iDownloadBlog.com

Apple’s retail sales strategy for Apple Watch revealed

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Ahead of next week's Apple Watch event, Apple has begun training its retail employees on how to position the new device to customers. In a new report this afternoon, 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman shares 3 key points from their training including key features, iPhone compatibility and style.

According to selling guidelines provided to Gurman, Apple wants its employees to find out 3 things about their customers when trying to sell the Apple Watch: what do they already know about the device, is their iPhone compatible, and are they looking for a casual or formal watch.

Popular golf arcade game ‘Golden Tee’ coming to iOS this summer

Cody Lee ∙ March 3, 2015

Golden Tee fans rejoice, Incredible Technologies is bringing the popular arcade golf game to iOS this year. As noted by TouchArcade, the team has been quietly showing off a demo version of the game at this year's Game Developers Conference (or GDC).

For those of you not familiar with Golden Tee, it's the golf game you've seen in the corner of virtually every bar ever. It's an in-depth golf game with beautiful graphics, easy-to-learn controls and the arcade version utilizes a track ball for swing/ball direction.

iOS 8 adoption rate edges toward 75 percent

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

Based on Apple's official data shared at its portal for developers, iOS 8 is now running on 75 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices, as measured by the App Store on March 3, 2015, good for a two percentage-point increase.

Two weeks ago, Apple's mobile operating system was adopted by 73 percent of active device owners, representing a tiny one percentage point increase from the 72 percent mark recorded a month ago.

Unity 5 game engine launches with iOS Metal and 64-bit support and other improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

Following its mid-2014 announcement and a beta release last October, the latest edition of the Unity graphics engine by Unity Technoologies is now available for download.

The all-new Unity 5, released at the 2015 Game Developers Conference, features upgraded animation and physics, a new lighting system, new audio options and many other improvements designed to make mobile games more gorgeous and shiny than ever before.

On the Apple side of things, Unity 5 offers support for 64-bit computing and Metal, Apple's high-performance graphics framework aimed at game developers which can speed up graphics by a factor of ten compared to OpenGL.

Apple to make ‘a large number’ of day-to-day security guards full-time employees

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

Following the outcry in Silicon Valley regarding the treatment of part-time employees, and in general people who work for technology companies, Apple is now moving to “dramatically expand” its in-house security team by giving contracted workers the same benefits as other employees, as per Mercury News Tuesday.

A company spokesperson confirmed to the paper that Apple has now decided to hire the majority of its day-to-day security staff in Silicon Valley as full-time workers, following a yearlong review.

SXSW GO updated with iBeacon notifications and other new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

The official mobile app of South by Southwest (SXSW), a set of film, interactive and music festivals and conferences that take place annually in mid-March in Austin, Texas, has been refreshed with a few new features.

Among them is an enhanced experience allowing your device to receive iBeacon notifications to see what's going on around you and who else is there. This year's show will feature the world’s largest deployment of iBeacons.

NoSwitchBar lends a cleaner look to the App Switcher

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

NoSwitchBar is a brand new free jailbreak tweak that just touched down on the Cydia store. It lets users eschew the status bar at the top of the app card previews in the App Switcher, allowing for a cleaner look.

Google allegedly working on an iPhone app that’ll bring iOS compatibility to Android Wear

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

Google is ostensibly working on an iPhone app that will bring iOS compatibility to all Android Wear-driven smartwatches on the market. Google's Android-powered software platform for wearable devices launched a year ago without official support for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac devices. Word of a possible solution came Tuesday via 01Net and was passed along to us by French blog iPhon.fr.

Whichever way you look at it, making Android Wear compatible with the iPhone could help extend the market for Android-driven wearable devices to include Apple users, too.

About 720,000 Android Wear smartwatches were shipped in 2014, according to Canalys, the research firm. Various analysts estimate Apple's Watch could sell about ten or more million devices in 2015.

Mortal Kombat X is hitting iOS this April

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

More than two decades following its 1992 debut on the the Genesis, SNES and arcades, Mortal Kombat, a video game franchise developed by Midway Games' Chicago studio, is about to go mobile with the impending release of Mortal Kombat X for iOS and Android, as first noted by Eurogamer.

Developed by NetherRealm Studios, the game will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which acquired the Mortal Kombat development team in 2011 and now owns the rights of the series.

Pebble unveils Time Steel edition with upgradeable leather and stainless steel bands

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 3, 2015

After announcing new Pebble Time models featuring a color e-paper screen, built-in mic, an enhanced software and other improvements last week, Pebble Technology today took the wraps off a higher-end Time Steel model. Featureing a face made of machined stainless steel protected by Gorilla Glass, the Steel supports two watch straps, one made of leather and another of stainless steel.

Compared to the regular Pebble Time, the Steel model is one millimeter thicker and has 10 days’ worth of battery life. By comparison, the Time has a weeklong battery. The Steel edition will be available in three metallic finishes: silver, gold and black.

Apple extends ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ campaign to billboards, newspapers, magazines and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Apple’s latest ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ advertising campaign featuring crowdsourced iPhone photography from around the world is bound to reach massive audiences as the Cupertino firm started showcasing users' best photos found online out in the real world. Specifically, Apple is hanging billboards on skyscrapers around the world, plastering them on bus stops and train stations.

In addition, the company is using the photos in minimalistic ads run in major magazines and newspapers. All told, the ad campaign features 77 photographers in 70 cities across 24 countries around the world.

10 Tweaks to try that aren’t on default Cydia repos

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 3, 2015

Yesterday, I found this thread on Reddit and was reminded of how many great jailbreak tweaks exist outside of Cydia's default repos. Of course, developers like Ryan Petrich are well-known for their beta repos, but there are some other lesser-known repos that you should be aware of as well. Here's a list of ten jailbreak tweaks that are available outside of the popular BigBoss and ModMyi repos.