Rumor: iPhone 7s to run Intel-made modem chip

A claimed logic board that recently leaked strongly indicated that Apple's upcoming 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' smartphone upgrades will use an improved Qualcomm modem chip, part of its ‘Gobi’ modem platform, with 2x faster LTE download speeds at 300Mbps.

But Apple could be looking to diversify its suppliers two years from now by adding Intel to its supply chain for baseband modems, if sources who spoke with DigiTimes are to be trusted.

Spark email client gains HTML signatures, new swipe actions, aliases and other new features

Spark, my new favorite email app by Readdle (good-bye Mailbox!), launched in the App Store nearly 3 months ago.

In my initial review of Spark, I praised its gorgeous user interface, powerful productivity features and integration with popular services but cautioned mobile pros to wait until a future update brings a few commonly used features that didn't make it into the initial release.

Spark 1.1 is here and with it come some much-needed missing features that make the app more powerful and productivity-focused. These include brand new swipe options, support for HTML signatures, email aliases and more.

Misfit and Speedo partner up for a new lap counting tracker for swimmers

Misfit, the maker of wearable activity trackers, and swimwear company Speedo today announced they partnered up to create a new Shine activity tracker designed to count swim laps, because step counting is so 2014.

The all-new 'Speedo Shine' is basically a special version of the company's 'Shine' fitness tracking wearable which caters to swimmers. Waterproofed to 50 meters, the device uses proprietary lap counting algorithms with “industry-leading accuracy” and launches on September 1 exclusively through Apple Stores.

MIT researchers accidentally quadruple lithium-ion battery lifespan

An important breakthrough by Dr. Wang Changan of Tsinghua University and Dr. Li Ju of MIT promises to extend the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries that power today's notebooks, mobile devices and other gadgets by a factor of four.

The unexpected discovery has the potential to allow for an all-week Apple Watch battery life while significantly extending run time between charges when using your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac notebook.

Remarkably, a team of forgetful researchers have figured out how to quadruple a li-ion battery’s lifespan literally by accident.

Let’s Talk iOS 095: Dial-up and mousepads

Episode 95: Should Apple update the iPad Air 2? More on Apple's upcoming iPhone event. iOS 8.4.1 is released with tons of bug fixes. Jeff goes back to minimalism...sort of.

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Apple Music Festival running September 19-28 in London with Pharrell Williams and other headliners

The iTunes Music Festival, an annual 30-day event hosted and organized by Apple, is back this year in a bit changed form. Taking advantage of the buzz surrounding Apple Music, the event is now called Apple Music Festival and will run 10 consecutive nights at London’s Roundhouse, starting on September 19.

“Apple hosted the iTunes Festival in London for eight years, and now in honor of the launch of Apple Music, has renamed the event the Apple Music Festival,” explains the iPhone maker.

According to Apple, some of the headline acts include Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Florence + The Machine and Disclosure.

Burger – The Game lets you flip your way to chef stardom

The creator of such unique mobile games as Okay? and Sometimes You Die is back with another bite-size game that tends to turn one into an addicted maniac. Burger – The Game only requires you to tap the screen at the right time. But, this skills-based title isn't as easy as it sounds. In fact, it would probably be easier to just make a burger in real life.

Easy-Tech 2-in-1 car mount gives you choices when securing your iPhone 6

When we talk about car mounts on iDB, inevitably, someone will comment on the inefficiency of one type over another. Some prefer dash mounts. Others prefer air vent mounts. Now, you don't have to choose.

Easy-Tech's 2-in-1 car mount can be attached to your windshield or your air vent. So you have the option of either display. The only thing missing is a cup holder mount, and then everyone would be happy.

Apple Pay’s launch in Australia faces pushback as greedy banks balk at transaction fees

Apple Pay certainly has a long way to go before it becomes ubiquitous. The service is currently available on a limited basis in the United States and the United Kingdom and is yet to hit major markets such as Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and more.

In Australia (or colloquially, Down Under), banks are reportedly reluctant to give up on interchange fees in exchange for seamless technology and are said to loathe a third-party providing an extra layer between them and their customers at the point of sale.

iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus available beginning September 18?

German blog Macerkopf.de is reporting that Apple's upcoming 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' smartphones will hit store shelves on Friday, September 18, or nine days following the rumored September 9 unveiling that BuzzFeed’s usually-reliable John Paczkowski recently reported on.

Apparently two of Germany's top three wireless carriers expect to kick off sales of the new handsets on Friday, September 18.

This assumed schedule would match up nicely with past iPhone release patterns.

How to boot your Mac in Verbose Mode

We previously discussed how booting your Mac into macOS' Safe Mode can help troubleshoot various issues with your computer. In more obscure situations and borderline cases, however, Safe Mode may not be enough to understand why your Mac freezes or crashes during the system boot process.

Enter macOS Verbose Mode.

Not only does Verbose Mode makes it easy to access detailed status messages as your Mac is starting up, but also lets you see what's really going on behind the scenes and watch as macOS loads kernel extensions and other startup items.

In this tutorial, we're going to cover booting your Mac in macOS' Verbose Mode, explain in which situations it might come in handy and give you some handy tips related to using Verbose Mode.

Why I jailbroke my iPhone 6 Plus again and why you should consider it as well

I've been running the iOS 9 beta on my iPhone 6 Plus and have been using the iPhone 5s as my jailbroken device for the last 2-3 weeks. My idea was to use the iPhone 5s as my jailbreak device, and keep my daily driver—my iPhone 6 Plus—jailbreak free.

But once Apple released the jailbreak-killing iOS 8.4.1, my tune changed. I decided to go back to iOS 8.4 and jailbreak my iPhone 6 Plus again. Why'd I do it? I explain in this post...