iPhone News

Parallels Access now lets you access remote desktop via iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Parallels Access was released last August as an iPad-only application allowing users of the popular desktop virtualization software Parallels to access remote computers on their Apple tablet.

It instantly became indispensable to mobile warriors who want to run Mac or Windows apps remotely and need to access desktop files and documents wherever they are.

Today, the free Parallels Access app has been updated with native support for the iPhone and iPod touch so users can now access their desktop on the go and use their PC and Mac applications in full-screen mode like they were made for their handset...

Apple announces filmmaking and storytelling focused Summer 2014 Workshops for kids

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 17, 2014

Apple Retail is kicking off its annual free summer camps for kids eight to twelve years old. This time around, three-day workshops will center around filmmaking and interactive storytelling with apps like iMovie and iBooks Author on Macs and iPads.

Apple wants to educate youngsters on the basics of making movies and creating interactive books, complete with their own illustrations and sound effects. Each workshop, according to the firm, ends with the Apple Camp Showcase "so campers can share their finished projects"...

Let’s Talk iOS 033: Tantrums at the Apple Store

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 20, 2018

Episode 33: Jeff rejoins Sebastien and Cody for a debate on the look of the iPhone 6 mockups and shell casings, its upcoming size and display changes, Apple store etiquette, sketchy Lightning cable quality, and, of course, the joke(s) of the week.

Subscribe on iTunes

Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Betterment, the automated investment service built on the idea that investing intelligently should be intuitive, automated and accessible to everyone, whether you have $10,000 or $10 million. For a limited time, listeners can get up to 6 months of free automated investment management by visiting betterment.com/ios.

Unicode 7.0 includes 250 new emoji icons that could come to future iOS update

Joe Rossignol ∙ June 16, 2014

The Unicode Consortium announced today that Unicode 7.0 is now available, adding currency symbols for the Russian ruble and Azerbaijani manat, historic scripts and other new symbols. But as reported by MacRumors, the bigger news for iPhone and iPad users is the addition of approximately 250 new emoji icons. Before you get too excited, Apple still has to update iOS to support the new Unicode standard first…

Jony Ive and Tim Cook on Apple’s design process, new materials, revamping software and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 14, 2018

Apple's design guru Jonathan Ive rarely gave any interviews under the Steve Jobs regime. But this are different now, this is Tim Cook's Apple. In another sign of much-welcomed openness signaling that the Cupertino firm has changed its ways when it comes to public relations, it's increasingly making its key executives available to media.

The New York Times just published a must-read interview with Ive, following its extensive profile of Tim Cook yesterday.

The fascinating read touches upon a number of interesting topics dealing with Apple's design process, giving us valuable insight into what it was like to brainstorm products with Steve Jobs watching over your back, especially contrasted to Tim Cook's more relaxed approach which delegates much of Jobs's multi-faceted work to Ive and several new executives...

How Google could soon tell when the next iPhone will be released

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

My headline isn't an exaggeration. The Internet giant last week announced buying satellite imaging company Skybox Imaging for $500 million, which is peanuts, really, when you consider what Skybox does for a living. The company has satellites that circle the orbit of the Earth and take very detailed photographs of the terrain.

On the surface, the acquisition should help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery. Google on its part has said the Skybox buy will also help them improve Internet access and disaster relief. So, what does any of this have to do with the iPhone?

Read on...

Facebook updates Paper with mentions, hashtags, profile editing, better photo viewer and much more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Facebook has just pushed a massive update to its Paper for iPhone app, bringing out a host of much-needed features, starting with the ability to edit your profile picture and cover photo.

The free application now allows you to view photo tags, too, and use mentions to tag friends and let them know about the story. You can explore hashtags to see all the related posts, tilt the phone to explore every detail of the photo, tap-and-hold text to copy it from a post you're reading, change your audience after you post and more...

Apple wanted to buy Parse for iOS 8 CloudKit

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

CloudKit, one of the few platform-enhancing features Apple rolled out at WWDC, had to be created entirely from scratch because the Cupertino firm has failed at buying Parse, a startup that provides much of CloudKit-like functionality.

CloudKit frees up programmers from needing to devote their resources toward building server-side application logic themselves. It does so by providing a common set of APIs for server-based authentication, private and public database, structured and asset storage services and much more.

According to a scoop by The Information, a technology website by former WSJ writer Jessica Lessin, the iPhone maker considered purchasing Parse before Facebook...

Facebook’s iPad app gains new sidebar solely dedicated to entertainment and games

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 16, 2014

Facebook on Monday pushed an update to its iPad client to put more entertainment (and ads) into your hands.

Realizing that seven out of each ten people who use Facebook for iPad played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, Mark Zuckerberg & Co. are now testing a new sidebar within the iPad app, specifically created for entertainment content and game discovery.

The iPad-exclusive section provides game trailers and in-game footage, as well as Trending videos/news articles, social notifications for native Facebook games, as well as those offered on the web, and much more.

Note that this experiment is currently limited to Facebook's iPad users in the United States and there's no word when it could launch globally. Additional tidbits can be found right after the break...

Angry Birds Transformers is in the works

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

I can't stand any more of Angry Birds. There, I've said it. Still, a lot of fans feel the series hasn't run its course yet so this one should be fun: Finland-based Angry Birds maker Rovio Mobile has now partnered with Hasbro on a new tie-in game. They're calling it Angry Birds Transformers and it's coming real soon to an iOS device near you.

Jump past the fold for full details...

WebMD launches Healthy Target, its own health-improvement platform

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 16, 2014

Ahead of iOS 8's public launch this Fall, WebMD today introduced Healthy Target, its own health improvement program for the iPhone that aggregates data from various biometric sensors and makes it understandable and actionable.

It sounds much like HealthKit, Apple's new platform in iOS 8 which gives makers of health/fitness apps and accessories official APIs to store users' performance metrics and health data into a system-wide database accessible by the stock Health app and third-party software...

Yosemite’s Handoff feature may not be compatible with all Macs

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Handoff, arguably the coolest feature of the upcoming OS X 10.10 Yosemite, may not be available to all Mac users. In case you're not familiar with Handoff, it's part of Continuity, a new feature designed for seamless transitioning between iOS devices and Macs.

"Now your Mac knows the last thing you were doing on your iOS device and vice versa," Apple's Yosemite webpage explains. "So you can start something on one device and instantly pick it up on another."

As noted by a German blog, Handoff relying on short-range Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity is a strong indication that you'll need a relatively new Mac model in order to take advantage of the feature...