Smart screen protector gives your iPhone a handy back button

Cody Lee ∙ May 16, 2015

I love the additional screen real estate my iPhone 6 Plus gives me, but it makes one-handed usage very difficult. I can reach about halfway up the display comfortably, but anything higher than that—say, when I need to tap an app's back button—and I have to shimmy my hand up the device.

Halo Back is a new iPhone accessory that wants to help significantly reduce the need for shimmying. Billed as the world's first "smart" screen protector, the Halo attaches to the front of your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, and gives you a virtual back button within thumb's reach—left of the Home button.

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Touch ID could gain new gaming features, scrolling and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Touch ID could get significantly more useful in future iOS devices, according to an Apple patent filing revealed this week. The filing, first spotted by Patently Apple, is extremely lengthy (combines several patents) and offers an overview of where Apple thinks fingerprint technology is headed.

One of the more interesting inventions is a portable touch display with integrated fingerprint sensors. So instead of touching the Home button, you could simply touch a designated part of the display to unlock your device or authenticate something. Apple says it could even offer tactile feedback.

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153 animated emojis you can find on Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

The Apple Watch is changing the way a lot of people communicate with each other, thanks to features like Digital Touch. It even handles emojis a bit differently, allowing you to choose from a wide variety of animated images to help you get your point across quickly.

In fact, as German site Giga Apple points out, there are 153 different animated emojis you can choose from on Apple Watch, ranging from yellow and red faces to hearts and hand gestures. They can all be accessed via Messages, and can be customized to fit any context.

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Analyst “confirms” 12MP camera with smaller pixels for the next iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 30, 2016

Apple's forthcoming iPhone refresh — presumably an ‘iPhone 6s’ and ‘iPhone 6s Plus’ — is set for a major upgrade in the camera department as Apple has reportedly relented and decided to join the megapixel race with a twelve-megapixel iSight camera on the back of the new phone(s).

But the megapixels don't tell the whole story.

According to Kevin Wang, IHS's Technology Research Director for China, the pixel size will be smaller, raising questions about the camera' performance in low-light conditions.

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Apple doubles previous iCloud Contacts limit to 50,000 contact cards

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2015

As indicated in the official support document which was updated last evening, Apple has now doubled the previous iCloud Contacts limit from 25,000 contacts to 50,000 items.

These contact cards can be shared and synchronized with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices, as well as with Mac and Windows PCs, and can be accessed through any modern web browser at iCloud.com.

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Watch Bentley’s second ‘Intelligent Details’ film, shot and edited on latest iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2015

Last year, car maker Bentley produced a documentary video to promote its $300,000 Mulsanne, using specialized accessories and a few App Store apps to shoot and edit the promotional film entirely on the iPhone 5s and iPads.

Now Bentley has upgraded to the latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets to shoot a new short film, officially part of Bentley's 'Intelligent Details' series, with a little help from stabilized camera systems, professional lenses and filters and apps like FiLMiC Pro.

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Music labels ostensibly applying pressure on Spotify to ditch free service for 3-month trial

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2015

In another sign that Apple may have conspired with major record labels to kill free music streaming, Digital Music News is now reporting that both Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are pressuring Spotify, the leading subscription streaming-music service, to end its free, ad-supported service and instead limit music lovers to a three-month free trial.

As previously reported, Apple's alleged backing of these efforts have prompted scrutiny from the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the European Union’s Competition Commission into Apple's business practices in the music space.

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Apple Watch manufacturer reportedly solves production hiccups

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2015

Quanta Computer, which assembles the Apple Watch, has been plagued with poor yield rates resulting in capacity problems that have led to limited shipments of the device. As a result, Apple has been struggling to meet orders and has been unable to roll out the device to additional markets to this date.

But production woes are now a thing of the past as Quanta vice chairman CC Leung confirmed solving production bottlenecks, according to a report Friday by DigiTimes, a somewhat reliable Taiwanese trade publication.

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Feedly for Apple Watch has arrived: browse your favorite stories right from the wrist

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

Feedly, the popular feed aggregation service, is now available for the Apple Watch. The app allows you to browse the stories right on your wrist-worn device.

Available as a free update to the existing Feedly for iPhone application, the Watch component selects the best stories from your Feedly account and presents them with a headline, the accompanying image, an excerpt of the full text and more.

It supports other features via a hidden menu accessible through force-touching the screen such as tagging, saving a story for later, marking a story as read, continuing reading on your iPhone and more.

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OtterBox Defender for iPad Air 2 offers rugged protection

Lory Gil ∙ May 15, 2015

I've been known to take my tablet with me camping. When I do, I want to make sure it is completely protected from the messy outdoors. Without proper coverage, dust, campfire ash, sticky marshmallows, and sunscreen, might end up all over your expensive mobile gadget.

The OtterBox Defender protects against such elements while providing durable shock resistance so you can play hard with your iPad Air 2 in hand and not worry about what might happen to it.

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