LTE in Florence, Massachusetts, Cushing, Oklahoma and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Verizon flipped the switch on LTE in two new markets...

Essential Skeleton makes learning human anatomy fun

Lory Gil ∙ April 19, 2013

When I was in high school, one of my biology finals included memorizing every bone in the hand. That is, all of the carpals, metacarpals, and phalanxes of both hands and every digit. Of course, today there is no way I remember that information. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I remembered more than I thought when I downloaded Essential Skeleton.

Essential Skeleton is an educational app for the iPad from 3D4Medical. The company uses a proprietary graphics engine to create lifelike digital reproductions of medical models. The skeleton in this app is fully three-dimensional, making it better than a real-life model because you don’t have to store it in your closet with your other secrets and you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it (my puns just keep getting better, don’t they?)...

sn0wbreeze v2.9.14 released

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 22, 2016

The latest version of sn0wbreeze, version 2.9.14, was recently released, and it brings with it support for the iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak for A4 devices. This latest version of sn0wbreeze also supports APTicket validation, in light of the recent issues with APTickets. If you're a Windows user (sn0wbreeze is for Windows only), and are looking for a way to jailbreak iOS 6.1.3 on your pre-A5 device with a tethered jailbreak, then this latest version of sn0wbreeze is your ticket to freedom.

FlatIcons: a beautiful two dimensional theme for iOS

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 18, 2013

From a pure looks standpoint, FlatIcons is one of the better looking themes for iOS. It's not the deepest theme out there as far as the UI area it covers on iOS, but it's definitely up there with some of the best from a purely visual standpoint.

Along with the app icons themselves, FlatIcons includes themes for the stock Weather app, Auxo toggles, and Notification Center. As a bonus to purchasers of the theme, the creator of FlatIcons added an additional alternate theme to the package as well. Have a look inside for our hands-on video walkthrough.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel is now available

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Om Nom, a charming little green monster, is back to collect some more stars in a Cut the Rope sequel, titled Cut the Rope: Time Travel. UK-based developer ZeptoLab, which last week teased the game, didn't embark much from the originally physics-based concept but it did bring something new to the table: time travel.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel has you playing in six different settings, including the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, a Pirate Ship, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Stone Age. Read on for more details...