Flick Scroll: a promising new jailbreak tweak that could change how we scroll

The concept of Flick Scroll is a great one: being able to use a simple flick gesture on a scrollable view to align the page exactly where you want it. If you've ever been reading a long article on Safari or any other app with a scrollable view, perhaps you've struggled trying to keep the text aligned in a manner that makes consuming the content less arduous. That, in theory, is what Flick Scroll aims to accomplish, but the jailbreak tweak, which just appeared on Cydia's BigBoss repo, isn't quite ready for primetime.

Spotlight bug exposes your Mac’s IP address and more to spammers

An unusual oversight in how OS X's Spotlight feature handles privacy settings in Apple Mail leaves the door open to spammers, phishers and online tracking companies who can obtain private data such as your IP address, current operating system version, browser details and more, whenever an email message is previewed in Spotlight.

First discovered by German technology news site Heise, the bug takes advantage of a common information harvesting technique and a Mail setting which determines whether or not the program loads remote content in emails.

Photego: secure the stock Photos app with Touch ID

There are tweaks that exist on Cydia that allow you to secure an entire app, but to my knowledge, no tweak yet exists that allows you to secure specific aspects of the stock Photos app with Touch ID. That's where Photego comes in, a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to prevent users from deleting photos, accessing albums, and more via Touch ID.

Piracy on iOS: 60% of Monument Valley installs on iPhone and iPad not paid for

Even though this particular data point is a few days old now, I think it's highly relevant in light of Apple's glowing App Store stats revealed yesterday.

According to developer Ustwo Games, its award-winning and incredibly successful Monument Valley, an atmospheric puzzle game in which you manipulate impossible architecture inspired by the works of M.C. Escher, has seen a significant chunk of its potential revenue lost to piracy because only 40 percent of the $3.99 game installs on the iPhone and iPad were paid for.

The vast chunk of the remaining sixty percent iOS installs were illegitimate, or to put it bluntly — pirated. On Android, the paid install base is a paltry five percent (you read that right), as a huge hunk of the remaining 95 percent of users opted to steal Monument Vally on Android rather than pay four bucks to enjoy it.

Is the 60 percent piracy rate on iOS a worrying number for Monument Valley developers and a bad sign for Apple's mobile platform? Read on for the full reveal.

Reports of the iPod shuffle’s death are greatly exaggerated

Apple is not killing off the iPod shuffle, according to a report from Billboard who cites sources with knowledge of the situation. Instead, the publication says that "Apple is actually going thorough component supplier changes that have interrupted production of the Shuffle." If this report is to be believed, slipping iPod shuffle shipping times and unavailability in Apple Stores around the country could simply be explained by the fact that Apple is switching components supplier.

Apple could release iOS 8.1.3 next week

BGR is out with a report today claiming that Apple could be releasing a software update as soon as next week. It is unclear whether it would be a beta release, or the public release of iOS 8.1.3, but the publication notes the software could be available Tuesday or Wednesday.

iDB's own analytics showed a very clear spike of traffic yesterday emanating from devices running iOS 8.1.3 on Apple's networks, which could indicate that the public version of iOS 8.1.3 is right around the corner and currently being seeded to select Apple employees.

WhitelistSwitcher cleans up your messy App Switcher

Looking for a way to tidy up the App Switcher on iOS? Then WhitelistSwitcher may be a jailbreak tweak that appeals to you. As its name alludes to, this tweak allows you to whitelist the specific apps that appear in the App Switcher. Apps that aren't on the whitelist do not appear in the App Switcher, even if they were recently launched.

Burstio turns your burst photos into videos or animated GIFs

Bustio is a new app released in the App Store that will turn your burst photos into animated GIFs or videos, which you can then save to your Camera Roll or share with others via several channels.

The concept is pretty simple. After taking a series of photos in burst mode with your iPhone camera, simply launch Burstio, and select the burst of photos you want to use. From there you have the option to adjust the playback speed from slow, to normal, to fast. Then hit the export button to convert the burst photos into an HD video or an animated GIF.

The Princess Bride gets official iOS game

The official mobile game of The Princess Bride, the 1987 classic fantasy adventure movie adapted from William Goldman's 1973 namesake novel, is now available in the App Store.

Featuring four different games, The Princess Bride lets you experience all the favorite scenes from the film. You'll be wrestling giants, engaging in sword fighting and more, earning awards along the way and unlocking images and sound clips from the movie.

Upcoming ‘AppButton’ tweak brings a unique app switching method to iOS

I love jailbreaking for many reasons, but one of the primary reasons is that it allows developers to bring unique ideas to fruition. One such idea is AppButton, a new jailbreak tweak that places a very different twist on the concept of app switching. AppButton is not available on the default Cydia repos yet, and is still in Alpha stages. Even so, it's a tweak that shows tons of potential and promise.

Microsoft’s Office Sway for iPhone now available in US App Store and other countries

After soft-launching in the New Zealand App Store in November, Microsoft's Office Sway for iPhone is now available more broadly in a number of markets around the world, including in the U.S. App Store.

Office Sway is a free application that makes it easy to create attractive interactive presentation with images, captions, headers and styled text that can be viewed in a web browser on any desktop computer or mobile device.

In addition to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India, Sway is now available more broadly in a whole bunch of other English-speaking countries.

5by for iOS will serve up videos based on your mood

5by is an app on the iTunes App Store that will serve you with videos based on your mood. I've often done this through YouTube, where I'm in a really bad mood and will search for comedy videos to help brighten my spirits (I'm rarely mad, but it happens). 5by, also available on the web, will help expedite the process.