iPhone News

Celebrating first anniversary, Pocket adds Send to Friend social feature

Pocket, a read-later service, in celebration of its first anniversary today pushed a new build of its iOS and Android containing a new social feature aptly named Send to Friend, in addition to push notifications and other nice-to-haves.

Formerly know as Read It Later, Pocket was App Store’s Best of 2012 app and iPad App of the Week. Send to Friend is interesting as it saves content other people share with you right in your inbox.

You can then re-visit those articles later, but also read comments along with any highlighted quotes they chose to share with you...

Rolomotion turns your iDevice into Wii-like console

Pune, India-based Rolocule creates games for a living and earlier today the team teased an interesting solution aimed at bringing Nintendo Wii-style gaming to your big screen TV via Apple TV and some clever iPhone and iPod touch software. Rolomotion is the name of the game (pun intended).

It's basically a dedicated app that wirelessly beams specially-designed games to your telly through the Apple TV while using your iPhone or iPod touch as a Wii-style controller.

The game running on the device reads data from the iPhone's gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer sensors to make possible motion-based action via Apple's set-top box. I've included a nice demo clip right past the fold...

The best apps for guitar players

If you are a musician, you may not think of the iPhone or iPad as an accessory for your instrument. It may seem difficult to imagine, but your iOS device has the potential to be a better companion to your creative endeavors than your band mates.

I’ve been playing music for almost two decades now and for years I’ve have actively sought out iOS apps to help me practice my licks, record my band, and make my guitar sing like a Siren.

We’ve got a list of our favorite apps for the guitar. Whether you are a beginner looking for a cheap music tutor, or an old pro trying out new guitar sounds, this list has something for musicians of all capabilities.

Tip: turn your coinage into iTunes credits with Coinstar vending machines

The popular coin-counting service, Coinstar, is great for people who just want to get rid of their spare change in return for a cash back minus a small fee.

The company operates vending machines at supermarkets such as Walmart where people frequent for shopping.

What you may not have known, although Coinstar has been doing this for several years now, is that its machines can take your loose coins and spill out a receipt with an iTunes redemption code that you can use to refill your iTunes balance...

Apple may have delayed next-gen iPads over fire at LG Display’s subcontractor plant

An analyst report last Tuesday disappointed folks who were holding their breath for new iPads before this summer. As iDB told you, KGI Securities' rather accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cited a number of "technical challenges" that Apple is currently facing in manufacturing the second-generation iPad mini and fifth-generation full-size iPad, leading him to believe that both products won't hit the market until Fall.

I've come across an accurate report which might explain that a fire which last week broke out in one of LG Display's subcontractor plants has forced Apple to frantically seek for alternative suppliers who could supply backlight units for iPads and MacBooks. All options are on table, including the display-making unit of Apple's frenemy Samsung...

You can now watch Funny or Die’s ‘iSteve’ online

Comedy web site Funny or Die originally said its satirical movie about Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, dubbed iSteve, would arrive on April 15, but they pushed it back a bit in the wake of Boston bombing.

The movie is now available online, as a free stream via the Funny or Die web site.

Directed by Ryan Perez, iSteve stars Justin Long of Dodgeball and Jeepers Creepers fame, who gets to portray Steve Jobs. The general public remembers the actor thanks to his amusing depiction of the Mac character in Apple's Mac vs. PC campaign. Other roles include Lost's Jorge Garcia as Steve Wozniak, James Urbaniak as Bill Gates and Michaela Watkins playing Melinda Gates...

Live Battery Indicator now available for free on Cydia

Live Battery Indicator, a jailbreak tweak that merges the battery bar and the battery percentage into one, is now available for free download on Cydia’s BigBoss repo. I must say that I was quite surprised at the reception that this tweak, a very simple one, received in our preview. A lot of you guys seemed to be keenly interested in its release.

Live Battery Indicator performs pretty much exactly like it did in my preview build of the tweak. Just like the preview version, there are no options or settings to configure, and once it's installed it starts working immediately.

There is one unsuspected surprise that you'll find when installing the official version of Live Battery Indicator, though. Can you guess what it is?

T-Mobile airs new iPhone 5 advertisement

T-Mobile is wasting no time touting the fact that they finally have access to the world's best smartphone. Can you blame them? This latest creative compares T-Mobile's contract-less plans with the competition.

The spot features two iPhone 5's: one surrounded by a series of mouse traps to represent being trapped within a competitor's contract, and another, free of traps, representing T-Mobile's new contract-free strategy.

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 06: I’m still having fun

In episode six of Let's Talk Jailbreak, Sebastien and Jeff discuss Cydia's issues with TSS, Filippo Bigarella's generous contribution to cancer research, and a few amazing new jailbreak tweaks. Jeff also gets the opportunity to follow up on last week's episode, as he provides a dialogue of his experience using the new Messages jailbreak tweak. Needless to say, you don't want to miss this episode.

Great new iOS email client Triage arrives

The market for iOS email clients has exploded in recent months, with new arrivals like Dropbox-owned Mailbox, collaboration software Sendgine and of course Google-owned Sparrow all striving to rethink, with more or less success, what email should be about.

Needless to say, I was immediately hooked up on Triage, a new kind of iOS email client software from Southgate Labs Limited, billed as "first aid for your inbox."

To be clear, this app is meant to complement rather than replace your primary email client by helping you "use your downtime to quickly remove the noise and stress" in order to reach Inbox Zero nirvana. And boy does it succeed in achieving that objective...

Mailbox opens its doors to all

Good news for all of you would be Mailbox users: the app no longer requires to you to wait an inordinate amount of time before gaining access to it. That's because Mailbox has dropped its reservation system, an idea initially brought forth to stagger the amount of users placing stress on its network at any one time.

Along with the recent 1.2 update, which brought smarter snooze options and a helping of UI tweaks to the fore, Mailbox can actually be used immediately after downloading it. How's that for practicality?

How to quickly enable or disable Airplane Mode from the Lock screen

LockScreenAirplaneMode is a free jailbreak tweak that just touched-down on Cydia's BigBoss repo. It allows you to quickly enable or disable your iOS device's Airplane mode feature directly from the Lock screen.

A simple tap and hold will enable AirPlane mode, and another tap and hold gesture will disable AirPlane mode. As you can probably imagine, this is an extremely simple tweak. There are no options to configure, or settings to adjust.