Readdle’s Scanner Pro receives iPad Pro support and other enhancements in new update

Scanner Pro, a $0.99 document scanner for the iPhone and iPad by Ukrainian developer Readdle, was updated this morning in the App Store with several productivity-enhancing improvements and support for the iPad Pro.

You can now move and merge your scans, copy and paste pages within a document or between multiple documents, upload scanned documents to Box and much more.

Advanced iPad Pro and Apple Pencil support now available in Astropad’s iPad app

Astropad, an awesome app by former Apple engineers that basically turns the screen of your iOS device into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has received an important update this morning with expanded support for Apple's new 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. Coupled with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, Astropad is now truly a Wacom Cintiq replacement that’s wireless.

“We’ve spent significant time with iPad Pro and we’ve rethought, tweaked and tuned Astropad to make the most of this powerful device,” developers tell me via email.

Ericsson and Apple sign seven-year cross-licensing patent agreement

Ericsson, a Swedish multinational provider of communication technology, equipment and services, today announced it has signed a seven-year cross-licensing agreement with Apple, putting an end to a multi-year patent spat that has plagued their relationship.

The global agreement includes a cross-license that covers patents relating to both companies' standard-essential patents, including the GSM, UMTS and LTE cellular standards. It also resolves all pending patent-infringement litigation between the companies before the United States International Trade Commission, United States District Courts and European courts.

Ryan Petrich releases Activator 1.9.8 beta 2 with new screen brightness control settings

Ryan Petrich has released the second beta of Activator 1.9.8, bringing a whole host of new changes to the popular jailbreak tweak. In the update you'll find new localizations, new increase and decrease brightness actions, and several new fixes.

You won't find Activator 1.9.8 beta 2 in the stock Cydia repos, but in this post, I'll show you how you can add Ryan's beta repo to take advantage of the latest Activator features.

Rumor: high-fidelity Apple Music streaming due in 2016

For years, Apple has been rumored to be working on high-resolution audio formats for iTunes, but we're yet to see concrete evidence of those efforts. Still, the rumor persists. On Monday, the reliable Japanese blog Macotakara reported that high-resolution streaming is coming to Apple Music in 2016.

Citing industry sources who spoke to the publication at the Portable Audio Festival in Tokyo, where some of Apple's products were exhibited, the report states that Apple will offer better-than-CD quality music.

In addition, high-end audio equipment makers are allegedly planning to add audio cables for Lightning to their lineups.

Wild Weather: when a weather app meets beautiful illustrations

There are full-featured weather apps that have Doppler radar, live storm trackers, and all the bleeps and blips you can think of. They give you up-to-the-minute conditions so you are always ready for the slightest movement of clouds.

And, then there is Wild Weather, which is about as minimalist as you can get, when it comes to features, but looks so good that you just want to keep checking the temperature every few minutes, anyway.

Beam is a media-focused Reddit client that’s worth checking out

I'm not what I would consider a typical Reddit user. I don't belong to any Subreddits, I don't think I've ever posted anything, and I've only voted on a handful of articles. I really just use the site's FrontPage as a source of news, cute puppy pictures and the occasional funny video.

As you can imagine, most iOS Reddit clients—like Alien Blue—are overkill for my needs, so a few months ago I set out to find an app with a specific focus on media and browsing. I believe I found that app in "Beam for reddit," so I figured I'd take a few moments to share it with you.

Inside Apple: Charlie Rose interviews Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Angela Ahrendts, Phil Schiller, and more

CBS has posted video of its Inside Apple interview conducted by 60 Minutes' Charlie Rose. The interview encompasses a wide range of subjects such as Apple's design studio activity, following Steve Jobs, the success of the Apple Watch, China, and much more.

True, most of the content consists of softball questions, and there's really nothing new to be gleaned here that we didn't already know. Still, it's a highly-calculated, yet nevertheless interesting, look inside Ive's design studio, Apple management meetings, and other behind-the-scenes clips. In other words, if you're a fan of Apple, it's basically must-see TV.

Apple’s recently released Beats Pill+ Wireless Speaker on sale at Best Buy for nearly $100 off

When it comes to deals, Best Buy is far and away the spot that you want to be this winter. I'm never one to get caught up in so-called deals, and generally find them to be a bit underwhelming, but there's no denying that you can rack up some significant savings by shopping for Apple Products at Best Buy this year.

One of the latest examples of the insane savings that can be had at Best Buy is with Apple's recently released Beats Pill+ speakers. These speakers retail for $229.95, but you can score one today for $92 off at only $137.99. That's a huge savings, especially for an Apple product that was just released.

An iOS 9.2 jailbreak is in the works, according to TaiG partner

Not only is an iOS 9.2 jailbreak in the works, but it could be here sooner than you think. That all, according to 3K Assistant, a long-time TaiG jailbreak partner. 3K Assistant is the same name of the utility that we always recommend unchecking on TaiG jailbreaks, because it usually has links to pirated content and just seems shady overall.

According to a report by Stephen Chan, who's reported on jailbreaking accurately in the past, 3K Assistant has announced that a jailbreak for iOS 9.2 is coming soon via the Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

How to easily share GIF animations on Mac with GIF Keyboard

The name "GIF Keyboard" is a bit of a misnomer for the Mac version of the popular GIF sharing utility. While the iPhone version of the app truly does work as a third-party keyboard on iOS, there is no such implementation on Mac, despite it retaining the same name.

Unlike the iOS version, GIF Keyboard runs in the menu bar on OS X, but the end result—the ability to quickly and efficiently share GIF animations with friends—is largely the same.

Released back in late October, GIF Keyboard was selected by Apple as one of the best new Mac apps for 2015. Even better is the fact that it's available for free on the Mac App Store.