VLC media player returning to App Store soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

VLC media player has had something of a rocky history on the iOS platform, getting pulled from Apple's mobile platform several times thus far over various licensing issues.

Having been absent from iOS for nearly four months, the popular cross-platform media player which renders dozens of non-iOS-friendly video formats will be relaunching on the App Store in the coming days.

According to Felix Paul Kuehne, lead developer for VLC for iOS and OS X, the app has already been submitted to Apple for approval and could be heading back to the App Store later this week.

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BBM updated with stickers in group chats, iPhone 6 and iOS 8 compatibility improvements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2014

Following last month's preview of a major new update to its BBM for iPhone messaging software, BlackBerry today released BBM 2.6.1.31 featuring an improved support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus alongside additional iOS 8 compatibility updates and other enhancements.

There's a new timer option and you'll also notice certain improvements for the message retraction feature and refinements to timed pictures and messages.

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Apple dominated Christmas, activating 2.9 devices per one Samsung

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Mobile analytics firm Flurry is out with its December Christmas week research, like it does every year, and one thing is extremely evident - Santa loves Apple. The iPhone accounted for 51 percent of new device activations from December 19th to December 25th, putting a pretty good beating on Samsung, who only accounted for 18 percent.

Flurry found that for every one Samsung device that was activated, Apple activated 2.9 devices. For every Microsoft Lumia device activated, Apple activated 8.8 devices. We'll have to wait until Apple's earnings call probably sometime in January for more of a per-device breakdown, but it looks like the iPhone 6 far outweighed any other version of the iPhone.

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The best Productivity apps of 2014

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 29, 2018

Apple’s newest desktop and mobile operating systems have supercharged productivity in a big way. We’re not just talking about complex task lists, but new ways to create, save, and share documents and files, better access to important information, and syncing across devices better than anything in the past. This year, we submitted our favorite productivity apps to launch in 2014 and voted on them. Below is a list of the winner, the runner-ups, and our all-time best productivity app.

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Apple puts into effect 14-day return policy on digital purchases in Europe

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2014

Apple typically handles refunds of digital purchases on a case-by-case basis and with an “All Sales Final” provision. But now, Apple's reportedly switched to a 14-day return policy for movies, TV shows, music, books and apps in most European markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France, German blog iFun.de [Google Translate] reported Monday.

Apple's updated policy in these countries states that customers can now cancel their digital purchase within fourteen days from when they received their receipt “without giving any reason,” with the exception of iTunes Match, Season Pass, Multi-Pass and iTunes Gift Cards and Allowances that can't be refunded once you have redeemed the code or activated the service.

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It’s easy to create a fingerprint from smartphone photos of someone’s finger

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2014

Admittedly, Touch ID has popularized and mainstreamed biometric security on mobile devices using an impression made on a surface by the inner part of the top joint of a finger.

Having debuted on the iPhone 5s, Apple's in-house sensor built into the Home button is based on a sophisticated technology by Israeli smart sensor maker AuthenTec, which the Cupertino firm snapped up in July of 2012 for a reported $356 million.

However, existing fingerprint-based security solutions could be easily bypassed by generating a fingerprint image from a series of photos of someone's finger, no physical print necessary whatsoever, according to claims by Chaos Computer Club, Europe’s largest association of hackers.

As relayed by VentureBeat, the hackers have now successfully demonstrated a proof-of-concept by copying the thumbprint of German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.

They used a close-up photograph of von der Leyen’s thumb, obtained during a news conference in October, along with photographs taken from different angles, said Jan Krissler aka “Starbug” at the 31st annual Chaos Computer Club convention in Hamburg, Germany.

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Apple names hilarious platformer Icycle: On Thin Ice its new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2014

Apple's promotion that makes hand-picked apps and games available at no cost for a week typically falls on Thursday.

Given the holiday iTunes freeze, which ended on Sunday, Apple's editors couldn't make changes to the App Store so they haven't gotten around cherry-picking another Free App of the Week until yesterday evening.

A cool adventure platformer called Icycle: On Thin Ice by UK-based published Chillingo, now a division of Electronic Arts, is available at no cost until next Thursday, normally a $2.99 value. Regardless of the fact that it includes optional In-App Purchases, Icycle scored some rather favorable reviews and it fits the holiday theme perfectly so you should give it a whirl.

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iOS again beats out Android in Christmas Day mobile shopping

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2014

Just like last year, Apple's iPhone and iPad again dominated online shopping traffic and online mobile sales during Christmas Day, according to an IBM survey first shared by VentureBeat.

Based on data from IBM's real-time Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracked approximately 800 retail websites in the United States, iOS devices were responsible for an average of $97.28 per order spent online versus $67.40 for Android users, a difference of 44.3 percent.

In other words, a commanding 57.1 percent of online shopping via mobile during Christmas Day was carried out using an iPhone or iPad, an increase of 8.3 percent versus the previous year.

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