AT&T jacking up activation fees beginning August 1

U.S. carrier AT&T is going to increase activation fee for both contract subscribers and new Next customers, Droid-Life reported Wednesday. Upgrade fee will rise to $45 for those signing up for a one or two-year contract versus the previous $40 activation fee, the publication has learned from sources. As if that weren't enough, the carrier will impose an all-new $15 activation fee on Next and Bring-Your-Own-Phone customers beginning August 1.

Deep Dreamer for Mac lets anyone soup up photos using Google’s amazing Deepdream engine

Right after Google announced its fascinating research into neural networks and highly advanced image processing with so-called “deep dream“ code, developer Realmac Software immediately set out to make an app out of it.

The Internet giant did open-source the code, but you must have the technical chops in order  to make use of it because setting up a server to process images for yourself isn't really a trivial endeavor for average people.

Launching today as a public beta, Deep Dreamer for Mac simplifies the process of processing your own photos with Google's deep dream algorithm, and the results are both fantastic and eerily disturbing.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords hits the Mac

The sequel to arguably the best and most engaging Star Wars game has finally arrived on the Mac as Aspyr today announced immediate availability of a Mac port for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords.

The game is available for just $6.99 in the Mac App Store, down from its regular $9.99 price point, or through Steam for Mac and Linux platforms.

KOTOR II challenges you to play as the last remaining Jedi Knight while using the power of the Force—for good or evil—to determine the fate of the galaxy. The game supports wide screen mode and native 5K resolution of the 27-inch iMac. It also packs in support for some of the most popular physical controllers around, throws in Game Center achievements for good measure and includes lots of other perks.

eMail Widget lets you view and manage your inbox from Notification Center

When it comes to the daily task of rummaging through email messages, I spend the first 30-minutes of my workday just trying to get my inbox under control. I can quickly delete or archive more than half of them, which helps me feel like I've made some progress

eMail Widget is a Notification Center app that allows users, not only to see new messages in their inbox, but perform a few basic actions in order to keep things under control without having to open a dedicated app.

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 117: Handy with the hex codes

Episode 117: Jeff and Cody help you prepare for the upcoming iOS 8.4.1 release. Cydia Impactor is released to let users restore their jailbroken iOS devices to stock without upgrading their firmware, the iPod touch 6th-gen is jailbroken, TaiG releases a new update, and lots of new tweaks are discussed.

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How to update the iOS 9 public beta to iOS 9 beta 4

It's possible to update to the latest developer version of the iOS 9 beta directly from the iOS 9 public beta. If you want the latest and greatest updates offered by iOS 9 beta 4, but you're currently running the public beta, listen up—it's super-easy to upgrade to the latest developer version of the iOS 9 beta.

Apple stops users from leaving app reviews from iOS betas

I think this can definitely warrant a finally. Apple has disabled the ability for users to leave app reviews in the App Store while running iOS betas.

The change seems to be retroactive, as I tested it from both the just-released iOS 9 beta 4 and the previous beta 3, and both throw up errors that the review feature isn't available while running a prerelease version of iOS.

CirDock: a jailbreak tweak that puts a spin on the iOS dock

CirDock is a recently released tweak that provides the iOS dock with new carousel animations, a larger capacity, and three user-toggle-able modes.

Like similar dock-oriented jailbreak tweaks, CirDock provides users with different animation styles such as Linear, Rotary, Time Machine, Cover Flow, etc. In all, there are nearly a dozen carousel animations to be found.

Although having a customizable dock with more than 4 app icons and custom animations may sound run of the mill in 2015, it's really CirDock's filter feature that makes the tweak stand out among the rest. Check out the details in this post for the full scoop.

How to replace the Do Not Disturb icon with today’s moon phase

Interested in having a waxing crescent in your status bar instead of the standard Do Not Disturb moon icon? A new jailbreak package will allow you to theme the DND icon with the current moon phase.

The package, entitled Do Not Phase, piggybacks on the popular Protean jailbreak tweak in order to accomplish its goal. The result is a slick-looking Do Not Disturb moon icon that clues you in on the day's current moon phase.

Snapchat puts more pressure on jailbreakers by forcing upgrades

It looks like Snapchat isn't resting on its laurels when it comes to protecting its product. After it surfaced that Snapchat was beginning to lock out any one who used Snapchat-centric jailbreak tweaks, users wised up and started downgrading to an earlier version of Snapchat without such protections in place.

Today, it appears that the Venice, CA company has caught on to the downgrading trend, and is now forcing users to upgrade to the latest version of Snapchat in order to use its product.

Hands-on with iOS 9 beta 4

I've been playing with iOS 9 beta 4 on my iPod touch, iPhone and iPad for the last few hours, and I'd like to share my thoughts on the beta release.

First and foremost, this is the first beta firmware to work on the iPod touch 6th generation, and as expected, it runs like a champ. The iOS 9 beta on the old iPod touch 5th generation was barely usable due to the device's lack of power, but this new iPod touch handles things with no issues.

Another big feature is the return of Home Sharing. As promised by Apple executive Eddy Cue, Home Sharing is now back where it belongs in the Music section of the Settings app.

I've created a video walkthrough to showcase many of the new features found in iOS 9 beta 4. Have a look and let me know what you think about this latest beta release.

15 interesting points from Apple’s Q3 2015 earnings call

Apple announced its financial results for its fiscal third quarter of 2015 this afternoon, and the numbers are solid. The company sold 47.5 million iPhones and earned $49.6 billion in revenue, breaking June quarter records and beating Wall Street expectations.

We just finished up the conference call, where Tim Cook and other executives discussed Apple’s performance over the three-month period, and offered up some insights into its future. And as usual, we’ve rounded up the 15 most interesting points from the call below.