Montblanc debuts new ‘e-Strap’ smart band for traditional watches

Luxury brand Montblanc has announced its first foray into the booming wearables market with the 'e-Strap'. The German company, which is known for making fine pens, watches and other jewelry, hopes the accessory will allow traditional mechanical watches and wearable tech to co-exist.

The e-Strap is an Italian leather watch band that features an embedded tracker with a tiny 0.9-inch monochromatic OLED touchscreen display (128x36). That display is capable of showing activity-tracking data and a variety of push notifications from a connected iPhone, or similar device.

How to turn Spotlight into a better application launcher

Searchlight is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to improve Spotlight in a few basic ways: it allows you to access the Spotlight search interface from anywhere, even while within an app, and it allows you to bolt on recent and favorite apps to the interface as well. If you're used to using application launchers on your desktop machine, then Searchlight might be a jailbreak tweak that fits nicely into your workflow.

Poll: will you buy Apple Watch?

The Apple Watch, the iPhone maker's foray into wearables, is arriving this Spring starting at $349.

And while we know quite a bit about the anticipated wrist-worn computer, Apple's left a few important questions hanging in the air.

Among them are important details concerning the Watch's specific launch date, battery life, a possible killer feature and price points for higher-end models.

Assuming the vast majority of folks who are in the market for an Apple smartwatch opt for the entry-level device, we're curious to learn whether you'll be buying one when it comes out. Or maybe you've decided to wait for a second-generation model, or pass on the Watch altogether?

Official mobile game of the FIA World Rally Championship hits iOS

Fans of racing games, listen up! The official mobile game of the FIA World Rally Championship has been released in the App Store.

Developed by Firebrand Games and published by Bigben Interactive, WRC The Official Game for the iPhone and iPad includes official content of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, including eighteen licensed cars, and lets you play as any of the seventeen official drivers to win a total of thirteen official events of the 2014 WRC calendar.

While previous official titles have been something of a disappointment, WRC The Official Game looks promising, at least graphics-wise, so here's hoping it doesn't ruin the fun with inaccurate and unresponsive controls.

Split screen multitasking tweak ‘ReachApp’ gets an app selector in big update

If you're running the ReachApp beta—the jailbreak tweak that brings true split-screen multitasking to iOS—you likely noticed the update that just recently hit Cydia. The update adds a lot of new switches to the tweak's preferences, and fleshes out the description of each switch.

With ReachApp 0.1, you'll find the ability to view the Notification Center in split-screen view, enable a much-requested app selector (yes!) and more. Check out our new video walkthrough, which highlights many of the new features in this highly anticipated update.

iDB travels to CES 2015

The long and weary January expedition to International CES is now upon the consumer electronics industry. Each year, the entire industry descends upon Las Vegas, NV with more than 150,000 attendees. Noted as one of the largest trade shows in the world, CES is quite a spectacle. Everything from app powered toothbrush games to global players like Sony, Samsung, and LG will be in attendance.

Each year, we head out to the event in hopes of learning about new iOS devices and accessories. Through a week's worth of events, press conferences, and booth meetings, the upcoming landscape for Apple-related tech is revealed. From Sunday, January 4 through Friday, January 9, I will be trekking across Vegas' strip in search of the newest items, which will hopefully include Apple Watch accessories.

CES 2015 marks my third consecutive trip and having two previous shows under my belt, the planning strategy this year continues to evolve with my experience. Three trips hardly make one an expert, but no longer an amateur, my novice skills are at work in preparation for one of the most exciting weeks of the consumer electronic year. I will be flying out on Saturday, January 3, getting settled in, then surviving the next seven days. 

New Apple ID attack tool surfaces as Apple pulls Photos web app from iCloud.com

Friday, a new attack tool was posted to GitHub that uses brute-force dictionary attacks on iCloud and Apple ID accounts with weak passwords. Using a dictionary list containing more than 500 words, the 'iDict' tool pretends to be a legitimate iPhone device trying to log in to iCloud.com. Somehow, it manages to avoid Apple ID lockout restrictions.

People with complex passwords shouldn't be concerned but those with simple ones based on commonly used words such as pet names are at risk. If you fall in that category, you're wholeheartedly recommended to change your password and optionally enable two-step verification for your Apple ID.

Seemingly unrelated to 'iDict', the Photos web app mysteriously disappeared from the iCloud website this morning.

Waterlogue color paint app offered at no cost inside Apple Store app

If Apple's latest Free App of the Week, the hilarious platformer Icycle: On Thin Ice, isn't your cup of tea, how about a nicely done water color paint app that was recently featured in Apple’s new “Start Something New” webpage which highlights the iPad as a way of creating art through drawings and photographs?

Waterlogue by Tinrocket normally sells for three bucks a pop in the App Store but is now available at no cost through the official Apple Store application (not to be confused with the App Store).

Here's how you can redeem your free copy of Waterlogue.

MultiCam almost turns your iPhone into a Lytro camera

I’ve been enamored by the Lytro since I first heard about it in 2012. If you don’t know about it, the Lytro is a light field camera with technology that allows users to refocus and change perspective of a digital photograph after its been taken. Unfortunately, the Lytro is way out of my price range.

MultiCam – Set Focus/Exposure After Shoot takes some of that technology and brings it to the iPhone so you can take incredible depth of field photos and change which objects are in focus. We’ve got a detailed app review of MultiCam for you today.

Here’s a look at Apple Japan’s 2015 ‘Lucky Bags’

Apple kicked off its 2015 annual "Lucky Bag" promotion in Japan on Thursday, giving customers big discounts on Apple products and accessories. A "Lucky Bag" is a Japanese New Year tradition, also known as a Fukubukuro, that offers a bag for a set price filled with unknown random items, sold for a discount.

Twitter brings ‘While you were away’ feature to your timeline on iOS

Twitter has expanded its "While you were away" recap feature to more users worldwide, in a greater attempt to boost user engagement within its Twitter for iOS app. The "While you were away" feature posts a recap of tweets you may have missed, and is the first time Twitter has brought non-chronological tweets to your timeline.

The feature doesn't appear to be in the hands of all users yet, but a Twitter search reveals it's rolling out - with mixed reactions from users. Twitter had previously announced the feature in November, but it's just now hitting the masses.

How to put the App Switcher in Reachability view

Switchability is yet the latest jailbreak tweak to incorporate the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus' Reachability view with a jailbreak modification. In this case, Switchability places the App Switcher into Reachability view, hence the name Switchability. I've been testing out the tweak for a while, and what I've found was a great concept, but its execution needs a little work before it's truly ready for primetime.