Apple evaluating Chinese display maker BOE’s AMOLED panels for future iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2017

Samsung Display is said to be the lone supplier of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for future iPhones, at least until Foxconn-owned Sharp, Japan Display and LG Display ramp up production of the sophisticated foldable display panels. That said, Apple is looking to address a global shortage of OLEDs by negotiating a deal with yet anther supplier.

That company has been identified as the Chinese display maker BOE, which is expected to supply active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display panels for future iPhone models. According to Bloomberg News, Apple’s been evaluating BOE’s AMOLED screens for months now.

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RecentCalls+ brings a slew of improvements to the Recents list in the Phone app

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 15, 2017

Apple improved the Phone app extensively in iOS 10 by including a new API that third-party developers can use to integrate their App Store apps with calling functionality into it, such as those like Skype or WhatsApp, just to name a couple.

On the other hand, there's still more that can be done to improve the Phone app, and a new jailbreak tweak release by Olxios&Nico called RecentCalls+ is a step in the right direction.

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MusicMark saves your place in the Music app when you respring or force-quit the app

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 15, 2017

When you’re in the middle of listening to media via Apple’s Music app and you end up having to force-quit the app or respring your device for any reason, you’ll notice that the app never remembers your place in the song when you get the Music app up and running again.

A new free jailbreak tweak called MusicMark by iOS developer Tony Kraft fixes this by forcing the Music app to remember your place in a song whenever you respring or force-quit the Music app, effectively allowing you to resume where you left off.

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AntiSocial enables the ‘Leave this Conversation’ button even in three-way iMessage groups

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 15, 2017

One of the things that really grinds my gears is when I get sucked into group iMessage conversations that I really don’t want to be in. Although rare, sometimes people do it just to wish a bulk of people a good holiday without sending individual messages, but other times people do it just to be annoying.

Unfortunately, Apple makes things even more difficult on you by limiting the ability to leave a group iMessage conversation to when there are four or more people in it, so if you’re being dragged against your will into a three-way iMessage conversation, then you'll find the button to leave will be grayed out.

That’s where a new free jailbreak tweak called AntiSocial by Tony Kraft comes in handy, as it enables the "Leave this Conversation" button even when you’re in a three-way iMessage conversation.

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Apple’s stock surges to its highest price ever amid growing optimism over iPhone 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Apple is breaking records—the company's stock price has surged to an all-time intraday high, trading as high as $134.88 today and having surpassed the previous all-time intraday high of $134.54 set on April 28, 2015. The current stock price gives the Cupertino company a market capitalization of nearly $710 billion, the largest market valuation for a publicly traded American company.

According to MarketWatch, just yesterday the stock had closed at a record $133.00, passing the previous record set two years earlier.

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Facebook shares details about its video-focused Apple TV app, which is coming soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Facebook has officially confirmed through the mouth of its Vice President of Partnerships Dan Rose and via a press release that it's indeed planning to launch a video-focused Apple TV app soon. The forthcoming app will let users kick back and watch Facebook videos from the couch. Rose has confirmed the development at the Code Media conference in Dana Point, California. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Facebook was working on an app for set-top boxes back in January.

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AppSync beta released with iOS 10 support

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ February 14, 2017

One of the more common questions we've been getting here at iDB since the release of the Yalu jailbreak for iOS 10 is when AppSync Unified, from Karen Tsai (angelXwind), would be getting an update to make it compatible with the new jailbreak.

As you may be aware, many people got themselves into a respring loop of some description by installing AppSync soon after the Yalu jailbreaks came out. That should now have been fixed with this new beta version of AppSync Unified, available on Karen's Cydia repository.

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Watch Apple’s Brazilian Carnaval-themed video showcasing Portrait mode on iPhone 7 Plus

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Following a pair of iPhone 7 Plus ads showcasing the depth of field shooting mode made possible by the dual-lens camera on iPhone 7 Plus, Apple shared another video on its Brazilian YouTube channel

First spotted by local blog Blogdoiphone, the video runs one minute and thirty seconds long and serves as the celebration of the Brazillian Carnaval festivities.

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Apple Music gaining new TV & Movies section

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Apple Music appears to be at the heart of the Cupertino company’s strategy for original television shows, with a new section headlined “TV & Movies” being added to desktop iTunes and the Music app on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, as revealed in the promotional trailer for ”Planet of the Apps”.

As you know, Apple is making a deeper push into producing its own stable of original TV shows, with an unscripted reality TV show called “Planet of the Apps” and a spinoff series based on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” scheduled to air this spring on Apple Music, the company's subscription music service.

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Watch the first trailer for Apple’s upcoming reality show about apps and their makers

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President in charge of Internet software, services and major content deals, was joined onstage during last night's Code Media conference by Propagate CEO Ben Silverman, who took the opportunity to play the first official trailer and share a few previously unknown tidbits regarding “Planet of the Apps”.

For those not in the know, “Planet of the Apps” is the Cupertino company's Apple Music-exclusive show about apps and their makers. The iPhone maker has finished filming the show three days ago.

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Apple’s Carpool Karaoke spinoff is coming in April, watch the second clip now

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2017

Apple wants original content and its SVP Eddy Cue is in charge of making that happen. Cue sat down last night for an interview with Peter Kafka of Recode, discussing a range of topics at the publication's Code Media conference.

Ben Winston, one of the producers of Apple's upcoming Carpool Karaoke spinoff, appeared onstage as a surprise guest and played a new promotional clip for the show—just 24 hours after Apple released the first Carpool Karaoke trailer on YouTube.

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